Acts of Congress.

ACTS OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS.

An Act for the punishment of certain crimes therein and the other half to the use of any person or per.

Acts of Congress.

States: Provided. That, in case of vessels hereby prohibited, which shall be driven by distress of weather, or want of provisions, into any port or place of the United States, they may be suffered to remain under the custody of the collector there, or nearest thereto, until suitable repairs or supplies can be obtained; and as soon as may be thereafter, shall be required and suffered to depart; but no part of the lading of such vessel shall be taken out, or disposed of, unless by the special permit of such collector, to defray the unavoidable expense of such repairs or supplies.

SEC. 4. Provided, and be it further enacted, That, at any time after the passing of this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, if he shall deem it expedient and consistent with the interests of the United States, by his order, to remit and discontinue, for the time being, the restraints and prohibitions aforesaid, either with respect to the French Republic, or to any island, port, or place belonging to the said Republic, with which a commercial intercourse may safely be renewed; and also to revoke such order, whenever, in his opinion, the interest of the United States shall require; and he shall be, and hereby is, authorized to make proclamation thereof accordingly.

be restored; and the said judge shall thereupon inquire, in a summary manner, into the circumstances of the case, first causing reasonable notice to be given to the attorney of the United States for such district, and to the collector of the district by whom such seizure or detention hath been or shall be made, that each may have an opportunity of showing cause against the prayer of such petition; and shall cause the facts which shall appear upon such inquiry, to be stated and annexed to the petition, and direct their transmission to the Secretary of the Treasury; and if it shall appear to his satisfaction, that such ship or vessel was captured or driven into such port or place by distress of weather, or want of provisions, or was unavoidably detained and delayed by some embargo, arrest, capture, contrary winds, or other unavoidable casualty, without any fault, wilful negligence, or intention to evade the provisions of the act before mentioned, or of this act, in any such claimant, the Secretary of the Treasury shall order the restoration of said vessel and cargo to such claimant, upon such terms and conditions as he may deem reasonable and just; otherwise, and in all cases wherein such petition shall not be presented, every ship or vessel that has arrived since the said first day of December from any port or place in SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall the French Republic, or the dependencies therebe lawful for the President of the United States of, or which shall hereafter arrive within any to give instructions to the commanders of the port or place of the United States, unless driven public armed ships of the United States, to stop by stress of weather or want of provisions, shall and examine any ship or vessel of the United be liable to be prosecuted and condemned in the States on the high sea, which there may be rea- same manner, and to the same uses, as are proson to suspect to be engaged in any traffic or vided in and by the first section of this act; and commerce contrary to the true tenor hereof; and like proceedings shall also be had, and like forfeitif upon examination, it shall appear that such ures incurred, as are herein provided, with respect ship or vessel is bound or sailing to any port or to vessels coming from France, and the dependenplace within the territory of the French Repub-cies thereof, in all cases when any ship or vessel shall lic or her dependencies, contrary to the intent of arrive in any port or place of the United States, this act, it shall be the duty of the commander of from any port or place with which all commersuch public armed vessel, to seize every ship or cial intercourse shall be prohibited by proclamavessel engaged in such illicit commerce, and send tion, according to the intent of this act. the same to the nearest port in the United States; and every such ship or vessel, thus bound or sailing to any such port or place, shall, upon due proof thereof, be liable to the like penalties and forfeitures as are provided in and by the first section of this act.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever any ship or vessel, owned wholly or in part, or employed by any citizen or citizens of the United States, and coming from any port or place within the territory of the French Republic, or the dependencies thereof, which has arrived within any port or place of the United States since the first day of December last past, or which shall hereafter arrive, hath been, or hereafter shall be, seized and detained by virtue of this act, or of an act, entitled "An act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States and France, and the dependencies thereof," it shall be lawful for any person claiming such ship or vessel, to prefer his petition to the judge of the district in which such seizure shall be made, setting forth the circumstances of his case, and to pray that the same ship or vessel, and her cargo, may

SEC. 7. Provided, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained, shall extend to any ship or vessel to which the President of the United States shall grant a permission to enter or to clear; which permission he is hereby authorized to grant to vessels which shall be solely employed in any purpose of political or national intercourse, or to aid the departure of any French persons, with their goods and effects, who shall have been resident within the United States, when he may think requisite.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted That this act shall continue and be in force until the third day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred.

