and sold by decree of the United States court for the district in which
the property may be found, and the title thereto thus vested in the
United States.
V. Upon its appearing satisfactorily to any assistant commissioner that
any property under his control is not abandoned as above defined and
that the United States has acquired no title to it by confiscation,
sale, or otherwise, he will formally surrender it to the authorized
claimant or claimants, promptly reporting his action to the
Commissioner.
VI. Assistant commissioners will prepare accurate descriptions of all
confiscated and abandoned lands under their control, keeping a record
thereof themselves and forwarding monthly to the Commissioner copies of
these descriptions in the manner prescribed in Circular No. 10, of July
11, 1865, from this Bureau.
They will set apart so much of said lands as is necessary for the
immediate use of loyal refugees and freedmen, being careful to select
for this purpose those lands which most clearly fall under the control
of this Bureau, which selection must be submitted to the Commissioner
for his approval.
The specific division of lands so set apart into lots and the rental or
sale thereof, according to section 4 of the law establishing the Bureau,
will be completed as soon as practicable and reported to the
Commissioner.
VII. Abandoned lands held by this Bureau may be restored to owners
pardoned by the President by the assistant commissioners, to whom
applications for such restoration should be forwarded, so far as
practicable, through the superintendents of the districts in which the
lands are situated.
Each application must be accompanied by--
First. Evidence of special pardon by the President or a copy of the oath
of amnesty prescribed in the President's proclamation of May 29,
1865,[180] when the applicant is not included in any of the classes
therein excepted from the benefits of said oath.
Second. Proof of title.
Officers of the Bureau through whom the application passes will indorse
thereon such facts as may assist the assistant commissioner in his
decision, stating especially the use made by the Bureau of the land.
VIII. No land under cultivation by loyal refugees or freedmen will be
restored under this circular until the crops now growing shall be
secured for the benefit of the cultivators unless full and just
compensation be made for their labor and its products and for their
expenditures.
O.O. HOWARD,
_Major-General, Commissioner_.
Approved:
ANDREW JOHNSON,
_President of the United States_.
[Footnote 180: See Vol. VI, pp. 310-312.]
[From McPherson's History of Reconstruction, p. 8.]
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, April 17, 1866_.
Major-General N.A. MILES,
_Commanding, etc., Fortress Monroe, Va._:
_Ordered_, That Clement C. Clay, jr., is hereby released from
confinement and permitted to return to and remain in the State of
Alabama and to visit such other places in the United States as his
personal business may render absolutely necessary, upon the following
conditions, viz, that he takes the oath of allegiance to the United
States and gives his parole of honor to conduct himself as a loyal
citizen of the same and to report himself in person at any time and
place to answer any charges that may hereafter be prepared against him
by the United States.
Please report receipt and execution of this order.
By order of the President of the United States:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Assistant Adjutant-General_.
[From McPherson's History of Reconstruction, p. 198.]
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 46.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, July 13, 1866_.
_Ordered_, That all persons who are undergoing sentence by military
courts and have been imprisoned six months, except those who are under
sentence for the crimes of murder, arson, or rape, and excepting those
who are under sentence at the Tortugas, be discharged from imprisonment
and the residue of their sentence remitted. Those who belong to the
military service and their term unexpired will be returned to their
command if it is still in service, and their release is conditional upon
their serving their full term and being of good behavior.
By order of the President of the United States:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Assistant Adjutant-General_.
[From Senate Ex. Doc. No. 82, Forty-ninth Congress, second session,
pp. 3-5.]
Whereas, pursuant to the convention between the United States and Spain
for the adjustment of the question of reclamation arising from the
capture of the _Virginius_, entered into upon the 27th February,
1875, and duly ratified upon the 11th day of March, 1875, the Spanish
Government engaged to deliver to the United States the sum of $80,000,
or 400,000 pesetas, for the purpose of the relief of the families of
those of the ship's company and of such of the passengers as were
citizens of the United States who were executed, and to afford
compensation to such of the ship's company and to such passengers as in
like manner were citizens of the United States who were detained and
suffered loss, excluding from any participation therein all individuals
indemnified as British subjects; and
Whereas it was therein further provided that when such amount should
have been received the President of the United States would proceed to
distribute the same among the parties entitled thereto, in the form and
manner which he may judge most equitable; and
Whereas such amount has been duly paid at Madrid and the proceeds
thereof are now in possession of the Government of the United States:
Now, therefore, pursuant to the provisions of article 3 of said
convention, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do
hereby direct that such amount so received shall be distributed among
the parties entitled thereto in the following amounts and proportions
and pursuant to the following rules:
I. The amounts allowed are determined with a general reference to
the rates of wages of officers and crew. All of the ship's company
(constituting the crew) are to be regarded and considered as American
seamen; but inasmuch as the British Government has demanded and received
from Spain certain indemnity and promises of further conditional
indemnity for and on account of certain of the crew as being British
subjects, those of the crew or passengers who were British subjects, or
who have been claimed as such by the British Government, and for whom
the British Government demanded or received indemnity from Spain, are to
be excluded from the distribution to be made of the indemnity above
referred to.
