Article 2. every month,

Officers when sick or waiting orders will report to the Department, in writing, on the first day of

CHAPTER XVII.-MILITARY HONORS AND CEREMONIES.

Article 1. When the President of the United States shall visit a vessel of the Revenue Marine, he shall be received with the following honors: The yards shall be manned, all the officers shall be on deck in full uniform, and a salute of twenty-one guns shall be fired. He shall receive the same honors when he leaves the ship. Article 2. The Vice President shall be received with the same honors as the President, except the salutes; one salute of nineteen guns shall be fired when he leaves the vessel.

Article 3. The Secretary of the Treasury, or any head of a Department of the General Government, or any of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or the Governor of a State, shall be received with the same honors as the Vice President, except that the salute shall be of seventeen guns.

Article 4. Upon the anniversary of the Declaration of Inpendence of the United States, the colors shall be hoisted at sunrise, and all the vessels of the Revenue Marine shall, when in port, be dressed, and so continue until the colors are hauled down at sunset, if the state of the weather and other circumstances will allow it. At sunrise, at meridian, and at sunset, a salute of twenty-one guns shall be fired from every vessel in commission.

Article 5. On the 22d day of February, the anniversary of the birth-day of Washington, a salute of twenty-one guns shall be fired at meridian from every vessel of the Revenue Marine in commission.

Article 6. All unnecessary or unusual expenditure of ammunition is strictly forbidden.

Article 7. Captains shall, when they go on board a vessel of the Revenue Marine commanded by officers of the same or inferior rank, be received on deck by the commander of the vessel visited, by the officer second in command, and by the officers of the watch.

Article 8. All commission officers below the rank of a captain shall be received by the officer of the watch. Article 9. The salute of a captain shall be returned with nine guns, and the salute of a lieutenant commanding with five guns.

Article 10. The gangway ceremonies will be as follows: For captains, the side shall be piped by the boatswain, and attended by four side boys. For ward-room officers, the side shall be piped by the boatswain and attended by two side boys.

These ceremonies shall not be observed, except between sunrise and tattoo in the evening. After dark each side boy shall hold a light. After tattoo the side shall be attended only by the quartermaster's light, for any officer of the Revenue Marine.

Foreign officers shall at all times be received with the honors and ceremonies due to their rank, when they come on board, and when they leave a vessel of the Revenue Marine.

When the captain is absent, a light shall be hoisted at the peak at tattoo.

Such portions of the foregoing regulations as relate to the crew, shall be read in their presence at least once in every week. J. C. SPENCER, Secretary of the Treasury.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 1, 1843.

[ NO. IV.]

[The body of Instructions addressed by the Department of State to Consuls, and Vice Consuls, noticed at page 74, article 542, is here introduced in full, to supply any deficiency that exists in those that emanate from the Treasury Department to said commercial agents abroad. Yet that statement itself is defective, not having embraced the instructions, or any part thereof, which were in force anterior to and on the 8th of August, 1815, inclusive, of which no knowledge existed in the Department of State at the date of the substitute edition of 1838; they having been temporarily lost or mislaid, (in consequence of the improvident practice of entrusting the files to the custody of messengers, whose other vocations are incompatible with this service, but which still prevails in some of the Departments,) and were unintentionally repealed by the issue of 1838; but which, having been since recovered, will be partially or wholly restored at the next issue of those Instructions.]

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CONSULS AND COMMERCIAL AGENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 1, 1838.

The following instructions are intended to supersede those which have, at different periods, been issued from this Department, embodying directions to those officers, and arranging them under proper heads, for the purpose of making them easily referred to, and producing uniformity in all the consular proceedings.

CHAPTER I.

Of the duty of a Consul on his appointment, before he enters on the exercise of his official duties. Article 1. As soon as a Consul receives notice of his appointment, he is required to execute a bond, with such sureties as shall be certified by the District Attorney of the United States for the District in which they reside, to be sufficient. He is to transmit the bond executed to this Department, for the approval of the Secretary of State, and he will, with all convenient despatch, after receiving his instructions, depart for the place of his destination, giving notice to the Department of the time of his departure, and of the vessel in which he embarks. On his arrival at the place of his destination, he will give notice to the Department of the fact. If the Consul appointed be, at the time of his appointment, a resident of the country to which he shall be appointed, his consular bond must be executed by him, and transmitted to the United States, for the purpose of being executed by his sureties, who must be residents of the United States.

