Penalties on consular officers for violation or neglect of duty. Repeal of certain specified parts of acts and of all inconsist ent acts. 1840, ch. 48. 1855, ch. 133. See also 1856, ch. 162, § 2. places different from those at which such principals are located respectively; and "vice-consuls" and "vice commercial agents" shall be deemed and taken to denote "consular officers," who shall be substituted, temporarily, to fill the place of "consuls-general," "consuls," or "commercial agents," when they shall be temporarily absent or relieved from duty; and the term "consular officer," as used in this act, shall be deemed and taken to include all such officers as are mentioned in this section, and none others; and the term "diplomatic officer," as used in this act, shall be deemed and taken to include all the officers mentioned in the first section of this act, and none others. SEC. 32. That if any consular officer shall wilfully neglect or omit to perform seasonably any duty imposed upon him by this or any other act, or by any order or instruction made or given in pursuance of this or any other act, or shall be guilty of any wilful malfeasance or abuse of power, or any corrupt conduct in his office, he shall be liable to all persons injured by any such neglect, or omission, malfeasance, abuse, or corrupt conduct, for all damages occasioned thereby; and for all such damages by any such officer, he, and his sureties upon his official bond, shall be responsible thereon to the full amount of the penalty thereof, to be sued in the name of the United States for the use of the person or persons so injured; Provided, That such suit shall in no case prejudice, but shall be held in entire subordination to the interests, claims, and demands of the United States, as against such officer, under such bond, for every wilful act of malfeasance or corrupt conduct in his office; and if any such officer shall refuse to pay any draft, order, or warrant which may be drawn upon him by the proper officer of the Treasury Department for any public moneys of the United States in his hands, or for any amount due from him to the United States, whatever the capacity in which he may have received or may hold the same, or to transfer or disburse any such moneys promptly upon the legal requirement of any authorized officer of the United States, he shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment not to exceed ten years nor less than one year, or by fine not to exceed two thousand dollars nor less than two hundred dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court; and any such officer so offending, may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with in any district in which he may be arrested or in custody. SEC. 33. That the fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of the act hereinbefore mentioned, approved July twentieth, eighteen hundred and forty, and all of the act entitled "An act to remodel the diplomatic and consular systems of the United States," approved March first, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and all acts and parts of acts whereby any such fees as are contemplated by the seventeenth section of this act are fixed or allowed, and any usage or law whereby any attache is or may be allowed to any legation other than such as are provided in this act, or requiring any secretary of legation to be employed otherwise than as provided by this act, and all other acts and parts of acts, so far as the same are inconsistent with this act, be and the same are hereby annulled and repealed; and no attache shall be allowed in any case, nor any secretary of legation, otherwise than as provided by this act. SEC. 34. That this act shall take effect on the first day of January next, and not before. Stat. at Large, CHAP. CXXIX. An Act making Appropriations for certain Civil Expenses of the Vol. XI. p. 81. Government for the Year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven. Special examiner of drugs, &c. to be appointed at San Francisco. SEC. 17. That the Secretary of the Treasury be and he is hereby authorized and required to appoint a suitably qualified person as special examiner of drugs, chemicals, medicines, &c., at San Francisco in California, whose annual salary shall be two thousand dollars. Stat. at Large, Vol. XI. p. 119. Proviso. Be it enacted, &c. That when any citizen or citizens of the United States may have discovered, or shall hereafter discover, a deposit of guano citizens and not on any island, rock, or key not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other belonging to othgovernment, and not occupied by the citizens of any other government, er countries, may and shall take peaceable possession thereof, and occupy the same, said be considered as appertaining to island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President of the United the United States, be considered as appertaining to the United States: Provided, how- States. ever, That notice be given by such discoverer or discoverers, as soon as practicable, to the State Department of the United States, of such discovery, occupation, and possession, verified by affidavit, describing said island, rock, or key, and the latitude and longitude thereof, as near as may be, and showing that such possession was taken in the name of the United States, and that satisfactory evidence be furnished to the State Department that such island, rock, or key was not, at the time of the discovery thereof, or of the taking possession and occupation thereof by the claimants, in the possession or occupation of any other government or of the citizens of any other government. cases. Provisos. SEC. 2. That the said discoverer or discoverers, or his or their assigns, Rights of disbeing citizens of the United States, may be allowed, at the pleasure of coverers in such Congress, the exclusive right of occupying said island, rocks, or keys, for the purpose of obtaining said guano, and of selling and delivering the same to citizens of the United States, for the purpose of being used therein, and may be allowed to charge and receive for every ton thereof delivered alongside a vessel, in proper tubs, within reach of ship's tackle, a sum not exceeding eight dollars per ton for the best quality, or four dollars per ton in its native place of deposit: Provided, however, That no guano shall be taken from said island, rock, or key, except for the use of the citizens of the United States, or of persons resident therein, as aforesaid. And provided, also, That said discoverer or discoverers, or his or their assigns, shall first enter into bonds, with such penalties or securities as may be required by the President, to deliver the said guano to citizens of the United States, for the purpose of being used therein, and to none others, and at the price aforesaid, and to provide all necessary facilities for that purpose within a time to be fixed in said bond. And any breach of the provisions thereof shall be taken and deemed a forfeiture of all rights accruing under and by virtue of this act. SEC. 3. That the introduction of guano from such islands, rocks, or keys, shall be regulated as in the coasting trade between different parts of the United States, and the same laws shall govern the vessels concerned therein. SEC. 4. That nothing in this act contained shall be construed obligatory on the United States to retain possession of the islands, rocks, or keys, as aforesaid, after the guano shall have been removed from the same. SEC. 5. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, at his discretion, to employ the land and naval forces of the United States to protect the rights of the said discoverer or discoverers or their assigns, as aforesaid. SEC. 6. That until otherwise provided by law, all acts done, and offences or crimes committed, on every such island, rocks, or keys, by persons who may land thereon, or in the waters adjacent thereto, shall be held and deemed to have been done or committed on the high seas, on board a merchant ship or vessel belonging to the United States, and be punished according to the laws of the United States relating to such ships or vessels and offences on the high seas; which laws, for the purposes aforesaid, are hereby extended to and over such islands, rocks, or keys. Transportation of such guano, how regulated. United States tain such islands. not bound to re Land and naval forces may be employed to enforce said rights. Provision against crimes on such islands. No. 373. MAY 14, 1856. Stat. at Large, [No. 9.] Joint Resolution for the Statistics of the Coastwise Commerce to be included hereVol. XI. p. 144. after in the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury on Commerce and Naviya Statistics of coastwise commerce to be an nually reported. See 1866, ch. 298, § 13. Stat. at Large, Vol. XI. p. 139. Commercial information communicated by consuls, &c. to be reported to Congress. Consuls, &c. bound to procure such information. 1856, ch.127,§ 22. Superintendent of statistics. 1866, ch.298,§ 13. Assistant. tion. Resolved, &c. That the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual reports on commerce and navigation hereafter to be made to Congress, cause to be stated the kinds, quantities, and value of the merchandise entered and cleared coastwise into and from the collection districts of the United States, and the said Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make all rules and orders necessary to carry into effect the object of this resolution. CHAP. CLXX. - An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act requiring Foreign Regulations of Commerce to be laid annually before Congress," approved August sixteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-two, and for other Purposes. Be it enacted, &c. That in addition to the changes and modifications in the commercial systems of other nations, now required by said act, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to lay before Congress annually, within sixty days after the commencement of each ordinary session, as a part of said report, all other commercial information communicated to the State Department by consular and diplomatic agents of this government abroad, or contained in the official publications of other governments, which he shall deem sufficiently important. SEC. 2. That to enable the Secretary of State to make said report, it is hereby declared to be the duty of consuls and commercial agents of the United States in foreign countries, to procure and transmit to the Department of State authentic commercial information respecting said countries, of such character, and in such manner and form, and at such times, as said department may, from time to time prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State in said annual report, to specify the names of any of said officers who may have been remiss in their duty enjoined by this act. SEC. 3. That the Secretary of State be and is hereby authorized and required to appoint one clerk, who shall have charge of statistics in said department, and shall be called "Superintendent of Statistics," and shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and shall be allowed as an assistant, one clerk of the third class, which clerk the Secretary of State is hereby authorized and required to appoint. Stat. at Large, CHAP. LVI.— An Act relating to Foreign Coins and to the Coinage of Cents at the Mint Vol. XI. p. 163. of the United States. How much Spanish and Mexican coins are to be received for by United States. Said coins to be recoined. Be it enacted, &c. That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the treasury of the United States, and its several offices, and at the several post-offices and land-offices, at the rates of valuation following, that is to say, the fourth of a dollar, or piece of two reals, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dollar, or piece of one real, at ten cents; and the sixteenth of a dollar, or half-real, at five cents. SEC. 2. That the said coins, when so received, shall not again be paid out, or put in circulation, but shall be recoined at the mint. And it shall be the duty of the director of the mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary and proper, to secure their transmission to the mint for recoinage, and the return or distribution of the proceeds thereof, when deemed expedient, and to prescribe such forms of account as may be appropriate and applicable to the circumstances: Provided, That the expenses incident to such transmission or distribution, and of recoinage, shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss, and the net profits, if any, shall be paid from time to time into the treasury of the United States. coins a currency SEC. 3. That all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or Former acts silver coins, and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for debts, making foreign are hereby repealed; but it shall be the duty of the director of the mint or legal tender to cause assays to be made, from time to time, of such foreign coins as repealed. may be known to our commerce, to determine their average weight, fine- eign coins to be Assays of forness, and value, and to embrace in his annual report a statement of the re- måde, and ansults thereof. nually reported. SEC. 4. That from and after the passage of this act, coinage of the half-cent shall cease. No. 376. - FEBRUARY 26, 1857. * the Stat. at Large, Vol. XI. p. 166. CHAP. LX.