11. All persons who have engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States on the lakes and rivers that separate the British provinces from the United States. 12. All persons who, at a time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval or civil confinement or custody, or under bond of the military or naval authorities or agents of the United States as prisoners of any kind, either before or after their conviction. 13. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars. 14. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty, as prescribed in the President's proclamation of December 8, 1863, or the oath of allegiance to the United States since the date of said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept the same inviolate; provided, that special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States. The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefits to the people, and guard the government against fraud. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this the 29th day of May, 1865, and of the independence of America the 89th. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President, WM. H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State_. A PEACE PROCLAMATION. On the 20th of August, 1866, the President issued a proclamation announcing the return of peace and restoring the writ of _habeas corpus_ in all the Southern States. Among the points made in this proclamation are the following: "There now exists no organized armed resistance of the misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of the said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed, or will conform, in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the jurisdiction of the United States. "* * * The people of the several before mentioned States have, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important revolution of the national unity.