The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.

Confederate Congress, 1862

CONGRESS, Confederate. 1862 The sessions of the Provisional Congress, which commenced on the 18th of November, 1861, were continued until the 15th of February, 1862, when its term of existence expired. These sessions were almost entirely held in secret, and no reports have been made public. It was a body elected by the State Conventions and Legislatures, and more truly and unanimously a representative of them than of the people. It was created for the great purpose of combining the States which had resolved to withdraw from the Federal Union, and to prepare the way for the organization of a separate and independent Government. These duties were boldly and resolutely performed.

On the 18th of February the Government commenced its existence under the "Permanent Constitution." On that day at noon the Confederate Congress assembled at Richmond, and the Vice-President elect, Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, took the chair in the Senate, and under the authority of the Constitution formally opened the session of that body. He caused to be read the last clause of the Constitution and the act of the Provisional Congress putting in operation the permanent Government of the Confederate States, and the act supplemental to the same. All the slaveholding States were represented, except Delaware and Maryland.*

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* The following is a list of the members of both houses:

SENATE

Alabama.—Clement C. Clay, Wm. L. Yancey.

Florida. J. M. Baker. A. E. Maxwell.

Kentucky.—Wm. E. Simms, H. C. Burnett

Mississippi.—James Phelan, Albert G. Brown.

North Carolina.—George Davis, Wm. S. Dortch.

Tennessee.—Gustavus O. Henry, Landon C. Haynes.

Arkansas.—Robert W. Johnson, O. B. Mitchell

Georgia.—John W. Lewis, B. H. Hill.

Louisiana.—Thos. J. Semmes, Edward Sparrow.

Missouri.—John B. Clark, Robert L. Y. Peyton.

South Carolina.—Robert W. Barnwell, James L. Orr.

Texas. — Lewis T. Wigfall, Wm. S. Oldham.

Virginia.—Wm. B. Preston, E. M. T. Hunter.  

Nineteen Senators being present, the oath to support the Constitution was then administered. R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; was chosen president pro tem, and the Vice-President retired. James H. Nash, of South Carolina, was chosen secretary, and James Page, of North Carolina, doorkeeper.

The House of Representatives assembled at the same hour, and were called to order by Howell Cobb, president of the late Provisional Congress. The act of that Congress was then read, whereby it was made his duty to preside at the organization of the House of Representatives of the Permanent Congress. A quorum being present, the following oath was administered to the members by States: "You, and each of you, do solemnly swear, that you will support the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. So help you God." Mr. Thomas S. Bocock, of Virginia, being the only person nominated, was then elected Speaker, he was the candidate for the same position at the first session of the Thirty-sixth Federal Congress. Mr. Bocock, on taking the chair, addressed the House as follows:

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OR REPRESENTATIVES: I return to you my sincere thanks for the honor you have done me in selecting me to preside over your deliberations during this the first Congress under our permanent constitution. And I desire to say that it will be my one great aim, in discharging the duties of this office, so to conduct myself as to snow to you and to the world that your confidence has not been altogether misapplied. I may be permitted to say that I have

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Alabama.—V.. L. Dargan, W. P. Chilton, James E. Pugh, Jabez M. L. Curry, Wm. R. Smith, John P. Rawlins, Thomas J. Foster, David Clopton, L. F. Lyon.

Arkansas.—Felix J. Batson, G. D. Royster, A. H. Garland. T. II. Hanley.

Florida.—James B. Dorkins, R. B. Hilton.

North Carolina.—"Wm. H. N. Smith. Robert Bridges, Owen E. Keenan. J. O. McDowell, Thos. R. Ashe, Archibald Arrington, Robert McLean, William Lander, R. C. Gaither, A. S. Davidson.

South Carolina.—Wm. W. Boyce, Wm. V. Miles, M. L. Bonham, John McQueen, L. M. Adger, James Farran.

Georgia.—A. H. Keenan. Hines Holt, A. P.. Wright. Julien Hartridge, L. J. Gartrell, Wm. W. Clark, Robert P. Trippe, D. W. Lewis, J. C. Monnalym, Hardy Strickland.

Kentucky.—Willis B. Machen, John W. Crockett, II. E. Bead, Geo. W. Ewing, Jas. B. Crisman, Geo. P. Hodges, H. W. Bruce. S. S. Scott, E. M. Bruce, K. J. Breckinridge, Jr., John M. Elliott

Louisiana.—Duncan F. Kenner, Charles Villiers. John Perkins, Jr., Charles M. Conrad, Henry Marshall, Lucien Dupose.

Mississippi.—John J. McRae, J. W. Clapp. Reuben Davis, Israel Welsh, H. C. Chambers, Otho E. Singleton, E. Barksdale.

Missouri.*—Wm. H. Cooke, Thomas A. Harris. Casper W. Bell, A. H. Conrow, George G. Vest, Thomas W. Freeman, Samuel Hyer.t

Tennessee.—A. G. Watkins, D. M. Currin, J. D. C. Atkins, H. E. Foster, Thomas Menees, George W. Jones, Meredith P. Gentry. William G. Swann, W. H. Tibbs, N. S. Gardner, I. T. Heiskell

Texas. —John A. Wilcox. P. W. Gregg, C. C. Herbert, W. B. Wright, M. P. Graham, S. B. F. Sexton.

Virginia.—John B. Chambliss. M. B. H. Garnett, James Lyons, Collier, Thomas S. Bocock, John Goode, Jr., James P. Holcomb, D. C. Dejarnette, William Smith, A. R. Boteler, John B. Baldwin, Waller B. Staples, Walter Preston Vacancy vice A. G. Jenkins, Robert Johnson, Charles W. Russell.

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*Missouri, under the apportionment, is entitled to thirteen members.

The State has not been districted, and the above members—to the Provisional Congress—bold over.

 t Taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, and not present.

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firm determination, so far as I may be able, to maintain the dignity and preserve the decorum of this body; to administer its rules with firmness and courtesy, and to conduct its business with the strictest impartiality. If such a determination, united with a sincere desire to sec our legislation take such shape as will best tend to secure the independence, maintain the honor, and advance the welfare of this entire Confederacy—if this could command success—I am sure I might expect to succeed. But other qualifications arc requisite, about which it is not for me to promise. If in anything I may fall short, I trust that the same kind partiality which "has called me to this position will throw the mantle of charity over my defects, and will give me, in every time of trial, that kind cooperation and generous support which my deficiencies may require. The unanimity with which you have made this election is a happy augury of the spirit with which your proceedings will be governed. This is no time for resentments, no time for jealousies or heartburnings. Influenced by a great common purpose, sharing together the same rich nope, and united by a common destiny, let us hush every murmur of discontent, and banish every feeling of personal grief. Here let us know no man save as a co-laborer in the same great cause, sustaining those whom circumstances may designate to go forward; seeking nothing for the sake merely of personal gratification, but willing rather to yield everything for the public good—" in honor preferring one another." That some of you, influenced by momentary impulse, should grow restive under the enforcement of those rules which you may make for your own government would be a matter neither of surprise nor of complaint. But he will prove himself either a weak or a bad man who, on reflection, fails to call back his wayward spirit, and subject it to necessary restraint. Submission to constituted authority is the primary necessity in all communities, and self-control is the "chief lesson of individual life. In the light of passing events we can measure the height and the depth of the excellence intended to be conveyed, when it is said, "Better is he who ruleth his own spirit than he who taketh a city." The gaze of the world is fixed upon us. Nations look on, curious to see how this new system of government will move off, and what manner of men having been chosen to guide its earliest movements. It is, indeed, a new system; for though coinciding in many particulars with that under which we lived so long, it yet differs from it in many essential particulars. When the Constitution of 17-7 was put in operation the War of the Revolution had been successfully closed. Peace prevailed throughout the whole land, and hallowed all its borders. The industrial operations of the country, long held back, now bounded forward and expanded with all the vigor and rankness of tropical vegetation beneath the influence of a midsummer sun. The trial which that constitution had to encounter in its earliest, as well as in its more matured existence, was simply one engendered by a conflict of these interests. The question was whether it could give protection to all these interests without becoming the partisan of one and the oppressor of another; or, in fact, whether it had the sustaining power to preserve its integrity against the influence of interest wielded by ambition. We have seen the result. The case with our constitution is very different. It is put into operation in time of war, and its first movements are disturbed by the shock of battle. Its trial is ono created by the urgencies of this contest. The question to be decided is, whether, without injury to its own integrity, it can supply the machinery and afford the means requisite to conduct this war to that successful conclusion which the people, in their heart of hearts, have resolved on, and which, I trust, has been decreed in that higher court, from whose decisions there is no appeal. The solution of this question is in the bosom of the future. But our system can never perish out like that to which I have alluded. When ambition and interest seized upon that, and destroyed its integrity, they were not allowed to appropriate the rule altogether to themselves. Fanaticism Page 258 came forward and demanded to be received as a participant of power with them, and it claimed not in vain. Beneath the sway of this unholy triumvirate justice was forgotten, intolerance was established, private morals were ruined, and public virtue perished. All feeling of constitutional restraint passed away, and all sense of the obligation of an oath was forever lost. The whole machinery of government degenerated into the absolute rule of a corrupt numerical majority. Already the weaker section was marked out for destruction by the stronger, and then came disruption and overthrow. Since then tyranny the most absolute, and perjury the most vile, have destroyed the last vestige of soundness in the whole system. Our new system is designed to avoid the errors of the old. Certainly it is founded in a different system of political philosophy, and is sustained by a peculiar and more conservative state of society. It has elements of strength and long life. But at the threshold lies the question I have already stated. Can it legitimately afford the means to carry the war to a successful conclusion? If not, it must perish; but a successful result must be achieved. But it must be destroyed, not by the hand of violence, or by the taint of perjury. It must go out peacefully and in pursuance of its own provisions. Better submit to momentary inconvenience than to injure representative honor or violate public faith. In the whole book of expedients there is no place for falsehood and perjury. Let us, on the contrary, assiduously cultivate the feeling of respect for constitutional limitation, and a secret reverence for the sanction of an oath. Seeing, therefore, gentlemen of the House of Representatives, that we ore custodians of the nation's life and the guardians of the Constitution's integrity, what manner of men should we be? How cool, now considerate, how earnest, how inflexible, how true. Having no prospect in the future, save through the success of our cause, how regardless should we be of all selfish views and plans of personal advancement. Selected by the people to take care of the State in this time of difficulty and of trial, how we ought to dedicate ourselves in heart, mind, soul, and energy to the public service. Neither history has recorded, nor song depicted, nor fable shadowed forth higher instances of self-devotion than ought to be shown in the conduct of this Congress. It is not allowed us to pursue a course of obscure mediocrity. We inaugurate a Government, we conduct a revolution. We must live, live forever in the memory of man, either for praise or for blame. If we prove equal to the crisis in which we are placed, we shall win imperishable honor. But if, on the contrary, we show ourselves incompetent to the discharge of our duty, we shall sink beneath the contempt of mankind. Truly our position is one of great import. Our gallant army now holds, as it deserves, the first place in the thoughts and affections of our people. But of scarcely less importance, in the estimation of all, is the legislative authority, which initiates the civil policy of the Confederacy, and which sustains and upholds that army itself. And when the latter shall have accomplished its holy mission by driving the invader from the soil which he desecrates and pollutes; and when the hearts of a grateful and free people, more generous than a Roman Senate, shall, for this service decree to it one lifelong ovation j if true to ourselves, and competent to our duty, this Congress will be united in the triumphal honors. And if this Constitution be destined to go forward, as we hope and believe it will, to a distant future, gaining new strength from trial, and winning new triumphs from time, giving protection and peace to successive generations of happy and enlightened people; as the gray haired sires and venerated patriarchs of ages now remote shall seek to inspire the courage and fire the hearts of the ingenuous youth of their day by recounting the heroic deeds of the army which achieved our independence; let the lesson be extended and enlarged by our enabling them to tell also of the self-sacrificing patriotism and enlarged statesmanship of the Congress which inaugurate the Permanent Constitution of the Southern Confederacy. Again I thank you.

