according to his contract;(a) and if such wages shall not be paid within ten days after such discharge, or if any dispute shall arise between the master and seamen or mariners touching the said wages, it shall be lawful for the judge of the district where the said ship or vessel shall be, or in case his residence be more than three miles from the place, or of his absence from the place of his residence, then, for any judge or justice of the peace, to summon the master of such ship or vessel to appear before him, to show cause why process should not issue against such ship or vessel, her tackle, furniture and apparel, according to the course of admiralty courts, to answer for the said wages: and if the master shall neglect to appear, or appearing, shall not show that the wages are paid, or otherwise satisfied or forfeited, and if the matter in dispute shall not be forthwith settled, in such case the judge or justice shall certify to the clerk of the court of the district, that there is sufficient cause of complaint whereon to found admiralty process, and thereupon the clerk of such court shall issue process against the said ship or vessel, and the suit shall be proceeded on in the said court, and final judgment be given according to the course of admiralty courts in such cases used; and in such suit all the seamen or mariners (having cause of complaint of the like kind against the same ship or vessel) shall be joined as complainants; and it shall be incumbent on the master or commander to produce the contract and log-book, if required, to ascertain any matters in dispute; otherwise the complainants shall be permitted to state the contents thereof, and the proof of the contrary shall lie on the master or commander; but nothing herein contained shall prevent any seaman or mariner from having or maintaining any action at common law for the recovery of his wages, or from immediate process out of any court having admiralty jurisdiction, wherever any ship or vessel may be found, in case she shall have left the port of delivery where her voyage ended, before payment of the wages, or in case she shall be about to proceed to sea before the end of the ten days next after the delivery of her cargo or ballast.

SEC. 7. And be it [further] enacted, That if any seaman or mariner, who shall have signed a contract to perform a voyage, shall, at any port or place, desert, or shall absent himself from such ship or vessel, without leave of the master, or officer commanding in the absence of the master, it shall be lawful for any justice of peace within the United States (upon the complaint of the master) to issue his warrant to apprehend such deserter, and bring him before such justice; and if it shall then appear by due proof, that he has signed a contract within the intent and meaning of this act, and that the voyage agreed for is not finished, altered, or the contract otherwise dissolved, and that such seaman or mariner has deserted the ship or vessel, or absented himself without leave, the said justice shall commit him to the house of correction or common gaol of the city, town or place, there to remain until the said ship or vessel shall be ready to proceed on her voyage, or till the master shall require his discharge, and then to be delivered to the said master, he paying all the cost of such commitment, and deducting the same out of the wages due to such seaman or mariner.

SEC. 8. And be it [further] enacted, That every ship or vessel belonging to a citizen or citizens of the United States, of the burthen of one hundred and fifty tons or upwards, navigated by ten or more persons in the whole, and bound on a voyage without the limits of the United States, shall be provided with a chest of medicines, put up by some apothecary of known reputation, and accompanied by directions for administering the same; and the said medicines shall be examined by the same or some other

(a) Wages are payable in ten days from the end of the voyage, but in some cases fifteen days are allowed for the discharge of the cargo and payment of the freight. Edwards v. The Susan, 1 Adm. Decisions, 165.

The end of the voyage is the period when wages are due. Ibid.

Penalty on the master for default.

Act of March

apothecary, once at least in every year, and supplied with fresh medicines in the place of such as shall have been used or spoiled; and in default of having such medicine chest so provided, and kept fit for use, the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall provide and pay for all such advice, medicine, or attendance of physicians, as any of the crew shall stand in need of in case of sickness, at every port or place where the ship or vessel may touch or trade at during the voyage, without any deduction from the wages of such sick seaman or mariner. (a) SEC. 9. And be it [further] enacted, That every ship or vessel, belonging as aforesaid, bound on a voyage across the Atlantic ocean, shall, at the 2, 1805, ch. 28. time of leaving the last port from whence she sails, have on board, well secured under deck, at least sixty gallons of water, one hundred pounds of salted flesh meat, and one hundred pounds of wholesome ship-bread, for every person on board such ship or vessel, over and besides such other provisions, stores and live-stock as shall by the master or passengers be put on board, and in like proportion for shorter or longer voyages; and in case the crew of any ship or vessel, which shall not have been so provided, shall be put upon short allowance in water, flesh or bread, during the voyage, the master or owner of such ship or vessel shall pay to each of the crew, one day's wages beyond the wages agreed on, for every day they shall be so put to short allowance, to be recovered in the same manner as their stipulated wages.(b) APPROVED, July 20, 1790.

