_Acting Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the proclamation of the President of the 11th day of April
last certain ports of the United States therein specified, which had
previously been subject to blockade, were, for objects of public safety,
declared, in conformity with previous special legislation of Congress,
to be closed against foreign commerce during the national will, to be
thereafter expressed and made known by the President; and

Whereas events and circumstances have since occurred which, in my
judgment, render it expedient to remove that restriction, except as to
the ports of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago (Point Isabel), and
Brownsville, in the State of Texas:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, do hereby declare that the ports aforesaid, not excepted
as above, shall be open to foreign commerce from and after the 1st day
of July next; that commercial intercourse with the said ports may from
that time be carried on, subject to the laws of the United States and in
pursuance of such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of
the Treasury. If, however, any vessel from a foreign port shall enter
any of the before-named excepted ports in the State of Texas, she will
continue to be held liable to the penalties prescribed by the act of
Congress approved on the 13th day of July, 1861, and the persons on