Although all important measures introduced at this and the subsequent sessions of Congress were discussed with closed doors, and no reports have ever been made public of the speeches or votes, yet some measures were incidentally discussed in open session, which furnish a view of the opinions of members. On the next day the Senate camo to the House, and the votes for President were counted. The form of proceeding was that adopted under the Federal Constitution. The votes were as follows:

Total number of States voting 11

Number of electoral votes cast. 109

For Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, for President. 109

For Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, for  Vice-President 109

The number of votes cast by the States was as follows:

Alabama 11

Arkansas 6

Florida 4

Georgia 12

Louisiana 8

Mississippi 9

North Carolina 12

South Carolina 8

Tennessee 13

Texas 8

Virginia 18

Total 109

On the 22 of February the Inaugural Address was delivered, and on the 25th a Message was sent to Congress by the President. (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.)

The following resolution was offered by Mr. Foote, of Tennessee, in the House on the 20th:

Resolved, That whatever propriety there may have been in the original adoption of what is known as the defensive policy in connection with the prosecution of the pending war for Southern independence, recent events have already demonstrated the expediency of abandoning that policy henceforth and forever, and that it will be the duty of the Government of the Confederate States to impart all possible activity to our military forces everywhere, and to assail the forces of the enemy wherever they are to be found, whether upon the land or water, with a view to obtain the most ample indemnity for the past, and the most complete security for the future.

Mr. Jenkins, of Virginia, hoped that the House would not concur in the resolution without discussion, impeaching as it did the Administration. Gentlemen may argue as if the policy of the Government could be changed by the mere substitution of one word for another, but the change of policy proposed would necessitate the increase of our army to double its present size.

Mr. Foote earnestly advocated the resolution, which expressed, he was sure, the universal conviction of the country, and which he hoped would meet a favorable response from this House. He denounced the defensive policy, which all history would show was not the policy which a people in revolution should adopt. President Davis did not need the vindication of the gentleman from Virginia, for he had high authority for saying here that the President was opposed to the defensive policy which " somebody"—he could not say who— had imposed upon the country. Judge Harris, of Mississippi, an intimate friend of the President, had authorized him (the speaker) to declare that the latter had no hand and no participation, Page 259 however remote, in stopping the onward movement of our armies; on the contrary, the President had allowed to the generals in the field the most liberal discretion. They alone are responsible for the deplorable nonaction of our forces. The speaker then pointed out the advantages which, to his mind, might have occurred to us, had a vigorous onward movement been adopted immediately after the battle of Manassas. And of such a movement he was yet in favor; he desired that the Yankees shall be made to pay the whole expenses of this war, that the commercial magnates of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia be made to unlock their strong boxes, and to indemnify the South for losses which they had imposed upon her. He desired, above all things, to drive the enemy beyond our borders. All this he would have, and nothing less. He desired to show to the world, that which the adoption of this resolution would express, that the Sothern people, far from being disheartened by reverses, are invigorated in their determination to achieve their independence. Southern freedom, he contended, could have been achieved six months ago had we pushed boldly forward. Had we passed into Maryland—heroic Maryland— rescued Baltimore and Annapolis, and cut off the railroad communication with the North, that independence which we must now purchase with a vast expenditure of blood and treasure, could have been secured to us at less than one fourth of what the war has already cost us.

Mr. Jenkins said, while listening to the gentleman's eloquent illustration of the art militaire, there came across his mind the vision of a bygone scene. He referred to that scene related in ancient history, when a philosopher of classic renown endeavored to prove to Hannibal the error of his system of warfare. No doubt he did it quite as eloquently and as plausibly as the philosopher from Tennessee had discoursed here to-day. When the philosopher had departed from the presence of Hannibal, a friend asked him what he thought of his instructor. The reply, said the speaker, is doubtless familiar to all here. He had too much respect to apply it directly to his friend from Tennessee, whom the quotation fitted as nicely as a wedding garment.

Mr. Foote said he remembered well the quotation alluded to, and in reply to the gentleman from Virginia, would demand to know whether he intended to apply it personally to him. If so, he should make a special issue with the gentleman upon it.

Mr. Jenkins said he did not remember the entire quotation, but if it contained aught which could be deemed disrespectful, he here disclaimed any intention of applying it to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. Foote accepted the disclaimer, and said that as the gentleman's memory was so defective, he would recite Hannibal's reply, which was that the philosopher " was the greatest fool he had ever seen."

Mr. Boyce, of South Carolina, said: "He had thought that we should proceed with all possible energy. We should have aimed at an offensive warfare. All the slave States should be included. In his opinion the war between the North and the South might last a long time, and that hostilities would exist forever. We cannot afford to give up one inch of our Southern soil. The North now exceeds us to the number of eighteen or twenty millions of white people. We should have pursued, from the very first, more of an aggressive policy, which would have given a position to the Southern States; it would have encouraged our friends and discouraged our enemies, and such a policy had been indicated by our distinguished President from Mississippi, when on his way to be inaugurated aa President of the Provisional Government—that we should wage war on the enemy's own ground. Mr. L. P. Walker, the former Secretary of War, had said at an early day that the flag of the South should float shortly over the Capitol at Washington. He, the speaker, had thought the expression unwise at that time. We should have talked peace and acted war; used peaceful terms, but prepared for active war. Audacity! audacity! audacity! is the key to success. Make no show of fear; prosecute the war with great vigor. Talk of risk—have we not risked a revolution? and shall we see it fail? We should have pursued an aggressive policy from the very first. The enemy at that time were unprepared; they had but 75,000 men, and most of them were holiday soldiers, and came South as to a sort of Fourth of July celebration. The genius of our policy should then have been action."

Mr. Machen, of Kentucky, said: "I came from a land which is now resonant with the drum and fife of Yankeedom. Still I am not in favor of adopting a new policy or of having Congress dictate what shall be the disposition of our forces with regard to the enemy. Congress should not usurp the military power."

Mr. Foote, rising, said: "I want to know if a simple proposition is usurpation. If simply to express an opinion is to be styled and considered usurpation, I want to go home."

The resolution was laid on the table.

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In the Senate, the Committee on Military Affairs reported a bill to indemnify the owners of cotton, tobacco, military and naval stores, or other property of any kind whatever which might be of use to the enemy, that should be destroyed to prevent its capture.

The bill was finally passed in the following, form:

Be it enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That it shall be the duty of all military commanders in the service of the Confederate States to destroy all cotton, tobacco, or other property, that may be useful to the enemy, if the same cannot safely be removed, whenever, in their judgment, the said cotton, tobacco, and other property is about to fall into the hands of the enemy.

This cuts off all compensation to owners. It Page 260 was estimated that the amount of cotton liable to destruction would not amount to much more than 5 per cent, of the entire crop. The same was the case with tobacco.

The following joint resolutions were presented in the House by Mr. Rowles of Alabama, on the 24th of February, and unanimously adopted:

Whereas, The United States are waging war against the Confederate States, with the avowed purpose of compelling the latter to reunite with them under the same constitution and government; and whereas, the waging of war with such an object is in direct opposition to the sound republican maxim that " all government rests upon the consent of the governed," and can only tend to consolidation in the general government and the consequent destruction of the rights of the States; and whereas, this result being attained, the two sections can only exist together in the relation of the oppressor and the oppressed, because of the great preponderance of power in the Northern section, coupled with dissimilarity of interests; and whereas, we, the representatives of the people of the Confederate States, in Congress assembled, may be presumed to know the sentiments of said people, having just been elected by them; therefore, be it

Resolved, That this Congress do solemnly declare and publish to the world that it is the unalterable determination of the people of the Confederate States (in humble reliance upon Almighty God) to suffer all the calamities of the most protracted war, but that they will never, on any terms, politically affiliate with a people who arc guilty of an invasion of their soil and the butchery of their citizens.

The compensation of members of Congress was fixed, by an act, at $3,000 per year, and mileage at the rate of 20 cents per mile.

The following rates of compensation were also adopted: Secretary of the Senate, $2,500; Assistant do., $2,000; two clerks, each $1,500; sergeant-at-arms of Senate, $2,000; doorkeeper, $1,500.

In the House, Mr. Foote, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reported that they had had under consideration a bill to send commissioners to represent the Confederate States in the Industrial Exhibition to be held at London in the year 1862. They reported back the same, and asked to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject, and that the bill lie on the table.

On the 27th of February a resolution was unanimously adopted in the Senate, declaring that the Confederate Government would entertain no peace propositions excluding any portion of the soil of any of the Confederate States, and that the war should be continued until the enemy had been expelled entirely from the Confederacy.

In the House, on the 3d of March, a resolution was passed advising planters to withdraw from the cultivation of cotton and tobacco, and devote their energies to raising provisions, cattle, hogs, sheep, &c.

On the 4th, a Message was sent to Congress by President Davis, in which he stated that he had suspended Generals Floyd and Pillow from their commands until they could give a more satisfactory account of the action at Fort Donelson. He said that neither of these generals says that reinforcements were asked for, nor do they show that the position could not have been evacuated and the whole army saved as well as a part of it. Neither is it shown by what authority two senior generals abandoned their responsibility by transferring their command to junior officers. Subsequently, on the request of the Legislature of Virginia, General Floyd was reinstated. On the same day a vote of thanks to Captain Buchanan and the officers and crew of the Merrimac for then gallantry in the action in Hampton Roads, was passed.

On the 12th of March the Senate took up the resolution of the House, proposing to advise the planters of the Confederacy to abstain from raising cotton and tobacco this year, and to devote themselves exclusively to the production of grain and provisions.

