NAVY DEPARTMENT, July 29, 1813.
Commanding Officers of Stations or Vessels of United States Navy:
The palpable and criminal intercourse held with the enemy's forces blockading and invading the waters and shores of the United States is, in a military view, an offense of so deep a dye as to call for the vigilant interposition of all the naval officers of the United States.
This intercourse is not only carried on by foreigners, under the specious garb of friendly flags, who convey provisions, water, and succors of all kinds (ostensibly destined for friendly ports, in the face, too, of a declared and rigorous blockade) direct to the fleets and stations of the enemy, with constant intelligence of our naval and military force and preparation and the means of continuing and conducting the invasion, to the greatest possible annoyance of the country, but the same traffic, intercourse, and intelligence is carried on with great subtility and treachery by profligate citizens, who, in vessels ostensibly navigating our own waters from port to port, under cover of night or other circumstances favoring their turpitude, find means to convey succors or intelligence to the enemy and elude the penalty of the law. This lawless traffic and intercourse is also carried on to a great extent in craft whose capacity exempts them from the regulations of the revenue laws and from the vigilance which vessels of greater capacity attract.
I am therefore commanded by the President of the United States to enjoin and direct all naval commanding officers to exercise the strictest vigilance and to stop and detain all vessels or craft whatsoever proceeding or apparently intending to proceed toward the enemy's vessels within the waters or hovering about the harbors of the United States, or toward any station occupied by the enemy within the jurisdiction of the United States, from which vessels or craft the enemy might derive succors or intelligence.
W. JONES.
[From Congressional Globe, Vol. V, p. 323.]
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 22, 1836.
To Receivers of Public Moneys, Collectors, Disbursing Officers, and the Deposit Banks of the United States:
The established policy of the Treasury Department, so far as may be practicable under its present powers over the collection, keeping, and disbursement of the public money, is to diminish the circulation of small bank notes and to substitute specie, and especially gold, for such notes, with the view of rendering the currency of the country, through which its fiscal operations are performed, more safe, sound, and uniform. In pursuance of that policy, a circular was issued last April which prohibited after the 30th September, 1835, the receipt on account of the Government of any bank notes of a less denomination than $5, and which intimated that other steps to promote the desirable objects before named would in due time be taken.