CHAPTER II.

Of the formalities to be observed by a Consul after entering upon the duties of his office. Article 2. The first duty of a Consul, on his arrival at his post, will be, to give notice of the fact to the Minister or Chargé d'Affaires of the United States, if there be one near the Government of the country to which he is sent, to whom his commission will be sent by the Department, with instructions to apply for the usual exequatur. If there be no Minister or Chargé d'Affaires of the United States resident in the country, the Consul will, immediately on his arrival, transmit his commission to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and request an exequatur. In either case, he will acquaint the proper authorities of the port or district to which he is sent with his appointment, and, if he can obtain their consent to his acting as commercial agent before the receipt of his exequatur, he is authorized to do so; but he is not to perform any act as Consul until his exequatur has been granted. This he must see made public in the manner usual in such country; and he will then apply to the person having charge of the consular seal, and the archives of the consulate to which he is appointed, for the delivery thereof, making an inventory of the papers and other effects they may contain, or verifying a former inventory, if any such has already been made, and passing a receipt for the same; transmitting a copy of such inventory to the Department, if it has not already been done; or, if any additions have been made to such archives since the last transmission, then sending a copy of the additional articles not contained in the former inventory.

Article 3. If there are any funds in the hands of the former incumbent of the office, they must be delivered over to his successor, unless they are the proceeds of the effects of an American who has died intestate more than a year, and which, according to the second section of the act of the 14th of April, 1792, ought to be remitted to the Treasury of the United States; in which case the Consul who received the same shall make the remittance.

Article 4. Having entered on the duties of his office, the Consul must immediately give notice thereof to the Department of State, to the Minister of the United States in the country to which such Consul is appointed, and to the Consuls of the United States residing in the same country, and in the neighboring ports of other countries; and no Consul is to absent himself from the country of his consular residence, without leave first obtained from the Department of State, or from the diplomatic agent of the United States in that country, unless in cases of emergency, which must be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Department.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Records and papers of the consular office.

Article 5. The following record books are to be kept in each consulate :

1. A letter book, into which are to be copied all official notes and letters, (other than those addressed to the Department of State,) according to their dates, which are written by the Consul or by his order.

2. A book of correspondence with the Department of State, in which are to be copied, according to their dates, all the letters written by the Consul to the Department, with the returns and other documents accompanying the

same.

3. A record book for the entry of protests, and all other official consular acts, in which all such acts, of every description, shall be fairly written.

Article 6. When a paper of any description shall be entered or recorded in either of the said books, the same shall be indexed by a reference both to the name of the party and the subject of the paper.

Article 7. The answers received to official letters, and all other papers transmitted to the consulate intended to be permanently kept there, shall be kept in a proper place, labelled according to their subject matter, until a sufficient number shall be accumulated to form a volume, when they shall be bound up and indexed in the same manner as is directed with respect to the other records.

Article 8. All letters addressed to this Department must be written on foolscap paper, in a fair hand, leaving an inch margin all around the page; and the Consuls will recommend to their correspondents to observe the same form. These letters are to be folded in the manner of the ink lines which are herewith sent, to regulate the distance between the written lines of the communication; and the writer's name, consulate or agency, and date, must be regularly endorsed; after which they are to be enclosed in an envelope and properly directed. The Consuls are further requested not to put wafers or sealing-wax upon the communications and letters themselves, but only on the envelopes which enclose them.

Article 9. All the above mentioned books must be regularly paged; but where blanks occur, (as in the book of original letters from the covers and unwritten pages,) a cross must be made over the blank page, and it is not to be numbered.

Article 10. The consular books are to be kept distinct from those of the Consul's private affairs, and his consular business should, if possible, be transacted in a separate apartment from that in which his ordinary commercial or other affairs are carried on-designated by the arms of the United States exhibited at its entrance.

