Treasury thereupon to communicate such notice to all the proper accounting and disbursing officers of his department. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no money shall be paid or received from the treasury, or paid or received from or retained out of any public moneys or funds of the United States, whether in the treasury or not, to or by or for the benefit of any person appointed to or authorized to act in or holding or exercising the duties or functions of any office contrary to the provisions of this act; nor shall any claim, account, voucher, order, certificate, warrant, or other instrument providing for or relating to such payment, receipt, or retention, be presented, passed, allowed, approved, certified, or paid by any officer of the United States, or by any person exercising the functions or performing the duties of any office or place of trust under the United States, for or in respect to such office, or the exercising or performing the functions or duties thereof; and every person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and, upon trial and conviction thereof, shall be punished therefor by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding ten years, or both said punishments, in the discretion of the court. No. 58. Act of Indemnity March 2, 1867 By an act of May 11, 1866, amending the habeas corpus act of March 3, 1863 [No. 32], orders from the President, the Secretary of War, or a military commander were declared to be a defence to suits on account of such acts. An act of February 5, 1867, gave authority to United States courts to issue the writ of habeas corpus in the case of any person restrained of liberty in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, and extended the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to all such cases; while the act of March 2, 1867, validated all proclamations and orders of the President respecting martial law, and acts done under them, from March 4, 1861, to July 1, 1866. The case of Ex parte McCardle raised the question of the legality of an arrest under the Civil Rights Act of March 2, 1867. The Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case and heard the appeal on its merits. To protect the reconstruction policy of Congress from judicial interference at this point, an act of March 27, 1868, passed over the veto, took away the right of appeal from the circuit court conferred by the act of February 5, 1867. A bill validating the proclamations of the President, etc., was introduced in the House, December 10, 1866, by Bingham of Ohio, and passed February 23, 1867, by a vote of 112 to 32, 46 not voting. The Senate passed the bill without amendment March 2, the vote being 36 to 8. REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 432, 433. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. For the case of Ex parte McCardle see 6 Wallace, 324; 7 ibid., 512; see also Jones v. Seward, 40 Barbour (N.Y.), 563; 41 ibid., 269; 26 Howard's Practice Reports, 433. An Act to declare valid and conclusive certain Proclamations of the President, and Acts done in Pursuance thereof, or of his Orders, in the Suppression of the late Rebellion against the United States. Be it enacted . That all acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States, or acts done by his authority or approval after the fourth of March, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and before the first day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-six, respecting martial law, military trials by courts-martial or military commissions, or the arrest, imprisonment and trial of persons charged with participation in the late rebellion against the United States, or as aiders or abettors thereof, or as guilty of any disloyal practice in aid thereof, or of any violation of the laws or usages of war, or of affording aid and comfort to rebels against the authority of the United States, and all proceedings and acts done or had by courts-martial or military commissions, or arrests and imprisonments made in the premises by any person by the authority of the orders or proclamations of the President, made as aforesaid, or in aid thereof, are hereby approved in all respects, legalized and made valid, to the same extent and with the same effect as if said orders and proclamations had been issued and made, and said arrests, imprisonments, proceedings, and acts had been done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States, and in pursuance of a law thereof previously enacted and expressly authorizing and directing the same to be done. And no civil court of the United States, or of any State, or of the District of Columbia, or of any district or territory of the United States, shall have or take jurisdiction of, or in any manner reverse any of the proceedings had or acts done as aforesaid, nor shall any person be held to answer in any of said courts for any act done or omitted to be done in pursuance or in aid of any of said proclamations or orders, or by authority or with the approval of the President within the period aforesaid, and respecting any of the matters aforesaid; and all officers and other persons in the service of the United States, or who acted in aid thereof, acting in the premises shall be held prima facie to have been authorized by the President; and all acts and parts of acts heretofore passed, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. APPROVED, March 2, 1867. No. 59. Command of the Army March 2, 1867 SECTION 2 of the army appropriation act of March 2, 1867, virtually deprived the President, in certain cases, of the command of the army. The constitutionality of the provision was debated at some length, but an amendment offered in the Senate, February 26, by Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, to strike out the section was lost by a vote of 8 to 28, and other motions to the same effect failed of support. Sections 5 and 6 were added to the bill by the Senate. President Johnson approved the bill in order not to defeat the appropriations, but he entered his protest against the army provision. The section relating to the militia was repealed by acts of January 14 and March 3, 1869. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 486, 487. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The important discussion was in the Senate. An Act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and for other purposes. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the headquarters of the General of the army of the United States shall be at the city of Washington, and all orders and instructions relating to military operations issued by the President or Secretary of War shall be issued through the General of the army, and, in case of his inability, through the next in rank. The General of the army shall not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at said headquarters, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the Senate; and any orders or instructions relating to military operations issued contrary to the requirements of this section shall be null and void; and any officer who shall issue orders or instructions contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office; and any officer of the army who shall transmit, convey, or obey any orders or instructions so issued contrary to the provisions of this section, knowing that such orders were so issued, shall be liable to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than twenty years, upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the officers of the army and navy, and of the Freedmen's Bureau, to prohibit and prevent whipping or maiming of the person, as a punishment for any crime, misdemeanor, or offence, by any pretended civil or military authority in any State lately in rebellion until the civil government of such State shall have been restored, and shall have been recognized by the Congress of the United States. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all militia forces now organized or in service in either of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, be forthwith disbanded, and that the further organization, arming, or calling into service of the said militia forces, or any part thereof, is hereby prohibited under any circumstances whatever, until the same shall be authorized by Congress. APPROVED, March 2, 1867. No. 60. Abolition of Peonage March 2, 1867 THE annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1866 called attention to the evils of peonage in New Mexico, and urged Congress “to take the matter in hand and deal with it effectually." January 3, 1867, Sumner offered in the Senate a resolution directing the Committee on the Judiciary "to consider if any further legislation is needed to prevent the enslavement of Indians in New Mexico or any system of peonage there, and especially to prohibit the employment of the army of the United States in the surrender of persons claimed as peons." The resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. A bill to prohibit peonage, introduced January 26 by Wilson of Massachusetts, was referred to the same committee, which reported the bill on the 28th with an amendment. February 19 a substitute offered by Wilson was agreed to and the bill passed. The bill passed the House March 2. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 546. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong, Globe. The proceedings in the House are unimportant. An Act to abolish and forever prohibit the System of Peonage in the Territory of New Mexico and other Parts of the United States. Be it enacted That the holding of any person to service or labor under the system known as peonage is hereby declared to be unlawful, and the same is hereby abolished and forever prohibited in the Territory of New Mexico, or in any other Territory or State of the United States; and all laws, resolutions, orders, regulations, or usages of the Territory of New Mexico, or of any other Territory or State of the United States, which have heretofore established, maintained, or enforced, or by virtue |