Whereas the President of the United States, by his proclamation of the
19th day of April, 1861, did declare certain States therein mentioned in
insurrection against the Government of the United States; and
Whereas armed resistance to the authority of this Government in the said
insurrectionary States may be regarded as virtually at an end, and the
persons by whom that resistance, as well as the operations of insurgent
cruisers, was directed are fugitives or captives; and
Whereas it is understood that some of those cruisers are still infesting
the high seas and others are preparing to capture, burn, and destroy
vessels of the United States:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, hereby enjoin all naval, military, and civil officers of
the United States diligently to endeavor, by all lawful means, to arrest
the said cruisers and to bring them into a port of the United States, in
order that they may be prevented from committing further depredations on
commerce and that the persons on board of them may no longer enjoy
impunity for their crimes.
And I do further proclaim and declare that if, after a reasonable time
shall have elapsed for this proclamation to become known in the ports of
nations claiming to have been neutrals, the said insurgent cruisers and
the persons on board of them shall continue to receive hospitality in
the said ports, this Government will deem itself justified in refusing
hospitality to the public vessels of such nations in ports of the United
States and in adopting such other measures as may be deemed advisable
toward vindicating the national sovereignty.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of May, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.