Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/737



and shall never thereafter be allowed a credit for duties on any goods, wares or merchandise, imported by him or them into any of the ports of the United States; and the master or commander of such ship or vessel, as well as all other persons who shall knowingly be concerned in such prohibited foreign voyage, shall each respectively forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding twenty thousand, nor less than one thousand dollars for every such offence, whether the vessel be seized and condemned or not; and the oath or affirmation of any master or commander, knowingly offending against the provisions of this section, shall ever thereafter be inadmissible before any collector of the customs of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That all penalties and forfeitures arising under, or incurred by virtue of, this act, may be sued for, prosecuted and recovered, with costs of suit, by action of debt, in the name of the United States of America, or by indictment or information, in any court having competent jurisdiction to try the same; and shall be distributed and accounted for in the manner prescribed by the act, entituled “,” passed the second day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine; and such penalties may be examined, mitigated or remitted, in like manner, and under like conditions, regulations and restrictions, as are prescribed, authorized and directed by the act, entituled “,” passed the third day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, and made perpetual by an : Provided, that all penalties and forfeitures which shall have been incurred by virtue of this act, previous to the expiration thereof, may and shall thereafter be recovered and distributed in like manner, as if this act had continued in full force and virtue.

, April 4, 1812.

, the representatives of the people of all that part of the territory or country ceded, under the name of “Louisiana,” by the treaty