Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/447

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First Congress.
417

OFFICIAL REGULATIONS TO CARRY INTO EFFECT THE ACT "TO IMPOSE REGULATIONS UPON THE FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES TO PROVIDE FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENSE."

I. — AS TO THE SEA.

1. The owners of any vessel intending to sail from a Confederate port with a cargo consisting in whole or in part of cotton, tobacco, military and naval stores, sugar, molasses, or rice, shall, before lading on board of any such articles, file with the collector of the port from which the vessel is to sail a copy of her register with a declaration of the names of the owners and officers thereof, the place of their birth and of their residence for the preceding year, together with the port or place to which the said vessel proposes to sail. The said declaration shall also set forth the quantity and value, in Confederate currency, of the cargo proposed to be taken out, as also the consent of the said owners that one-half of the tonnage of the said vessel may be employed by the Confederate Government for its own use, both on the outward and homeward voyage, at the rate of freight hereinafter mentioned. The collector shall submit a statement as to the owners and officers to the military commandant of the port, and if he shall not object to their loyalty or to the sailing of the vessel for reasons of military necessity the collector shall grant a permit for the lading of the said vessel, one-half for account of the owners and one-half for account of the Confederate States.

2. Before the said lading shall be completed the owners of the vessel shall execute to the Confederate States a bond in double the value of the vessel, with security deemed adequate by the collector, conditioned that she will pursue the voyage designated, and that she will return with reasonable dispatch to a Confederate port after her outward cargo shall be discharged, with a cargo consisting one-half of articles not prohibited by the laws of the Confederate Government and the other half of such articles as the Government shall offer for shipment from such port, at the rate of freight hereinafter mentioned.

3. Each shipper of any portion of the cargo proposed to be laden on board the said vessel shall, before the lading thereof,

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