260 



CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



was estimated that the amount of cotton liable 

 to destruction would not amount to much more 

 than 5 per cent, of the entire crop. The same 

 was the case with tobacco. 



The following joint resolutions were present- 

 ed in the House by Mr. Kowles of Alabama, on 

 the 24th of February, and unanimously adopted: 



Whereas, The United States are waging war against 

 the Confederate States, with the avowed purpose of 

 compelling the latter to reunite with them under the 

 same constitution and government ; and whereas, the 

 waging of war with such an object is in direct opposi- 

 tion to the sound republican maxim that " all govern- 

 ment rests upon the consent of the governed," and can 

 only tend to consolidation in the general government 

 and the consequent destruction of the rights of the 

 States ; and whereas, this result being attained, the 

 two sections can only exist together in the relation of 

 the oppressor and the oppressed, because of the great 

 preponderance of power in the Northern section, 

 coupled with dissimilarity of interests ; and whereas, 

 we, the representatives of the people of the Confeder- 

 ate States, in Congress assembled, may be presumed 

 to know the sentiments of said people, having just 

 been elected by them ; therefore, be it 



Resolved,, That this Congress do solemnly declare 

 and publish to the world that it is the unalterable de- 

 termination of the people of the Confederate States 

 (in humble reliance upon Almighty God) to suffer all 

 the calamities of the most protracted war, but that 

 they will never, on any terms, politically affiliate with 

 a people who are guilty of an invasion of their soil and 

 the butchery of their citizens. 



The compensation of members of Congress 

 was fixed, by an act, at $3,000 per year, and 

 mileage at the rate of 20 cents per mile. 



The following rates of compensation were 

 also adopted : Secretary of the Senate, $2,500 ; 

 Assistant do., $2,000; two clerks, each $1,500; 

 sergeant-at-arms of Senate, $2,000 ; doorkeeper, 

 $1,500. 



In the House, Mr. Foote, from the Committee 

 on Foreign Affairs, reported that they had had 

 under consideration a bill to send commission- 

 ers to represent the Confederate States in the 

 Industrial Exhibition to be held at London in 

 the year 1862. They reported back the same, 

 and asked to be discharged from the further 

 consideration of the subject, and that the bill 

 lie on the table. 



On the 27th of February a resolution was 

 unanimously adopted in the Senate, declaring 

 that the Confederate Government would enter- 

 tain no peace propositions excluding any portion 

 of the soil of any of the Confederate States, and 

 that the war should be continued until the ene- 

 my had been expelled entirely from the Con- 

 federacy. 



In the House, on the 3d of March, a resolu- 

 tion was passed advising planters to withdraw 

 from the cultivation of cotton and tobacco, and 

 devote their energies to raising provisions, 

 cattle, hogs, sheep, &c. 



On the 4th, a Message was sent to Congress by 

 President Davis, in which he stated that he had 

 suspended Gens. Floyd and Pillow from their 

 commands until they could give a more satis- 

 factory account of the action at Fort Donelson. 

 He said that neither of these generals says that 

 reinforcements were asked for, nor do they 



show that the position could not have been 

 evacuated and the whole army saved as well as 

 a part of it. Neither is it shown by what au- 

 thority two senior generals abandoned their 

 responsibility by transferring their command 

 to junior officers. Subsequently, on the request 

 of the Legislature of Virginia, Gen. Floyd was 

 reinstated. On the same day a vote of thanks 

 to Capt. Buchanan and the officers and crew 

 of the Merrimac for their gallantry in the action 

 in Hampton Roads, was passed. 



On the 12th of March the Senate took up 

 the resolution of the House, proposing to ad- 

 vise the planters of the Confederacy to abstain 

 from raising cotton and tobacco this year, and 

 to devote themselves exclusively to the produc- 

 tion of grain and provisions. 



Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, moved to lay this 

 resolution on the table, for the purpose of al- 

 lowing him to introduce a bill to curtail the 

 cotton crop for the year 1862. 



The measure proposed by Mr. Brown pro- 

 vided that no planter or head of a family should 

 sow more cotton seed than would produce 

 three bales of the staple for himself, and one 

 bale for each of the hands employed in the 

 culture during the year 1862 ; and, in case of 

 exceeding this number, the penalty shall be $40 

 fine for each bale ; and, further, that the planter 

 or head of family should be required to swear 

 to the exact number of bales raised during the 

 year, and to be treated as a perjurer if he swears 

 falsely. 



Mr. Brown said that the resolution of the 

 House was not of the slightest use in the 

 world. If anything, it would have a bad effect, 

 inasmuch as it virtually offered a premium for 

 treachery. Patriotic citizens would not plant 

 any cotton, with or without the resolution ; 

 but the large class of grasping Shylocks, bent 

 on gain and personal aggrandizement, would 

 pay no attention to the advice of "Congress ; 

 and for these Mr. Brown would have a compul- 

 sory law. He conceived that a large cotton 

 crop this year would be ruinous to us, since 

 the labor of plantations would be withdrawn 

 from the production of provisions absolutely 

 needful for the support of our armies and our 

 people. He thought that if there was evil in 

 the cotton crop we should strike at the root, or 

 take it by the throat. 



Mr. Orr, of South Carolina, said the gentle- 

 man was mistaken as to the number of unpatri- 

 otic planters. The class, in his judgment, was 

 very small. 



Mr. Clay, of Alabama, suggested that the 

 measure proposed by the gentleman was uncon- 

 stitutional. The forfeiture of the $40 per bale 

 was an indirect mode of raising revenue, and 

 all bills for this purpose, under the constitution, 

 must be originated in the House of Representa- 

 tives. 



Mr. Wigfall, of Texas, said that if any power 

 was laid down clearly in the constitution of the 

 old government and in the new, it was the defi- 

 nition of the powers of Congress regarding the 



