uch person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed rom the service. employ persons of lion. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the President President may f the United States is authorized to employ as many per- African descent to ons of African descent as he may deem necessary and suppress rebelroper for the suppression of this rebellion, and for this ›urpose he may organize and use them in such manner as e may judge best for the public welfare. freed slaves. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the President Colonization of of the United States is hereby authorized to make proviion for the transportation, colonization, and settlement, n some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of such persons of the African race, made free by he provisions of this act, as may be willing to emigrate, aving first obtained the consent of the government of said country to their protection and settlement within the same, with all the rights and privileges of freemen. proclaim amnesty SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the President President may s hereby authorized, at any time hereafter, by proclama- and pardon. tion, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such time, and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the courts of the United States shall have full power to institute proceedings, make orders and decrees, issue process, and do all other things necessary to carry this act into effect. Approved, July 17, 1862. NOTE. The foregoing act commented on, interpreted, or construed by the Supreme Court: The Confiscation Acts of July 17, 1862, was not repealed by the President's Proclamation of Amnesty in 1868. No power was ever vested in the President to repeal an act of Congress. (The Confiscation Cases, 20 Wallace, p. 92.) Courts may is sue process to carry this act into effect. [12 Stat. L., p. 627.] JOINT RESOLUTION Explanatory of "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes." Construction of Ante, p. 589. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That the provi- portions of act of sions of the third clause of the fifth section of "An act to 1862, ch. 195. suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," shall be so construed as not to apply to any act or acts done prior to the passage thereof; nor to include any member of a State legislature, or judge of any State court, who has not in accepting or entering upon this office, taken an oath to support the constitution of the so-called "Confederate States of America;" nor shall any Proclamation by the President, of July 25, 1862. punishment or proceedings under said act be so construed PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT. [12 Stat. L., p. 1266.] No. 15. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. In pursuance of the sixth section of the act of Congress entitled 66 An act to suppress insurrection and to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which act, and the joint resolution explanatory Persons en- thereof, are herewith published; I, Abraham Lincoln, warned to cease President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and to return to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said their allegiance. sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenanc gaged in rebellion aiding therein ing, or abetting the existing rebellion, or any rebellion, against the Government of the United States, and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States, on pain of the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. [L. S.] ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. NOTE. The thirteenth section of the act approved July 17, 1862, by which the President was authorized to extend pardon and amnesty on such conditions as he should deem expedient for the public welfare, was repealed on the 21st of January, 1867. (14 Stat. L., p. 377.) The act commented on by the Supreme Court (13th Wallace, United States v. Klein, p. 128). Jan. 21, 1867. 1862, ch. 195, § 13. Vol. xii., p. 592. the President to [14 Stat. L., p. 377.] CHAP. VIII. An act to repeal section thirteen of "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes, approved July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa Authority of tives of the United States of America in Congress assemproclaim amnesty bled, That the thirteenth section of an act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and re and pardon repealed. bellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives. LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER, President of the Senate pro tempore. Endorsed by the PRESIDENT: "Received Wednesday, January 9th, 1867." [NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the House of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.] CONFISCATION, PROCEEDINGS FOR, EFFECT OF, AS DEFINED BY THE COURTS. The power of confiscating enemy's property and debts due to an enemy is in Congress alone. (Britton v. Butler, 9 Blatchford's Circuit Court Reports, p. 456.) The confiscation acts of 1861 and 1862 are constitutional as an exercise of the war power of the Government. (Miller v. United States, 11 Wallace, p. 268.) The act of March 12, 1863, did not confiscate or absolutely divest the property of the original owner, though disloyal. (United States v. Klein, 13 Wallace, p. 128; overruling Coté v. United States, 3 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 64.) An information under the confiscation acts, which only presents case of unlawful conversion, can not be sustained. (Morris v. United States, 7 Wallace, p. 578.) The admiralty has no jurisdiction under those acts unless there exist specific property or proceeds capable of seizure and capture. (Ibid., p. 578.) A seizure is an essential prerequisite to the enforcement of a forfeiture under the confiscation act. (Pelham v. Rose, 9 Wallace, p. 103.) No agent of the Treasury Department was justified in receiving, after June 30, 1865, any captured property, unless theretofore surrendered, much less in making any capture of unsurrendered property. (McLeod v. Calicott, 10 Internal Revenue Record, p. 94.) The sequestration act of the Confederate Congress, and all proceedings under it, are to be treated as absolutely null and void. (Perdicaris v. Charleston Gaslight Co., 10 Internal Revenue Record, p. 110.) The act of 1861 declares a forfeiture of property only in case it is knowingly employed in aid of insurrection. (United States v. Shares of Capital Stock of the Great Western Railroad Co., Blatchford's Circuit Court Reports, p. 231.) 