1769. In pursuance of the act of 12th October, 1837, "to authorize the issue of Treasury Notes," Receivers are instructed as to the identity of the notes, which will be receivable by them, and not re-issued, but cancelled by punching a hole through the centre, and writing "CANCELLED" on the face, in large characters, the date of cancellation, and by whom; S's cir. 25th October, 1837; V. 3, p. 154.

1770. Receivers (and Collectors) are informed that Treasury Notes, returned by them to the Department as "cancelled," have not been so endorsed, according to the instructions of the 25th October last; nor endorsed by the persons to whose order they were made payable: S's cir. 15th February, 1838; V. 3, p. 158.

1771. In obedience to a resolution of Congress of the 31st May last, saying that "it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to make, or to continue in force, any general order which shall create a difference between the different branches of the Revenue, as to the money or medium of payment in which debts or dues, accruing to the United States, may be paid"-the Secretary rescinds the "Specie clause" of the circular of the 11th July, 1836, and substitutes instructions to Receivers, Collectors, &c., to receive specie, or bank notes of not less than $20, which are paid or payable in specie on demand: S's cir. 1st June, 1838; V. 3, p. 165.

must be performed without the formalities required, rather than be postponed. In such cases, however, if satisfactory explanations of the neglect are not submitted, the omission must be reported to the Executive.

"I will only add—and I do so to prevent a common misapprehension-that quarterly accounts, abstracts, and vouchers, (except certificates of deposite,) are to be transmitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for settlement as soon as practicable after the expiration of the quarter. Monthly returns are to be made in duplicate at the close of each month, on post paper, one of which is to be sent to the Secretary of the Treasury, and the other to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

"All certificates of deposite are to be sent to the Secretary of the Treasury. "I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"Dr.

The United States in account with

Receiver of Public Moneys at

"LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Treasury." for month of

Cr.

"This is to certify, that I have this day examined the funds in the possession of the Receiver, and find that the same amount to the sum , and consist of the following description of funds, viz :

of $

"Witness my hand, this

day of

[Here is inserted the description of the funds. ]
18

66

-, Register.”

[Same subject.]

Compliance

with

and from

1772. Receivers (and Collectors) are informed, that the act of the 5th July, current, to modify the 5th section of the Deposite act of 23d June, 1836," also prescribes the same rules in regard to notes receivable as the aforesaid circular of the 1st June last: S's cir. 6th July, 1838; V. 3, p. 167.

1773. In the absence of any additional provision by law for the safe-keeping of the pubformer instructions, lic money, the Secretary of the Treasury admonishes Receivers (and Collectors) to increase the use of public mo- their diligence and promptness in making their returns to the Treasury, and otherwise comneys to private benefit, enjoined. plying with former instructions; and especially to abstain from the use of the public money for private advantage: S's cir. 14th July, 1838; V. 3, p. 173.

Continued neglect of instructions.

Neglect still continued.

Treasurer's receipts

chased, if duly trans

1774. Receivers are again reminded of their responsibility, to the same effect as in the foregoing instructions of the 14th July last: S's cir. 1st January, 1839; V. 3, p. 184.

1775. Many Receivers (and Collectors) still failing to comply with the instructions of the circular of the 9th June, 1837, both as to the form of returns required, and the periods for transmitting them to the Department, the Secretary recalls their attention to that circular, and gives additional instructions: S's cir. 1st May, 1839; V. 3, p. 188.

1776. A joint Resolution of the two Houses of Congress, of the 12th June, instant, dewith him for lands in- claring and authorizing the receivability in payment for public lands of certain receipts istended to be pursued by the Treasurer of the United States to individuals who have deposited moneys with ferred to the Treasury him in payment for lands intended by them to be purchased at public sale or private entry, before the 12th July, 1844, shall be receiva is transmitted to Receivers of public moneys, with instructions to distinguish between said ble by Receivers in receipts or certificates of the Treasurer, and such as have been or may be issued by him subpayment for lands. sequent to the 12th instant, or such as may be subsequently assigned; to neither of which latter has the resolution any reference: S's cir. 19th June, 1844; V. 3, p. 349.

Instructions to Re

ceivers respecting their deposites, and returns of the same for settle ment, &c.

1777. Receivers are instructed how to proceed in making their deposites, and to account for the same by specifying the amounts in Gold and Silver, in triple receipts to be taken thereon-one of which to be retained, one to be forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury, and one to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with account current, and vouchers for the expense of transporting specie, &c., in making said deposites; and also a certificate of the Register of the Land Office that such charges are reasonable: S's cir. 19th June, 1844; V. 3, pp. 349, 350.

