of the ship for any infraction of its provisions, makes detailed regulations for Japanese tapés
not only when they arrive in American ports, but while they are on their voyage – and subjecting the Master to penalties and damages for anything omitted when, in the case of foreign ships, they are clearly beyond American jurisdiction. We have not heard whether any attempt has yet been made to enforce any of these provisions against foreign ships. We are not aware of any other legislation in the United States which would serve as a precedent for the Merchant Shipping Act, nor are we sufficiently conversant with the legislation of other foreign states to say whether a precedent could be found there for similar provisions.
Possibly fuller information on these points, concerning the commercial law of nations, might be obtained from the Board of Trade, at whose instance, we believe, this Act was drafted, and from whom, with the assistance of an eminent civilian, it received its present shape.
We have the honor to be,
Your Obedient humble Servants,
Mundoch
Roderick Rogers
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