OUTLINE OF THE REVENUE, OR FINANCIAL SYSTEM IN GENERAL.

Page.

Section 1. Construction of the Revenue clause of the Con-

stitution and of the Revenue laws; and definitions of coun-

try, America,* &c., in a commercial and political sense,

Section 2. Improvement of the Revenue system, sought by

repeated efforts, from 1789 to 1838, with other important

tributaries thereto,

Section 3. The supervision of the business of the Customs,

1

3

as the principal branch of the Revenue System, delegated, in

chief, to the Comptroller of the Treasury, with certain reser-

vations to the Secretary of the Treasury, and other exceptions

incidentally devolving on other officers; also, sundry notices

respecting the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursement of

the Revenue, and other financial operations connected there-

with,

CHAPTER II.

Page.

SYNOPSIS OF COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS, IN GENERAL, APPERTAINING TO THE REVENUE SYSTEM.

tions, in the ports, and on the coasts of the United States-the

quarterly returns connected therewith-and the annual inven-

tory or property schedule of Revenue Cutters, &c.,

Section 5. Of the System of Commerce and Navigation, (in

time of peace,) embracing the Custom-house entries of Ves-

sels, Imports, Exports, and Tonnage-with exhibits of mani-

fests of cargoes and Marine Papers, and making registry of

Aliens that arrive and report for naturalization, &c.:-Also,

the quarterly returns connected therewith, respectively,

Section 6. Of the system of Commerce and Navigation, as

modified in time of War and contingent War-embracing the

Embargo regulations-Sea Letters, Mediterranean Passports,

Letters of Marque and Reprisal-Neutrality Regulations,

with instances of national comity, &c.,

CHAPTER III.

6

39

42

60

THE SYSTEM OF REVENUE PROPER, ARISING FROM IMPORTS, TONNAGE, AND OTHER DUTIES, SUCH AS

LIGHT-MONEY, STORAGE RECEIPTS, PASSPORT AND CLEARANCE DUTIES, &c.; WITH THE NECESSARY

PRELIMINARIES TO THE ESTIMATE AND LEVYING OF DUTIES.

(Preliminaries to the estimate and levying of Duties.)

Section 1. Of the regulations for estimating the Exchange

value of foreign currency, incident to estimating the value

of invoices and the rates of Duty thereon:-with the Monthly

Returns of such estimates of Foreign Currency,

Section 2. Of instructions to Consuls and Commercial

Agents, respecting the exchange value of foreign currency—

the authentication of invoices, and the giving information on

matters connected with American commerce in their respec-

tive Consulates, &c.,

69

72

Section 3. Of Officers of the Customs in General, their func-

tions, &c., viz: Collectors, Naval Officers, Surveyors, Inspec-

tors, Appraisers, Weighers, Gaugers, Measurers, Clerks-

Endorsements on Public Documents-Absenteeism from Of-

fice, &c.,

Section 4. Of the Deposite of Goods in Public Stores, for

Duties, for Drawback, for reduction of Duties, to defer pay-

ment of Duties for want of Invoices, or as unclaimed Goods,

&c.,

76

91

"The definition of "America" was not incorporated in Article 12, referring to it, in Chapter I, page 3, on account of its manifest inaccuracies; but as its omis-
sion might excite some curiosity about it, it is here transcribed, with a supposed clerical omission after the word north, [and south] inserted in brackets. But,
definition may have meant to do so.
that "America" cannot be restricted to its Atlantic relations, neither geographically nor politically, however the act referred to in the

sury Department

ury America. This word, as used in the act of 224 February, 1805, supplementary to former Collection laws, is general, and has been considered by the Trea-

as embracing all places lying north [and south] of the equator, and situated on the eastern shores of the northern and southern continents and

their adjacent bays and gulfs, as well as the islands generally denominated the West Indies."" C's cir. January 23, 1818; V. 1, p. 358.

(Of the estimate and levying of Duties of every kind.)

CHAPTER IV.

THE SYSTEM OF INCIDENTAL REVENUE, DERIVED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, AS RECOVERED BY SUIT.

CHAPTER V.

THE SYSTEM OF INCIDENTAL REVENUE, DERIVED FROM LOANS-WHETHER DIRECTLY BY LOANS OF DO-

MESTIC OR FOREIGN BANKERS AND INDIVIDUALS, OR INDIRECTLY (OF ALL WHO RECEIVE THEM) BY

THE ISSUE OF TREASURY NOTES, &c.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE SYSTEM OF DEPOSITE, TRANSFER, AND SAFE-KEEPING OF THE REVENUE.

[The subjects of this Chapter are too closely allied to be separated into different Sections, in the manner of those of other Chapters-com-

prising the fiscal agency of Banks, its early adoption and fluctuations; the currency of Bank notes; suspensions and resumptions of Spe-

cie payments; condition and operation of Banks; practical system of collecting, keeping, and disbursing the Revenue generally; distribu-

tion of the surplus Revenue, and returns thereof, respectively, to the Treasury Department.-See page 173.]

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE SYSTEM OF DISBURSEMENTS OF THE REVENUE BY THE TREASURER AND OTHER OFFICERS-

WHETHER OF MONEYS ACTUALLY DEPOSITED IN THE TREASURY TO THE CREDIT OF THE TREASURER,

OR OF MONEYS CONSTRUCTIVELY IN THE TREASURY, OR OF MONEYS NEVER PRETENDED TO HAVE

BEEN IN THE TREASURY.

