Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/545

Rh  over our foreign commerce would be injurious to the public interest and would insure the renewal in aggravated form of the evils which it was the purpose of your predecessors to remedy by the laws now in force. [A similar message was communicated to the Senate under date of December 17, 1864, in response to its resolution of December 5, 1864.]

 To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America. When the act to regulate the pay and mileage of members and the compensation of officers of the Senate and House of Representatives was transmitted to me I found, upon examination of its provisions, some features inconsistent with the law for the organization of the Treasury Department, and the general policy of protecting the Treasury by checks and balances, so as to restrain officials by the records of the Department itself.

I did not, however, feel constrained to return the bill with objections, believing that every desirable end could be obtained by bringing the matter to your attention and recommending amendatory legislation. It was therefore signed on the 24th instant.

I invite you to a special examination of the clause by which the depositaries of the Treasury are directed to honor and pay drafts on the Treasury by members of Congress.

For a fuller exposition of the departure which that provision makes from the wise rules and regulations established by law for the protection of the Treasury, I refer you to the annexed letter of the Secretary of the Treasury. Richmond, Virginia, December 28, 1864.

 Jan. 4, 1865. To the Senate and House of Representatives.

I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional appropriation required by the Engineer Bureau.

