of discharge until it has been compared with the abstract.—(Dec. Adm. of the 10th of September, 1833.) Vide, for the franking of the correspondence, book X., chapter 29. (32) The principle of the responsibility of the owners has been established by a decision of the court of repeal of the 17th of March, 1835, which decided, moreover, that it is always by the office from whence the goods were despatched that legal proceedings must come.-(Circular of the 25th May, 1835, No. 1,487.) No tribunals have power, even when the loss is legally certified, to exempt the owners from the payment of the duties of entry.-(Act of Congress of the 21st of January, 1839; Circular No. 1,744.) The first paragraph of the 4th article of the law of the 9th of February, 1832, (No. 516,) that the 8th article of the law of the 17th of December, 1814, is equally applicable to prohibited goods; only, instead of exacting the duty in case of certified loss, the custom-house shall claim the value only of the lost article.-(Dec. Adm. of the 11th of March, 1839.) (33) Goods are not acknowledged as damaged unless the damage has been really ascertained by the officers of the custom-house, and valued by a board of examiners in the usual manner, to wit: 1st. The examination must be expressly demanded by the forwarding party, who is interested in obtaining it, and who must beforehand make a declaration of the existence of the damage, and to what amount. 2d. The examination shall be made by two experienced persons, appointed, one by the custom-house and the other by the forwarding party; and in case of need, the casting vote shall be given by a third experienced person, (expert,) appointed by the tribunal of commerce, designated in article 3, statute 8, of the law of the 22d of August, 1791, for an analogous case. 3d. The permanent under inspector and the examiner designated shall assist at the proceedings of the board of examiners, without the right of giving an opinion but as supervisors, and to be able to testify to the administration as to regularity of the proceedings. 4th. Should the decision of the board considerably reduce say more than one-tenth-the amount of damage stated by the owner of the property, it is proof of an attempt to defraud the revenue, which must be duly stated, in order to institute legal proceedings. 5th. The result of the examination must be inserted in the custom-house discharge, as well as in the abstract.-(Circular of the 18th of July, 1828, No. 1,111.) (34) Should damaged goods be presented at the office of issue without any mention being made of the damage on the custom-house discharge, the officers must first endeavor to discover the origin of the damage, and then to examine with great care whether it could have occurred during the transit. If, after this examination, they are perfectly convinced that the goods are the same from the office of departure, (bureau de depart,) they will then limit themselves to exactly the duty of entry only. But should circumstances and the character of the damage lead them to believe that there has been effected a substitution of other goods, the fraud must then be certified and prosecuted.—(Dec. Adm. of the 11th of October, 1832.) (35) Article 9 of the law of the 17th of December, 1814, is applicable to prohibited goods in, virtue of article 4 of the law of the 9th of February, 1832; but its application never takes place in any case without the special instructions of the administration.-(Dec. Adm of the 16th of September, 1839.) (36) The custom-house discharge must not designate this office; it is sufficient that the conductor should present himself at an office of the second line situated on the road he is traveling.— (Dec. Adm. of the 22d of May, 1839.) Should the administration have authorized the issue of the merchandise by another point than that indicated on the custom-house discharge, the receiver at the office of the second line must not refuse to recognize the identity of the cargo or load, and to affix his certificate to the customhouse discharge, when the conductor does not happen to be on the road which leads to the point of issue from the kingdom indicated on the manifest.-(Dec. Adm. of the 29th of September, 1841.) The delay in receiving the custom-house discharge is not sufficient cause to refuse the certificate prescribed by article 12 of the law of the 9th of February, 1832.—(Dec. Adm. of the 16th of November, 1841.) All the goods comprised in one custom-house discharge must be presented together.-(Dec. Adm. of the 1st of September, 1841.) (37) When a custom-house discharge has not been certified (vize) at an office of the second line, this omission is not verified by process verbal, (proces verbal,) and no direct action is brought against the conductor; only the clerk shall insert in the certificate of discharge the following set form: Under reservation of all the rights of the administration resulting from the omission of the certificate to the present custom-house discharge at the office of the second line. This custom-house discharge is then sent in the usual manner to the office of departure, when proceedings are instituted, in virtue of the recognizance, against the forwarding merchant and his security, to enforce the payment of the 500 francs, though the merchant may bring an action against the conductor of the goods.