Ships, &c. bound across the Atlantic, what supply of provisions and

water shall be

laid in.

Penalty for short allowance of provisions and water.

STATUTE II.

July 20, 1790.

Tonnage duty on ships or ves.

sels of U. States,

CHAP. XXX.-An Act imposing duties on the tonnage of ships or vessels. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That upon all ships or vessels which after the first day of September next, shall be entered in the United States from any foreign port or place, there shall be paid the several and respective duties following, that is to say: On ships or vessels of the United States at the rate of six cents per ton: on ships or vessels built within the United States after the twentieth day of eigners; July last, but belonging wholly or in part to subjects of foreign powers, at the rate of thirty cents per ton: on other ships or vessels at the rate of fifty cents per ton.(c)

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the aforesaid duty of six cents per ton, shall be also paid upon every ship or vessel of the United States, which after the said first day of September next, shall be entered in a district in one state from a district in another state, other than an ad

on those of for

on all others.

On ships or

vessels of the U. States, trading between district and dis

trict.

(a) The act of Congress of July 20, 1790, for the government and regulation of seamen in the merchant service, has not changed the maritime law, except, perhaps, so far as respects medicines and medical advice, when there is a proper medicine chest, and medical directions on board the vessel. The charges for nursing and lodging are not affected by the act. Harden v. Gordon et al., 2 Mason, 541.

The expense of curing a sick seaman, in the course of a voyage, is a charge on the ship by the mari. time law. Ibid.

The onus probandi in respect to the sufficiency of the medicine chest, lies on the owner, in an action by the seamen for wages.

Ibid.

A stipulation that the seamen shall pay for medical advice and medicine, without any ndition that there shall be a suitable medicine chest, &c., is void as contrary to the act of Congress.

When a seaman at a foreign port, contracts an ordinary disease, without any fault of his own, and remains on board a vessel which is properly provided with a medicine chest, the expense of a physician, if necessary for the safety of his life is to be deducted from his wages. Holmes v. Hutchinson, Gilpin's Rep. 448.

(b) In reference to the claims of seamen for "short allowance," it was decided that the navy rations furnish a rule by which the allowance to seamen shall be determined. That when the articles mentioned in the act of Congress can be procured, no substitute shall be allowed; but it is otherwise if they cannot be obtained. The ship Washington, 1 Adm. Decisions, 219.

The provisions of the act of Congress relative to short allowance, do not apply to seamen shipped while the ship is at a foreign port. Ibid.

(c) See act of March 3, 1815, obsolete; act of April 20, 1818, obsolete; act of March 3, 1819, obsolete.

On ships or vessels not of U. States, trading between

trict.

Payment of heretofore ex

joining state on the sea-coast, or on a navigable river, having on board goods, wares and merchandise taken in one state to be delivered in another state: Provided, That it shall not be paid on any ship or vessel having a license to trade between the different districts of the United States, or to carry on the bank or whale fisheries, whilst employed therein, more than once a year. (a)

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That upon every ship or vessel not of the United States, which after the said first day of September next, shall be entered in one district from another district, having on board district and dis- goods, wares and merchandise taken in, in one district to be delivered in another district, there shall be paid at the rate of fifty cents per ton. And whereas it is declared by the twenty-third section of the act, inforeign tonnage tituled "An act for registering and clearing vessels, regulating the coastacted on certain ing trade, and for other purposes," "That if any vessel of the burthen of vessels of the U. twenty tons or upwards, not having a certificate of registry or enrolStates, employment, and a license, shall be found trading between different districts, or be employed in the bank or whale fisheries, every such ship or vessel shall be subject to the same tonnage and fees as foreign ships or vessels," which, from the impracticability in some cases of obtaining licenses in due season, and from misapprehension in others, has operated to the prejudice of individuals; and it being proper that relief should be granted in cases where the strict operation of new laws may have occasioned hardship and inconvenience:

ed in coasting trade and fisheries.

