SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That if any consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent shall falsely and knowingly certify that property belonging to foreigners is property belonging to citizens of the United States, he shall, on conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, at the discretion of the court, and be imprisoned for any term not exceeeding three years.

SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That if any consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, shall grant a passport or other paper certifying that any alien, knowing him or her to be such, is a citizen of the United States, he shall, on conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

SECT. 9. And be it further enacted, That all powers of attorney executed after the twentieth day of June next, in a foreign country, for the transfer of any stock of the United States, or for the receipt of interest thereon, shall be verified by the certificate and seal of the consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, if any there be at the place where the same shall be executed, for which the person giving the certificate shall receive fifty cents.

NATH. MACON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
A. BURR,

Vice President of the United States, and President of the Senate.

Approved, February 28, 1803.

TH. JEFFERSON,

President of the United States.

Extract of an Act for the Relief and Protection of American Seamen.

AND, in order that full and speedy information may be obtained of the seizure or detention, by any foreign power, of any seaman employed on board any ship or vessel of the United States: Be it further enacted, That it shall and is hereby declared to be the duty of the master of every ship or vessel of the United States, any of the crew whereof shall have been impressed or detained by any foreign powers, at the first port at which such ship or vessel shall arrive, if such impressment or detention happened on the high seas, or if the same happened within any foreign port, then in the port in which the same hap

pened, immediately to make a protest, stating the manner of such impressment or detention, by whom made, together with the name and place of residence of the person impressed or detained; distinguishing also whether he was an American citizen, and if not to what nation he belonged. And it shall be the duty of such master to transmit by post or otherwise, every such protest made in a foreign country to the nearest Consul or Agent, or to the Minister of the United States resident in such country, if any such there be, preserving a duplicate of such protest, to be by him sent immediately after his arrival within the United States, to the Secretary of State, together with information to whom the original protest was transmitted: And in case such protest shall be made within the United States or in any foreign country, in which no Consul, Agent or Minister of the United States resides, the same shall, as soon thereafter as practicable, be transmitted by such master, by post or otherwise, to the Secretary of State.

And be it further enacted, That a copy of this law be transmitted by the Secretary of State, to each of the Ministers and Consuls of the United States, resident in foreign countries, and by the Secretary of the Treasury, to the several Collectors of the district of the United States, whose duty it is hereby declared to be, from time to time, to make known the provisions of this law, to all masters of ships and vessels of the United States entering or clearing at their several offices. And the master of every such ship or vessel shall before he is admitted to an entry, by any such collector, be required to declare on oath, whether any of the crew of the ship or vessel under his command have been impressed or detained, in the course of his voyage, and how far he has complied with the directions of this act: And every such master as shall wilfully neglect or refuse to make the declarations herein required, or to perform the duties enjoined by this act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars. And it is hereby declared to be the duty of every such Collector to prosecute, for any forfeiture that may be incurred under this act.

Further regulations respecting seamen on their refusing to defend the ship-If any mariners or inferior officers, of any merchant ship, shall decline or refuse to defend the ship, or utter words to discourage others from doing so; every mariner so behaving shall lose all his wages, together with such goods as he may have in the ship, and suffer imprisonment; and every mariner who shall have laid violent hands on his commander, to hinder him from fighting in defence of his ship and goods, shall suffer death as a feln. 22 and 23 Carl. II. c. ii. 7 and 9. Wilfully losing the ship.-If any master, mariner, &c. wilfully cast away burn or destroy his ship, or cause the same to be done, he shall suffer death. Raymond's Rep. p. 650.

Negligence of the mariners.-Masters may reimburse themselves out of the wages of the mariners for losses happening by their negligence.

Suing for wages in the United States' District Court, which is the same as the Court of Admiralty in England.-The convenience arising to mariners on suing for wages in the District Court is so great, that out of regard to that useful body of men, it is permitted that they may sue for wages there. But although this liberty is permitted to mates and mariners, it is denied to the master; for the master contracts upon the credit of the owners, and the mariners upon the credit of the ship. The convenience and benefit accruing to the mariner from this practice are, that they may all join in suit there, for wages, (thereby lessening the expense) which could not be done by the usual courts of the county. In the district court, the ship itself is answerable and not the owners.

If the voyage be changed during the voyage, the mariners are not obliged to continue in the ship: unless it has been specified in the articles or contract before sailing on the voyage.

In what cases wages are due.—If the ship be lost before she arrives at any port of delivery, the seamen lose all their wages. If she be lost after coming to a port of delivery, they only lose their wages from the last port of delivery, even though the officers and mariners sign a contract not to demand wages unless the ship return to the United States. If seamen run away, after arriving at a port of delivery, they lose all their wages.

If a ship outward bound, arrives at her destined port, unloads there, receives a freight to return to the United States, and is taken by the enemy on her return, the mariners are intitled to their wages only to the last port of delivery, or the port she unloaded in, and nothing for loading the return cargo.

