maturity of the same. That the foreign mail agents of the government of the United States shall have free passage on the ships of the said company whenever the postmaster general to such foreign mail agents issue passes. That the said navigation company shall keep up and maintain for a period of twenty years, for the said United States mail service, at least the said number of seven first class steamships. That the rights and privileges herewith granted shall be and remain to this company, and in no event shall this company transfer or assign the rights and privileges herein granted, nor shall it be lawful for any officer of the government hereafter to recognize any assignment or transfer, it being the intent and meaning of this act to secure an American line of steam vessels for the transport navigation company, shall belong to said company, and shall be paid to said company quarterly, or applied to their use. Provided, That when the receipts from sea postages shall equal or exceed the sum of four hundred thousand dollars per anuum, then the right of said company to receive the inland postages shall cease, and said company shall only receive the sea postages: Provided, That such postages shall not exceed six hundred thousand dollars per annum, after the discontinuance of said inland postage. That to insure the construction of the abovementioned vessels within the time and in the manner provided, the said Commercial Navigation Company may issue bonds to such an amount that the entire annual interest thereon shall not exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, such bonds to be made pay-ation of mails and the proper conveyance of able at the expiration of fifteen years, and the emigrant passengers between the port of New interest thereof to be made payable semi-annu- York and the European ports above named; and ally, the principal and interest of such bonds to Congress may at any time hereafter, during the be made payable in coin. That for the protection period of fifteen years, terminate or abandon any of the holders of such bonds they shall be sever- contract of the United States made with such ally registered at the post office department and company, and, having a due regard to the accertified by the chief clerk of the department, crued rights of the said company, alter, repeal, without liability for the payment of the interest or amend this act, and it shall take effect and be or principal of said bonds upon the part of the in force from and after its passage. post office department only in manner as hereinafter provided. And the postmaster general shall receive all moneys for postage earned by the steamships of said company, and shall apply the same as far as needed to the payment of the semiannual interest upon the before named bonds, and shall retain the surplus after paying such interest, and shall invest the same quarterly in the securities of the United States to form a sinking fund, to be held solely for the benefit of the bondholders, and to be applied to the payment of the principal of such bonds. And whenever, and as soon as such sinking fund shall equal in amount the entire principal of said bonds, then from that time forward the interest of said bonds shall be paid out of the income of such sinking fund, and the principal thereof out of the same fund at their maturity. And all postage earned after the time when said sinking fund shall be made up to the amount aforesaid, shall belong to and be paid quarterly to the said company by the postmaster general of the United States. That the aforesaid mail steamships shall be commanded and officered only by citizens of the United States, shall mount an armament, if required, of two guns each, and shall have at least SEC. 2. That no person shall be entitled to a one apprentice to be instructed in engineering, pension by reason of wounds received, or disseamanship, and navigation, to every two hun- ease contracted, in the service of the United dred tons of registered tonnage for each steam-States, subsequently to the passage of this act, ship; and the government of the United States unless the person who was wounded or contractshall have the power to take and use the afore- ed disease was in the line of duty: and, if in the said mail steamships as transports or for ships of military service, was at the time actually in the war whenever, in the opinion of the President, field, or on the march, or at some post, fort, or the exigencies of the United States may require garrison; or if in the naval service was at the them, who is authorized, in such an event, to time borne on the books of some ship, or other take said mail steamers and pay said company a vessel of the United States, at sea or in harbor, just and equitable sum for their use, or purchase actually in commission, or was on his way, by the same, as may be deemed most for the interest direction of competent authority, to the United of the United States; said payment, whether for States, or to some other vessel or naval station. purchase or use, to be made to the postmaster general, who shall pay to said navigation company whatever balance be due them, after deducting sufficient for payment for all the before named registered bonds, the amount of which in this event shall be paid to the holders thereof at SEC. 3. That so much of the acts approved April 6th, 1838, and August 23d, 1842, as requires that pensions remaining unclaimed for fourteen months after the same have become due, shall be adjusted at the office of the third auditor, is hereby repealed; and the failure of No. 116.