United States, holding claims to service or labor against persons discharged therefrom by this act, may, within ninety days from the passage thereof, but not thereafter, present to the commissioners hereinafter mentioned their respective statements or petitions in writing, verified by oath or affirmation, setting forth the names, ages, and personal description of such persons, the manner in which said petitioners acquired such claim, and any facts touching the value thereof, and declaring his allegiance to the Government of the United States, and that he has not borne arms against the United States during the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid or comfort thereto : Provided, That the oath of the party to the petition shall not be evidence of the facts therein stated.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint three commissioners, residents of the District of Columbia, any two of whom shall have power to act, who shall receive the petitions above mentioned, and who shall investigate and determine the validity and value of the claims therein presented, as aforesaid, and appraise and apportion, under the proviso hereto annexed, the value in money of the several claims by them found to be valid Provided, however, That the entire sum so appraised and apportioned shall not exceed in the aggregate an amount equal to three hundred dollars for each person shown to have been so held by lawful claim: And provided, further, That no claim shall be allowed for any slave or slaves brought into said District after the passage of this act, nor for any slave claimed by any person who has borne arms against the Government of the United States in the present rebellion, or in any way given aid or comfort thereto, or which originates in or by virtue of any transfer heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made by any person who has in any manner aided or sustained the rebellion against the Government of the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall, within nine months from the passage of this act, make a full and final report of their proceedings, findings, and appraisement, and shall deliver the same to the Secretary of the Treasury, which report

shall be deemed and taken to be conclusive in all respects, except as hereinafter provided; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall, with like exception, cause the amounts so apportioned to said claims to be paid from the Treasury of the United States to the parties found by said report to be entitled thereto as aforesaid, and the same shall be received in full and complete compensation: Provided, That in cases where petitions may be filed presenting conflicting claims, or setting up liens, said commissioners shall so specify in said report, and payment shall not be made according to the award of said commissioners until a period of sixty days shall have elapsed, during which time any petitioner claiming an interest in the particular amount may file a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, making all other claimants defendants thereto, setting forth the proceedings in such case before said commissioners and their action therein, and praying that the party to whom payment has been awarded may be enjoined from receiving the same; and if said court shall grant such provisional order, a copy thereof may, on motion of said complainant, be served upon the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereupon cause the said amount of money to be paid into said court, subject to its orders and final decree, which payment shall be in full and complete compensation, as in other cases.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall hold their sessions in the city of Washington, at such place and times as the President of the United States may direct, of which they shall give due and public notice. They shall have power to subpoena and compel the attendance of witnesses, and to receive testimony and enforce its production, as in civil cases before courts of justice, without the exclusion of any witness on account of color; and they may summon before them the persons making claim to service or labor, and examine them under oath; and they may also, for purposes of identification and appraisement, call before them the persons so claimed. . . . [Commissioners to appoint a clerk. The Marshal of the District of Columbia to attend and execute process.]

SEC. 6. [Compensation of commissioners, expenses, etc.]

SEC. 7. [Appropriation of $1,000,000 to carry the act into effect.]

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That any person or persons who shall kidnap, or in any manner transport or procure to be taken out of said District, any person or persons discharged and freed by the provisions of this act, or any free person or persons with intent to re-enslave or sell such person or persons into slavery, or shall re-enslave any of said freed persons, the person or persons so offending shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction in said District, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than five nor more than twenty years.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That within twenty days, or within such further time as the commissioners herein provided for shall limit, after the passage of this act, a statement in writing or schedule shall be filed with the clerk of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, by the several owners or claimants to the services of the persons made free or manumitted by this act, setting forth the names, ages, sex, and particular description of such persons, severally; and the said clerk shall receive and record, in a book by him to be provided and kept for that purpose, the said statements or schedules on receiving fifty cents each therefor, and no claim shall be allowed to any claimant or owner who shall neglect this requirement.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the said clerk and his successors in office shall, from time to time, on demand, and on receiving twenty-five cents therefor, prepare, sign, and deliver to each person made free or manumitted by this act, a certificate under the seal of said court, setting out the name, age, and description of such person, and stating that such person was duly manumitted and set free by this act.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the President of the United States, to aid in the colonization and settlement of such free persons of African descent

now residing in said District, including those to be liberated by this act, as may desire to emigrate to the Republics of Hayti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States as the President may determine: Provided, The expenditure for this purpose shall not exceed one hundred dollars for each emigrant.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That all acts of Congress and all laws of the State of Maryland in force in said District, and all ordinances of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. APPROVED, April 16, 1862.

No. 19.

Collection of Direct Taxes in Insurrectionary States

June 7, 1862

A BILL for the collection of direct taxes in insurrectionary States was introduced in the Senate, April 29, 1862, by James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, and passed with amendments, May 12, by a vote of 32 to 3. The House added numerous amendments, mainly verbal, and passed the bill May 28, by a vote of 98 to 17. June 2 the Senate agreed, with an amendment, to the bill as passed by the House. The House concurred in the action of the Senate, and on the 7th the act was approved. A proclamation under section two of the act was issued July 1. REFERENCES.

-Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII, 422–426. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On the collection of direct taxes in the South see House Exec. Doc. 133, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.; House Report 908, 45th Cong., 2d Sess.; House Report 168, 46th Cong., 2d Sess.; acts of May 9 and June 8, 1872.

An Act for the Collection of direct Taxes in Insurrectionary Districts within the United States, and for other Purposes.

Be it enacted That when in any State or Territory, or in any portion of any State or Territory, by reason of insurrection or rebellion, the civil authority of the Government of the United States is obstructed so that the provisions of the act entitled "An

Act to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, for assessing, levying, and collecting the direct taxes therein mentioned, cannot be peaceably executed, the said direct taxes, by said act apportioned among the several States and Territories, respectively, shall be apportioned and charged in each State and Territory, or part thereof, wherein the civil authority is thus obstructed, upon all the lands and lots of ground situate therein, respectively, except such as are exempt from taxation by the laws of said State or of the United States, as the said lands or lots of ground were enumerated and valued under the last assessment and valuation thereof made under the authority of said State or Territory previous to the first day of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-one; and each and every parcel of the said lands, according to said valuation, is hereby declared to be, by virtue of this act, charged with the payment of so much of the whole tax laid and apportioned by said act upon the State or Territory wherein the same is respectively situate, as shall bear the same direct proportion to the whole amount of the direct tax apportioned to said State or Territory as the value of said parcels of land shall respectively bear to the whole valuation of the real estate in said State or Territory according to the said assessment and valuation made under the authority of the same; and in addition thereto a penalty of fifty per centum of said tax shall be charged thereon.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That on or before the first day of July next, the President, by his proclamation, shall declare in what States and parts of States said insurrection exists, and thereupon the said several lots or parcels of land shall become charged respectively with their respective portions of said direct tax, and the same together with the penalty shall be a lien thereon, without any other or further proceeding whatever.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the owner or owners of said lots or parcels of lands, within sixty days after the tax commissioners herein named shall have fixed the amount, to pay the tax thus charged upon the same, respectively,