boat or vessel shall have landed in the course of said preceding season, a quantity of fish not less than twelve quintals for every ton of her admeasurement; the said quantity of fish to be ascertained when dried and cured fit for exportation, and according to the weight thereof, as the same shall weigh at the time of delivery when actually sold; which account of the weight, with the original adjustment and settlement of the fare or fares among the owners and fishermen, together with a written account of the length, breadth and depth of said boat or vessel, and the time. she has actually been employed in the fishery in the preceding season, shall in all cases be produced and sworn or affirmed to, before the said collector of the district, in order to entitle the owner, his agent or lawful representative, to receive the allowance aforesaid. And if at any time within one year after payment of such allowance, it shall appear that any fraud or deceit has been practised in obtaining the same, the boat or vessel upon which such allowance shall have been paid, if found within the district aforesaid, shall be forfeited; otherwise the owner or owners having practised such fraud or deceit, shall forfeit and pay one hundred dollars; to be sued for, recovered and appropri ated in like manner as forfeitures and penalties are to be sued for recovered and appropriated for any breach of an act, entitled," An act to provide more effectually for the collection of the duties imposed by law on goods, wares and merchandize imported into the United States, and on the tonnage of ships or vessels."

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners of every fishing vessel of twenty tons and upwards, his or their agent or lawful representative, shall previous to receiving the allowance which is provided for in this act, produce to the collector who is authorized to pay the same, the original agreement or agreements which may have been made with the fishermen employed on board such vessel, as is herein before required, and also a certifi cate to be by him or them subscribed, therein mentioning the particular days on which such vessel sailed and returned on the several voyages or fares, she may have made in the preceding fishing season, to the truth of which they shall swear or affirm before the collector aforesaid.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no ship or vessel of twenty tons or upwards, employed as aforesaid, shall be entitled to the allowance granted by this act, unless the

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skipper or master thereof shall, before he proceeds on any fisning voyage, make an agreement in writing or in print, with every sherman employed therein, excepting only any apprentice or servant of himself or owner; and in addition to such terms of shipment as may be agreed on, shall in such agreement express whether the same is to continue for one voyage or for the fishing season, and shall also express that the fish or the proceeds of such fishing voyage, or voyages which may appertain to the fishermen, shall be divided among them in proportion to the quantities or number of said fish they may respectively have caught; which agreement shall be endorsed or countersigned by the owner of such fishing vessel, or his agent: And if any fisherman having engaged himself for a voyage or for the fishing season, in any fishing vessel, and signed an agreement therefor as aforesaid, shall thereafter and while such agreement remains in force and to be performed, desert or absent himself from such vessel, without leave of the master or skipper thereof, or of the owner or his agent, such deserter shall be liable to the same penalties as deserting seamen or mariners are subject to in the merchants' service, and may in the like manner, and upon the like complaint and proof, be apprehended and detained; and all costs of process and commitment if paid by the master or owner, shall be deducted out of the share of fish, or proceeds of any fishing voyage to which such deserter had or shall become entitled. And any fisherman, having engaged himself as aforesaid, who shall during such fishing voyage, refuse or neglect his proper duty on board the fishing vessel, being thereto ordered or required by the master or skipper thereof, or shall otherwise resist his just commands, to the hindrance or detriment of such voyage, beside being answerable for all damages arising thereby, shall forfeit to the use of the owner of such vessel, his share of the allowance, which shall be paid upon such voyage as is herein granted.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That where an agreement or contract shall be so made and signed, for a fishing voyage or for the fishing season, and any fish which may have been caught on board such vessel during the same, shall be delivered to the owner or to his agent, for cure, and shall be sold by said owner or agent, such vessel shall for the term of six months after such sale, be liable and answerable for the skipper's and every other fish

