in the destruction of the commerce of
the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made
raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying
the commerce of the United States on the lakes and rivers that separate
the British provinces from the United States.

12. All persons who, at a time when they seek to obtain the benefits
hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval or
civil confinement or custody, or under bond of the military or naval
authorities or agents of the United States as prisoners of any kind,
either before or after their conviction.

13. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, the
estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand
dollars.

14. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty, as prescribed in the
President's proclamation of December 8, 1863, or the oath of allegiance
to the United States since the date of said proclamation, and who have
not thenceforward kept the same inviolate; provided, that special
application may be made to the President for pardon by any person
belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be extended as
may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity
of the United States. The Secretary of State will establish rules and
regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as
to insure its benefits to the people, and guard the government against
fraud.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this the 29th day of May, 1865, and of
the independence of America the 89th.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President,
WM. H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State_.

A PEACE PROCLAMATION.

On the 20th of August, 1866, the President issued a proclamation
announcing the return of peace and restoring the writ of _habeas corpus_
in all the Southern States. Among the points made in this proclamation
are the following:

"There now exists no organized armed resistance of the misguided
citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the States
of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can
be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State
or Federal, and the people of the said States are well and loyally
dispo