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livered to collec

Oath to ac

counts.

any passport, certify any invoice, or perform any other official service in the entry of the receipt of the fees therefor, and also number each consular act so receipted for with the number of such receipt, and as shown by such register. And it shall be the duty of all owners, agents, con- Copy of receipts signees, masters and commanders of ships and vessels to whom any for fees to be dereceipt for fees shall be given by any consular officer, to furnish a copy tor on return of thereof to the collector of the district in which such ships and vessels vessels, to be forshall first arrive on their return to the United States. And it shall be warded to Sec'y of the Treasury. the duty of every collector to forward to the Secretary of the Treasury all such copies of receipts as shall have been so furnished to him, and also a statement of all certified invoices which shall come to his office, giving the dates of the certificate, and the names of the persons for whom, and of the consular officers by whom the same were certified; and every consular officer, in rendering his account or report of fees received, shall furnish a full transcript of the register which he is hereby required to keep, under oath or affirmation that the same is true and correct, and that the same contains a full and accurate statement of all fees received by him, or for his use, for his official services as such consular officer, to the best of his knowledge, during the period for which the same shall purport to be rendered, and that such oath or affirmation may be taken before any person having authority to administer oaths and affirmations at the port or place where such consular officer is located. And if any Penalty for such consular officer shall wilfully and corruptly commit perjury, in any perjury. such oath or affirmation, within the intent and meaning of any act of Congress now or hereafter made, he may be charged, proceeded against, tried, and convicted, and dealt with in the same manner, in all respects, as if such offence had been committed in the United States, before any officer duly authorized therein to administer or take such oath or affirmation, and shall be subject to the same punishment and disability therefor as are or shall be prescribed by any such act for such offence.

bidden. Deduc

SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That no such officer as is men- Absence from tioned in the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, or seventh sections of this post when foract shall, nor shall any consular agent, be absent from his post, or the tions from pay performance of his duties, for a longer period than ten days at any one therefor. time, without the permission previously obtained of the President. And no compensation shall be allowed for the time of any such absence in any case, except cases of sickness; nor shall any diplomatic or consular officer No diplomatic correspond in regard to the public affairs of any foreign government with or consular officer to correspond any private person, newspaper, or other periodical, or otherwise than with private perwith the proper officers of the United States, nor recommend any person, sons on public at home or abroad, for any employment of trust or profit under the gov-mend to, or ask ernment of the country in which he is located; nor ask or accept, for for or accept himself or any other person, any present, emolument pecuniary, pecuniary office abroad. favor, office, or title of any kind, from any such government.

affairs, or recom

vices.

SEC. 20. And be it further enacted, That the compensation provided Pay to be in by this act shall be in full for all the services and personal expenses which full for all sershall be rendered or incurred by the officers or persons respectively for whom such compensation is provided, of whatever nature or kind such services or personal expenses may be, or by whatever treaty, law, or instructions such services or personal expenses so rendered or incurred are or shall be required; and no allowance, other than such as is provided by this act, shall be made in any case for the outfit or return home of any such officer or person; and no consular officer shall, nor shall any Commissions person under any consular officer, make any charge or receive, directly or on wages, or being interested in indirectly, any compensation, by way of commission or otherwise, for boarding or sup receiving or disbursing the wages or extra wages to which any seaman or plying sailors, mariner shall be entitled who shall be discharged in any foreign country, or for any money advanced to any such seaman or mariner who shall seek relief from any consulate or commercial agency; nor shall any con

forbidden.

Proviso.

1803, ch. 9.

Provision as to those holding office who are not citizens.

sular officer, or any person under any consular officer, be interested, directly or indirectly, in any profit derived from clothing, boarding, or otherwise supplying or sending home any such seaman or mariner: Provided, that such prohibition as to profit shall not be construed to relieve or prevent any such officer who shall be the owner or otherwise interested in any ship or vessel of the United States, from transporting in such ship or vessel any such seaman or mariner, or from receiving or being interested in such reasonable allowance as may be made for such transportation, under and by virtue of the fourth section of the act entitled "An act supplementary to the act concerning consuls and vice consuls, and for the further protection of American seamen," approved February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and three.

