Congressman Albert G. Brown’s Speech on the Delegate from New Mexico, July 19, 1850

SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 19, 1850, ON THE ADMISSION OF THE DELEGATE FROM NEW MEXICO IN ADVANCE OF HER TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION.

MR. BROWN said he had taken no part in the debates on the question of admitting the delegate from New Mexico, nor did he intend to participate in this discussion at any great length.

The honorable gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Gentry] had announced the principle which had governed his vote in favor of Mr. Smith, as a delegate from New Mexico, and had informed us that he should govern himself by the same principle in voting for Mr. Babbit, the delegate from Deseret. To the correctness of the honorable gentleman's theory, Mr. B. made no sort of objection, and if the theory was applicable to the matter in hand, he should be found voting with the gentleman from Tennessee.

The honorable gentleman says, it is a part of the early theory of our government, that, whenever you govern a people, you should grant them representation. No one could mistake the meaning of the gentleman. He meant to assimilate this case to that of our colonial forefathers, and to assume that, as they complained with justice of the British Crown for governing them without giving them representation, the people in New Mexico and Deseret may justly make the same complaint of us. The colonies were governed. The Crown sent them governors, secretaries, judges and tax-gatherers. It required the acts of their local legislatures to be sent home for approval. It governed them with most despotic sway; but do we govern New Mexico and Deseret? How, sir, in what manner have we governed these territories? We have steadily refused them all governments. The ægis of our protection has not been extended over them. We have sent them neither governors, secretaries, judges nor tax-gatherers. We have taken no cognisance of them, or of their condition. This state of things ought not so long to have existed. It was the solemn duty of Congress to have taken these people under its care to have extended over them the shield of the Constitution—to have given them laws and government. It was a reproach to Congress that all this had been neglected or refused. He (Mr. B.) took his due share of this general reproach. It had been the misfortune of himself and of others, that they could not agree on a form of government proper to be granted. It had been the misfortune of the people who were now seeking this informal admission on the floor of Congress, that these differences of opinion existed. But were we on that account to set all precedent at defiance, disregard the law, and trample the principles of the Constitution under foot? He could not agree to this. He stood ready now, as he had stood from the beginning, to vote a proper republican form of government to these territories-to fix for them proper metes and bounds; and this being done, he should vote for the admission of delegates from each.

Mr. B. said he disclaimed all sectional feelings in the votes he was giving. He had taken ground against the admission of Mr. Smith when he avowed himself a zealous pro-slavery advocate. He based his opposition then, as now, on the ground that the laws of the United States and the Constitution had not been extended over the territory; that no territorial government had been established; that nothing had been done which gave to New Mexico any legal right to have her delegate on the floor of Congress. When Mr. Smith changed his position, and to propitiate certain influences, he turned Free-Soiler, and published a vulgar tirade against the South, he (Mr. B.) had not changed his position. He voted against him, as he had originally intended to do. He should now vote against Mr. Babbit, albeit he was understood to be at least not unfriendly to the South.

He could not consent to admit every one to a seat on this floor who comes here and demands admission. If the people on Tiger Island should send us a delegate, he would vote against him. If John Ross or Peter Pitchlyn ask admission from the Choctaws and Cherokees, he would vote against them. If the hunters and trappers on the Rocky Mountains should send their delegate here, he would vote against him.

In all this proceeding he should govern himself by no sectional feeling, but by the sternest principles. Whenever delegates came here, as they had come in the earlier and better days of the republic, from Ohio and Mississippi, from Alabama and Indiana, from Arkansas and Michigan, and, indeed, from all the territories, he should vote to admit them, and ask no questions as to whether they or their constituents were for or against slavery.

He would not pursue this subject. He had risen simply to reply to a remark of his friend from Tennessee. He feared that the popular idea that government and representation should go hand in hand, when propagated by a gentleman so distinguished as the honorable member from Tennessee, and coupled with the question in hand, might mislead the public mind. He had, therefore, felt bound to point out the clear distinction between the case before us, and the one assumed by the gentleman to exist.

He concluded by repeating that, whenever delegates presented themselves from territories formed by the United States, and elected according to law, he should vote for their admission. Beyond this he would not go.

SOURCE: M. W. Cluskey, Editor, Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of the Hon. Albert G. Brown, A Senator in Congress from the State of Mississippi, p. 192-4

Daniel Webster’s Speech on the Compromise Bill, June 17, 1850

On the 7th of March, Sir, I declared my opinion to be, that there is not a square rod of territory belonging to the United States, the character of which, for slavery or no slavery, is not already fixed by some irrepealable law. I remain of that opinion. This opinion, Sir, has been a good deal canvassed in the country, and it has been the subject of complaints, sometimes respectful and decorous, and sometimes so loud and so empty as to become mere clamor. But I have seen no argument upon any question of law embraced in that opinion which shakes the firmness with which I hold it, or which leads me to doubt the accuracy of my conclusions as to that part of the opinion which regarded the true construction, or, I might with more propriety say, almost the literal meaning, of the resolutions by which Texas was admitted into the Union. I have heard no argument calculated in the slightest degree to alter that opinion. The committee, I believe, with one accord, concurred in it. A great deal of surprise, real or affected, has been expressed in the country at the announcement by me of that opinion, as if there were something new in it. Yet there need have been no surprise, for there was nothing new in it. Other gentlemen have expressed the same opinion more than once; and I myself, in a speech made here on the 23d of March, 1848, expressed the same opinion, almost in the same words; with which nobody here found any fault, at which nobody here cavilled or made question, and nobody in the country.

