CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



157 



any inducement to the Border Slave States to 

 remain in the Union with the North. 



On the 15th, Congress made arrangements 

 for the reception and inauguration of President 

 Davis. An official copy of the Texas secession 

 ordinance was presented, and the deputy pres- 

 ent invited to a seat, although the ordinance 

 had not been ratified. 



There was then a secret session, during which 

 a resolution was passed removing the injunction 

 of secrecy from an act continuing in office the 

 officers connected with the collection of cus- 

 toms at the time of the adoption of the Consti- 

 tution of the Confederate States, with the sala- 

 ries and powers as heretofore provided ; the 

 compensation not to exceed five thousand dol- 

 lars. The collectors were required, within two 

 weeks, to execute the same bonds as heretofore, 

 and the subordinates to give bond. One week 

 after the collectors were required to take the 

 oath to discharge their duties, and support the 

 Constitution of the Provisional Government. 

 The Secretary of the Treasury had been in- 

 structed to report a plan, to go into effect on 

 the first of April, diminishing the expenses of 

 collecting the revenue at each custom-house at 

 least fifty per cent. 



The 18th was devoted to the splendors and 

 gaieties of a Presidential inauguration, which 

 was regarded as the grandest pageant ever 

 witnessed in the Southern States. 



On the 19th, measures were adopted to ad- 

 mit, duty free, all breadstuffs, provisions, mu- 

 nitions .of war, or materials therefor, living 

 animals, and agricultural products in their nat- 

 ural state ; also goods, wares, and merchandise 

 from the United States purchased before the 

 1st of March, and imported before the 14th of 

 March. Texas was excepted from the opera- 

 tion of the tariff laws. 



On the next day the Departments of "War, 

 Navy, Justice, Postal Affairs, State and Treas- 

 ury, were organized. 



On the 21st, a resolution was introduced by 

 Mr. Cobb instructing the Committee on Finance 

 to inquire into the expediency of laying a duty 

 on cotton exported from the Confederate States 

 to any foreign country. 



Mr. Cobb, on presenting the resolution, said : 



" I am not prepared to discuss the policy of 

 levying such a duty. That we have the power 

 to do so there can be no doubt. I apprehend 

 that we are conscious of the power we hold in 

 our hands by reason of our producing that sta- 

 ple so necessary to the world. I doubt not that 

 power will exert an influence mightier than 

 armies and navies. We know that by an em- 

 bargo we could soon place, not only the United 

 States, but many of the European Powers, under 

 the necessity of electing between such a recog- 

 nition of our independence as we require, or 

 domestic convulsions at home. 



" The information in our possession seems to 

 justify such an inquiry as the resolution pro- 

 poses. It is a fact that some of the cotton now 

 produced in this Confederacy is already seeking 



a new channel to the sea. We are informed 

 that at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, more than 

 20,000 bales of cotton have already been re- 

 ceived, conveyed thither up the Mississippi 

 and Ohio rivers. We are also informed that 

 more than 20,000 bales of cotton from Rome, 

 Georgia, have been sent by railroad to seek a 

 port at Norfolk and Alexandria. We are fur- 

 ther informed that the directors of the railroads 

 connecting with the principal lines in our ter- 

 ritory are now concerting schemes for the pur- 

 pose of reducing freights on those roads, in 

 order in that way to entice our cotton to mar- 

 kets in Northern ports. 



" The result of such a course, if successful, 

 would, in the first place, necessarily be to make 

 the blockade of our ports a matter of no im- 

 portance to foreign nations ; secondly, it would 

 destroy all commerce with our own seaports ; 

 and, thirdly, and most important of all. it would 

 compel us to receive all the imported goods we 

 might need after paying duties on them in New 

 York City. These considerations have induced 

 me to offer this resolution of inquiry. I do not 

 think that the resolution should elicit discussion 

 at the present time, but, after the Committee on 

 Finance have made their report, it may become 

 a grave matter for the consideration of this 

 body." 



The resolution was adopted. 



The President then nominated, and the Con- 

 gress confirmed, the following : Mr. Toombs, 

 of Georgia, Secretary of State ; Mr. Memmin- 

 ger, of South Carolina, Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury : and L. Pope Walker, of Alabama, Secre- 

 tary of War. 



On the 22d. an act was unanimously passed 

 declaring the free navigation of the Mississippi 

 River to be established. 



On the 26th, an act was passed defining more 

 accurately the exemption of duty on certain 

 goods ; also, an act modifying the navigation 

 laws ; an act in relation to the slave trade, for 

 which the punishment was defined ; an act or- 

 ganizing the general staff of the army ; and an 

 act authorizing the establishment of additional 

 ports of entry and delivery. 



Subsequently the' nomination of Gustave T. 

 Beauregard, of Louisiana, as Brigadier-General 

 of the Provisional Army, was confirmed. 



An act to raise provisional forces for the 

 Confederate States and for other purposes was 

 passed. It directed, among other provisions, 

 that the President should take charge of all the 

 military operations between the Confederacy 

 and other Powers. 



An act was also passed to raise money to 

 support the Government. It authorized the 

 President to borrow $15,000,000, payable in 

 ten years, at an interest of eight per cent. The 

 last section directed an export duty of one- 

 eighth per cent, on each pound of cotton ex- 

 ported after the 1st of August following, to 

 create a fund to liquidate principal and interest 

 of the loan. 



The postal system of the Confederate States 



