AGENCY, III-Continued. 2. Ratification by a principal of a purchase of cotton by an agent in the Confederate States is not proved when, after the suppression of the rebellion, the agent says he communicated to his principal his purchase and he expressed gratitude therefor, without giving date or any of the attendant circumstances, and with no other act of ratification except that of bringing a suit for the proceeds of the cotton. Id. 3. Where an agent, without authority, purchases cotton which is captured before the purchase is ratified by the principal, the legal title to the cotton at the time of the capture is in the agent. Id. 4. The overseer of a plantation in Alabama, having a general power before the war from the owner (a loyal citizen residing in Washington) to sell all products except cotton, has no implied authority, during the war, to sell cotton. Tayloe's Case, vol. v, p. 701. 5. Where, under existing authorities, a citizen during hostilities may pay to a resident agent his debt due to an alien enemy, and the agent may accept the money and bind the principal, it is not illegal for the agent who lawfully receives the money to honestly protect it by investment; and the owner, after the war, like any other principal, may follow his money and become the owner of the property into which it has been turned. [But this doctrine is overruled by the decision of the Supreme Court in Lapene & Ferré, 9 C. Cls. R., p 31; 17 Wallace R., p. 601.] Stoddart's Case, vol. vi, p. 340. 6. When one, resident in New Orleans after its capture, transmits money across the lines to his agent, previously appointed, to buy cotton, it is commercial intercourse forbidden by both municipal and military law, and he acquires no title to the property purchashed. Queyrouze's Case, vol. vii, p. 402. 7. An authority to demand pecuniary indemnification from a foreign government, with power to do every necessary act, empowers the agent to prosecute the claim before a commission, subsequently provided by treaty, and to receive its award when made. Weile's Case, vol. vii, p. 535. 3. Where au agent has been authorized to prosecute a claim, and has employed attorneys at a fixed compensation, if the principal, with knowledge of the facts, signs a paper intended by the agent as a ratification of the steps taken by him, and receives at the same time the balance remaining of the claim, he does ratify the agent's proceedings. Id. 9. Where a brother of an Army-transportation contractor travels with a train, holds himself out as being in charge of it, enters into negotiations with Army officers in regard to stopping it for the winter, and produces the bill of lading as evidence of his authority to act for the contractor, the facts imply an agency. Bulkley's Case, vol. viii, p. 191. 10. Where the certified list of a crew does not designate the nationality of the crew, it is to be taken, as against the owners, that the crew are AGENCY, III-Continued. American citizens, even though it appears that some are of foreign nativity; for the omission was the fault of the master, and he was the agent of the owners, and his official defaults were theirs. Pray's Case, vol. x, p. 453. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS. 1. Where an Indian tribe employ agents to prosecute a claim against Government for a percentage on what may be obtained, and it is afterward provided by treaty that the funds shall be paid to the Indiaus per capita, an action will not lie against the Government in favor of the agent, even though the Indians, after the treaty, direct the Secretary of War to pay the agent out of any moueys coming to them under the treaty or otherwise. Kendall's Case, 7 Wallace R., p. 113; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 33. 2. A resident in the territory of one of two belligerents may have an agent in the territory of the other; but the agency must have been created before the war began. It is unlawful to appoint an agent after hostilities have been commenced; and it is not necessary, to make the act unlawful, that the principal communicate personally with the agent; business intercourse through a middle-man, which results in establishing the agency, is equally unlawful. [Overruling the decision of the Court of Claims, where it was held that a northern citizen during the rebellion might protect his property in the South by investment, provided that he sent nothing into the insurrectionary district and brought nothing out, and left the resources of the enemy precisely as he found them. 4 C. Cls. R., p. 1; id., p. 340.] Grossmeyer's Case, 9 Wallace R., p. 72; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 129. 3. Where merchants residing in New Orleans send an agent, while the city is held by the rebel forces, into the interior to collect debts and purchase cotton for them, and subsequently the merchants pass within the United States lines by the capture of the city, while the agent continues within the Confederate lines, the agency to purchase cotton is at an end, and subsequent purchases, though made in pursuance of the antecedent authority, are illegal and void, so that the merchants cannot acquire title to the cotton, though the agency to receive payment of the debts due may continue. [Overruling the decision of the Court of Claims, where it was held that the agent, in pursuance of his antecedent authority, might protect the funds of his principal by investment. 6 C. Cls. R., p. 363.] Lapene's Case, 17 Wallace R., p. 601; C. Cls. R., vol. ix, p. 31. ALIENS. See INTERNATIONAL LAW. I.-OBLIGATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO ALIENS. II. OBLIGATIONS OF ALIENS TO THE GOVERNMENT, AID AND COMFORT TO THE REBELLION, NEUTRALITY. III.-COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE DURING THE REBELLION. IV.-SUITS OF, AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 1.-OBLIGATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO ALIENS. DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS. 1. One who takes up a residence in a foreign place and there suffers injury to his property by reason of belligerent acts committed against that place by another foreign nation, must abide the chances of the country in which he chose to reside. His only claim, if any, is a personal one against the government of that country. Perrin's Case, vol. iv, p. 543. 2. One who was a French subject at the time of the loss complained of, but who has since become a citizen of the United States, cannot maintain an action against the Government for property destroyed by the United States in the bombardment of Greytown. [The judgment affirmed by the Supreme Court, 7 C. Cls. R., p. 223; 12 Wallace R., p. 315.] Id. 3. Where a foreign subject comes into this country for business or travel and he is here subjected to a wrong, he must take such remedy as our laws provide. But this rule applies only to the standing laws of the country, administered by its judicial tribunals, and it has no reference to martial law, which depends upon the will of the military officer. Therefore, where a Prussian ship was detained in the port of New Orleans by the order of the commanding general, after the port had been thrown open by the President's proclamation, the owner is entitled to indemnity. Dickelman's Case, vol. viii, p. 371. II.