his act Those voting in favor of such a con- | restraint, fear, or the influence of fraud, and if vention shall have written or printed on the the Congress shall be satisfied that such constiballots by which they vote for delegates, as afore- tution meets the approval of a majority of all said, the words "For a convention," and those the qualified electors in the State, and if the voting against such a convention shall have said constitution shall be declared by Congress written or printed on such ballots the words to be in conformity with the provisions of the "Against a convention." The person appointed act to which this is supplementary, and the to superintend said election, and to make return other provisions of said act shall have been comof the votes given thereat, as herein provided, plied with, and the said constitution shall be shall count and make return of the votes given approved by Congress, the State shall be defor and against a convention; and the com-clared entitled to representation, and Senators manding general to whom the same shall have and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom been returned shall ascertain and declare the as therein provided. total vote in each State for and against a convention. If a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, then such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no such convention shall be held under this act: Provided, That such convention shall not be held unless a majority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the question of holding such convention.

SEC. 6 That all elections in the States mentioned in the said Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot; and all officers making the said registration of voters and conducting said elections shall, hefore entering upon the discharge of their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office:"* Provided, That if any person shall knowingly and falsely take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person so offending and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subject to the pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law are provided for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury.

SEC. 7. That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments made, by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."

SEC. 8. That the convention for each State shall prescribe the fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other officers and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act not herein otherwise provided for, and shall provide for the levy and collection of such taxes on the property

*This act is in these words:

SEC. 4. That the commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration, superintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, lists of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a plurality of the votes cast at said election; and upon receiving said returns he shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as delegates according to the returns of the officers who conducted said election, and make proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, the commanding general, within sixty days from the date of election, shall notify the delegates to arsemble in convention, at a time and place to be mentioned in the notification, and said convention, when organized, shall proceed to frame a constitution and civil government according to the provisions of this act and the act to which it is supplementary; and when the same shall have Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter every person elected or been so framed, said constitution shall be sub-appointed to any office of honor or profit under the Governmitted by the convention for ratification to the ment of theUnited States.either in the civil, military, or naval persons registered under the provisions of this departments of the public service, excepting the President of the United States,shall, before entering upon the duties of such act at an election to be conducted by the officers office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other or persons appointed or to be appointed by the emoluments thereof, take and subscribe the following oath commanding general, as herein before provided, I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United or affirmation: "I, A B. do solemnly swear (or affirm) that and to be held after the expiration of thirty days States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have volfrom the date of notice thereof, to be given by untarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement said convention; and the returns thereof shall to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have be made to the commanding general of the district. functions of any office whatever, under any authority or SEC. 5. That if, according to said returns, the pretended authority, in hostility to the United States; that constitution shall be ratified by a majority of have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended the votes of the registered electors qualified as United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do further herein specified, cast at said election, (at least swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and one half of all the registered voters voting upon United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the the question of such ratification,) the president that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that i of the convention shall transmit a copy of the take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation same, duly certified, to the President of the Uni- or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to ted States, who shall forthwith transmit the enter; so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and same to Congress, if then in session, and if not signed, shall be preserved among the files of the Court, in session, then immediately upon its next asHouse of Congress, or Departmemt to which the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely take the sembling; and if it shall, moreover, appear to said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction, in Congress that the election was one at which all addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offense, the registered and qualified electors in the State shall be deprived of his office, and rendered incapable for had an opportunity to vote freely and without States.

never sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the

government, authority, power, or constitution within the

ever after, of holding any office or place under the United

PROCLAMATIONS AND ORDERS.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S PROCLAMATIONS,
ORDERS, AND TELEGRAMS ON RECON-
STRUCTION.

obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Geor gia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the mar shals by law;

Declaring the Insurrection at an End in Texas, and Civil Authority existing throughout the whole of the United States, August 20, 1866. And whereas, by another proclamation, made Whereas, by proclamation of the fifteenth and on the sixteenth day of August, in the same nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-year, in pursuance of an act of Congress apone, the President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Constitution and the laws, declared that the laws of the United States were opposed and the execution thereof

proved July thirteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas,

Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, (except the States, now in revolt against the constitutional Government inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia gency, Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or and in arms around the capital; that in this national emerlying west of the Alleghany mountains, and resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole coun except also the inhabitants of such other parts try; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any of that State, and the other States before named, spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with as might maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union the rights or established institutions of those States, but to and the Constitution, or might be, from time to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and time, occupied and controlled by forces of the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the United States engaged in the dispersion of insur-States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accom. gents,) were declared to be in a state of insur- pllshed the war ought to cease. rection against the United States;