Approved, February 9, 1799.

An Act respecting balances reported against certain
States, by the commissioners appointed to settle the
accounts between the United States and the several
States.

Be it enacted, &c., That if any State against which a balance was reported by the commis

Acts of Congress.

An Act to amend an act, entitled “ An act giving effect to the laws of the United States within the district of Tennessee."

sioners appointed to settle the accounts between the United States and the several States, shall, on or before the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred, by a legislative act engage to pay into Be it enacted, &c., That any person who shall the Treasury of the United States, within five years commit an offence against the laws of the United after passing such legislative act, or to expend, States, on the east side of Cumberland mountain. within the time last mentioned, in erecting, enlarg- within the district of Tennessee, shall not be held ing or completing any fortifications for the defence to answer at the court at Nashville, or any other of the United States at such place or places, the place, on the west side of said mountain, and that jurisdiction whereof having been, previously to any person who shall commit an offence against such expenditure, ceded by such State to the Uni- the laws of the United States on the west side of ted States, with reservation that process civil and said mountain, within the said district, shall not criminal issuing under authority of such State. be held to answer, at the court at Knoxville, or any may be served and executed therein, and accord-other place, upon the east side of said mountain; ing to such plan or plans as shall be approved by but that all persons who shall commit offences the President of the United States, a sum in money, against the laws of the United States (within the or in stock of the United States, equal to the said district) shall be held to answer in the court balance reported as aforesaid, against such State, on that side of the said mountain, where such ofor to the sum assumed by the United States in the fence shall have been committed." debt of such State, such payment or expenditure, SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any when so made, shall be accepted by the United suits which shall be brought by the United States. States, as a full discharge of all demands on ac- in the district court of Tennessee, against any count of said balance; and the President of the person residing on the east side of said mountain, United States shall be, and hereby is, authorized shall not be returned to the court at Nashville, on to cause credit to be given to such State on the the west side of the said mountain, and that any books of the Treasury of the United States accord-suits which shall be brought by the United States ingly: Provided however, That no more than one-third part of the whole payment or expenditure that may be made by any such State shall be made in three per cent. stock, nor more than onethird part of the remaining-two thirds shall be made in deferred stock; And provided also, That any such State may obtain a discharge, as aforesaid, by the payment or expenditure of a sum of money, sufficient in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, to purchase, at market price, the different species of stock, the payment or expenditure of which would be accepted as a full discharge, as aforesaid.

SEC. 2. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That if any such State, as aforesaid, shall have expended since the establishment of the present Government of the United States, any sum of money in fortifying any place since ceded by such State to the United States, or which may be so ceded, within one year after the passing of this act, such expenditure having been ascertained and proved to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be taken and allowed as part of the expenditure intended by this act.

Approved, February 15, 1799.

An Act to authorize the reimbursement of moneys expended in rendering aid to sick and destitute American seamen, in foreign countries.

Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of State be, and hereby is, authorized, under the direction of the President of the United States, to reimburse such reasonable advances of money, as have been made, or, during the present year, may be made, by the Consuls of the United States in affording relief to sick and destitute Ainerican seamen, in foreign countries, or in aiding them to return to their homes, beyond the sum allowed by law for that purpose.

Approved, February 19, 1799.

against any person residing upon the west side of said mountain, shall not be returned to the court at Knoxville, on the east side of the said mountain. But that all suits which shall be brought by the United States, against any person or persons, residing on the respective sides of the said mountain, shall be returned to the court, on that side of the shall mountain where the defendant or defendants said reside, or be found at the time of bringing such suit or suits.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the western foot of Cumberland mountain shall be the boundary, dividing the jurisdiction of the eastern, from the western side of said mountain.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all suits which may be brought as aforesaid, shall be proceeded upon to final judgment in the court wherein such suit or suits shall have been originally returned, and it shall be the duty of the clerk for the district of Tennessee, to keep two separate dockets, for the purposes aforesaid-one for the court at Nashville, and one for the court at Knoxville: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed, as to prevent writs of execution issued from either of the said courts being executed on the person or property of the defendant or defendants, in any part of the district of Tennessee, in the same manner as if this act had never been

made.

Approved, February 19, 1799.

An act appropriating a certain sum of money to defray the expense of holding a treaty or treaties with the Indians.

