States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed therein conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States:

And whereas a combination of persons, engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States: And whereas an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon:

Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the law of nations in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize, as may be deemed advisable.

And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the pretended authority of the said States, or under any other pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.

No. 119. Act for a National Loan

July 17, 1861

IN his message of July 4, 1861, Lincoln asked Congress for "at least" 400,000 men and $400,000,000 as “the legal means for making this contest a short and a decisive one." The Secretary of the Treasury, Chase, in his report of the same date, recommended loans to the aggregate amount of $250,000,000, and submitted the draft of a bill for that purpose. A bill to authorize a national loan was introduced in the House by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, from the Committee of Ways and Means, July 9, and on the following day passed by a vote of 153 to 5. The Senate made a number of amendments, all of which were concurred in by the House, and on the 17th the act was approved. The act was amended by act of August 5.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII., 259–261. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals and the Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., Ist Sess. Chase's report of July 4 is in the Globe, Appendix. On the condition of the treasury see House Misc. Doc. 20, 36th Cong., 2d Sess. The supplementary act of August 5 is in MacDonald, Select Statutes, No. 10.

An Act to authorize a National Loan and for other Purposes.

Be it enacted . That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to borrow on the credit of the United States, within twelve months from the passage of this act, a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, or so much thereof as he may deem necessary for the public service, for which he is authorized to issue coupon bonds, or registered bonds, or treasury notes, in such proportions of each as he may deem advisable; the bonds to bear interest not exceeding seven per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, irredeemable for twenty years, and after that period redeemable at the pleasure of the United States; and the treasury notes to be of any denomination fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not less than fifty dollars, and to be payable three years after date, with interest at the rate of seven and three tenths per centum per annum, payable semi-annually. And the Secretary of the Treasury may also issue in exchange for coin, and as part of the above loan, or may pay for salaries or other dues from the United States, treasury notes of a less denomination than fifty dollars, not bearing interest, but payable on demand by the

Assistant Treasurers of the United States at Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, or treasury notes bearing interest at the rate of three and sixty-five hundredths per centum, payable in one year from date, and exchangeable at any time for treasury notes for fifty dollars, and upwards, issuable under the authority of this act, and bearing interest as specified above: Provided, That no exchange of such notes in any less amount than one hundred dollars shall be made at any one time: And provided further, That no treasury notes shall be issued of a less denomination than ten dollars, and that the whole amount of treasury notes, not bearing interest, issued under the authority of this act, shall not exceed fifty millions of dollars.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever any treasury notes of a denomination less than fifty dollars, authorized to be issued by this act, shall have been redeemed, the Secretary of the Treasury may re-issue the same, or may cancel them and issue new notes to an equal amount: Provided, That the aggregate amount of bonds and treasury notes issued under the foregoing provisions of this act shall never exceed the full amount authorized by the first section of this act; and the power to issue, or re-issue such notes shall cease and determine after the thirty-first of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, whenever he shall deem it expedient, to issue in exchange for coin, or in payment for public dues, treasury notes of any of the denominations hereinbefore specified, bearing interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, and payable at any time not exceeding twelve months from date, provided that the amount of notes so issued, or paid, shall at no time exceed twenty millions of dollars.

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SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the faith of the United States is hereby solemnly pledged for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the loan authorized by this act.

No. 120. Act authorizing the Employment of Volunteers

July 22, 1861

A BILL to authorize the employment of volunteers, in accordance with the recommendation of President Lincoln in his message of July 4, 1861, was introduced in the Senate, July 6, by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and passed that house on the roth by a vote of 34 to 4. On the 12th the action was reconsidered, and the bill with further amendments was again passed by a vote of 35 to 4. The passage of a substitute bill by the House caused a reference of the matter to a conference committee, whose report was agreed to by the two houses on the 18th. The discussion in each house had to do mainly with the details of organization of the volunteers provided for by the bill. REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII., 268-271. For the debates see the House and Senate Journals and Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., 1st Sess. On the efficiency of volunteers and the condition of the militia see House Exec. Doc. 54 and House Report 58, 36th Cong., 2d Sess., and House Report 1, 37th Cong., 1st Sess. A summary view of early military legislation, Union and Confederate, is given in McPherson, History of the Rebellion, 115-121.

An Act to authorize the Employment of Volunteers to aid in enforcing the Laws and protecting Public Property.

WHEREAS, certain of the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, navy yards, and other property of the United States have been seized, and other violations of law have been committed and are threatened by organized bodies of men in several of the States, and a conspiracy has been entered into to overthrow the Government of the United States: Therefore,

Be it enacted. . ., That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers, not exceeding five hundred thousand, as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, enforcing the laws, and preserving and protecting the public property: Provided, That the services of the volunteers shall be for such time as the President may direct, not exceeding three years nor less than six months,' and they shall be disbanded at the end of the war.

1 A supplementary act of July 25, 1861, provided that volunteers should "be mustered in for 'during the war.' - - ED.

of the nature and object of the war was offered John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. In the vote e first part, through the word "capital," being and the remainder by a vote of 117 to 2. A cal terms was offered in the Senate, July 24, by , and on the 25th, after a long discussion, was 5. The resolutions, which "gave expression he country," were the only formal declarations ed which passed the houses.

ouse Journal, 37th Cong., 1st Sess., 123. For be. A list of the principal declaratory resoluon on each, is given in McPherson, Rebellion,

e present deplorable civil war has been by the disunionists of the southern Inst the constitutional government, and tal; that in this national emergency, Feelings of mere passion or resentment, y to the whole country; that this war. t in any spirit of oppression, or for any