And whereas, by another proclamation, of the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, issued in pursuance of an act of Congress approved June seventh, in the same year, the insurrection was declared to be still existing in the States aforesaid, with the exception of certain specified counties in the State of Virginia;

And whereas, by another proclamation made on the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in pursuance of the act of Congress of July thirteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty one, the exceptions named in the proclamation of August sixteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, were revoked, and the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties of Virginia designated as West Virginia, and the ports of New Orleans, Key West, Port Royal, and Beaufort, in North Carolina) were declared to be still in a state of insurrection against the United States;

And whereas, by another proclamation of the fif. teenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, made in pursuance of the act of Congress approved March third, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, the rebellion was declared to be still existing, and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was in certain specified cases suspended throughout the United States, said suspension to continue throughout the duration of the rebellion, or until said proclamation should, by a subsequent one to be issued by the President of the United States, be modified or revoked;

And whereas the House of Representatives, on the twenty-second day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, adopted a resolution in the words following, namely:

Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern States, now in revolt against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to And whereas the Senate of the United States on the twenty-fifth day of July, one thousand sight hundred and sixty-one, adopted a resolution in the words following, to wit:

cease.

Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern

And whereas these resolutions though not joint or concurrent in form, are substantially identical, and as such have hitherto been and yet are regarded as having expressed the sense of Congress upon the subject to which they relate;

And whereas the President of the United States, by proclamation of the thirteenth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, declared that the insurrection in the State of Tennessee had been suppressed, and that the authority of the United States therein was undisputed, and that such United States officers as had been duly commissioned were in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions;

And whereas the President of the United States, by further proclamation issued on the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, did promulgate and declare that there no longer existed any armed resistance of misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in any or in all the States before mentioned, excepting only the State of Texas, and did further promulgate and declare that the laws could be sustained and enforced in the several States before mentioned, except Texas, by the proper civil authorities, State or Federal, and that the people of the said States, except Texas, are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States;

And did further declare in the same proclamation that it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has a right or power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from the American Union; and that, therefore, each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States;

And did further declare in the same last mentioned proclamation that the several afore-mentioned States, excepting Texas, had, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity;

And whereas the President of the United States, in the same proclamation, did further declare that it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that the people who have revolted, and who have been overcome and subdued, must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends, or else they must be held by absolute military power, or devastated, so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom;

And whereas the President did, in the same proclamation, further declare that the Constitu

tion of the United States provides for constituent And whereas adequate provision has been communities only as States, and not as Territo-made by military orders to enforce the execution ries, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates; And further, that such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are made equals, and placed upon a like footing as to political rights, immunities, dignity, and power with the several States with which they are united;

of the acts of Congress and the civil authorities, and secure obedience to the Constitution and laws of the United States within the State of Texas, if a resort to military force for such purpose should at any time become necessary;

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the State of Texas is at an end, and is to be henceforth so regarded in that State, as in the other States before named, in which the said inper-surrection was proclaimed to be at an end by the aforesaid proclamation of the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.

And did further declare that the observance of political equality as a principle of right and justice is well calculated to encourage the people of the before-named States, except Texas, to be and to become more and more constant and severing in their renewed allegiance;

And whereas the President did further declare, that standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus are, in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed, except in cases of actual necessity, for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion;

And I do further proclaim that the said insurrection is at an end, and that peace, order tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America.

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 twen-
tieth day of August, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and

United States of America the ninety-first.
ANDREW JOHNSON.

And the President did further, in the same [L. S.] sixty-six, and of the independence of the proclamation, declare that the policy of the Government of the United States, from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression, had been conducted in conformity By the President: with the principles in the last-named proclamation recited;

And whereas the President, in the said proclamation of the thirteenth of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, upon the grounds therein stated and herein before recited, did then and there proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the several States before named, except in Texas, was at an end, and was henceforth to be so regarded;

And whereas, subsequently to the said second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, the insurrection in the State of Texas has been completely and everywhere suppressed and ended, and the authority of the United States has been successfully and completely established in the said State of Texas, and now remains therein unrestricted and undisputed, and such of the proper United States officers as have been duly commissioned within the limits of the said State are now in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions;

WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Respecting American Merchant Vessels Stopping or Anchoring in Certain Ports of Japan, Janu ary 12, 1867.

