Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/141

Rh we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, by these presents. The condition of this obligation is such that whereas application has been made to the said Confederate States of America for the grant of a commission or letter of marque and general reprisals, authorizing the (Note 3)———— or vessel, called the————,to act as a private armed vessel in the service of the Confederate States on the high seas against the United States of America, its ships and vessels, and those of its citizens, during the pendency of the war now existing between the said Confederate States and the said United States.

Now, if the owners, officers, and crew who shall be employed on board of said vessel when commissioned shall observe the laws of the Confederate States and the instructions which shall be given them according to law for the regulation of their conduct, and shall satisfy all damages and injuries which shall be done or committed contrary to the tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission, and shall deliver up said commission when revoked by the President of the Confederate States, then this obligation shall be void, but otherwise shall remain in full force and effect.

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of———— ————, on this———day of————, ———.

A. B., C. D., Witnesses.

 AN ACT

The Congress of the Confederate States [of America] do enact, That the tenth section of the above entitled act be so 