CONGKESS, U. S. 



327 



ton, Perry, Price, Robinson, Shiel, Stiles, Vallandig- 

 ham, Voorhees, Wadsworth, Ward, Chilton A. White, 

 Wickliffe, and Teaman 28. 



An act was also passed to prevent corre- 

 spondence with citizens of the confederate 

 States. It provides " that if any person, being 

 a resident of the United States, or being a citi- 

 zen thereof, and residing in any foreign coun- 

 try, shall, without the permission or authority 

 of the Government of the United States, and 

 with the intent to defeat its measures, or to 

 weaken in any way their efficacy, hold or com- 

 mence, directly or indirectly, any correspond- 

 ence or intercourse, written or verbal, with 

 the present pretended rebel government, or 

 .with any officer or agent thereof, or with any 

 other individual acting or sympathizing there- 

 with ; or if any such person not duly author- 

 ized shall counsel or assist in any such corre- 

 spondence or intercourse with such intent, he 

 shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, 

 and, on conviction before any court of the 

 United States having jurisdiction, shall be pun- 

 ished by a fine not exceeding $10,000, and by 

 imprisonment not less than six months, nor ex- 

 ceeding five years. Where the offence is com- 

 mitted in any foreign country, the district court 

 of the United States for the district where the 

 offender shall be first arrested is to have juris- 

 diction." 



An amendment to the act for the collection 

 of direct taxes in insurrectionary districts was 

 passed in the following form : 



An Act to amend an Act entitled, "An Ad for the Col- 

 lection of Direct Taxes in Insurrectionary Districts 

 within the United States, and for other purposes" 

 approved June seven, eighteen hundred and sixty -two, 



He it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That the seventh section of an act entitled 

 "An act for the collection of direct taxes in insurrec- 

 tionary districts within the United States, and for 

 other purposes," approved June seven, eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty-two, be amended so as to read as fol- 

 lows : Section 7. And be it further enacted, That the 

 said board of commissioners shall be required, in case 

 the taxes charged upon the said lots ( and parcels of land 

 shall not be paid, as provided for in the third section. 

 of this act, to cause the same to be advertised for sale 

 in a newspaper published in the town, parish, district, 

 or county where situate ; and if there be no such news- 

 paper published in said town, parish, district, or coun- 

 ty, or if the publisher thereof refuse to publish the 

 same, then in any other newspaper to be selected by 

 said commissioners in said district, or in the city of 

 Washington, for at least four weeks, and by posting 

 notices of said sale in three public places in the town, 

 parish, district, or county within which said lands are 

 situate, at least four weeks previous to the day of sale ; 

 and at the time and place of sale to cause the same to 

 be severally sold to the highest bidder for a sum not 

 less than the taxes, penalty, and costs, and ten per 

 centum per annum interest on said tax, pursuant to 

 said notice; in all cases where the owner of said lots 

 or parcels of ground shall not, on or before the day of 

 sale, appear in person before the said board of com- 

 missioners and pay the amount of said tax, with ten per 

 centum interest thereon, with the cost of advertising 

 the same, or request the same to be struck off to a 

 purchaser for a less sum than two thirds of the assess- 

 ed value of said several lots or parcels of ground, the 



said commissioners shall be authorized at said sale to 

 bid off the same for the United States at a sum not ex- 

 ceeding two thirds of the assessed value thereof, unless 

 some person sball bid a larger sum ; and in that case 

 the same shall be struck oft to the highest bidder, who 

 shall, upon paying the purchase money in gold and 

 silver coin, or in the Treasury notes of the United 

 States, or in United States notes, or in certificates 

 of indebtedness against the United States, be en- 

 titled to receive from said commissioners their cer- 

 tificate of sale, which said certificate shall be re- 

 ceived in all courts and places as prima facie evidence 

 of the regularity and validity of said sale, and of the 

 title of said purchaser or purchasers under the same : 

 Provided, That the owner of said lots of ground, or 

 any loyal person of the United States having any valid 

 lien upon or interest in the same, may at any time with- 

 in sixty days after said sale appear before the said board 

 of tax commissioners in his or her own proper per- 

 son, and, if a citizen, upon taking an oath to support 

 the Constitution of the United States, and paying the 

 amount of said tax and penalty, with interest thereon 

 from the date of the said proclamation of the President 

 mentioned in the second section of this act, at the rate 

 of fifteen per centum per annum, together with the 

 expenses of sale and subsequent proceedings, to be 

 determined by said commissioners, may redeem said 

 lots of land from said sale ; and any purchaser under 

 the same having paid moneys, Treasury notes, or other 

 certificates of indebtedness of the United States, shall, 

 upon such redemption being made, be entitled to have 

 the same, with the interest accruing after said sale, 

 returned to him by the said commissioners, upon sur- 

 rendering up the certificates of sale : And provided 

 further, That if the owner of said lots of ground shall 

 be a minor, a non-resident alien, or loyal citizen be- 

 yond the seas, a person of unsound mind or under a 

 legal disability, the guardian, trustee, or-other person 

 having charge of the person or estate of such person 

 may redeem the same at any time within two years 

 after the sale thereof, and in the manner above pro- 

 vided, and with like effect : And provided further, That 

 at such sale any tracts, parcels, or lots of land which 

 may be selected under the direction of the President 

 for Government use, for war, military, naval, revenue, 

 charitable, educational, or police purposes, may, at said 

 sale, be bid in by said commissioners, under the direc- 

 tion of the President, for, and struck off to, the United 

 States : And provided further, That the certificate of 

 said commissioners shall only be affected as evidence 

 of the regularity and validity of sale by establishing 

 the fact that said property was not subject to taxes, or 

 that the taxes had been paid previous to sale, or that 

 the property had been redeemed according to the pro- 

 visions of this act. 

 APPROVED, February 6, 1863. 



An act was also passed to facilitate the taking 

 of depositions within the United States, to be 

 used in the courts of other countries. It is as 

 follows : 



An Act to facilitate the taking of Depositions within 

 the United States, to be used in the Courts of other 

 Countries, and for other purposes. 

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That the testimony of any witness residing 

 within the United States, to be used; in any suit for the 

 recovery of money or property depending in any court 

 in any foreign country with which the United States 

 are at peace, and in which the Government of such 

 foreign country shall be a party or shall have an inter- 

 est, may be obtained, to be used in such suit. If a com- 

 mission or letters rogatory to take such testimony shall 

 have been issued from the court in which said suit_ia 

 pending, on producing the same before the district 

 judge of any district where said witness resides or 

 shall be found, and on due proof being made to such 

 judge that the testimony of any witness is material to 

 the party desiring the same, such judge shall issue a 



