upon examination it shall appear that such a ship or vessel is sailing under the protection of, or using any such license, pass, or other instrument, it shall be the duty of such commanders, and of each of them, to seize every such ship or vessel, and send the same to any port in the United States or the territories thereof; and every such ship or vessel, so found sailing under the protection of, or using any such license, pass, or other instrument as aforesaid, shall, upon due proof thereof, before any court of the United States or the territories thereof, having competent jurisdiction, be condemned, together with the cargo, and be forfeited to the sole use of the officers and crew of such public or private armed ship or vessel; and all forfeitures which shall accrue and be recovered in pursuance of this section, shall be distributed according to the rules prescribed by the existing laws, in cases of prizes made from the enemy: Provided, That nothing contained in this act, shall be so construed as to prevent the acceptance or use of a passport or any other paper authorized by the government of the United States, or the acceptance or use of a passport granted by the commander of any ship of war of the enemy to any ship or vessel of the United States, which may have been captured and given up for the purpose of carrying persons captured by the enemy to the United States.

Proviso,

jurisdiction of the

ing after the pro

act and arriving

States from cer

be subject to the

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every ship Vessels within the or vessel belonging wholly, or in part, to a citizen or United States sailcitizens, inhabitant or inhabitants of the United States, mulgation of this which shall depart or clear out from any port or place in the United within the jurisdiction of the United States, after the tain latitudes, to promulgation of this act at such port or place, shall operations of this be subject to the operation of the same; and that every ship or vessel owned as aforesaid, if the same be in any part of Europe, of the Mediterranean, or the Western coast of Africa, or between the same and the United States, at the passage of this act, after the first

act.

Proviso.

day of November next; and if at any port or place to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, or between the same and the United States, after the first day of January next; and if in either case such vessel arrive in the United States previous to the said periods respectively, then, after her arrival, shall, in manner be subject to the operation of this act: Provided, That if any such ship or vessel be, in either of the foregoing cases, delayed by stress of weather or other unavoidable accident, from returning to the United States within the periods above stated, the same shall not be subject to the operation of this act, until a sufficient time shall have elapsed after a knowledge thereof, for her return to the United States: And provided also, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to arrest or stay any prosecution or judicial proceeding now pending in any court of the United States or the territories thereof, instituted against any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, for using, or against any ship or vessel belonging wholly or in part to any citizen or citizens, inhabitant or inhabitants of the United States, for sailing under the protection of a license or pass granted by the authority of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or by any person or persons acting under the authority of the same.

Approved Aug. 2, 1813, 1st ses. 13th Con.

An act regulating foreign coins, and for other purposes.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of July coins established next, foreign gold and silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be a legal ten

Rates of foreign

der for the payment of all debts and demands, at the several and respective rates following, and not other wise, viz. the gold coins of Great Britain and Portugal, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty seven grains of the actual weight thereof; the gold coins of France, Spain, and the dominions of Spain, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty seven grains, and two fifths of a grain, of the actual weight thereof. Spanish milled dollars, at the rate of one hundred cents for each dollar, the actual weight whereof shall not be less than seventeen penny weights and seven grains; and in proportion for the parts of a dollar. Crowns of France, at the rate of one hundred and ten cents, for each crown, the actual weight whereof, shall not be less than eighteen penny weights and seventeen grains, and in proportion for the parts of a crown. But no foreign coin that may have been, or shall be issued subsequent to the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety two, shall be a tender, as aforesaid, until samples thereof shall have been found, by assay, at the mint of the United States, to be conformable to the respective standards required, and proclamation thereof shall have been made by the President of the United States.

cept Spanish dol

lars shall cease to

be a tender.

SEC. 2. Provided always, and be it further enacted, When all coins ex That at the expiration of three years next ensuing the time when the coinage of gold and silver, agreeably to the act, entitled, "An-act establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of the United States," shall commence at the mint of the United States, (which time shall be announced by the proclamation of the President of the United States,) all foreign gold coins, and all foreign silver coins, except Spanish milled dollars and parts of such dollars, shall cease to be a legal tender, as aforesaid.

Other foreign coins to be coined

over anew.

After 1st of July, 1793, 55th sec. of a

foreign coin re

pealed.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all foreign gold and silver coins, (except Spanish milled dollars, and parts of such dollars) which shall be received in payment for monies due to the United States, after the said time, when the coining of gold and silver coins shall begin at the mint of the United States, shall, previously to their being issued in circulation, be coined anew, in conformity to the act, entitled, "An act establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of the United States."

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and certain act rating after the first day of July next, the fifty fifth section of the act, entitled, "An act to provide more effectually for the collection of the duties imposed by law on goods, wares, and merchandize imported into the United States," which ascertains the rates at which foreign gold and silver coins shall be received for the duties and fees to be collected in virtue of the said act, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

Assay of coins when to com mence.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the assay, provided to be made by the act, entitled, "An act establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of the United States," shall commence in the manner as by the said act is prescribed, on the second Monday of February, annually, any thing in the said act to the contrary notwithstanding.

Approved 9th Feb. 1793, 2d ses. 2d Con.

The second section of this act suspended for three years from 3d May, 1802.-See act 30th April, 1802.

The first section of this act repealed, and the operation of the second suspended, for the term of three years.See act 10th April, 1806.

An act supplementary to the act, entituled, "An act regulating foreign coins; and for other purposes.”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second section of an act, entituled, "An act regulating foreign coins; and for other purposes," be and the same is hereby suspended, for and during the space of three years from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninetyeight, and until the end of the next session of Congress thereafter, during which time the said gold and silver coins shall be and continue a legal tender, as is provided in and by the first section of the act afore. said; and that the same coins shall thereafter cease to be such tender.

Approved 1st February, 1798, 2d ses. 5th Con,

An act to suspend, in part, the act entituled, "An act regulating foreign coins; and for other purposes."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That so much of the act entituled, "An act part of the act for regulating foreign coins; and for other purposes," for regulating as is contained within the second section thereof, be, and the same hereby is suspended, for and during the space of three years, from and after the end of the present session of Congress.

Approved 30th April, 1802, 1st ses. 7th Con.

foreign coins suspended for

three years.