A BILL

To provide for the more efficient government of the insurrectionary States.

Whereas the pretended State governments of the late so-called Confederate States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas were set up without the authority of Congress and without the sanction of the people; and whereas said pretended governments afford no adequate protection for life or property, but countenance and encourage lawlessness and crime; and whereas it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said so-called States, until loyal and republican State governments can be legally established: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the several districts of country which, prior to the rebellion, composed the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, anlate d Virginia, (not including any part of the present Confederate State of West Virginia,) shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States as hereinafter prescribed, and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North Carolina and South Carolina the second district; Georgia, Alabama and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the general of the army to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer of the army, not below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the district to which he is assigned.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow the national local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals for that purpose, anything in the constitution and laws of the late so-called Confederate States to the contrary notwithstanding; and all legislative or judicial proceedings or processes to prevent or control the proceedings of said military tribunals, and all interference by said pretended State governments with the exercise of military authority under this act, shall be void and of no effect.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That courts and judicial officers of the United States shall not issue writs of habeas corpus in behalf of persons in military custody, except in cases in which the person is held to answer only for a crime or crimes exclusively within the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States within said military districts, and indictable therein, or unless some commissioned officer on duty in the district wherein the person is detained shall indorse upon said petition a statement certifying, upon honor, that he has knowledge, or information, as to the cause and circumstances of the alleged detention, and that he believes the same to be wrongful; and, further, that he believes that the indorsed petition is preferred in good faith, and in furtherance of justice, and not to hinder or delay the punishment of crime. All persons put under military arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no sentence of any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the district, and the laws and regulations for the government of the army shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they conflict with its provisions.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the district courts of the United States in their respective districts, and the judges thereof severally in the several districts of country which, prior to the rebellion, composed the several States of Virginia, (not including the now State of West Virginia,) North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, shall have power and jurisdiction by the rules, usages, and practice which prevail in said courts and with said judges, or that may be prescribed for that purpose, to hear and determine all causes, proceedings, and rights of action at law, in equity and otherwise, and all matters of probate and testamentary jurisdiction as fully as all such causes, proceedings, rights, and matters could have been heard and determined in the courts and by the judges exercising jurisdiction prior to the rebellion, under the State governments then and theretofore existing in said several districts of country, but subject to the laws of the United States so far as the same may not be locally inapplicable.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the laws which are, or may be, in force in the District of Columbia, defining and punishing crimes, offenses, and misdemeanors, so far as the same may not be locally inapplicable, shall be in force in the said several districts and the district courts of the United States, and the judges thereof, in their respective districts, shall have jurisdiction and authority, according to the practice and usages of said courts and judges, or such as may for that purpose be prescribed, to try and punish all persons hereafter guilty of any crime, offense, or misdemeanor, as defined by said laws.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That said courts and judges shall have power and authority to issue and enforce all process writs, and adopt such practice and proceedings as may be necessary or proper to exercise the powers and jurisdiction herein conferred on said courts and judges, and to prohibit and punish the exercise of any such jurisdiction or power by any person, tribunal, court, or jurisdiction claiming a right to exercise, or in fact exercising the functions of any judge, court, tribunal, or authority under any of the illegal and unauthorized governments assuming to be State governments in any of said districts. And it shall be the duty of the military authorities to enforce the process, judgments, sentences, proceedings, and authority of the courts of the United States in said districts.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the district court of the United States may hold sessions at such times and places as said court or the judge thereof may from time to time determine, and as may be necessary for the administration of justice.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the military authorities herein authorized to protect the loyal citizens of any district of country heretofore embraced in any one of the States herein named in any and all voluntary meetings, conventions, and proceedings which they may peaceably hold or institute for the purpose of making a constitution and organizing a State government republican in form, to be submitted to Congress for ratification and approval, and to go into effect only when so ratified and approved.