With respect to the other ground on which my opinion is founded, that is, the high improbability, in point of fact, that African slavery could be introduced and established in any of the territories acquired by us in pursuance of the late treaty with Mexico, I have learned nothing, heard nothing, from that day to this, which has not entirely confirmed that opinion. That being my judgment on this matter, I voted very readily and cheerfully to omit what is called the Wilmot Proviso from these territorial bills, or to keep it out, rather, when a motion was made to introduce it. I did so upon a very full and deep conviction, that no act of Congress, no provision of law, was necessary, in any degree, for that purpose; that there were natural and sufficient reasons and causes excluding for ever African slavery from those regions. That was my judgment, and I acted on it; and it is my judgment still. Those who think differently will, of course, pursue a different line of conduct, in accordance with their own judgments. That was my opinion then, and it has been strengthened by every thing that I have learned since; and I have no more apprehension to-day of the introduction or establishment of African slavery in these territories, than I have of its introduction into and establishment in Massachusetts.

Well, Sir, I have voted not to place in these territorial bills what is called the Wilmot Proviso, and by that vote have signified a disposition to exclude the prohibition, as a thing unnecessary. I am now called upon to vote upon this amendment, moved by the honorable member from Louisiana,¹ which provides that the States formed out of New Mexico and Utah shall have the right and privilege of making their own constitutions, and of presenting those constitutions to Congress conformably to the Constitution of the United States, with or without a prohibition against slavery, as the people of those Territories, when about to become States, may see fit.

I do not see much practical utility in this amendment, I agree. Nevertheless, if I should vote, now that it is presented to me, against it, it might leave me open to the suspicion of intending or wishing to see that accomplished in another way hereafter which I did not choose to see accomplished by the introduction of the Wilmot Proviso. That is to say, it might seem as if, voting against that form of exclusion or prohibition, I might be willing still that there should be a chance hereafter to enforce it in some other way.

Now I think that ingenuousness and steadiness of purpose, under these circumstances, compel me to vote for the amendment, and I shall vote for it. I do it exactly on the same grounds that I voted against the introduction of the proviso. And let it be remembered that I am now speaking of New Mexico and Utah, and other territories acquired from Mexico, and of nothing else. I confine myself to these; and as to them, I say that I see no occasion to make a provision against slavery now, or to reserve to ourselves the right of making such provision hereafter. All this rests on the most thorough conviction, that, under the law of nature, there never can be slavery in these territories. This is the foundation of all. And I voted against the proviso, and I vote now in favor of this amendment, for the reason that all restrictions are unnecessary, absolutely unnecessary; and as such restrictions give offence, and create a kind of resentment, as they create a degree of dissatisfaction, and as I desire to avoid all dissatisfaction, as far as I can, by avoiding all measures that cause it, and which are in my judgment wholly unnecessary, I shall vote now as I voted on a former occasion, and shall support the amendment offered by the honorable member from Louisiana. I repeat again, I do it upon the exact grounds upon which I declared, upon the 7th day of March, that I should resist the Wilmot Proviso.

Sir, it does not seem to strike other Senators as it strikes me, but if there be any qualification to that general remark which I made, or the opinion which I expressed on the 7th of March, that every foot of territory of the United States has a fixed character for slavery or no slavery; if there be any qualification to that remark, it has arisen here, from what seems to be an indisposition to define the boundaries of New Mexico; that is all the danger there is. All that is part of Texas was, by the resolutions of 1815, thrown under the general condition of the Texan territory; and let me say to gentlemen, that if, for want of defining the boundaries of New Mexico, by any proceeding or process hereafter, or by any event hereafter, any portion which they or I do not believe to be Texas should be considered to become Texas, then, so far, that qualification of my remark is applicable. And therefore I do feel, as I had occasion to say two or three days ago, that it is of the utmost importance to pass this bill, to the end that there may be a definite boundary fixed now, and fixed for ever, between the territory of New Mexico and Texas, or the limits of New Mexico and the limits of Texas. Here the question lies. If gentlemen wish to act efficiently for their own purposes, here it is, in my poor judgment, that they are called upon to act. And the thing to be done, and done at once, is to fix the boundaries of New Mexico.