APPENDIX.

[ NO. I. ]

EXPLANATIONS AND FORMS OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO THE ACTS CONCERNING THE REGISTERING, RECORDING, ENROLLING, AND LICENSING SHIPS AND VESSELS.

[The great complexity of the matters embraced in this circular, the delicate and paramount interests involved in their observance, to all parties engaged in our foreign commerce and navigation, as well as our coasting, inland, and lake trade; together with the fact that there has been no general circular issued as a substitute for this, but only partial modifications of a few minor points and forms connected therewith, in pursuance of certain amendatory acts and decisions, and the still more important fact that there is scarcely a half dozen copies extant for the supply of official demands—all unite in making an irresistible call for a reprint of it in this place.]

Circular to the Collectors, Naval Officers, and Surveyors.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Comptroller's Office, Dec. 28, 1793.

SIR-As various questions have been stated to this office, respecting the construction of the act entitled "an act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels," and the act entitled "an act for enrolling and licensing ships or vessels to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, and for regulating the same," I deem it advisable to communicate my sentiments, generally, in regard to the said acts.

The denominations of ships or vessels, in relation to certain marine documents which are to be granted pursuant to the acts before mentioned, are the following, viz: Registered vessels, Recorded vessels, Enrolled vessels, Licensed vessels under twenty tons burthen.

Registered vessels are those wholly owned by citizens of the United States, and usually employed in a foreign trade, and possessed of certificates of registry.

Recorded vessels are those built within the United States after the 15th day of August, 1789, belonging wholly, or in part, to the subjects of foreign powers, and possessed of certificates of record.

Enrolled vessels are those wholly owned by citizens of the United States, and employed in the coasting trade, whale fishery, or cod fishery, and possessed of certificates of enrolment.

Licensed vessels under twenty tons are those which are wholly owned by citizens of the United States, and employed in the coasting trade, whale, or cod fishery, and possessed of licenses in force for one of the said employments. All Enrolled vessels must also be licensed, in consequence of which they become subject to the following sub-divisions, viz: Enrolled and licensed for the Coasting trade; enrolled and licensed for the Whale fishery; enrolled and licensed for the Cod fishery.

The same qualifications are requisite, and the same formalities are to be observed, to entitle vessels to be registered and enrolled.

The vessels entitled to be registered or enrolled are the following:

1st. Those which have been registered or enrolled under the act entitled "an act for registering and clearing vessels regulating the coasting trade, and for other purposes.'

2d. Those not registered or enrolled under the act aforesaid, which were built within the United States prior to the 16th day of May, 1789, and which were on that day owned in whole or in part by citizens of the United States, if wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States, at the time of application for a register or enrol

ment.

3d. Those built within the United States subsequent to the 16th day of May, 1789, and which at the time of application for a register or enrolment, are owned wholly by citizens of the United States.

4th. Those not built within the United States, but which, on the 16th day of May, 1789, belonged to, and have continued to belong, until the time of application for a register or enrolment, wholly to a citizen or citizens of the United States.

5th. Those which after the 31st day of December, 1792, may be captured in war by a citizen or citizens of the United States, and be lawfully condemned as prizes, and be wholly owned by such citizen or citizens. It is here to be understood that the capture must have been made in a war to which the United States are a party. 6th. Those which have been, and shall be, adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the laws of the United States, and be wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States.

All ships or vessels shall be deemed to belong to the port at or nearest to which the owner resides; or, if there be more than one owner, to the port at or nearest to which the husband or acting and managing owner usually resides.

The name of every vessel, and of the port to which she belongs, must be painted on her stern in white letters, of not less than three inches in length, on a black ground.

Before granting a certificate of registry or enrolment to any ship or vessel, she must be admeasured by the Surveyor of the port, or by a person appointed by him, according to the rule prescribed by the 43d section of the Collection law; if there be no Surveyor, the admeasurement is to be made by a person appointed for that purpose by the Collector of the district. The form of a certificate of admeasurement is herewith transmitted, marked (A). This certificate must be countersigned by an owner, or by the master of the vessel, or by the agent of the owner or owners, in testimony of the truth of the particulars therein stated.

