lar dress is not prescribed by The President. It is barely suggested, by his direction, as an appropriate and convenient uniform dress for the use of the Diplomatic Agents of the United States residing near Foreign Governments.

42. Compensation. The compensation allowed to Ministers and other Diplomatic Agents of the United States, is fixed by law, and is intended to cover all personal and other expenses. Under this denomination are not included, however, those incurred in the purchase of, or subscription to, gazettes and pamphlets, transmitted to this Department; of postage, stationary, necessary and customary presents to the menial attendants of Public Functionaries at the presentation of the Diplomatic Agent, and on other established occasions (usually the Christmas and New Year's days) but will form, under the head of Contingencies of the Legation, a separate charge in his accounts. For his compensation, actually due, and the contingent expenses of the Legation, actually incurred, the Diplomatic Agent is authorised, by special instructions, to draw either upon the Department of State, or upon the Bankers of the United States designated in said instructions; but in availing himself of this authorisation, he is to be careful not to exceed, in the amount drawn, the sum to which he may be entitled, in account with the United States, at the dates of his drafts.

43. Accounts. No contingent expenses are to be incurred without necessity, unless in compliance with the established usages; and no charge of any other description will be admitted, not warranted by express directions from this Department. Exact vouchers, in all cases of expenditures, will be necessary for the settlement at the Treasury of the accounts of the Mission: and as some of the incidental charges, coming under this denomination, are of a nature scarcely admitting of any other sort of voucher for every item, a separate account should be kept and certified, either by the Secretary of Legation, or by the Chargé d'Affaires, himself. These particulars are thus minutely stated in order to remove all doubts and uncertainty on the subject of public accounts, which it is to be remembered, are to be regularly transmitted, by duplicates, for adjustment at the Treasury, at the close of every quarter, ending with March, June, September and December. The foregoing directions, and particularly that of forbearing to draw for any public money in advance, and that requiring the regular quarterly transmission of the accounts of the Legation for settlement, are rendered the more indispensable for the due observance of the act of Congress "concerning the disbursement of public money," approved the 31st of January, 1823, (see acts of the 2d Session 17th Congress. 7th vol. p. 113.)

44. Archives and Books of the Legation. All the printed books delivered at the Department of State to Diplomatic Agents, found by them at the Legation, or procured for its use at the public expense, are the property of the United States, and being intended for the special use of their several Legations, are to remain permanently with their archives, and to be trans

mitted by each agent to his successor in office, or to such person as may be designated by the Department of State to take charge of them at the termi nation of the Mission. All the records kept in the office of the Legation, and all the original documents received and filed there, in the course of business, are likewise public property, and constitute the archives of the Mission. Particular care is therefore to be observed, that the papers of every description, being of an official character and connected with public business, be kept well arranged, so that easy reference may be had to them in all future time: and that a record of the official despatches, letters and notes written at the Legation, be carefully and punctually made and preserved, as part of its archives.

45. Cypher. On taking charge of the Legation, the Diplomatic Agent will either find amongst its papers, or be furnished by the Department of State, with a Cypher to be used by him in his correspondence with his Government, or with other Agents of the United States in Foreign Countries, on occasions when the confidential or secret nature of the information to be communicated, shall render it proper.

46. Commercial Regulations. By resolutions of the Senate of the Sd, of March, 1817, and the House of Representatives of the 21st January, 1823, The President was requested to cause to be collected, digested printed, and laid before those Houses, respectively, so much of the treaties, lawsa nd regulations of the different Foreign Countries with which the United States have commercial intercourse, as relates to import, export, tonnage, light-money, pilotage and port-duties; to bounties and drawbacks; to colonial trade and navigation; to the national character of mariners; and to the ship's papers and navigation of such foreign countries, respectively specifying the comparative footing of the national and foreign ships employed in any branch of such commercial intercourse. In compliance with these Resolutions, digests were prepared at this Department, and laid before Congress in 1819 and 1824, of which copies will be found among the books of all the missions of the United States abroad. Since their publication, the laws and regulations from which they were compiled, have undergone and are daily undergoing alterations and modifications consequent upon the various changes in the commercial policy of nations. As it is interesting that this Department should be kept acquainted with the subject, in all its details, it is made the duty of the Diplomatic Agents of the United States to communicate, from time to time, to their Government, such alterations and modifications as may take place in the commercial legislation of the countries in which they respectively reside, following, as their guide in the inquiries and investigation necessary for that object, the parts already digested in the publications referred to.

47. Information to be transmitted to the Department. Amongst the most important general duties of a minister or other Diplomatic Agent of the

United States in foreign countries, is that of transmitting to his own Government accurate information of the policy and views of that to which he is accredited, and of the character and vicissitudes of its important relations with other Powers. To acquire this information, and particularly to discriminate between that which is authentic, and that which is spurious, requires steady and impartial observation, a free, though cautious correspondence with the other Agents of the United States abroad, and friendly social relations with the members of the Diplomatic Body at the same place.

In their correspondence with the Department of State, besides the current, general and particular politics of the country where they are to reside, the Diplomatic Agents of the United States will be mindful, as they may find it convenient, to transmit information of every kind, relating to the Government, finances, commerce, arts, sciences and condition of the nation, not already known, and which may be made useful to the United States. Books of travels containing statistical or other information of political importance, historical works not before in circulation, authentic maps published by authority of the State, or distinguished by extraordinary reputation, and publications of new and useful discoveries, will always be acceptable acquisitions to this Department. The expense of procuring and transmitting all such books, maps, and pamphlets, are to form a separate charge to the Department; but none of any considerable amount is to be incurred in any one account, without a previous express direction for it from this office.