Mr. President, when I see gentlemen from my own part of the country, no doubt from motives of the highest character and for most conscientious purposes, not concurring in any of these great questions with myself, I am aware that I am taking on myself an uncommon degree of responsibility. The fact, that gentlemen with whom I have been accustomed to act in the Senate took a different view of their own duties in the same case, naturally led me to reconsider my own course, to reëxamine my own opinions, to rejudge my own judgment. And now, Sir, that I have gone through this process, without prejudice, as I hope, and certainly I have done so under the greatest feeling of regret at being called upon by a sense of duty to take a step which may dissatisfy some to whom I should always be desirous of rendering my public course and every event and action of my public life acceptable, yet I cannot part from my own settled opinions. I leave consequences to themselves. It is a great emergency, a great exigency, that this country is placed in. I shall endeavor to preserve a proper regard to my own consistency. And here let me say, that neither here nor elsewhere has any thing been advanced to show that on this subject I have said or done any thing inconsistent, in the slightest degree, with any speech, or sentiment, or letter, or declaration that I ever delivered in my life; and all would be convinced of this if men would stop to consider and look at real differences and distinctions. But where all is general denunciation, where all is clamor, where all is idle and empty declamation, where there is no search after truth, no honest disposition to inquire whether one opinion is different from the other, why, every body, in that way of proceeding, may be proclaimed to be inconsistent.

Now, Sir, I do not take the trouble to answer things of this sort that appear in the public press. I know it would be useless. Those who are of an unfriendly disposition would not publish my explanations or distinctions if I were to make them. But, Sir, if any gentleman here has any thing to say on this subject, though I throw out no challenge, yet if any gentleman here chooses to undertake the task, and many there possibly are who think it an easy task, to show in what respect any thing that I said in the debate here on the 7th of March, or any thing contained in my letter to the gentlemen of Newburyport, is inconsistent with any recorded opinion of mine since the question of the annexation of Texas arose, in 1837, I will certainly answer him with great respect and courtesy, and shall be content to stand or fall by the judgment of the country.

Sir, my object is peace. My object is reconciliation. My purpose is, not to make up a case for the North, or to make up a case for the South. My object is not to continue useless and irritating controversies. I am against agitators, North and South. I am against local ideas, North and South, and against all narrow and local contests. I am an American, and I know no locality in America; that is my country. My heart, my sentiments, my judgment, demand of me that I shall pursue such a course as shall promote the good, and the harmony, and the union of the whole country. This I shall do, God willing, to the end of the chapter.

_______________

¹ Mr. [Pierre] Soulé.

SOURCE: Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. 5, p. 381-5

The Confederate Sequestration Act, August 30, 1861

AN ACT for the sequestration of the estates, property, and effects of alien enemies, and for the indemnity of citizens of the Confederate States and persons aiding the same in the existing war with the United States.

Whereas, the Government and people of the United States have departed from the usages of civilized warfare in confiscating and destroying the property of the people of the Confederate States of all kinds, whether used for military purposes or not; and

