N. B. Collectors and other disbursing officers are requested to designate, upon the abstract for the present quarter, such payment as may have been made under the instructions contained in this circular. Complement of Petty Officers, Cooks, Stewards, Seamen, and Boys, allowed to each class of Revenue Vessels on and after the 1st day of November next. A. 1 class, and the crew list and pay rolls will be regulated accord [CIRCULAR NO. 59-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October 11th, 1847. Being apprized by the Department of State of its belief that, since the termination of the Treaty of the 12th December, 1828, between the United States and Brazil, which expired on the 12th December, 1841, that the Government of Brazil has acted in the same manner in regard to our commerce and navigation as though the Treaty still continued to exist, and no representations to the contrary having come to the knowledge of the Department of State, it is deemed expedient that the same course should, for the present, be pursued on the part of the Government of the United States. You are consequently instructed to admit free of duty, under the provisions of schedule I, of the Tariff of 30th July, 1846, coffee of the growth of Brazil, imported directly from that country in vessels belonging to that nation; and will also exempt said vessels and cargoes from the charge of discriminating duties of impost or tonnage of any description whatsoever. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 60-NEW SERIES. To Collectors of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October 30th, 1847. From the origin of this Government, down to the present period, it is believed that confidential services with a view to the protection of the Revenue have been rendered by agents and officers, unknown as such to the community, and especially to persons engaged in smuggling. To deter persons from engaging in such frauds upon the Revenue, to detect and punish the guilty, and to diminish, if not altogether prevent smuggling, confidential services by confidential agents and officers cannot, it is believed, be safely abolished. In order to retrench, however, all expenditures which are not absolutely necessary, and to prevent any possible abuses growing out of this system hereafter, the Collectors of the Customs are directed to carry into immediate effect the following instructions: 1st. To discontinue at once the employment of more than one confidential inspector at any one port of entry. 2d. To pay a per diem to such inspectors only for such days as they may show to your satisfaction that they have been actually engaged in such confidential service. 3d. To require from them in each port, respectively, weekly reports to the Collector from whom they may have derived their appointment, in which reports should be communicated all their proceedings, and their views and opinions as to the best means, from time to time, of detecting or preventing smuggling, of discovering and arresting the guilty, of seizing the smuggled goods, and inflicting all the penalties prescribed by law. 4th. The whole compensation, both per diem and mileage, allowed to any one inspector in any one year, commencing on the 1st of November, 1847, shall not exceed twelve hundred dollars. A copy of this circular has been communicated to the First Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury, in order that these instructions may be carried into effect by them in settling the future accounts of the Collectors. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 61-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs charged with disbursements on account of the Revenue Marine, and to the Officers of that service. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 1st, 1847. In order more effectually to enforce the instructions contained in the circular of the 8th of October last, relating to disbursements on account of the Revenue Marine, commanding officers are required to present to the Collectors, under whose superintendence they may be placed, on the 20th of each month, requisitions for such articles as may be needed for the ensuing month, which requisitions (except for rations) the Collectors will enclose to the Department for approval. Each requisition will be provided with columns for dollars and cents, and the prices must be carried out. [CIRCULAR NO. 62-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs charged with disbursements on account of Revenue Boats. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 1st, 1847. It appears that the expenditure on account of Revenue Boats for the last fiscal year greatly exceeded the sum which, in my opinion, ought to be disbursed for that service. In order to reduce these expenditures to the lowest limit which the service will permit, it is determined to discontinue the expenditure altogether upon several stations, to reduce them on the others, and to establish at each a fixed expenditure for boat hands. With a view to this reduction, on and after the first day of December next, there will be allowed in your district the sum of dollars, monthly, for the payment of boat hands, which you will proportion and distribute as your own discretion shall dictate. No other payment, not specially authorized, will be made on any account, instructions to this effect having been this day issued by this Department to the First Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury. The object of this regulation is to consult a judicious economy, proper at all times, but especially during war, and to bring these disbursements, like payments out of the Treasury, more effectually under the guards and checks established by law for such payments, by the prior examination of the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, and the supervision of this Department. The cordial aid and co-operation of the Collectors and Surveyors of the Customs, in carrying these measures into effect, is expected by this Department. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 63-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 1st, 1847. By directions heretofore given since the adjournment of Congress in relation to markers, revenue cutters, confi dential inspectors, &c., this Department has proceeded as rapidly as the information obtained would permit to reduce the expenses of collecting the Revenue, and to render those accounts more subject to the regular supervision of the accounting officers of the Treasury. Economy, at all times so desirable in the public expenditures, is still more imperative during a war by which the expenses of the Government are largely augmented, and its credit required to negotiate heavy loans. Under such circumstances the Department cannot doubt but that the several Collectors and other officers of the Customs, who have so faithfully discharged their official duties, and promptly paid over the public moneys, without any default whatever, will, in view of the necessity of the case at present, cheerfully co-operate in the retrenchment and reduction now proposed. The following directions are given upon this subject, to take effect from and after the first of December next : 1st. Under the head of Inspectors, &c. The expenses in the different ports under this head reach very nearly to the sum of one million of dollars. It is proposed to reduce this amount ten per cent. The orders already given in relation to confidential inspectors will of itself make some small reduction of the expenditures under this head; but to effect the whole of the retrenchment it will be necessary, and you are so instructed, to dispense with all inspectors who are not actively, efficiently, and usefully employed in the public service. Where temporary inspectors are employed at ports that are only opened to navigation during a portion of the year, no payment must be made for their services except when actually employed during the season of navigation; and the accounting officers of the Treasury will be instructed to allow no other payments in settling the accounts of the Collectors. It is expected that the services required by law from Inspectors will be performed by themselves, and that no expense will be incurred for assistants. The same instruction is also given as to assistants, in relation to weighers, gaugers, and measurers, unless in cases where a laborer may be indispensable in aid of their duties, to be ascertained first, and recommended by the Collector, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, and not to exceed for such laborer one dollar per day. Wherever the number of weighers, gaugers, and measurers can be diminished at any port without injury to the public service, it is expected that this will be done by the Collectors. It is presumed that no square yard measurers or computers have been continued for that purpose. It is expected that the 4th section of the act of 30th July, 1846, and the instructions of this Department of the 25th November last in regard thereto, will be carried strictly into execution. 2d. In the accounts of some of the Collectors there have been items heretofore allowed in a few of the ports for "extra clerk hire." No allowance on this account will be made hereafter. 3d. Under the head of "contingent expenses," there must be a reduction of ten per cent., at least, in each of the ports, as compared with the same expenses for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1846, and such additional reductions thereof as can be made by the Collectors. 4th. It is expected that the Collectors will report without delay to this Department such further reductions in the expenses of collecting the Revenue as can be made, in their opinion, without injury to the public service. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 64-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 6th, 1847. In consideration of the views recently expressed by the Circuit court of the United States for the Southern district of New York, in its opinion given in the case of the United States vs. the British ship Recorder and cargo, in proceedings instituted under the provisions of the act of 1st March, 1817, "concerning the navigation of the United States," which views conflict with those expressed by a late Attorney General of the United States, in regard to the operation of the proviso contained in the first section of the aforesaid act, as embodied in the circular instructions issued by the Department under date of the 6th of July, 1842, it is deemed proper under these circumstances to modify said instructions, so as to conform the operation of said proviso of the law to the uniform practical construction given to the same by the Department, from the passage of the law up to the date of the instructions of the 6th July, 1842. As the practical operation adverted to had continued for a long series of years, up to the issuing of the instructions mentioned, undisturbed by any adverse, legislative, or judicial declaration, and being moreover satisfied in my own mind that the former construction and practice under the law best satisfies the design and spirit of the act, I deem it both expedient and proper, at this time, to revive and conform to the antecedent construction and practical operations of its provisions. Construing the provisions of the first section of the act of 1st March, 1817, in accordance with the practical operation before referred to, coupled with the recognised fact that up to the date of its passage there existed no Navigation or Revenue law of the United States interdicting the indirect trade on the part of foreign vessels, it would seem obvious that neither by the terms or spirit of the enacting clause of the first section is it designed to confer a privilege already enjoyed under former laws, but merely contemplates the regulation or restriction of the indirect trade in the mode therein prescribed. The proviso, therefore, restrains the regulation or prohibition so as to exempt from the penalties of the 2d section of the act the vessels and cargoes of any nation not having adopted "a similar regulation" or prohibition against the vessels and cargoes of the United States. It consequently follows, that where it is satisfactorily shown that any foreign nation allows American vessels laden with goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any country out of the United States, freely to enter and land such merchandise in any of the ports of said country, whether such goods be carried directly from their place of origin, or from ports of the United States, the penalties of the act of 1st March, 1817, are not to be enforced against the vessels of such nation bringing like goods either from the country of production, or from the ports of the country to which the vessels may belong. Importations in foreign vessels, except in respect to any goods, wares, and merchandise, on the importation of which, in American or Foreign vessels, a specific discrimination is not made by law, must be subjected to the additional duties imposed by the 11th section of the act of 30th August, 1842, with the further exception that such additional duties are not to be exacted in the case of any foreign vessels "entitled by treaty, or by any act or acts of Congress, to be entered in the ports of the United States, on the payment of the same duties as shall then be paid on goods, wares, or merchandise imported in ships or vessels of the United States." R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 65-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 9th, 1847. Herewith you will find copies of letters from this Department, under date of the 6th instant, and May 2d, 1833, the first being directed to the Collector at Petersburg, Virginia, and the second to the Collector at New York, to which you will please conform in such cases. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 6th, 1847. SIR: Your letter of yesterday has been received, and in reply to your first inquiry I would answer, in the language of the law prescribing the duties and compensation of the inspectors of the revenue, that the per diem allowed to such officer, "for every day he shall be actually employed in aid of the customs," extends to preventive duties as well as to other services. If he regularly visits the port for the purpose of performing his duties as inspector, he is not to be deprived of his compensation for that day, because he may find no vessel there, or none requiring the discharge of his official duties. If, however, very few vessels arrive at such port, and there is consequently very little of public duty for an inspector to perform, the employment of a regular inspector at such port ought to be discontinued; and in such cases an occasional inspector only ought to be employed, who should be allowed only for such days as those on which his services would necessarily be required. On this subject you should exercise a sound discretion, taking care to protect the Government from all unnecessary expenditure. As to your second question-if the inspector is absent on his own private business, he certainly cannot be allowed compensation for that day. Sickness is a visitation of Providence, and is a misfortune and not a fault of the inspector. If the inspector is ready at all times, to the extent of his ability and physical strength, and is generally and usually able to perform his duty, and does perform it faithfully, he should not be deprived of his compensation on account of a temporary and occasional sickness. If, however, he is, from any cause whatever, generally and habitually disabled from a performance of his duty, and cannot and does not perform it, neither the Collector nor Secretary of the Treasury have any right, under the law, to create pensions, or a list of retired invalids in the Custom-house, however meritorious the inspector may be; and, in such case, the facts should be reported by the Collector to the Secretary of the Treasury, in order that the services of such individual should be discontinued, and his place filled by some competent person, if such services cannot be dispensed with; and, if they can, then that place should remain vacant until the public business shall require it to be again filled. In thus giving, in reply to your inquiries, the instructions required by the law, the Department, whilst performing its duty in obedience to the higher authority of Congress, has endeavored to avoid all injustice towards officers whose services are generally so arduous, severe, and responsible, as the corps of inspectors in the Custom-houses of the United States. These instructions are general in relation to all inspectors. You will perceive, however, in relation to the circular of the 30th of October, 1847, that it is confined to a class of persons therein described as confidential inspectors. There is none such at your port, nor is it contemplated that any such will be required; and in limiting the number to one, in any one port, it was designed thus to reduce the number where more than one was employed at any one port, and not to authorize the employment even of any one confidential inspector, at any one port, unless first specially authorized by the Department. I enclose you herewith a copy of the opinion of one of my predecessors upon this subject, which is in accordance with the views now entertained by this Department, and to which, as well as the instructions given in this letter, you will be pleased to conform. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, COLLECTOR OF THE CUSTOMS, Petersburg, Virginia. [COPY.] R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. SIR: A communication has been received from the Surveyor of your port, under date of the 15th ultimo, respecting allowance of pay to inspectors who may be confined by sickness; the Department has to observe, in answer, that when an inspector, other than an occasional inspector, is taken ill, while on duty, and it is made to appear to the satisfaction of the surveyor that he is unable, through illness, to perform his duty, his allowance may be continued during such absence, unless it shall appear that the disqualification is of a permanent nature. A copy of this letter has been transmitted to the surveyor for his information. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, COLLECTOR OF THE CUSTOMS, New York. LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR-NO. 66-NEW SERIES.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 13th, 1847. On the passage of the act of the 8th August, 1846, "to refund to certain persons an excess of duty exacted on the importation of foreign merchandise," without reference, by this Department, to the soundness of the policy of the law, in refunding excess of duties paid many years back, and the amount, without doubt, added to the selling price of the goods, thus, in effect, affording a bonus to the importer, instead of a relief to the consumer, to whom the benefit of any constructive change of duty properly belongs, it became the duty of the Department to give the instructions to the officers of the Customs heretofore communicated, and to establish such rules in the Department as seemed necessary in the adjustment of claims under that law. In consideration, however, of the numerous applications presented to the Department, and in view of the erroneous opinions still entertained by some of the claimants or their agents, as to the relief contemplated in the above mentioned act, as well as in the 2d section of the General Appropriation act of 3d March, 1839, it is deemed proper, at this time, as well to facilitate the adjustment of proper and legal claims under these laws, as to protect the Government from those of an opposite character, to repeat, in substance, and to call your special attention, and that of all parties interested, to the regulations and instructions of the Department in relation to these classes of claims. As it respects claims under the 2d section of the General Appropriation act of 3d March, 1839, authorizing the refunding duties illegally exacted and paid under protest, you are referred to the following rules, established 7th April, 1847, as governing in all appropriate cases: 1. The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, on the question involved in the claim, is to be regarded as establishing the law of the case. 2. Where verbal protest against the rate of duty charged is relied upon, at a date when verbal protests were available, and if the case occurred prior to the Tariff act of 30th August, 1842, and subsequently to the Tariff act of 19th May, 1828, the protest must be proved by the certificate of the Collector, and the oath of the owner or consignee of the goods, and of a competent and disinterested witness. 