Confederate Congress.
Senate.
Thursday, March 2, 1865.
Mr. Watson, of
Mississippi, introduced a bill to appropriate one thousand five hundred dollars to pay the expenses of the
Joint Select Committee on the Subject of the Treatment and Exchange of Prisoners.
The bill was passed.
House amendments to Senate bill to abolish the office of provost marshals except in the army were concurred in, and the bill, with an additional amendment by the Military Committee, was passed.
[It provides that hereafter there shall be no provost-marshals except in the army or in towns held as headquarters, and that except at the headquarters of the
commanding general of a department or army the officers appointed to the office shall be disabled, retired, or over forty-five; that provost-guards hereafter shall be from the reserve forces, or disabled, or reported for light duty, and it allows able bodied officers who have heretofore been discharging the duties of provost-marshals thirty days to enlist in the army in the field.]
Mr. Orr, of
South Carolina, offered the following, which was agreed to:
‘
"
Resolved, That the
Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for vacating the commissions of such general officers as have no command, or who may be regarded unfit for command on account of inefficiency or incompetency."
’
Senate bill to provide for the organization of the
Bureau of Inspection was considered and passed.
[The bill divides the
Adjutant and
Inspector-General's Department, and makes the inspecting branch one of the departments of the
general staff, to be known as the
Inspector- General's Department, to be under the control of a major general.]
House bill to levy additional taxes for the year 1865 for the support of the
Government was taken up, the pending question being on agreeing to amendments proposed by the Senate Finance Committee.
The subject of taxation generally, and the several amendments, were discussed until the hour of adjournment.
House of representatives.
The
House met at 11 A. M. Prayer by
Rev. Mr. Dickinson.
The Speaker laid before the
House a letter from
the Hon. William C. Rives, of
Virginia, tendering his resignation as a member of the
House on account of ill health.
The communication was ordered to be spread on the Journal.
Under the call of committees, the following bills were introduced:
‘
By
Mr. Miles, of
South Carolina, from the
Committee on Military Affairs: A bill to allow commutation to soldiers for the war who have not received furloughs according to law. Passed.
’
By
Mr. Boyce, of
South Carolina, from the
Committee on Naval Affairs: Senate bill to increase the pay of assistant paymasters in the provisional navy.
Passed.
By
Mr. Russell, of
Virginia, from the
Committee on the Judiciary: A bill providing for the settlement of accounts for property purchased by
Payne & Co., of
Texas, for the
Government, and paid for by them in counterfeit money.
Mr. Branch, of
Texas, explained that there was in the Treasury some one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the credit of
Payne & Co., and the bill was to allow any indemnity legally obtained against the said
Payne & Co. on account of such payment by them of counterfeit money, to be satisfied out of the same.
On motion of
Mr. Russell, the bill was amended so as to provide that no judgment should be awarded the said
Payne & Co. for any surplus of this one hundred and fifty thousand dollars which may remain after the claims so adjudicated shall have been satisfied if it shall appear that the said
Payne & Co. have knowingly paid out counterfeit money.
The bill, as amended, passed.
The committee reported back, with verbal amendment, a bill requiring suits in equity to be brought against certain persons connected with the
Cotton Bureau and Cotton Office in the
State of Texas who have obtained great gain by such connection.
Laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
Also, a bill to increase the compensation of district attorneys of the
Confederate States.
[Increased salary not to exceed five thousand dollars per annum.] Passed.
Also, a bill concerning captures from the enemy on land.
Passed.
Mr. Russell explained that the bill more accurately determined certain points which were not definitely settled and established as law what was already the practice of the War Department.
The committee also reported a resolution declaring that it is now, and has been ever since the meeting of the First Congress of the Confederate States, impracticable to take the census of the
Confederate States, as provided by the
Constitution.
Passed.
Mr. Cluskey, of
Tennessee, under the suspension of the rules, offered a bill to extend the provisions of the act establishing an invalid corps so as to embrace aide-de-camp thrown out of office by the death of the officer with whom they were on duty.
Mr. Holliday, of
Virginia, under a suspension of the rules, offered a resolution, which was adopted, requesting the
President to inform the
House what information has been received, and what action has been taken by the
Government relative to the execution of
John Y. Beall by the enemy.
The
House resumed the consideration of the unfinished business, viz: the bill to provide for the payment of properly authenticated claims against the
Cotton "Bureau" of the Trans Mississippi Department for cotton purchased by
W. J. Hutchins and other agents.
Mr. Perkins, having the floor, favored the passage of the bill.
A motion to refer to the Committee on Ways and Means was rejected.
Mr. Herbert, of
Texas, withdrew the substitute offered by him, and the bill of the
Committee on Claims was amended by the addition of a clause appropriating $3,000,000 for the purpose indicated, and passed — years, 60; nays, 3.
The Speaker laid before the
House Senate amendments to
House bill for the relief of bonded agriculturists, which were not concurred in, the
Speaker stating that the Senate, in amending the
House bill by striking out the first section, had stricken out the enacting clause, thus defeating the bill altogether.
Also, Senate amendment to the bill to authorize the appointment of assistants to the Register in signing bonds, providing that the act shall expire in thirty days after the next meeting of Congress, was concurred in.
Senate bill continuing in force the act increasing the pay of soldiers was passed.
In the course of the discussion on the above bill,
Mr. Russell stated that although there remained to be issued, under the act "authorizing a new issue of notes and bonds, " approved February 17, 1864, some 50,000,000, nearly 40,000,000 of this amount is already appropriated and is necessary to meet out standing drafts on the Treasury, leaving only about $12,000,000 at the disposal of the
Treasurer.
Senate bill to authorize the
Secretary of the Treasury to receive specie from the several States, to be used for the benefit of said States, was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Senate bill for the relief of
Peter James, Jr., was referred to the
Committee on Claims.
Mr. Clopton, of
Alabama, from Committee on the Medical Department, under a suspension of the rules, reported a bill to secure to sick and wounded officers the same rights and privileges in obtaining leaves of absence as are now granted by law to privates.
Passed.
Also, a bill to authorize hospital accommodations, etc., including medical attendance, to discharged soldiers, when there is a reasonable prospect of benefit resulting to such soldiers therefrom.--Passed.
Mr. Sexton, of
Texas, from the
Committee on
Post Offices and Post-Roads, under a suspension of the rules, introduced a bill to amend the act fixing the salaries of certain civil officers in the Trans-Mississippi Department, approved February 18, 1865, declaring the salaries therein provided to be annual salaries, and continuing their pay until otherwise provided by law.
The
House also took up and passed the bill giving naval storekeepers the allowances of a first lieutenant of the navy on shore duty.
The
House also passed a bill for the payment of properly authenticated claims against the cotton "office" of the
State of Texas for cotton purchased by
W. A. Broadwell and other agents.
The bill is similar in its provisions to the one just previously passed on the same subject with reference to cotton purchased by
J. W. Hutchins, and appropriates two millions of dollars for the purpose indicated.
On motion of
Mr. Colyar, of
Tennessee, the
House went into secret session.
When the doors were re-opened the
House adjourned.
