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1156 Series IV Volume III- Serial 129 - Correspondence, Orders, Reports and Returns of the Confederate Authorities from January 1, 1864, to the End

Page 1156 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

the previous of the first section of this act, then, and in that event, a tax shall be levied and collected of twenty-five per cent. upon the amount of all gold and silver coin, gold dust and bullion, and foreign exchange in the Confederate States, payable in kind, which tax shall be due and collected on the first day of April next, or as soon thereafter as possible: Provided, That the above tax shall not be levied upon the gold or silver coin, gold dust and bullion, and foreign exchange owned or possessed by any persons when the amount so owned or possessed shall not exceed two hundred dollars in value, nor shall the said tax be levied on gold or silver coin, gold dust, bullion, or foreign exchange which, within thirty days after the passage of this act, shall be lent to the Government under the provisions of the first section of this act; nor upon the gold or silver coin, gold dust, bullion, or foreign exchange of any person who has made a loan tot he Government according to the said first section, of not less than twenty-five per cent. of the gold or silver coin, gold dust, bullion of foreign exchange owned and possessed by such person at the time of the passage of this act; and if any State of the Confederacy borrows from any bank coin or bullion and lends it to the Confederate Government, the bank that lends said coin our bullion shall be allowed a credit against this tax to the extent of such loan: And provided also, That the delay of thirty days mentioned in this section shall be extended to one hundred and twenty days for all portions of the Confederacy beyond the Mississippi River.

Sec. 3. That the limitation of three millions of dollars, as expressed in the first section of this act, shall not be construed to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from receiving a greater amount, offered as loans or accruing on taxes under this act: Provided, That the tax imposed by the provisions of this act upon gold and silver coin, gold and silver bullion, gold dust, and foreign exchange, when paid, or the amount thereof loaned in pursuance of the first and second sections of by any other act: Provided further, That the tax of twenty-five per cent. levied by the second section of this act shall be in lieu of all other taxes imposed on the same article by any other act, and the tax imposed by this act shall be assessed as at the date of the passage of this act.

Approved March 17, 1865.

A true copy.

JAMES M. MATTHEWS,

Law Creek.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Raleigh, March 17, 1865.

Hon. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE,

Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.:

DEAR SIR: I have been informed that certain communications, of the utmost importance to the cause of the Confederacy, have been submitted to Congress in secret session by the President and the several heads of departments. I have also been informed that their nature was such as to render it entirely proper, and indeed faithful, that I, as Governor of North Carolina, should be informed of their contents. I have, therefore, the honor to most respectfully request copy of said papers, if not deemed inconsistent with the public good,


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