3. When the importation was made prior to the Tariff act of 19th May, 1828, there must be a judgment against the Collector to establish the claim to re-payment of duties from the Treasury. In the adjustment of claims under the 2d section of the act of August, 1846, "to refund to certain persons an excess of duty exacted on the importation of foreign merchandise," the following regulations were established on the 7th May and 21st July, 1847, and are still to be observed: 1. Where the claimant was not the owner of the goods in question, but was consignee or agent, in order to assure the Government a valid discharge from the parties actually entitled to the excess of duty, satisfactory proof must be adduced of continuing or new agency, as the case may be; such consignee or agent claiming, being, however, entitled, in case no such proof be at hand, to receive the excess found to be due under the law, on his first executing a proper bond of indemnity to the United States, according to the form prescribed by the First Comptroller of the Treasury, approved by the Department. 2. The denomination of imports, as stated in the invoice, entry, or appraiser's return, especially where no protest was made against the rates of duty charged, cannot now be varied by verbal proof. 3. The refunding of excess of duties must be limited, as expressly provided by law, to that which the Department is satisfied, by decisions of the United States' courts, was illegally exacted, upon the principle of such decisions as have been adopted or acquiesced in by the Department as its rule of construction; but such adoption or acquiescence is in no case to be inferred, from the special orders necessarily issued at times by the Department, to pay particular judgments for the relief of Collectors, unless the principle involved in the decision be distinctly referred to, and the decision acquiesced in by the Department in order to pay the judgment. 4. Strict and unremitting vigilance is enjoined upon the officers of the Customs in the examination of cases, and preparation of certified statements, in order that no item of claim previously paid shall, through inadvertence or other cause, be presented to the Department a second time. 5. In all cases of claims under these laws, the statements certified by the Collector and Naval Officer, to be accompanied by satisfactory proofs, that the duties have been accounted for to the Treasury; that the claim has not been alienated by transfer or operation of law, and that the claimant is not indebted to the United States, as shown by the records of the Custom-house. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 67-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 15th, 1847. In the circular of this Department of the 1st instant will be found the following instructions: "It is expected that the services required by law from Inspectors will be performed by themselves, and that no expense will be incurred for assistants. The same instruction is also given as to assistants, in relation to weighers, gaugers, and measurers, unless in cases where labor may be indispensable in aid of their duties, to be ascertained first and recommended by the Collector, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, and not to exceed for such labor one dollar per day." It was not designed by these instructions to reduce in any way, at any port, the standard of the wages of labor, or to fix them at a price below the current rate; on the contrary, you are instructed to make no such But it having been represented to the Department that, upon many days throughout the year, no additional labor was required by weighers, gaugers, and measurers, the object of the circular was to fix the maximum sum to be allowed for labor to any one weigher, gauger, or measurer, namely, not to exceed, in any case, an aggregate equal to one dollar a day for the whole year, unless in cases where such aggregate must be greater, and then only to be allowed by the order of the Secretary of the Treasury, on special report from a Collector. The object of the circular was to reduce the aggregate allowance in the accounts of Collectors, for weighers, gaugers, and measurers, under the head of labor, and not to affect in any way the actual amount of wages to be paid to any one laborer for an actual day's work, which ought to be regulated by the market price at the time, at each port respectively. This circular may lessen the number of persons employed as assistants by weighers, gaugers, and measurers, confining it to the number absolutely needed each day; but it will not, nor must it, be so construed as to reduce the wages for labor to a dollar a day, where a higher price is allowed for a day's labor at such port. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. [CIRCULAR NO. 68-NEW SERIES.] To Collectors, and to Surveyors at ports acting as Collectors. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 4th, 1847. This Department having determined to submit to the prior supervision of the accounting officers of the Treasury the expenses of collecting the Revenue at the several ports, as well to facilitate the settlement of these accounts as to secure a more perfect accountability, and the utmost economy in every branch of this Department consistent with the proper performance of the duty, you will submit to the First Comptroller of the Treasury estimates of the expenses of collecting the Revenue at your port for the quarter commencing on the first of April, 1848, and for each succeeding quarter, classifying the estimated expenditures under the several heads, as per table annexed. Although considerable time may be required to prepare these estimates in advance, it is believed that it will be a saving of time in the aggregate throughout the year, prevent difficulties and delay in the adjustment of your accounts, and greatly advance the public interest. The zeal which you have heretofore manifested in the discharge of your public duties induces the confident expectation that you will cheerfully co-operate with the Department in carrying these instructions into effect. The estimate should be mailed so as to reach the Department at least one month in advance of the quarter. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury. |