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whose insanity commenced while he or she was a resident of the District of Columbia, that he or she is able to defray a portion but not the whole of the expenses of his or her support and treatment in the Government Hospital for the Insane, then the Board of Visitors of the said hospital is authorized to inquire into the facts of the case; and if it shall appear to said board, upon such inquiry, that such insane person has property and no family, or more property than is required for the support of his or her family, then, as a condition upon which such insane person admitted, or to be admitted upon the order of the secretary of the interior, shall receive or continue to receive the benefits of said hospital, there shall be paid to the superintendent, from the income, property, or estate of such insane person, such portion of his expenses in said hospital as a majority of the said board shall determine to be just and reasonable under all the circumstances.

[Approved, February 28, 1861.]

CHAPTER 84.-Approved, March 2, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 214. An Act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the year ending June thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.

SEC. 10. That all purchases and contracts for supplies or services in any of the departments of the government, except for personal services, when the public exigencies do not require the immediate delivery of the article or articles, or performance of the service, shall be made by advertising, a sufficient time previously, for proposals respecting the same. When immediate delivery or performance is required by the public exigency, the articles or service required may be procured by open purchase or contract at the places and in the manner in which such articles are usually bought and sold or such services engaged between individuals. No contract or purchase shall hereafter be made, unless the same be authorized by law, or be under an appropriation adequate to its fulfilment, except in the War and Navy Departments for clothing, subsistence, forage, fuel, quarters, or transportation, which, however, shall not exceed the necessities

1 See sec. 3, chap. 205, 23 June, 1860, and sec. 5, chap. 49, 21 Feb. 1861, ante. These two sections, with the present, exhibit a curious specimen of awkward legislation.

of the current year. And the third section of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the government for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-one," shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

[Approved, March 2, 1861.]

CHAPTER 3.-Approved, July 13, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 255. An Act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes.

That whenever it shall, in the judgment of the President, by reason of unlawful combinations of persons in opposition to the laws of the United States, become impracticable to execute the revenue laws and collect the duties on imports by the ordinary means, in the ordinary way, at any port of entry in any collection district, he is authorized to cause such duties to be collected at any port of delivery in said district until such obstruction shall cease; and in such case the surveyors at said ports of delivery shall be clothed with all the powers and be subject to all the obligations of collectors at ports of entry; and the secretary of the treasury, with the approbation of the President, shall appoint such number of weighers, gaugers, measurers, inspectors, appraisers, and clerks as may be necessary, in his judgment, for the faithful execution of the revenue laws at said ports of delivery, and shall fix and establish the limits within which such ports of delivery are constituted ports of entry, as aforesaid; and all the provisions of law regulating the issue of marine papers, the coasting trade, the warehousing of imports, and collection of duties, shall apply to the ports of entry so constituted, in the same manner as they do to ports of entry established by the laws now in force.

SEC. 2. That if, from the cause mentioned in the foregoing section, in the judgment of the President, the revenue from duties on imports cannot be effectually collected at any port of entry in any collection district, in the ordinary way and by the ordinary means, or by the course provided in the foregoing section, then, and in that case, he may direct that the custom-house

1 Chap. 205, ante.

for the district be established in any secure place within said district, either on land or on board any vessel in said district or at sea near the coast; and in such case the collector shall reside at such place, or on shipboard, as the case may be, and there detain all vessels and cargoes arriving within or approaching said district, until the duties imposed by law on said vessels and their cargoes are paid in cash: Provided, That if the owner or consignee of the cargo on board any vessel detained as aforesaid, or the master of said vessel, shall desire to enter a port of entry in any other district in the United States where no such obstructions to the execution of the laws exist, the master of such vessel may be permitted so to change the destination of the vessel and cargo in his manifest, whereupon the collector shall deliver him a written permit to proceed to the port so designated: And provided, further, That the secretary of the treasury shall, with the approbation of the President, make proper regulations for the enforcement on shipboard of such provisions of the laws regulating the assessment and collection of duties as in his judgment may be necessary and practicable.

