ned by Congress at its first session after the adoption of
the Constitution in the judiciary act which was approved September
24, 1789. Their general duties, as defined in the act which originally
established them, were substantially the same as those prescribed in
the statutes now in force.

The principal provision on the subject in the Revised Statutes is as
follows:

SEC. 787. It shall be the duty of the marshal of each district
to attend the district and circuit courts when sitting
therein, and to execute throughout the district all lawful
precepts directed to him and issued under the authority of
the United States; and he shall have power to command all
necessary assistance in the execution of his duty.

The original act was amended February 28, 1795, and the amendment is
now found in the Revised Statutes in the following form:

SEC. 788. The marshals and their deputies shall have in each
State the same powers in executing the laws of the United
States as the sheriffs and their deputies in such State may
have by law in executing the laws thereof.

By subsequent statutes additional duties have been from time to time
imposed upon the marshals and their deputies, the due and regular
performance of which are required for the efficiency of almost every
branch of the public service. Without these officers there would be
no means of executing the warrants, decrees, or other process of
the courts, and the judicial system of the country would be fatally
defective. The criminal jurisdiction of the courts of the United
States is very extensive. The crimes committed within the maritime
jurisdiction of the United States are all cognizable only in the
courts of the United States. Crimes against public justice; crimes
against the operations of the Government, such as forging or
counterfeiting the money or securities of the United States; crimes
against the postal laws; offenses against the elective franchise,
against the civil rights of citizens, against the existence of the
Government; crimes against the internal-revenue laws, the customs
laws, the neutrality laws; crimes against laws for the protection of
Indians and of the public lands--all of these crimes and many others
can be punished only under United States laws, laws which, taken
together, constitute a body of jurisprudence which is vital to the
welfare of the whole country, and which can be enforced only by means
of the marshals and deputy