SEC. 21. And be it further enacted, That no compensation provided by this act for any such officer as is mentioned in the first section of this act, or for any assistant secretary of legation, or for any such officer as is mentioned in Schedules B and C of the third section of this act, or any appropriation therefor, shall be applicable to the payment of the compensation of any person appointed to or holding any such office after this act shall take effect, who shall not be a citizen of the United States; nor shall any other compensation be allowed in any such case.

Stationery and SEC. 22. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and is contingencies for hereby, authorized to provide at the public expense all such stationary, the legations, consulates, and blanks, record and other books, seals, presses, flags, and signs, as he shall agencies to be think necessary for the several legations, consulates, and commercial provided.

agencies in the transaction of their business; and whenever he shall think there is sufficient reason therefor, to allow consuls general, consuls, and commercial agents, who are not allowed to trade, actual expenses of office rent, not to exceed, in any case, ten per centum of the amount of President may the annual compensation allowed to such officer, and to prescribe such prescribe rules as to transaction regulations, and make and issue such orders and instructions, not inconof business. sistent with the constitution or any law of the United States, in relation to the duties of all diplomatic and consular officers, the transaction of their business, the rendering of accounts and return(e)s, the payment of compensation, the safe-keeping of the archives, and public property in the hands of all such officers, the communication of information, and the procurement and transmission of the products of the arts, sciences, manufac1856, ch. 170. tures, agriculture, and commerce, from time to time, as he may think conducive to the public interests; and it shall be the duty of all such officers to conform to such regulations, orders, and instructions; and it shall be the Secretary of duty of the Secretary of State to publish official notifications, from time State to publish to time, of such commercial information communicated to him by such commercial information. diplomatic and consular officers, as he may deem important to the public interests, in such newspapers, not to exceed three in number, as he may select, and to report to Congress, at least once in each year, a synopsis of so much of the information on all subjects which shall be so communicated to him, as he may deem valuable for public information.

Passports.

SEC. 23. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of State shall be authorized to grant and issue passports, and cause passports to be granted, issued, and verified in foreign countries by such diplomatic or consular officers of the United States, and under such rules as the Presi dent shall designate and prescribe for and on behalf of the United States, and no other person shall grant, issue, or verify any such passport; nor shall any passport be granted or issued to, or verified for, any other persons than citizens of the United States; nor shall any charge be made for granting, issuing, or verifying any passport except in a foreign country; and in any case the fee allowed therefor shall not exceed the sum of one dollar, nor shall any such charge be made for more than one such verification in any foreign country; and if any person acting, or claiming to act, in any office or capacity, under the United States, or any of the

States of the United States, who shall not be lawfully authorized so to do, shall grant, issue, or verify any passport, or other instrument in the nature of a passport, to or for any citizen of the United States, or to or for any person claiming to be or designated as such in such passport or verification, or if any consular officer who shall be authorized to grant, issue, or verify passports, shall knowingly and wilfully grant, issue, or verify any such passport to or for any person not a citizen of the United States, the person so offending shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be imprisoned not exceeding one year, or fined in a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars, or both, and may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with therefor in the district where he may be arrested or in custody; and it shall be the duty of all persons who shall be authorized, pursuant to the provisions of this act, to grant, issue, or verify passports, to make return of the same to the Secretary of State, in such manner and as often as he shall require; and such returns shall specify the names and all other particulars of the persons to whom the same shall be granted, issued, or verified, as embraced in such passport: Provided, That in any country where a legation of the United States is established, no person other than the diplomatic representative of the United States, at such place shall be permitted to grant or issue any passport, except in the absence therefrom of such representative.

sular officers

notaries.