-(Circular of the 23d of March and 9th of August, 1832, Nos. 1,313 and 1,338.) When the clerks of the office of issue notice that the custom-house discharge is not certified, they inform the consignee of the fact, and the latter, being duly informed, may bring an action against the carrier.-(Circular of the 15th of December, 1832, No. 1,361.) The certificate of the custom-house discharge must always be signed by two persons; therefore, in those offices where there is no other officer than the receiver, it will be required to have, in addition to his own, the signature of the brigadier, of the under brigadier, or of an overseer of the brigade. (38) The receiver of the custom-house where the goods are entered for consumption gives credit for the import duties, and reimburses, by a separate and distinct operation, the transit duty, which he charges immediately to the Treasury, without it being required of him to ask authority beforehand for the reimbursement, nor to furnish any other voucher than the receipt of the creditor.-(Circular of the 17th of June, 1834, No. 1,444.) (39) Vide the complete text of this article at No. 417. (40) The custom-house of issue is the one indicated on the custom-house discharge. It is expressly forbidden to the clerks of all other offices, under penalty of immediate removal, to deliver certificates of discharge unless the administration should have granted a particular permission to change the office of issue or destination.-(Circulars of the 7th of May, 1815, No. 21, and of the 15th of February, 1832, No. 1,304.) (41) The cord of the outside plumb may break by accident; but when the inside plumb is also broken, it is to be presumed that there has been tampering with or substitution of the goods. Should the officers, in this case, have any doubt as to the origin of the goods, the transit is suspended, and a double sample is forwarded to the administration, to be submitted to the government board of examiners.-(Dec. Adm. of the 12th of June, 1826.) The completion of the transit may, however, be permitted under the same conditions which are particularly applicable to lost supplies.-(No. 497.) (42) The examination takes place on the receipt of the custom-house discharge, and the reëxportation is consummated in virtue of the engagements subscribed to at the custom-house of departure; only it is required by the consignee, at seaports, that he should state by what vessel and to what country the goods are to be exported.-(Circular of the 11th of March, 1846, No. 1,534.) All the goods comprised in the same custom-house discharge must be presented together at the office of issue.-(Dec. Adm. of the 1st of September, 1841.) (43) This removal or transportation must be made by the direct route, and by day.-(Circular of the 20th of December, 1814.) All the facilities relative to the smuggling trade are absolutely forbidden to the manifests of transit. (Circular Manuscript of the 19th of January, 1838.) (44) At seaports the custom-house discharge stands in lieu of a shipping permit; and it is on this document that the overseers, appointed for this purpose, certify to the embarkation of the goods, as well as to their final departure on the high sea.-(Circular of the 11th of March, 1836, No. 1,534.) (45) Vide, for the security to certificates of discharge, No. 207; and for the mode of examination, No. 493. See also No. 216, for the plumbing at the offices of issue which are not immediately on a foreign frontier. (46) Should there be any purloining, with or without substitution, the fraud, however trifling it may be, is stated in a verbal process. A copy of this act and the custom-house discharge are forwarded to the administration under the transit stamp. It is for the office of departure to prosecute.-(Circular of the 10th of October, 1832, No. 1,351.) The replacing of an article of merchandise abstracted, by another of the same nature and liable to the same duty, is as liable to penalty as any other substitution.-(Dec. Adm. of the 17th of June, 1829.) Vide No. 505 for the damaged merchandise. In order to furnish the parties forwarding and the consignees with the means of prosecuting the carriers, the clerks of the office of issue inscribe and certify on the way-bills, which they have a right to examine, the result of their examination, whenever they are of a nature to be prosecuted at the office of departure.