foreign vessels. Opinion of the Court. Article 21 of the regulations of 1881, referred to in item 35 of paragraph 496, embraces seven paragraphs, and is headed: "Duties as to American Vessels engaged in the Transportation of Chinese and other Emigrants;" and the article expressly states that the duties of the consul under it apply to vessels of the United States. Article 18 of the regulations of 1874 is to the same purport as article 21 of the regulations of 1881. Neither in the regulations of 1874 nor in those of 1881 is there any designation, as an official service, of the examination of the subjects of China, Japan or any other Oriental country, known as coolies, carried as passengers on board of any vessel other than a vessel registered, enrolled or licensed in the United States. Therefore, the consul, in examining Chinese emigrants going to the United States on foreign vessels, did not perform a service required by law or by the regulations, or any service specified in any tariff of fees, or any official service. The fees received for such service, being paid voluntarily to the consul by the person to whom it was rendered, became the private property of the consul and not the money of the United States. This view is not varied by the fact that the person employed the consul to render the service because he was consul, or by the fact that the consul attached his seal as evidence of his official character; because he was not required by any law or regulation to use either his seal or his title of office officially, nor was any fee prescribed for the service in any tariff of fees. The practice of consuls to do acts which are not official is recognized in several places in the consular regulations of 1874, as in paragraphs 296 and 297, where it is stated that consuls are at liberty to examine titles for their countrymen at home, "or to do other services for them in a foreign land," "for a private compensation, if it does not interfere with the performance of their official duties;" in paragraph 308, the performing of notarial acts; in paragraph 309, the taking the acknowledgment of deeds, and the taking of depositions and affidavits under the laws of the States and Territories of the Union, for use as evidence in such States and Territories, Opinion of the Court. respectively; in paragraph 310, the execution of a commission for taking testimony under the authority of a state or territorial tribunal, which function paragraph 311 states "is regarded as outside of the regular duties and responsibility of a consular officer," and in regard to which paragraph 312 states as follows: "It is to be understood that in such cases the consular officer does not act in his quality of an agent of the Federal Government, but simply as a citizen of the United States whose local position and character render him available to his fellowcitizens for such services as might have been rendered by a private individual. He should make himself as useful as he can to his fellow-citizens, without giving offence to the government which gives him his exequatur. But it must be understood in all such cases that he acts as a private citizen, and that the government cannot in any way be made responsible for his acts." Like provisions are found in paragraphs 471 to 477 of the consular regulations of 1881; and paragraph 478 of the latter says: "The compensation or fee of a consular officer for performing a notarial service, executing a judicial commission, or letters rogatory, or the unofficial services referred to in paragraphs 471, 472 and 475, is not an official but a personal fee, for which he is not responsible to the government as for official fees, unless the service, or a part of it, is one for which a fee is prescribed in the Tariff of Fees. In that case he must account to the government for the fee prescribed in the tariff." Section 1724 of the Revised Statutes makes a consul liable for the omission to collect any fees "which he is entitled to charge for any official service." By section 1726 it is made the duty of a consular officer to "give receipts for all fees collected for his official services;" by section 1727, to keep a fee-book for the registry of "all fees so received by him;" and by section 1728, to render with his account of fees received a full transcript of such register, and make oath that it contains "a full and accurate statement of all fees received by him, or for his use, for his official services as such consular officer, during the period for which it purports to be rendered." Opinion of the Court. It is quite clear, therefore, that the statutes and regulations make a distinction between official and unofficial services rendered by a consul. The allowance to the claimant of the item of $5147 was, therefore, proper. 2. The next item, but which was disallowed, is $1592, for certifying extra copies of quadruplicate invoices of goods shipped to the United States, and which sum was collected by the claimant before the 1st of September, 1881, and is covered by finding 10. It is stated in the opinion of the Court of Claims that all such fees paid after the regulations of 1881 took effect have been refunded, and are not now in controversy. Sections 2853 and 2855 of the Revised Statutes, as they stood prior to the 1st of July, 1880, when the act of June 10, 1880, c. 190 (21 Stat. 173), took effect, provided as follows: "Sec. 2853. All invoices of merchandise imported from any foreign country shall be made in triplicate, and signed by the person owning or shipping such merchandise, if the same has actually been purchased, or by the manufacturer or owner thereof, if the same has been procured