Restitution to

be made for.

Act of 1789, ch. 11. sec. 23.

See acts of 1799, ch. 22, sec. 63, 64.

1802, ch. 45,

sec. 8.

SEC. 4. Be it therefore further enacted, That in all cases in which the said foreign duty shall have been heretofore paid on ships or vessels of the United States, whether registered at the time of payment or afterwards, Not demanda restitution thereof shall be made, and that no such foreign duty shall hereafter be demanded on the said ships or vessels.

ble in future.

Repeal of for

mer act.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the act, intituled "An act imposing duties on tonnage," shall, after the said first day of September next, be repealed, and shall thenceforth cease to operate, except as to the collection of the duties which shall have accrued prior to the said repeal, for which purpose the said act shall continue in force. APPROVED, July 20, 1790.

CHAP. XXXI.—An Act providing for holding a Treaty or Treaties to establish
Peace with certain Indian tribes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in addition to the balance unexpended, of the sum of twenty thousand dollars, appropriated by the act, intituled "An act providing for the expenses which may attend negotiations or treaties with the Indian tribes, and the appointment of commissioners for managing the same," a farther sum, not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, arising from the duties on imports and tonnage, shall be, and the same is hereby appropriated for defraying the expenses of negotiating, and holding a treaty or treaties, and for promoting a friendly intercourse, and preserving peace with the Indian

tribes.

APPROVED, July 22, 1790.

(a) The acts imposing duties on the tonnage of domestic ships or vessels, have been: Act of July 20, 1790, chap. 30; act of March 2, 1799, chap. 23; act of May 1, 1802, chap. 45; act of April 27, 1816, chap. 107; act of January 14, 1817, chap. 3; act of March 1, 1817, chap. 31; act of May 31, 1830, chap. 219; act of August 30, 1842, chap. 270.

Tonnage duties on foreign ships.-Act of July 20, 1790, chap. 30; act of March 2, 1799, chap. 23; act of May 1, 1802, chap. 45; act of April 27, 1816, chap. 107; act of January 14, 1817, chap. 3; act of March 1, 1817, chap. 31, sec. 6; act of May 31, 1830, chap. 219; act of August 30, 1842, chap. 270.

STATUTE II.

CHAP. XXXII.-An Act to amend the act for the establishment and support of July 22, 1790. Lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all expenses which shall accrue from and after the fifteenth day of August next, for the necessary support, maintenance and repairs of all lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers, within the United States, shall continue to be defrayed by the United States, until the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, notwithstanding such lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, with the lands and tenements thereunto belonging, and the jurisdictions of the same, shall not in the mean time be ceded to or vested in the United States, by the state or states respectively, in which the same may be, and that the said time be further allowed to the states respectively to make such cessions. APPROVED, July 22, 1790.

CHAP. XXXIII.—An Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes.(a)

1789, ch. 9.

Expense of lighthouses, &c. to be defrayed until 1st July, 1791, although not ceded, and till that day to make cessions,

States allowed

STATUTE II.

July 22, 1790.

Licenses to trade with the Indians, by whom

granted,

obtained.