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, moved to lay this resolution on the table, for the purpose of allowing him to introduce a bill to curtail the cotton crop for the year 1862.

The measure proposed by Mr. Brown provided that no planter or head of a family should sow more cotton seed than would produce three bales of the staple for himself, and one bale for each of the hands employed in the culture during the year 1862; and, in case of exceeding this number, the penalty shall be $40 fine for each bale; and, further, that the planter or head of family should be required to swear to the exact number of bales raised during the year, and to be treated as a perjurer if he swears falsely.

Mr. Brown said that the resolution of the House was not of the slightest use in the world. If anything, it would have a bad effect, inasmuch as it. virtually offered a premium for treachery. Patriotic citizens would not plant any cotton, with or without the resolution; but the large class of grasping Shylocks, bent on gain and personal aggrandizement, would pay no attention to the advice of Congress; and for these Mr. Brown would have a compulsory law. He conceived that a large cotton crop this year would be ruinous to us, since the labor of plantations would be withdrawn from the production of provisions absolutely needful for the support of our armies and our people. He thought that if there was evil in the cotton crop we should strike at the root, or take it by the throat.

Mr. Orr, of South Carolina, said the gentleman was mistaken as to the number of unpatriotic planters. The class, in his judgment, was very small.

Mr. Clay, of Alabama, suggested that the measure proposed by the gentleman was unconstitutional. The forfeiture of the $40 per bale was an indirect mode of raising revenue, and all bills for this purpose, under the constitution, must be originated in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Wigfall, of Texas, said that if any power was laid down clearly in the constitution of the old government and in the new, it was the definition of the powers of Congress regarding the Page 261 punishment of the crimes of treason, of piracy, and of felony on the high seas. Here it is clearly laid down that Congress cannot create crime. Apart from the unconstitutionality of the proposition, Mr. Wigfall objected to the measure proposed for other reasons. He was not sure that it was good policy for us to neglect raising cotton. Unless we continue to raise the staple in abundance, England would foster its cultivation, and after the war it would be difficult for us to monopolize the markets of the world. If we raised no cotton in 1862 it would keep the price up so high that it would pay the other nations of the world to invest largely. This is the policy most desired by English statesmen, and it is that which has prevented the raising of the blockade.

Mr. Brown could not understand why a bill to punish people for not burning cotton likely to fall into the hands of the enemy was not unconstitutional when one to punish the production of the article was. He conceived that in time of war the powers of Congress were augmented, and that it was quite different from peace.

Mr. Clay replied that persons allowing cotton to fall into the hands of the enemy were guilty of treason: for it is giving aid and comfort to the foe, and that is treason, and treason is one of the crimes defined by the constitution. Mr. Clay denied, also, that the constitution was so elastic that it expanded its powers in war and contracted them in peace. The constitution was the same always.

Mr. Barnwell, of South Carolina, was not prepared to abandon the cultivation of cotton under any circumstances, though he admitted a great deal of labor should be bestowed upon the production of supplies, especially at this juncture. On the cultivation of cotton and increase of supplies for market depend not only our sources of wealth, but our importance and consequence, and weight with foreign nations. All our interests appeal to us never to give it up. We must raise it, hold it, and fight for it. We must let the world know that we have it, and that we will sell it cheap, and that we will fight to keep it from our enemy and to protect it. We should not only protect ourselves against our enemy, we should not give our sole strength to the production of articles of subsistence, but we must keep up the cultivation of that which gives us position in the world as a nation, and by which we will control the world. We must have a monopoly of all the markets. We begin to find out that we have not a monopoly, that cotton can be produced elsewhere. Plentiful crops, low prices, and superiority of the article will alone achieve our ends. These at the end of the war will give us o-.ir former preponderance. The proposition of the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Brown) excited his unfeigned astonishment. He had conceived it to be a long settled principle that this Government, or one with similar powers, could not create a crime under the common law. He protested warmly against this the grossest assumption of authority he had ever witnessed.

Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, would like the vote direct on the resolution, and for this purse asked that the motion to lay on the table withdrawn.

This was done and the resolution was put upon its passage.

Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, objected to the bill of Mr. Brown, for two reasons: First, he did not wish to tax the patriotism of the planters; and, secondly, the want of power of Congress to interfere with the internal affairs of any of the States. The policy which diminishes the supply of cotton will hold out no inducements for England to break up the blockade. By keeping cotton scarce and high, its production is stimulated in other countries; India, for instance. If we are denied admission to the markets for several years, and the price is kept to 25 or to 80 cents, see what powerful incentives are given to its production elsewhere. To bring about this state of things and to become the main producer is the secret of all British legislation. This stimulates the planters in their tropical colonies to raise cotton under any disadvantage; otherwise their interests as manufacturers would have compelled them to raise the blockade. Cotton is a source of power and influence only so long as we can raise and keep it in vast quantities at low prices. As to the constitutionality of the bill proposed by Mr. Brown, Mr. Hunter said the Confederate States Government had not the least right to go to any of the States and say how much cotton should be produced. The sovereignty of the States themselves hardly dare do this, much less the delegated power of the Confederacy. If he believed that Congress would pass any such act, or the Government possessed any such power, he would pronounce it a most notorious despotism, worse even than that from which we have just escaped.

Mr. Brown urged that the main object of the enemy being to pass down to the Mississippi Valley and seize our cotton, we should prevent any more being there than could be helped. The idea that cotton could be raised m India was, to use a homely phrase, played out. He was in favor of burning all the cotton we now had, and planting no more until the world was disposed to do us justice. Then wc could test the question of cotton raising in India, with no fears as to the result. Regardless of every power on earth, let us act for ourselves and strike blows for our own superiority.

Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, had long since abandoned the idea that cotton is king. He had arrived at the conclusion that this was a mistake. Nations would violate the laws of nations to supply themselves with cotton, and interest was the ruling principle of the world. We have tested the powers of King Cotton, and have found him to be wanting. We must now abandon all dependence on foreign intervention. The English never will interfere, because Page 262 it is not for their interest. Rather than make war with the United States she would convert her Government into an eleemosynary for the maintenance of her hordes of starving operatives. She would do this because it would be cheaper, and because the darling projects of her statesmen could be fostered and cotton be produced in her colonies. He voted for the resolution for the reason that warning should be given the people to prepare for the continuance of a lengthy war, and that produce must be raised for our subsistence.

Mr. Wigfall acknowledged that cotton was not king, but merely the badge of royalty to him who possessed it. This was the reason England abstained from raising our blockade. She wished to see us destroyed as cotton producers, so that she could become raiser as well as spinner, and thus command the world. She abandoned her own West Indies to abolition in order to foster cotton-raising in India.

The resolution was finally put to vote on its adoption, and lost, as follows:

YEAS.— Messrs. Clay, Clark, Davis, Dorch, Henry, Mitchell, Sparrow, and Semmes—3.

NAYS.—Messrs. Barnwell, Baker, Horner, Hill, Hunter, Johnson, Oldham, Phelan, Peyton, Preston, and Wigfall—11.

The surrender of Roanoke Island was investigated by a committee of the House, who presented a voluminous report concluding as follows: "Whatever blame or responsibility is justly attributable to anyone for the defeat of our troops at Roanoke Island, on the 8th of February last, should attach to Major-General linger and Mr. Benjamin, the late Secretary of War."

In the Senate a resolution was offered to appropriate a sum of money to pay the persons engaged in taking the census of 1860 in the State of Louisiana, for which services the United States had not paid.

Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, who urged the matter, proposed to disburse the balance (about $6,000) from moneys seized by the State of Louisiana and transferred to the Confederate States Government, a part of which was Originally intended by the United States Government for that purpose. 

Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, opposed the bill on the ground that it would open the door to any number of claims (perhaps amounting to millions of dollars) of a similar nature, all of which would most properly be attended to after a treaty of peace.

Mr. Semmes made the following exhibit of money transferred to the Confederate States Government by the several States named:

North Carolina $26,200 in bullion.

     “                     $1,175 in customs.

Louisiana $457.859 in bullion.

       “          $147,875 in customs.

Alabama $18,731 in customs.

Georgia $23,763 in bullion.

      “    (Savannah) $3,433 in customs.

The resolution was rejected.

The sum of $4,275,000 was appropriated for the use of the Navy Department, of which $2,100,000 was for the equipment and repair of vessels, for ordnance and ordnance stores, and for the purchase and building of steamers, and $500,000 for gunboats for coast defences.

Propositions were considered for a new flag and a new seal, which finally failed to pass.

A resolution was offered in the House to request the Executive to recall at once the Commissioners sent to Great Britain, and to abandon all further attempts to conciliate the favor and secure the recognition of that Government. It failed to pass. Another bill was passed in the House to repeal the tariff and throw open the Confederate ports to the commerce of the world except the United States. It failed in the other House.

The following resolutions were offered in the House on the report of the battle on the first day at Shiloh:

Resolved, That Congress have learned, with feelings of deep joy and gratitude to the Divine Ruler of nations, the news of the recent glorious victory of our arms in Tennessee.

Resolved, That the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the commander of our forces, while leading his troops to victory, cannot but temper our exultation with a shade of sadness at the loss of so able, skilful, and gallant an officer.

Resolved, That, in respect to the memory of General Johnston—the Senate concurring—Congress do now adjourn until twelve o'clock to-morrow.

In the Senate on the same day Mr. Haynes, of Tennessee, moved that the resolutions touching the victory near Corinth, and lamenting the death of Albert Sidney Johnston, be taken up, so that he could offer resolutions in lieu. Resolutions were then presented by the Senator, expressive of the joy of Congress on hearing of the great victory of our army in Tennessee, paying a glowing tribute of respect to the memory of the commander-in-chief, and conveying the thanks of Congress to General Beauregard and the officers under his command for their services on that memorable day.

Mr. Haynes stated that he was one of the Tennessee delegation who requested the President to transfer General Johnston's command to some other officer after the retreat from Nashville. Subsequent information had caused him to alter his opinion, and he therefore felt it his duty to offer the resolutions named.

Mr. Yancey, of Alabama, moved that the resolutions be so amended as to designate the place of the battle as indicated by General Beauregard—viz.: the battle field of Shiloh. ne moved, also, that the resolutions be so amended as to tender the thanks of Congress to General Beauregard and the surviving officers and soldiers for their gallantry and skill on that memorable field.

On a subsequent day Mr. Barnwell, from the Finance Committee, reported back favorably the bill to authorize the issuance of Treasury notes of a denomination less than five dollars. As before explained, the bill authorizes the utterance of one, two, three, and four-dollar Page 263 notes, and notes for the fractions of these sums, provided the whole amount issued does not exceed five millions of dollars in the aggregate.

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, offered an amendment to the last clause of the hill to increase the clerical force of the Treasury Department, requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to give preference to applicants for clerkships under the bill to those who have served in the army, and have been discharged on account of physical inability, or from wounds received in battle.