Whereas, our only protection against such wrongs is to be found in such measures of retaliation as will ultimately indemnify our own citizens for their losses, and restrain the wanton excesses of our enemies: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That all and every the lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods and chattels, rights and credits within these Confederate States, and every right and interest therein held, owned, possessed, or enjoyed by or for any alien enemy since the twenty-first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, except such debts due to an alien enemy as may have been paid into the treasury of any one of the Confederate States prior to the passage of this law, be, and the same are hereby, sequestrated by the Confederate States of America, and shall be held for the full indemnity of any true and loyal citizen or resident of these Confederate States, or other person aiding said Confederate States in the prosecution of the present war between said Confederate States and the United States of America, and for which he may suffer any loss or injury under the act of the United States to which this act is retaliatory, or under any other act of the United States, or of any State thereof authorizing the seizure, condemnation, or confiscation of the property of citizens or residents of the Confederate States, or other person aiding said Confederate States, and the same shall be seized and disposed of as provided for in this act: Provided, however, When the estate, property, or rights to be affected by this act were, or are, within some State of this Confederacy, which has become such since said twenty-first day of May, then this act shall operate upon and as to such estate, property, or rights, and all persons claiming the same from and after the day such State so became a member of this Confederacy, and not before: Provided further, That the provisions of the act shall not extend to the stocks or other public securities of the Confederate Government, or of any of the States of this Confederacy held or owned by any alien enemy, or to any debt, obligation, or sum due from the Confederate Government, or any of the States, to such alien enemy: And provided also, That the provisions of this act shall not embrace the property of citizens or residents of either of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, or Missouri, or of the District of Columbia, or the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, or the Indian Territory south of Kansas, except such of said citizens or residents as shall commit actual hostilities against the Confederate States, or aid and abet the United States in the existing war against the Confederate States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it is, and shall be, the duty of each and every citizen of these Confederate States speedily to give information to the officers charged with the execution of this law of any and every lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods and chattels, rights and credits within this Confederacy, and of every right and interest therein held, owned, possessed, or enjoyed by or for any alien enemy as aforesaid.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of every attorney, agent, former partner, trustee, or other person holding or controlling any such lands, tenements or hereditaments, goods or chattels, rights or credits, or any interest therein of or for any such alien enemy, speedily to inform the receiver, hereinafter provided to be appointed, of the same and to render an account thereof, and so far as is practicable to place the same in the hands of such receiver; whereupon such persons shall be fully acquitted of all responsibility for property and effects so reported and turned over. And any such person willfully failing to give such information and render such account shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor, and upon indictment and conviction shall be fined in a sum not exceeding $5,000 and imprisoned not longer than six months, said fine and imprisonment to be determined by the court trying the case, and shall further be liable to be sued by said Confederate States and subjected to pay double the value of the estate, property, or effects of the alien enemy held by him or subject to his control.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the several judges of this Confederacy to give this act specially in charge to the grand juries of these Confederate States, and it shall be their duty at each sitting well and truly to inquire and report all lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods and chattels, rights and credits, and every interest therein within the jurisdiction of said grand jury held by or for any alien enemy, and it shall be the duty of the several receivers, appointed under this act, to take a copy of such report and to proceed in obtaining the possession and control of all such property and effects reported and to institute proceedings for the sequestration thereof in the manner hereinafter provided.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That each judge of this Confederacy shall as early as practicable appoint a receiver for each section of the State for which he holds a court, and shall require him before entering upon the duties of his office to give a bond in such penalty as may be prescribed by the judge, with good and sufficient security, to be approved by the judge, conditioned that he will diligently and faithfully discharge the duties imposed upon him by law. And said officer shall hold his office at the pleasure of the judge of the district or section for which he is appointed, and shall be removed for incompetency, or inefficiency, or infidelity in the discharge of his trust And should the duties of any such receiver at any time appear to the judge to be greater than can be efficiently performed by him, then it shall be the duty of the judge to divide the district or section into one or more other receivers' districts, according to the necessities of the ease, and to appoint a receiver for each of said newly created districts. And every such receiver shall also, before entering upon the duties of his office, make oath in writing before the judge of the district or section for which he is appointed, diligently, well, and truly to execute the duties of his office.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the several receivers aforesaid to take the possession, control, and management of all lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods and chattels, rights and credits of each and every alien enemy within the section for which he acts. And to this end he is empowered and required, whenever necessary for accomplishing the purposes of this act, to sue for and recover the same in the name of said Confederate States, allowing, in the recovery of credits, such delays as may have been, or may be, prescribed in any State as to the collection of debts therein during the war. And the form and mode of action, whether the matter be of jurisdiction in law or equity, shall be by petition to the court, setting forth, as best he can, the estate, property, right, or thing sought to be recovered, with the name of the person holding, exercising supervision over, in possession of, or controlling the same, as the case may be, and praying a sequestration thereof. Notice shall thereupon be forthwith issued by the clerk of the court, or by the receiver, to such person, with a copy of the petition, and the same shall be served by the marshal or his deputy and returned to the court as other mesne process in law cases; whereupon the cause shall be docketed and stand for trial in the court according to the usual course of its business, and the court or judge shall at any time make all orders of seizure that may seem necessary to secure the subject-matter of the suit from danger of loss, injury, destruction, or waste, and may, pending the cause, make orders of sale in cases that may seem to such judge or court necessary to preserve any property sued for from perishing or waste: Provided, That in any case when the Confederate judge shall find it to be consistent with the safe-keeping of the property so sequestered to leave the same in the hands and under the control of any debtor or person in whose hands the real estate and slaves were seized, who may be in possession of the said property or credits, he shall order the same to remain in the hands and under the control of said debtor or person in whose hands the real estate and slaves were seized, requiring in every such ease such security for the safe-keeping of the property and credits as he may deem sufficient for the purpose aforesaid, and to abide by such further orders as the court may make in the premises. But this proviso shall not apply to bank or other corporation stock, or dividends due, or which may be due thereon, or to rents on real estate in cities. And no debtor or other person shall be entitled to the benefit of this proviso unless he has first paid into the hands of the receiver all interests or net profits which may have accrued since the twenty-first of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-one; and in all cases coming under this proviso, such debtor shall be bound to pay over annually to the receiver all interest which may accrue as the same falls due; and the person in whose hands any other property may be left shall be bound to account for, and pay over annually to the receiver, the net income or profits of said property, and on failure of such debtor or other person to pay over such interest, net income, or profits as the same falls due, the receiver may demand and recover the debt or property. And wherever, after ten days' notice to any debtor or person in whose hands property or debts may be left, of all application for further security, it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court that the securities of such debtor or person are not ample, the court may, on the failure of the party to give sufficient additional security, render judgment against all the parties on the bond for the recovery of the debt or property: Provided further, That said court may, whenever, in the opinion of the judge thereof, the public exigencies may require it, order the money due as aforesaid to be demanded by the receiver, and if upon demand of the receiver, made in conformity to a decretal order of the court requiring said receiver to collect any debts for the payment of which security may have been given under the provisions of this act, the debtor or his security shall fail to pay the same, then upon ten days' notice to said debtor and his security, given by said receiver, of a motion to be made in said court for judgment for the amount so secured, said court, at the next term thereof, may proceed to render judgment against said principal and security, or against the party served with such notice, for the sum so secured, with interest thereon, in the name of said receiver, and to issue execution therefor.

