ed that, in addition to the bounty therein mentioned, the Government of the Confederate States will pay to the cruiser or cruisers of any private armed vessel commissioned under said act 20 per centum on the value of each and every vessel of war belonging to the enemy that may be sunk or destroyed by such private armed vessel or vessels, the value of the armament to be included in the estimate; the valuation to be made by a board of naval officers appointed and their award to be approved by the President, and the amount found to be due to be payable in 8 per cent bonds of the Confederate States.
Sec. 2. That if any person who may have invented or may hereafter invent any new kind of armed vessel, or floating battery, or defense, shall deposit a plan of the same, accompanied by suitable explanations or specifications, in the Navy Department, together with an affidavit setting forth that he is the inventor thereof, such deposit and affidavit (unless the facts set forth therein shall be disproved) shall entitle such inventor or his assigns to the sole and exclusive enjoyment of the rights and privileges conferred by this act, reserving, however, to the Government, in all cases, the right of using such invention.
Approved May 21, 1861.
RESOLUTION OF THANKS.
Be it unanimously resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That the thanks of the people of the Confederate States are due, and through this Congress are hereby tendered, to Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard and the officers, military and naval, under his command, and to the gallant troops of the State of South Carolina for the skill, fortitude, and courage by which they reduced and caused the surrender of Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, on the twelfth and thirteenth days of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. And the commendation of Congress is also hereby declared of the generosity manifested by their conduct toward a brave and vanquished foe.
Be it further resolved, That a copy of this resolution be communicated by the President to General Beauregard, and through him to the army then under his command.
Approved May 4, 1861.
