om
and after its passage."
Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to
suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July
17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:
"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall
hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United
States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping
from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all
slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under
the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such
persons found on (or) being within any place occupied by rebel forces and
afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed
captives of war and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again
held as slaves.
"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State,
Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State shall be
delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for
crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming
said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or
service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has
not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor
in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the
military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretense
whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to
the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person
to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."
And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military
and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce,
within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above
recited.
And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the
United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the
rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation
between the United States and their respective States and people, if that
relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all
losses by acts of the United States, in
|