the service of any ambassador or other public minister, which debts shall be still due and unpaid, shall have, take, or receive any benefit of this act, nor shall any person be proceeded against by virtue of this acı, for having arrested or sued any other domestic servant of any ambassador or other public minister, unless the name of such servant be first registered in the office of the Secretary of State, and by such secretary transmitted to the marshal of the district in which Congress shall reside, who shall, upon receipt thereof, affix the same in some public place in his office, whereto all persons may resort and take copies without fee or reward.

SEC. 28. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall violate any safe-conduct or passport duly obtained and issued under the authority of the United States, or shall assault, strike, wound, imprison, or in any other manner infract the law of nations, by offering violence to the person of an ambassador or other public minister, such person so offending, on conviction, shall be imprisoned not exceeding three years, and fined at the discretion of the court.

Approved, April 30, 1790.

3. AN ACT to prescribe the mode in which the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings, in each State, shall be authenticated so as to take effect in every other State.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the acts of the legislatures of the several States shall be authenticated by having the seal of their respective States affixed thereto: -That the records and judicial proceedings of the courts of any State shall be proved or admitted in any other court within the United States, by the attestation of the clerk, and the seal of the court annexed, if there be a seal, together with a certificate of the judge, chief justice, or presiding magistrate, as the case may be, that the said attestation is in due form. And the said records and Judicial proceedings, authenticated as aforesaid, shall have such faith and credit given to them in every court within the United States, as they have by law or usage in the courts of the State from whence the said records are, or shall be taken.

Approved, May 26, 1790.

4. AN ACT supplemental to the act "establishing the Treasury Department," and for a farther compensation to certain officers.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That each and every clerk, and other officer already appointed in any of the departments of the United States, and who have not, since their appointment, taken the oath or affirma

tion hereafter mentioned,) shall, within fifteen days after the passing of this act, and those who shall hereafter be appointed, shall, before they enter upon the duties of such appointment, take an oath or affirmation, before one of the justices of the Supreme Court, or one of the judges of a district court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and also an oath or affirmation, well and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him, which oaths or affirmations, subscribed by such clerk, and certified by the person administering the same, shall be filed in the office of the person employing such clerk.

Approved, 3 March, 1791.

5. AN ACT relative to the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and declaring the officer who shall act as President in cases of vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That except in case of an election of a President and Vice President of the United States, prior to the ordinary period, as hereinafter specified, electors shall be appointed in each State for the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December in every fourth year succeeding the last election, which electors shall be equal to the number of Senators and Representatives to which the several States may, by law, be entitled at the time when the President and Vice President, thus to be chosen, should come into office. Provided always, That where no apportionment of Representatives shall have been made after any enumeration, at the time of choosing electors, then the number of electors shall be according to the existing apportionment of Senators and Representatives.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, at such place, in each State, as shall be directed by the legislature thereof; and the elec tors in each State shall make and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given, and shall seal up the same, certifying, on each, that a list of the votes of such State, for President and Vice President, is contained therein, and shall, by writing, under their hands, or under the hands of a majority of them, appoint a person to take charge of, and deliver to the President of the Senate, at the seat of Government, before the first Wednesday in January then next ensuing, one of the said certificates

and the said electors shall forthwith forward, by the post-office, to the President of the Senate, at the seat of Government, one other of the said certificates; and shall, forthwith, cause the other of the said certificates to be delivered to the judge of that district in which the said electors shall assemble.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the executive authority of each State shall cause three lists of the names of the electors of such State to be made, and certified, and to be delivered to the electors on or before the said first Wednesday in December; and the said electors shall annex one of the said lists to each of the lists of their votes.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if a list of votes from any State shall not have been received at the seat of government, on the said first Wednesday in January, that then the Secretary of State shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody such list shall have been lodged, who snail forthwith transmit the same to the seat of Government.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors, and the said certificates, or so many of them as shall have been received, shall then be opened, the votes counted, and the persons who shall fill the offices of President and Vice President ascertained and declared, agreeably to the Constitution.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, in case there shall be no President of the Senate at the seat of Government on the arrival of the persons intrusted with the lists of the votes of the electors, then such persons shall deliver the lists of votes in their custody into the office of the Secretary of State, to be safely kept and delivered over, as soon as may be, to the President of the Senate.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the persons appointed by the electors to deliver the lists of votes to the President of the Senate, shall be allowed, on the delivery of the said lists, twenty-five cents for every mile of the estimated distance, by the most usual road, from the place of meeting of the electors to the seat of Government of the United States.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That if any person, appointed to deliver the votes of the electors to the President of the Senate, shall, after accepting of his appointment, neglect to perform the services required of him by this act, he shall forfeit the sum of one thousand dollars.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That in case of a removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice President of the United States, the President of the Senate pro tempore, and, in case there shall be no President of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the time being, shall act as President of the United States, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That whenever the offices of President and Vice President shall both become vacant, the Secretary of State shall forthwith cause a notification thereof to be made to the executive of every State, and shall also cause the same to be published in, at least, one of the newspapers printed in each State, specifying that electors of the President of the United States shall be appointed or chosen, in the several States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, then next ensuing: Provided, There shall be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the said first Wednesday in December; but if there shall not be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the first Wednesday in December, and if the term for which the President and Vice President last in office were elected shall not expire on the third day of March next ensuing, then the Secretary of State shall specify in the notification, that the electors shall be appointed or chosen within thirtyfour days preceding the first Wednesday in December in the year next ensuing, within which time the electors shall accordingly be appointed or chosen, and the electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, and the proceedings and duties of the said electors, and others, shall be pursuant to the directions prescribed in this act.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the only evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of, the office of President or Vice President, shall be an instrument in writing, declaring the same, and subscribed by the person refusing to accept, or resigning, as the case may be, and delivered into the office of the Secretary of State.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the term of four years for which a President and Vice President shall be elected, shall, in all cases, commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors shall have been given.

Approved, March 1, 1792.

6. AN ACT providing compensation to the President and Vice Pres dent of the United States.

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 third day of March, in the present year, the compensation of the President of the United States shall be at the rate of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, with the use of the furniture and other effects belonging to the United States, and now in possession of the President: And that of the Vice President, at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum; in full for their respective services; to be paid quarter yearly, at the Treasury.

Approved, February 18, 1793.

7. AN ACT to authorize certain officers and other persons to admi

nister oaths.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a chairman of a committee of the whole, or a chairman of a select committee of either House, shall be empowered to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses, in any case under their examination.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall wilfully, absolutely, and falsely swear or affirm, touching any matter or thing material to the point in question, whereto he or she shall be thus examined, every person so offending, and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subjected to the pains, penalties, and disabilities, which by law are prescribed for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury. Approved, May 3, 1798.

8. AN ACT supplementary to the act, entitled "An Act to prescribe the mode in which the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings in each State shall be authenticated so as to take effect in every other State."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, all records and exemplifications of office books, which are or may be kept in any public office of any State, not appertaining to a court, shall be approved or admitted in any other court or office in any other State, by the attestation of the keeper of the said records or books, and the seal of his office thereto annexed, if there be a seal, together with a certificate of the presiding justice of the court of the county or district, as the case may be, in which such office is or may be kept; or of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Chancellor or the keeper of the great seal of the State, that the said attestation is in due form and by the prover officer; and the said certificate, if given by the presiding