Acts of Congress. ion, may be expedient for providing convenient accommodations, medical assistance, necessary attendance, and supplies, for the relief of sick or disabled seamen of the United States, who may be at or near the port of New Orleans, in case the same can be done with the assent of the government having jurisdiction over the port; and for this purpose, to establish such regulations, and to authorize the employment of such persons as he may judge proper; and that, for defraying the expense thereof, a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars be paid out of any moneys arising from the said fund not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the thirtieth day of June next, the mas ter of every boat, raft, or flat, belonging to any citizen of the United States, which shall go down the Mississippi with intention to proceed to New Orleans, shall, on his arrival at Fort Adams, render to the collector or naval officer thereof, a true account of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the time that each person has been so employed, and shall pay to the said collector or naval officer at the rate of twenty cents per month, for every person so employed, which sum he is hereby authorized to retain out of the wages of such person: and the said collector or naval officer shall not give a clearance for such boat, raft, or flat, to proceed on her voyage to New Orleans, until an account be rendered to him of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the money paid to him by the master or owner thereof: And if any such master shall render a false account of the number of persons, and the length of time they have severally been employed, as is herein required, he shall forfeit and pay fifty dollars, which shall be applied to, and shall make a part of, the said general fund for the purposes of this act: Provided, That all persons employed in navigating any such boat, raft, or flat, shall be considered as seamen of the United States, and entitled to the relief extended by law to sick and disabled seamen. money due from such master or commander, in manner and form aforesaid, shall be paid; and the director of each hospital is hereby directed, under the penalty of fifty dollars, to make out the accounts against each foreign seaman that may be placed in the hospital, under his direction, and render the same to the collector. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the collectors shall pay the money collected by virtue of this and the act to which this is an amendment, into the Treasury of the United States, and be accountable therefor, and receive the same commission thereon as for other moneys by them collected. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That each and every director of the marine hospital shall be accountable at the Treasury of the United States for the money by them received, in the same manner as other receivers of public money, and, for the sums by them expended, shall be allowed a commission at the rate of one per cent. Approved, May 3, 1802. An Act making an appropriation for carrying into ef fect the Convention between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty. the convention of the eighth day of January, one Be it enacted, &c., That, for carrying into effect thousand eight hundred and two, between the United States and His Britannic Majesty, the sum of two millions six hundred and sixty-four thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the aforesaid sum shall be paid in such instalments, and at such times, as are fixed by the said convention, out of any moneys in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated. Approved, May 3, 1802. An Act additional to, and amendatory of, an act, entitled "An act concerning the District of Columbia." Be it enacted, &c., That the circuit court of the county of Washington, in the Territory of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes, which now are or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties reside without the said Terdi-ritory, in the same way that non-residents are proceeded against in the general court or in the supreme court of chancery in the State of Maryland. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to nominate and appoint for the port of New Orleans, a fit person to be director of the marine hospital of the United States, whose duties shall be in all instances the same as the directors of the marine hospital of the United States, as rected and required by the act, entitled "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen." SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That each and every director of the marine hospital within the United States, shall, if it can with convenience be done, admit into the hospital of which he is director, sick foreign seamen, on the application of the master or commander of any foreign vessel to which such sick seamen may belong; and each seaman so admitted shall be subject to a charge of seventy-five cents per day for each day he may remain in the hospital, the payment of which the master or commander of such foreign vessel shall make to the collector of the district in which such hospital is situated: and the collector shall not grant a clearance to any foreign vessel, until the SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the circuit court of the county of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes, which now are or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties are nonresidents of said District of Columbia, in the same way, and under the same regulations, observed by the district court or by the high court of chancery in Virginia, in proceeding against non-residents. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the courts for the counties of Alexandria and Wash Acts of Congress. ington shall hereafter be holden at the periods following, to wit: for the county of Alexandria, on the fourth Monday of June and November, and for the county of Washington, on the fourth Monday of July and December, in each year; and all process heretofore issued from the offices of the said courts and not yet returned, shall be returnable to the first day of the sessions of the said courts, respectively, and all causes now depending in the same shall stand adjourned and continued over to the next sessions of the said courts, as established by this act. And the said courts are hereby invested with the same power of holding adjourned sessions that are exercised by the courts of Maryland. one, "concerning the District of Columbia," to be in force within the said District, shall ever be construed so as to prohibit the owners of slaves to hire them within, or remove them to, the District, in the same way as was practised prior to the passage of the above recited act. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That so much of two acts of Congress, the one passed the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, entitled "An act concerning the District of Columbia;" the other passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, supplementary to the aforesaid act, as provides for the compensation to be made to certain justices of the peace thereby created, and for comSEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no ca- pensation to jurors attending the courts within pias ad satisfaciendum shall hereafter issue on said District, except so much thereof as relates to any judgment rendered by a single magistrate, or their travelling expenses attending the same, shall in any case where the judgment, exclusive of be, and is hereby, repealed; and the jurors, in fucosts, shall not exceed twenty dollars; but that in ture, shall serve in the said courts, and be sumsuch cases execution shall be only on goods and moned to attend the same in like manner as jurors chattels of the debtor, and shall issue by order of serve and were summoned in the courts of Virthe justice who may have taken cognizance of ginia, prior to the passage of the above recited act. the action, from the clerk's office, and shall be re- SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That orditurnable thereto; that all such executions be re-nary licenses, retailers' licenses, and hawkers and turnable on the first Monday in every month, and pedlars' licenses, shall be granted by the circuit that the same, and also the warrant to bring the court of the said District, in the respective counproperty before the justice, be directed to one of ties, as the same were heretofore granted by the the constables, whose duty it shall be to obey the courts of Maryland and Virginia, respectively. same; that each of the said constables shall give And the several judges of the said circuit court bond, with one sufficient surety, to be approved of shall have like authority to grant such licenses in by any one of the district judges, for the faithful vacation, as the justices of the courts of Maryland execution of the duties of his office, in the sum of and Virginia heretofore possessed; and the money five hundred dollars; that the clerk's fees for is- arising from such licenses shall be applied to the suing and filing the return of every such execu- use and benefit of the said counties, respectively, tion, shall be twenty-five cents; the constable's in such manner, and to such purposes, as the jusfees for return and service, shall be fifty cents; tices of the levy courts in the same shall appoint and that a commission of eight per cent. be al- and direct. lowed the constable for every sum thereon by him levied. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the marshal of the District of Columbia be, and he SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much hereby is, authorized and directed, with the apof the original act to which this is a further sup- probation of the President of the United States, plement as confines the jurisdiction of the courts to cause a good and sufficient jail to be built withof this Territory to cases between parties who in the city of Washington, and that a sum not are inhabitants of, or residents within the same, exceeding eight thousand dollars be, and the same shall not be construed to extend to any case where, hereby is, appropriated to that purpose, to be by the laws of Maryland and Virginia, respect-paid out of any unappropriated moneys in the ively, attachments may issue to affect the prop- Treasury. erty of absconding debtors, or others having property within the district, and whose persons are not answerable to the process of the court. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the taxes to be levied in the county of Alexandria shall hereafter be assessed by the justices of the peace of the said county, and the poor of the town and county parts of the said county of Alexandria shall be provided for, respectively, in like manner as the county and corporation courts were authorized to do by the laws of Virginia, as they stood in force within the said county on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted. That no part of the laws of Virginia or Maryland declared by an act of Congress, passed the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the corporation of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, shall have full power and authority to tax any particular part or district of the town for paying the streets, lanes, or alleys therein, or for sinking wells, or erecting pumps which may appear for the benefit of such particular part or district: Provided, That the rate of tax so to be levied shall not exceed two dollars per foot front, and that the same shall be enforced and collected in the same manner that the taxes which the said corporation had heretofore been authorized to lay and collect. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That articles inspected at one port in the said District shall not be subject to a second inspection at any other port in the said District. SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the t Acts of Congress. President of the United States be authorized to cause the militia of the respective counties of Washington and Alexandria to be formed into regiments and other corps, conformably, as nearly as may be, to the laws of Maryland and Virginia as they stood in force in the said counties, respectively, on the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred; and that he appoint and commission, during pleasure, all such officers of the militia of the said District as he may think proper; that he be authorized to call them into service in like manner as the Executives of Maryland and Virginia were authorized in the counties of Washington and Alexandria, respectively, on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred; and that such militia, when in actual service, be entitled to the same pay and emoluments as the militia of the United States when called out by the President. Approved, May 3, 1802. An Act to incorporate the inhabitants of the City of Washington, in the District of Columbia. Be it enacted, &c., That the inhabitants of the City of Washington be constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of a Mayor and Council of the City of Washington, and by their corporate name, may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, grant, receive, and do all other acts as natural persons, and may purchase and hold real, personal, and mixed property, or dispose of the same for the benefit of the said city; and may have and use a city seal, which may be broken or altered at pleasure. The City of Washington shall be divided into three divisions or wards, as now divided by the levy court for the county, for the purpose of assessment; but the number may be increased hereafter, as in the wisdom of the City Council shall seem most conducive to the general interest and convenience. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Council of the City of Washington shall consist of twelve members, resilents of the city, and upwards of twenty-five years of age, to be divided into two chambers, the first chamber to consist of seven members, and the second chamber of five members; the second chamber to be chosen from the whole number of councillors elected, by their ballot. The City Council to be elected annually, by ballot, in a general ticket, by the free white male inhabitants of full age, who have resided twelve months in the city, and paid taxes therein the year preceding the election's being held: the justices of the county of Washington, resident in the city, or any three of them, to preside as judges of election, with such associates as the Council may, from time to time, appoint. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the first election of members for the City Council shall be held on the first Monday in June next, and in every year afterwards, at such place in each ward as the judges of the election may prescribe. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the polls shall be kept open from eight o'clock in the 7th CoN.-44 morning till seven o'clock in the evening, and no longer, for the reception of ballots. On the closing of the poll, the judges shall close and seal their ballot-boxes, and meet on the day following in the presence of the marshal of the district, on the first election, and the Council afterwards, when the seals shall be broken, and the votes counted: within three days after such election, they shall give notice to the persons having the greatest number of legal votes, that they are duly elected, and shall make their return to the Mayor of the city. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted. That the Mayor of the city shall be appointed, annually, by the President of the United States: he must be a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, prior to his appointment. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the City Council shall hold their sessions in the City Hall, or, until such building is erected, in such place as the Mayor may provide for that purpose, on the second Monday in June, in every year; but the Mayor may convene them oftener, if the public of the members of each Council may be a quogood require their deliberations. Three-fourths rum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day: they may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as they may, by ordinance, provide: they shall appoint their respective Presidents, who shall preside during their sessions, and shall vote on all questions where there is an equal division; they shall settle their rules of proceedings, appoint their own officers, regulate their respective fees, and remove them at pleasure : they shall judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members, and may, with the concurrence of three-fourths of the whole, expel any member for disorderly behaviour, or mal-conduct in office, but not a second nal of their proceedings and enter the yeas and time for the same offence: they shall keep a journays on any question, resolve, or ordinance, at the request of any member, and their deliberations shall be public. The Mayor shall appoint to all offices under the corporation. All ordinances or acts passed by the City Council shall be sent to the Mayor, for his approbation, and when approved by him, shall then be obligatory as such. But if the said Mayor shall not approve of such ordinance or act, he shall return the same within five days, with his reasons in writing therefor; and if three-fourths of both branches of the City Council, on reconsideration thereof, approve of the same, it shall be in force in like manner as if he had approved it, unless the City Council, by their adjournment, prevent its return. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Corporation aforesaid shall have full power and authority to pass all by-laws and ordinances; to prevent and remove nuisances; to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases within the city; to establish night-watches or patrols, and erect lamps; to regulate the stationing, anchorage, and mooring of vessels; to provide for licensing and regulating auctions, retailers of liquors, hackney Acts of Congress. carriages, wagons, carts, and drays, and pawn-brokers within the city; to restrain or prohibit gambling, and to provide for licensing, regulating, or restraining, theatrical or other amusements within the city; to regulate and establish markets; to erect and repair bridges; to keep in repair all necessary streets, avenues, drains, and sewers, and to pass regulations necessary for the preservation of the same, agreeably to the plan of the said city; to provide for the safe-keeping of the standard of weights and measures fixed by Congress, and for the regulation of all weights and measures used in the city; to provide for the licensing and regulating the sweeping of chimneys and fixing the rates thereof; to establish and regulate fire wards and fire companies; to regulate and establish the size of bricks that are to be made and used in the city; to sink wells, and erect and repair pumps in the streets; to impose and appropriate fines, penalties, and forfeitures for breach of their ordinances; to lay and collect taxes; to enact by-laws for the prevention and extinguishment of fire; and to pass all ordinances necessary to give effect and operation to all the powers vested in the Corporation of the City of Washington: Provided, That the by-laws or ordinances of the said Corporation, shall be in no wise obligatory upon the persons of non-residents of the said city, unless in cases of intentional violation of by-laws or ordinances previously promulgated. All the fines, penalties, and forfeitures, imposed by the Corporation of the City of Washington, if not exceeding twenty dollars, shall be recovered before a single magistrate, as small debts are, by law, recoverable; and if such fines, penalties, and forfeitures, exceed the sum of twenty dollars, the same shall be recovered by action of debt in the District Court of Columbia, for the county of Washington, in the name of the Corporation, and for the use of the City of Washington. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the person or persons appointed to collect any tax imposed in virtue of the powers granted by this act, shall have authority to collect the same by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the person chargeable therewith: no sale shall be made unless ten days' previous notice thereof be given; no law shall be passed by the City Council subjecting vacant or unimproved city lots, or parts of lots, to be sold for taxes. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the City Council shall provide for the support of the poor, infirm, and diseased of the city. SEC. 10. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no tax shall be imposed by the City Council on real property in the said city, at any higher rate than three quarters of one per centum on the assessment valuation of such property. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force for two years, from the passing thereof, and from thence to the end of the next session of Congress thereafter, and no longer. Approved, May 3, 1802. Resolution authorizing the Secretary of State to fur nish the members of both Houses with the laws of the Sixth Congress. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of State be directed to cause to be furnished to each member of the two Houses of Congress, a copy of the laws of the Sixth Congress. Approved, January 21, 1802. Resolutions expressing the sense of Congress on the gallant conduct of Lieut. Sterret, the officers and crew of the United States schooner Enterprize. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That they entertain a high sense of the gallant conduct of Lieutenant Sterret, and the other officers, seamen, and marines, on board the schooner Enterprize, in the capture of a Tripolitan corsair, of fourteen guns and eighty men. Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to present to Lieutenant Sterret a sword, commemorative of the aforesaid heroic action; and that one month's pay be allowed to all the other officers, seamen, and marines, who were on board the Enterprize when the aforesaid action took place. Approved, February 3, 1802. |