-Relating to pensions. That the laws granting pensions to the hereinafter-mentioned dependent relatives of deceased persons leaving neither widow nor child entitled to pensions under existing laws, shall be so construed as to give precedence to such relatives in the following order, namely: First, mothers; secon.lly, fathers; thirdly, orphan brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age, who shall be pensioned jointly if there be more than one: Provided, That if, in any case, the said persons shall have left both father and mother who were dependent upon them, then on the death of the mother the father shall become entitled to a pension commencing from and after the death of the mother; and upon the death of the mother and father the dependent brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age shall jointly become entitled to such pension until they attain the age of sixteen years, respectively, commencing from and after the death of the party who, preceding them, would have been entitled to the same: And provided further, That no pension heretofore awarded shall be affected by anything herein contained. any pensioner to claim his or her pension for a period of three years after the same shall have become due, shall be deemed presumptive evidence that such pension has legally terminated by reason of the pensioner's death, remarriage, recovery from disability, or otherwise, and the pensioner's name shall be stricken from the rolls, subject to the right of restoration to the same on a new application, with evidence satisfactorily accounting for the failure to claim such pension. SEC. 4. That if any officer, soldier, seaman, or enlisted man has died since the 4th day of March, 1861, or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow entitled to a pension, and a child or children under sixteen years of age by a former wife, each of said children shall be entitled to receive two dollars per month, to commence from the death of their father and continue until they severally attain the age of sixteen years, to be paid to the guardian of such child or children for their use and benefit: Provided, however, That in all cases where such widow is charged with the care, custody, and maintenance of such child or children, the said sum of two dollars per month for each of said children shall be paid to her for and during the time she is, or may have been, so charged with the care, custody, and maintenance of such child or children, subject to the same conditions, provisions, and limitations as if they were her own children by her said deceased husband. SEC. 5. That in all cases where an increased pension has been or may hereafter be granted to any widow or guardian of the children under sixteen years of age of a deceased soldier or sailor, under an act entitled "An act increasing the pensions of widows, and for other purposes, ," approved July 25th, 1866, or any subsequent act, such widow, or the guardian of such children, shall not be deprived of such increase by reason of any child or children of such deceased soldier or sailor being the inmate of any home, orphan's asylum, or other public or private charitable institution organized for the care and education of soldiers' orphans under the laws of any of the States, or in any school or institution where such orphan may in whole or in part be maintained or educated at the expense of a State, or of the public. SEC. 6. That all pensions which have been granted in consequence of death occurring or disease contracted, or wounds received, since the 4th day of March, 1861, or may hereafter be granted, shall commence from the discharge or from the death of the person on whose account the pension has been or shall hereafter be granted: Provided, That the application for such pension has been or shall hereafter be, filed with the commissioner of pensions within five years after the right thereto shall have accrued; except that applications by or in behalf of insane persons and children under sixteen years of age may be filed after the expiration of the said five years, if previously thereto they were without guardians or other proper legal representatives. SEC. 8. That section eleven of an act entitled "An act supplementary to the several acts relating to pensions," approved June six, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: "That if any officer, soldier, or seaman shall have died of wounds received or of disease contracted in the line of duty in the military or naval service of the United States, leaving a widow and child or children under the age of sixteen years, and it shall be duly certified under seal, by any court having probate jurisdiction, that satisfactory evidence has been produced before such court that the widow aforesaid has abandoned the care of such child or children, or is an unsuitable person, by reason of immoral conduct, to have the custody of the same, or on presentation of satisfactory evidence thereof to the commissioner of pensions, then no pension shall be allowed to such widow until said child or children shall have severally become sixteen years of age, any previous enactment to the contrary notwithstanding; and the child or children aforesaid shall be pensioned in the same manner as if no widow had survived the said officer, soldier, or seaman, and such pension may be paid to the regulariy authorized guardian of such child or children." SEC. 9. That section six of an act entitled "An act supplementary to the several acts relating to pensions," approved June six, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, be, and the same is hereby, amended and re-enacted, so as to read as follows: That if any person entitled to a pension has died since March fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or shall hereafter die while an application for such pension is pending, leaving no widow and no child under sixteen years of age, his or her heirs or legal representatives shall be entitled to receive the accrued pension to which the applicant would have been entitled had the certificate been issued before his or her death. SEC. 10. That the remarriage of any widow or dependent mother, otherwise entitled to a pension prior to the application therefor, or to the issue of a pension certificate to her, shall not debar her right to a pension for the period elapsing from the death of her husband or son, on account of whose services and death she may claim a pension, to her remarriage: Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall be construed to repeal or modify the fourth section of an act entitled "An act supplementary to the several acts granting pensions," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, SEC. 11. That the provisions of the ninth section of an act approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled "An act supplementary to An act