the date of said proclamation, now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and pardon: To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Government of the United States may be restored, and that peace, and order, and freedom may be established, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare, that I hereby grant to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, except in cases where legal proceedings under the laws of the United States, providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged in rebellion, have been instituted, but on the condition, nevertheless, that every such person shall take and subscribe to the following oath, which shall be registered, for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: I do solemnly swear or affirm in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth support, protect, and faithfully defend the Constitution of the United States, and will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God. The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this proclamation. 1. All who are or have been pretended diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate States. 2. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid in the rebellion. 3. All who have been military or naval officers of the pretended Confederate Government above the rank of colonel in the army, and lieutenant in the navy. 4. All who left their seats in the Congress of the United States to aid in the rebellion. 5. All who resigned or tendered the resignation of their commissions in the army and navy of the United States to evade their duty in resisting the rebellion. 6. All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, persons found in the United States service as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities. 7. All persons who have been or are absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion. 8. All military or naval officers in the rebel service who were educated by the Government in the Military Academy at West Point, or at the United States Naval Academy. 9. All persons who held the pretended offices of Governors of the States in insurrection against the United States. 10. All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States, and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Confederate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion. 11. All persons who have engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States on the lakes and rivers that separate the British provinces from the United States. 12. All persons who, at a time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval or civil confinement or custody, or under bond of the military or naval authorities or agents of the United States as prisoners of any kind, either before or after their conviction. 13. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars. 14. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty, as prescribed in the President's proclamation of December 8, 1863, or the oath of allegiance to the United States since the date of said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept the same inviolate; provided, that special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States. The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefits to the people, and guard the government against fraud. In testimony 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 the 29th day of May, 1865, and of the independence of America the 89th. By the President, ANDREW JOHNSON. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. A PEACE PROCLAMATION. ON the 20th of August, 1866, the President Issued a proclamation announcing the return of peace and restoring the writ of habeas corpus in all the Southern States. Among the points made in this proclamation are the following: "There now exists no organized armed resistance of the misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of the said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed, or will conform, in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United |