In cases where a ship or vessel has been before registered or enrolled, a new admeasurement is not necessary, except she has undergone some alteration, as to her burthen, subsequent to her former registry or enrolment. Licensed vessels under 20 tons burthen are subject to the same regulations and exemptions respecting their admeasurement as registered or enrolled vessels.

In order to the registry of ships and vessels built within the United States after the last day of March, 1793, and the enrolment of ships and vessels built within the United States after the last day of May, 1793, it is requisite that a certificate from the master carpenter, under whose direction the same are built, should be produced. A form of this certificate is herewith transmitted, marked (B), for a general guide; but an exact adherence thereto is not to be required on account of the difficulty which may attend a sufficient promulgation to the persons interested. Any certificate in which the requisitions of the eighth section of the act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels are fairly complied with, is therefore to be admitted. Certificates of the tenor required by said section will authorize the removal of a new vessel in ballast only from the district in which the vessel is built, to a district in the same or an adjoining State, where the owner or owners actually reside.

All ships or vessels which shall be registered or enrolled anew, for any cause whatever, shall be so registered or enrolled by their former names.

In every case of sale or transfer there must be an instrument, in the nature of a bill of sale, which must recite at length the former certificate of registry or enrolment, which must be produced to the Collector at the time of application for a new register or enrolment.

The requisites of the law, before and hereafter mentioned, being first complied with, the Collector may register any ship or vessel which has been enrolled and licensed upon such enrolment and license being given up, or may enrol and license any ship or vessel which has been registered upon such register being given up. Provided, that in the new certificate of registry or enrolment a reference must be made to the certificate of registry or enrolment which shall be surrendered for the admeasurement of such ship or vessel.

In case application is made for a certificate of registry or enrolment in the district to which the vessel belongs, the owner, or one of the owners, must take an oath or affirmation before the Collector according to the provisions of the 4th section of the act for registering and recording of ships and vessels. The form (No. I,) may be made applicable to both cases by substituting a reference in the proper instance to a former enrolment or register. It will be observed that when the master of a vessel is within the district he must himself make oath or affirmation, touching his being a citizen of the United States, in lieu of the owner or owners.

In case there is more than one owner of a vessel resident within the United States, it will be requisite for each of them to transmit to the Collector, within ninety days after his granting a certificate of registry or enrolment, a like oath or affirmation with that taken by the owner residing within the district, which may be taken before the said Collector, or before the Collector of any other district, or a judge of the Supreme or a District court of the United States, or of a Superior court of original jurisdiction of one of the States.

In case a citizen or citizens of the United States shall become the owner or owners of a ship or vessel entitled to be registered or enrolled, when such ship or vessel shall be without the district where such owner or owners usually reside, the oath or affirmation required to be taken may, at the option of the owner or owners, be taken before the Collector of the district comprehending the port to which the vessel will belong; or before the Collector of the district within which the vessel may be.

In case a citizen or citizens of the United States shall, by purchase made by an agent or attorney, become the owner or owners of a ship or vessel, being in a district more than fifty miles distant, by the nearest usual route by land from the district comprehending the port to which the vessel will belong by virtue of the rule given in the 3d section of the act aforesaid-then the agent or attorney of the owner or owners may, in his or their stead, comply with the conditions herein mentioned, as requisite to a registry or enrolment, and may take the oath or affirmation required, according to the form (No. II,) varying the same as may be necessary to apply to the case of an enrol

ment.

In all cases of granting a register, a bond is to be taken with surety, agreeably to the form transmitted from this office on the 13th April, 1793, and hereunto annexed, marked (E.)

Certificates of registry may be considered as of two descriptions.

1st. Permanent Registers, being those which are granted by the Collectors to ships or vessels belonging to ports within their several districts.

2d. Temporary Registers, being those granted by Collectors to ships or vessels not belonging to ports within their respective districts.

Permanent Registers are to be granted under the following circumstances:

1st. In any of the cases mentioned in the second section of the act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels, as enumerated in the first part of this communication; where the vessels belong to a port in the district where the applications are made.

2d. To a vessel belonging to a port in the district, on an oath or affirmation being first made, according to the 13th section of the act last mentioned, and the form (No. III,) that the former registry has been lost or destroyed, or unintentionally or by mere accident mislaid-the requisites of the law in other cases being also first complied with.

3d. To a vessel belonging to a port within the district, on the surrender of a temporary register granted in another district.

4th. To a vessel belonging to a port within the district, on the surrender of a certificate of enrolment granted in the same or another district.

