250 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



alties, and disabilities which by law are provided 

 for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt 

 perjury. 



Tlie amendment of the Senate, as amended, 

 was then concurred in. 



The bill was returned to the Senate, who re- 

 fused to concur in the second amendment, but 

 concurred in the first and last. A committee 

 of conference was finally appointed by each 

 House, who recommended 



That the Senate recede from its disagreement to 

 the second amendment of the House, and agree to 

 the Same. 



That the House of Representatives recede from its 

 third amendment to the amendment of the Senate, 

 and agree to the same with the following amend- 

 ment : on page 5, line eleven, after the word "as- 

 sembling" insert "and if it shall moreover appear 

 to Congress that the election was one at which all 

 the registered and qualified voters in the State had 

 an opportunity to vote freely and without restraint, 

 fear, or the influence of fraud, and if the Congress 

 shall be satisfied that such constitution meets the 

 approval cf a majority of all the qualified electors 

 in the State," and that the Senate agree to the same. 



This was concurred in by each House. 



On March 23d the President returned the 

 above bill to the Senate with his objections. 

 (See " PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.") 



It was reconsidered, and passed by the fol- 

 lowing vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Chand- 

 ler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, 

 Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Har- 

 lan, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Morgan, "Merrill of 

 Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Patterson 

 of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sher- 

 man, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, 

 Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, 

 Wilson, and Yates 40. 



NAYS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, 

 Norton, Patterson of Tennessee, and Saulsbury 7. 



ABSENT Messrs. Ferry, Grimes, Guthrie, Hender- 

 son, Hendricks, and Riddle 6. 



The bill was passed in the House by the fol- 

 lowing vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos 

 R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, 

 Beaman, Benjamin, Benton, Elaine, Blair, Boutwell, 

 Broomall, Buckland, Butler, Cake, Churchill, Reader 

 W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Coburn, Cook, 

 Cornell, Covode, Cullom, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, 

 Eckley, Eggleston, Ela, Farnsworth, Ferris, Ferry, 

 Fields, Finney, Garfield, Gravely, Halsey, Hamilton, 

 Hayes, Hill, Hooper, Hopkins, Chester D. Hubbard, 

 Hulburd, Hunter, Ingersoll, Judd, Julian, Kelley, 

 Kelsey, Ketcham, Kitchen, Koontz, Laflin, Wil- 

 liam Lawrence, Lincoln, Loan, Logan, Loughridge, 

 Mallory, Marvin, McCarthy, McClurg, Mercur, Mil- 

 ler, Moore, Morrell, Myers, Newcombe, O'Neill, 

 Orth, Paine, Perham, Peters, Pile, Plants, Poland, 

 Polsley, Robertson, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Sel- 

 ye, Shanks, Shellabarger, Smith, Spalding, Aaron 

 F. Stevens, Thaddeus Stevens, Stewart, Tafle, 

 Thomas, Trowbridge, Twitchell, Upson, Van Aer- 

 nam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Van 

 Wyck, Ward, Cadwalader, C. Washburn, Henry 

 D. Washburn, Welker, Thomas Williams, William 

 Williams, James F. Wilson, John T. Wilson, Ste- 

 phen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge 114. 



NATS Messrs. Barnes, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, 

 Chanler, Eldridge, Fox, Getz, Glossbrenner, Haight, 

 Holman, Humphrey, Marshall, Morrissey, Mungen, 

 Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Pruyn, Randall, Robin- 

 son, Ross, Taber, Van Auken, and Van Trump 25. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Archer, Bingham, Bromwell, 

 Dawes, Denison, Eliot, Griswold, Harding, Asahel W. 

 Hubbard, Kerr, George V. Lawrence, Lynch, McCul- 

 lough, Moorhead, Morgan, Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, 

 Price, Raum, Sitgreaves, Stone, Taylor, William _B. 

 Washburn, and Wood 25. 



In the House, on March 19th, Mr. Stevens, of 

 Pennsylvania, called up the following bill : 



Whereas it is due to justice, as an example to 

 future times, that some proper punishment should 

 be inflicted on the people who constituted the " Con- 

 federate States of America," both because they, de- 

 claring an unjust war against the United States for 

 the purpose of destroying republican liberty, and 

 permanently establishing slavery, as vyell as for the 

 cruel and barbarous manner in which they con- 

 ducted said war, in violation of all the laws of civi- 

 lized warfare, and also to compel them to make 

 some compensation for the damages and expendi- 

 tures caused by said war : Therefore, 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United, States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That all the public lands belonging to the 

 ten States that formed the government of the so- 

 called " Confederate States of America " shall be 

 forfeited by said States and become forthwith vested 

 in the United States. 



SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Presi- 

 dent shall forthwith proceed to cause the seizure of 

 such of the property belonging to the belligerent 

 enemy as is deemed forfeited by the Act of July 17, 

 A. D. 1862, and hold and appropriate the same as 

 enemy's property, and to proceed to condemnation 

 with that already seized. 



SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of 

 the proceeding to condemn the property thus seized 

 as enemy's property, as is provided by the act of 

 July 17, A. D. 1862, two commissions or more, as 

 by him may be deemed necessary, shall be appoint- 

 ed by the President for each of the said " Confeder- 

 ate States," to consist of three persons each, one of 

 whom shall be an officer of the late or present Army, 

 and two shall be civilians, neither of whom shall be 

 citizens of the State for which be shall be appointed; 

 end that the said commissions shall proceed to ad- 

 judicate and condemn the property aforesaid, under 

 such forms and proceedings as shall be prescribed 

 by the Attorney - General of the United States, 

 whereupon the title to said property shall become 

 vested in the United States. 



SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, out of the 

 lands thus seized and confiscated, the slaves who 

 have been liberated by the operations of the war 

 and the amendment to the Constitution or otherwise, 

 who resided in said " Confederate States " on the 

 4th day of March, A. D. 1861, or since, shall have 

 distributed to them as follows : namely, to each 

 male person who is the head of a family, forty 

 acres ; to each adult male, whether the head of a 

 family or not, forty acres ; to each widow who is 

 the head of a family, forty acres to be held by them 

 in fee-simple, but to be inalienable for the next ten 

 years after they become seized thereof. For the 

 purpose of distributing and allotting said lands, 

 the Secretary of War shall appoint as many 

 commissions in each State as he shall deem 

 necessary, to consist of three members each, 

 two of whom at least shall not be citizens of 

 the State for which he is appointed. Each of said 

 commissioners shall receive a salary of $3,000 annu- 

 ally and all his necessary expenses. Each commis- 

 sion shall be allowed one clerk, whose salary shall 

 be $2,000 per annum. The title to the homestead 

 aforesaid shall be vested in trustees for the use of 

 the liberated persons aforesaid. Trustees shf.ll be 

 appointed by the Secretary of War, and shall re- 

 ceive such salary as he shall direct, not exceeding 

 $3,000 per annum. At the end of ten vears the ab- 

 solute title to said homestead shall be conveyed 



