# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/5th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 17

Chap. ⅩⅦ.—An Act providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations.
President authorized to draw from the Treasury, $40,000, annually.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States shall be, and he hereby is authorized to draw from the treasury of the United States, a sum not exceeding forty thousand dollars, annually, to be paid out of the monies arising from the duties on imports and tonnage, for the support of such persons as he shall commission to serve the United States in foreign parts, and for the expense incident to the business in which they may be employed: Provided, Outfit of agents to foreign countries, equal to one year’s full salary.that, exclusive of an outfit, which shall, in no case, exceed the amount of one year’s full salary to the minister plenipotentiary, or chargé des affaires, to whom the same may be allowed, the President shall not allow to any minister plenipotentiary, a greater sum than at the rate of nine thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; Limits of their compensation. $9,000 to a minister plenipotentiary, $4,500 to a charge des affiares.nor a greater sum for the same, than four thousand five hundred dollars per annum, to a chargé des affaires; nor a greater sum for the same, than one thousand three hundred and fifty dollars per annum, to the secretary of any minister plenipotentiary.
Manner of accounting for monies issued under the act.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in all cases, where any sum or sums of money have issued, or shall hereafter issue from the treasury, for the purposes of intercourse or treaty, with foreign nations, in pursuance of any law, the President shall be, and he hereby is authorized to cause the same to be duly settled annually with the accounting officers of the treasury, in manner following, that is to say; by causing the same to be accounted for, specifically in all instances wherein the expenditure thereof may, in his judgment, be made public; and by making a certificate or certificates, or causing the Secretary of State to make a certificate or certificates of the amount of such expenditures as he may think it advisable not to specify; and every such certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the sum or sums therein expressed to have been expended.
Further appropriation for the year 1798.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That for defraying the expenses of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations, during the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, there be further appropriated, in addition to the aforesaid sum of forty thousand dollars, and out of any monies in the treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, the sum of twenty-eight thousand six hundred and fifty dollars.
Act of July 1, 1790, ch. 22.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the act passed on the first day of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, intituled “An act providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations,” and the act passed on the ninth day of February, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, intituled 1793, ch. 4.“An act to continue in force for a limited time, and amend the act, intituled An act providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations,” shall be, and they hereby are repealed.
Limitation of the act.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be and remain in force until the end of the first session of the sixth Congress, and no longer.
Approved, March 19, 1798.