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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 --TWENTY-FIRST DAY--FRIDAY, February 6, 1863.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 6]
TWENTY-FIRST DAY--FRIDAY, February 6, 1863.

OPEN SESSION.

The House met pursuant to adjournment, and proceeded to the consideration of the unfinished business of yesterday; which [was] on agreeing to the first rule as amended, reported from the Committee on Rules and Officers of the House.

The following amendment was prepared and submitted by the Speaker, viz:

Strike out all of the original and insert in lieu thereof the following, viz:

"Upon the introduction of memorials, resolutions, and bills, no debate, except by unanimous consent, shall be allowed on the question of reference, or on the question of adopting resolutions asking information from the Executive Department, or instructing committees to inquire and report: Provided, however, That the member introducing a memorial, resolution, or bill shall always be allowed five minutes to explain the character of the same;"
which was agreed to, and the rule as amended was adopted.

Mr. Chambliss, by consent, introduced

A bill to be entitled "An act to increase the pay of the clerks at the naval station at Charlotte, North Carolina;"
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Mr. Chambliss also offered the following resolution, viz:

Whereas many of the best, most valuable, and patriotic citizens of the Confederate States have been driven from their homes by the public enemy, have withstood the seductions and remained firm and loyal in their attachments to the Southern cause, and have sacrificed their property in consequence of their devotion to their country; and

Whereas such loyal citizens are entitled to the respect, the sympathy, and the aid of the Government: Therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Committee on Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of passing a law relieving from taxation during the war all loyal citizens who have been forced to flee from their homes by reason of the presence of the Northern Army;
which was read and agreed to.

Mr. Davidson, by consent, offered the following resolution, viz:

Resolved, That the President be requested to inform this House what sum or sums of money have been vested or funded for the Cherokee Indians east of the Mississippi out of "the removal and subsistence fund" under the treaty of New Echota of eighteen hundred and thirty-five and eighteen hundred and thirty-six by the United States. When the same was so funded. When the interest was last paid. What legislation has heretofore been enacted by the United States, and what legislation is now necessary to carry into effect the late treaty stipulations with said tribe;
which was read and agreed to.

Mr. Chambers, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred

A bill to be entitled "An act in relation to the transfer of troops, and to repeal an act entitled 'An act in relation to the transfer of troops,' approved September twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,"

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reported the same back, with the recommendation that it pass with an amendment.

The bill was taken up, and having been read as follows, viz:

The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That an act entitled "An act in relation to the transfer of troops," approved September twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and that it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to transfer any private or noncommissioned officer who may be in a regiment from a State of this Confederacy other than his own, to a regiment from his own State, whenever such private or noncommissioned officer may apply for such transfer, and it shall not be necessary to obtain such transfer to secure the consent of the regimental, division, or corps commanders to whose commands such private or noncommissioned officer may belong, or of any officer to whose command such private or noncommissioned officer may apply to be transferred: Provided, That this act shall not apply to any one who has enlisted as a substitute,

Mr. Chambers, on the part of the committee, moved to amend the same by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following, viz:

That an act entitled "An act in relation to the transfer of troops," approved September twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and that it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to transfer any private or noncommissioned officer who may be in a regiment from a State of this Confederacy other than his own, to a regiment from his own, State, whenever such private or noncommissioned officer may apply for such transfer, and it shall not be necessary in order to obtain such transfer to secure the consent of the company, regimental, brigade, division, or corps commander to whose command such private or noncommissioned officer may belong, or to which he may apply to be transferred, but it shall be sufficient to require the applicant to report to the commanding officer of the regiment to which he applies to be transferred, by whom he shall be placed in the company of his choice in that regiment, unless such company shall be already full to its maximum, in which case the said commanding officer may place him in any other company of that regiment: Provided, That this act shall not apply to any one who has enlisted as a substitute.

Mr. Read moved to amend the amendment by adding thereto the following:

• Sec 2. That whenever the Secretary of War shall grant a transfer agreeably to the above provisions to any soldier in the service, he shall furnish transportation also;

Mr. Ralls moved further to amend the amendment by adding thereto the following, viz:
Provided, The regiment to which the applicant wishes to be transferred belongs to the same division to which the applicant belongs.

