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An Act supplementary to an Act entitled "An Act to authorize a National Loan, and for other Purposes."

Be it enacted . . That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue bonds of the United States, bearing interest at six per centum per annum, and payable at the pleasure of the United States after twenty years from date; and if any holder of Treasury notes, bearing interest at the rate of seven and three-tenths per centum, which may be issued under the authority of the act to authorize a national loan and for other purposes, approved July seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, shall desire to exchange the same for said bonds, the Secretary of the Treasury may, at any time before or at the maturity of said Treasury notes, issue to said holder, in payment thereof, an amount of said bonds equal to the amount which, at the time of such payment or exchange, may be due on said Treasury notes; but no such bonds shall be issued for a less sum than five hundred dollars, nor shall the whole amount of such bonds exceed the whole amount of Treasury notes bearing seven and three-tenths per centum interest, issued under said act; and any part of the Treasury notes payable on demand, authorized by said act, may be made payable by the Assistant Treasurer at Saint Louis, or by the depositary at Cincinnati.

SEC. 2. [Treasury notes, how executed; need not have seal.] SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act to which this is supplementary as limits the denomination of a portion of the Treasury notes authorized by said act at not less than ten dollars, be and is so modified as to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to fix the denomination of said notes at not less than five dollars.1

SEC. 4. [Additional appropriation of $100,000 for expenses under the act.]

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Treasury notes authorized by the act to which this is supplementary, of a less

1 An act of February 12, 1862, authorized an additional issue of $10,000,000 in notes of denominations not less than five dollars, the same to be deemed a part of the loan of $250,000,000 authorized by the act of July 17, 1861.

denomination than fifty dollars, payable on demand without interest, and not exceeding in amount the sum of fifty millions of dollars, shall be receivable in payment of public dues.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the act entitled "An Act to provide for the better organization of the Treasury, and for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursements of the public revenue," passed August six, eighteen hundred and forty-six, be and the same are hereby suspended, so far as to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit any of the moneys obtained on any of the loans now authorized by law, to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, in such solvent specie-paying banks as he may select; and the said moneys, so deposited, may be withdrawn from such deposit for deposit with the regular authorized depositaries, or for the payment of public dues, or paid in redemption of the notes authorized to be issued under this act, or the act to which this is supplementary, payable on demand, as may seem expedient to, or be directed by, the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may sell or negotiate, for any portion of the loan provided for in the act to which this is supplementary, bonds payable not more than twenty years from date, and bearing interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, at any rate not less than the equivalent of par, for the bonds bearing seven per centum interest, authorized by said act. APPROVED, August 5, 1861.

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A BILL "to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes was introduced in the Senate, July 15, by Lyman Trumbull of Illinois. When the bill was reported by the Committee on the Judiciary, on the 25th, Trumbull proposed an additional section, embodying in a shorter form the provisions of section four of the act. The amended bill passed the Senate July 22. The proposed forfeiture of the claims of owners to such of their slaves as had been

compelled to work in aid of the rebellion aroused strong opposition in the House, but an amendment in the form of a substitute for the final section of the Senate bill, being section four of the act as passed, was agreed to, August 3, by a vote of 60 to 48. By a vote of 24 to 11 the Senate concurred in the amendment of the House, and on the 6th the act was approved. The Confiscation Act was the first legislative step towards emancipation.

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REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 319. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 1st Sess., and the Cong. Globe. For the retaliatory act of the Confederate Congress, August 30, see Confederate Statutes at Large, 201; on this act see Rhodes, United States, III, 465, note 2. On Butler's course see Butler's Book, 256 seq., and War Records, Series I, Vol. I, 53; see also Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, IV, 389 seq.

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An Act to confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes. Be it enacted That if, during the present or any future insurrection against the Government of the United States, after the President of the United States shall have declared, by proclamation, that the laws of the United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by law, any person or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or employé, shall purchase or acquire, sell or give, any property of whatsoever kind or description, with intent to use or employ the same, or suffer the same to be used or employed, in aiding, abetting, or promoting such insurrection or resistance to the laws, or any person or persons engaged therein; or if any person or persons, being the owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or employ, or consent to the use or employment of the same as aforesaid, all such property is hereby declared to be lawful subject of prize and capture wherever found; and it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to cause the same to be seized, confiscated, and condemned.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That such prizes and capture shall be condemned in the district or circuit court of the United States having jurisdiction of the amount, or in admiralty in any district in which the same may be seized, or into which they may be taken and proceedings first instituted.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Attorney-General, or any district attorney of the United States in which said property may at the time be, may institute the proceedings of condemnation, and in such case they shall be wholly for the benefit of the United States; or any person may file an information with such attorney, in which case the proceedings shall be for the use of such informer and the United States in equal parts. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to be held to labor or service under the law of any State, shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to take up arms against the United States, or shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or upon any fort, navy yard, dock, armory, ship, entrenchment, or in any military or naval service whatsoever, against the Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such case, the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due shall forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State or of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever thereafter the person claiming such labor or service shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such claim that the person whose service or labor is claimed had been employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States, contrary to the provisions of this act. APPROVED, August 6, 1861.

No. 12.

Act authorizing the Seizure of Railroad and Telegraph Lines

January 31, 1862

In his report of July 1, 1861, the Secretary of War, Cameron, stated that the resistance to the passage of troops through Baltimore, the destruction of

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bridges on certain railroads, and the refusal of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to transport government forces and supplies, had made it necessary to take possession of so much of the railway lines as was required to form a connection with the States from which troops and supplies were expected ;" and an appropriation for the construction and operation, when necessary, of railroad and telegraph lines was recommended. Further specific recommendations for construction were made in the annual report of December I. A bill in accordance with the earlier recommendation was reported to the Senate, January 22, by Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, from the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, and passed with amendments on the 28th by a vote of 23 to 12. The next day, by a vote of 113 to 28, the bill passed the House, and on the 31st the act was approved. An order taking military possession of all railroads was issued May 25.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 334, 335. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The debate in the Senate is of most importance. Cameron's report of 1861 is in the Globe, Appendix.

An Act to authorize the President of the United States in certain Cases to take Possession of Railroad and Telegraph Lines, and for other Purposes.

Be it enacted. . ., That the President of the United States, when in his judgment the public safety may require it, be, and he is hereby authorized to take possession of any or all the telegraph lines in the United States, their offices and appurtenances; to take possession of any or all the railroad lines in the United States, their rolling-stock, their offices, shops, buildings, and all their appendages and appurtenances; to prescribe rules and regulations for the holding, using, and maintaining of the aforesaid telegraph and railroad lines, and to extend, repair, and complete the same,1 in the manner most conducive to the safety and interest of the Government; to place under military control all the officers, agents, and employés belonging to the telegraph and railroad lines thus taken possession of by the President, so that they shall be considered as a post road and a part of the military establishment of the United States, subject to all the restrictions imposed by the rules and articles of war.

1 By a joint resolution of July 14, 1862, so much of the act as authorized the construction, extension, or completion of any railroad was repealed.

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