to grant pensions,' hereby continued in force for five years from the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. are SEC. 12. That section one of an act entitled "An act supplementary to the several acts relating to pensions," approved June six, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, shall be so construed as to secure to every person entitled by law before the passage of said act to a less pension than twentyfive dollars per month, who while in the military or naval service and in the line of duty, or in consequence of wounds received or disease contracted therein, having only one eye, shall have lost the same, a pension of twenty-five dollars per month. SEC. 13. That the third section of an act entitled "An act increasing the pensions of widows and orphans, and for other purposes," approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixtysix, shall be so construed as to place all pensioners whose right thereto accrued subsequently to the war of the revolution, and prior to the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, on the same footing, as to rate of pension, from and after the passage of said act, as those who have been pensioned under acts passed since said fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixtyone; and the widows of revolutionary soldiers and sailors now receiving a less sum shall hereafter be paid at the rate of eight dollars per month. SEC. 14. That all officers in the military or naval service, of the rank of captain in the army or lieutenant in the navy, and of less rank, who have lost a leg or arm in such service and in the line of duty, or in consequence of wounds received or disease contracted therein, shall be entitled to receive an artificial limb on the same terms as privates in the army are now entitled to receive the same. No. 125.-Extending the laws of the United States over Alaska. The whole purchase is formed into one collection district, to be called 66 Alaska; 19 a port of entry to be declared at or near Sitka, with a collector at $2,500 salary and fees, the whole not to exceed $4,000 a year. SEC. 4. That the President shall have power to restrict and regulate or prohibit the importation and use of fire-arms, ammunition, and distilled spirits into and within the said Territory. And all such arms, ammunition, and distilled spirits, landed or attempted to be landed or used at any port or place in said Territory, in violation of said regulations, shall be forfeited; and if the value of the same shall exceed four hundred dollars, the vessel upon which the same shall be found, or from which they shall have been landed, together with her tackle, apparel and furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited; and any person willfully regulating such violation shall, on conviction, be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months. SEC. 6. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to kill any otter, mink, martin, sable, or fur seal, or other fur bearing animal, within the limits of said Territory, or in the waters thereof; and any person guilty thereof shall, for each offence, on conviction, be fined in any sum not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both at the discretion of the court; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, found engaged in the violation of this act, shall be forfeited: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall have power to authorize the killing of any of such mink, martin, sable, or other fur-bearing animal except fur seals, under such regulations as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the said Secretary to prevent the killing of any fur seal, and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it shall be otherwise provided by law: Provided, That no special privileges shall be granted under this act. No. 128.-Regulating judicial proceedings in certain cases, for the protection of officers and agents of the government, and for the better defence of the treasury against unlawful claims. This act is chiefly to regulate claims for seized and abandoned property. It is interesting only to those immediately affected, and to lawyers in the court of claims. PUBLIC RESOLUTIONS. There are few of these of any considerable importance. We give the chief points of interest. No. 1. A resolution excluding from the electoral college votes of States lately in rebellion which shall not have been reorganized.-That none of the States whose inhabitants were lately in rebellion shall be entitled to representation in the electoral college for the choice of President or Vice-President of the United States, nor shall any electoral votes be received or counted from any of such States, unless at the time prescribed by law for the choice of electors the people of such States, pursuant to the acts of Congress in that behalf, shall have, since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, adopted a constitution of State government under which a State government shall have been organized and shall be in operation, nor unless such election of electors shall have been held under the authority of such constitution and government, and such State shall have also become entitled to representation in Congress, pursuant to the acts of Congress in that behalf: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to any State which was represented in Congress on the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty seven. (Vetoed and repassed.) No. 4.-That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized to dispose of such ironclad vessels, except those of the "Dictator," "Kalamazoo," Monadnock," and "Passaic" classes, as in his judgment are not required by the interests of the service, at a price to be determined by appraisal, to be made by a board of not less than five naval officers, two of whom shall be engineers. No. 5.-That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to take immediate measures for the reduction of the expenses of the army and of the war department at and in the vicinity of New York city, at as early a day as practicable, by concentrating the business of the quartermaster, commissary, clothing, ordnance, and medical bureaus, and recruiting service in said city. No. 9.