The amendment to the amendment was lost.

Mr. Dupré moved that the bill and amendments be printed and the further consideration of the same be postponed.

Mr. Atkins demanded the question; which was ordered, and the motion was lost.

Mr. Hilton moved further to amend the amendment by adding thereto the following, viz:
The privilege of this act shall only be extended to persons who enlisted in regiments of other States before the secession of their own States.

Mr. Foote demanded the previous question; which was ordered, and the amendment to the amendment was lost.

The amendment of the committee as amended was agreed to, and the bill as amended was engrossed and read a third time.

The question being on the passage of the bill,

Mr. Clark called for the yeas and nays;

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Which were ordered,

And are recorded as follows:
• Yeas ... 49 [50]
• Nays ... 33

Yeas: Arrington, Ashe, Atkins, Ayer, Batson, Bell, Boteler, Boyce, Bridgers, Eli M. Bruce, Horatio W. Bruce, Burnett, Chambliss, Chilton, Clopton, Curry, Elliott, Ewing, Farrow, Foote, Foster, Gaither, Gartrell, Goode, Graham, Gray, Hanly, Hartridge, Hilton, Hodge, Holcombe, Kenan of North Carolina, Machen, Marshall, McDowell, McQueen, Menees, Miles, Moore, Perkins, Preston, Ralls, Read, Sexton, Simpson, Smith of North Carolina, Strickland, Vest, Wright of Tennessee, and Wright of Texas.

Nays: Chrisman, Clapp, Clark, Collier, Conrad, Conrow, Crockett, Currin, Dargan, Davidson, Davis, De Jarnette, Dupré, Freeman, Gardenhire, Garland, Holt, Johnston, Jones, Kenan of Georgia, Lewis, Lyon, Lyons, McLean, Pugh, Royston, Russell, Smith of Alabama, Staples, Trippe, Villeré, Wilcox, and Mr. Speaker.

So the bill was passed.

Mr. Ralls moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.

A message was received from the Senate, by their Secretary, Mr. Nash; which is as follows, viz:

Mr. Speaker: The Senate have passed, without amendment, a bill of this House of the following title, viz:

• H. R. 6. An act making appropriations for the support of the Government for the period from February 1 to June 30, 1863, inclusive, and to supply deficiencies arising prior thereto.

Mr. Kenner, from the Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred

A bill to fund a portion of the currency of the Confederate States, reported the same back, with the recommendation that it pass with an amendment, be printed, and made the special order of business for Tuesday next, and from day to day until concluded; which was agreed to.

Mr. Curry called for the special order of the day.

Pending which,

On motion of Mr. Kenner,

The House resolved itself into secret session; and having spent some time therein, again resolved itself into open session.

A message was received from the Senate; which is as follows, viz:

Mr. Speaker: The Senate have passed a bill of the following title, viz:

• S. 35. An act to authorize the issue of bonds for funding Treasury notes;

In which I am directed to ask the concurrence of this House.

On motion of Mr. Kenner, the Senate bill entitled "An act to authorize the issue of bonds for funding Treasury notes" was taken up, read the first and second times, and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

On motion of Mr. Davis,

The House adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow.

SECRET SESSION.

The House being in secret session,

Mr. Foote, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred joint resolutions on the pending war, and matters appertaining thereto, reported the same back, with a recommendation that they pass with an amendment.

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And the question being upon the amendment of the committee, which was upon striking out the whole of the original resolutions; which are as follows, to wit:

Joint resolutions on the pending war, and matters appertaining thereto.

