shall set forth the part of the vessel owned by each person selling, and the part conveyed to each person purchasing.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the twelfth clause or section of the act entitled "An act in addition to the several acts regulating the shipment and discharge of seamen and the duties of consuls," approved July twentieth, eighteen hundred and forty, be so amended, as that all complaints in writing, to the consuls or commercial agents as therein provided, that a vessel is unseaworthy, shall be signed by the first, or the second and third officers, and a majority of the crew, before the consul or commercial agent shall be authorised to notice such complaint, or proceed to appoint inspectors, as therein provided.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any person, not being an owner, who shall on the high seas, wilfully with intent burn or destroy, set fire to any ship or other vessel, or otherwise attempt the destruction of such ship or other vessel, being the property of any citizen or citizens of the United States, or procure the same to be done, with the intent aforesaid, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall suffer imprisonment to hard labor, for a term not exceeding ten years, nor less than three years, according to the aggravation of the offence.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after the first day of October next ensuing.

Approved July 29, 1840.

I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the original roll on file in the Department of State.

W. S. DERRICK, C. C.

AN ACT

To amend the acts regulating the Appraisement of Imported Merchandise, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That in all cases where there is or shall be imposed any advalorem rate of duty on any goods, wares or merchandise imported into the United States, it shall be the duty of the Collector within whose district the same shall be imported or entered to cause the actual market value or wholesale price thereof, at the period of the exportation to the United States, in the principal markets of the country from which the same shall have been imported into the United States, to be appraised, estimated, and ascertained; and to such value or price shall be added, all costs and charges, except insurance, and including in every case a charge for commissions at the usual rates, at the true value at the port where the same may be entered, upon which duties shall be assessed.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the certificate of any one of the appraisers of the United States, of the dutiable value of any imported merchandise required to be appraised, shall be deemed and taken to be the appraisement of such merchandise required by existing laws to be made by such appraisers. And where merchandise shall be entered at ports where there are no appraisers, the certificate of the revenue officer to whom is committed the estimating and collection of duties, of the dutiable value of any merchandise required to be appraised, shall be deemed and taken to be the appraisement of such merchandise required by existing laws to be made by such revenue officer.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, four appraisers of merchandise, to be allowed an annual salary each of two thousand five hundred dollars, together with their actual travelling expenses, to be regulated by the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall be employed in visiting such ports of entry in the United States, under the direction of the said Secretary, as may be deemed useful by him for the security of the revenue, and shall at such ports afford such aid and assistance in the appraisement of merchandise thereat as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Treasury, to protect and ensure uniformity in the collection of the revenue from customs; and wherever practicable, in cases of appeal from the decision of United States appraisers, under the provisions of the seventeenth section of the tariff act of thirtieth August, eighteen hundred and forty-two, the Collector shall select one discreet and experienced merchant, to be associated with one of the appraisers appointed under the provisions of this act, who together shall appraise the goods in question; and if they shall disagree, the Collector shall decide between them; and the appraisement thus determined shall be final, and deemed and taken to be the true value of said goods, and the duties shall be levied thereon accordingly, any act of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect on and after the first day of April next; and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

Approved, March 3, 1851.

CIRCULAR

INSTRUCTIONS TO COLLECTORS AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 27, 1851.

The following instructions are issued for the strict observance and government of the respective officers of the customs in carrying into effect the provisions of the annexed act of Congress, approved 3d March, 1851, entitled "An act to amend the act regulating the appraisement of imported merchandise, and for other purposes," which takes effect on and after the first day of April next.

It will be perceived on examination of this act, that it fixes the period of exportation to the United States as the time when the actual market value or wholesale price of any goods, wares or merchandise in the principal markets of the country from which the same shall have been imported into the United States, is to be appraised, estimated and ascertained. This provision consequently supersedes and abrogates so much of the provisions of the sixteenth section of the tariff act of 30th August, 1842, as requires the market value or wholesale price to be appraised, estimated and ascertained at the time when the goods were purchased..

The exportation contemplated by the act, is not deemed to apply exclusively to goods laden on board a vessel at a shipping port in the country of which the goods may be the growth, production or manufacture, but likewise applies to any goods exported from an interior country remote from the seaboard, having no shipping port, being bona fide destined in the regular course of trade for shipment to some owner, consignee or agent, residing in the United States, of which satisfactory proof must be produced at the time of entry. For example, goods thus imported from Switzerland, being of the origin of that country, which can only be, or most usually are, exported through the seaports of France; or goods from Saxony or other interior German possessions, which must be, or most usually are, conveyed to a seaport for exportation to the United States. In these and analogous cases the exportation to the United States may be deemed to commence at the period when the goods leave the country of production or origin, and the true market value in the principal markets of said country is to be ascertained and appraised, to which is to be added, as dutiable charges, the cost of transportation to the port of shipment, with the expenses thereat, until the goods are actually laden on board the vessel in which they may be shipped to the United States.