—OBLIGATIONS OF ALIENS TO THE GOVERNMENT, AID AND COMFORT TO THE REBELLION, NEUTRALITY. DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS. 1. The "Abandoned or captured property Act," (12 Stat. L., p. 820,) does not require a resident alien to establish positive sympathy or loyalty, but simply to prove that "he has never given any aid or comfort" to the rebellion. Byrne's Case, vol. iii, p. 195. 2. A resident alien who proves to the satisfaction of the court his complete neutrality during the rebellion may recover for cotton captured. Waltjen's Case, vol. iii, p. 238. ALIENS, II-Continued. 3. Where an alien resident within the insurrectionary district voluntarily engages in the manufacture of saltpeter after the war of the rebellion has begun, selling it to the rebel government, and the bills of sale expressing that it is for the manufacture of gunpowder, it will be regarded as coming within the second class of goods contraband, viz, "articles which may be and are used for purposes of war or peace, according to circumstances;" and its voluntary manufacture, amid the circumstances, will be deemed aid and comfort to the rebellion. [The principle affirmed by the Supreme Court, but the judgment reversed on the ground of the claimants having been pardoned, 8 C. Cls. R., 153; 16 Wallace R., p. 147.] Carlisle & Henderson's Case, vol. vi, p. 398. 4. The mere writing of a letter during the rebellion by a British subject resident within the insurrectionary district, addressed to the head of the rebel government, unaccompanied by the sending, uttering, or publishing thereof, is not an act of aid or comfort to the rebellion, though it contain proffer of services. But the writing and sending of such a letter is aid and comfort to the rebellion in violation of the alien's proper neutrality. Medway's Case, vol. vii, p. 421. 5. It is not yet determined whether the doctrine of pardon and amnesty extends to resident aliens, or to foreigners. [But it has since been determined by the Supreme Court that the doctrine of pardons extend to resident aliens, Carlisle & Henderson's Case, post.] Carroll's Case, vol. vii, p. 590. 6. Under the constraction given to the Abandoned or captured property Act by the Supreme Court in Padelford's and Klein's Cases, (7 C. Cls. R., pp. 144 and 240,) offenders against the statute fall into three classes: citizens, resident aliens, and foreigners. As to the first and second, it is now determined that their offenses, being crimes, are obliterated by the General Amnesty Proclamation, December 25th, 1868. As to the third, to whom no crime can be imputed, it remains to be determined whether a personal disability to maintain an action exists in the absence of crime, or whether the statute creates a trust for the benefit of non-resident aliens who violated their obligations of neutrality. Green's Case, vol. viii, p. 412. 7. An alien suing in the Court of Claims to recover the proceeds of captured cotton, is required to aver that he has not voluntarily aided, abetted, or encouraged the rebellion. Where the Government does not traverse the averment, it is presumptively true. Hill's Case, vol. viii, p. 470. 8. Residence in England during the entire period of the rebellion by an alien raises a presumption in his favor of having preserved his neutrality. Id. 9. Being interested in and subscribing money to two adventures for blockade-running by an alien residing in England does not overthrow the presumption that he preserved his neutrality, when it does not appear that the vessels did in fact run or attempt to run the blockade. Id. ALIENS, II-Continued. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS. 1. The well-established rule that an alien while domiciled in a country Owes to it a local and temporary allegiance, which continues during the period of his residence, in return for the protection he receives; and that, for a breach of this temporary allegiance, he may be punished for treason, extends to aliens who were domiciled during the rebellion within the insurrectionary district and within the Confederate lines. Carlisle & Henderson's Case, 16 Wallace R., p. 147; C. Cls. R., vol. viii, P. 153. 2. The voluntary sale of saltpeter to the Confederate government during the rebellion by a domiciled alien, who knows that it is to be used in the manufacture of gunpowder for the prosecution of the war, makes him a participator in the treason of the Confederates as if he had been an original conspirator with them. [Affirming on this point the decision of the Court of Claims.] Id. The Proclamation of General Amnesty extends to aliens domiciled within the insurrectionary district during the rebellion, and relieves them from the consequences of treasonable participation in the war as effectually as if they were citizens. [The judgment reversed on this ground, which as not considered in the court below. 6 C. Cls. R., p. 395.] III. -COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE DURING THE REBELLION. DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS. Id. British subject cannot recover the proceeds of cotton which he purchased three days before the surrender of Charleston, unless it appears that the Cotton would not have been proper booty to the victors. McElhose's Case, vol. iii, p. 240. foreigner who has the protection of his consul, and who purchases cotton in the regular line of his business, without any suspicious circumstances attending the transaction, and at a time when the surrender of Charleston is not imminent, and who has not given aid or comfort to the rebellion, will recover the net proceeds in the Treasury. Th e Bruning's Case, vol. iii, p. 242. Non-intercourse Act (12 Stat. L., p. 257) did not apply to non-resident aliens. Commercial intercourse between a neutral and a belligerent is 11ot only lawful, but to be protected by courts, so long as it is impartial and not intended to violate any blockade or siege, or to deal in goods Contraband of war. Hence where an alien, resident in France, purchased oods through an agent during the rebellion within the insurrectionary istrict, and it does not appear that the appointment of the agent, or the means to purchase the goods, were transmitted during the rebellion, Le purchase will be held valid, and the alien entitled to relief under The Abandoned or captured property Act. (12 Stat. L., p. 20.) La Plante's Case, vol. vi, p. 311. |