Chapter CXXV. *making Appropriations for the Consular and Diplomatic Expenses of the Government for the Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and for other Purposes*
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CHAP. CXXV.— An Act *making Appropriations for the Consular and Diplomatic Expenses of the Government for the Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and for other Purposes*. March 3, 1869. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Consular and diplomatic expenses appropriation. That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the objects hereinafter expressed, for the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and seventy, namely:
For salaries of envoys extraordinary, ministers, and commissioners ofEnvoys, ministers, and commissioners. the United States at Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, China, Italy, Chili, Peru, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Ecuador, New Granada, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Sandwich Islands, Costa Rica, Honduras, Argentine Confederation, Paraguay, Uruguay, Japan, and Salvador, three hundred and sixteen thousand dollars.
For additional salary of minister resident to the Argentine Republic, appointedAdditional salary of minister resident to the Argentine Republic and to Uruguay. also to the Republic of Uruguay, at the rate of three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, such salary to commence October thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and to continue while acting as minister to Uruguay. For salaries of secretaries of legation, as follows:Secretaries of legation and assistants.
At London and Paris, two thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars each. At Saint Petersburg, Madrid, Berlin, Florence, Vienna, Rio Janeiro, and Mexico, eighteen hundred dollars each. For salaries of assistant secretaries of legation at London and Paris, two thousand dollars each. For salary of the interpreter to the legation to China, five thousandInterpreters. dollars. For salary of the secretary of legation to Turkey, acting as interpreter, three thousand dollars. For salary of the interpreter to the legation to Japan, two thousand five hundred dollars.
For contingent expenses of all the missions abroad, fifty thousand dollars.Contingent expenses. For contingent expenses of foreign intercourse, fifty thousand dollars. For expenses of the consulates in the Turkish dominions, namely: interpreters,Consulates in Turkish dominions. guards, and other expenses of the consulates at Constantinople. Smyrna, Candia, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Beirut, three thousand dollars. For the relief and protection of American seamen in foreign countries,American seamen.1803, ch. 9.1811. ch. 28.Vol. ii. pp. 203, 651. per acts of February *eighteenth*, [twenty-eighth,] eighteen hundred and three, and February twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and eleven, fifty thousand dollars.
For expenses which may be incurred in acknowledging the services ofRescuing seamen. the masters and crews of foreign vessels in rescuing citizens of the United States from shipwreck, five thousand dollars. For the purchase of blank-books, stationery, book-cases, arms of theBlank-books, stationery, &c. United States, seals, presses, and flags, and for the payment of postages, and miscellaneous expenses of the consuls of the United States, including loss by exchange, and for office rent for those consuls-general, consuls, andOffice rent and exchange. commercial agents who are not allowed to trade, including loss by exchange thereon, eighty thousand dollars; and there shall be allowed out of the fees of the office one thousand dollars per annum, and no more, forRent of consul’s offices at Paris. rent of the consul’s offices at Paris.
For salaries of consuls-general, consuls, commercial agents, and thirteenConsuls-general, consuls, &c. consular clerks, including loss by exchange thereon, four hundred thousand dollars, namely: 320 i. consulates-general. Consulates general. *Schedule B*. Alexandria, Calcutta, Constantinople, Frankfort-on-the-Maine, [Main,] Havana, Montreal, Shanghai, Beirut, Tampico. London, Paris; and on Consulates at Paris and London to be called consulates-general.and after the fourth of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, the consulates at Paris and London shall be known and designated as consulates-general. ii. consulates. *Schedule B*.
Aix-la-Chapelle, Acapulco, Algiers, Amoy, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Aspinwall, Baukok, Basle, Belfast, Buenos Ayres, Bordeaux, Bremen, Brindisi, Bologne, Barcelona, Cadiz, Callao, Canton, Chemnitz, Chin Kiang, Clifton, Coaticook, Cork, *Demarara*. [Demerara.] Dundee, Elsinore, Fort Erie, Foo-Choo, Funchal, Geneva, Genoa, Gibraltar, Glasgow, Goderich, Halifax, Hamburg, Havre, Honolulu, Hong-kong, Hankow, Hakodadi, Jerusalem, Kanagawa, Kingston, (Jamaica,) Kingston in Canada, LaRochelle, Laguayra, Lahaina, Leeds, Leghorn, Leipsic, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyons, Malaga, Malta, Manchester, Matanzas, Marseilles, Mauritius, Melbourne, Messina, Moscow, Munich, Mabe, Nagasaki, Naples, Nassau, (West Indies,) Newcastle, Nice, Nantes, Odessa, Oporto, Osacca, Palermo, Panama, Pernambuco, Pictou, Port Mahon, Prescott, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Revel, Rio de Janeiro, Rotterdam, San Juan del Sur, San Juan, (Porto Rico,) Saint John, (Canada East,) Santiago de Cuba, Port Sarnia, Rome, Singapore, Smyrna, Southampton, Saint Petersburg, Santa Cruz, (West Indies) Saint Thomas, Spezzia, Stuttgardt, Swatow, Saint Helena, Tangier, Toronto, Trieste, Trinadad de Cuba, Tripoli, Tunis, Tunstall, Turk’s Island, Valparaiso, Vera Cruz, Vienna, Valencia, Appointment of consul at Birmingham,Tunstall;Barmen.Salary of consul at Valencia;at Hakodadi and Buenos Ayres.Consul to be appointed at Winnepeg, pay.Windsor, Yeddo, Zurich.
