Tenth. No person who is or has been engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who in any way has given or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Government, shall be permitted to present any claim or receive any compensation for the labor or service of any slave, and all claimants shall file with their claim an oath of allegiance to the United States.
By order of the President:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
[From McPherson's History of Reconstruction, p. 122.]
WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865—12 p.m.
Lieutenant-General GRANT:
The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army or on some minor and purely military matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
[From McPherson's History of Reconstruction, p. 13.]
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 16, 1865.