Doc. 198.-exportation of cotton. An act to prohibit the exportation of cotton from the Confederate States, except through the seaports of said States, and to punish persons offending therein.
Section 1.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, that, from and after the 1st day of June next, and during the existence of the blockade of any of the ports of the Confederate States of America by the Government of the United States, it shall not be lawful for any person to export any raw cotton or cotton yarn from the Confederate States of America, except through the seaports of the said Confederate States; and it shall be the duty of all the marshals and revenue officers of the said Confederate States to prevent all violations of this act.
Sec. 2. If any person shall violate, or attempt to violate or evade the provisions of the fore-going sections, he shall forfeit all the cotton or cotton yarn thus attempted to be illegally exported, for the use of the Confederate States; and in addition thereto, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, or else imprisoned in some public jail or penitentiary for a period not exceeding six months, at the discretion of the court, after a conviction upon trial by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Sec. 3. Any person informing as to a violation or attempt to violate the provisions of this act, shall be entitled to one-half the proceeds of the article forfeited, by reason of his information.
Sec. 4. Any justice of the peace on information under oath from any person, of a violation or attempt to violate this act, may issue his warrant, and cause the cotton or cotton yarn specified in the affidavit, to be seized and retained until an investigation can be had before the court of the Confederate States.
Sec. 5. Every steamboat or railroad car which shall be used with the consent of the owner or person having the same in charge for the purpose of violating this act, shall be forfeited in like manner to the use of the Confederate States.
But nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prohibit the exportation to Mexico, through its coterminous frontier.
Congress C. S. A., May 21, 1861.
I, J. J. Hooper, Secretary of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of an act “To prohibit the exportation of cotton from the Confederate States, except through the seaports of said States, and to punish persons offending therein,” which passed Congress, and was approved on the 21st day of May, 1861.
J. J. Hooper, Secretary.
--Mobile Register.
