"An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," shall be so construed as not to apply to any act or acts done prior to the passage thereof, nor to include any member of a State Legislature or judge of any State court who has not, in accepting or entering upon his office, taken an oath to support the constitution of the so-called "Confederate States of America;" nor shall any punishment or proceedings under said act be so constructed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life.

Approved July 17, 1862.

(IX. PUBLIC-Numbers 164.)

AN ACT to provide for the more prompt settlement of the accounts of disbursing officers.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act any officer or agent rain as salary, pay, or emolument, shall render his accounts monthly, instead of quarterly, as heretofore; and such accounts, with the vouchers necessary to the correct and prompt settlement thereof, shall be rendered direct to the proper accounting officer of the Treasury, and be mailed or otherwise forwarded to its proper address within ten days after the expiration of each successive month. And in case of the non-receipt at the Treasury of any accounts within a reasonable and proper time thereafter, the officer whose accounts are in default shall be required to furnish satisfactory evidence of having complied with the provisions of this act; and for any default on his part the delinquent officer shall be deemed a defaulter, and be subject to all the penalties prescribed by the sixteenth section of the act of August sixth, eighteen hundred and forty-six, "to provide for the better organization of the Treasury, and for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenues: " Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury may, if in his opinion the circumstances of the case justify and require it, extend the time herein-before prescribed for the rendition of accounts: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to restrain the heads of any of the departments from requiring such other returns from the officer or agent subject to the control of such heads of departments as the public interest may require.

Approved July 17, 1862.

(X. PUBLIC-NO 165.)

AN ACT to define the pay and emoluments of certain officers of the Army, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United of America in Congress assembled, That officers of the Army entitled to forage for horses shall not be allowed to commute it, but may draw forage in kind for each horse actually kept by them when, and at the place where, they are on duty not exceeding the number authorized by law: Provided, however, That when forage in kind cannot be furnished by the proper department, then, and in all such cases, officers entitled to forage may commute the same according to existing regulations: And provided further, be mounted shall, during the time they are employed on such duty, receive the pay, emoluments, and allowances of cavalry officers of the same grade, respectively.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That major-generals shall be entitled to draw forage in kind for five horses; brigadier- generals for four horses; colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors, for two horses each; captains and lieutenants of cavalry and artillery, or having the cavalry allowance, for two horses each; and chaplains, for one horse only.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted. That whenever an officer of the Army shall employ a soldier as his servant, he shall, for each and every month during which said soldier shall be so employed, deduct from his own monthly pay the full amount paid to or expended by the Government per month on account of said soldier; and every officer of the Army who shall fail to make such deduction shall, on conviction thereof before a general court-martial, be cashiered.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the first section of the act approved August six, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, entitled a"An act to increase the pay of privates in the Regular Army and in the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes," shall not be so constructed, after the passage of this act, as to increase the emoluments of the commissioned officers of the Army. And the eight section of the act of twenty- second July, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, entitled protecting public property," shall be so construed as to give to quartermaster-sergeants the same compensation as to regimental commissary-sergeants.