-That all moneys which have been received by any officer or employe[e] of the government, or any department thereof, from sales of captured and abandoned property in the late insurrectionary districts, under or under color of the several acts of Congress providing for the collection and sale of such property, and which have not already been actually covered into the treasury, shall immediately be paid into the treasury of the United States, together with any interest which has been received or accrued thereon. That a sum of the proceeds of such sales not exceeding seventy-five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the payment of the necessary expenses incurred by or under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, for incidental expenses in acting under the laws respecting the collection and disposition of captured and abandoned property, and for the necessary expenses of defending, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, such suits as have been brought against him or his agents in the premises, and for prosecuting suits in the United States for the recovery of such property, and for providing for the defence of the Uni ted States against suits for or in respect to such property in the court of claims. No. 14.-That section eight of an act entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, on the Pacific coast," is hereby so amended as to read as follows: That each and every grant, right, and privilege herein, are so made and given to and accepted by said Northern Pacific Railroad Company upon and subject to the following conditions, namely: That the said company shall commence the work on said road within two years from and after the second day of July, eighteen hundred and sixtyeiget, and shall complete not less than one hundred miles per year after the second year thereafter, and shall construct, equip, furnish, and complete the whole road by the fourth day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. No. 17. That the time fixed and limited by an act entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of certain railroads in the State of Wisconsin," approved May fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, for the completion of the railroad from Tomah, in the county of Monroe, to Saint Croix river or lake, between townships twenty-five and thirty-one, be, and the same is hereby, further extended for a period of three years to the West Wisconsin Railroad Company, a corporation established by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, and which by the laws of said State, is entitled to the land grant made in the second section of said act: Provided, That if said railway company shall not have completed said railroad from Tomah to Black River Falls, on or before the expiration of one year from the passage of this resolution, this act shall be null and void. No. 19. That all who served as officers, commissioned officers, privates or other enlisted men in the regular army, volunteer or militia forces of the United States, during the war of the rebellion, and have been honorably discharged from the service or remain still in the same, shall be entitled to wear, on occasions of ceremony, the distinctive army badge ordered for and adopted by the army corps and division, respectively, in which they served. And whereas the said lamentable civil war has long since altogether ceased, with an acknowledged guarantee to all the States of the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and the government thereunder; and there no longer exists any reasonable ground to apprehend a renewal of the said civil war, or any foreign interference, or any unlawful resistance by any portion of the people of any of the States to the Constitution and laws of the United States. And whereas it is desirable to reduce the standing army, and to bring to a speedy termination military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, abridgement of freedom of speech and of the press, and suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, and the right of trial by jurysuch encroachments upon our free institutions in times of peace being dangerous to public libnon-erty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our republican form of government and exhaustive of the national resources: And whereas it is believed that amnesty and pardon will tend to secure a complete and universal establishment and prevalence of municipal law and order, in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, and to remove all appearances or presumptions of a retaliatory or vindictive policy on the part of the government attended by unnecessary disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscations, and disfranchisements; and, on the contrary, to promote and procure complete fraternal reconciliation among the whole people, with due submission to the Constitution and laws; No. 23. That the people of the United States renew the expression of their sympathy with the suffering people of Crete, to whom they are bound by the ties of a common religion and of the gratitude due to the Greek race, of which the Cretans are a part; that they rejoice to believe that the suffering of this interesting people may be happily terminated by a policy of forbearance on the part of the Turkish Government. PROCLAMATIONS. THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST AMNESTY PROCLAMATION. Whereas in the month of July, A. D. 1861, in accepting the condition of civil war, which was brought about by insurrection and rebellion in several of the States which constitute the United States, the two houses of Congress did solemnly declare that the war was not waged on the part of the government in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for any purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the States, but only to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that so soon as these objects should be accomplished, the war on the part of the government should cease: And whereas the President of the United States has heretofore, in the spirit of that declaration, and with the view of securing for it ultimate and complete effect, set forth