SEC. 7. Any person in the possession and control of the subject-matter of any such suit, or claiming any interest therein, may, by order of the court, be admitted as a defendant and be allowed to defend to the extent of the interest propounded by him; but no person shall be heard in defense until he shall file a plea, verified by affidavit and signed by him, setting forth that no alien enemy has any interest in the right which he asserts, or for which he litigates, either directly or indirectly, by trust, open or secret, and that he litigates solely for himself or for some citizen of the Confederate States whom he legally represents; and when the defense is conducted for or on account of another, in whole or part, the plea shall set forth the name and residence of such other person, and the relation that the defendant bears to him in the litigation. If the cause involves matter which should be tried by a jury according to the course of the common law, the defendant shall be entitled to a jury trial. If it involves matters of equity jurisdiction the court shall proceed according to its usual mode of procedure in such cases; and the several courts of this Confederacy may from time to time establish rules of procedure under this act, not inconsistent with the act or other laws of these Confederate States.

SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, That the clerk of the court shall, at the request of the receiver, from time to time issue writs of garnishment, directed to one or more persons, commanding them to appear at the then sitting or at any future term of the court, and to answer under oath what property or effects of any alien enemy he had at the service of the process, or since has had under his possession or control belonging to or held for an alien enemy, or in what sum if any he is or was at the time of service of the garnishment, or since has been, indebted to any alien enemy; and the court shall have power to condemn the property or effects or debts, according to the answer, and to make such rules and orders for the bringing in of third persons claiming or disclosed by the answer to have an interest in the litigation as to it shall seem proper; but in no case shall any one be heard in respect thereto until he shall by sworn plea set forth substantially the matters before required of parties pleading. And the decree or judgment of the court rendered in conformity to this act shall forever protect the garnishee in respect to the matter involved. And in all cases of garnishment under this act the receiver may test the truth of the garnishee's answer by filing a statement, under oath, that he believes the answer to be untrue, specifying the particulars in which he believes the garnishee has, by omission or commission, not answered truly, whereupon the court shall cause an issue to be made between the receiver and garnishee, and judgment rendered as upon the trial of other issues. And in all cases of litigation under this act the receiver may propound interrogatories to the adverse party touching any matter involved in the litigation, a copy of which shall be served on the opposite party or his attorney, and which shall be answered under oath within thirty days of such service; and upon failure so to answer the court shall make such disposition of the cause as shall to it seem most promotive of justice, or should it deem answers to the interrogatories necessary in order to secure a discovery, the court shall imprison the party in default until full answers shall be made.

SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the district attorney of the Confederate States diligently to prosecute all causes instituted under this act, and he shall receive as a compensation therefor 2 per cent. upon and from the fruits of all litigation instituted under this act: Provided, That no matter shall be called litigated except a defendant be admitted by the court and a proper plea be filed.

SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That each receiver appointed under this act shall, at least every six months, and as much oftener as he may be required by the court, render a true and perfect account of all matters in his hands or under his control under the law, and shall make and state just and perfect accounts and settlements under oath of his collections of moneys and disbursements under this law, stating accounts and making settlements of all matters separately, in the same way as if he were administrator of several estates of deceased persons by separate appointments. And the settlements and decrees shall be for each case or estate separately, so that the transaction in respect to each alien enemy's property may be kept recorded and preserved separately. No settlement as above provided shall, however, be made until judgment or decree of sequestration shall have passed; but the court may at any time pending litigation require an account of matters in litigation and in the possession of the receiver, and may make such orders touching the same as shall protect the interest of the parties concerned.

SEC. 11. When the accounts of any receiver shall be filed respecting any matter which has passed sequestration, the court shall appoint a day for settlement, and notice thereof shall be published consecutively for four weeks in some newspaper near the place of holding the court, and the clerk of the court shall send a copy of such newspaper to the district attorney of the Confederate States for the court where the matter is to be heard, and it shall be the duty of said district attorney to attend the settlement and represent the Government and to see that a full, true, and just settlement is made. The several settlements preceding the final one shall be interlocutory only, and may be impeached at the final settlements, which latter shall be conclusive, unless reversed or impeached within two years for fraud.

SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That the court having jurisdiction of the matter shall, whenever sufficient cause is shown therefor, direct the sale of any personal property, other than slaves, sequestered under this act, on such terms as to it shall seem best, and such sale shall pass the title of the person as whose property the same has been sequestered.

SEC. 13. All settlements of accounts of receivers for sequestered property shall be recorded and a copy thereof shall be forwarded by the clerk of the court to the Treasurer of the Confederate States within ten days after the decree, interlocutory or final, has been passed; and all balances found against the receiver shall by him be paid over into the court, subject to the order of the Treasurer of the Confederate States, and upon the failure of the receiver for five days to pay over the same execution shall issue therefor, and he shall be liable to attachment by the court and to suit upon his bond. And any one embezzling any money under this act shall be liable to indictment, and on conviction shall be confined at hard labor for not less than six months nor more than five years, in the discretion of the court, and fined in double the amount embezzled.