SEC. 3. That it shall be unlawful to take any vessel or cargo detained as aforesaid from the custody of the proper officers of the customs, unless by process of some court of the United States; and in case of any attempt otherwise to take such vessel or cargo by any force, or combination, or assemblage of persons, too great to be overcome by the officers of the customs, it shall and may be lawful for the President, or such person or persons as he shall have empowered for that purpose, to employ such part of the army or navy or militia of the United States, or such force of citizen volunteers, as may be deemed necessary for the purpose of preventing the removal of such vessel or cargo, and protecting the officers of the customs in retaining the custody thereof.

SEC. 4. That if, in the judgment of the President, from the cause mentioned in the first section of this act, the duties upon imports in any collection district cannot be effectually collected by the ordinary means and in the ordinary way, or in the mode and manner provided in the foregoing section of this act, then, and in that case, the President is hereby empowered to close the port or ports of entry in said district, and in such case give notice thereof by proclamation; and thereupon all right of import

ation, warehousing, and other privileges incident to ports of entry, shall cease and be discontinued at such port so closed, until opened by the order of the President on the cessation of such obstructions; and if, while said ports are so closed, any ship or vessel from beyond the United States, or having on board any articles subject to duties, shall enter or attempt to enter any such port, the same, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States.

SEC. 5. That whenever the President, in pursuance of the provisions of the second section of the act entitled "An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for that purpose," approved February twenty-eight, seventeen hundred and ninety-five, shall have called forth the militia to suppress combinations against the laws of the United States, and to cause the laws to be duly executed, and the insurgents shall have failed to disperse by the time. directed by the President, and when said insurgents claim to act under the authority of any state or states, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the functions of government in such state or states, or in the part or parts thereof in which said combination exists, nor such insurrection suppressed by said state or states, then, and in such case, it may and shall be lawful for the President, by proclamation, to declare that the inhabitants of such state, or any section or part thereof, where such insurrection exists, are in a state of insurrection against the United States; and thereupon all commercial intercourse by and between the same and the citizens thereof and the citizens of the rest of the United States shall cease and be unlawful so long as such condition of hostility shall continue; and all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from said state or section into the other parts of the United States, and all proceeding to such state or section, by land or water, shall, together with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same, or conveying persons to or from such state or section, be forfeited to the United States.

[Approved, July 13, 1861.]

1 Chap. 36.

CHAPTER 9.-Approved, July 22, 1861.—Vol. 12, p. 268.

An Act to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property.1

1. Volunteers not exceeding five hundred thousand may be accepted to suppress insurrections, &c. Term of enlistment, disbandment. To be called by proclamation and in proportion to population of states. 2. To be subject to army rules and regulations. How to be formed. Infantry regiments, how to be made up. 3. Divisions and brigades, how composed and officered. 4. Major-generals and brigadier-generals to be appointed. May be selected from regular army, and retain their rank therein. Field, staff, and company officers, how commissioned. 5. Pay to be that of same grade in the army. Clothing, three dollars and fifty cents per month. Commutation of subsistence and travel. Cavalry companies may be furnished with horses as in the army. 6. Provisions for wounded, or disabled, or killed, or dying in the service. 7. Pay of regimental bands. 8. Pay of wagoners, saddlers, regimental commissary-sergeants, and company quartermaster-sergeants. 9. Each regiment to have a chaplain. Appointment, qualifications, and duties. 10. Military board for examination of officers on commission. Effect of adverse report. Proviso. 11. Letters of volunteers need not be prepaid. 12. Allotment tickets provided for among volunteers.

Whereas, certain of the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, navy yards, and other property of the United States have been seized, and other violations of law have been committed, and are threatened, by organized bodies of men in several of the states, and a conspiracy has been entered into to overthrow the government of the United States: Therefore

That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers, not exceeding five hundred thousand, as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, enforcing the laws, and preserving and protecting the public property: Provided, That the services of the volunteers shall be for such time as the President may direct, not exceeding three years nor less than six months, and they shall be disbanded at the end of the war. And all provisions of law applicable to three-years volunteers shall apply to twoyears volunteers, and to all volunteers who have been or may be accepted into the service of the United States for a period not less than six months, in the same manner as if such volunteers

1 See additional act, chap. 17, 25 July, 1861, post.

2 See chap. 17, 25 July, 1861, post.

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