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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --ELEVENTH DAY--FRIDAY, December 18, 1863.
OPEN SESSION.
The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Duncan.
Mr. Staples offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested, if not incompatible with the public interest, to communicate to this House the report of Brigadier-General Echols, relating to the battle of Droop Mountain.
Mr. Goode offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire into the expediency of so amending the act regulating impressments as to relieve from impressment by the officers of the Government a sufficient quantity of breadstuffs and provisions to supply the wants of the nonproducing classes of the country.
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Mr. Foote moved to amend the resolution by inserting in lieu of the "Committee on the Judiciary" the "Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments."
The amendment was not agreed to, and the resolution was adopted.
Mr. Miller offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Medical Department be instructed to inquire why wounded officers are charged two dollars per day in the hospitals of this city, contrary to the act of Congress of the twenty-ninth April, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and report to this House.
Mr. Boudinot introduced
A bill to be entitled "An act appropriating one hundred thousand dollars for the use and benefit of the Cherokee Nation;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments.
Mr. Chilton presented the claim of Private Thomas B. Tully for services rendered in drilling troops at conscript camp at Talladega, Ala.; which, without being read, was referred to the Committee on Claims.
Mr. Chilton offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments do inquire and report whether the tax in kind may not be garnered and husbanded with more security and less expense by citizens in the respective localities of such provisions, and who are not liable to military service, than by the present system of collecting and preserving it, and whether such a change would not at the same time tend greatly to strengthen our Army by placing in the field the officers and soldiers now engaged in that business, and that said committee report by bill or otherwise.
Mr. Curry introduced
A bill to be entitled "An act authorizing chaplains in certain cases to draw forage for one horse;"
which was read a first and second time and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Lewis introduced
A joint resolution to be entitled "Joint resolution in relation to assessment of certain railroad iron;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Claims.
Mr. Clark offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the Committee on Ways and Means be required at the earliest moment to inquire into the propriety of repealing the potato clause in the tax bill, and the further change of allowing commutation in money in lieu of wool grown by them where it is shown that the same was used in clothing for our soldiers.
Mr. H. W. Bruce introduced
A bill to be entitled "An act to furnish horses to certain soldiers;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Moore moved that the claims of John Randolph Cardwell, of Charlotte County, and William Cardwell, referred to the Committee on Claims at the last session, be again referred to the same committee.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. Clapp introduced
A bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to prevent fraud in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments, and
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the obtaining under false pretense transportation for private property,' approved May first, eighteen hundred and sixty-three;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Farrow presented a communication from Rev. Benjamin Holder in relation to a discovery for preventing the counterfeiting of Confederate notes; which, without being read, was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. Heiskell offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That a select committee of three members be appointed to inquire into and report to the House as to the practicability of procuring a supply of salt in the vicinity of the salt wells of Smyth and Washington counties, State of Virginia, by mining, and upon the comparative advantages of mining and other modes of supply.
Mr. Foote presented a communication from a private in Early's division, Army of Northern Virginia, on the subject of supplying rations to the soldiers; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Foote also offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the special committee on illegal arrests, etc., be allowed to employ a clerk and have authority to send for persons and papers.
Mr. Foote moved that the communication of Captain Warner, commissary of Yankee prisoners in the city of Richmond, presented by him on the -- instant, touching the quantity of provisions furnished said prisoners, be referred to the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments, with instructions to said committee to inquire into the falsehood or verity of the statements therein contained, and make report thereof to the House.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. Wright of Texas introduced
A bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act to regulate impressments," approved March 26, 1863;
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Gartrell, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to which had been referred
A bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to regulate impressments,' approved March twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three."
reported back in lieu thereof a bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to regulate impressments,' approved March twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and to repeal the act amendatory thereof, approved April twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-three;" which was read first and second times, placed upon the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Gartrell, from the same committee, to which had been referred another bill with the same title and several resolutions in relation to the subject of impressments, reported the same back, moved that the committee be discharged from their further consideration, and that they do lie upon the table.
The motion was agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Garnett,
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The House resolved itself into secret session; and having spent some time therein, resolved itself into open session.
Mr. Garnett moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill to be entitled "An act to allow the tax in kind of cured bacon to be commuted in certain cases" was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
The motion was agreed to, and
On motion of Mr. Garnett, the bill was referred to the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments.
Mr. Chilton moved that the Chair appoint two new members on the Committee on Ways and Means during the absence of Messrs. Kenner and Holt.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. Preston moved that the Chair appoint two new members on the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments during the absence of Messrs. Marshall and Royston.
The motion was agreed to, and
The Chair appointed Messrs. Hanly of Arkansas and Trippe of Georgia.
The Chair laid before the House a communication from the President; which was read as follows, viz:
Richmond, December 17, 1863.
To the House of Representatives:
In partial response to your resolution of the 11th instant, I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, covering a list of exempts in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Further information on this subject will be communicated when received.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
The message and communication from the Secretary of War were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and ordered to be printed.
On motion of Mr. Hanly,
The House adjourned until 12 o'clock m. to-morrow.
SECRET SESSION.
The House being in secret session,
The Chair laid before the House a communication from the President; which was read as follows, viz:
Richmond, Va., December 16, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I herewith transmit for your consideration in secret session a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering a report in relation to "foreign cotton loan."
I recommend the ratification by Congress of the accompanying contract for a second foreign loan and of the issue of the cotton certificates made for the use of the Navy Department.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Mr. Foote moved to refer the communication and accompanying documents to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. Graham moved to amend by inserting in place of the "Committee on Ways and Means" the "Special Committee on the Currency."
Mr. Dargan moved to amend the amendment by referring the subject to a select committee of five members.
The question being upon agreeing to the amendment to the amendment,
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It was decided in the affirmative.
And the question recurring on agreeing to the motion as amended,
It was also decided in the affirmative.
Mr. Perkins moved the following instructions; which were adopted, viz:
with instructions to report how much cotton the Government has now on hand and how much has been disposed of by the Government abroad; also, how much has been realized from the Erlanger loan, and how much of that has been expended, and for what.
The House then proceeded to the consideration of a bill on the Calendar, to be entitled "An act to provide for holding elections for Representatives in the Congress of the Confederate States from the State of Missouri."
Mr. Vest moved that the bill do lie on the table.
The motion was agreed to.
And the House,
On motion of Mr. Hilton,
Resolved itself into open session.
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