58797-14- -11 By that act one-half of the proceeds of a forfeiture goes to the informer, but under the act of 1862 the whole of the proceeds goes to the United States. (Ibid.) Under these acts the proceedings for a condemnation must conform to those in admiralty and revenue cases. (Ibid.) The claimant of land seized under the act of August 6, 1861, is entitled to a trial by jury, according to the course of the common law. (United States v. Athens Armory, 35 Georgia Reports, p. 344; S. C. Abbott's Circuit Court Reports, p. 129.) A full pardon, granted and accepted prior to the seizure, is a bar to a condemnation under the confiscation acts of 1861. (Ibid.) A special pardon does not confer on the grantee the right to sue in the Court of Claims for the proceeds of captured cotton. (Pargoud v. United States, 4 Nott & Huntingdon's Reports, p. 337; reversed, 13 Wallace, p. 156.) A condemnation and sale of real estate, under the act of July 17, 1862 (12 Stat. L., p. 589), only passes a title terminating with the life of the offender. (Bigelow v. Forest, 9 Wallace, p. 339.) An action will lie for the proceeds of abandoned property, though captured before the passage of the act of 1863. (12 Stat. L., p. 820; Barringer v. United States, 3 Nott & Huntingdon's Reports, p. 358.) A recovery may be had, under the act of 1863 (12 Stat. L., p. 820), where the proceeds are constructively in the Treasury. (Hudnal v. United States, 3 Nott & Huntingdon's Reports, p. 291.) It is sufficient that captured property be traced to the possession of a quartermaster charged with the care of such property. (Kilduff v. United States, 6 Nott & Huntingdon's Reports, p. 250.) Where captured property is traced to the possession of the Government, it is bound to account for it; but if the loss of a portion be established it will be allowed. (Crussell v. United States, 4 Nott & Huntingdon's Reports, p. 533; S. C., 14 Wallace, p. 1.) A loyal owner of captured property can only recover its actual proceeds; the Government is not liable for the property itself. (Wylie v. United States, 6 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 295.) Under the act of 1863 (12 Stat. L., p. 820), the claimant can only recover the net proceeds in the Treasury, notwithstanding the fraudulent conduct of the Treasury agents. (Gaither v. United States, 3 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 191.) Under the act of 1863 (12 Stat. L., p. 820), the loyalty of the distributees of an estate can not be put in issue. (Aubert v. United States, 3 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 84.) It is sufficient for a corporate body to show that it was incorporated for a lawful purpose, and that it never applied any part of its funds to aid the rebellion. (Hebrew Congregation v. United States, 6 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 241.) What is evidence that the claimant gave aid, comfort to the rebellion under the act of 1863. (Kuper v. United States, 3 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 74; see Edmonds v. United States, ibid., p. 179; Mozer v. United States, ibid., p. 249; Lynch v. United States, íbid., p. 392; Stark v. United States, 4 Nott and Huntingdon's Reports, p. 280; Quinby v. United States, ibid., p. 417.) A seizure of railroad stocks may be made by giving notice thereof to the president or vice president of the company. (Miller v. United States, 11 Wallace, p. 268.) So real estate may be seized by giving notice to the tenants in possession. (Tyler v. Defrees, 11 Wallace, p. 331.) The confiscation act of July 17, 1862, was not repealed by the President's proclamations of amnesty in 1868. The act interpreted. What sort of information under it is to be held sufficient, after final judgment of condemnation. The essential character of an "information" not changed into a proceeding on admiralty side of the court by being entitled a "libel" of information, and the warrant and citation being called "a monition." What constitutes service under this act; and when the property condemned will be presumed to have belonged to a rebel. (The Confiscation Cases, 20 Wallace, p. 92.) INDIAN DEPREDATION CLAIMS. [26 Stat. L., p. 851.] AN ACT To provide for the adjudication and payment of claims arising from Indian depredations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in addition to the jurisdiction which now is, Court of Claims or may hereafter be, conferred upon the Court of Claims, to adjudicate. said court shall have and possess jurisdiction and authority to inquire into and finally adjudicate, in the manner provided in this act, all claims of the following classes, namely: by friendly In Examined claims. First. All claims for property of citizens of the United Property taken States taken or destroyed by Indians belonging to any dians. band, tribe, or nation, in amity with the United States, without just cause or provocation on the part of the owner or agent in charge, and not returned or paid for. Second. Such jurisdiction shall also extend to all cases which have been examined and allowed by the Interior Vol. 23, p. 376. Department and also to such cases as were authorized to be examined under the act of Congress making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, and for other purposes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and under subsequent acts, subject, however, to the limitations hereinafter provided. claim Offsets and counterclaims. waived. Third. All just offsets and counterclaims to any of either of the preceding classes which may be before such court for determination. SECTION 2. That all questions of limitations as to Limitations time and manner of presenting claims are hereby waived, and no claim shall be excluded from the jurisdiction of the court because not heretofore presented to the Secretary of the Interior or other officer or department of the Government: Provided, That no claim accruing prior Proms not to to July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall be be considered. considered by the court unless the claim shall be allowed Provisos. |