Where goods are shipped directly from the country of origin, the bill of lading will ordinarily establish the period of exportation, and, in the other cases referred to the date of the authentication of the invoice, by consular

certificate; but, in the absence of such proof, other evidence satisfactory to the United States appraisers may be taken to fix said period.

Where goods have not been actually purchased, the invoice must exhibit the actual market value or wholesale price at the period of exportation, with all charges included, in lieu of such value at the time and place of procurement or manufacture, as required by the 8th section of the act of March, 1823, and the oath required to be taken on entry, may be so modified as to meet the case. When goods have been actually purchased, the invoice must, as heretofore, exhibit the true cost of the goods, and the owner, consignee, or agent will still retain the privilege allowed by the 8th section of the tariff act of the 30th July, 1846, of adding to the entry to raise the cost or value given in the invoice to the true market value, or wholesale price of the goods at the period of exportation, and will, moreover, become subject to the other provisions of said section.

The actual market value or wholesale price at the period of exportation to the United States, having been appraised, estimated and ascertained, upon the principles before stated, it becomes requisite to determine and fix the true dutiable value at the port where the goods may be entered, and upon which the duties are to be assessed. The law enjoins that there shall be added thereto“ all costs and charges except insurance, and including, in every case, a charge for commissions at the usual rates." These charges are as follows, to wit:

First. They must include " purchasing, carriages, bleaching, dyeing, dressing, finishing, putting up, and packing," together with the value of the sack, package, box, crate, hogshead, barrel, bale, cask, can, and covering of all kinds, bottles, jars, vessels, and demijohns.

Second. Commission at the usual rate, but in no case less than 24 per cent.; and where there is a distinct brokerage, or where brokerage is a usual charge at the place of shipment or purchase, that to be added likewise. Third. Export duties, cost of placing cargoes on board ship, including drayage, labor, bill of lading, lighterage, town dues, and shipping charges, dock or wharf dues, and all charges to place the article on ship board, and fire insurance, if effected for a period prior to the shipment of the goods to the United States.

Discounts are never to be allowed in any case, except on articles where it has been the uniform and established usage heretofore, and never more than the actual discount positively known to the appraiser; but in no case to be allowed unless it is exhibited on the face of the invoice. Special attention is called to this item of discounts, as, from information received by the Department, it is believed that numerous frauds have been practised on the revenue, by excessive and unusual discounts being deducted on the invoices produced at the time of entry; and in no case are they to be allowed except such percentage as may be ascertained to be customary on the different articles respectively at the places of purchase or shipment. Marine insurance is exempted by law.

Inquiry having been made whether freight from the country or place of exportation to the United States is to be embraced amongst the dutiable charges, it becomes proper to remark, that under no former revenue or tariff act has such freight ever been deemed a dutiable charge; but, on the contrary, it has uniformly been decided by the Department to be exempt therefrom.

If the Department were now called upon to give a construction to the phraseology of the present law as regards this point, without reference to the wording of the previous tariff acts, or to the uniform practice of the Department on the subject, it might come to a different conclusion; but the language of the act of 30th August, 1842, as regards the items of charges which are to form a portion of the dutiable value of goods, is precisely similar to that of the present law, and the construction put upon the former having been that freight from the port of shipment to the port of importation does not form a charge subject to duty, the Department, after very full and mature considertaion, does not feel authorized now to change that construction, especially in the absence of any explicit legal designation of freight as a dutiable item, presuming that, as Congress was of course aware of the long practice of the Department on the subject, its views would have been clearly expressed respecting it, had the Legislature intended that the change should be introduced of including freight as one of the charges on which duty was to be levied.

In addition to the construction thus put upon the tariff act of 1842, and uniformly acted upon since that time, the records of the Department show that the question has been frequently brought to its attention as far back as 1799, under statutes of similar import to the present one, and extending through all the subsequent years down to the present time, and its invariable decision has been that freight to the port of importation was not an item subject to duty.

It will be seen that the second section of the act gives full force and validity to the certificate of any one of the United States appraisers to establish the appraisement of any goods, wares and merchandise, required by existing laws at ports where there are United States appraisers; and at ports where no such appraisers exist similar validity is given to the certificate of appraisement issued by the revenue officer to whom is committed the estimating and collection of duties, as enjoined by the 22d section of the tariff act of 30th August, 1842. The law is deemed to refer to the certificate of a principal appraiser, or of one of the appraisers at large, appointed under the third section of the act hereto annexed, and not of an assistant appraiser.

Although the certificate before referred to is made conclusive evidence of any appraisement, yet it is to be distinctly understood that the law does not contemplate any relaxation or change in respect to the due inspection, examination, and other necessary acts required of the appraisers in making appraisements in pursuance of existing laws and regulations.

The regulations respecting the duties of the appraisers at large, appoint