The people of the Confederate States of America having, in the progress of the pending war, most clearly demonstrated their ability to maintain by arms the claim to separate independence which they have heretofore asserted before the world, and being inflexibly resolved never to relinquish the struggle in which they are engaged until the great object for which they have been contending shall have been finally accomplished; in view of the fact that a great political reaction, in opposition to the bloody and unnatural war now in course of prosecution, has displayed itself in several of the most populous and influential States of what was once honorably known as "the United States of America," and, in view of the additional fact that even among the avowed opponents of despotism, and the recognized friends of peace in the North, a grave and deplorable misapprehension has of late arisen in regard to the true condition of public sentiment in the South, touching the question of reconstructing that political union once existing under the protection of what is known as the Federal Constitution: Now, in order that no further misunderstanding of the kind referred to may hereafter prevail, and in order that the unchangeable determination of our Government and people, in reference to the terms upon which alone they would be willing to bring this sanguinary struggle to a close, may be made known;

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve, as follows:

• 1. There is no plan of reconstructing what was formerly known as the Federal Union to which the people of the Confederate States will ever consent. Wrongs too grievous and multiplied have been committed upon us and upon our most cherished rights, by a united North, since this unprovoked and most wicked war commenced; a majority of the people of the Northern States have too evidently shown themselves to be utterly incapable of self-government and unmindful of all the fundamental principles upon which along republican institutions can be maintained; they have too long submitted patiently to the iron rule of the basest and most degrading despotism that the world has yet known; for too long a period of time have they openly and unblushingly sympathized with the lawless and ferocious miscreants who have been sent into the bosom of the unoffending South to spill the precious blood of our most valued citizens, to pollute and to desecrate all that we hold in especial respect and veneration, to rob us of our property, to expel us from our homes, and wantonly to devastate our country, to allow even of the possibility of our ever again consenting to hold the least political connection with those who have so cruelly outraged our sensibilities and so profoundly dishonored themselves, and, in association with whom, we feel that we could not expect that freedom which we love, that self-respect which we are determined ever to cultivate, and the esteem and sympathy of civilized and Christian nations.
• 2. Whilst the Confederate States of America are not at all responsible for the existing war, and have been at all times ready to participate in such arrangements as would be best suited to bring it to a close in a manner consistent with their own safety and honor, they could not yield their consent to an armistice of a single day or hour so long as the incendiary proclamation of the atrocious monster now bearing rule in Washington City shall remain unrevoked, nor could the Government of said Confederate States agree to negotiate at all in regard to a suspension of hostilities except upon the basis of a formal and unconditional recognition of their independence.
• 3. Whenever the friends of peace in the North shall grow strong enough to constrain Abraham Lincoln and his flagitious Cabinet to withdraw said proclamation and propose an armistice upon the basis aforesaid, the Government of the Confederate States will be ready to accede to said proposition of armistice with a view to the settlement of all existing difficulties.
• 4. Should peace be, at any time, brought about, the Confederate States of America would freely consent to the formation of a just and mutually advantageous commercial treaty with all the States now constituting the United States, except New England, with whose people and in whose ignoble love of gold and brutifying fanaticism this disgraceful war has mainly originated; in consideration of which facts the people of the Confederate States of America are firmly and deliberately resolved to have no intercourse whatever hereafter, either direct or indirect, political, commercial, or social, under any circumstances which could be possibly imagined to exist, with said States of New England or the people therein resident.
• 5. The Government of the Confederate States, in consideration of the change in public sentiment which has occurred in several of the Northern States, wherein political

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  elections have been recently held, sympathizing most kindly with those by whose manly exertions that change has been brought about, would be willing to conclude a just and honorable peace with any one or more of said States who (renouncing all political connection with New England) may be found willing to stipulate for the desisting at once from the further prosecution of the war against the South; and in such case the Government of the Confederate States would be willing to enter into a league, offensive and defensive, with the States thus desisting, of a permanent and enduring character.

