Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1863-02-11
The Legislature.

- az ~.
This holy najourpsd on Friday night last At,
two hours after midnight. Having just heard
bad hsws from holns, the writer of this determined
to leave at.that hou.; und in the hurry ind CON
fusion of doing so,t tho h"x containing his ieris y
t;v. :nauers WAS left behind. We cannot thersfore
ventur. to be explicit in reference to the ae,s
passed during the LITER portion Of th's, irkScme
md luxurious double Sessicp.
The chic: measures VS. nay ;nerai1 indicate a>
fulloS.:
l.. An Act fur 'he better Organization .of The
Militin and f.r other purposes. ..--..,,.
>. Al Act To r9cato Tie commisSions "i Militia
officers. a&a&sas'
8. An Act to provide for the Confederate War
''Tas.-whirh j. Yery much tao sans MS tie arrange
nient Of last year.
4. An Act: continuing iu i"rce the stsy.Law 81
1861,
S. An Ac. 50 prevent E1sorfi"u and =" punish
Exturriuuers..-ihe clause including farmers hay
ing bsen stricken out.
6. An Act to provide for . guarantee by the
State of the Bonds -of.ihs Confederate States, to
the extent Of (aboui) thirty four millions Of dol
lars. - i9| '' :,
Z. And, lastly, An Act to limit tho production
of Cotton fixing the allowance TO tho hand At
three ares. See u Communication (Which should
have been received il time for our last weeks
issue) giving the details of this net.
Many other nets were perfected, but none OF
them Of very general %interes', except tot course)
tho Ac.s to make appropriations and to raise sup
plies for the current fiscal year. II We remember
arigAt, the tax upon negroes is one dollar and
twenty six cents per head, and upon land one dol
lar und thirty ceuts, al ralorem, on every hundred
dollars worth according TO the old classification
The Senate adopted n tax upon cott"n manutuc-
lures suggsstedby Mr.: GARLIscTuS, but the House
refused to concur.
We hope to lay the details of these Yarious
measures before orr readers at an early day and
therefore decline to add moro at present. As IL
the e1tvrtion bill, the writer of this il free'to shy
that be voted against it and has various good
rensons for having done so. But he Is %nevcrthe-
less in hopes, that the act may turn out to be
good one, and does not the 'efored desire to be in TIT
least instrumental in weakening it's force by ar'
,,ument or otherwise. It is d law now and We
trust it will .ubserve q good end.
There was another act, by tho way, which Is o.
special interest at this iime.. 1t provides for fur,
nishins slave labor for coast %defenees, by. amend
ing the Act of December 20 as to allow the quotas
60 90 forward notwithstanding tho Confederate
Government has not yet ussented to the provision
Of that act stipulating that said Government Shal
be liable for all losses of slaves or damages to thu
same. The present Act also amends, by allowing
the State Agent to employ assistants ut u per de"
puy, and by giving owners Of slaves the option O
either sending til. slaves or paying two dollars
per div far each slave in lieu of service. Tht
State dues not by this act uaivs the right to De
mund liability as abovsfrom the Confederate Gov
eminent, and the Governor is directed to prom {
the stipulation without delay.
We should also mention that an effort was male
in secret session of the Legislature (afferward'
declared public) to continue tho Reserve in ser
vice for thirty days. For one, we were opp"sed
to the measure from the beginning but the sud
denness of its introduction scarcely allowed Q
moment for thought, and it passed both Houses
} Tlha opponents Of the scheme however went viz
ur7u.ry 10 WORK unu Vup6T rsCuurrurrutIor1 It WIN
reversed as speedily az it had been adopted. How
il is that the Reserves have been since retained
over their term %tunless by their own choice) We
arc unable to understand. If they elected to re-
main, it was honorable to them. But it was no
part of tho Legislature 10 violate TIA express
pledge given them, that they should not be re-
tanned in service beyond the limit of their original
term. God knows they have suffered enough t"
no purpose except to place their own devoted pa'
triotism above suspicion.