Mr. Barnwell, of South Carolina, opposed the amendment because he looked upon it as an indirect mode of pensioning disabled soldiers. He was of the opinion that other modes could be provided for taking care of this class of the population.

The amendment was adopted and the bill was passed.

The joint resolution passed by the House, voting the thanks of Congress to the patriotic women of the country for their voluntary contributions to the army, and in aid of the cause in every conceivable way, was taken up and unanimously passed.

Mr. Sparrow offered a resolution authorizing the Senate to furnish the Senators from North Carolina with copies of all reports, &c, received by the Senate from the President, in relation to the Roanoke Island affair, for the use of the Convention of North Carolina—upon the consideration of which the Senate went into secret session.

The conscription act passed on the 9th of April and was approved on the 16th. (See Confederate States.) A bill was also passed to organize a battalion of sharpshooters, and another appropriating $1,500,000 to construct a railroad between Galveston and New Orleans.

On the 21st of April Congress adjourned to meet on the third Monday of August. Its important business was entirely transacted in secret session.

_________

On the 18th of August the second session of the Confederate Congress under the Permanent Constitution commenced. A quorum was present in both Houses, and the President's Message was delivered. (See Public Documents.)

The seat of Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, resigned, was taken by Mr. Collier. Mr. A. G. Jenkins, of Virginia, also resigned his seat in the House. As his district was mainly within the lines of the Federal army, there was no legal mode by which to fill the vacancy. In the House a number of bills were submitted, which indicate to some extent the nature of its business.

By Mr. Gartrell, of Georgia: A bill making Treasury notes a legal tender in payment of debts. This bill was made the special order for the 26th of August.

Also, a resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the expediency of compelling the Commissary Department to furnish the soldiers with more and better food. Agreed to. By Mr. Miles, of South Carolina: A bill to amend the conscription act. It extended the application of the law to all citizens under forty-five years of age. Referred. Also, a bill to punish slaves taken in arms, and the white men assuming to be their officers. It provided that the slaves so taken should be delivered up to the authorities of the State in which captured, to be disposed of by its laws; and the white officers either to be hung or also delivered up to the State authorities. Referred.

By Mr. Foote, of Tennessee, a bill for retaliatory purposes. It recited that the enemy refused to treat the partisan soldiers as prisoners, and had also punished innocent private citizens for their acts. It provided that an officer who may have ordered such atrocities be put to death if captured. An equal number of prisoners (officers to be preferred) taken from the enemy to suffer the fate inflicted on the captured soldiers or citizens. Referred. Also, a bill for the treatment of captives. It provided that any officer or private captured by the army, who should have committed any offence pronounced felonious by the laws of the Confederacy or any State, should be delivered up for trial. Referred.

Also, a bill to punish negroes in arms. It provided that Federal armies incongruously composed of white and black should not be held entitled to the privileges of war, or to be taken prisoners. Of such as may be captured, the negroes shall be returned to their masters or publicly sold, and their commanders to be hung or shot, as may be most convenient. Referred.

Also, a bill to retaliate for the seizure of citizens by the enemy. It provided that of the prisoners held by us a number equal to that of the citizens should be retained as hostages for their safety, and subjected to like treatment; any officers, civil or military, concerned in their seizure should be imprisoned during the war. Referred.

Also, a bill to provide for raising an additional force of 250,000 men. Laid on the table.

Also, a bill providing an export duty of twenty per cent, on cotton and tobacco, to aid in indemnifying the losses of citizens by the enemy. A vote of thanks was tendered to Colonel Forrest, the partisan leader, "for his recent victories in Tennessee."

That portion of the President's Message relating to the increase of the army was taken up. Mr. Foote of Tennessee referred to the manner in which the conscription act had been passed. Its constitutionality at the time of passage was doubted, and if the plan prescribed in it should be allowed to grow into a system, it would be subversive of State sovereignty and popular freedom. The necessity which Page 264 was alleged to exist formerly, for the present law no longer existed, and even that necessity was artificial, having grown out of the failure of the Provisional Government to provide for expected deficiencies in the army in season. He insisted that two hundred and fifty thousand men could be raised by requisition upon the States sooner than in any other way, and would not awaken distrust or alarm, nor occasion any collision with State authorities. If the new law recommended by the Secretary of War should be adopted, collision with Virginia, Tennessee, and all the other States would be inevitable, as it would sweep into its vortex all the militia now or to be organized. Nothing but a military despotism could be the result.

Mr. Dargan, of Alabama, contrasted the present condition of the army with the past. He thought every man should be subject to the call of the President.

Mr. Bonham, of South Carolina, was in favor of raising troops as was done when we resisted Great Britain, and as we did in 1812.

In the Senate, on the same day, the Committee on Military Affairs reported a bill prohibiting the employment of substitutes, except for persons skilled and actually employed in some mechanical pursuit important to the public interest, or where the person is the only white male adult on the farm or plantation having thereon not less than fifty slaves. If the substitute deserts, however, the person who employed him was to serve. The second section provides that the commanders of brigades and divisions, under certain restrictions, may detail to any farms or plantation worked by slaves, when the owner is a femme sole, a minor, or a person in the public service, one enrolled private for duty.

The bill was ordered to be printed.

A long discussion ensued upon a resolution, offered by Mr. Yancey, to transact business with open doors, instead of in secret session, against which there were loud complaints by the press and the people. The resolution was rejected.

On the 21st a bill was introduced declaring Kansas to be within the limits of the Southern Confederacy.

Mr. Clay introduced a bill providing that any " Federal officer, soldier, or adherent who may fall into our hands with counterfeit Confederate notes in his possession, or who may be proved to have passed off any such, shall be court-martialed and punished with death." In the House of Representatives, Mr. Foote offered a series of resolutions favoring an aggressive war; also favoring a proclamation to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States, offering to guarantee the free navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to their mouths if they will desist from the further prosecution of the war.

In the Senate, on the 2d of September, Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, from the Finance Committee, reported a bill providing for the coinage of copper (alloy) tokens, of the. value of five, ten and twenty cents, to the extent of $5,000,000, and the appropriation of $200,000 for the purpose.

Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported back the petitions from various religious organizations, asking exemptions in certain cases, from the further consideration of which the committee was discharged.

Mr. Sparrow also reported a bill providing for the extension of the conscript age to forty-five, which was ordered to be printed, and made the special order for another day.

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, reported a joint resolution of thanks to Commander Eben Farrand, and the officers and men under his command, for gallant services in repulsing the enemy's gunboats at Drury's Bluff', on the 15th of May last. Adopted.

The following Message, with despatches, from President Davis, was received and read.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States:

I have the gratification of presenting to Congress two despatches from General Robert E. Lee, commanding the army of Northern Virginia, communicating the result or the operations north of the Rappahannock. From these despatches it will be seen that God has again extended nis shield over our patriotic army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a second signal victory on the field already memorable by the gallant achievement of our troops. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the skill and daring of the commanding general who conceived, or the valor and hardihood of the troops who executed, the brilliant movement whose result is now communicated. After having driven from their intrenchments an enemy superior in numbers, and relieved from siege the city of Richmond, as heretofore communicated, our toil worn troops advanced to meet another invading army, reenforced not only by the defeated army of General McClellan, but by the fresh corps of Generals Burnside and Hunter. After forced marches, with inadequate transportation, and across streams swollen to unusual height, by repealed combats they turned the position oil he enemy, and forming a junction of their columns in the face of greatly superior forces, they fought the decisive battle of the 30th, the crowning triumph of their toil and valor.

                                                           JEFFERSON DAVIS.

The House resolution, voting thanks to Captain Raphael Semmes, of the Confederate States steamer Sumter, was referred to the Military Committee.

The bill amendatory of the act to organize bands of partisan rangers, restricting the privilege of raising such bands, as given by the original bill, and also authorizing the Secretary of War to brigade them as troops of the line, was taken up.

A lengthy debate succeeded, sundry amendments were adopted, and, finally, the bill was defeated by a vote of 12 to 7.

In the House, on the 12th of September, Mr. Hilton, of Florida, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom were referred the Message of the President communicating the despatches from General Lee relative to the late victories, and the resolutions of the Senate in relation to the movement of the armies Page 265 across the Potomac, reported the following substitute for said resolutions:

Resolved, That the thanks of Congress and of the country are eminently due, and are hereby tendered to General Robert E. Lee and the officers and men of his command for their late brilliant victories, culminating in the signal defeat of the combined forces of the enemy in the second great battle of Manassas.

Resolved, That Congress has heard with profound satisfaction of the triumphant crossing of the Potomac by oar victorious army, and assured of the wisdom of that masterly movement, reposes with entire confidence on the distinguished skill of our commanding general, and the valor of his troops, to achieve, under favor of the Great Ruler of nations, new triumphs, relieve oppressed Maryland, and advance our standards into the territory of the enemy.

Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the foregoing resolutions to General Lee and the officers and men under his command.

Mr. Hilton advocated the immediate passage of the resolutions.

Mr. Lyons moved to amend the second resolution by striking out all after the words "distinguished skill of," and inserting in lieu thereof, "tho commanding general and the valor of his troops to relieve oppressed Maryland, and, under favor of the Great Ruler of nations, achieve new triumphs over the enemy." He approved the movements of our armies thus far, and thought a resolution of thanks eminently proper; but if it were passed with the words proposed to be stricken out, it would be an invitation from Congress to advance into the enemy's country, and that was a responsibility which he, for one, was not prepared to assume.

Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, was somewhat surprised to hear a sentiment indicating hesitation from the gentleman who had just taken his seat. The press throughout the country had clamored for an onward movement, and wherever the people assembled we had always heard the same sentiment expressed—that we were pursuing a mistaken policy in waiting for the enemy to advance, and that our armies should advance and pluck victory upon the enemy's soil. After we had commenced this aggressive policy, and our armies were across the borders, we are told by the gentleman from Virginia that we ought to hesitate.

Mr. Lyons said that the "gentleman had mistaken his position. He stated plainly that he approved of General Lee's crossing the Potomac and threatening Maryland; but at that point, with his present information, he was constrained to stop—he could not take the responsibility of advising an advance into Pennsylvania.

Mr. Miles still differed with the gentleman from Virginia. What he meant by an aggressive war was to carry the war into the enemy's country, and this was what the resolutions said. They had been carefully and deliberately weighed in the committee, and they were expressive of the unanimous sentiment of the gentlemen who composed it. What the people wanted was an aggressive war. While the enemy had overrun our territory and reduced our people to a condition of bondage without parallel in the history of warfare, were we to hesitate to retaliate upon them? He could not believe any such sentiment. The resolution, in his opinion, could not be construed as an instruction to our generals; but, when we have their assurance that they will bear our standards onward, and will relieve oppressed Maryland, shall we hesitate because, forsooth, they may not be able to carry out the plan? The resolutions were intended to encourage our President, our generals, and our armies. He wished every branch of government to understand that this Congress does not think the war has been hitherto waged upon a mode best calculated to bring it to a speedy close. He was opposed to Congress assuming the conduct of the war, but he hoped the people would understand that we do propose to wage an offensive warfare.

