228 



COMMERCE. 



ing the reopening of communication with re- 

 conquered Southern localities : 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASIIIKGTON, May 2, 1862. 

 SIR : I have the honor to state for your information, 

 that the mails are allowed to pass to and from >"ew 

 Orleans and other places which, having heretofore been 

 seized by insurgent forces, have since been recovered, 

 and are now reoccupied by the land and naval forces 

 of the United States. It is proper, however, to add 

 that a military surveillance is maintained over such 

 mails, as far as the Government find it necessary for 

 the public safety. I am. sir, your obedient servant, 

 WM. H. SEWARD. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, May 5, 1S62. 

 SIR : I have the honor to state for the information of 

 your Government, that a Collector has been appointed 

 by the President for New Orleans, and that the neces- 

 sary preparations are being made to modify the block- 

 ade so fur as to permit limited shipments to be made 

 to and from that and one or more other ports, which 

 are now closed by blockade, at times and upon condi- 

 tions which will be made known by proclamation. 

 I am. sir, your obedient servant, 



WM. H. SEWARD. 



A great number of vessels at once left the 

 northern ports for that city with good outward 

 bound cargoes. The President then issued a 

 proclamation declaring that the blockade of 

 the ports of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Or- 

 leans shall so far cease and determine from and 

 after the 1st of June, 1862, that commercial 

 intercourse with these ports, except as to per- 

 sons and things and information contraband of 

 war, might from that time be carried. on, sub- 

 ject to the laws of the United States, and to 

 the limitations and in pursuance of the regula- 

 tions which were prescribed by the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, as follows : 



Regulations relating to trade with ports opened by 



Proclamation. 

 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Monday, May 12. 



First. To vessels clearing from foreign ports and 

 destined to ports opened by the proclamation of the 

 President of the United States of this date, namely 

 Beaufort in North Carolina, Port Royal in South Caro- 

 lina, and New Orleans in Louisiana. 



Licenses will be granted by consuls of the United 

 States, upon satisfactory evidence that the vessels so 

 licensed will convey no person, property, or informa- 

 tion contraband of war, either to or from said ports, 

 which licenses shall be exhibited to the collector of the 

 port to which said vessels may be respectively bound, 

 immediately on arrival, and if required to any officer in 

 charge of the blockade; and on leaving either of the 

 said ports every vessel will be required to have a clear- 

 ance from the collector of the customs according to law, 

 showing that there has been no violation of the condi- 

 tions of the license. Any violation of the said condi- 

 tions will involve the forfeiture and condemnation of 

 the vessel and cargo, and the exclusion of all parties 

 concerned from any further privilege of entering 

 the United States during the war tor any purpose 

 whatever. 



Second. To vessels of the United States, clearing 

 coastwise for the ports aforesaid, license can only be 

 obtained from the Treasury Department. 



Third. In all other respects the existing blockade 

 remains in full force and effect as hitherto established 

 and maintained ; nor is it relaxed by the proclamation 

 except in regard to the ports to which the relaxation is 

 by that instrument expressly applied. 



(Signed.) S. P. CHASE, Secretary of Treasury. 



The appointment of Gen. Butler to the com- 

 mand at New Orleans was followed by a line 



of policy which neutralized the commercial 

 results anticipated from the possession of the 

 port. The Secretary of State wrote to the 

 minister, Mr. Adams, at London, July 28, 1862, 

 as follows : 



We shall speedily open all the channels of com- 

 merce, and free them from military embarrassments, 

 and cotton, so much desired by all nations, will flow 

 forth as freely as heretofore. We have ascertained 

 . that there are three and a half millions of bales yet 

 remaining in the region where it was produced, though 

 large quantities of it are yet unginned and otherwise 

 unprepared for the market. We have instructed the 

 military authorities to favor, so far as they can con- 

 sistently with the public safety, its preparation for and 

 despatch to the markets, where it is so much wanted ; 

 ana now, notwithstanding the obstructions which have 

 necessarily attended the reestablishment of the Federal 

 authority in that region against watchful and desper- 

 ate public enemies, in whose hands the suppression of 

 the cotton trade by fire and force is a lever with which 

 they expect to raise up allies throughout Europe, 

 that trade has already begun to revive, and we are as- 

 sured by our civil and military agents that it may be 

 expected to increase fast enough to relieve the painful 

 anxieties expressed to us by friendly nations. The 

 President has given respectful consideration to the de- 

 sire informally expressed to me by the Governments 

 of Great Britain and France for some further relaxa- 

 tion of the blockade in favor of that trade. They are 

 not rejected, but are yet held under consideration, 

 with a view to ascertain more satisfactorily whether 

 they are really necessary, and whether they can be 

 adopted without such serious detriment to our military 

 operations as would render them injurious rather 

 than beneficial to the interests of all concerned. An 

 answer will be seasonably given, which will leave 

 foreign powers in no uncertainty about our course. 



It resulted, however, that no renewal of 

 business took place with the interior, and the 

 occupation of New Orleans, from which great 

 hopes were entertained, not only as having 

 direct influence upon the war, but on the means 

 of freeing the 2,000,000 bales of cotton usually 

 delivered at that port, and which would not only 

 have kept alive the 772 northern mills, with 

 their 5 million spindles and 125,000 looms, em- 

 ploying more than 100,000 hands, but would 

 have largely supplied exchange, stopped the 

 outward flow of specie, diminished the distress 

 in England and France, and smoothed the 

 foreign relations of the country, while it 

 would have supplied immense resources to the 

 Government, did not justify those hopes. The 

 causes of the failure to realize these objects 

 changed the whole face of business during 

 the year, and while it made the occupation of 

 the mouths of the Mississippi barren of useful 

 results, added greatly to the exasperation of the 

 South, and led to serious complications with 

 foreign consuls, whose rights and duties became 

 by no means clear in the position in which they 

 were placed. Their functions necessarily brought 

 them in contact with a people under martial 

 law, and whose rights of property depended 

 upon the will of the military commander. 



The trade of New Orleans, showing the re- 

 ceipts of the principal articles from the interior, 

 during the year ending 31st of August, 1862, 

 with their total value, is represented in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