Article 11. Each consulate will be furnished with a seal of office, a flag, and the arms of the United States. Consuls not provided with these articles will give notice thereof to this Department. The seal is to be kept in some secure place, and used to authenticate all documents given by the Consul in his official capacity.

Article 12. With these "instructions," the Consuls will receive printed forms, which are to be used in making the customary commercial returns. These returns are to be made semi-annually, on the first days of January and July. The respective sums will be set down at the foot of the columns of figures; the name of the Consul and consulate, with the date, will be endorsed upon the returns, and a brief recapitulation will be annexed, specifying the number of vessels, the amount of tonnage, the number of seamen, and, where possible, the estimated value of

cargoes.

Article 13. Also, with these "instructions," the Consuls will receive another printed form, being a consular statement of fees, designed to accompany the printed forms of returns described in the preceding article. In the specification of the items, the most scrupulous accuracy of detail is expected. The Consuls are requested to note such parts of the forms mentioned in this and the next preceding article as they may deem susceptible of improvement, and to make such suggestions in relation thereto as they may deem useful. This form is to be endorsed with the name of the Consul and consulate, the date, and the sum total in dollars and cents.

If it should at any time happen that no American vessels have entered or departed from the ports of a consulate within the half year, or that no fees have been received within that period, the Consul will state the fact in a despatch to the Department.

Article. 14. The Consuls will be particular to endorse numerically all their communications and returns, thus: No. 1, No. 2, &c., &c., so that at any time a deficiency in the series may be readily ascertained and supplied. Short marginal notes, too, indicating the subject matter of their communications, are particularly enjoined.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the duties required to be performed by Consuls and Vice Consuls of the United States.

Section 1.-Of the nature of Consular duties.—Article 15. Consuls (excepting those to the Barbary powers) are not invested with any diplomatic powers, and therefore are not entitled to communicate directly with the Government of the country in which they reside; except under the special circumstances hereinafter mentioned. Whenever application is to be made to the Government, it must be done through the Minister of the United States, if there be one; if not, and the case should require it, the Consul may make the application to the proper Department, but in respectful terms, stating the exigency of the case, and that an application to the subordinate officers could not be made, or had proved ineffectual.

Article 16. The duties of a Consul or Vice Consul are such as are prescribed by positive law, or such as arise from the nature of the office under the general commercial laws of nations.

The first statute prescribing particular duties to Consuls is the act of the 14th April, 1792. The first section of this act relates solely to the consular convention with France, which being no longer in force, this section is obsolete. A copy of so much of this act as is in force is annexed to these instructions.

Section 2.Of the duties of Consuls in relation to Intestates' Estate.-Article 17. By the first clause of the second section, Consuls and Vice Consuls are empowered to receive protests or declarations, which captains, masters, crews, passengers, and merchants, citizens of the United States, may make in the place for which such Consul is appointed, and also such as foreigners may make before them relative to the personal interests of any citizens of the United States. The originals of these acts are to be kept in the books of records of the consulate, and copies, duly authenticated under the consular seal, are to be given to such persons as may demand the same.

By the second clause of the second section, where a citizen of the United States shall die within the consular district, the Consul or Vice Consul shall take possession of his effects, shall sell at public auction such part of them as may be of a perishable nature, and such further part as may be necessary for the payment of the debts of the deceased.

But in order to execute this power, the following are pre-requisites:

1. That the laws of the country permit such administration, or that it be stipulated by treaty.

2. That the person has died without any legal representative, any partner in trade, or trustee, to take care of his effects.

Article 18. In the execution of this duty, the following requisites are prescribed by the act:

1. An inventory must be taken of all the effects of the deceased, with the assistance of two merchants of the United States, or, for want of them, of any others.

In performing this branch of the consular duty, great attention is required; the word "effects," as under the act, comprehends property of every description, including debts due. Merchants of great respectability are to be selected as the assistants of the Consul. Although appraisement is not mentioned in the act, the Consuls are instructed to have the apparent value of each article affixed to it. If among the papers of the deceased are found any evidences of debts, although they may not be due in the consular districts, yet they are to be placed in the inventory. 2. The commercial books of the deceased are to be placed in the inventory, and particularly described, mentioning the number of pages each of the said books contains, and the Consul shall place a certificate, signed by him, at the beginning and the end of each book, in such manner as to prevent any addition being made to them. The letter books of the deceased are comprehended in the term commercial books.

