Confederate States Congress, Recognition of War with US (May 6, 1861) 5

AN ACT

RECOGNIZING THE EXISTENCE OF WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONFEDERATE STATES, AND CONCERNING LETTERS OF MARQUE, PRIZES, AND PRIZE GOODS.

Whereas, the earnest efforts made by this Government to estab lish friendly relations between the Government of the United States and the Confederate States, and to settle all questions of disagreement between the two Governments upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith, have proved unavailing by reason of the refusal of the Government of the United States to hold any intercourse with the commissioners appointed by this Government for the purposes aforesaid, or to listen to any pro posal they had to make for the peaceful solution of all causes of difficulty between the two Governments; and

Whereas, the President of the United States of America has issued his proclamation making requisition upon the States of the American Union for 75,000 men for the purpose, as therein indicated, of capturing forts and other strongholds within the jurisdiction of, and belonging to, the Confederate States of Amer ica, and has detailed naval armaments upon the coasts of the Confederate States of America, and raised, organized, and equipped a large military force to execute the purpose afore said, and has issued his other proclamation announcing his purpose to set on foot a blockade of the ports of the Confederate States; and

Whereas, by the acts and means aforesaid, war exists between the Confederate States and the Government of the United States and the States and Territories thereof, except the States of Mary land, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, and Delaware, and the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Indian Territory south of Kansas : Therefore,

Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the President of the Confederate States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the Confed erate States to meet the war thus commenced, and to issue to private armed vessels commissions or letters of marque and gen eral reprisal in such form as he shall think proper, under the seal of the Confederate States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the Government of the United States, and of the citizens or inhabitants of the States and Territories thereof, except the States and Territories hereinbefore named: Provided, however, That property of the enemy (unless it be contraband of war) laden on board a neutral vessel shall not be subject to seizure under this act: And provided further, That vessels of the citizens or inhabitants of the United States now in the ports of the Con federate States, except such as have been since the 5th of April last, or may hereafter be, in the service of the Government of the United States, shall be allowed thirty days after the publication of this act to leave said ports and reach their destination ; and such vessels and their cargoes, excepting articles contraband of war, shall not be subject to capture under this act during said period unless they shall have previously reached the destination for which they were bound on leaving said ports.

Sec. 2. That the President of the Confederate States shall be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to revoke and annul at pleasure all letters of marque and reprisal which he may at any time grant pursuant to this act.

Sec. 3. That all persons applying for letters of marque and re prisal, pursuant to this act, shall state in writing the name and a suitable description of the tonnage and force of the vessel, and the name and place of residence of each owner concerned there in and the intended number of the crew, which statement shall be signed by the person or persons making such application and filed with the Secretary of State, or shall be delivered to any other officer or person who shall be employed to deliver out such commissions, to be by him transmitted to the Secretary of State.

Sec. 4. That before any commission or letters of marque and reprisal shall be issued as aforesaid, the owner or owners of the ship or vessel for which the same shall be requested, and the commander thereof for the time being, shall give bond to the Confederate States, with at least two responsible sureties not in terested in such vessel, in the penal sum of $5,000, or if such ves sel be provided with more than 150 men, then in the penal sum of $10,000, with condition that the owners, officers, and crew who shall be employed on board such commissioned vessel shall and will observe the laws of the Confederate States and the in structions which shall be given them according to law for the regulation of their conduct, and will satisfy all damages and in juries which shall be done or committed contrary to the tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission, and to deliver up the same when revoked by the President of the Confederate States.

Sec. 5. That all captures and prizes of vessels and property shall be forfeited and shall accrue to the owners, officers, and crews of the vessels by whom such captures and prizes shall be made, and on due condemnation had shall be distributed accord ing to any written agreement which shall be made between them ; and if there be no such written agreement, then one moiety to the owners and the other moiety to the officers and crew, as nearlyas may be, according to the rules prescribed for the distribution of prize money by the laws of the Confederate States.

Sec. 6. That all vessels, goods, and effects, the property of any citizen of the Confederate States, or of persons resident within and under the protection of the Confederate States, or of per sons permanently within the territories and under the protection of any foreign prince, government, or State in amity with the Confederate States, which shall have been captured by the United States, and which shall be recaptured by vessels commissioned as aforesaid, shall be restored to the lawful owners upon payment by them of a just and reasonable salvage, to be determined by the mutual agreement of the parties concerned, or by the decree of any court having jurisdiction, according to the nature of each case, agreeably to the provisions established by law. And such salvage shall be distributed among the owners, officers, and crews of the vessels commissioned as aforesaid and making such cap tures, according to any written agreement which shall be made between them ; and in case of no such agreement, then in the same manner and upon the principles hereinbefore provided in cases of capture.

Sec. 7. That before breaking bulk of any vessel which shall be captured as aforesaid, or other disposal or conversion thereof, or of any articles which shall be found on board the same, such captured vessel, goods, or effects shall be brought into some port of the Confederate States or of a nation or State in amity with the Confederate States, and shall be proceeded against before a competent tribunal ; and after condemnation and forfeiture there of shall belong to the owners, officers, and crew of the vessel capturing the same, and be distributed as before provided ; and in the case of all captured vessels, goods, and effects which shall be brought within the jurisdiction of the Confederate States, the district courts of the Confederate States shall have exclusive original cognizance thereof, as in civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; and the said courts, or the courts, being courts of the Confederate States, into which such cases shall be removed and in which they shall be finally decided, shall and may decree restitution in whole or in part when the capture shall have been made without just cause; and if made without probable cause, may order and decree damages and costs to the party injured, for which the owners and commanders of the vessels mak ing such captures, and also the vessels, shall be liable.

