The Daily Dispatch: may 21, 1861., [Electronic resource]

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Acts passed by the Confederate Congress.

The following acts have been passed in to laws, and the secrecy removed therefrom:

An act to authorize a loan and the issue of treasury notes, and to prescribe the punishment for forging the same, and for forging certificates of stock and bonds.

Sec. 1. the Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, that the Secretary of the Treasury may, with the assent of the President of the Confederate States, issue fifty millions of dollars in bonds, payable at the expiration of twenty years from their date, and bearing a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent, per annum, until they become payable; the said interest to be payable annually. The said honds, after public advertisement in three newspapers within the Confederate State for six weeks, to be sold for specie, military stores, or for the proceeds of sales of raw produce or manufactured articles, to be paid in the form of specie, or with foreign bills of exchange, in such manner and under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, with the assent of the President. But it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to report, at its next ensuing session, to the Congress of the Confederate States, a precise statement of his transactions under this law. Nor shall the said bonds be issued in fractional parts of the hundred, or be exchanged by the said Secretary for Treasury notes, or the notes of any bank, corporation, or individual, but only in the manner herein prescribed Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Secretary of the Treasury from receiving foreign bills of exchange in payment of these bonds.

Sec. 2. and be it further enacted. that in lieu of bonds to an amount not exceeding twenty millions of dollars, the Secretary of the Treasury, with the assent of the President, may issue Treasury notes to the same amount without interest, and in denominations of not less than five dollars, the said notes to be receivable in payment of all debts or taxes due to the Confederate States except the export duty on cotton, or in exchange for the bonds herein authorized to be issued. The said notes shall be payable at the end of two years from the date of their issue, in species. The holders of said notes may at any time demand in exchange for them bonds of the Confederate States, payable at the end of ten years, and bearing an interest of eight per centum per annum, to be paid semi annually.--the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue the said bonds, but not in fractional parts of the hundred. But if, after the expiration of two years, when the Treasury notes shall be due, the Secretary of the Treasury shall advertise that he will do the same, then the privilege of funding shall cease after six month from the date of the advertisement, unless there shall be a failure to pay the same on their presentation.

Sec. 3. and be it further enacted, that in lieu of the notes authorized by this Act, which may be redeemed, other notes may be issued within the period of ten years, as aforesaid: Provided, however, that the amount of such notes outstanding, together with the stock in which the Treasury notes may have been funded under the provisions of this Act, shall not exceed the amount of twenty millions of dollars. But the Secretary of the Treasury may, upon application of a holder of a bond thus funded, redeem it by giving in exchange Treasury notes issued under the provisions of this Act, to such extent as that the entire amount of notes then issued, together with the amount of the bonds in which they may have been funded, shall not exceed twenty millions of dollars.

Sec. 4. and be it further enacted. that the faith of the Confederate States is hereby pledged to provide and establish sufficient revenues for the regular payment of the interest and for the redemption of the said stock and Treasury notes. And the principal sum borrowed under the provisions of this Act, and the interest thereon, as the same shall, from time to time, become due and payable, shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Sec. 5. and be it further enacted. that this Act shall be declared to contain all the provisions, limitations and penalties of the Act entitled ‘"an Act to authorize the issue of Treasury notes, and to prescribe the punishment for forging the same, and for forging certificates of stocks, bonds or coupons,"’ and approved March 9th, 1861, which shall be considered parts of this Act, save the first, second, and tenth sections, and save so much as relates to interest upon Treasury notes.

Sec. 6. and be it further enacted, that for the purpose of issuing ten millions of dollars within the present calendar year, and of providing for the intimate redemption of the deb therein authorized to be contracted, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to collect information in regard to the value of the property, the revenue system, and the amount collected during the last fiscal year in each of the Confederate States, and to report the same to Congress at its next session, so as to enable it to lay a fair, equal and convenient system of internal taxation for the purpose of securing the payment of the interest and the principal of the debt hereby authorized to be created, in such manner as may fully discharge the obligation herein contracted by the pledge of the faith of the Confederate States to pay the principal and interest of the said debt when due.

Sec. 7. and be it further enacted, that any State may pay into the Treasury, in anticipation of the tax aforesaid, any sum not less than one hundred thousand dollars in specie, or its equivalent, and if the same be paid on or before the 1st day of July next, the said State shall be allowed to set off the same with ten per cent additional from the quota to be assessed upon the said Sate.

an Act to amend an Act, entitled ‘"an Act to tax the pay of the members of the Congress of the Confederate States of America."’--approved March 11, 1861.

Sec. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the above entitled act, approved March 11, 1861, be so amended and construed as to provide that, in computing the mileage to which members are entitled, the distance shall be estimated by the usual route of travel from the residence of the member to the place where Congress may assemble.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect and be of force from its passage.

An Act in relation to the Confederate loan.

Whereas, Under and by virtue of the act to raise money for the support of the Government, and to provide for the expenses of the Confederate States of America, approved Feb. 28, 1861, the Secretary of the Treasury did proceed to offer five millions of said loan, conformably to the provisions of said act; and, whereas, in many portions of the Confederate, Sates, the currency was and is composed of notes of Banks that have suspended specie payment, not of necessity, but as a measure of public policy; and, whereas, certain of said Banks did agree to redeem in coin, or its equivalent, such of their notes as should be paid in by subscribers to such loan; and, whereas, the Secretary of the Treasury, in view of the expenses of the times, and with a desire to give all the people of all parts of the Confederate States the opportunity of subscribing to said loan, did authorize the Loan Commissioners to receive the notes of the Banks herein before referred to, and to avoid inconvenience and the risk of transit has authorized the said Loan Commissioners to deposit the moneys received by them in said Banks: now, therefore,

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all the acts and doings of the Secretary of the Treasury, of his subordinate officers, and of the Loan Commissioners, consistent with the facts recited in the foregoing preamble, are hereby confirmed and made valid, any law, usage or custom to the contrary not withstanding; and the said Secretary, his subordinate officers, and the Loan Commissioners, are hereby authorized to continue so to act in regard to the said loan until the whole amount authorized by said act shall have been fully subscribed for, and their duties regarding the same shall have been determined; and the said Secretary is authorized to make and continue the deposits of moneys received, or to be received, on account of said loan, in any of the said Banks; and the Treasurer of the Confederate States is authorized to draw checks or warrants on said Banks on account of said deposits, payable either in coin or its equivalent, or in current Bank notes, as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct.