184 



COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE. 



COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE. The reg- 

 ulations adopted by the Federal Government 

 relative to intercourse between the citizens of 

 the Northern States and those in insurrection, 

 have been stated in previous volumes. The 

 Act of Congress passed July 13, 1861, author- 

 izing the President to declare by proclamation 

 the people of certain States to be in a state of 

 insurrection, and that all commercial intercourse 

 with them should cease, produced a clear and 

 distinct condition of war. Under the operation 

 of the law, a question arose as to the course to 

 be pursued with those cities and towns of the 

 Southern States which might be subdued and 

 occupied. If commercial intercourse continued 

 to be broken off with those people, it was asked 

 how they were to be fed and subsisted. By 

 the modern laws of war, it has been held that 

 the Power which declared war might modify 

 that declaration in relation to intercourse with 

 particular places for particular purposes. On 

 this ground, the above-mentioned act contained 

 a provision authorizing the President, in his 

 discretion, and under regulation from the Treas- 

 ury Department, to permit intercourse in such 

 articles, and with such places and persons as 

 the public service might require. This provision 

 was inserted in the law because the President, 

 having no power to declare war, of course had 

 no authority to modify that war, except only 

 as it should be given to him by Congress, which 

 had the power to declare war. The object of 

 the provision was, not to get supplies from the 

 enemy, nor to buy their produce and pay them 

 money .to relieve them, but merely to sustain 

 the people of that part of the country which 

 was held by military possession. In the exe- 

 cution of the law a different construction was 

 fiven to it. Regulations were made by the 

 reasury Department, and approved by the 

 President, under which licenses were granted 

 from time to time to individuals to trade upon 

 the Mississippi for the purpose of getting cot- 

 ton. The effect of this system was very serious 

 upon the characters of the officers of the army 

 there in command. At the session of Congress 

 in the summer of 1864 an act was passed to put a 

 stop to that kind of trade by revoking the au- 

 thority to grant licenses except for supplying the 

 necessities of the loyal inhabitants within the 

 lines of actual occupation. This resulted in gen- 

 erally stopping the previous trade. But the same 

 act, passed through Congress with much haste, 

 contained a section authorizing the Secretary of 

 the Treasury to appoint agents to purchase for 

 the United States any products of States de- 

 clared to be in insurrection, at such places as 

 the Secretary should designate, etc. In the 

 month of December, 1864, the President issued 

 his order directing, under the regulations of 

 the Secretary, the agents appointed to go down 

 aivd execute the law and make the purchases. 

 By the regulations and the executive order, 

 the whole of the people of the country who 

 had control of any productions for sale were 

 authorized to come into the places designated 



and offer them for sale. A vigorous traffic thus 

 sprung up, and was in active progress when 

 Gen. Grant issued the following order : 



HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S., ) 

 CITY POIXT, March 10, 1S65. j 



Special Orders No. 48. The operations on all Treas- 

 ury trade permits and all other trade permits and 

 licenses to trade, by whomsoever granted, within the 

 State of Virginia, except that portion known as the 

 Eastern Shore, and within the States of North Caro- 

 lina and South Carolina, and that portion of the State 

 of Georgia immediately bordering on the Atlantic, 

 including the city of Savannah, are hereby suspended 

 until further orders. 



All contracts and agreements made under or by 

 virtue of any trade permit or license, within any of 

 said States, or parts of States, during the existence 

 of this order, will be deemed void, and the subject 

 of such contracts or agreements will be seized by the 

 military authorities for the benefit of the Govern- 

 ment, whether the same is at the time of such con- 

 tracts or agreements within their reach, or at any 

 time thereafter comes within their reach, either by 

 the operations of war or by the act of the contract- 

 ing parties or their agents. 



The delivery of all goods contracted for and not 

 delivered before the publication of this order is pro- 

 hibited. Supplies of all kinds are prohibited from 

 passing into any of said States or parts of such States, 

 except such as are absolutely necessary for the wants 

 of those living within the lines of actual military oc- 

 cupation, and under no circumstances will military 

 commanders allow them to pass beyond the lines 

 they actually hold. 



By command of Lieut.-Gen. GRANT. 



T. S. BOWERS, Ass't Adj't-Gen. 



It was regarded at the time and under the 

 existing state of military affairs as the most 

 important order Gen. Grant had ever issued. 

 It appeared by official records to affect contracts 

 covering 500,000 bales of cotton, 16,000 barrels 

 of turpentine, 5,000 barrels of tar, 2,000 barrels 

 of rosin, and 100,000 boxes of tobacco. This 

 order was revoked by Gen. Grant on April 

 llth. 



On April llth President Lincoln issued his 

 proclamation declaring closed to foreign and 

 domestic commerce the ports of Richmond, 

 Tappahannock, Cherry Stone, Yorktown, and 

 Petersburg, in Virginia ; of Camden, Elizabeth 

 City, Edenton, Plymouth, "Washington, New- 

 bern, Ocracoke, and Wilmington, in North Car- 

 olina; of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beau- 

 fort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, St. Mary's, 

 Brunswick, and Darien, in Georgia ; of Mobile, 

 in Alabama; of Pearl River, Shieldsboro, 

 Natchez, and Vicksburg, in Mississippi ; of 

 St. Augustine, St. Marks, Port Leon, St. Johns, 

 Jacksonville, and Appalachicola, in Florida; of 

 Teche and Franklin, in Louisiana ; of Galves- 

 ton, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago, Point Isabel, 

 and Brownsville, in Texas. 



On April 29th, President Johnson having 

 succeeded President Lincoln, and "being de- 

 sirous to relieve au loyal citizens and well-dis- 

 posed persons residing in insurrectionary States 

 from unnecessary commercial restrictions, to 

 encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits," 

 issued his proclamation ordering that all re- 

 strictions upon internal, domestic, and coast- 

 wise commercial intercourse be discontinued 



