said proceedings; when he shall issue such order concerning a new trial thereof, as may appear to him necessary to secure a just and proper administration of justice in conformity with the law of Congress of 11th August, 1848, and the decrees and regulations made in pursuance thereof.

On the filing of such prayer by the defendant, the consular court may at its discretion, demand security for the payment of all costs and damages that may be awarded for the delaying of the execution, as also for those that may accrue in the new trial.

If there be no United States' Commissioner in China, then said proceedings may be reviewed by the person who for the time being is charged with the duties of United States' Commissioner, and the prayer filed by the defendant, asking for a review of the proceedings of the United States' consular court in a new trial, shall express fully and clearly the exceptions taken by said defendant to the proceedings of said United States' consular court, and whether he wishes the same to be reviewed by the United States' consular court, or submitted to the United States' Commissioner, or, in his absence to the person charged with the duties of the United States' Commissioner.

In the foregoing regulations, as well as in those heretofore decreed, reference has been made to the equity jurisdiction of the United States' consular court; such jurisdiction does not differ in substance from its common law jurisdiction, though when acting as a court of equity it is authorized to adopt a different mode of administering justice, pursuing the well established rules of equity proceedings, in the mode of Proof, Trial and Relief.

As to the mode of Proof: when facts are believed to rest only in the knowledge of the party sued, it is in the power of the equity-judge, to purge his conscience upon oath, with regard to the truth of the transactions alledged injurious to the rights of the plaintiff, and if he refuses to answer on oath the sworn complaint of the plaintiff, judgment may be given by default.

As to the mode of Trial: it shall be by a sworn bill of complaint and a sworn answer, and if testimony is required it may be taken in writing by a commissioner appointed by the court to take the same in answer to special interrogatories filed in court, by the party who desires to have the testimony taken and furnished to the opposite party.

As to the mode of Relief: it may be made particular and specific, obliging a party to execute his contract, while the action at law obliges him to pay damages for not executing it.

New trials and appeals shall lie from the equityjurisdiction of the United States' consular court, as from the common law jurisdiction of the same.

The United States' consular court may exercise equity-jurisdiction, where the subject matter complained of be a matter of

1.-Accident and Mistake.

2.-Account.

3.-Fraud.

4.-Infants.

5.-Specific Performance of Agreements.
6.-Trusts.

These constitute the principal subjects of acknowledged equity-jurisdiction.

'By Accident is meant where a case is distinguished from others of a like nature, by unusual circumstances;" as for instance, in the case of bonds or deeds when lost or destroyed-the contents thereof may be proved in equity, and new bonds or deeds may be ordered to be made, or the lost obligations enforced; so in equity, the boundaries of land, where the boundaries have been lost, or never existed in consequence of a unity of possession by different parties, may be defined; so penalties and fines incurred by accident may be relieved against, and remitted by the equity-court.

Mistakes in a deed or contract, founded on a good consideration, may be rectified by the order of the equity-court, and a conveyance defective in form, may be corrected by its order.

In matters of Accounts, "mutual dealings and demands between parties, which are too complex to be accurately investigated by trial at law, may be adjusted in equity."

As to Fraud, no matter what the case may be, if fraudulent and dishonest conduct is alledged by the plaintiff, the equity-court may entertain the complaint, investigate the fraud, and apply such a remedy as the common law, and laws of the United States, and decrees made in pursuance thereof, may authorize.

As to Infants, the court of equity has plenary jurisdiction to appoint guardians where none legally exist, and to assume a general guardianship in its own right.

As to Specific Performance of Agreements, an equitycourt may always enforce an agreement for the purchase of real estate; and generally an equity-court will always consider that which is agreed to be done, as already done, and enforce the doing of the same.

As to Trusts, equity will superintend and protect the creation of trusts, whether vesting in the trustee real or personal estate; and take jurisdiction of trusts, whether resulting from an express deed, or the force of circumstances and the situation of parties, which latter are implied trusts.

So all matters concerning Lunatics, Administration of Estates, or Insolvency, should be disposed of under the equity-jurisdiction; and generally, in all matters where some impediment exists to a fair decision of a case at common law, process may issue for the equityjurisdiction to assist; as for instance, in compelling a discovery of evidence, which may enable the court of law to decide according to the real facts and justice of the case.

The United States' consular courts, whether exercising a common law or equity-jurisdiction, should be governed both in its practice and proceedings, by the provisions of the law of 1848, in virtue of which it derives all the judicial power it possesses; and by the 4th section of that Act, it is provided that such jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters shall in all cases be exercised and enforced in conformity with the laws

of the United States, the common law, and the decrees and regulations of the Commissioner of the United States to China, issued in pursuance of the 5th and 6th sections of the said law of the 11th August, 1848. By the expression "laws of the United States," is intended acts of the Congress of the United States; and by "common law" is intended that law which is to be found in the decisions of the courts of justice of the United States, both federal and State courts; as distinguished from that law which is to be found in the statute law of the United States and the several States. These decisions are to be found in the numerous volumes of American Reports, known as the reports of cases decided in the Court of the United States, and of the several States of the American Union, and they embrace the common law of England so far as the same has been judicially noticed as evidence of the common law, in the administration of justice in the United States.

The commentaries of Kent and Story on American law, and the American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws of England, are referred to as further evidence and explanation of the common law; and no practice or proceeding, and no final judgment, not expressly authorized by the laws of the United States, or the common law as thus defined, or by the decrees of the United States' Commissioner to China, should ever have place in a United States' consular court in China, whether the same be exercising a common law or equity-jurisdiction.

L. S.

Shanghai, October 2d, 1854.

Assented to,

ROBERT M. MCLANE,

U. S. Commissioner to China.

ROBERT C. MURPHY, Consul U. S. A. at Shanghai.
D. N. SPOONER, U. S. Vice-Consul at Canton.
CALEB JONES, U. S. Consul at Fuhchau.

Notification

ADDRESSED TO ALL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN

THE DOMINIONS OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.

SINCE the capture of the cities of Shanghai and Amoy in the year 1853, and the seige of the city of Canton in the year 1854, by those engaged in insurrection and rebellion against the Imperial government of China, citizens of the United States, residing and sojourning at the ports open to commerce and trade, have been much embarrassed and constrained in all their social and commercial relations.

The United States' naval forces have been constantly engaged in affording them protection, when the local authorities of China have been unequal to the task; and the civil authorities of the United States appointed for the government and superintendence of their concerns, have had much difficulty to preserve for them their commercial privileges and personal rights and security.

This has been accomplished by abstaining from all interference with the domestic war now existing in China, and with the rights of those engaged in it; but collisions have been had on more than one occasion with those engaged in arms to sustain the Imperial government, and with those in insurrection against it.

This non intervention is but the practical application of well known principles of international law, which prescribe a policy of neutrality for all nations, in view of differences that may occur between one or more states, or in the case of domestic wars and revolutions. This policy of neutrality may be more or less modified by treaty, but unless so modified, it demands an absolute non intervention with the concerns of other nations; but more especially does it forbid foreign states, their citizens or subjects, from intervening, by affording military aid, assistance, or supplies, to either contending party.