—(Circular of the 25th of September, 1829, No. 1,181.) (47) By the terms of article 9, statute 3, of the law of the 22d of August, 1791, and of the article 54 of the law of the 8th Florial, year 11, goods presented at the office of issue are liable to seizure if they are not identically the same as those described on the custom-house discharge. (A. of C. of the 19th of November, 1834.) It occurred, for instance, that twelve boxes of crushed sugar were forwarded in transit. It was stated on the custom-house discharge that the sugar was white; when it reached its destination it was discovered that the sugar was brown. The custom-house made an attachment. The first board assembled to judge the case granted a replevy, as the statement that the sugar was white being superabundant, evinced no fraudulent design; that the species and quality were alone to be stated, according to the rules of the tariff, to make the declaration valid; and that the requirements of the law were fulfilled by stating the sugar to be crushed. But the court of repeal has decided that the recognizance signed by the interested party, and the custom-house discharge delivered to him in consequence, are correlative documents, which being legally binding on the administration, and that it cannot withdraw itself from its responsibility.-(Circular of the 21st of December, 1834.) (48) Or if the articles are prohibited, their simple value.—(Dec. Adm. of the 11th of March, 1839.) The payment of the duty, or the value, is made at the office of departure, in consequence of the recognizance entered into there. But the administration has the right to remit the duty where the deficit does not amount to much, and that it is occasioned by the natural desiccation occurring during the transportation, and particularly in certain seasons.— -(Circular of the 10th of March, 1818, No. 373.) The proportion of the deficiency is ascertained by weighing each package separately.-(Same circular.) Deficiencies that are evidently not owing to any fraudulent intentions, are simply entered on the custom-house discharge and on the act of discharge. But when there has been any subtraction, even when less than one-tenth, it must be verified by a process verbal, and will render liable the application of the pains and penalties predicated in article 5 of the law of the 17th of December, 1814, or in article 6 of the law of the 9th of February, 1832, according to whether the articles in question are dutiable or prohibited.-(Circulars of the 16th of May, 1818, No. 396, or of the 10th of October, 1832, No. 1,351.) (49) Vide, in table No. 1, the enumeration of transitable liquids. Should the deficiencies in oil or in other liquids be discovered to be owing to illicit subtractions effected in the course of their transportation, the pains and penalties predicated in the general laws become applicable.-(Circular of the 24th of July, 1836, No. 1,555.) (50) The transit of slates is authorized through the river offices at St. Menges and Givet, (Ardennes.)-(Law of the 2d of July, 1836, article 10.) Each of these offices have the right to transmit in transit to one of the two others, slates for transit. (Dec. Adm. of the 12th of November, 1835.) It being impossible to plumb slates, by virtue of the 7th article of the law of the 17th of December, 1814, it is required that they be entered, examined and enumerated on the customhouse discharge by number, value, and according to the dimensions admitted by the tariff in regard to slates imported by sea.1.—(Dec. Adm. of the 26th of October, 1835.) CORDON OFFICE, (Bureau de cordon.)—By a decision of the Minister of Finance of the 21st of August, 1839, the cordon office is open to the transit of the following goods: Silk in cocoons; Silk, unbleached, raw, and dressed; Silk wadding, unbleached, dyed and carded; Copper ore; Pure copper of the first melting, flattened and hammered; Copper, with zinc alloy, of the first melting, flattened and hammered; Lead; Zinc, with the exception of that which is worked; Pewter, flattened or hammered; Iron ore; Iron castings, (sows,) not excepting those that are prohibited; Iron bars; The transit of these goods is effected under the usual general regulations; only goods entering or issuing through the cordon can only use the route of the river Rhone; and their transportation on that part of the river comprised within the radius of the custom-houses, must be by steamboat.-Circular Manuscript of the 10th of October, 1939.) END OF VOLUME VI. INDEX. A. Ad valorem system of the tariff of 1846, views in regard to Agricultural products, comparative view of the value of certain, according to the prices Alexandria city, the debts of-see District of Columbia. they bore in the New York market in July and December, 1846..... expenditures in 1848-'9.. .13, 282 .50, 51 140 3 120 281 2 .3, 120 22 .24, 154 .156, 315 345 .....434, 435 Army, in peace and in war, in Great Britain, Russia, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Assistant Treasurer of the United States- amount of specie deposited with the, in 1847.......... moneys advanced to the, in 1848, to purchase Treasury notes. ......128, 130, 131, 213 amount of coin received and disbursed at the office of the, from 1st January, 1847, to .213, 301, 336 339 465 Atlantic Dock Company, for the construction of docks, bulkheads, &c., in the East river, Austria, the national debt, yearly revenue, population and army of.. Barclay, John D., letter of, to the Secretary of the Treasury, pointing out a clerical error Barley, the product and price of, in 1846. the annual report of December, 1847.. Basin in New York city-see Piers. in Brooklyn city-see Piers. Beef, the price of, in 1846.... .... 51 |