• 6. The Government of the Confederate States is now willing, as it has heretofore repeatedly avowed itself to be, whenever the States bordering upon the Mississippi River, or any of them, shall have declared their inclination to withdraw from the further prosecution of the war upon the South (which, could it be successful, would only have the effect of destroying their own best market), to guarantee to them, in the most effectual and satisfactory manner, the peaceful and uninterrupted navigation of the said Mississippi River and its tributaries and to open to them at once the markets of the South, greatly enhanced in value to them as they would be by the permanent exclusion of all articles of New England growth or manufacture.
• 7. The course of practical neutrality in regard to the pending war heretofore pursued by the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains has afforded the highest gratification to the people of the Confederate States of America; and it is hoped that the day is not far distant when said States and Territories, consulting their own obvious safety and future welfare, will withdraw from all political connection with a Government which has heretofore been a source of continual oppression to them; and when said States and Territories, asserting their separate independence, shall appropriate to themselves the manifold advantages sure to result from such a movement, among which may be reckoned, first, relief from grievous and exhausting tariff regulations now being rigidly enforced; second, relief from all the discredit resulting inevitably from the prosecution of the present unjust and unauthorized war; third, relief from the pressure of a despotism the most heartless and atrocious ever yet established; fourth, relief from the crushing weight of taxation unavoidably growing out of the war; fifth, the exclusive use and enjoyment of all the rich mineral lands stretching along the slope of the Pacific; sixth, free trade with all the nations of the earth, and a future maritime growth and power that has no parallel; and, lastly, a monopoly of the trade of the Pacific Ocean.
• 8. Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested, if he shall approve these resolutions, to cause them to be promulgated and transmitted to the States of the North by such means as he shall deem most judicious; and that he accompany them, if he shall think it advisable, with such an address or proclamation, expository of the matters embodied therein, as he shall judge most suitable and proper,

Resolved, That the Government of the Confederate States have never designed to deny to the Northwestern States the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and is prepared to open negotiations with one or more of them whenever they shall have dissolved their present political connection with the United States,

Mr. Boyce moved to amend the amendment of the committee by striking out the whole of the same and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to wit:

Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Confederate States, That it is the sense of Congress that if peace can be obtained on the basis of an acknowledgement of our independence, and the just settlement of the issues growing out of the war, by the concession to the Northern States, excepting the New England States, of the free navigation of the Mississippi, and a reciprocity treaty of free trade, such concession should be made.

That a secret agent should be sent to Canada to promote the above policy.

That the sum ofdollars be placed at the disposal of the President, to be used as a secret service fund for the purpose contemplated in these resolutions.

Mr. Conrad moved to postpone the further consideration of the resolutions and amendments and to make them the special order for Tuesday next.

Mr. Baldwin moved to postpone indefinitely the further consideration of the resolutions and amendments.

Pending which,

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A message was received from the Senate, by the hands of Mr. Nash, the Secretary of that body; which is as follows, to wit:

Mr. Speaker: The Senate have passed, with amendments, a bill of this House of the following title, viz:

• Secret H. R. 5. An act granting transportation to troops who volunteered for the war;

In which amendments I am directed to ask the concurrence of this House.

The Chair laid before the House a House bill to be entitled "An act granting transportation to troops who volunteered for the war;" which had been returned from the Senate with sundry amendments.

And the rule requiring the reference of the bill and amendments to a committee having been suspended on motion of Mr. Davis,

And the question being upon agreeing to the amendments of the Senate, which were to strike out all of the original bill; which is as follows, to wit:

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the provisions of the act of the sixteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, known as "Act to further provide for the public defense," granting furloughs home and back to all those retained in the service beyond the term of their enlistment, be extended to those who volunteered for the war,
and to insert in lieu thereof

That noncommissioned officers and privates who have been mustered into service for the war, and to whom furloughs may be granted for not more than sixty days, shall be entitled to transportation home and back: Provided, That this allowance shall only be made once during the term of enlistment of such noncommissioned officers and privates,

The same was agreed to.

And the title of the bill being under consideration,

The Senate amendment, striking out the whole of the same and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to wit:

A bill to be entitled "An act to provide for transportation of persons who have been mustered into the service for the war,"
was agreed to.

Mr. Jones moved to reconsider the vote by which the House concurred in the amendments of the Senate.

Mr. Gartrell moved to lay the motion of Mr. Jones on the table;
which was agreed to.

Mr. Davis moved to suspend the forty-second rule.

The motion was agreed to;

When,

Mr. Gray rose to a point of order, viz: That a motion to lay on the table a motion to reconsider a vote on the passage of a bill or resolution being decided in the affirmative did not carry the bill or resolution with it.

Mr. Baldwin being in the Chair, decided that it did.

From which decision Mr. Gray appealed.

And the question being,

Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgment of the House?

The same was decided in the affirmative.

And on motion of Mr. Jones,

The House resolved itself into open session.

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