SEC. 14. Be it further enacted, That the President of the Confederate States shall, by and with the advice and consent of Congress, or of the Senate if the appointment be made under the permanent Government, appoint three discreet commissioners, learned in the law, who shall hold at the seat of Government two terms each year, upon notice given, who shall sit so long as the business before them shall require, whose duty it shall be, under such rules as they may adopt, to hear and adjudge such claims as may be brought before them by any one aiding this Confederacy in the present war against the United States, who shall allege that he has been put to loss under the act of the United States in retaliation of which this act is passed, or under any other act of the United States, or of any State thereof, authorizing the seizure, condemnation, or confiscation of the property of any citizen or resident of the Confederate States, or other person aiding said Confederate States in the present war with the United States, and the finding of such commissioners in favor of any such claim shall be prima facie evidence of the correctness of the demand, and whenever Congress shall pass the claim, the same shall be paid from any money in the Treasury derived from sequestration under this act: Provided, That said Board of Commissioners shall not continue beyond the organization of the Court of Claims provided for by the Constitution, to which Court of Claims the duties herein provided to be discharged by commissioners shall belong upon the organization of said court. The salaries of said commissioners shall be at the rate of $2,500 per annum, and shall be paid from the Treasury of the Confederacy. And it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General or his assistant to represent the interests of this Government in all cases arising under this act before said Board of Commissioners.

SEC. 15. Be it further enacted, That all expenses incurred in proceedings under this act shall be paid from the sequestered fund, and the judges, in settling accounts with receivers, shall make to them proper allowances of compensation, taking 2½ per cent. on receipts, and the same amount on expenditures, as reasonable compensation in all cases. The fees of the officers of court shall be such as are allowed by law for similar services in other cases, to be paid, however, only from the sequestered fund: Provided, That all sums realized by any receiver in one year for his services exceeding $5,000 shall be paid into the Confederate Treasury for the use of the Confederacy.

SEC. 16. Be it further enacted, That the Attorney-General shall prescribe such uniform rules of proceeding under this law, not herein otherwise provided for, as shall meet the necessities of the case.

SEC. 17. Be it further enacted, That appeals may lie from any final decision of the court under this law, in the same manner and within the same time as is now or hereafter may be by law prescribed for appeals in other civil cases.

SEC. 18. Be it further enacted, That the word “person” in this law includes all private corporations, and in all cases when corporations become parties and this law requires an oath to be made it shall be made by some officer of such corporation.

SEC. 19. Be it further enacted, That the courts are vested with jurisdiction and required by this act to settle all partnerships heretofore existing between a citizen and one who is an alien enemy; to separate the interest of the alien enemy, and to sequestrate it; and shall also sever all joint rights when an alien enemy is concerned, and sequestrate the interest of such alien enemy.

SEC. 20. Be it further enacted, That in all cases of administration of any matter or thing under this act, the court having jurisdiction may make such orders touching the preservation of the property or effects under the direction or control of the receiver, not inconsistent with the foregoing provisions, as to it shall seem proper. And the receiver may at any time ask and have the instructions of the court, or judge, respecting his conduct in the disposition or management of any property or effects under his control.

SEC. 21. That the Treasury notes of this Confederacy shall be receivable in payment of all purchases of property or effects sold under this act.

SEC. 22. Be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be construed to destroy or impair the lien or other rights of any creditor, a citizen or resident of either of the Confederate States, or of any other person, a citizen or resident of any country, State, or Territory with which this Confederacy is in friendship, and which person is not in actual hostility to this Confederacy. And any lien or debt claimed against any alien enemy, within the meaning of this act, shall be propounded and filed in the court in which the proceedings of sequestration are had within twelve months from the institution of such proceedings for sequestration; and the court shall cause all proper parties to be made and notices to be given, and shall hear and determine the respective rights of all parties concerned: Provided, however, That no sales or payments over of money shall be delayed for or by reason of such rights or proceedings; but any money realized by the receiver, whether paid into the court or Treasury, or still in the receiver's hands, shall stand in lieu of that which produced said money, and be held to answer the demands of the creditors aforesaid, in the same manner as that which produced such money was. And all claims not propounded and filed as aforesaid, within twelve months as aforesaid, shall cease to exist against the estate, property, or effects sequestrated, or the proceeds thereof.