II. Distribution will be made on account of those who were executed as
follows:
For each one (being thirteen in number) of the ship's company rated or
serving as fireman, mariner, cook, cabin boy, or otherwise than as one
of the officers or petty officers hereafter mentioned, who was executed,
and excluding those referred to above, and also to each passenger who
was executed, being at the time an American citizen, the sum of $2,500.
For each assistant engineer, second, third, fourth engineer or third
mate, 40 per cent in addition to the above sum; that is to say, $3,500
each.
For the first mate and first engineer, 80 per cent in addition to the
said above-mentioned sum; that is to say, $4,500 each.
For the captain, 150 per cent in addition to the said above-mentioned
sum; that is to say, $6,250.
III. The several amounts allowed as above are to be paid to the widow,
children, parents, or brothers and sisters of the deceased, as follows:
(1) To the widow of the deceased.
(2) If no widow, to the children of the deceased in equal shares.
Where such children shall be minors, the same shall be paid to a legally
appointed guardian.
(3) If no children, then to the father; if no father, to the mother.
(4) If no father or mother, then to the brothers and sisters in equal
shares.
(5) If the deceased shall have left no widow, child, parent, brother, or
sister, no amount is to be paid on his account.
There shall be allowed to each of the ship's company and to such of the
passengers as were citizens of the United States who were detained and
suffered loss, to be paid on the conditions hereinafter provided, as
follows:
To each of the ship's crew who was under the age of 21 years at the time
of the capture, or who was reported at the time as under that age, and
to each passenger who was an American citizen, the sum of $250.
To each of the ship's crew who was over the age of 21 years, and who was
rated as being a fireman, mariner, cook, cabin boy, or otherwise than as
one of the officers or petty officers hereafter mentioned, 40 per cent
in addition to the above-allowed sum; that is to say, $350 each.
To any engineer, second or other assistant engineer, mate, purser,
assistant purser, or surgeon, 86 per cent in addition to the
above-allowed sum; that is to say, $450 to each.
In case any of such persons so entitled to payment shall have died, such
amount shall be paid to the family of the deceased as provided in
Article III.
IV. The proofs as to all the necessary facts in each case, including
identity, relationship, and citizenship, shall be made to the
satisfaction of the Department of State as a condition of payment, and a
naturalized citizen, where proof of citizenship is necessary, shall
produce his certificate of naturalization and furnish satisfactory
proof, if required, as to residence and his right, to such certificate.
V. Payments will be made to the parties entitled thereto through the
Department of State, or in checks to their order, and will not be made
to attorneys.
VI. Prior to any payment being made the party entitled thereto shall
sign and duly acknowledge before some competent officer a receipt and
release, stating that the sum so paid is received in full satisfaction
of any claim or reclamations of any sort which may exist or which might
be advanced against the Spanish Government by reason of the capture of
the _Virginius_ or the acts of the Spanish authorities connected
therewith.
VII. Should any further order or direction be required, the same will
hereafter be made as an addition hereto.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at the city of
Washington, this 21st day of July, A.D. 1875, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the one hundredth.
U.S. GRANT.
[From Letters and Messages of Rutherford B. Hayes, pp. 19-22.]
WASHINGTON, _April 2, 1877_.
The Honorables CHARLES B. LAWRENCE, JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, JOHN M. HARLAN,
JOHN C. BROWN, AND WAYNE MACVEAGH, _Commissioners_.
GENTLEMEN: I am instructed by the President to lay before you some
observations upon the occasion and objects which have led him to invite
you as members of the commission about to visit the State of Louisiana
to undertake this public service.
Upon assuming his office the President finds the situation of affairs in
Louisiana such as to justly demand his prompt and solicitous attention,
for this situation presents as one of its features the apparent
intervention of the military power of the United States in the domestic
controversies which unhappily divide the opinions and disturb the
harmony of the people of that State. This intervention, arising during
the term and by the authority of his predecessor, throws no present duty
upon the President except to examine and determine the real extent and
form and effect to which such intervention actually exists, and to
decide as to the time, manner, and conditions which should be observed
in putting an end to it. It is in aid of his intelligent and prompt
discharge of this duty that the President has sought the service of this
commission to supply by means of its examination, conducted in the State
of Louisiana, some information that may be pertinent to the
circumspection and security of any measure he may resolve upon.