Be it enacted, &c., That a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars, be appropriated to defray the expense of such treaty or treaties as the President of the United States shall deem expedient to hold with the Indians: Provided, noth

Acts of Congress.

ing in this act contained shall be construed to admit an obligation on the part of the United States to extinguish, for the benefit of any State or individual citizen, Indian claims to any lands lying within the limits of the United States; and that the compensation to be allowed to any of the Com-ty made and concluded at Tellico, with the missioners appointed, or who may be appointed, for negotiating such treaty or treaties, shall not exceed, exclusive of travelling expenses, the rate of eight dollars per day, during the time of actual service of such Commissioner.

SEC 2. And be it further enacted, That the sum aforesaid shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury of the United States, not otherwise appropriated.

and entered into with the chiefs of the Chickasaw nation, in Philadelphia, on the fifteenth July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, to pay to the said nation goods to the amount of three thousand dollars annually: And the treaCherokee tribe or nation, on the second day of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninetyeight; and a treaty of Holston, mentioned in the same: The money arising under the revenue laws of the United States, which have been heretofore passed, and not already appropriated to any other purpose, that is to say, so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and is hereby, pledged and appropriated for the payment of the annuities stipulated as aforesaid, to be paid to the said Indian tribes or nations, and to continue so pledged An Act fixing the pay of the captains and command- and appropriated so long as the said treaties and ers of ships and vessels of war of the United States agreement shall be in force. And that a further Be it enacted, &c., That all the vessels in the aforesaid, be, and hereby is, appropriated to defray sum of ten thousand dollars, out of the money service of the United States, mounting twenty the cost of transportation, and other contingent guns and upwards, be commanded by captains; charges which may arise from the payment of those not exceeding eighteen guns (except galleys, said annuities, according to the stipulations made which are to be commanded, as heretofore pro-and entered into with the aforesaid nations, tribes, vided by law) by masters or lieutenants, according to the size of the vessel, to be regulated by the President of the United States.

Approved, February 19, 1799.

per

or Indians.

Approved February 25, 1799.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the pay of captains commanding ships of thirty-two guns An Act respecting quarantines and health laws. and upwards, be one hundred dollars per month, and eight rations per day; of captains commandBe it enacted, &c., That the quarantines and ing ships of twenty and under thirty-two guns, tablished by the health laws of any State, or other restraints, which shall be required and esseventy-five dollars per month, and six rations per day; of a master commandant, sixty dollars pursuant thereto, respecting any vessels arriving month, and five rations per day; and of lieuten-in, or bound to, any port or district thereof, wheants, who may command the smaller vessels, fifty district of the United States, shall be duly observther from a foreign port or place, or from another dollars per month, and four rations per day. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That when-ed by the collectors, and all other officers of the ever any officer, as aforesaid, shall be employed in revenue of the United States, appointed and emthe command of a squadron, on separate service, ployed for the several collection districts of such the allowance of rations to such commanding of State, respectively, and by the masters and crews ficer shall be doubled during the continuance of of the several revenue cutters, and by the militasuch command, and no longer, except in the case ry officers who shall command in any fort or staof the commanding officer of the navy, whose al- tion upon the seacoast; and all such officers of lowance, while in service, shall always be at the the United States shall be, and they hereby are, rate of sixteen rations per day. authorized and required, faithfully to aid in the Approved February 25, 1799. execution of such quarantines and health laws, according to their respective powers and precincts, and as they shall be directed from time to

An Act making appropriations for defraying the ex-time by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United penses which may arise in carrying into effect certain treaties between the United States and several

tribes or nations of Indians.

States. And the said Secretary shall be, and he is hereby authorized, when a conformity to such quarantines and health laws shall require it, and in reBe it enacted, &c., That for the purpose of de- spect to vessels which shall be subject thereto, to fraying the expenses which may arise in carrying prolong the terms limited for the entry of the same, into effect the following treaties, viz: A treaty and the report or entry of their cargoes, and to vary made and concluded with the Creeks, at the city or dispense with any other regulations applicable of New York, on the seventh day of April, one to such reports or entries: Provided, that noththousand seven hundred and ninety, and a furthering herein shall enable any State to collect a duty treaty with the said Creeks, made and concluded at Colerain, in the State of Georgia, on the twenty-ninth of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six: A treaty made and concluded with the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, on the eleventh of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four: An agreement made

of tonnage or impost, without the consent of the Congress of the United States thereto: And provided, that no part of the cargo of any vessel shall, in any case, be taken out, or unladen therefrom, otherwise than as by law is allowed, or according to the regulations hereinafter established.