Mr. Lyons asked if the gentleman believed that our army, great and glorious as it is, could safely go into the heart of the North.

Mr. Miles replied that he did. He would endorse the language of a well known gentleman —give Jackson half of our present army, and he would drive the whole 600,000 of the North before him. Mr. M. closed by enforcing the opinion that the time to strike was while our armies were flushed with success, and while they were veteran troops, accustomed to the roar of battle.

Mr. Conrad, of Louisiana, was in favor of the amendment. He viewed the resolutions ns an instruction to our armies, and thought our President and generals better qualified than Congress to conduct the war. It was not a war of conquest, but a war for independence; everybody agreed in that, and hence there was no difference in opinion as to the policy of the war. The mode of conducting it ought to be left alone to the Executive, without interference from Congress or elsewhere. He believed that the conduct of the war up to this moment had been just what it ought to have been.

Mr. Ayer, of South Carolina, was in favor of the aggressive policy. He would say to the Executive, we desire that the enemy's country shall be invaded, and leave it to him to judge of its expediency. He would have our armies.

Go with banner, brand and bow,

As foeman meets his mortal foe.

He would not assume to speak for all; but so far as his constituents were concerned he knew this to be the prevailing sentiment.

Mr. Foote moved the previous question, which was sustained.

Mr. Goode, of Virginia, demanded the yeas and nays on the motion to strike out and insert.

The roll was then called, and Mr. Lyon's amendment was defeated by the following vote:

YEAS.—Messrs. Arlington, Ashe, Atkins, Barksdale, Bocock, Bridgers, Conrad, Conrow, Currin, Curry, Davidson, Dupre, Farrow, Garland, Gentry, Hanly, Johnson, Jones, Kenan, of Georgia, Lyons, Machen, McDowell, McLean, Read, Roston. Smith, of Alabama Smith, of North Carolina, Swan, Villere—29 Page 266

NAYS.—Messrs. Ayer, Batson, Bell, Bonham, Boteler, Boyce, Breckinridge, H. W. Bruce, E. M. Bruce, Chambliss, Chrisman, Clapp, Clark, Clopton, Collier, Cook, Crockett, Dargan, Davis, Dawkins, De Jarnette, Elliott, Ewing, Foote, Foster, Freeman, Gardenheir, Gartrell, Goode, Graham, Gray, Harris, Hartridge, Heiskell, Herbert, Hilton, Hodge, Holcomb, Holt, Kenan, of North Carolina, Kennar, Lander, Lyon, Marshall, Menees, Miles, Moore, Munnerlynn, Perkins, Preston, Pugh, Russell, Sexton, Strickland, Tibbs, Trippe, Vest, Welch, Wilcox, Wright, of Georgia, Wright, of Texas—61.

The substitute of the committee was then agreed to, and the question recurring upon the passage of the resolutions,

Mr. Smith, of Alabama, addressed the House in opposition to the second of the series, being unwilling to commit himself to an aggressive policy. He did not believe in advancing into the enemy's country. We had not been invited into Maryland, and it was a question of time, and yet to be learned, what reception we would meet with upon the soil of Maryland. We had been driven from the soil of Kentucky after having been invited thither. We had to fight Kentuckians, steel to steel, and knee to knee, and this had promoted our disasters. The gentleman from South Carolina had indicated that the people had forced an unwilling Administration to depart from its policy, and that the Government of the Confederate States may be opposed to an aggressive policy. Could it be possible that the President of the Confederate States, who was known to be so wise in military affairs, as well as a wise civilian, should be driven into undue haste, and made to change his whole policy, and to yield to popular clamor?

Mr. Hodge, of Kentucky, replied to the remarks of the last speaker in relation to that State, showing that the enemies of the South there were not natives. The true sons of Kentucky had shed their blood freely on many well fought fields in behalf of the Confederacy. When the time comes that arms can be placed in the hands of her people, Kentucky will do her duty, or her sons will be found lying dead upon the field with their feet to the foe.

Mr. Foote, of Tennessee, answered the positions assumed by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Smith), and favored the passage of the resolutions. Toward the conclusion of his remarks, he said it was known officially that our army had crossed into Maryland, and were on their way to Harrisburg. He hoped not two days would elapse before the plan would be consummated. He would not say it was for the purpose of conquest—it might be for the purpose of destroying railroad communications, or for some other object not proper to mention. The God of battles he believed was with us, and he had perfect confidence that the acting out of the present aggressive policy would give us the most complete success that could be desired.

Mr. Barksdale, of Mississippi, took the ground that Congress had no right to pronounce upon the policy of the war, in the manner that had been asserted in the debate to-day. If a plan had been agreed upon by the leaders of our army in secret council, it was criminal in this Congress thus to make itself a council of war, and proclaim that plan to the world.

Mr. Machen, of Kentucky, combated the idea of running over the enemy's country roughshod, though he was not entirely opposed to the policy of invasion. He thought, if we could capture and hold Cincinnati, the Northern people could be brought to terms, and made to give up their accursed cause. He would vote for the resolutions, but wanted the generals to be left free to decide for themselves.

Mr. Heiskell, of Tennessee, moved the previous question, which was ordered, and the vote being taken, the first resolution passed unanimously, the second by 63 yeas to 15 nays, and the third unanimously.

Mr. Kenan, of Georgia, moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the second resolution was adopted.

On motion of Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, the motion to reconsider was laid upon the table— ayes 45, noes 26.

Mr. Kenan desired to offer an additional resolution, declaring that Congress does not intend to indicate in these resolutions a policy different from the policy of President Davis, nor to indicate a plan for the conduct of the war.

Mr. Foote said that he had intended to offer a resolution to show that by the action just taken it is not intended to pass upon the military policy of the Administration, but to harmonize with and sustain the same. The Speaker decided that neither of the resolutions could be entertained.

Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, moved that the title of the resolutions be amended so as to read: "Joint resolutions in relation to the movements of General Lee's army and General Congressional Order No. 1."

Mr. Gentry, of Tennessee, availed himself of the opportunity to address the House upon this motion. He held that the resolutions undertook, in effect, to indicate the policy which Congress desired the Executive to pursue. He thought the war had been well and gloriously conducted, and that it was unwise in Congress to interfere. With regard to the policy of invading the enemy's country he was not prepared to commit himself.

Mr. Miles offered a substitute for the title proposed by Mr. Jones, as follows: "Joint resolutions in relation to the late victories and the crossing of the Potomac by the Army of Northern Virginia."

The amendment offered by Mr. Jones was rejected—yeas 13, nays 56—and the substitute of Mr. Miles adopted.

In the House, on the 26th of September, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom had been referred several resolutions relative to the true policy of the war, and recommending to the President to issue a proclamation touching the free navigation of the Mississippi and its Page 267 tributaries, and the opening of the market of the South to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States upon certain terms and conditions— reported:

A majority were in favor of the resolutions, and a minority opposed. The majority recommended a vigorous prosecution of the war with invasion of the enemy's territory. Relative to a proclamation of the freedom of the Mississippi and the opening of the Southern markets to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States, they said:

Such a proclamation as that recommended in the resolution referred to the committee, it is confidently believed, would have a tendency greatly to strengthen the efforts of the advocates of peace in the Northwestern States, be calculated to bring those States quickly into amicable relations with the States of the South, withdraw them ultimately altogether from their present injurious political connection with the States of the North and East, with which they have really so little in common, and thus enable us to dictate the terms of a just and honorable peace from the great commercial emporium of that region through whose influence mainly has this wicked and unnatural war been thus far kept in progress.

The minority of the committee reported, that in their opinion it was a work of supererogation for the House to decide on the policy on which the war should be conducted. As to opening the Southern markets to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States they say:

The undersigned dissent from the recommendation that this Government should tender to a portion of the citizens of the Government with whom we are at war exclusive commercial privileges. It is not the part of wisdom to commit our Government to any fixed policy in advance. Legislation should not be anticipated, but should be shaped by existing events. If adeviation from this plain suggestion of wisdom be advised in the present instance upon the idea of the influence of an appeal to the self-interest of the inhabitants of the Northwestern States, it should not be forgotten that the same argument might, with equal propriety, be addressed to the inhabitants of the New England States. The manufacturers of that section would be conciliated by pledges that a discriminating tariff would at the close of hostilities, be put into speedy operation for building up their interests, and shipowners would be propitiated by pledges that they would be permitted to perform the carrying trade of the South as under the old Union. And the city of New York would be induced to pause in her course of folly and wickedness toward the Confederate States if assured that they would confer upon her the privilege of conducting their commercial affairs, and enriching herself upon the proceeds of her labor.

The Northern people derived, under the former Government, an annual profit of not less than (100,000,000 upon Southern trade. Their implements of war will be laid aside when assured that their coffers shall be filled with the proceeds of Southern labor. But the undersigned do not hesitate to repel the suggestion that the people of the South are willing to purchase peace by such a sacrifice of their rights, and by so degrading a concession to Northern cupidity. To be respected, our course must be firm and our legislation rational and just.

At an early period after the organization of the Government of the Confederate States a law was passed declaring the free navigation of the Mississippi river, with certain salutary restrictions. The policy of the Government has not been changed on this subject. It is presumed to have been known to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States before they embarked in a wicked and unjustifiable war against the people of the Confederate States. To proclaim this policy at the present time, coupled with offers of their lucrative trade, in the manner suggested by the majority, would be, in the highest degree, derogatory to the dignity of the Government. It would bring upon it the imputation of pusillanimity. It would be accepted by the enemy as a confession of conscious weakness, and its inevitable tendency would be to prolong the war.

The undersigned are firm in the opinion that the most effective mode of conquering a peace is not to be found in extending to the enemy propositions of re. conciliation, but in the vigorous prosecution of the war.

The signs of returning reason, indicating a desire for peace among the inhabitants of the Northwestern States, upon the discovery of which the majority have congratulated the House, arc believed to be delusive. The undersigned regret to say that they have not been able to discern them. But, in the event of the actual existence of these alleged pacific indications, it is clear that they are the result, not of temporizing expedients on the part of the Government of the Confederate States, but of its manifestation of purpose to prosecute the war with vigor and effect.

For these reasons the undersigned dissent from the views of majority, and ask the concurrence of the House in the opinion that they should be rejected.

                                                    E. BARKSDALE,

                                                    J. R. McLEAN,

                                                   W. K. SMITH.

The second conscription bill to call into service all persons above thirty-five years of age, led to a disagreement of the two Houses, when a committee of conference was appointed by each. In the House the following debate took place on the report of the committee.

A message was received from the Senate stating that they had agreed to the report of the committee of conference in relation to the bill "further to provide for the public defence.''

Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, from the committee of conference, reported that the committee recommended that the House concur in the report of the committee of conference.

Mr. Boteler, of Virginia, obtained the floor.

Mr. Foote hoped the gentleman did not rise to call the question. If he did, he appealed to him by every consideration of courtesy and patriotism not to do it.

Mr. Boteler replied that he was blind to any appeal to courtesy, and to everything but the welfare of his country, at the present moment. Whatever his will might have been, his patience was exhausted, and many an hour had been lost already in discussion. He had recently returned from the army of the Potomac, and he had heard the appeals of soldiers made again and again, asking when reënforcements were coming. It is now time that the eternal talk on this bill should cease. It was an easy matter to vote down the question if gentlemen did not desire to sustain it; but he was impelled by a sense of duty. He did call the question upon the bill, and he should adhere to it.

The call of the question having been sustained, the bill was passed, 59 to 24.

Mr. Kenan, of Georgia, moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill had been passed. The measure just passed struck out the only adjustment looking to peace between the State and Confederate Governments—that by which Page 268 the House bill had authorized the President to make a requisition upon the Governors of the States for the troops needed. Is it proper, at a time like this, to create dissension and collision in any State of this Confederacy? Where could be the objections to this feature of the bill? He would always sustain the Government, but there had always been dissension upon the conscript law. In the State of Georgia it had been declared null and void because it was unconstitutional. He had no doubt but if the President were to make requisitions upon the Governors they would be complied with. He could tell gentlemen now there was danger of dissension between the Government and States in this Confederacy. He hoped it could be avoided, but he greatly feared it would come. Therefore he appealed to the House to reconsider the vote by which they passed the Senate bill.

Mr. Foote said that he was very happy that the gentleman from Georgia had found that opportunity to address the House, which the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boteler) had so ungraciously refused him. The House had been informed by a member of the state of things in the State of Georgia. That member had said that there was danger of a collision between the States and the Confederate Government. He would tell the House that a similar state of things existed elsewhere. There have been facts reported which showed it. Why should the House be restricted to the edict, and be dictated to as to what course it should pursue by a party of consolidationists in the other legislative branch of the Government? Mr. Foote said that he spoke of some who were then outside of the hall, and not in the other branch of the Government. It was well known that some time since he had emphatically declared, in unequivocal language, that there was danger existing, and now they had it from the lips of a high-toned gentleman from Georgia, making magnanimous disclosures in relation to the condition of the country, and appealing to them not to involve this country in civil war. By the bill of the House the country would have been quieted, and an abundance of soldiers procured for the war. Let all the consolidation men of this day, and all the federalists of the old Government cry out; let all those who have been enemies of State rights, and those who voted against paying back the fine of General Jackson, all consolidationists and federalists, utter their sentiments in a voice of thunder; let them come on, he was done, he had had his say; he had expressed his opinion, and called the question.

The House refused to reconsider—yeas 24, nays 53.

Subsequently an exemption act was passed. It exempted the police for sections of country which have dense negro populations; also, editors and such helps as they require in their business; also, the employes of transportation and telegraph companies, ministers of the gospel, physicians, shoemakers, tanners, blacksmiths, wagon makers and millers; also, superintendents and employes in hospitals, wool, cotton, and paper mills, employes of the government works, overseers of plantations, and one man to every five hundred head of cattle. The exemption act, passed April 21st, was repealed.

Several propositions under the form of bills, were introduced into the Senate respecting retaliatory measures. These propositions were brought forward in consequence of the proclamation of President Lincoln, issued on the 22d of September, declaring that on the 1st of January ensuing an emancipation proclamation would be issued. The subject came up for the first time on the 29th of Sept., when Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, offered the following resolution:

Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States,

That the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, issued in the city of Washington, in the year 1862, wherein he declares "that on the first day of January, in the year of our lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated parts of a State, where of the people shall be in rebellion against the United States shall be henceforth and forever free," is levelled against the citizens of the Confederate States, and as such is a gross violation of the usages of civilized warfare, an outrage on the rights of private property, and an invitation to an atrocious servile war, and therefore should be held up to the execration of mankind, and counteracted by such retaliatory measures as in the judgment of the President may be best calculated to secure its withdrawal or arrest its execution.

Mr. Clark, of Missouri, moved that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was in favor of declaring every citizen of the Southern Confederacy a soldier, authorized to put to death every man caught on our soil in arms against the Government.

Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, said that the resolution had not been drawn without reflection. The question of retaliation was exclusively an Executive one, to be regulated by circumstances. But it was proper that the legislative department of the Government should express its approval of the retaliation, contemplated by the resolution.

Mr. Henry, of Tennessee, said that the resolution did not go far enough. He favored the passage of a law providing that, upon any attempt being made to execute the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, we immediately hoist the "black flag," and proclaim a war of extermination against all invaders of our soil.

Mr. Phelan, of Mississippi, said that he had always been in favor of conducting the war under the "black flag." If that flag had been raised a year ago the war would be ended now.

Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, moved that all of said resolutions be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. This was agreed to.

Subsequently, on the 1st of October, a majority of the Judiciary Committee made a report recommending the passage of the following bill:

Whereas, these States, exercising a right consecrate ed by the blood of our Revolutionary forefathers, and recognized as fundamental in the American system of government, which is based on the consent of the Page 269 governed, dissolved the compact which united them to the Northern States, and withdrew from the Union created by the Federal Constitution ; and whereas, the Government of the United States, repudiating the principles on which its founders, in their solemn appeal to the civilized world, justified the American Revolution, commenced the present war to subjugate and enslave these States under the pretext of repressing rebellion and restoring the Union; and whereas, in the prosecution of the war for the past seventeen months, the rights accorded to belligerents by the usages of civilized nations have been studiously denied to the citizens of these States, except in cases whero the same have been extorted by the apprehension of retaliation, or by the adverse fortune of the war; and whereas, from the commencement of this unholy invasion to the present moment, the invaders nave inflicted inhuman miseries on the people of theso States, exacting of them treasonable oaths, subjecting unarmed citizens, women, and children to confiscation, banishment and imprisonment; burning their dwelling houses, ravaging the land, plundering private property; murdering men for pretended offences; organizing the abduction of slaves by government officials and at government expense; promoting servile insurrection, by tampering with slaves, and protecting them in resisting their masters; stealing works of art and destroying public libraries; encouraging and inviting a brutal soldiery to commit outrages on women by the unrebuked orders of military commanders, and attempting to ruin cities by filling up the entrances to their harbors with stone: And, whereas, in the same spirit of barbarous ferocity the Government of the United States enacted a law, entitled " An act to suppress insurrection, to prevent treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," and has announced by a proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln, the President thereof, that in pursuance of said law, "on the 1st of January, 1868, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be thenceforward and forever free," and has, thereby, made manifest that this conflict has ceased to be a war as recognized among civilized nations, but on the part of the enemy has become an invasion of an organized horde of murderers and plunderers, breathing hatred and revenge for the numerous defeats sustained on legitimate battle fields, and determined, if possible, to exterminate the loyal population of theso States, to transfer their property to their enemies, and to emancipate their slaves, with the atrocious design of adding servile insurrection and the massacre of families to the calamities of war; and, whereas, justice and humanity require this Government to endeavor to repress the lawless practices and designs of the enemy by inflicting severe retribution: Therefore, the Confederate States of America do enact,

1. That on and after the 1st of January, 1863, all commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the enemy, except as hereinafter mentioned, when captured, shall be imprisoned at hard labor, or otherwise put at hard labor, until the termination of the war, or until the repeal of the act of the Congress of the United States, herein before recited, or until otherwise determined by the President.

2. Every white person who shall act as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer, commanding negroes or mulattoes against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, organize, train, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service, or aid them in any military enterprise against the Confederate States, shall, if captured, suffer death.

3. Every commissioned or non-commissioned officer of the enemy who shall incite slaves to rebellion, or pretend to give them freedom, under the aforementioned act of Congress and proclamation, by abducting, or causing them to be abducted, or inducing them to abscond, shall, if captured, suffer death.

4. That every person charged with an offence under this act shall be tried by such military courts as the President shall direct; and after conviction, the President may commute the punishment, or pardon unconditionally, or on such terms as he may see fit.

5. That the President is hereby authorized to resort to such other retaliatory measures as in his judgment may be best calculated to repress the atrocities of the enemy.

Mr. Phelan, of Mississippi, submitted a minority report from the same committee, in the form of a lengthy preamble, and the following resolution:

Be it resolved, December That from this day forth all rules of civilized warfare should be discarded in the future defence of our country, our liberties and our lives, against the fell design now openly avowed by the Government of the United States to annihilate or enslave us: and that a war of extermination should henceforth be waged against every invader whose hostile foot shall cross the boundaries of these Confederate States.

Mr. Hill, of Georgia: I must be allowed to say for myself that I regard the proclamation of Mr. Lincoln as a mere brutum fulmen, and so intended by its author. It is to serve a temporary purpose at the North. I fear we are dignifying it beyond its importance. As the Senate has concluded to notice it, I am in favor of the simplest and most legal action. "We must confine our action within the line of right, under the laws of nations. In my opinion we have the right to declare certain acts as crimes, being in conflict with civilized war, and the actors as criminals; and a criminal, though a soldier, is not entitled to be considered a prisoner of war. 'While, therefore, I approve the general idea to treat persons guilty of certain acts as criminals, contained in the bill reported by the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Semmes), and agreed to that report as being the one most favored by the majority of the committee, I also, in accordance with the understanding of the committee, propose the following bill, and ask that it be printed for the consideration of the Senate:

1. That if any person singly, or in organized bodies, shall, under pretence of waging war, kill or maim, or in any wise injure the person of any unarmed citizen of the Confederate States, or shall destroy, or seize, or damage the property, or invade the house or domicil, or insult the family of such unarmed citizen; or shall persuade or force any slave to abandon his owner, or shall, by word or act, counsel or incite to servile insurrection within the limits of the Confederate States, nil such persons, if captured by the forces of the Confederate States, shall be treated as criminals and not as prisoners of war, and shall be tried by a military court, and, on conviction, suffer death.

2. That every person pretending to be a soldier or officer of the United States, who shall be captured on the soil of the Confederate States, after the 1st day of January, 1863, shall be presumed to have entered the territory of the Confederate States with intent to incite insurrection and abet murder, and unless satisfactory proof be adduced to the contrary, before the military court before which the trial shall be had, shall suffer death. This section shall continue in force until the proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln, dated at Washington, on the 22d day of September, 1862, shall be rescinded, and the policy therein announced shall be abandoned, and no longer.

