OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF SUBSISTENCE, February 19, 1864

Richmond, Va., February 19, 1864.

Respectfully returned to Honorable Secreta of War, and hia attention is called to the inclosed report from Major Cummings. = T. G. WILLIAMS, LIneutenant-Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence.

(Per Commissary-General of Subsistence, absent, sick.) [Third indorsement. }

The whisky must be distilled somewhere, and nowhere can corn be found more abundantly. Dou cen S55 Secretary.

RICHMOND, VA., February 11, 1864.

Having carefully considered the act entitled ‘‘An act to provide for wounded and disabled officers, soldiers, and seamen an asylum to be called the ‘Veteran Soldiers’ Home,’” I feel constrained to return it with my objections to the House of Representatives, in which it originated. The object of the act appeals most strongly to the sympathies of all; but in providing the means for effectuating that object, it enacts provisions which, in my judgment, are unwarranted by the Constitution. Without affirming that the act creates a perfect corporation, there can be no doubt that it confers upon the board of managers of the institution which it is intended to found corporate powers and franchises of a well-defined character, which constitute them what is known as a quasi corporation. They are to organize themselves into a board, by the election of a president, treasurer, and their necessary officers; are to continue in office until their successors are appointed, thus providing for a continual succession; and they are to be subject to the general approval and direction of the Secretary of War, thus constituting the Secretary a visitor, a usual incident of eleemosynary corporations. They have powers to make by-laws, or as the act expresses it, the ‘‘ power to make all requisite rules and regulations” for the government of the institution; and they are authorized to receive endowments from individuals and from the States. These are all ordinary and well-known corporate franchises. But if any doubt could exist as to whether they are granted to the board as a corporation, or quasi corporation, or only intrusted to them as individual trustees, that doubt is removed by the second section of the act. That section provides that the treasurer shall give bond with security for the faithful discharge of his duties, which bond shall be payable to the said board of managers and their successors in office, and may by them be put in suit in any State or Confederate court having jurisdiction. It cannot be understood that this bond is to be taken to and sued upon by the board of managers in their individual capacities as natural persons. This is evident from two considerations:

First. Such a power would be supererogatory and useless, since as natural persons they already had by the common law ample right to

make any contract and take any bond or other security not contravening the policy of the law.

Second. The right of action on a bond payable to the managers as individuals would, in the courts of law, remain in and be under the control of the managers after they had gone out of office; and in case of the death of all of them would belong to the personal representative of the last survivor; and to prevent these inconveniences it is expressly provided that the bond should be payable to and be sued on by ‘“‘the board of managers and their successors in office,” which could only be accomplished by constituting them to that extent a corporation.

From these considerations it is apparent that the intent of the act is to confer corporate powers upon the board of managers; and that intent is, in my judgment, beyond the powers intrusted to Congress by the Constitution. However enlightened opinions may have differed under the old Government, the whole history and theory of the contest in which we are engaged and the express recognition in our Constitution of the sovereignty of the States precludes all idea of so widely extending by construction the field of implied powers. That there is no such power expressly granted need scarcely be remarked.

But if this view of the intent and operation of the act be discarded as incorrect, then it can be susceptible of but one other interpretation. It provides for the support and comfort of soldiers and seamen disabled in the public service—a class in all countries regarded as the peculiar objects of governmental benevolence. The institution which it founds is endowed, in part at least, from the funds of the Government. The real estate necessary for the purpose of this act is to be leased or purchased by the Secretary of War, under the approval of the President, as the property of the Government. Officers in the service and pay of the Government are to be assigned for duty at the asylum. Its whole management is to be subject to the general direction and control of a high officer of the Government—the Secretary of War; and the board of managers are required to report to the Secretary, to be communicated to Congress at every regular session, a statement of the condition of the institution. It is then a Government institution, and its officers are officers of the Confederate States; but they are not to be appointed in any of the ways by which alone such appointments can be constitutionally made—neither by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, nor by the President alone, nor by the courts of law, nor by the head of a department. The managers are to be appointed by the Governors of the several States, and they in turn are to appoint their president and treasurer and fix their salaries.

These two are, in my judgment, the only interpretations of which the act is susceptible; and under either view its provisions are violative of the Constitution.

A BILL to be entitled an act to provide for disabled officers and soldiers an asylum to be called ‘‘ The Veteran Soldiers’ Home.”