SEc. 2. And be it further enacted, That when,

Acts of Congress.

such collector and officers may exercise the same authorities, and shall be liable to the same duties, according to existing circumstances, as in such lawful port or district; and of such removal, public notice shall be given as soon as may be.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the judge of any district court of the United States, within whose district any conprevail, so as, in his opinion, to endanger the life or lives of any person or persons confined in the prison of such district, in pursuance of any law of the United States, to direct the marshal to cause the person or persons confined as aforesaid. to be removed to the next adjacent prison where such disease does not prevail, there to be confined, until he, she, or they may safely be removed back to the place of their first confinement; which removals shall be at the expense of the United States.

by the health laws of any State, or by the regulations which shall be made pursuant thereto, any vessel, arriving within a collection district of such State, shall be prohibited from coming to the port of entry or delivery by law established for such district, and it shall be required or permitted by such health laws, that the cargo of such vessel shall or may be unladen at some other place within or near to such district, the collector author-tagious or epidemical disease shall at any time ized therein, after due report to him of the whole of such cargo, may grant his special warrant or permit for the unlading and discharge thereof, under the care of the surveyor, or of one or more inspectors, at some other place where such health laws shall permit, and upon the conditions and restrictions which shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, or which such collector may, for the time, reasonably judge expedient for the security of the public revenue: Provided, That in every such case, all the articles of the cargo so to be unladen shall be deposited at the risk SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, in case of the parties concerned therein, in such public, or of the prevalence of a contagious or epidemical disother warehouses or inclosures, as the collector ease at the seat of Government, it shall be lawful shall designate, there to remain under the joint for the President of the United States to permit custody of such collector, and of the owner or and direct the removal of any or all the public of owners, or master, or other person having charge fices to such other place or places, as, in his dis of such vessel, until the same shall be entirely un-cretion, shall be deemed most safe and convenient laden or discharged; and until the goods, wares, for conducting the public business. or merchandise, which shall be so deposited, may SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That, whenbe safely removed, without contravening such ever, in the opinion of the chief justice, or in health laws; and when such removal may be al-case of his death, or inability, of the senior assolowed, the collector having charge of such goods, wares, or merchandise, may grant permits to the respective owners or consignees, their factors or agents, to receive all goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall be entered, and whereof the duties accruing shall be paid or secured, according to law, upon the payment by them of a reasonable rate of storage; which shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury for all public warehouses and inclosures.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be purchased or erected, under the orders of the President of the United States, suitable warehouses, with wharves and inclosures, where goods and merchandise may be unladen and deposited, from any vessel which shall be subject to a quarantine, or other restraint, pursuant to the health laws of any State as aforesaid, at such convenient place or places therein, as the safety of the public revenue, and the observance of such health laws may require.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That when, by the prevalence of any contagious or epidemical disease, in or near the place by law established, as the port of entry for any collection district, it shall become dangerous or inconvenient for the collector and the other officers of the revenue employed therein, to continue the discharge of their respective offices at such port, the Secretary, or, in his absence, the Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, may direct and authorize the removal of the collector, and the other officers employed in his department, from such port, to any other more convenient place, within, or as near as may be, to such collection district, where

ciate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a contagious sickness shall render it hazardous to hold the next stated session of the said court at the seat of Government, it shall be lawful for the chief or such associate justice, to issue his order to the marshal of the district within which the Supreme Court is by law to be holden. directing him to adjourn the said session of the said court to such other place within the same, or an adjoining district, as he may deem convenient; and the said marshal shall thereupon adjourn the said court, by making publication thereof in one or more public papers printed at the place by law appointed for holding the same, from the time he shall receive such order, until the time by law prescribed for commencing the said session. And the district judges shall, respectively, under the same circumstances, have the same power, by the same means, to direct adjournments of the district and circuit courts within their several districts, to some convenient place within the same, respectively.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the act, entitled "An act relative to quarantine," passed in the first session of the fourth Congress of the United States, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.

Approved, February 25, 1799.

An Act for the augmentation of the Navy. Be it enacted, &c., That, under the orders of the President of the United States, and in addition to the naval armament already authorized by law there shall be built within the United States, six