Article 19. This inventory must be entered in the consular books, and as doubts may arise whether this is such a document as is comprehended in the provisions of the first clause of this section of the law, the Consul is instructed to make two originals; that is to say, that the inventory be signed by him, and by his two assistants, both in the book of records in which it is entered, and in the authenticated copy.

Article 20. By the second section of the act aforesaid, all sales of the property of the deceased must be "at auction, after reasonable public notice." In the execution of this duty, the Consul is instructed to give the same previous notice that is directed by the laws of the country for the judicial sale of property in execution, and at some public place; but whether it be required in judicial sales or not, notice must be given in at least one of the gazettes of the place, if any be printed there, both in English and in the language of the country.

Article 21. No property shall be sold as being of a perishable nature, until it has been viewed by three respectable merchants, and by them, under oath, declared to be of that description.

Article 22. In one year after the death of the intestate, the Consul is directed, by the said second section of the act aforesaid, to transmit the balance of the estate, (after paying the debts and other lawful charges,) to the Treasury of the United States, in money, to be holden in trust for the legal claimants. But if, at any time before such transmission, the legal representative of the deceased appear and demand the effects in the hands of the Consul, he shall deliver them up, being paid his fees, and shall cease his proceedings.

Article 23. In the execution of the duty prescribed by the last preceding article, the Consul is hereby instructed

1. To keep a regular account of all moneys received, as well for effects sold as for credits collected, and all sums expended, taking duplicate receipts, expressing on what account the sums were paid, numbering them regularly; one of each of the said duplicates to be kept by the Consul, the other to be delivered to the representative of the deceased, or transmitted to the Treasury, if no representative appear.

2. To enter on his consular books a regular account between himself and the estate of the deceased, in which he shall enter to his debit all the moneys and effects that come to his hands, and to his credit all the payments he may make; and, finally, the balance that he may deliver over or remit, so as to close the account.

A copy of this account shall be delivered to the representative of the deceased, or transmitted to the Treasury, as the case may be. 3. As soon as any estate shall be finally settled, the Consul shall give notice to the Department, designating the balance in money which has been transmitted to the Treasury, or the effects which have been delivered to the representative of the deceased, as the case may be.

4. If there should be several parties, each claiming to be the representative of the deceased, and demanding the effects, the Consul must direct the parties to determine their rights in the tribunals of the country.

Section 3.-Of the duties of Consuls in relation to Wrecks.-Article 24. By the third section of the act aforesaid, the "Consuls and Vice Consuls, in cases where vessels of the United States shall be stranded on the coast of their consulates, respectively, shall, as far as the laws of the country permit, take proper measures, as well for saving such vessels, their cargoes, and appurtenances, as for storing and securing the effects and merchandise saved, and for taking an inventory or inventories thereof; and the merchandise and effects saved, with the inventory and inven

tories, shall, after deducting therefrom the expense, be delivered to the owner or owners. But no Consul or Vice Consul shall take possession of any such goods, wares, merchandise, or other property, when the master, owner, or consignee thereof is present, or capable of taking possession of the same."

Article 25. In the execution of the duties prescribed by this part of the act, the Consul is instructed

1. That all vessels, parts of vessels, and any portion of their cargo belonging to citizens of the United States, saved and brought into the consular jurisdiction, after being wrecked, or in consequence of any disaster at sea, are to be proceeded with in the same manner as if the vessel had stranded within the consular jurisdiction; and, if salvage shall be claimed and allowed by a competent tribunal, the remainder of the effects, or the balance of their proceeds, if sold, shall be disposed of in the same manner as is directed in the last preceding section with respect to intestates' estates; provided, in the case of salvage, that the court deciding the same will permit the Consul to receive the effects and balance, after paying the salvage.