And there shall be appointed a consul at Birmingham, at an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; and a consul at Tunstall at an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars; and a consul at Barmen at an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars; and the consul at Valencia shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars. The consul at Hakodadi and Buenos Ayres shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; and there shall be appointed a consul at Winnepeg, Selkirk Settlement, British North America, who shall receive an annual salary of one thousand five hundred dollars. iii. commercial agencies.
Commercial agencies. *Schedule B*. Madagascar, San Juan del Norte, Saint Domingo. iv. consulates. Consulates. *Schedule C*. Aux Cayes, Bahia, Batavia, Bay of Islands, Cape Haytien, Candia, Cape Town, Carthagena, Ceylon, Cobija, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Fayal, Guayaquil, Guaymas, Maranham, Matamoras, Mexico, Montevideo, Omoa, Payta, Para, Paso del Norte, Piraeus, Rio Grande, Saint Catharine, Saint John, (Newfoundland,) Santiago, (Cape Verde,) Stettin Tabasco, Tahiti, Talcahuano, Tumbez, Venice, Zanzibar. commercial agencies. *Schedule C*.
Amoor River, Apia, Belize, Gaboon, Saint Paul de Loanda, Lanthala, Sabanilla. 321 For interpreters to the consulates in China, Japan, and Siam, includingInterpreters. loss by exchange thereon, five thousand eight hundred dollars. For expenses incurred, under instructions from the Secretary of State,Persons charged with crime. in bringing home from foreign countries persons charged with crime, and expenses incident thereto, ten thousand dollars. For salaries of the marshals for the consular courts in Japan, includingMarshals for consular courts. that at Nagasaki, and in China, Siam, and Turkey, including loss by exchange thereon, nine thousand dollars.
For rent of prisons for American convicts in Japan, China, Siam,Prisons for American convicts. and Turkey, and for wages of the keepers of the same, nine thousand dollars. For the restoration of the Protestant American cemetery at Acapulco,Cemetery at Acapulco. in Mexico, one thousand dollars. For salaries of ministers resident and consuls-general to Hayti andHayti and Liberia. Liberia, eleven thousand five hundred dollars. For expenses under the act of Congress to carry into effect the treatySuppression of slave-trade.1862, ch. 140.
Vol. xii. p. 531. between the United States and her Britannic Majesty for the suppression of the African slave-trade, twelve thousand five hundred dollars: *Provided*, That the salaries of the judges and other officers shall be paid toSalaries of judges, &c. to be paid only on condition, &c. them only upon the condition that they reside at the places where the courts are to be held, as provided by law, and only for so much of the time as they reside at such places: *And provided further*, That the President be, and he is hereby, requested to apply to the government ofRequest to be made for abrogation of part of treaty providing for mixed courts, &c.Vol. xii. p. 1227.