Permanent registers are to be surrendered in the following cases:

1st. In case of a sale or transfer of the vessel, in whole or in part, to a citizen or citizens of the United States, or to a foreigner or foreigners.

2d. In case the vessel shall be lost or taken by an enemy, be burnt or broken up, or otherwise prevented from returning to the port to which she belongs.

3d. In case the vessel be altered in form or burthen by being lengthened or built upon, or from one denomination to another by the mode or method of rigging or fitting.

In cases where a new certificate of registry is issued, in consequence of an oath or affirmation that the former certificate has been lost, destroyed, or mislaid, the substance of the oath or affirmation is to be endorsed on the bond for the first register, which is to remain with the Collector uncancelled.

Temporary registers are to be granted under the following circumstances:

1st. When a ship or vessel is purchased, in whole or in part, or owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States, the same being within any district other than the one in which he or they usually reside; or when a ship or vessel is purchased, in whole or in part, by the agent or attorney of a citizen or citizens, living in a district comprehending the port to which the ship or vessel will by virtue of such purchase belong, being more than fifty miles distant from the district where such ship or vessel is at the time of purchase by said agent.

2d. In case a ship or vessel shall arrive within any district other than that to which she belongs, and it shall be proved that her certificate of registry has been lost or destroyed, or unintentionally and by mere accident mislaid, by an oath or affirmation thereof having been duly made; and in case the other requisites of the 13th section before mentioned shall be complied with.

3d. In case an enrolled or licensed vessel shall arrive in any other district than that to which she belongs, and the master of the vessel shall surrender the enrolment and license, and make oath or affirmation according to the directions of the 3d section of the act for enrolling and licensing ships and vessels, &c., that the property remains as expressed in the enrolment proposed to be surrendered. The form of the oath to be taken in this case is here with transmitted, numbered (VII).

When a vessel, having exchanged an enrolment for a register, proceeds on a foreign voyage, a certificate must be granted by the Collector to the master of the vessel, that the enrolment and license have been surrendered. A form of the certificate to be granted in this case is here with transmitted, marked (C).

It is necessary to the execution of the system herein proposed, that whenever à temporary certificate of registry, enrolment, or license is granted, on proof of loss, destruction, or mislaying of either of said documents, issued from another office, that information of said loss, destruction, or mislaying, and of the granting of a new certificate or license in lieu thereof, should be transmitted to the office from which the document lost, destroyed, or mislaid, was issued; a form of the notice to be given is herewith transmitted, marked (D).

Temporary Registers are to be surrendered to the Collector of the district where a vessel belongs, on her first arrival, or within ten days after her first arrival within said district.

Certificates of Enrolment are also permanent or temporary, and are to be issued and surrendered under the same circumstances and upon the same conditions as before mentioned, with regard to certificates of registry.

The form of a bond to be taken on granting a certificate of enrolment is herewith transmitted, marked (Ee). The provisions of the 7th, 11th, and 12th sections of the act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels, in respect to the transmission of surrendered certificates of registry, are deemed to be applicable to surrendered certificates of enrolment and to licenses; of course it is proposed, that all certificates of registry, enrolment, and licenses, which may be surrendered, be transmitted directly to the Register of the Treasury, except those which may be surrendered for the reasons mentioned in the 11th and 12th sections of said act, which are in the first instance to be transmitted to the Collectors who granted the same; after the records hereinafter directed have been made in the books of the Collectors, said certificates of registry, enrolment, and licenses, are also to be transmitted to the Register of the Treasury.

All registers, enrolments, and licenses are to be transmitted by the regular post, and are to be punctually acknowledged by the officer receiving the same. Charges for postage on this account will be admitted to the credit of the Collectors.

On the change of the master or person having the charge or command of any registered or enrolled ship or vessel, the owner, or one of the owners, or the new master of such vessel, shall report said change to the Collector of the district where the change shall happen, or where the vessel shall first be after such change, and produce the register or enrolment, and shall make oath or affirmation that such new master is a citizen of the United States, and the means by which he became a citizen; whereupon the Collector shall endorse on the certificate of registry or enrolment a memorandum of such change, specifying the name of the new master, and subscribe his name thereto. If the register or enrolment was granted by any other Collector than the one making such endorsement, a copy of the memorandum so endorsed must be transmitted to the Collector who granted the register or enrolment. The Collector receiving said memorandum ought also to transmit a copy thereof to the Register of the Treasury.