port of entry in any collection district, he is authorized to cause such daties 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 port 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. And be it further enacted, 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 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.

3. And be it further enacted, 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 cvercome by the officers of the Customs, it

shall and may be lawful for the President, or such person or persong 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.

4. And be it further enacted, 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 sections 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 importation, 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.

5. And be it further enacted, 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 28th, 1795, 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 merchandize, 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: provided, however, that the President may in his discretion licence and permit commercial intercourse with any such part of said State or section, the inhabitants of which are so declared in a state of insurrection, in such articles, and for such time, and by such persons, as he in his discretion may think most conducive to the public interest; and such intercourse, so far as by him licensed, shall be conducted and carried. on only in pursuance of rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. And the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint such officers at places where officers of the Customs are not now authorized by law as may be needed to carry into effect such licences, rules, and regulations; and officers of the Customs and other officers shall receive for services under this section, and under said rules and regulations, such fees and compensation as are now allowed for similar service under other provisions of law.

6. And be it further enacted, that from and after 15 days after the issuing of the said Proclamation, as provided in the last foregoing section of this Act, any ship or vessel belonging in whole or in part to any citizen or inhabitant of said State or part of a State whose inhabitants are so declared in a state of insurrection, found at sea, or in any port of the rest of The United States, shall be forfeited to The United States.

7. And be it further enacted, that in the execution of the provisions of this Act, and of the other laws of The United States providing for the collection of duties on imports and tonnage, it may and shall be lawful for the President, in addition to the revenuecutters in service, to employ in aid thereof such other suitable vessels as may in his judgment be required.

8. And be it further enacted, that the forfeitures and penalties incurred by virtue of this Act may be mitigated or remitted in pursuance of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by the Act entitled "An Act providing for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties, and disabilities accruing in certain cases therein mentioned," approved March 3rd, 1797, or in cases where special circumstances may seem to require it, according to regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

9. And be it further enacted, that proceedings on seizures for forfeiture under this Act may be pursued in the courts of The United States in any district into which the property so seized may be taken and proceedings instituted; and such Courts shall have and entertain as full jurisdiction over the same as if the seizure was made in that district.

MY LORD,

No. 70.-Earl Russell to Lord Lyons.

Foreign Office, August 8, 1861. I HAVE received your Lordship's despatch of the 12th ultimo. The Bill which you have transmitted to me, entitled a "Bill further to provide for the Collection of Duties on Imports, and for other purposes," raises a very serious question.

By the 1st section it is proposed to give to the President the power of closing any ports of The United States, "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;" and also to give him the power of causing such duties to be collected at any port of delivery.

The 2nd section provides for the establishment of the CustomHouse, in such case, in any secure place on land or on board any vessel in said district, or at sea near the coast," and contains other provisions in aid of this object; and by the words at the end of the 4th section it is enacted, that "if while said ports of entry 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."

It is obvious that this Act gives power to the President to confiscate a foreign vessel, with its cargo, for attempting to enter a port which has not been blockaded and is not in the possession of the Executive, and as to the closing of which none of the parties interested may have received any previous notice.

The Act, it is to be observed, speaks of "unlawful combinations of persons in opposition to the laws of The United States," and seems to contemplate riotous combinations or insurrections of a partial, temporary, or local nature, not constituting a state of war: combinations of persons simply opposing the laws of The United States. But the joint resolution of the Senate and Representatives contained in your Lordship's other despatch of the 12th instant speaks a very different language. In this resolution we find it affirmed that a formidable insurrection has, since the 4th day of March last, arrayed itself in armed hostility to the Government of The United States; that the President, on the 15th day of April, issued his proclamation, calling out 75,000 men to suppress such insurrectionary combinations; that on the 19th day of April he issued his proclamation setting on foot a blockade of the ports within seven of the States of the Union; that on the 27th April he proclaimed a blockade of two more of the States of the Union;

that on the 3rd day of May he issued a proclamation increasing the army by 22,714 men, and the navy by 18,000 seamen.

In addition to these acts thus stated by both Houses, we have the information that in his message to Congress the President has called for 400,000 men and 400,000,000 of dollars.

After the recital of these immense efforts, it seems quite inappropriate to speak of "unlawful combinations." Indeed, it cannot be denied that the state of things which exists, is a state of civil war; and there is, as regards neutral nations, no difference between civil war and foreign war.

Acting on these principles, Her Majesty's Government has accordingly recognized the state of civil war as existing, and all the rights which belong to a belligerent Her Majesty fully acknowledges to reside in the Government of The United States.

But Her Majesty cannot acknowledge that ports in the complete possession of the (so-called) "Confederate States," and which are not blockaded, shall be interdicted to the commerce of Her Majesty's subjects by decree of the President of The United States, or by a law passed by their Congress. This would be in effect to allow the lawfulness of a paper blockade extending over 3,000 miles of coast. Her Majesty's Government cannot admit a right in any Power not in the possession of the port to erect a so-called "CustomHouse" on board a ship "at sea near the coast," and there to exact duties.

The principle is in this case so very clear that it is needless to refer to the case of Spain and Venezuela, or to any other case of a like nature.

Her Majesty's Government decline to discuss the legality or the justice of the conduct of the Confederate States. With the legality or illegality, according to the Constitution and laws of The United States, of the acts of the (so-called) Confederate States, or their officers and forces, foreign Governments have nothing to do; but they are compelled to recognize this fact, viz., the existence, the extent, and continuance of a formidable resistance to the authority of The United States.

The main question is as to the power assumed to be given to the President of instituting a mere paper blockade of ports not in his possession. This power Her Majesty's Government cannot acknowledge as belonging to him by international law, or as consistent with the friendly and commercial relations at present subsisting between The United States and Great Britain, and they would consider its exercise as a violation of the unquestionable rights of neutral nations. Her Majesty's Government trust, however, that the President of The United States will not exercise the power which he is