[43] it back without amendment. It directed the Paymaster-General to take immediate measures for the payment of the sick and wounded soldiers in the convalescent camps, hospitals, and elsewhere, so that they might be fully paid within thirty days from the passage of the resolution. Mr. Wilson asked for the immediate consideration of the resolution, and there being no objection, the Senate proceeded to its consideration. Mr. Fessenden stated the difficulty to be the want of the descriptive lists in the hospitals and convalescent camps. Mr. Wilson thought the difficulty grew out of the want of system. He wanted to force the pay department to put its strength upon the convalescent camps and hospitals, have every man's case examined, and have him paid in thirty days. Mr. Grimes did not think the object could be accomplished in thirty days, if it was applied to the whole country; and he moved to amend the resolution by striking out the word word “thirty” and inserting “sixty.” Mr. Ten Eyck opposed the amendment. Mr. Wilson thought there was something in the suggestion of Mr. Grimes, and he would agree to the amendment. It was adopted, and the resolution passed. On the second of March, the joint resolution was taken up in the House and passed; and the President approved it on the third of March, 1863. No. Xlv.--The Bill for Enrolling and Calling out the National Forces, and for other purposes. In the Senate, on the twenty-eighth of January, 1863, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill for the encouragement of reenlistments, and for the enrolling and drafting the militia, which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. On the thirty-first, Mr. Wilson reported it back, with an amendment as a substitute. On the fourth and fifth of February, the bill was debated by Mr. Wilson, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Carlisle, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Collamer, Mr. Howard, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Doolittle, and on motion of Mr. Lane, of Indiana, recommitted to the Committee on Military Affairs. On the ninth of February, Mr. Wilson, from the Military Committee, reported a bill for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes, in thirty-six sections. The Senate, on the sixteenth, proceeded to its consideration as in Committee of the Whole. Mr. Wilson, in explanation of the provisions of the bill, said:
Sir, we have endeavored to frame this great measure for the defence of the periled nation against the blows of armed treason so as to bear as lightly as possible upon the toiling masses, and to put the burdens, as far as we could do so, equally upon the more favored of the sons of men. It is impossible, in this world of inequality, to frame a measure of this character to bear equally upon all conditions of men; but this bill has been framed in the earnest desire to make its burdens fall as gently as possible upon the poor and dependent sons of toil. But it is a high and sacred duty, resting alike upon all the citizens of the republic, upon the sons of toil and misfortune and the more favored few, to labor, to suffer, ay, to die, if need be, for their country. Never since the dawn of creation have the men of any age been summoned to the performance of a higher or nobler duty than are the men of this generation in America. The passage of this great measure will clothe the President with ample authority to summon forth the sons of the republic to the performance of the high and sacred duty of saving their country, now menaced, and the periled cause of civilization and freedom in America, and of winning the lasting gratitude of coming ages, and that enduring renown which follows ever duty nobly and bravely done. The enactment of this bill will give confidence to the Government, strength to the country, and joy to the worn and weary soldiers of the republic around their camp-fires in the land of the rebellion. A brief analysis of the sections of this measure will exhibit its comprehensive character, and will, I am sure, commend its beneficent provisions to the favor of Congress and of the country. Section one declares that all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, shall constitute the national forces, and be liable to military duty at call of the President, with certain exceptions. Section two exempts the Vice-President, judges of the various courts of the United States; heads of departments; the only son of aged and infirm parents dependent upon him; or where more than one son, in such cases the father may elect which shall be exempt, or the mother if the father is dead; only brother of children under twelve whose father and mother are dead; the father of motherless children under twelve, dependent upon him for support; where there are father and sons in the same family and household, and two of them are in the military service of the United States. Section three divides the forces not now in service into two classes. 1. All between eighteen and thirty years of age, and all the unmarried between thirty and forty-five. 2. All other persons liable to do military duty; and the second class not to be called into service until after the first shall have been called. Section four divides the United States into districts, of which the District of Columbia forms one, each Territory one or more as the President shall direct, and the remainder by the congressional districts, as fixed by State laws, or by the President in States not divided into districts. Section five provides that the President shall appoint a provost-marshal for each district, with the rank, pay, etc., of a captain of cavalry, the whole to be under a provost-marshal general, with rank, etc., of a colonel of cavalry, whose office shall constitute a bureau at the seat of Government.