Great Britain to put an end to that part of the treaty of April seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, which requires of each government to keep up mixed courts, and upon the consent of the government of Great Britain being obtained, then the salaries of all the officers of the United States connected with said courts shall cease. For expenses under the neutrality act, ten thousand dollars.Neutrality.1818, ch. 88. Vol. iii. p. 447.Scheldt dues. Vol. xiii. p. 649. For the payment of the fifth annual instalment of the proportion contributed by the United States towards the capitalization of the Scheldt dues, to fulfil the stipulations contained in the fourth article of the convention between the United States and Belgium of the twentieth of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, the sum of fifty-five thousand five hundred and eighty-four dollars in coin, and such further sum as may be necessary to carry out the stipulation of the convention providing for payment of interest on the said sum and on the portion of the principal remaining unpaid.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted*, That no diplomatic or consular officerDiplomatic, &c. officers not to receive pay while absent from posts beyond, &c.Proviso. shall receive salary for the time during which he may be absent from his post (by leave or otherwise) beyond the term of sixty days in any one year: *Provided*, That the time equal to that usually occupied in going to and from the United States in case of the return, on leave, of such diplomatic or consular officer to the United States may be allowed in additionRepeal of 1868, ch. 38, § 3.*Ante*, p. 58. to said sixty days; and section three of act of March thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, is hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted*, That the fee provided by law forFee for verification of invoices to cover what. the verification of invoices by consular officers shall, when paid, be held to be a full payment for furnishing blank forms of declaration to be signed by the shipper, and for making, signing, and sealing the certificate of the consular officer thereto; and any consular officer who, under pretencePenalty upon consular officers for illegal charges, &c. of charging for blank forms, advice, or clerical services in the preparation of such declaration or certificate, shall charge or receive any fee greater in amount than that provided by law for the verification of invoices, or who shall demand or receive for any official services, or who shall allow any clerk or subordinate to receive for any such service any fee or reward other than the fee provided by law for such service, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be dismissed from office, and on convictionDismissal from office, fine, imprisonment. before any court of the United States having jurisdiction of like322 offences be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by fine Consuls, &c. in Canada not to be allowed tonnage fees.not exceeding two thousand dollars.
And hereafter no consul, vice-consul, or consular agent in the dominion of Canada, shall be allowed tonnage fees for any services, actual or constructive, rendered any vessel owned and registered in the United States that may touch at a Canadian port; and that in the collection of official fees they shall receive foreign moneys at the rate given in the treasury schedule of the value of foreign coins. Tonnage or clearance fees not to be charged vessels making regular daily trips between the United States and Canada, except, &c.And hereafter, in cases of vessels making regular daily trips between any port of the United States and any port in the dominion of Canada, wholly upon interior waters not navigable to the ocean, no tonnage or clearance fees shall be charged against such vessels by the officers of the United States, except upon the first clearing of said vessel in each year.
Sec. 4. Examinations to be made into the accounts of consular officers and the business of their offices.*And be it further enacted*, That the President is authorized, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause examinations to be made into the accounts of the consular officers of the United States, and into all matters connected with the business of their said offices, and to that end he may appoint such agent or agents as may be necessary for that purpose; and any agent, when so appointed, shall, for the purpose of making said examinations, have authority to Agents to be appointed; their power, pay, &c.administer oaths and take testimony, and shall have access to all the books and papers of all consular officers.
And any agent appointed in this behalf shall be paid for his services a just and reasonable compensation, not exceeding five dollars per day for the time necessarily employed, in addition to his actual necessary expenses, the same to be paid Limit to expenditure for agents.out of the sum appropriated for expenses of collecting the revenue, but no greater sum than five thousand dollars shall be expended as compensation of such agent or agents in any one year. And the President shall Names, &c. of agents to be communicated to Congress.communicate to Congress, at the commencement of every December session, the names of the agents so appointed, and the amount paid to each, together with the reports of such agents.
Sec. 5. Consular officers willfully neglecting to render accounts, &c. or to pay over moneys due the United States, to be deemed guilty of embezzlement.*And be it further enacted*, That any consular officer of the United States who shall willfully neglect to render true and just quarterly accounts and returns of the business of his office, and of moneys received by him for the use of the United States, or who shall neglect to pay over any balance of such moneys which may be due to the United States, at the expiration of any quarter, before the expiration of the next succeeding quarter, shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement of the public moneys, and shall, on conviction thereof, before any court of the United States Penalty, fine, imprisonment, and disqualification for office.having jurisdiction of like offences, be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year and by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and shall be forever disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit in the United States.
Sec. 6. Consul-general or consul to exercise duties of only one office.Limit to allowance to vice-consulates or consular agencies.*And be it further enacted*, That no consul-general or consul now holding, or who shall hereafter hold, either of said offices, shall be permitted to hold the office of consul-general or consul at any other consulate, or exercise the duties thereof; and hereafter there shall only be allowed to any vice-consulate or consular agency, for expenses thereof, an amount sufficient to pay for stationery and postage on official letters.
Sec. 7. Expenses of prison, &c. at Bangkok.Salary of consul and of interpreter.No salary to marshal. See Vol. xvi. p. 12.*And be it further enacted*, That the entire expense of prison and prison keepers at the consulate of Bangkok, in Siam, shall hereafter not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars annually; and the salary of the interpreter shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars annually; and no salary shall hereafter be allowed the marshal at that consulate; and the annual salary of the consul at Bangkok shall be three thousand dollars, to commence July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.
Approved, March 3, 1869.