rs in the hands of the army.

In March, 1864, Congress at last turned its attention to the subject,
and the House passed a bill, by a majority of two, establishing a Bureau
for Freedmen in the War Department. Senator Sumner, who had charge of
the bill in the Senate, argued that freedmen and abandoned lands ought
to be under the same department, and reported a substitute for the House
bill, attaching the Bureau to the Treasury Department. This bill passed,
but too late for action in the House. The debate wandered over the
whole policy of the administration and the general question of slavery,
without touching very closely the specific merits of the measure in
hand.

Meantime the election took place, and the administration, returning from
the country with a vote of renewed confidence, addressed itself to the
matter more seriously. A conference between the houses agreed upon a
carefully drawn measure which contained the chief provisions of
Charles Sumner's bill, but made the proposed organization a department
independent of both the War and Treasury officials. The bill was
conservative, giving the new department "general superintendence of all
freedmen." It was to "establish regulations" for them, protect them,
lease them lands, adjust their wages, and appear in civil and military
courts as their "next friend." There were many limitations attached
to the powers thus granted, and the organization was made permanent.
Nevertheless, the Senate defeated the bill, and a new conference
committee was appointed. This committee reported a new bill, February
28, which was whirled through just as the session closed, and which
became the act of 1865 establishing in the War Department a "Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands."

This last compromise was a hasty bit of legislation, vague and uncertain
in outline. A Bureau was created, "to continue during the present War
of Rebellion, and for one year thereafter," to which was given "the
supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of
all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen," under "such rules and
regulations as may be presented by the head of the Bureau and approved
by the President." A commissioner, appointed by the President and
Senate, was to control the Bureau, with an office force not exceeding
ten clerks. The President might also appoint commissioners in the
seceded states, and to all these offices military officials might be
detailed at r