erman's share of such fish, and may be proceeded against in the same form, and to the same effect as any other vessel is by law liable, and may be proceeded against for the wages of seamen or mariners in the merchants' service. And upon such process for the value of a share or shares of the proceeds of fish delivered and sold as aforesaid, it shall be incumbent on the owner or his agent, to produce a just account of the sales and division of such fish according to such agreement or contract, otherwise the said vessel shall be answerable upon such process for what may be the highest value of the share or shares demanded. But in all cases, the owner of such vessel or his agent, ap pearing to answer to such process, may offer thereupon his account of general supplies made for such fishing voyage, and of other supplies therefor made, to either of the demandants, and shall be allowed to produce evidence. thereof in answer to their demands respectively, and judg ment shall be rendered upon such process, for the respective balances, which upon such an enquiry shall appear: Provided always, That when process shall be issued against any vessel liable as aforesaid, if the owner thereof or his agent will give bond to each fisherman in whose favour such process shall be instituted, with sufficient security, to the satisfaction of two justices of the peace, one of whom shall be named by such owner or agent, and the other by the fisherman or fishermen pursuing such process; or if elther party shall refuse, then the justice first appointed shall name his associate, with condition to answer and pay whatever sum shall be recovered by him or them on such process, there shall be an immediate discharge of such vessel:, Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any fisherman from having his action at common law, for his share or shares of fish, or the proceeds thereof as aforesaid.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the drawback heretofore allowed on the exportation of foreign dried and pickled fish, and other foreign salted provisions, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the monies which shall remain in consequence of the abolition of the allowance on the exportation of the dried fish of the United States, and of the drawback on foreign dried and pickled fish, and other foreign salted provisions, be, and the same are hereby appropriated to the payment of the allowances granted by this act, and in case the monies so appropriated

shall be inadequate, the deficiency shall be supplied out of any monies which from time to time shall be in the treasury of the United States, and not otherwise appropriated.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall declare falsely in any oath or affirmation required by this act, being duly convicted thereof in any court of the United States, having jurisdiction of such offence, shall suffer the same penalties as are provided for false swearing or affirming, by the act before mentioned, and to be in like manner sued for, recovered and appropriated.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That this act shall con-tinue and be in force for the term of seven years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Congress, and no longer.

[This act passed February sixteenth, 1792.]

No. XIII.

An Act concerning Consuls and Vice-Consuls. FOR carrying into full effect the convention between the

King of the French, and the United States of America, entered into for the purpose of defining and establishing the functions and privileges of their respective Consuls and Vice-Consuls:

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That where, in the seventh article of the said convention,it is agreed, that when there shall be no consul or vice-consul of the King of the French to attend to the saving of the wreck of any French vessels stranded on the coasts of the United States, or that the residence of the said consul, or viceconsul (he not being at the place of the wreck) shall be more distant from the said place than that of the competent judge of the country, the latter shall immediately proceed to perform the office therein prescribed; the district, judge of the United States of the district in which the wreck shall happen, shall proceed therein, according to the tenor of the said article. And in such cases it shall be the duty of the officers of the customs, within whose districts such wrecks shall happen, to give notice thereof, as soon as may be, to the said judge, and to aid and assist

him to perform the duties hereby assigned to him. The district judges of the United States shall also, within their respective districts, be the competent judges, for the purposes expressed in the ninth article of the said convention, and it shall be incumbent on them to give aid to the consuls and vice-consuls of the King of the French, in arresting and securing deserters from vessels of the French nation, according to the tenor of the said article.

And where, by any article of the said convention, the consuls and vice-consuls of the King of the French, are entitled to the aid of the competent executive officers of the country, in the execution of any precept, the marshalls of the United States, and their deputies, shall, within their respective districts, be the competent officers, and shall give their aid according to the tenor of the stipulations.

And whenever commitments to the jails of the country shall become necessary, in pursuance of any stipulation of the said convention, they shall be to such jails within the respective districts, as other commitments under the authority of the United States are by law made.

And for the direction of the consuls and vice-consuls of the United States in certain cases.

Sec. 2. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That they shall have right in the ports or places, to which they are or may be severally appointed, of receiving the protests or declarations, which such captains, masters, crews, passengers and merchants, as are citizens of the United States, may respectively chuse to make there; and also such as any foreigner may chuse to make before them, relative to the personal interest of any citizens of the United States; and the copies of the said acts, duly authenticated by the said consuls or vice-consuls, under the seal of their consulates respectively, shall receive faith in law, equally as their originals would in all courts in the United States It shall be their duty, where the laws of the country permit, to take possession of the personal estate, left by any citizen of the United States, other than seamen belonging to any ship or vessel, who shall die within their consulate, leaving there no legal representative, partner in trade or trustee by him appointed to take care of his effects, they shall inventory the same, with the assistance of two merchants of the United States, or for want of them, of any others at their choice; shall collect the debts due to the deceased, in the country where he died, and pay the debts