CONGRESS, UNITED STA'i 



16] 



to said owners or to the heirs of such aa are then 



a,-...!. 



. 5. And be it fnrt/i-r enacted, That out of the 

 the property thna seiied and confiscated 



there sh. ill he raided, in the manner hereinattiT pro- 

 vided, a -mil enal lo lilty dollars lor raeh home- 

 to In- applied by the trustees hereinafter im-n- 

 i toward the oreetion of buildings on tlie said 

 homesteads for the use of said slaves ; and the fnr- 



- f *;,oii,iMin,oi)0, which shall be appropriated 



: >ws, to wit : $200,000,000 shall bo invested in 

 I nil .1 States >ix per cent, securities ; and the inter- 

 est thereof shall bo -niii-annually added to the pen- 

 sions allowed by law to pensioners who have become 

 so by reason of the late war ; $300,000,000, or so 

 niuel'i thereof as may be needed, shall be appropri- 

 ated to pay damages done to loyal citizens oy tho 

 i-ivil or military operations of the government lately 

 failed the " Confederate States of America." 



SKC% ii. .tin/ In if further enacted, That in order 

 that just discrimination may be made, the property 

 of no one shall be seized whose whole estate on the 

 4th day of March, A. D. 18G5, was not worth more 

 than $5,000, to be valued by the said commission, 

 unless he shall have voluntarily become an officer or 

 employe in the military or civil service of the "Con- 

 federate States of America," or in the civil or mili- 

 tary service of some one of said States, and in en- 

 forcing all confiscations the sum or value of $5,000 

 in real or personal property shall be left or assigned 

 to the delinquent. 



SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the commis- 

 sion shall put a just and impartial valuation on all 

 the property thus seized and forfeited, and when such 

 valuation shall be completed in the several States 

 all the said commissioners shall meet in the city of 

 Washington and assess the $500,000,000 aforesaid, 

 as well as the allowances for homestead buildings, 

 pro rala, on each of the properties or estates thus 

 seized, and shall give notice of such assessment and 

 apportionment by publication for sixty days in two 

 daily newspapers in the city of Washington, and in 

 two daily newspapers in the capitals of each of the 

 said " Confederate States." 



SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That if the 

 owners of said seized and forfeited estates shall, 

 within ninety days after the first of said publications, 

 pay into the Treasury of the United States the sum 

 assessed on their estates respectively, all of their 

 estates and lands not actually appropriated to the 

 liberated slaves shall be released and restored to their 

 owners. 



SBC. 9. And be it furtlter enacted, That all the 

 land, estates, and property, of whatever kind, which 

 shall not be redeemed as aforesaid within ninety 

 days, shall be sold and converted into money, in 

 such time and manner as may be deemed by the said 

 commissioners most advantageous to the United 

 States: Provided, That no arable land shall be sold 

 in larger tracts than five hundred acres : And pro- 

 vided further, That no longer credit shall be given 

 than three years. 



Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said : " Mr. 

 Speaker, I am about to discuss the question of 

 the punishment of belligerent traitors by en- 

 forcing the confiscation of their property to a 

 certain extent, both as a punishment for their 

 crimes, and to pay the loyal men who have 

 been robbed by the rebels, and to increase the 

 pensions of our wounded soldiers. The punish- 

 ment of traitors has been wholly ignored by a 

 treacherous Executive and by a sluggish Con- 

 I wish to make an issue before the Ameri- 

 can people, and see whether they will sanction 

 the perfect impunity of a murderous belligerent, 

 :iml consent that the loyal men of this nation, 



who have h.-.-n dcspoil.-d of their property, 

 shall remain without remuneration. ,.it|j,. r |" ( y 

 the rebel property or tin- |.n.|,,-rty of the nation. 



"To this i>-m- I (|,. -in- t<. devote tin- htnall 

 remnant of my life. 1 , make th<- 



i^uc before the people of my own State, and 

 should be glad if the issue were to extend to 

 other State-. I desire tho verdict of the people 

 upon this great question." 



After the speech of Mr. Stevens, the bill was 

 then postponed to the second Tuesday of De- 

 cember. 



On March 80th, both Houses adjourned to 

 July 3d, at noon. The Committee on tho Im- 

 peachment of tho President were instructed to 

 report at the beginning of the second session. 



SECOND MEETING OF FIRST SESSION OF FORTIETH 

 CONGRESS. 



ON July 3d, the second meeting of the first 

 session of the Fortieth Congress commenced. 

 In the Senate tho following Senators answered 

 to their names: 



Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Cameron, Cattell, 

 Chandler, Conkling, Cragin, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, 

 Fessenden, Fowler, Frelmghuysen, Grimes, Harlan, 

 Henderson, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Merrill of 

 Maine, Nye, Patterson of Tennessee, Pomeroy, Ram- 

 sey, Ross, JSprague, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trum- 

 bu'll, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Wilson, and Yates 

 35. 



In the House, tho following members were 

 present : 



Maine John Lynch, Sidney Perbam, John A. Pe- 

 ters, and Frederick A. Pike. 



New Hampshire Jacob H. Ela, Aaron F. Stevens, 

 and Jacob Bcnton. 



Vermont Frederick E. Woodbridge, Luke P. Po- 

 land, and Worthington C. Smith. 



Massachusetts Thomas D. Eliot, Oakes Ames, Gin- 

 cry Twichell, Samuel Hooper, Benjamin F. Butler, 

 Nathaniel P. Banks, George S. Boutwell, John D. 

 Baldwin, and William B. Washburn. 



New York John Morrissey, James Brooks, Fer- 

 nando Wood, William H. Robertson, John H. Ketch- 

 am, Thomas Cornell, Orange Ferris, Calvin T. Hul- 

 burd, James M. Marvin, William C. Fields, John C. 

 Churchill, Dennis McCarthy, Theodore M. Pomerov, 

 William H. Kelsey, Willia'm S. Lincoln, Hamilton 

 Ward, Lewis Selye, Burt Van Horn, and Henry Van 

 Aernam. % 



New Jersey William Moore, John Hill, and George 

 A. Halsey. 



Pennsylvania Charles O'Neill, Leonard Myers, 

 William D. Kelley, Caleb N. Taylor, John M. Broom- 

 all, Thaddeus Stevens, Henry L". Cake, Ulysses Mer- 

 cur, George F. Miller, William H. Koontz, Daniel J. 

 Morrell, Stephen F. Wilson, Gleuni W. Scofield, 

 Darwin A. Finney, John Covode, James K. Moor- 

 head, Thomas Williams, and George V. Lawrence. 



Maryland- -Francis Thomas. ' 



Ohio Benjamin Eggleston, Rutherford B. Hayes, 

 Robert C. Schenck, William Lawrence, Reader' \V. 

 Clarke, Cornelius S. Hamilton, Ralph P. Buckland, 

 James M. Ashley, John T. Wilson, Martin Welker, 

 Tobias A. Plants. John A. Bingham, Ephraim K. 

 Keklev, Rufus P. Spalding, and James A. Garfield. 



Iiitfiana Morton C. Hunter, George W. Julian, 

 John Coburn, Henry D. Washburn, Godl<>\ 

 Orth, Schuvler Colfai, William Williams, and John 

 P. C. Shanks. 



Illinois Norman B. Judd,. John F. Farnsworth, 

 Abner C. Harding, Ebon C. Ingersoll, Burton C. 



