718 



UNITED STATES. 



gress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said 

 unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have 

 ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot 

 a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, iu 

 pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the 

 laws of nations in such case provided. For this pur- 

 pose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent 

 entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. 

 If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a 

 vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave any of 

 the said ports, she will be duly warned by the Com- 

 mander of one of the blockading vessels, who will en- 

 dorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, 

 and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or 

 leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent 

 to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings 

 against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed 

 advisable. 



And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any per- 

 son, under the pretended authority of the said States, 

 or under any other pretence, shall molest a vessel of 

 the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of 

 her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of 

 the United States for the prevention and punishment 

 of piracy. 



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be 

 affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 

 r. -I nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord 

 L ' -I one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and 

 of the Independence of the United States the 

 eighty-fifth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



By the President : 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



At 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the 20th 

 of April, by order of the Government, a 

 seizure was made by the United States mar- 

 shals, of the despatches which had accumulated, 

 during the previous twelve months, in every 

 considerable telegraph office in all the Northern 

 States. In these offices the originals of all de- 

 spatches which are sent off, and the copies of all 

 received, are placed on file. The object of the 

 Government in making this seizure was to ob- 

 tain evidence of the operations of Southern citi- 

 zens with their Northern friends. The confi- 

 dential telegrams passing between them could 

 most certainly furnish this. 



An additional proclamation was issued by 

 the President on the 27th of April, extending 

 the blockade to the ports of the States of North 

 Carolina and Virginia. The most energetic 

 measures were commenced by the Government 

 to carry out this blockade. All the available 

 war vessels were put into service. Mercantile 

 steamers, and such as were not nsed for pur- 

 poses of transportation, were fitted out as gun- 

 boats to cruise off the coast and run up shallow 

 waters. 



On the 3d of May the President issued an- 

 other proclamation, calling into the service of 

 the United States forty-two thousand and thirty- 

 four volunteers for three years, unless sooner dis- 

 charged, also ordering an addition to the army 

 of eight regiments of infantry, one regiment 

 of cavalry, and one regiment of artillery, or 

 twenty-two thousand one hundred and fourteen 

 officers and men ; also eighteen thousand sea- 

 men for the navy. Again, on the 16th, he is- 

 sued the following proclamation : 



Whereas an insurrection exists in the State of Flori- 



da, by which the lives, liberty, and property of loyal 

 citizens of the United States are endangered : 



And whereas it is deemed proper that all needful 

 measures should be taken for the protection of such 

 citizens and all officers of the United States in the dis- 

 charge of their public duties in the State aforesaid : 



Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lin- 

 coln, President of the United States, do hereby direct 

 the Commander of the forces of the United States on 

 the Florida coast to permit no person to exercise any 

 office or authority upon the islands of Key West, the 

 Tortugas, and Santa Rosa which may be inconsistent 

 with the Laws and Constitution of the United States, 

 authorizing him at the same time, if he shall find it 

 necessary, to suspend there the writ of habeas corpus, 

 and to remove from the vicinity of the United States 

 fortresses all dangerous or suspected persons. 



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 



caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day of 



May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 



[L. s.] hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence 



of the United States the eighty-fifth. 



By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



The President, in this proclamation, not only 

 directs that no person shall be allowed to exercise 

 any authority, in the places named, inconsistent 

 with the laws, &c., of the United States, but 

 commands the suspension of the writ of habeas 

 corpus, if necessary. (See HABEAS CORPUS.) 



The Secretary of the Treasury likewise is- 

 sued instructions to all collectors in the North- 

 ern and Western States relative to seizures of 

 arms and munitions of war, saying : " In carry- 

 ing out these instructions, you will bear in mind 

 that all persons or parties in armed insurrection 

 against the Union, however such persons or par- 

 ties may be organized or named, are engaged in 

 levying war against the United States ; and that 

 all persons furnishing to such insurgents arms, 

 munitions of war, provisions, or other supplies, 

 are giving them aid and comfort, and so, guilty 

 of treason within the terms of the second sec- 

 tion of the third article of the Constitution ; 

 and you will, therefore, use your utmost vigi- 

 lance and endeavor to prevent the prohibited 

 shipments, and to detect and bring to punish- 

 ment all who are in any way concerned in fur- 

 nishing to such insurgents any of the articles 

 above described." So rigid were the details now 

 adopted that the most insignificant coasting ves- 

 sel, under a license, was required to obtain a 

 permit in order to pass out of a district. 



At this time the post-office department dis- 

 continued the steamboat mails on the Missis- 

 sippi Eiver from St. Louis to New Orleans ; the 

 steamboat mail from Mobile via Lake Ponchar- 

 train ; the steamship mail from New Orleans 

 via Pensacola, Appalachicola, Cedar Keys, and 

 Tampa Bay to Key West ; also, all the steam- 

 ship mails from New Orleans to the sea-ports 

 in Texas, as Sabine City, Galveston, Indianola, 

 and Brazos Santiago. This made a reduction 

 of some $400,000 per annum of mail pay. These 

 were all discontinued in consequence of the act 

 of Congress at the session commencing Decem- 

 ber, 1860, directing the postmaster-general to 

 discontinue mails when the service was inter- 

 rupted in any of the States. 