Sec. 8. That all persons found on board any captured vessels, or on board any recaptured vessel, shall be reported to the col lector of the port in the Confederate States in which they shall first arrive, and shall be delivered into the custody of the marshal of the district or some court or military officer of the Confed erate States, or of any State in or near such port, who shall take charge of their safe-keeping and support, at the expense of the Confederate States.

Sec. 9. That the President of the Confederate States is hereby authorized to establish and order suitable instructions for the better governing and directing the conduct of the vessels so commissioned, their officers and crews, copies of which shall be delivered by the collector of the customs to the commanders, when they shall give bond as before provided.

Sec. 10. That a bounty shall be paid by the Confederate States of $20 for each person on board any armed ship or vessel be longing to the United States at the commencement of an en gagement, which shall be burnt, sunk, or destroyed by any ves sel commissioned as aforesaid, which shall be of equal or in ferior force, the same to be divided as in other cases of prize money ; and a bounty of $25 shall be paid to the owners, officers, and crews of the private armed vessels commissioned as afore said for each and every prisoner by them captured and brought into port and delivered to an agent authorized to receive them in any port of the Confederate States; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to pay or cause to be paid to the owners, officers, and crews of such private armed vessels com missioned as aforesaid, or their agent, the bounties herein pro vided.

Sec. 11. That the commanding officer of every vessel having a commission or letters of marque and reprisal, during the present hostilities between the Confederate States and the United States, shall keep a regular journal, containing a true and exact account of his daily proceedings and transactions with such vessel and the crew thereof; the ports and places he shall put into or cast anchor in; the time of his stay there and the cause thereof; the prizes he shall take and the nature and probable value thereof; the times and places when and where taken, and in what manner he shall dispose of the same ; the ships or vessels he shall fall in with; the times and places when and where he shall meet with them, and his observations and remarks thereon ; also of what ever else shall occur to him or any of his officers or marines, or be discovered by examination or conference with any marines or passengers of or in any other ships or vessels, or by any other means touching the fleets, vessels, and forces of the United States, their ports and places of station and destination, strength, numbers, intents, and designs ; and such commanding officer shall, immediately on his arrival in any port of the Confederate States, from or during the continuance of any voyage or cruise, produce his commission for such vessel, and deliver up such journal so kept as aforesaid, signed with his proper name and handwriting, to the collector or other chief officer of the customs at or nearest to such port; the truth of which journal shall be verified by the oath of the commanding officer for the time be ing. And such collector or other chief officer of the customs shall, immediately on the arrival of such vessel, order the proper officer of the customs to go on board and take an account of the officers and men, the number and nature of the guns, and what ever else shall occur to him on examination material to be known ; and no such vessel shall be permitted to sail out of port again until such journal shall have been delivered up, and a certificate obtained under the hand of such collector or other chief officer of the customs that she is manned and armed according to her commission ; and upon delivery of such certificate any former certificate of a like nature which shall have been obtained by the commander of such vessel shall be delivered up.

Sec. 12. That the commanders of vessels having letters of marque and reprisal as aforesaid, neglecting to keep a journal as aforesaid, or willfully making fraudulent entries therein, or obliterating the record of any material transactions contained therein, where the interest of the Confederate States is con cerned, or refusing to produce and deliver such journal, com mission, or certificate, pursuant to the preceding section of this act, then, and in such cases, the commissions or letters of marque and reprisal of such vessels shall be liable to be revoked ; and such commanders, respectively, shall forfeit for every such offense the sum of $1,000, one moiety thereof to the use of the Confed erate States, and the other to the informer.

Sec. 13. That the owners or commanders of vessels having let ters of marque and reprisal as aforesaid, who shall violate any of the acts of Congress for the collection of the revenue of the Confederate States, and for the prevention of smuggling, shall forfeit the commission or letters of marque and reprisal, and they and the vessels owned or commanded by them shall be liable to all the penalties and forfeitures attaching to merchant vessels in like cases.

Sec. 14. That on all goods, wares, and merchandise captured and made good and lawful prizes of war by any private armed ship having commission or letters of marque and reprisal under this act, and brought into the Confederate States, there shall be allowed a deduction of 33 1-3 per cent on the amount of duties imposed by law.

Sec. 15. That 5 per centum on the net amount (after deducting all charges and expenditures) of the prize money arising from captured vessels and cargoes, and on the net amount of the salvage of vessels and cargoes recaptured by the private armed vessels of the Confederate States, shall be secured and paid over to the collector or other chief officer of the customs, at the port or place in the Confederate States at which such captured or re captured vessels may arrive, or to the consul or other public agent of the Confederate States residing at the port or place not within the Confederate States at which such captured or recap tured vessel may arrive. And the moneys arising therefrom shall be held, and are hereby pledged by the Government of the Con federate States as a fund for the support and maintenance of the widows and orphans of such persons as may be slain, and for the support and maintenance of such persons as may be wounded and disabled on board of the private armed vessels commissioned as aforesaid, in any engagement with the enemy, to be assigned and distributed in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by law.

HOWELL COBB, President of the Congress.

Approved May 6, 1861.

JEFF'N DAVIS.