On the 28th ult., the House of Representatives of the Federal Congress passed a bill which originated in the Senate, the design of which is to appropriate all the property of the loyal Southern citizens to the use of the
Federal Government.
The title of the bill is. ‘"A bill to collect direct taxes in insurrectionary districts and for other purposes."’ It provides, as we learn from the Philadelphia
Inquirer, for the appointment of a Board of Tax Commissioners, who shall enter upon their duties whenever and wherever the
Federal military authority shall be established.
In all cases where the owners of land fail to pay their taxes the property is to be sold.
Provision is made for the redemption of the land, and it be shown to the satisfaction of the
Commissioners that the owner has not taken part in, or is any manner aided or abetted the rebellion, and that, by reason of the insurrection, he has been unable to pay the tax. In cases where the owners of land have left home to join the ‘"rebel cause,"’ the
United States shall take possession and may lease them until the civil authority of the
United States is established, and the people of the
State shall elect a Legislature and State officers, who shall take the oath to support the
Federal Constitution; but the Board of Commissioners may subdivide the lands and sell them in parcels to any loyal citizen, or any person (whether citizen or not) who shall have faithfully served in the army, navy, or marine corps.
We are further given to understand that the preemption principle is also engrafted on the bill, with the view of holding out additional inducements to the invasion.
This bill sweeps all the property of every man who is fighting for his country.
It taken it from him, and he can only recover it by proving that he has not aided the rebellion in any manner.
Its most diabolical feature, however, is the provision which requires it to be sold only to ‘"loyal citizens,"’ or those mercenary foreigners whose status is described as ‘"any person who shall have faithfully served in the army, navy, or marine corps;"’ and in order to invest this clause with as much popularity as possible with the large mass of the
Northern hordes which are now penetrating our country, it is provided that the lands may be ‘"subdivided"’--cut up into small farms to meet the wants, and be covered by the means of ‘"any person."’"
Savannah Republican. 