Mr. Clark, of Missouri, read a preamble and resolution embracing his views on the subject under consideration. The resolution proposed Page 270 to recognize the enemy as " savage, relentless, and barbarous," and declares that it "is the duty of the Government of the Confederate States neither to ask quarter for its soldiers nor extend it to the enemy until an awakened or created sense of decency and humanity, or the sting of retaliation, shall have impelled our enemy to adopt or practise the usages of war which prevail among Christian and civilized nations."

On the motion of Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, the several bills and resolutions were ordered to be printed.

The whole matter was finally disposed of on the last day of the session by the passage of a resolution, declaring that Congress would sustain the President in such retaliatory measures as he might adopt. (See PRISONERS, and PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.)

In the Senate, on the 7th of October, the bill to extend the operation of the sequestration act to all persons, natives of or residents within any State of the Confederate States, who have refused to submit themselves to the constitution and laws of the Confederate States, &c, was considered.

A substitute proposed by the Committee on the Judiciary was adopted. This substitute provides that the President of the Seceded States shall issue his proclamation ordering all persons within the limits of those States who adhere to the United States Government to leave the Southern Confederacy within forty days on pain of forfeiture of property. Another of its provisions is the granting of immunity to all persons adhering to the United States Government who, within forty clays, should take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy.

The following is a sketch of the debate on this bill, which, however, failed to become a law at this session:

Mr. Clark, of Missouri, opposed the bill, because it would work a hardship upon good citizens of the South, who had acquiesced in the Yankee rule under duress, and were still within the Yankee lines. If citizens of the South could be given a fair chance to join our cause and still adhere to the enemy, he would be in favor of nailing them to the cross.

Mr. Haynes, of Tennessee, took the same views.

Mr. Wigfall, of Texas, thought the bill entitled to serious consideration. It was not clear to him that it was entirely constitutional. Citizens and residents of the States of the Confederacy who had afforded aid and comfort to the enemy had been guilty of treason—a crime defined by the Constitution, and for which said citizens were responsible to their States and to the Confederate States.

Mr. Hill, of Georgia, held that every citizen had the right to elect with which Government, that of the North or the South, he would side. The Southern Government had the right to say whether residents or citizens who did not take sides with us but with the enemy, should leave its limits and go over to the territory of the enemy. If a citizen has once elected to be c citizen of one of the Confederate States, that act makes him a citizen of the Confederacy, and he cannot throw off his allegiance. It belongs to the Confederate Government to define who are alien enemies. These rules had prevailed in all revolutions—in England and in the Netherlands.

Mr. Wigfall said the gentleman was as much mistaken as Abraham Lincoln or William H. Seward if he thought this was a revolution— that we were subjects fighting against an established Government. If we were we would be entitled to the term " rebels." This is no civil war. It is a war of some sovereign States against other States. There was civil war in Kentucky, where citizens of the same State were at war against one another. There was no such thing as a citizen of the Confederate States. No citizen owed allegiance to the Confederate States.

Mr. Hill held that the citizen did owe allegiance to the Confederate States. Gentlemen might call it "obedience," but this was a sublimated theory. The States have formed a Confederate Government, to which is delegated the sovereign power to declare war, &c. The citizen's first allegiance is due to his State, but through the State he owes allegiance to the Confederate Government.

He held, however, that the people had a right to choose their own Government. If this were not so, then the United States had the right to hang General Buckner for proving false to the allegiance he once owed to them. This conclusion was inevitable. And the Confederate States would have a right to hang Andrew Johnson for violating an allegiance to the Government to which he never admitted he owed allegiance.

Gentlemen, he said, may shake their heads at the proposition as much as they please, but when they deny it, they deny a fundamental principle of the Government, and the people who accept the contrary rule of action are drifting on a rapid current into monarchy. You come to the old exploded doctrine that a man who once owes allegiance always owes allegiance; you deny the principle of expatriation in toto; you say a man shall render allegiance to a Government even before he has promised it; that no man has a right to choose his Government; and, finally, that Government does not rest upon the consent of the governed. This is monarchy. I deny that you can take a man by the nape of the neck and force citizenship down his throat. Citizenship is made up as well of the consent of the individual as of the Government. Neither party has a right to violate it against the consent of the other, and by that violation bind the other, unless it be upon terms before agreed upon. You cannot, therefore, hang a man as a traitor to a Government that has been made without his consent.

I do not know what particular acts Andrew Johnson may have done which would imply he intended to become a citizen of this Government. I say that when his State seceded he had a right to abandon his State; and if he did, in good faith, abandon that State, he is an alien enemy, and not a traitor. How far his specific act goes, of attempting to represent Tennessee in the United States Senate, is another question. I am not putting it upon that ground. I ask this: Do you hold Andrew Johnson, who abandoned the State of Tennessee and never came under obligation to the Confederate Government, to be a traitor? Can he be a traitor? I am discussing the general proposition. I say that, as regards every man who held allegiance to the United States originally, while he had a right to adhere to that allegiance, there was no power on earth could break his allegiance against his consent. This proposition I assert, and when a gentleman denies it he need not talk about State rights and individual rights. He erects the Government into a despotism, whether it goes by the name of monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy. If yon can lay hold of a citizen and tear him loose against his will from his acknowledged allegiance, you exercise the greatest power a tyrant is capable of exercising. I say again that no power can rightly force a man to break his allegiance. The very violation of allegiance implies a consent of the will.

The senator says that there are no citizens of the Confederate States. But the Constitution says there are. "The electors in each State shall be citizens of the Confederate States." The gentleman says it does not mean that. I should suspect any theory that drove me to destroy or change the language of the Constitution itself. Here it is plainly written; and because I abide by it the gentleman calls me a "nationalist." God save the mark!

Mr. Wigfall: I hope he will.

Mr. Hill: I have always understood that the fundamental principle of State rights is, that the power shall be found in the grant, and that it is to be defined by the words used, and that " construction " was the old theory of the nationalists. We will take the doctrine of State rights, if we go by the letter. The words are, "citizen of the Confederate States." The gentleman, to save State rights, steps in and begins to construe. "It did not mean than; I grant that it says so, but it does not mean it." Who construes? He not only applies words not used, but changes words used, puts in words, reads new meanings, and talks to me about construction and "nationalism." It is not a question; it is not used in that one single sense, but here it is again: "No person shall be a representative who has not attained the age of twenty-five years, and been a citizen of the Confederate States." It did not mean it, of course. But it says, furthermore, "No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been a citizen of the Confederate States." Now, unless my friend will admit he is a citizen of the Confederate States, he ought to be ousted from his seat in this body; he is incompetent to hold it by the Constitution—that is, by the Constitution as it reads. Of course, if my friend is allowed to decide by "national" and "federal" rules, to construe the Constitution, to pay no attention to what it says, but only to what he thinks or desires it to mean, he will be entitled to his seat.

Mr. Semmes: I would like to ask the senator one question. This Constitution says "the people of the Confederate States." Do you suppose it means other than the citizens of the States?

Mr. Hill: I certainly do not. They become' citizens of the Confederate States through the States, except they be aliens. I grant that no person can be a citizen of the Confederate States who is not a citizen of some one of the States, but it does not follow that a citizen of a State is necessarily a citizen of the Confederate States. Gentlemen may indorse sublimated theories that define our Constitution after the manner of the interpreters of the will in Dean Swift's "Tale of a Tub." They wanted to construe it, not according to what it said, but according to the measure of their own wishes. The text did not suit them, so they took sentences; but sentences would not give the meaning, so they took words; they could not find the right consecutive words, so they took syllables, and, finding they would not do, they selected letters, and putting them together they made a will to suit their taste. Gentlemen upon the same principle may destroy the Constitution, and make it mean what they please, in order to accomplish their purposes. But I am thus much of a State rights man: I deny the Confederate Government has any power not granted; and I say you must look to the language of the grant to find the extent of the power, and that which necessarily results from the grant—the power to carry out the grant must be in the grant. The language "citizens of the Confederate States" is used in the Constitution no less than three times. It is true, they are first citizens of the respective States, but they become citizens of the Confederate States through the States compacting together—confederating together.

The Constitution also declares what shall be treason against the Confederate States. What is treason? A violation of one's allegiance. A gentleman gets up to argue or to intimate that a man cannot owe allegiance to the Confederate States on account of some legislation in North Carolina

Mr. Oldham: Do you argue he can?

Mr. Hill: I say he can owe allegiance to the Confederate States as far as the Constitution binds him. He did not owe original allegiance, I grant.

Mr. Oldham: Obedience.

Mr. Hill: Treason is defined by jurists and Page 272 by dictionaries as the violation of one's "allegiance "—that is the word.

Mr. Oldham: I will explain the purport of my question. I hold that every citizen of a political community owes allegiance to the sovereign power. In this country the people are the sovereign power, and every citizen owes allegiance to the political community that constitutes his State. He owes obedience to the State Government which that community may establish as the agency; and, whenever this sovereign directs him to change that obedience to any other source, he is bound to obey in consequence of his allegiance to his sovereign. He owes precisely the same allegiance to this sovereign as the people of Great Britain owe3 to the English Crown.

Mr. Hill: I do not quibble about words. I do not care by what circumlocution you arrive at the origin of allegiance. I do not care how a citizen owes allegiance, or by whose allegiance, or by whose agency he gets to owe allegiance. All I say is that under the Constitution every citizen of the Confederate States owes allegiance to the Confederate States. You may call it obedience.

Mr. Oldham: I only desire the gentleman not to confound terms.

Mr. Hill: He confounds terms himself. He gets up a word to define authority, and employs the same to overturn authority.

Mr. Oldham: Our Government overturned authority.

Mr. Hill: It did not say the treason we define is different from the treason that has been settled for all time. One of the definitions is, that treason shall consist in levying war against the Government. It adjudicates upon cases coming within the meaning of the word. What is meant by the word? A breach of one's allegiance. The gentleman says it is a breach of one's obedience. Then, 1 suppose a violation of the law may be made treason—for that is disobedience. Desertion or any other violation of a penal statute may be made treason. You may call it allegiance or obedience. I say citizens of this Government owe that which only citizens can owe—they owe allegiance; and if they violated that allegiance they can be hung. You need not go and read your sublimated theories to the man upon the gallows; you need not try to comfort him by saying it is all wrong to hang a man for violation of his allegiance, but ought first to decide his obedience. I fear he would be hung before you conclude your rhapsodies.

There is no necessity for the introduction of these theories to bring about a conflict between the State Governments and the Confederate Government. My idea—I do not know whether it is a national one or not; certainly it does not depend upon a change of words in the Constitution, upon refined arguments and well spun theories for its justification—is this: the States were originally sovereign, independent States —they are original and sovereign yet—and as such they had a right to exercise absolute and sovereign power. They have by their own free will and consent delegated these sovereign powers to a common Government. And they made it a Government, not simply an agency, for they call it a Government in the compact, and they have said all citizens of the respective States shall be citizens of the Confederate States. They have established laws requiring these citizens to obey that which the States have agreed they shall obey—the common compact.