-An Act to authorize the People of the Territory of Minnesota to form a Constitution and State Government, preparatory to their Admission in the Union on an equal Footing with the original States. SEC. 2. That the said State of Minnesota shall have concurrent juris- Jurisdiction over bordering diction on the Mississippi and all other rivers and waters bordering on the waters, which are said State of Minnesota, so far as the same shall form a common boundary declared to be to said State and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed common highor bounded by the same; and said river and waters, and the navigable waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to all other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll, therefor. ways. Stat. at Large, [No. 8.] A Resolution to provide for ascertaining the relative Value of the Coinage of the United States and Great Britain, and the fixing the relative Value of the Unitary Coins Vol. XI. p. 254. of the two Countries. [Resolved, &c. That the Secretary of the Treasury be and he is hereby authorized and directed to appoint some suitable person as agent or commissioner to confer with the proper functionaries in Great Britain in relation to some plan or plans of so mutually arranging, on the decimal basis, the coinage of the two countries as that the respective units shall be thereafter easily and exactly commensurable, and to embody the result of such conference in a statement and report, to be laid before Congress as early as practicable; and that the compensation of said agent or commissioner shall not exceed five thousand dollars in full for his services and expenses.] CHAP. LXII. ·An Act to establish Augusta, in the State of Georgia, a Port of Delivery. Be it enacted, &c. That Augusta, in the State of Georgia, within the collection district of Savannah, be and the same is hereby declared to be a port of delivery, within the said collection district, and there shall be appointed a surveyor of customs, to reside at said port of Augusta, who shall perform similar duties towards, and in connection with, the collector at the port of entry, as are prescribed for surveyors of the ports of Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and Nashville, by the act of Congress approved second March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, being entitled "An act allowing the duties on foreign merchandise imported into Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, and Natchez, to be secured and paid at those places," the duties of the collector at Savannah in reference to all foreign merchandise entered Agent, &c. to confer with Great Britain as to coinage. Stat. at Large, Vol. XI. p. 168. Augusta (Ga.) made a port of delivery. Surveyor. 1831, ch. 87. Ante, p. 240. Duties of collector at Savan tations for Au gusta. Importations how made. nah as to impor- for the port of Augusta, and to be shipped from Savannah to Augusta, either by the river or railroad, shall be the same as those prescribed for the collector at New Orleans, in reference to merchandise entered by an importer or his agent there for the ports above mentioned in said act. And importations of foreign merchandise to Augusta may be made through the port of Savannah in the same way, and under like instructions, [restrictions,] penalties, and forfeitures, as by the said act they are allowed to be made to the places above mentioned through the port of New Orleans. Stat. at Large, Vol. XI. p. 168. Importation of obscene, &c. books prohibited. 1842, ch. 270. Packages, &c. of which they are a part, to be forfeited. Selma, (Ala.) made a port of delivery. 1858, ch. 3. No. 379.- MARCH 2, 1857. CHAP. LXIII. - An Act to amend the twenty-eighth Section of the Act of Congress approved the thirtieth of August one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, entitled "An Act to provide Revenue from Imports and to change and modify existing Laws imposing Duties on Imports and for other Purposes," — prohibiting the Importation of obscene and indecent Articles, so as more effectually to accomplish the Purposes for which that Provis ion was enacted. Be it enacted, &c. That the twenty-eighth section of the act of Congress approved the thirtieth of August, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, and entitled "An act to provide revenue from imports, and to change and modify existing laws imposing duties on imports, and for other purposes," be amended as follows: The importation of all indecent or obscene articles, prints, paintings, lithographs, engravings, images, figures, daguerreotypes, photographs, and transparencies, is hereby prohibited, and no invoice or package whatever, or any part thereof, in which any such articles are contained, shall be admitted to entry; and all invoices and packages whereof any such articles shall compose a part, are hereby declared to be liable to be proceeded against, seized, and forfeited by due course of law, and the said articles shall be forthwith destroyed. --- Stat. at Large, CHAP. CII. -An Act to constitute Selma, in the State of Alabama, a Port of Delivery. Vol. XI. p. 199. Be it enacted, &c. That Selma, in the State of Alabama, shall be and is hereby constituted a port of delivery within the collection district of New Orleans; and there shall be appointed a surveyor of customs, to reside at said port, who shall, in addition to his own duties, perform the duties and receive the salary and emoluments prescribed by the act of Congress, approved on the second of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, for importing merchandise into Pittsburg, Wheeling, and other places. 1831, ch. 87. Ante, p. 240. No. 381.- MARCH 3, 1857. Stat. at Large, CHAP. CV.— An Act to establish a Port of Entry at Fernandina, in the State of Vol. XI. p. 200. Nassau coun collection dis Florida. Be it enacted, &c. That the county of Nassau, in the State of Florida, ty, (Fa.) made a embracing all the waters, islands, bays, harbors, inlets, shores and rivers in the same, shall be a collection district, to be called the district of Fernandina, and that Fernandina shall be the port of entry for said district; and a collector for said district shall be appointed, who shall perform the same duties and receive the same compensation and fees as the collector for the district of St. John's in said State. trict with Fernandina as a port of entry. Salary of collector. |