Approved August 30, 1861.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV, Volume 1 (Serial No. 127), 586-92

An Act proposing to the State of Texas the Establishment of her Northern and Western Boundaries, the Relinquishment by the said State of all Territory claimed by her exterior to said boundaries, and of all her Claims upon the United States, and to establish a territorial Government for New Mexico, September 9, 1850

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:

That the following propositions shall be, and the same hereby are, offered to the State of Texas, which, when agreed to by the said State, in an act passed by the general assembly, shall be binding and obligatory upon the United States, and upon the said State of Texas: Provided, The said agreement by the said general assembly shall be given on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty:

FIRST. The State of Texas will agree that her boundary on the north shall commence at the point at which the meridian of one hundred degrees west from Greenwich is intersected by the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and shall run from said point due west to the meridian of one hundred and three degrees west from Greenwich; thence her boundary shall run due south to the thirty-second degree of north latitude; thence on the said parallel of thirty-two degrees of north latitude to the Rio Bravo del Norte, and thence with the channel of said river to the Gulf of Mexico.

SECOND. The State of Texas cedes to the United States all her claim to territory exterior to the limits and boundaries which she agrees to establish by the first article of this agreement.

THIRD. The State of Texas relinquishes all claim upon the United States for liability of the debts of Texas, and for compensation or indemnity for the surrender to the United States of her ships, forts, arsenals, custom-houses, custom-house revenue, arms and munitions of war, and public buildings with their sites, which became the property of the United States at the time of the annexation.

FOURTH. The United States, in consideration of said establishment of boundaries, cession of claim, to territory, and relinquishment of claims, will pay to the State of Texas the sum of ten millions of dollars in a stock bearing five per cent. interest, and redeemable at the end of fourteen years, the interest payable half-yearly at the treasury of the United States.