several proclamations, offering amnesty and pardon to persons who had been or were concerned in the aforesaid rebellion, which proclamations, however, were attended with prudential reservations and exceptions, then deemed necessary and proper, and which proclamations were respectively issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, on the 26th day of March, 1864, on the 29th day of May, 1865, and on the 7th day of September, 1867: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do, by virtue of the Constitution and in the name of the people of the United States, hereby proclaim and declare, unconditionally and without reservation, to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion, excepting such person or persons as may be under presentment or indictment in any court of the United States having competent jurisdiction upon a charge of treason or other felony, a full pardon and amnesty for the offence of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except also as to any property of which any person may have been legally divested under the laws of the United States. In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. Done at the city of Washington, the fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one [SEAL.] thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL AMNESTY INCLUDING ALL POLITICAL OFFENDERS. By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation: Whereas, the President of the United States has heretofore set forth several proclamations, offered amnesty and pardon to persons who had been or were concerned in the late Rebellion against the lawful authority of the Government of the United States, which proclamations were severally issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, on the 26th day of March, 1864, on the 29th day of May, 1865, on the 7th day of September, 1867, and on the 4th day of July in the present year; and Whereas, the authority of the Federal Government having been reestablished in all the States and Territories within the jurisdiction of the United States, it is believed that such prudential reservations and exceptions as, at the dates of said several proclamations were deemed necessary and proper, may now be wisely and justly relinquished, and that an universal amnesty and pardon for participation in said Rebellion, extended to all who have born any part therein, will tend to secure permanent peace, order, and prosperity throughout the land, and to renew and fully restore confidence and fraternal feeling among the whole people, and their respect for, and attachment to the National Government, designed by its patriotic founders for the general good. Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested by the Constitution, and in the name of the sovereign people of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare, unconditionally and without reservation, to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late in surrection or rebellion a full pardon and amnesty for the offence of treason against the United States or of adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all rights, privileges and immunities, under the Constitution and the laws which have been made in pursuance thereof. In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. PROCLAMATION OF THE RATIFICATION OF THE XIVth AMENDMENT BY FLORIDA AND NORTH CAROLINA, JULY 11, 1868. Whereas by an act of Congress, entitled "An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to representation in Congress," passed on the 25th of June, 1868, it is declared that it is made the duty of the President within ten days after receiving official information of the ratification by the legislature of either of said States of a proposed amendment to the Constitution known as article XIV, to issue a proclamation announcing that fact; And whereas the said act seems to be prospective; lution of the Legislature of Florida, adopting And whereas a paper, purporting to be a resothe amendment of the XIIIth and XIVth articles of the Constitution of the United States, was received at the Department of State on the 16th of June, 1868, prior to the passage of the act of Congress referred to, which paper is attested by the names of Horatio Jenkins, Jr., as president pro tem. of the Senate, and W. W. Moore as speaker of the Assembly, and of William L. Apthoop as secretary of the Senate, and William Forsyth Bynum as clerk of the Assembly, and which paper was transmitted to the Secretary of State in a letter dated Executive Office, Tallahassee, Florida, June 10, 1868, from Harrison Reed, who therein signs himself Gov ernor; And whereas, on the 6th day of July, 1868, a paper was received by the President, which paper being addressed to the President, bears date of the 4th of July, 1868, and was transmitted by and under the name of W. W. Holden, who therein writes himself Governor of North Carolina, which paper certifies that the said proposed amendment, known as article XIV, did pass the Senate and House of Representatives of the General Assembly of North Carolina on the second day of July instant, and is attested by the name of John H. Boner or Bower, as secretary of the House of Representatives, and T. A. Byrnes, as secretary of the Senate, and its ratification on the 4th of July, 1868, is attested by Tod R. Caldwell as Lieutenant Governor, president of Senate, and J. W. Holden as speaker of House of Representatives; Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of Amerof Congress aforesaid, do issue this proclamation, ica, in compliance with and execution of the act announcing the fact of the ratification of the said amendment by the Legislature of the State of North Carolina, in the manner herein before set forth. In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed. Done at the City of Washington, the twentyfifth of in the year of our Lord Done at the city of Washington, this eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand hundred and one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, [SEAL.] eight, and of the Independence of the and of the independence of the United States of United States of America the ninety- ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. |