198 



COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE. 



ject to disposition under the direction of Prize Com- 

 missioners and Courts. 



In respect to property embraced in the first class, 

 namely, abandoned property, it is to be observed that 

 no agent is authorized to make any other assurance 

 than that property, voluntarily abandoned, shall be 

 faithfully disposed of, under the law, so as to secure, 

 as fur as practicable in the existing condition of the 

 country, the rights of owners. No authority is given, 

 or intended to be given, to agents to make any prom- 

 ises of special immunities or advantages not specified 

 in the law. 



In respect to both descriptions of abandoned proper- 

 ty, whetner found desertea or voluntarily abandoned, 

 the law authorizes the payment of such expenses as 

 must necessarily be incurred in its collection, or re- 

 ceipt and disposition. 



You will, therefore, pay all such expenses, including 

 fees, taxes, freights, storage, charges, labor, and other 

 necessary expenses, out of the general fund arising 

 therefrom ; being careful to avoid all useless or indis- 

 creet expenditures, and to charge each particular lot 

 or parcel, with the amount of expense pertaining to it, 

 and, unless unavoidably prevented, to take vouchers 

 therefor, to be filled with the account of sales in this 

 Department. 



Where property is liable to be lost or destroyed, in 

 consequence of its location being unknown to the 

 Special Agent, or from other causes, and parties pro- 

 pose, for compensation, to collect and deliver it into 

 the hands of the Agents of this Department, at points 

 to be designated by them, you may contract for the 

 collection and delivery thereof, on the best possible 

 terms, not exceeding twenty-five per cent, of the pro- 

 ceeds of the property ; which percentage must be 1 full 

 compensation for all expenses of whatever character 

 incurred in collecting, preparing, and delivering such 

 property at the points indicated. Prior to any con- 

 tract being entered into, each party proposing must 

 submit, in writing, a statement, as near as may be, 

 giving the kind and amount of property proposed to 

 be collected ; the location whence to be obtained ; and 

 all the facts and circumstances connected with it, par- 

 ticularly as to its ownership : and any contract made 

 in pursuance of this authority will be restricted, either 

 to the collection and delivery of particular lots at 

 named localities, which is preferred, or when circum- 

 stances clearly justify, to the general collection and 

 delivery of all abandoned property in limited districts, 

 not greater in any case than one parish or county, and 

 not more than one district to be assigned to one con- 

 tractor.* 



Before payment to any contractor for services in ful- 

 filment of any contracts made in pursuance of this 

 authority, a bond equal to the amount stipulated to be 



aid must be given by him, indemnifying the United 

 tates against all claims to the property delivered, on 

 account of damages by trespass or otherwise, occasion- 

 ed by the act of connivance of the contractor, and 

 against all claims that may arise on account of expen- 

 ses incurred in the collection, preparation, and trans- 

 portation of said property to the points designated in 

 said contract. 



Should cases arise justifying, in your opinion, the 

 allowance of a larger percentage than that herein 

 authorized, you will refer such cases to this Depart- 

 ment, accompanied by a statement of the facts and 

 circumstances connected therewith, together with such 

 views and opinions of your own as you may think 

 proper to submit for my consideration. 



If property of a perishable nature is found aban- 

 doned, and its immediate sale is required by the inter- 

 est of all concerned, it may be disposed of as provided 

 for by regulations. You will aim to mitigate as far as 

 possible, and will in no case do anything avoidable to 

 augment the calamities of war. 



In relation to the captured property, you will ob- 

 serve the same directions, as far as they may be ap- 

 plicable, as to its receipt and subsequent disposition, 

 as are prescribed in relation to abandoned property. 

 In relation both to captured and abandoned prop- 



perty, you will remember that no release must be 

 granted to persons claiming ownership of property 

 which has come into the possession of the Agents or 

 the Department as abandoned, captured, or forfeited ; 

 nor must any permits be granted to individuals to re- 

 move such property ; nor must personal favors, in any 

 case, be extended to one individual or party rather 

 than to another ; nor must any liabilities be assumed 

 or contracts made on the part of the United States not 

 clearly warranted by law and the Departmental Regu- 

 lations made in pursuance to law. 



In case furniture, or other movable property of like 

 character, is abandoned or captured, you will cause it 

 to be retained and left on the premises where found 

 whenever it can be done with safety ; otherwise, if 

 practicable, and not attended with too great cost, you 

 will have it safely stored and properly marked and 

 numbered, and will report the facts to this Department 

 and await further directions. 



Your principal embarrassment will doubtless arise 

 from questions relating to property of the third class, 

 or commercial property. 



The_ general purposes which, under the acts charging 

 me with the regulation of the restricted commercial 

 intercourse permitted by the President, I have kept 

 steadily in view, have already been sufficiently ex- 

 plained in general regulations and in letters. 



They may be briefly stated thus : (1) To allow with- 

 in districts in insurrectionary States, when the author- 

 ity of the Government is so completely reestablished, 

 in your judgment, sanctioned by that of the command- 

 ing general, as to warrant it, and between such dis- 

 tricts and loyal States the freest commercial intercourse 

 compatible with prevention of supplies to persons with- 

 in rebel lines. (2) To allow beyond such districts, 

 but within the lines of our military occupation such 

 intercourse sanctioned by the commanding general, as 

 may be required to supply the inhabitants with neces- 

 saries, but to allow no other until the complete re- 

 establishment of the national authority shall warrant 

 it ; and (3) To allow no intercourse at all beyond the 

 national and within the rebel lines of military occupa- 

 tion ; across these lines there can be no intercourse ex- 

 cept that of a character exclusively military. 



The limits of the districts within which the most gen- 

 eral trade may be allowed must necessarily be pre- 

 scribed by you, after full conference with the command- 

 ing Generals of Departments, whenever such confer- 

 ence is practicable, and these should be so clearly and 

 distinctly marked by known geographical boundaries, 

 or by the enumeration of counties, as to leave no un- 

 certainty as to their course or comprehension. The 

 limits of the regions within which necessaries may be 

 supplied cannot be so clearly defined, but must be 

 ascertained as well as possible from the commanding 

 generals, and the po_wer to permit any supplies within 

 them must be exercised with, great caution. 



There does not seem to me to be so much danger in 

 intercourse which does not involve the furnishing of 

 supplies. If, for example, any person desires to bring 

 cotton, tobacco, sugar, turpentine, or other property, 

 already purchased, or to be purchased for money only, 

 from any place within the lines of our military occupa- 

 tion, I can see no objection to his bejng permitted to 

 do so, subject to the fees and obligations specified iu 

 the General Regulations, on his giving a bond iu a 

 sufficient sum, and with sufficient sureties, conditioned 

 that no military, naval, or civil officers or persons, 

 prohibited by law, or by orders of the President, or of 

 the Secretaries of War or Navy, or of military or naval 

 commanders having proper authority, from being in- 

 terested in such property, whether purchased or to be 

 purchased, shall be so interested therein. Intercourse 

 such as this might, it seems to me, be safely permitted, 

 almost, if not quite, coextensively with our Hues of mil- 

 itary occupation. 



Should this view meet the approval of the generals 

 commanding Departments within your Agency, the 

 question of intercourse within the doubtful region 

 between what may be called the commercial and 

 the military line would be reduced to a question of 



