Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/329

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An act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization; and to repeal the acts heretofore passed on that subject.

After an alien shall have complied with certain directions his widow and children made citizens of the U. States.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That when any alien who shall have complied with the first condition specified in the first section of the said original act, and who shall have pursued the directions prescribed in the second section of the said act, may die, before he is actually naturalized, the widow and the children of such alien shall be considered as citizens of the United States, and shall be entitled to all rights and privileges as such, upon taking the oaths prescribed by law.

Approved, March 26, 1804.

Statute Ⅰ.



March 26, 1804.

Chap. XLVIII.An Act in relation to the Navy Pension Fund.

Act of March 2, 1799, ch. 24, sec. 9, 10. Act of April 23, 1800, ch. 33, sec. 9, 10. Act of April 16, 1816, ch. 58. Act of March 3, 1817, ch. 60. Act of March 3, 1819, ch. 79.
Money arising from captures, not already paid over, to be paid to the treasurer.
How the money is to be disbursed by the treasurer.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the money accruing or which has already accrued to the United States, from the capture of prizes authorized by law, and which has not already been paid to the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of War, as commissioners of the navy pension fund, shall be paid to the treasurer of the United States.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the treasurer of the United States, to receive all the money so accruing, and to disburse the same pursuant to warrants from the Secretary of the Navy, countersigned by the accountant of the navy; and a distinct quarterly account of the monies thus received and disbursed shall be rendered by the said treasurer to the accounting officers of the treasury, in the same manner as is provided for other public monies received by him.

A distinct quarterly account of it to be rendered.
Accountant to the navy to receive and settle all navy pension accounts, and report the same.
Comptroller authorized to institute suits for prize money.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the accountant of the navy to receive and settle all accounts whatever, in relation to the navy pension fund, and report from time to time, all such settlements, as shall have been made by him, for the inspection and revision of the accounting officers of the treasury, in the same manner as in other cases of public accounts.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the comptroller of the treasury shall be fully authorized and empowered to direct suits for the recovery of any sums now due, or which may hereafter be due to the United States, for prizes as aforesaid, and to prosecute the same in the name of the United States, in the same manner as in other cases for the recovery of monies due to the United States.

Commissioners of the navy pension fund may appoint a secretary. His duties and emoluments.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners of the navy pension fund be, and they are hereby authorized to appoint a secretary, who shall perform all such duties in relation to the fund, as they shall require of him; and shall receive for his services, a salary not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars per annum, to be paid quarter yearly at the treasury of the United States, and charged to the same fund.[1]


  1. See note to chapter 53, post, page 297, Navy Pension Fund. By an act passed 10th July, 1832, Congress authorized the appointment of a separate and permanent navy agent at Washington, and directed the performance of the duties, “not only for the navy yard in the City of Washington, but from the navy department, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, in the payment of such accounts and claims as the secretary may direct.” These duties would not have been so specially stated in this act, if they had been considered by Congress as coming within the ordinary duties of an agent of the navy yard at Washington, under the act of 1804. But independent of this consideration, it is enough to know, that the duties in question were discharged by the defendant, under the construction given to the law by the Secretary of the Navy. United States v. Macdaniel, 7 Peters, 1.
    The United States instituted a suit to recover a balance charged on the books of the treasury department, against the defendant, who was a clerk in the navy department, upon a fixed annual salary, and acted as agent for the payment of moneys due to the navy pensioners, the privateer pensioners, and for navy disbursements, for the payment of which, funds were placed in his hands by government. He claimed these commissions at the treasury, and the claim had been there rejected by the accounting offi-