to be

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That no person shall be permitted to carry on any trade or intercourse with the Indian tribes, without a license for that purpose under the hand and seal of the superintendent of the department, or of such other person as the President of the United States shall appoint for that purpose; which superintendent, or other person so appointed, shall, on application, issue such license to any proper person, who shall enter into bond with one or more and how to be sureties, approved of by the superintendent, or person issuing such license, or by the President of the United States, in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, payable to the President of the United States for the time being, for the use of the United States, conditioned for the true and faithful observance of such rules, regulations and restrictions, as now are, or hereafter shall be made for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes. The said superintendents, and persons by them licensed as aforesaid, shall be governed in all things touching the said trade and intercourse, by such rules and regulations as the President shall prescribe. And no other person shall be permitted to carry on any trade or intercourse with the Indians without such license as aforesaid. No license shall be granted for a longer term than two years. Provided nevertheless, That the President may make such order respecting the tribes surrounded in their settlements by the citizens of the United States, as to secure an intercourse without license, if he may deem it proper.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the superintendent, or person issuing such license, shall have full power and authority to recall all such licenses as he may have issued, if the person so licensed shall transgress any of the regulations or restrictions provided for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and shall put in suit such bonds as he may have taken, immediately on the breach of any condition in said bond: Provided always, That if it shall appear on trial, that the person from whom such license shall have been recalled, has not offended against any of the provisions of this act, or the regulations prescribed for the trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, he shall be entitled to receive a new license.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall attempt to trade with the Indian tribes, or be found in the Indian country

VOL. I.-18

(a) See act of March 1, 1793, chap. 19. (Repealed.)

M 2

May be recalled for cer- tain transgres

sions.

Penalty for trading without license.

Sales of lands

what cases va

with such merchandise in his possession as are usually vended to the Indians, without a license first had and obtained, as in this act prescribed, and being thereof convicted in any court proper to try the same, shall forfeit all the merchandise so offered for sale to the Indian tribes, or so found in the Indian country, which forfeiture shall be one half to the benefit of the person prosecuting, and the other half to the benefit of the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted and declared, That no sale of lands made by Indians, in by any Indians, or any nation or tribe of Indians within the United States, shall be valid to any person or persons, or to any state, whether having the right of pre-emption to such lands or not, unless the same shall be made and duly executed at some public treaty, held under the authority of the United States.

lid.

Offences committed within the Indian ter

ritory, how to be punished.

Proceedings

therein.

Act of Sept. 24, 1789, ch. 20.

Continuance of this act.

STATUTE II.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, or of either of the territorial districts of the United States, shall go into any town, settlement or territory belonging to any nation or tribe of Indians, and shall there commit any crime upon, or trespass against, the person or property of any peaceable and friendly Indian or Indians, which, if committed within the jurisdiction of any state, or within the jurisdiction of either of the said districts, against a citizen or white inhabitant thereof, would be punishable by the laws of such state or district, such offender or offenders shall be subject to the same punishment, and shall be proceeded against in the same manner as if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of the state or district to which he or they may belong, against a citizen or white inhabitant thereof.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That for any of the crimes or offences aforesaid, the like proceedings shall be had for apprehending, imprisoning or bailing the offender, as the case may be, and for recognizing the witnesses for their appearance to testify in the case, and where the offender shall be committed, or the witnesses shall be in a district other than that in which the offence is to be tried, for the removal of the offender and the witnesses or either of them, as the case may be, to the district in which the trial is to be had, as by the act to establish the judicial courts of the United States, are directed for any crimes or offences against the United States.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force for the term of two years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Congress, and no longer.

APPROVED, July 22, 1790.

August 4, 1790. CHAP. XXXIV.—An Act making provision for the [payment of the] Debt of the

[Obsolete.] Recital.

Duties on im

ports and ton nage appropriated to pay interest on the foreign debt and future loans, reserving

United States. (a)

WHEREAS, justice and the support of public credit require, that provision should be made for fulfilling the engagements of the United States, in respect to their foreign debt, and for funding their domestic debt upon equitable and satisfactory terms:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That reserving out of the monies which have arisen since the last day of December last past, and which shall hereafter arise from the duties on goods, wares and merchandise imported into the United States, and on the tonnage of ships or vessels, the yearly sum of six hundred thousand

(a) The acts making provision for the debt of the United States, contracted during the war of the revolution, have been: Act of August 4, 1790, chap. 34; act of August 10, 1790, chap. 39; act of December 27, 1790, chap. 1; act of August 12, 1790, chap. 47; act of May 8, 1792, chap. 38; act of March 2, 1793, chap. 25; act of May 30, 1794, chap. 36; act of January 28, 1795, chap. 13; act of February 19, 1796, chap. 2; act of March 3, 1797, chap. 25; act of March 3, 1791, chap. 25.