48. Signing of Treaties, &c. It is the practice European Governments,in the drawing up of their treaties with each other, to vary the order of naming the parties and that of the signatures of the Plenipotentiaries, in the counterparts of the same treaty, so that each party is first named, and its plenipotentiary signs first, in the copy possessed and published by itself. And, in treaties drawn up between parties using different languages, and executed in both, each party is first named, and its Plenipotentiary signs, first, in the copy executed in its own language. This practice having, on several occasions, been accidentally or inadvertently omitted to be observed by the United States, the omission was followed by indications of a disposion in the negotiators of certain royal European Governments to question. its applicability to treaties between them and the United States. It became, therefore, proper to insist upon it, as was accordingly done with effect. As it is understood to involve a principle, it is to be considered as a standing instruction to the Diplomatic Agents of the United States to adhere to this practice, called "alternate," in all cases where they shall have occasion to sign, in their public capacity, any Treaty, Convention, or other document, with the Plenipotentiaries of other powers.

49. Consuls. In the practice of the Government of the United States, there is no immediate connexion or dependence between persons holding diplomatic

consular appointments in the same country; but, by the usage of all the commercial nations of Europe, such a subordination is considered as of course. In the transaction of their official duties, the Consuls are often in necessary correspondence with their Ministers, or Chargés d'Affaires, through whom alone they can regularly address the Government of the Country in which they reside, and they are always supposed to be under their direction. The Diplomatic Agents will accordingly maintain such correspondence with the Consuls of the United States in the countries to which they are accredited, as they will think conducive to the public interest; and, in case of any vacancy in their offices, which may require the temporary appointment of a fit person to perform the duties of the Consulate, such appointment will be made by the Minister or Chargé d'Affaires, with the consent of the Government of the Country in which he resides, he giving immediate notice thereof to this Department.

50. Passports. Among the ordinary functions of an American Diplomatic Agent abroad, is that of giving passports to Citizens of the United States who apply for them. They sometimes receive applications for such passports from citizens of other countries; but these are not regularly valid, and should be granted only under special circumstances, as may sometimes occur in the case of foreigners coming to the United States. In times of war and internal commotions, such passports are often solicited, and sometimes sought, by fraudulent means, to be obtained, to favor the escape of individuals having no right to such protection, and being in peril of their persons. As such applications may be made to all our Ministers and Chargés d'Affaires abroad, their vigilance should be exercised in guarding against such impositions, and their firmness in resisting such solicitations. Respect for the passport of an American Minister abroad is indispensable for the safety of his fellow-citizens travelling with it; and nothing would be so fatal to that respect as the experience that his passport had been abusively obtained by persons not entitled to it. All passports should be gratuitously given, and a record or list of all those which may be delivered, containing the name and voucher of American citizenship of the person to whom they are given, should be kept in the office of the Legation. They may be refused even to citizens of the United States, who have so far expatriated themselves as to have become bound in allegiance to other nations, or who in any other manner have forfeited the protection of their own. Protections to seamen are not included under the denomination of passports, nor are they even granted by Public Ministers. Seamen may, nevertheless, like other citizens, occasionally want the passport of the Minister, and be equally entitled to it.

51. Presents. A custom prevails, among the European Sovereigns, upon the conclusion of treaties, of bestowing presents of jewelry, or other articles of pecuniary value, upon the minister of the Power with which they are nego

tiated: the same usage is repeated upon the Minister's taking leave, at the termination of his mission. The acceptance of such presents by Agents of the United States is expressly prohibited by the Constitution; and, even if it were not, it can scarcely be consistent with the delicacy of intercourse with foreign Powers, for our Ministers to receive from those Powers, or from the persons administering their Governments, such favors as their own Agents in the United States can never receive from our Executive in return. The usage, exceptionable in itself, could only be tolerated by its being reciprocal. It is therefore expected that every offer of such present, which may, in future, be made to any Diplomatic Agent, or other officer of this Government, in foreign countries, will be respectfully, but decisively declined. This having already been a standing instruction to all our Agents abroad, for several years, the rule is, probably, so well known as to prevent the offer of such presents in future; but should there be any reason to expect it, informal notice that it cannot be accepted, given in the proper quarter, by the Agent to' to whom it is to be made, would avoid the apparent harshness of declining an intended favor, by anticipating the necessity of a refusal.

52. Forms of Despatches. It has been found highly convenient and useful in the transaction of business in the Department of State, to have the original despatches from our Ministers abroad bound up in volumes. For this purpose, and with a view to uniformity, those despatches should be regularly numbered; and, together with the copies made at the Legation of all papers transmitted with them, should be written on paper of the same dimensions, 13 inches long, 8 broad, and a margin of at least 1 inch around all its borders, for stitching, and cutting off the edges, without injury to the text. A sample of the paper is furnished by this Department, with a set of lines adapted to its size, and marking the margin within which the manuscript should be confined; of which the instructions from this Department also exhibit an example.

It would further conduce to the convenience of the Department, if short marginal references were made in the official communications of the Agents of the United States abroad, of the several subjects treated of by them, so as to exhibit at once the parts of their despatches to which particular attention may occasionally be required. The marginal notes in these instructions may be followed as a guide in this respect.

Minute as these particulars appear, they are found to be very essential to the good order and convenience of business in the Department of State; a strict adherence to them is therefore enjoined upon the Diplomatic Agents of all grades, representing the United States in foreign countries.

53. Ambassador's Powers. The powers with respect to an ambassador, are nothing else than what a letter of attorney is, in reference to a private person.