It will be readily understood that the service desired of and intrusted
to this commission does not include any examination into or report upon
the facts of the recent State election or of the canvass of the votes
cast at such election. So far as attention to these subjects may be
necessary the President can not but feel that the reports of the
committees of the two Houses of Congress and other public information at
hand will dispense with and should preclude any original exploration by
the commission of that field of inquiry.
But it is most pertinent and important in coming to a decision upon the
precise question of Executive duty before him that the President should
know what are the real impediments to regular, legal, and peaceful
procedures under the laws and constitution of the State of Louisiana by
which the anomalies in government there presented may be put in course
of settlement without involving the element of military power as either
an agent or a makeweight in such solution. The successful ascertainment
of these impediments the President would confidently expect would
indicate to the people of that State the wisdom and the mode of their
removal. The unusual circumstances which attended and followed the State
election and canvass, from its relation to the excited feelings and
interests of the Presidential election, may have retarded within the
State of Louisiana the persuasive influences by which the great social
and material interests common to the whole people of a State, and the
pride of the American character as a law-abiding nation, ameliorate
the disappointments and dissolve the resentments of close and zealous
political contests. But the President both hopes and believes that the
great body of the people of Louisiana are now prepared to treat the
unsettled results of their State election with a calm and conciliatory
spirit. If it be too much to expect a complete concurrence in a single
government for that State, at least the President may anticipate a
submission to the peaceful resources of the laws and the constitution of
the State of all their discussions, at once relieving themselves from
the reproach and their fellow-citizens of the United States from the
anxieties which must ever attend a prolonged dispute as to the title and
the administration of the government of one of the States of the Union.
The President therefore desires that you should devote your first and
principal attention to a removal of the obstacles to an acknowledgment
of one government for the purpose of an exercise of authority within
the State and a representation of the State in its relations to the
General Government under section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution
of the United States, leaving, if necessary, to judicial or other
constitutional arbitrament within the State the question of ultimate
right. If these obstacles should prove insuperable, from whatever
reason, and the hope of a single government in all its departments
be disappointed, it should be your next endeavor to accomplish the
recognition of a single legislature as the depositary of the
representative will of the people of Louisiana. This great department of
government rescued from dispute, the rest of the problem could gradually
be worked out by the prevalent authority which the legislative power,
when undisputed, is quite competent to exert in composing conflict in
the coordinate branches of the government.
An attentive consideration of the conditions under which the Federal
Constitution and the acts of Congress provide or permit military
intervention by the President in protection of a State against domestic
violence has satisfied the President that the use of this authority in
determining or influencing disputed elections in a State is most
carefully to be avoided. Undoubtedly, as was held by the Supreme Court
in the case of Luther _vs._ Borden, the appeal from a State may
involve such an inquiry as to the lawfulness of the authority which
invokes the interference of the President in supposed pursuance of the
Constitution; but it is equally true that neither the constitutional
provision nor the acts of Congress were framed with any such design.
Both obviously treated the case of domestic violence within a State as
of outbreak against law and the authority of established government
which the State was unable to suppress by its own strength. A case
wherein every department of the State government has a disputed
representation, and a State therefore furnishes to the Federal
Government no internal political recognition of authority upon which the
Federal Executive can rely, will present a case of so much difficulty
that it is of pressing importance to all interests in Louisiana that
it should be avoided. A single legislature would greatly relieve this
difficulty, for that department of the State government is named by the
Constitution as the necessary applicant, when it can be convened, for
military intervention by the United States.
If, therefore, the disputing interests can concur in or be reduced to a
single legislature for the State of Louisiana, it would be a great step
in composing this unhappy strife.
The President leaves entirely to the commission the conciliatory
influences which, in their judgment formed on the spot, may seem to
conduce to the proposed end. His own determination that only public
considerations should inspire and attend this effort to give the
ascendency in Louisiana to the things that belong to peace is evinced
by his selection of commissioners who offer to the country in their
own character every guaranty of the public motives and methods of the
transactions which they have undertaken. Your report of the result of
this endeavor will satisfy the President, he does not doubt, of the
wisdom of his selection of and of his plenary trust in the commission.
A second and less important subject of attention during your visit
to New Orleans will be the collection of accurate and trustworthy
information from the public officers and prominent citizens of all
political connections as to the state of public feeling and opinion in
the community at large upon the general questions which affect the
peaceful and safe exercise within the State of Louisiana of all legal
and political rights and the protection of all legal and political
privileges conferred by the Constitution of the United States upon all
citizens. The maintenance and protection of these rights and privileges
by all constitutional means and by every just, moral, and social
influence are the settled purpose of the President in his administration
of the Government. He will hope to learn from your investigations that
this purpose will be aided and not resisted by the substantial and
effective public opinion of the great body of the people of Louisiana.
