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Oath to ac

counts.

Penalty for

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 pur-
port 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 such
consular officer shall wilfully and corruptly commit perjury, in any such oath perjury.
or affirmation, within the intent and meaning of any act of Congress now
or hereafter made, he may be charged, proceeded against, tried, and con-
victed, 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.

Absence from

bidden. Deduc

No diplomatic or consular officer to correspond

SEC. 19. That no such officer as is mentioned in the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, or seventh sections of this act shall, nor shall any consular post when foragent, be absent from his post, or the performance of his duties, for a tions from pay longer period than ten days at any one time, without the permission pre- therefor. viously 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 correspond in regard to the public affairs of any foreign government with any private person, newspaper, or other periodical, or otherwise than with the proper officers of with private perthe United States, nor recommend any person, at home or abroad, for any affairs, or recomsons on public employment of trust or profit under the government of the country in mend to, or ask which he is located; nor ask or accept, for himself or any other person, any present, emolument pecuniary, pecuniary favor, office, or title of any kind, from any such government.

any

for or accept office abroad.

Pay to be in

vices.

Commissions

SEC. 20. That the compensation provided by this act shall be in full for all the services and personal expenses which shall be rendered or incurred full for all serby 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 person under any consular officer, make on wages, or being interested in charge or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation, by way of boarding or supcommission or otherwise, for receiving or disbursing the wages or extra plying sailors, forbidden. wages to which any seaman or 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 consular 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.

Proviso.

1803, ch. 9.

Provision as to SEC. 21. That no compensation provided by this act for any such offithose holding cer as is mentioned in the first section of this act, or for any assistant sec-office who are retary of legation, or for any such officer as is mentioned in schedules B not citizens. and C of the third section of this act, or any appropriation therefor, shall

Stationery and contingencies for the legations, consulates, and agencies to be provided.

as to transaction of business.

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.

SEC. 22. That the President be, and is hereby, authorized to provide at the public expense all such stationery, blanks, record and other books, seals, presses, flags, and signs, as he shall think necessary for the several legations, consulates, and commercial 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 the annual compensation allowed to such President may officer, and to prescribe such regulations, and make and issue such orders prescribe rules and instructions, not inconsistent 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 returns, 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 1856, ch. 170. arts, sciences, manufactures, 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 duty of the Secretary of State to publish official notifiState to publish cations, from time to time, of such commercial information communicated to him by such 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.

Secretary of

commercial information.

See acts of March, 1867.

Passports.

SEC. 23. 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 President 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.

notaries.

oaths.

SEC. 24. That every secretary of legation and consular officer is hereby, Secretaries of authorized, whenever he shall be required or may deem it necessary or legation and consular officers proper so to do, at the post, port, place, or within the limits of his legation, may administer consulate, or commercial agency, to administer to or take from any person oaths, and act as 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 Penalty for means procure any person to commit perjury in any such oath, affirma- perjury in such tion, affidavit, or deposition, 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 genuine or of the official character of such person; the t and if any person shall forge any such seal or signature, or shall tender Penalty for in evidence any such document with a false or counterfeit seal or signa- forging certifiture thereto, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, he shall be deemed and taken to 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.

Evidence of the taking of the

cates of oaths.

Provisions in

of seamen.

SEC. 25. That whenever any seaman or mariner of any vessel of the United States shall desert such vessel, the master or commander of such case of desertion 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 collector 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 ac

Provision for

the case of the discharge of seamen abroad.

1803, ch. 9.

1840, ch. 48.

Proviso.

List to be kept of seamen

shipped or dis

and of their cargoes.

count 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.

SEC. 26. That upon the application of any 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 herein before-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 discharging 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.

SEC. 27. That every consular officer shall keep a detailed list of all seamen and mariners shipped and discharged by him, specifying their charged, and of names and the names of the vessels on and from which they shall be all vessels arriv- shipped and discharged, and the payments, if any, made on account of ing or departing, each so discharged, and also of the number of the 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 Prices current the duty of every consular officer to furnish to the Secretary of the Treas ury, as often as shall be required, 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.

to be furnished.

Masters, &c. of ships obliged

SEC. 28. That it shall be the duty of every master and commander of a ship or vessel of the United States, whenever he shall have occasion for

officers when he

any consular or other official service, which any consular officer of the to apply to said United States shall be authorized by law or usage officially to perform, has occasion for and for which any fees shall be allowed by the said rates or tariffs of fees any of said seras aforesaid, to apply to such one of the said officers as may then be offi- vices. cially 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 payment of fees.

Duties of con

when citizens

1792, ch. 24.

SEC. 29. That if any citizen of the United States who shall die abroad shall, by any lawful testamentary disposition, leave special directions for sular officers the custody and management, by the consular officer of the port or place die abroad. 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 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. That all fees collected for and in behalf of the United States, Fees, in what in pursuance of this act, shall be collected in the coin of the United States, coinage payable. or at its representative value in exchange.

about consular

SEC. 31. That in the construction, and for the purposes, of all other Construction acts and parts of acts which shall remain in force after this act shall take of former acts effect, defining any of the powers, declaring any of the rights, prescribing officers. any of the duties, or imposing any penalty or punishment for any act of omission or commission of any consul, commercial agent, vice-consul, or vice commercial agent, or allowing or enjoining the performance of any act, matter, or thing, with or before any such officer, all such acts and parts of acts shall in all these several respects, so far as may be consistent with the subject-matter and context of the same and with this act and the treaties of the United States, be deemed and taken to include and apply to all consular officers as though all such officers were specially named therein; and the said official designations in contemplation of all such acts and parts of acts, and of this act, shall be deemed and taken to have the respective meanings hereinafter assigned to them—that is to say, consul-general," "consul," and "commercial agent," shall be deemed and taken to denote full, principal, and permanent "consular officers," as distinguished from subordinates and substitutes; "deputy consul" and "consular agent" shall be deemed and taken to denote "consular officers" subordinate to such principals, exercising the powers and performing the duties within the limits of their consulates or commercial agencies respectively, the former at the same ports or places, and the latter at ports or

66

Meaning of titles of consular officers.

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