SEC. 24. And be it further enacted, That every secretary of legation Secretaries of and consular officer is hereby authorized, whenever he shall be required legation and conor may deem it necessary or proper so to do, at the post, port, place, or may administer within the limits of his legation, consulate, or commercial agency, to oaths, and act as administer to or take from any person an oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, and also to perform any notarial act or acts such as any notary public is required or authorized by law to do or perform within the United States; and every such oath, affirmation, affidavit, deposition, and notarial act administered, sworn, affirmed, taken, had, or done, by or before any such officer, when certified under his hand and seal of office, shall be as good, valid, effectual, and of like force and effect within the United States, to all intents and purposes, as if such oath, affirmation, affidavit, deposition, or notarial act had been administered, sworn, affirmed, taken, had, or done, by or before any other person within the United States duly authorized and competent thereto; and if any person shall wilfully and corruptly commit perjury, or by any means procure any Penalty for person to commit perjury in any such oath, affirmation, affidavit, or depo- perjury in such oaths. sition, within the intent and meaning of any act of Congress now or hereafter made, such offender may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with in any district of the United States, in the same manner, in all respects, as if such offence had been committed in the United States, before any officer duly authorized therein to administer or take such oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, and shall be subject to the same punishment and disability therefor as are or shall be prescribed by any such act for such offence; and any document purporting to have affixed, impressed or subscribed thereto or thereon the seal and signature of the officer administering or taking the same in testimony thereof, shall be admitted in evidence without proof of any such seal or signature being Evidence of genuine or of the official character of such person; and if any person the taking of the shall forge any such seal or signature, or shall tender in evidence any Penalty for such document with a false or counterfeit seal or signature thereto, knowforging certifiing the same to be false or counterfeit, he shall be deemed and taken to cates of oaths. be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be imprisoned not exceeding three years nor less than one year, and fined in a sum not to exceed three thousand dollars, and may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with, therefor, in the district where he may be arrested or in custody.

oath.

of seamen.

Provisions in SEC. 25. And be it further enacted, That whenever any seaman or case of desertion mariner of any vessel of the United States shall desert such vessel, the master or commander of such vessel shall note the fact and date of such desertion on the list of the crew, and the same shall be officially authenticated at the port or place of the consulate or commercial agency first visited by such vessel after such desertion, if such desertion shall have occurred in a foreign country, or if in such case such vessel shall not visit any place where there shall be any consulate or commercial agency before her return to the United States, or the desertion shall have occurred in this country, the fact and time of such desertion shall be officially authenticated before a notary public immediately at the first port or place where such vessel shall arrive after such desertion; and all wages that may be due to such seaman or mariner, and whatever interest he may have in the cargo of such vessel, shall be forfeited to and become the property of the United States, and paid over for their use to the col、lector of the port where the crew of such vessel are accounted for as soon as the same can be ascertained; first deducting therefrom any expense which may necessarily have been incurred on account of such vessel in consequence of such desertion; and in settling the account of such wages or interest no allowance or deduction shall be made except for moneys actually paid, or goods at a fair price supplied, or expenses incurred to, or for such seaman or mariner, any receipt or voucher from, or arrangement with such seaman or mariner, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Provision for

discharge of seamen abroad.

1803, ch. 9.

1840, ch. 48.

66

SEC. 26. And be it further enacted, That upon the application of any the case of the seaman or mariner for a discharge, if it shall appear to the consular officer that he is entitled to his discharge under any act of Congress, or according to the general principles or usages of maritime law, as recognized in the United States, he shall discharge such seaman or mariner, and shall require from the master or commander of the ship or vessel from which such discharge shall be made, the payment of three months' extra wages, as provided by the act hereinbefore mentioned, approved February twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and three; and it shall be the duty of such master or commander to pay the same, and no such payment or any part thereof shall be remitted in any case, except such as are mentioned in the proviso of the ninth clause 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, and as hereinafter provided, and the extra wages required to be paid by the said ninth clause of the last hereinbefore mentioned act, and by this section, shall be applicable to the same purposes and in the same manner as is directed by the said act approved February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and three, in regard to the extra wages required to be paid thereby; and if any consular officer, when discharg ing any seaman or mariner, shall neglect to require the payment of and collect the extra wages required to be paid in the case of the discharge of any seaman or mariner, by either of the said acts, as far as they shall remain in force under this act or by this act, he shall be accountable to the United States for the full amount of their share of such wages, and to such seaman or mariner to the full amount of his share thereof; and if any seaman or mariner shall, after his discharge, have incurred any expense for board or other necessaries at the port or place of his discharge before shipping again, such expense shall be paid out of the share of the three months' wages to which he shall be entitled, which shall be retained for that purpose, and the balance only paid over to him: Provided, however, That in cases of wrecked or stranded ships or vessels, or ships or vessels condemned as unfit for service, no payment of extra wages shall be required.