The President does not wish to impose any limit upon your stay in
Louisiana that would tend to defeat the full objects of your visit. He
is, however, extremely desirous to find it in his power at the earliest
day compatible with a safe exercise of that authority to put an end to
even the appearance of military intervention in the domestic affairs of
Louisiana, and he awaits your return with a confident hope that your
report will enable him promptly to execute a purpose he has so much at
heart.
The President desires me to add that the publication of the results of
your visit he shall hope to make immediately after their communication
to him.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
WM. M. EVARTS.
[From Letters and Messages of Rutherford B. Hayes, p. 25.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, April 20, 1877_.
Hon. GEO. W. McCRARY,
_Secretary of War_.
SIR: Prior to my entering upon the duties of the Presidency there had
been stationed, by order of my predecessor, in the immediate vicinity
of the building used as a statehouse in New Orleans, La., and known as
Mechanics' Institute, a detachment of United States infantry. Finding
them in that place, I have thought proper to delay a decision of the
question of their removal until I could determine whether the condition
of affairs is now such as to either require or justify continued
military intervention of the National Government in the affairs of
the State.
In my opinion there does not now exist in Louisiana such domestic
violence as is contemplated by the Constitution as the ground upon which
the military power of the National Government may be invoked for the
defense of the State. The disputes which exist as to the right of
certain claimants to the chief executive office of that State are to be
settled and determined, not by the Executive of the United States, but
by such orderly and peaceable methods as may be provided by the
constitution and the laws of the State.
Having the assurance that no resort to violence is contemplated, but, on
the contrary, the disputes in question are to be settled by peaceful
methods under and in accordance with law, I deem it proper to take
action in accordance with the principles announced when I entered upon
the duties of the Presidency.
You are therefore directed to see that the proper orders are issued for
the removal of said troops at an early date from their present position
to such regular barracks in the vicinity as may be selected for their
occupation.
R.B. HAYES.
EXPLANATORY NOTES TO SPECIAL MESSAGES, VOLUMES I AND II.
Message of February 8, 1792, Vol. I, p. 116: Transmitting an account of
John B. Cutting for expenditures incurred in liberating seamen of the
United States in British ports during the impressments by the British
Government in 1790.
Message of February 7, 1794, Vol. I, p. 151: Extraordinary commission of
Guadaloupe apply to Congress for aid in men, provisions, and ammunition.
Message of March 18, 1794, Vol. I, p. 152: Transmitting an application
by the minister of France for an advance of $1,000,000 on account of the
debt due by the United States, correspondence between the Secretary of
State and the minister of France relative thereto, etc.
Message of February 4, 1795, Vol. I, p. 175: Transmitting letters from
the Secretaries of State and the Treasury concerning the negotiation of
a loan in Holland.
Message of January 5, 1798, Vol. I, p. 260: Transmitting a report of
the Secretary of War stating that the five clerks in his office were
insufficient to transact the business and asking a larger appropriation
to enable him to increase the number.
Message of March 5, 1798, Vol. I, pp. 263-264: Transmitting a message
of the Executive Directory of France to the Council of Five Hundred and
decree of that council of January 11, 1798, declaring neutral vessels
laden with English merchandise lawful prize.
Message of January 28, 1799, Vol. I, pp. 281-282: Edict declaring that
"every individual, native of friendly countries allied to the French
Republic, or neutral, bearing a commission granted by the enemies of
France or making part of the crews of ships of war, and others, enemies,
shall be by this single fact declared a pirate and treated as such
without being permitted in any case to allege that he had been forced
into such service by violence, threats, or otherwise."
Message of January 13, 1800, Vol. I, p. 301: Relating to the Military
Academy and the reorganization of the Army.
Message of January 14, 1800, Vol. I, pp. 301-302: Letter from John
Randolph, jr., demanding that certain officers of the Army or Navy be
punished for grossly and publicly insulting him for advocating in the
House of Representatives a reduction of the military establishment.
Message of April 20, 1802, Vol. I, p. 341: Relating to spoliations
committed on the commerce of the United States under Spanish authority
and to the imprisonment of the American consul at St. Jago de Cuba.
Message of December 22, 1802, Vol. I, p. 346: Transmitting letters
from the governors of the Mississippi Territory and of Kentucky, etc.,
relative to the prohibition by authorities of Spain to land American
cargoes at New Orleans, in violation of treaty rights.
Message of December 31, 1804, Vol. I, p. 375: Relating to the
bombardment of Tripoli, vessels engaged, number of men, etc.