FIFTH. Immediately after the President of the United States shall have been furnished with an authentic copy of the act of the general assembly of Texas accepting these propositions, he shall cause the stock to be issued in favor of the State of Texas, as provided for in the fourth article of this agreement: Provided, also, That no more than five millions of said stock shall be issued until the creditors of the State holding bonds and other certificates of stock of Texas for which duties on imports were specially pledged, shall first file at the treasury of the United States releases of all claim against the United States for or on account of said bonds or certificates in such form as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and approved by the president of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained. shall be construed to impair or qualify any thing contained in the third article of the second section of the “ joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States,” approved March first, eighteen hundred and forty-five; either as regards the number of States that may here- after be formed out of the State of Texas, or otherwise.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all that portion of the Territory of the United States bounded as follows: Beginning at a point in the Colorado River where the boundary line with the republic of Mexico crosses the same; thence eastwardly with the said boundary line to the Rio Grande; thence following the main channel of said river the parallel of the thirty-second degree of north latitude ; thence east with said degree to its intersection with the one hundred and third degree of longitude west of Greenwich; thence north with said degree of longitude to the parallel of thirty-eighth degree of north latitude; thence west with said parallel to the summit of the Sierra Madre; thence south with the crest of said mountains to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence west with said parallel to its intersection with the boundary line of the State of California; thence with said boundary line to the place of beginning — be, and the same is hereby, erected into a temporary government, by the name of the Territory of New Mexico: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion thereof to any other Territory or State: And provided, further, That, when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the executive power and authority in and over said Territory of New Mexico shall be vested in, a governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The governor shall reside within said Territory, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia thereof, shall perform the duties and receive the emoluments of superintendent of Indian affairs, and shall approve all laws passed by the legislative assembly before they shall take effect; he may grant pardons for offences against the laws of said Territory, and reprieves for offences against the laws of the United States, until the decision of the President can be made known thereon. He shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of the said Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be a secretary of said Territory, who shall reside therein, and hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States ; .he shall record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the legislative assembly hereinafter constituted and all the acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and one copy of the executive proceedings, on or before the first day of December in each year, to the President of the United States, and, at the same time, two copies of the laws to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, for the use of Congress. And, in case of the death, removal, resignation, or other necessary absence of the governor from the Territory, the secretary shall have, and he is hereby authorized and required to execute and perform all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or necessary absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed to fill such vacancy.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the governor and a legislative assembly. The legislative assembly shall consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The Council shall consist of thirteen members, having the qualifications of voters as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue two years. The House of Representatives shall consist of twenty-six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the Council, and whose term of service shall continue one year. An apportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, among the several counties or districts, for the election of the Council and House of Representatives, giving to each section of the Territory representation in the ratio of its population, (Indians excepted,) as nearly as may be. And the members of the Council and of the House of Representatives shall reside in, and be inhabitants of, the district for which they may be elected respectively. Previous to the first election, the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties and districts of the Territory to be taken, and the first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of the members of the Council and House of Representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled under this act. The number of persons authorized to be elected having the highest number of votes in each of said Council districts, for members of the Council, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the Council; and the person or persons authorized to be elected having the greatest number of votes for the House of Representatives, equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected members of the House of Representatives: Provided, That in case of a tie between two or more persons voted for, the governor shall order a new election to supply the vacancy made by such tie. And the persons thus elected to the legislative assembly shall meet at such place and on such day as the governor shall appoint; but thereafter, the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by the people, and the apportioning the representation in the several counties or districts to the Council and House of Representatives according to the population, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the legislative assembly: Provided, That no one session shall exceed the term of forty days.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That every free white male inhabitant, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of the passage of this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the legislative assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage, and of holding office, shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, including those recognized as citizens by the treaty with the republic of Mexico, concluded February second, eighteen hundred and forty-eight.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act; but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the legislative assembly and governor shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and, if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That all township, district, and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of New Mexico. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the legislative Council, appoint, an officers not herein otherwise provided for; and in the first instance the governor alone may appoint all said officers, who shall hold their offices until the end of the first session of the legislative assembly, and shall lay off the necessary districts for members of the Council and House of Representatives, and all other officers.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no member of the legislative assembly shall hold, or be appointed to, any office which shall have been created, or the salary or emoluments of which shall have been increased while he was a member, during the term for which he was elected, and for one year after the expiration of such term; and no person holding a commission or appointment under the United States, except postmasters, shall be a member of the legislative assembly, or shall hold any office under the government of said Territory.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in justices of the peace. The Supreme Court shall consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government of said Territory annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of four years. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a District Court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the Supreme Court, at such time and place as may be prescribed by law; and the said judges shall, after their appointments, respectively, reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the Probate Courts and of justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law: Provided, That justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; and the said Supreme and District Courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each District Court, or the judge thereof, shall appoint its clerk, who shall also be the register in chancery, and shall keep his office at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals, shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said District Courts to the Supreme Court, under such regulations as may be pre- scribed by law, but in no case removed to the Supreme Court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The Supreme Court, or the justices thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been ap- pointed. Writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of said Supreme Court shall be allowed, and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the Circuit Courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars; except only that in all cases involving title to slaves, the said writs of error or appeals shall be allowed and decided by the said Supreme Court without regard to the value of the matter, property, or title in controversy; and except also that a writ of error or appeal shall also be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States from the decision of the said Supreme Court created by this act, or of any judge thereof, or of the District Courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas corpus involving the question of personal freedom; and each of the said District Courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States as is vested in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States; and the said Supreme and District Courts of the said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the judges of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said Constitution and laws; and writs of error and appeals in all such cases shall be made to the Supreme Court of said Territory, the same as in other cases. The said clerk shall receive in all such cases the same fees which the clerks of the District Courts of Oregon Territory now receive for similar services.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed an attorney for said Territory, who shall continue in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the attorney of the United States for the present Territory of Oregon. There shall also be a marshal for the Territory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the president, and who shall execute all processes issuing from the said courts when exercising their jurisdiction as Circuit and District Courts of the United States: he shall perform the duties, be subject to the same regulation and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as the marshal of the District Court of the United States for the present Territory of Oregon, and shall, in addition, be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for extra services.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the governor secretary, chief justice and associate justices, attorney and marshal shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The governor and secretary, to be appointed as aforesaid, shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation, before the district judge, or some justice of the peace in the limits of said Territory, duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the chief justice or some associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken, and such certificates shall be received and recorded by the said secretary among the executive proceedings; and the chief justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation, before the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of the peace of the Territory, who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted, by the person taking the same, to the secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid; and afterwards, the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified, and recorded, in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars as governor, and one thousand dollars as superintendent of Indian affairs. The chief justice and associate justices shall each receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the treasury of the United States. The members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars each per day during their attendance at the sessions thereof, and three dollars each for every twenty miles' travel in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the nearest usually travelled route. There shall be appropriated annually the sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the governor, to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory; there shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum to be expended by the secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses; and the secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the legislative assembly of the Territory of New Mexico shall hold its first session at such time and place in said Territory as the Governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the governor and legislative assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible; which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and legislative assembly.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve during each Congress of the United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct; and at all subsequent elections, the times, places, and manner of holding the elections shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly: Provided, That such delegate shall receive no higher sum for mileage than is allowed by law to the delegate from Oregon.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That when the lands in said Territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved for the purpose of being applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That temporarily and until otherwise provided by law, the governor of said Territory may define the judicial districts of said Territory, and assign the judges who may be appointed for said Territory to the several districts, and also appoint the times and places for holding courts in the several counties or subdivisions in each of said judicial districts, by proclamation to be issued by him; but the legislative assembly, at their first or any subsequent session, may organize, alter, or modify such judicial districts, and assign the judges, and alter the times and places of holding the courts, as to them shall seem proper and convenient.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of New Mexico as elsewhere within the United States.

SEC. 18. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act be, and they are hereby, suspended until the boundary between the United States and the State of Texas shall be adjusted; and when such adjustment shall have been effected, the President of the United States shall issue his proclamation, declaring this act to be in full force and operation, and shall proceed to appoint the officers herein provided to be appointed in and for said Territory.

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That no citizen of the United States shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, in said Territory, except by the judgment of his peers and the laws of the land.

APPROVED, September 9, 1850.

SOURCES: George Minot, Editor, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December 1, 1845 to March 3, 1851, Volume 9, p. 446-52 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials Adopted by the Second Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona: Session Begun on the Sixth Day and Ended on the Thirtieth Day of December, A. D. 1865 at Prescott, p. 87-94