otherwise than by purchase, or by the duly authorized agent of such purchaser, manufacturer or owner." "Sec. 2855. The person so producing such invoice shall at the same time declare to such consul, viceconsul or commercial agent the port in the United States at which it is intended to make entry of merchandise; whereupon the consul, vice-consul or commercial agent shall endorse upon each of the triplicates a certificate, under his hand and official seal, stating that the invoice has been produced to him, with the date of such production, and the name of the person by whom the same was produced, and the port in the United States at which it shall be the declared intention to make entry of the merchandise therein mentioned. The consul, vice-consul or commercial agent shall then deliver to the person producing the same, one of the triplicates, to be used in making entry of the merchandise; shall file another in his office, to be there carefully preserved; and shall, as soon as practicable, transmit the remaining one to the collector of the port of the Opinion of the Court. United States at which it shall be declared to be the intention to make entry of the merchandise." Paragraph 491 of the consular regulations of 1874 reads as follows: "491. Consular officers will, on request of the proper collectors, supply them, free of charge, with copies of any such documents on file in their offices as they may need in the discharge of their official duties. Copies prepared by other persons for their own use will, on request, be certified on payment of two dollars. When, however, duplicates of originals are required, or the copy is prepared by the consul, the schedule fee will be exacted as for original service." A like provision is found in paragraph 668 of the regulations of 1881. By section 4 of the act of June 10, 1880, before referred to, it was provided that sections 2853 and 2855 of the Revised Statutes should be so amended as to require that all invoices of merchandise imported from any foreign country and intended to be transported without appraisement to any of the ports mentioned in section 7 of that act, should be made in quadruplicate, and that the consul, vice-consul or commercial agent, to whom the same should be produced, should certify each of said quadruplicates under his hand and official seal in the manner required by section 2855, and should "then deliver to the person producing the same two of the quadruplicates, one to be used in making entry at the port of first arrival of the merchandise in the United States, and one to be used in making entry at the port of destination, file another in his office, there to be carefully preserved, and as soon as practicable, transmit the remaining one to the collector or surveyor of the port of final destination of the merchandise: Provided, however, That no additional fee shall be collected on account of any service performed under the requirements of this section." By item 36 of the tariff of fees in paragraph 333 of the regulations of 1874, a fee of $2.50 is prescribed for a certificate "to invoice, including declaration, in triplicate." Nothing is there said as to a fee for a copy of an invoice, but in paragraph 491, before quoted, a fee of $2 is prescribed for a certificate to a copy of a document on file in the office of a consular officer, which would include an invoice. In the tariff of fees in para Opinion of the Court. graph 496 of the regulations of 1881, in item 36, a like fee of $2.50 is prescribed for a certificate "to invoice, including declaration, in triplicate," and a like fee of $2 under paragraph 668 of the regulations of 1881. The charges which make up the $1592 are manifestly for official services, which can be performed only under the hand of the consul and his seal of office to the certificate. As is said by the Court of Claims: "The act pertains to a duty specifically prescribed by the laws of the United States, and, upon a tender of the fee, the party making application is entitled to have a certificate attached to the instrument, if it is a copy of the document executed in triplicate. The party being entitled to the certificate, it is the duty of the officer to attach his official seal upon payment of the fees. This is an official duty, and the emolument becomes an official fee." The item of $1592 was, therefore, properly disallowed. 3. The item of $5805, which was allowed, is covered by finding 9, and is for fees received for certificates of shipment of merchandise in transit through the United States to other countries. These were not the invoices referred to in sections 2853 and 2855 of the Revised Statutes, either as they originally stood or as they were amended by the act of June 10, 1880. The law did not require the consul to issue those certificates; no provision was made for a fee for them in the regulations of 1874, or in those of 1881; and it does not appear that the regulations of the Treasury Department required a consul to perform any duty in relation to such goods. This item was, therefore, properly allowed. 4. The next item, $644.01, relates to fees "for notarial and clerical work," being six items covered by finding 12. Of these, item a, being fees collected for "recording instruments at various times, between February 4, 1879, and December 31, 1880, $39.29," was disallowed. This item was rejected by the Court of Claims because it did not appear, from the specification or proof, what was the character of the instruments recorded, and because it was, therefore, said to be impossible to determine whether the recording came within the regulations of 1874 or those of 1881, and because, for aught that |