Confederate Congress.
Richmond, Aug. 21, 1861.
The following bills were reported in Congress yesterday as approved and signed by
President Davis:
A Bill to empower the President of the Confederate States to appoint additional Commissioners to foreign Nations.
- Sec. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the President of the Confederate States be, and he is hereby, empowered to determine and designate to what nations the Commissioners of the Confederate States now in Europe shall be accredited, either separately or unitedly, and to prescribe the duties he may think proper to assign to each of them.
- Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is hereby, empowered to appoint two other Commissioners to represent the Confederate States, either separately or unitedly, to such foreign nations as he may seem expedient.
- Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the additional Commissioners authorized by this act, shall receive the same pay and emolument as the Commissioners now in Europe receive; and the President shall appoint the secretaries or clerks required by said missions and determine their compensation.
A Bill
to aid the State of Missouri in repelling invasion by the United States, and to authorize the admission of said State as a member of the Confederate States of America, and for other purposes.
Whereas, the people of the
State of Missouri have been prevented, by the unconstitutional interference of the
Government of the
United States, from expressing their will through the legality constituted authorities in regard to a union with the
Confederate States of America, and are now engaged in repelling a lawless invasion of their territory by armed forces; and
Whereas, it is the right and the duty of the
Confederate States to aid the people and Government of the said State in resisting such invasion, and in securing the means and the opportunity of expressing their will upon all questions affecting their fights and liberties; Now, therefore,
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the
President of the
Confederate States of America be, and he is hereby, authorized to co-operate, through the military power of this Government, with the authorities and the people of the
State of Missouri in defending that State against a lawless invasion by the
United States, and in maintaining the liberty and independence of her people; and that he be authorized and empowered, at his discretion, to receive and muster into the service of the
Confederate States, in the
State of Missouri, such troops of that State as may volunteer to serve in the Army of the
Confederate States, subject to the rules and regulations of said army, and in accordance with the laws of Congress; and said troops may be received into service by companies battalions or regiments, with their officers elected by the troops; and the officers so elected shall be commissioned by the
President and when mustered into service, said companies, battalions or regiments may be attached to such brigades or divisions as the
President may determine; and the
President shall have power to appoint field officers for all battalions and regiments organized out of separate companies mustered into service, and to add to battalions a same out number of separate companies to complete their organization into regiments and to appoint the additional field officers necessary for the complete organization of the regiment so formed; and all vacancies that may occur amongst the commissioned officers of troops mustered into service under this act shall be filled in the manner provided in the act entitled ‘"An act for the establishment and organization of the army of the
Confederate States of America,"’ approved 6th March, 1861.
Sec. 2. That the
State of Missouri shall be admitted a member of the
Confederate States of America, upon an equal footing with the other States under the
Constitution for the
Provisional Government of the same, upon the condition that the said Constitution for the
Provisional Government of the
Confederate States shall be adopted and ratified by the properly and legally constituted authorities of said State; and the
Governor of said State shall transmit to the
President of the
confederate States an authentic copy of the proceedings touching said adoption and ratification by said State of said Provisional Constitution; upon the receipt whereof, the
President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact; whereupon, and without any further proceedings upon the part of Congress, the admission of said
State of Missouri into the
Confederacy, under said Constitution for the Provisional Governmnt of the
Confederate States, shall be considered as complete; and the laws of this Confederacy shall be thereby extended over said
State of Missouri as fully and completely as over other States now composing the same.
Sec. 3. That the Congress of the Confederate States recognize the
Government of which
Claiborne F. Jackson is the
chief magistrate, to be the legally elected and regularly constituted Government of the people and
State of Missouri, and that the
President of the
Confederate States be, and he is hereby, empowered, at his discretion, at any time prior to the admission of the said State as a member of this Confederacy, to be perfect, and proclaim an alliance offensive and defensive, with the said Government, limited to the period of the existing war between this Confederacy and the
United States; the said treaty or alliance to be in force from the date thereof, and until the same shall be disaffirm or rejected by this Congress.
The following resolutions were introduced by
Mr. Ochiltree, of
Texas, and unanimously adopted:
Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe to the arms of the
Confederate States another glorious and important victory in a portion of the country where a revise would have been disastrous, by exposing the families of the good people of the
State of Missouri to the unbridled license of the brutal soldiery of an unscrupulous enemy: Therefore, be it
Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States, That the thanks of Congress are cordially tendered to
Brig. Gen. Ben. McCulloch, and the officers and soldiers of his brave command, for their gallant conduct in defeating, after a battle of six and a half hours, a force of the enemy equal in numbers and greatly superior in all their appointments, thus proving that a right cause nerves the hearts and strengthens the arms of the
Southern people, fighting as they are for their liberty, their homes and firesides, against an unholy despotism.
Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress
Gen. McCulloch and his gallant troops are entitled to, and will receive, the grateful thanks of our people.
Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be communicated to that command by the proper authorities.