Proviso.

List to be kept

SEC. 27. And be it further enacted, That every consular officer shall

of their cargoes.

keep a detailed list of all seamen and mariners shipped and discharged of seamen shipby him, specifying their names and the names of the vessels on and from ped or discharg ed, and of all which they shall be shipped and discharged, and the payments, if any, vessels arriving made on account of each so discharged, and also of the number of the or departing, and vessels arrived and departed, and the amounts of their registered tonnage, and the number of their seamen and mariners, and of those who are protected, and whether citizens of the United States or not, and as nearly as possible the nature and value of their cargoes, and where produced, and make returns of the same, with their accounts and other returns, to the Secretary of the Treasury; and no consular officer shall certify any invoice unless he shall be satisfied that the person making the oath or affirmation thereto is the person he represents himself to be, that he is a credible person, and that the statements made under such oath or affirmation are true; and he shall, thereupon, by his certificate, state that he was so satisfied; and it shall be the duty of every consular officer to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, as often as shall be required, to be furnished. the prices current of all articles of merchandise usually exported to the United States from the port or place in which he shall be located.

Prices current

vices.

SEC. 28. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of every Masters, &c. of master and commander of a ship or vessel of the United States, when- ships obliged to apply to said ever he shall have occasion for any consular or other official service, officers when he which any consular officer of the United States shall be authorized by has occasion for law or usage officially to perform, and for which any fees shall be allowed any of said serby the said rates or tariffs of fees as aforesaid, to apply to such one of the said officers as may then be officially located at the consulate or commercial agency, if any there be where such service shall be required, to perform such service, and such master or commander shall pay to such officer such fees as shall be allowed for such service, in pursuance of the provisions of this act; and if any such master or commander shall omit so to do, he shall be liable to the United States for the amount of the fees lawfully chargeable for such services, as though the said services had been performed by such officer; and all consular officers are hereby authorized and required to retain in their possession all the papers of such ships and vessels, which shall be deposited with them as directed by law, till payment shall be made of all demands and wages on account of such ships and vessels.

Papers may be detained till pay

ment of fees.

Duties of con sular officers

SEC. 29. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen of the United States who shall die abroad shall, by any lawful testamentary disposition, when citizens leave special directions for the custody and management, by the consular die abroad. officer of the port or place where he shall die, of the personal property of which he shall die possessed in such country, as contemplated by the act entitled "An act concerning consuls and vice consuls," approved April

fourteenth, seventeen hundred and ninety-two, it shall be the duty of 1792, ch. 24. such officer, so far as the law of such country will permit, strictly to observe such directions; and if any such citizen so dying shall, by any lawful testamentary disposition, have appointed any other person or persons than such officer to take charge of and manage such property, it shall be the duty of such officer, whenever required by such person or persons so appointed, to give his official aid in whatever way may be necessary to facilitate the proceedings of such person or persons in the lawful execution of such trust, and, so far as the laws of the country permit, to protect the property of the deceased from any interference of the local authorities of the country where such citizen shall die; and to this end it shall be the duty of such consular officer to place his official seal upon all or any of the personal property or effects of the deceased, and to break and remove such seal as may be required by such person or persons, and not otherwise.

SEC. 30. And be it further enacted, That all fees collected for and in Fees, in what behalf of the United States, in pursuance of this act, shall be collected coinage payable.

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