2. In some countries, (as in Sweden,) chartered companies have the privilege of taking possession of all property wrecked; in others, it may be vested in particular magistrates or officers. In all these cases, the Consul is not to interfere with the legal function of the proper officer; but he may demand, as the representative of the absent master or owner, or as his official adviser, if he be present to assist at the taking of the inventory, the sale, and all other proceedings in relation to the property. It is his duty to protect the interest of the owner, and, if his reasonable requests are not complied with, to take the necessary evidence, and transmit it to the Department of State. 3. When any accident of this kind happens within his jurisdiction, the Consul is to give immediate notice to the Department of State, designating the vessel, and the owners or master.

4. When there is no impediment from the laws of the country, all proceedings in relation to property wrecked are to be the same with those prescribed for the property of intestates.

Section 4.-Of the Duties of Consuls in relation to the Masters of American vessels.-Article 26. By an act of the Congress of the United States, passed 28th February, 1803, a copy whereof is annexed to these instructions, it is in substance directed that every master of an American vessel shall, on his arrival at a foreign port, deposit his register, sea-letter, and Mediterranean passport with the Consul, Vice Consul, Commercial Agent, or Vice Commercial Agent, under a penalty of five hundred dollars, ($500,) which the Consul, Vice Consul, &c., &c., may recover in his own name for the use of the United States; and that, whenever a clearance from the proper officer of the port shall be produced to the Consul, he shall deliver up all the ship's papers, provided the master shall have complied with the provisions of the act of 28th February, 1803, and the act to which it is a supplement, (that is to say,) the act of 14th April, 1792.

Article 27. By another section of the same act, it is directed that, whenever a vessel belonging to an American citizen shall be sold in a foreign port, and her company discharged, or whenever a mariner, a citizen of the United States, shall, with his own consent, be discharged in a foreign country, it is the duty of the master or commander to produce to the Consul, Vice Consul, Commercial Agent, or Vice Commercial Agent, the list of the ship's company, certified according to the first section of the act of 28th of February, 1803, and to pay to such Consul, &c., &c., for every mariner being designated on such list as a citizen of the United States, three months' pay over and above the wages which may be due to such mariner; two-thirds to be paid by the Consul to the mariner dischared, upon his engagement, on board of any vessel, to return to the United States, and the remaining third to be retained for creating a fund for the payment of the passage of mariners, citizens of the United States, who may be desirous of returning to the United States, for the maintenance of American seamen who may be destitute in such port; and the sums retained for such fund shall be accounted for to the Treasury every six months by the person receiving the same.

Article 28. The under officers (below that of captain) are included in the provisions of this section; but the two months' wages are not to be paid in any case, unless the person so discharged has engaged on board of some vessel to return to the United States. If no occasion offers of a direct return, an engagement on board of a vessel ultimately to return, will be sufficient, or, if no such vessel offers, the seaman will be entitled to his two months' wages, on his shipping for an intermediate convenient port.

Article 29. Under the first of these sections, it will be the duty of the Consuls, immediately on the arrival of an American vessel in his consulate, should the master neglect to deliver his ship's papers as is directed by the law, to apprise him of the necessity of so doing by showing him the law that requires it, and of the penalty he will incur by refusal or neglect. When received, the papers are to be kept together in a place as safe as possible, to guard against fire and other accidents; and the Consul, on receiving such papers, shall make an entry in his consular record, specifying the time of delivery, the name of the vessel, the master, and what is the description of the papers deposited, as register, sea-letter, &c., &c.; and when the master shall produce the clearance of his vessel, and shall have complied with the directions of the act above recited, the Consul shall, without delay, deliver up the papers, and shall make an entry in his consular record of the time of such delivery.

Article 30. The provisions of the acts with which the master is obliged to comply before receiving these papers

are:

1. If any of the seamen are discharged, he must have paid three months' wages of such of them as, by the shipping articles or descriptive list of the seamen, shall appear to be American citizens. If they appear to be such by either of these papers, no other evidence is required or permitted.

2. If a vessel be bound for a port in the United States, and there are destitute American seamen in the port, he must agree to take such seamen on board as he shall be requested to do by the Consul, not exceeding two seamen for every one hundred tons burthen of the vessel-on the terms he may agree on with the Consul, not exceeding ten dollars for each seaman. To enable the master of the vessel to obtain the payment specified, the Consul will give him a