To the extent of the powers delegated, the Confederate Government exercises the sovereign power. I grant that it did not have original, national sovereignty—nor do I care whether it has or not. It has the power to declare war, the power to make money, to collect duties, and these powers are sovereign powers; they are expressly delegated to the Confederate Government Violence done to the Government, by a citizen, is treason, because it is a violation of the citizen's allegiance. I admit that the men who were originally citizens of the States, and who are yet citizens of the States, owe their first allegiance to the States, but through the States they owe allegiance to the Confederate Government. The State, of course, under certain circumstances, has a right to qualify that allegiance; and I say when you dissolve the compact the citizen has a right to elect. If we, upon the part of the Government, will exercise powers plainly delegated to us, and exercise none that are not delegated, there will never be any conflict between the States and the Confederate Government. If the States will exercise their reserved powers properly, and the Confederate Government exercises its delegated powers properly, there will never be any difficulty.

I say to gentlemen here who make such a clamor in defence of State sovereignty, for which they say this war has been waged, that if they will recur to history they will find that the great cause of the disruption was the interference, by States, with a compact into which they had solemnly entered. No man found cause for dissolution in anything the Federal Government did; for all declared they wanted to preserve the Union until Lincoln was elected. Not against the Supreme Court—that tribunal was faithful to the last. Not against the Federal Congress, for there you had a majority. Not against Mr. Buchanan—par excellence the man chosen by the South. "What was the difficulty, Mr. President? The Northern States, sir, passed their personal liberty bills and nullified the acts of Congress. The State Governments would not render up fugitives, declaring they were not criminals because they stole negroes, which were not property; and the State judges took it upon themselves in their State courts, to set aside the acts of Congress for carrying out the fugitive slave law. These were the enormities that drove the South to her condition of determined secession. I know that, through my section of the country, these facts Page 273 had more influence upon the popular mind than any other; and when Mr. Lincoln was elected it was thought he was seeking not to continue the Federal Government, but pervert the Government, and to accomplish, through Federal agency, what the Northern States had already sought to do. That perfected the argument. I am not national, in one sense; I am not Federal in another,

I am sure. I regard the reserved rights of the States as much as any other man, and will never seek to intrench upon them. The powers I am sworn to exercise I will exercise with strict reverence for the purposes of the grant. I think if we would all go to work in the exercise of delegated powers, and act instead of theorizing, we would accomplish more satisfactory results for the people. Mr. Wigfall: I propose to answer the gentleman, with the simple prefatory remarks, that I am as much astonished at his recollection of the facts as his avowal of principles. For a senator to rise in this Confederate Congress, within a few brief months after the nation has been dissolved, and declare the Federal Government of the United States never trespassed upon our rights

Mr. Hill: I never said that.

Mr. Wigfall: If you did not, yon said something bearing a wonderful resemblance to it.

Mr. Hill: I said the trespasses of the Federal Government were not the evils alleged by the people in seceding; it was not the trespasses of the Government that influenced the people to secede. I said it was the trespasses of the Northern States in their faithlessness to the common compact. I always held the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, and things of that sort; but the Federal Government, as such, did not commit these trespasses which drove the people to secede. Mr. Wigfall: "Well, I ask, if they had any complaint against the judiciary?

Mr. Hill: None.

Mr. Wigfall: I need not ask him about the legislative branch, for he says we had no cause of complaint here. "Surely not," he says, " for you had a majority there." His language is plain and unmistakable. Why, sir, in that Congress the Black Republicans had an overwhelming majority in the House against us, and a tie vote in the Senate, with a Black Republican casting vote.

Mr. Hill: It was not from any act of the Supreme Court or of Congress, or of the Federal Executive, we seceded. I do not say they always did right. I was utterly opposed to the administration of Mr. Buchanan.

Mr. Wigfall: He forgets Congress passed a law abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, declaring no slave should be sold there.

Mr. Hill: When did it pass?

Mr. Wigfall: In 1850. Mr. Hill: And the people expressly said they would not secede on account of it. Mr. Wigfall I do not know what Georgia politicians said.

Mr. Semmes: I call the gentleman to order. The President: The gentleman will make no remarks not pertinent to the issue.

Mr. Wigfall: The senator asks if Andrew Johnson is a traitor. He gets up and makes a terrible to do about my denying the right of taking up arms to resist tyranny, and trying to hold men to their allegiance. I never denied any such right. A man may change his allegiance, provided he does it in good time and good faith. No man has ever asserted the contrary—and if it were not for the lax notions of the senator about the organization of the Government, and the patent, palpable errors he has fallen into heretofore on this question, I should be surprised at the attitude he assumes. He asks when did Andrew Johnson become a citizen of the Confederate States? (I use that term—we are obliged always to use it—the meaning is, a citizen of Tennessee when it entered the Confederate States.) He was a citizen of Tennessee originally. When Tennessee became one of the Confederate States he was in the position of every other citizen of Tennessee. He never disavowed his allegiance to Tennessee; on the contrary, he pretended to represent her in the Federal Senate, and he went back there, and pretended to be Governor. How was he released from his allegiance? Tennessee becoming one of the Confederate States, he was obliged to give obedience to her laws, or become amenable to indictment and conviction for treason if he gave aid and comfort to the enemy, or levied war against her. The Constitution the senator has relied upon so confidently in support of his position has also the clause, "We the People," equivalent to saying we do not mean the people of one single consolidated nationality, but the people of the several States.

Mr. Hill: I have never conceded it was consolidated.

Mr. Wigfall: The other sentence I allude to is in the second clause of the fourth article, in which it says, " citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States," &c. I don't conceive any additional argument necessary to combat the gentleman's most untenable position.

This debate was terminated by laying the bill on the table.

Subsequently Mr. Foote reported resolutions, which were referred to Committee on Foreign Affairs, to appoint a Joint Committee to address the people of California, Oregon, and the various Territories beyond the Rocky Mountains, on the expediency of hereafter establishing a league, offensive and defensive, between such States and Territories and the Confederate States.

An act was passed to encourage the manufacture of shoes and clothing for the army of the Confederacy. It provides for bringing into the country, duty free, of cards, card cloth, machinery, and other articles necessary for the purpose.

A bill was again introduced against foreign Page 274 counterfeiters of treasury notes. It provides that if such notes are introduced by officers, soldiers, and others of the United States, the offender shall be deemed guilty of felony, and suffer death on conviction in any military court.

Mr. Clay said he hoped senators would give this bill the attention it deserved. The enemy, by counterfeiting our currency, had aimed one of their deadliest blows at our cause. They had boldly advertised these counterfeits for sale, and among their dead, who fell in battle, it was rare to find one who had not upon his person more or less of spurious Confederate treasury notes. The faith in our currency of some of the loyal inhabitants of the Confederacy had already been impaired by the quantity of counterfeits which had found their way into circulation. Some law to repress this counterfeiting by the enemies of the Confederacy, by providing for their speedy punishment, should be passed. Mr. Clay moved to amend the bill by providing that persons charged with passing counterfeit notes, shall be tried by any military court or military commission, as provided by a law of Congress, instead of by the slower and more cumbrous mode of trial by court martial.

In the House of Representatives, Mr. Foote, of Tennessee, offered the following joint resolution proposing to send a commissioner to Washington empowered to propose terms of just and honorable peace:

Be it enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That the signal success with which Divine Providence has so continually blessed our arms for several months past would fully justify the Confederate Government in despatching a Commissioner or Commissioners to the Government nt Washington City, empowered to propose the terms of a just and honorable peace.

Mr. Holt, of Georgia, asked the consent of the House to offer the following substitute for the resolution:

The people of the Confederate States are, and have been from the beginning, anxious that this war with the United States should be conducted with the sense established by the rules of civilized and Christian nations, and have, on their part, so conducted it, and the said people ardently desire that said war should cease and peace be restored, and have so announced from the beginning: therefore,

Resolved. That, whenever the United States Government shall manifest a like anxiety and a like desire, it shall be the duty of the President of the Confederate States to appoint Commissioners to treat and negotiate with the said United States Government upon said subjects, or cither of them.

On motion of Mr. Kenan, of Georgia, the resolution and substitute were laid upon the table —yeas 59, nays 20.

On the 9th of October, Elias C. Boudinot was admitted to a seat in the House as a delegate from the Cherokee Nation of Indians.

A bill was introduced into the House as a tax measure which proposed to collect for the support of the government and the defence of the country, one fifth the value of all the wheat, corn, rice, rye, oats, potatoes, hemp, flax, peas, beans, barley, hay, wool, rosin, tar, pitch, turpentine, cotton, sugar, molasses, and tobacco produced in the Confederate States during the previous year; also one fifth the value of the increase of the horses, asses, cattle, sheep, swine, and also one fifth of the yearly incomes. Upon the collection of the tax a receipt was to be given, which should be exchangeable for income tax bonds bearing 6 per cent, interest. This bill was regarded as a forced loan, and failed to pass.

An act was passed making appropriations for the support of the government for the month of January, 1863, and for certain deficiencies and other purposes therein mentioned. Among the appropriations made by this act were the following: For the ordnance service, $2,500,000; pay of the army, $18,660,189; transportation of troops, &c, $7,464,075; subsistence of prisoners of war, &c, $200,000; bounty of fifty dollars to soldiers, $3,000,000; medical and hospital supplies, $400,000; to pay deficit in the post office department, $800,000; for deficiencies in the quartermaster's department, $39,000,000; interest on the public debt, for the month of January, 1863, $2,500,000; subsisting the army for the month of January, 1863, $6,571,072 91. The aggregate sum appropriated by it was nearly $85,000,000.

A bill entitled "An act to provide for raising and organizing, in the States of Kentucky and Missouri, additional forces for the provisional army of the Confederate States," with a recommendation that the House concur in the amendments which authorize the President to appoint general and field officers for the organization of such troops, was also taken up in the House and passed.

In the Senate, on October 11, the House bill to reduce the rate of interest on the funded debt of the Confederate States was passed, with an amendment fixing the rate of interest on the new issue of bonds at 7 per cent, instead of 6 per cent. A proviso was also added renewing the authority to issue 6 per cent, reconvertible bonds. A House bill to relieve the army of incompetent and disabled officers was also passed.

In the House, on October 11, the Senate bill to punish and repress the importation of counterfeit treasury notes was passed, with an amendment. A substitute for the Senate bill fixing the seal of the Confederate States was adopted.

An act was also passed authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue copper coins of the denomination of five, ten, and twenty-five cents to the amount of five millions of dollars, and appropriating $200,000 to carry the act into effect.

Some change in the members of Congress took place near the close of this session, Chas. J. Jenkins was elected from Georgia to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of General Toombs. Samuel A. Miller was elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of A. G. Jenkins, of Virginia. (The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1861, vol. 1. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868, pp. 258-275.)


Source: The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.