Customs, and the returns thereof to the Treasury, for settle-

ment with a recapitulation of the calls for Returns of

salaries, fees, commissions, and other emoluments of Offi-

cers of the Customs, quarterly for settlement, and annu-

ally for the information of Congress-to which are added

the calls for other annual statements of Property, Naviga-

tion, and Commerce, and the inventories of Revenue cut-

ters.

Section 3. Of the Disbursements of Moneys actually depos-

ited in the Treasury, and of Moneys constructively in the

Treasury,

(a.) Of the refunding of Duties paid under protest-the

same having been deposited in the Treasury, to the credit

of the Treasurer, as a separate fund, to be refunded by ap-

propriation, or authority of law, on certain contingencies,

(b.) Of disbursements on account of the salaries, fees, and

emoluments of District Attorneys, Marshals, Clerks of

Courts, and Jurors, &c., and on account of Judges of the

United States, of Governors and Secretaries of Territories,

Members and Officers of Territorial Legislatures, and all

others who receive their pay direct from the Treasurer,

(c.) Of disbursements on account of Military Pensions,

whilst wholly and in part under the direction of the Secretary

of the Treasury,

CHAPTER VIII.

Page.

211

222

222

223

226

OF INSTRUCTIONS AND REGULATIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS OF LAND

OFFICES, IN RELATION TO THE SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS, AND RETURNS RELATIVE TO THE PROCEEDS

THEREOF, &c., &c.

[This Chapter comprises abstracts of a number of Circular Instructions to Receivers and Registers of Land Offices, which, being found in

the Office collection of the Circular Instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury, it was deemed inadmissible to pass them over unnoticed

here.]

As some order is better than no method, even in the preface of a book, I have thought proper to arrange the matters which have been deemed suitable to compose this Introduction in numerical sequence, as follows: 1. Of the authority under which this classified Synopsis was prepared, and the processes by which it was produced. 2. Of the enumeration and virtual identity of the Laws, with the Decisions given in execution of the Laws. 3. Of the relative proportions of Legislation devoted to the Fiscal Department and other branches of the Government. 4. Of the applicability of this Analysis of the Laws to the Instructions and Decisions for their execution. 5. Of the availability of Laws and Decisions which have been repealed or become obsolete, as beacons to future legislation and Executive action. 6. A summary Analysis of the work, with a few remarks on the different fiscal systems or projets, and specifications of the manner in which the laws have been executed.

1. The preparation of a descriptive Index or Synopsis of Treasury Instructions and Decisions, in execution of the Revenue Laws, as expressed in Circular Letters addressed to Collectors of the Customs and other officers of the Treasury, having been put in my charge without definition or limitation as to the plan or mode of executing the work, I not only felt fully authorized, but deemed it proper and expedient, in the absence of all restrictions, to avail myself of the confiding liberality of the Department, by adopting such a plan as would suggest itself in the course of its prosecution-which was commenced by examining and collating the materials, restoring copies from the records and all other available sources, and arranging them in chronological order for binding. Such, necessarily, was the first step taken in this intricate enterprise, in order to redeem these invaluable archives from the dilapidated condition into which most of them had fallen, perhaps unavoidably, through a long course of years-the same having been but very imperfectly reclaimed by the praiseworthy efforts of the Department, in making special calls on officers of the Customs and others to replace them, since the conflagration of the Treasury building in 1832. This compilation being thus perfected, as far as was practicable from all available sources, consists of two series, of six quarto volumes-three of Secretaries' and three of Comptrollers' Circulars, interspersed with others, from other officers, on subjects of kindred bearing. The instructions in execution of the Revenue laws being thus embodied, it was now determined to make a separate abridgment of each series, taking the volumes of the Comptroller's Circulars first in order, being more in detail, and those of the Secretaries of the Treasury next-making specific references, at the end of each item of instruction, to the original circulars corresponding with the items so abridged: and this was the second process, which was executed with the greatest possible exactness and care, making the abridgments, in cases, more literal and full than in others, according to the greater importance of the particular subject. Finding that the Instructions of the Secretaries and the Comptrollers, from beginning to end, with very few exceptions, related to the same subjects, often making repetitions, confirmations, or references to each other, and in some instances those of the former rescinding those of the latter, and of their respective predecessors, it was, in the next place, necessary to incorporate the two sets of abstracts or abridgments, according to the date and subject-matter of each item, that they might throw reciprocal light on each other, as well as to form a continuous and unbroken whole of Treasury Instructions, according to chronological order: and this was the third process. Having thus completed the incorporation of the two masses, though their commingled subjects began now to assume more form and consistency, yet, being only in the sequence of dates, serious breaks, or separations of important instructions on the same subject, would occur at short intervals throughout, which would be but imperfectly remedied by an alphabetical index of references to them, as they would still be contemplated in more or less isolated condition when consulting those references. Under these circumstances, a CLASSIFICATION RAISONNE next appeared to be indispensable, in order to impart perspicuity and the greatest practical utility to the whole system. To accomplish such a classification, the whole consolidated abridgment

certain

a