If a seaman be impressed before the ship arrives at the delivering port, and the ship afterwards arrives safe, his wages are recoverable for the time he served.

An action was brought by a sailor for wages, on a voyage from Branstaple to Newfoundland, and from thence to Spain, Portugal, or some port in the Mediterranean. The ship was taken after her arrival at Newfoundland, and the action was brought for the wages due on that part of the voyage, the verdict was given in favour of the sailor, but on motion for a new trial, it was the opinion of the court, that it was one entire voyage the first was only the loading of ship no matter where taken in; and the ship was lost before her arrival at the port of delivery. As the freighter lost his cargo, the mariner ought to lose his wages.

A ship sailed from Rhode Island on a voyage to St. Petersburgh; she arrived safe there and took in a cargo. On her homeward bound passage, she was captured by a Danish pri

vateer, and sent into Norway, where she was detained nearly two years with her original crew on board. She was finally condemned there by the Danish Court. The sailors of the ship sued for wages after their return to Rhode Island; but they only recovered wages to the time of the last port of delivery, which was St. Petersburgh, that is until her outward cargo was discharged-nothing while loading.

A cargo of a ship was lost by the capture of a Swedish privateer, who carried her into Gottenburgh. The master staid there three months to refit and take in new lading; and to prevent the seamen from leaving the ship, he agreed to pay them so much a month while they staid there. And in the action for this, the master would have discharged himself on the rule that freight is the mother of wages, which the chief justice agreed to be the general doctrine, but he held it not sufficient to set aside a special agreement, as there was in this case. The seamen, therefore, recovered their wages.

Regulations for Ships or Vessels within the port or harbour of Philadelphia.

And be it further enacted, &c. That if any master or captain of any ship or vessel, shall refuse or neglect to comply with the directions of said Harbour Master, in matters within the jurisdiction of his office, or if any person whoever, shall obstruct or prevent the said Harbour Master in the execution of his duties, such master, captain, or other person, shall, for each and every such offence, severally forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars. And the said Harbour Master shall, in full compensation for his services, be entitled to have, recover, and receive, from the master, captain, owner, or consignee, of each and every ship or vessel, arriving at the port of Philadelphia, coasting vessels not exceeding the burthen of seventy-five tons excepted, the sum of one dollar, for each and every voyage by such ship or vessel performed, and no more.

First. Every ship or vessel that may arrive in this harbour, and that shall come to anchor in the stream, any where between Almond and Vine streets, having previously caused her gunpowder, if any she had on board, to be landed, as the law directs, may remain in that situation twenty-four hours, and no longer, taking care to lay as near to the island, or sand bar, as may be consistent with their safety. But, if from the circumstance of a vessel having servants on board, or from any other cause, it may be thought necessary or convenient to lay a longer time in the stream, then, and in every such case, the

owner, master, pilot, or other person, having the charge or direction of such vessel, shall remove her from opposite the city, and shall moor her (or cause her to be moored to the northward of Vine street) with one anchor and cable up, and one anchor and cable down the stream; and in both the above mentioned situations, the regulations contained in the next succeeding article to be duly attended to..

Second. When any ship or vessel shall be hauled in to any wharf or dock, or along side of another vessel that may be lying at such wharf or dock, the owner, master, pilot, or whoever may have the command, care or direction of her, shall have her securely made fast; and if outside of another vessel, shall get one good fast from each end of the vessel to the shore, with sufficient fenders between them and the inside vessel, and shall cause the flews of their anchors to be taken in board, and within twenty-four hours thereafter cause her jib boom, spritsail yard, main boom, spanker, and ringtail booms, if any they have, to be rigged in, and their lower yards topped up, in such a manner as least to interfere with vessels passing.

Third. If any vessel, properly moored in the stream, shall have her anchor or cable overlaid by another vessel, in anchoring or mooring, the master or person having the care or direction of such last mentioned vessel, shall immediately, or soon as may be, after application made to him by the party aggrieved, cause the said anchor or cable, so overlaying, to be taken up and cleared.

Fourth. If the fasts of vessels when moored at a wharf, shall extend across a dock, so as to obstruct the passing or repassing of shallops, lighter or other craft or vessel, the master, or other person having the command of such ship or vessel, shall, upon the first application, immediately cause such fast or fasts to be cast off or slacked down.

Fifth. No outward bound vessel, putting off from a wharf, shall lay longer in the stream between Vine street and Almond, in the district of Southwark, above mentioned, than twentyfour hours. And if vessels lying at the end of wharves, so much interlock with each other, as to prevent vessels hauling in and out of docks, the master, owner, pilot, or other person having the charge of the same, shall, immediately on application from any person so wanting to haul his vessel in or out of the dock aforesaid, have the vessel or vessels so interfering, moved in such a manner as to accommodate the one applied for; in which case, the vessel making rcom for another to haul in or out, shall have liberty to make her warps fast to the most convenient place adjacent, for a reasonable time, and that all sea vessels, when transporting or wanting to haul into a wharf