Whereas in virtue of the power conferred by the act of Congress approved June 22, 1860, sections 15 and 24 of which act were designed by proper provisions to secure the strict neutrality of citizens of the United States residing in or visiting the empires of China and Japan, a notification was issued on the 4th of August last by the Legation of the United States in Japan, through the consulates of the open ports of that empire, requesting American shipmasters not to approach the coasts of Lucoa and Nagato pending the then contemplated hostilities between the Tycoon of Japan and the Daimio of the said provinces;

And whereas authentic information having been received by the said Legation that such hostilities had actually commenced, a regulation, And whereas the laws can now be sustained in furtherance of the aforesaid notification and and enforced in the said State of Texas by the pursuant to the act referred to, was issued by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the Minister Resident of the United States in Japan people of the said State of Texas, like the people forbidding American merchant vessels from stopof other States before named, are well and loy-ping or anchoring at any port or roadstead in that ally disposed, and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States;

And whereas all the reasons and conclusions set forth in regard to several States therein specially named now apply equally and in all respects to the State of Texas, as well as to the other States which had been involved in insurrection;

country except the three open ports, viz: Kanagawha, (Yokohama,) Nagasaki, and Hakodate, unless in distress or forced by stress of weather, as provided by treaty, and giving notice that masters of vessels committing a breach of the regulation would thereby render themselves liable to prosecution and punishment, and also to forfeiture of the protection of the United States if the visit to such non-opened port or roadstead should either involve a breach of treaty or be construed as an act in aid of insurrection or rebellion:

teenth day of August, in the year of our

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johson, President of the United States of Amer- [L. s.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and

ica, with a view to prevent acts which might injuriously affect the relations existing between the Government of the United States and that

of Japan, do hereby call public attention to the aforesaid notification and regulation, which are hereby sanctioned and confirmed.

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 twelfth

sixty-six, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-first, ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Declaring the Suspension of Tonnage and Impost
Duties, as respects the Vessels of the Hawaiian
Islands, January 29, 1867.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the day of January, in the year of our Lord United States of the twenty-fourth day of May, [SEAL.] one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, seven, and of the independence of the United States the ninety-first. ANDREW JOHNSON,

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Respecting Decree of Maximilian, August 17,

1866.

Whereas a war is existing in the Republic of Mexico, aggravated by foreign military inter

vention;

And whereas the United States, in accordance with their settled habits and policy, are a neutral Power in regard to the war which thus afflicts the Republic of Mexico;

And whereas it has become known that one of the belligerents in the said war-namely, the Prince Maximilian-who asserts himself to be Emperor in Mexico, has issued a decree in regard to the port of Matamoros, and other Mexican ports which are in the occupation and possession of another of the said belligerents-namely, the United States of Mexico which decree is in the following words:

"The port of Matamoros, and all those of the northern frontier which have withdrawn from their obedience to the Government, are closed to foreign and coasting traffic during such time as the empire of the law shall not be therein re

instated.

"ART. 2. Merchandise proceeding from the said ports, on arriving at any other where the excise of the empire is collected, shall pay the duties on importation, introduction, and consumption, and, on satisfactory proof of contravention, shall be irremissibly confiscated. Our Minister of the Treasury is charged with the punctual execution of this

decree.

"Given at Mexico, the 9th of July, 1866."

And whereas the decree thus recited, by declaring a belligerent blockade unsupported by competent military or naval force, is in violation of the neutral rights of the United States, as defined by the law of nations, as well as of the treaties existing between the United States of America and the aforesaid United States of Mexico:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare, that the aforesaid decree is held, and will be held, by the United States, to be absolutely null and void, as against the Government and citizens of the United States; and that any attempt which shall be made to enforce the same against the Government or citizens of the United States will be disallowed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, the seven

entitled "An act in addition to an act, entitled 'An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost, and to equalize the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported to the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the President is thereby authored to issue his proclamation, declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and imposts within the United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued, so far as respects the vessels of the said foreign nation, and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the said foreign nation, or from any other foreign country, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no longer;

And whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from his Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, through an official communication of his Majesty's Minister of Foreign Relations, under date of the 10th of December, 1866, that no other or higher duties of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the Hawaiian Islands upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, and upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the United States, and from any foreign country whatever, than are levied on Hawaiian ships and their cargoes in the same ports under like circumstances;

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued, so far as respects the vessels of the Hawaiian Islands, and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported into the United States in the same, from the dominions of the Hawaiian Islands, and from any other foreign country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from the said 10th day of December, and to continue thenceforward, so long as the reciprocal exemption of