SEcTION 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That in order to make a just and adequate provision for the maintenance and comfort of officers and soldiers or seamen who have

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been or may be disabled by wounds received or disease contracted in the military or naval service of the Confederate States during the pending war the sum of dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be expended, or so much thereof as may be necessary, by the Secretary of War, under the approval and direction of the President, in the lease or purchase of some safe and suitable location for an asylum to be ealled ‘‘The Veteran Soldiers’ Home,” and for the erection and furnishing of such buildings and fixtures as the probable number of inmates may render necessary; and in order that the several Confederate States and the citizens thereof may have the opportunity of becoming identified with this philanthropic and patriotic enterprise, and of participating in the pleasing and grateful duty of contributing to the relief of those who have periled all, and have been disabled in the service of their country, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, immediately after the passage of this act, to invite the aid and co-operation of said States, through the respective Governors thereof, and to request the appointment of one person on behalf of each State as a manager of the institution hereby established; and the several persons so appointed shall, as soon as practicable, assemble at some time to be designated by the Secretary of War, and organize themselves into a board of managers by the election of a president and other necessary officers, with such compensation as the board may deem adequate, and a majority of the persons composing said board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. They shall continue in office for the period of two years from the date of their appointment, and until their successors are in like manner appointed, and subject to the general approval and direction of the Secretary of War. They shall have the management and control of said institution and the power to make all requisite rules and regulations therefor, including the appointment of stewards and nurses, the organizing a police force, and other necessary arrangements. Upon their recommendation and application the proper authorities shall appoint or assign for duty at said institution a commissary, who shall provide needful supplies for the same on Government account, and such surgeons and assistant surgeons in the pay of the Government as the wants of the institution may require or as may be necessary for the skillful and successful management of an infirmary, which the board may establish as a part of the institution for the benefit of all those invalids, soldiers or seamen, who may need the repose and treatment furnished therein, together with all other persons of said classes whose wounds, from hasty field operations, require further surgical attention; and the Surgeon-General shall be authorized to appoint the most skillful surgeons to discharge the duties of said infirmary. They shall adopt such measures as they may deem best for obtaining contributions from individuals desiring to aid the enterprise, and shall preserve a registry, which shall be kept open to public inspection, of the names of such contributors and the amount contributed by each, and also all donations received from the several State governments.

Src. 2. The funds of the institution shall be placed in the hands of a treasurer to be elected by the board, who, before assuming the duties of his office, shall enter into a bond and security for the faithful performance thereof, which bond shall be approved by the board of managers and made payable to said board and their successors in office, and may by them, for any infraction of the same, be put in suit in any State or Confederate court having jurisdiction of the

amount. The said funds, subject to the general approval of the Secretary of War, as aforesaid, shall be expended by the board of managers in the erection of such buildings, fixtures, and appurtenances as may be necessary, and in providing for such agricultural, horticulral, mechanical, or other employment or pursuit, as the wants of the institution or the comfort and recreation of the inmates may suggest. The said board shall, before the assembling of each regular session of Congress, submit a report of the condition and state of affairs of the institution to the Secretary of War, which it shall be his duty to communicate to Congress.

Sec. 3. The beneficiaries of said institution, who shall be entitled to become inmates of the same, shall be all commissioned and noncommissioned officers, musicians, and private soldiers and seamen who have been, or who hereafter may be, retired or discharged by reason of wounds or injuries received or disease contracted in the military or naval service of the Confederate States in the line of their duty during the pending war; and any person claiming the benefit of this act shall present his application in the manner prescribed by the board of managers, and shall, if admitted, be subject to all the rules and regulations of the institution so long as he remains an inmate thereof. He shall, at the time of his admittance, deposit with such person as may be designated by the board of managers all certificates and other papers relating to his discharge from the service, and entitling him to future pay or compensation from the Government as a retired or discharged officer, soldier, or seaman, which said pay or compensation shall, during the time of his continuance in the institution, be paid by the disbursing officer making such payments to the treasurer of the institution, and shall constitute a part of the general fund of the same, except so much thereof as the board of managers may direct to be paid, from time to time, to the person in whose right it is received.

Sec. 4. Any beneficiary of said institution may discontinue his connection therewith at his option, and upon withdrawing from the same shall be entitled to withdraw, also, all certificates and other papers deposited by him at the time of his admittance, and shall be remitted to all the rights and benefits secured thereby.

AN ACT to authorize the issue of certificates for interest on the ‘‘ fifteen million loan.”

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause certificates to be issued, in such form as he shall devise, for the interest which has accrued, or which shall accrue, on the registered stock issued under authority of the act of February the twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, entitled, ‘‘ An act to raise money for the support of the Government, and to provide for the defense of the Confederate States of America.” The said certificates shall be prepared and signed by the Register of the Treasury, in favor of the persons, respectively, in whose names the said stock shall be standing on the books of the Treasury, or their order, at the designated periods, and shall be sent by him to the Treasurer, assistant treasurers and depositaries located at the places where said interest is payable. The said certificates shall be countersigned by the Treasurer, assistant treasurer, or depositary, by whom they. shall be delivered; and shall be receivable in payment of export duty on cotton, in the same manner

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as the coupons of the bonds issued under said act of February twenty. eight, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, now are. Approved February 11, 1864.