SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every settler or occupant of the Public Lands, prior to the passage of this act, who is now in possession, and cultivated any part thereof in the year one thousand eight hundred and twentynine, shall be, and he is hereby authorized to enter, with the Register of the Land Office, for the District in which such lands may lie, by legal subdivisions, any number of acres, not more than one hundred and sixty or a quarter section, to include his improvement upon paying to the United States the then minimum price of said land; Provided, however, That no entry or sale of any land shall be made, under the provisions of this act, which shall have been reserved for the use of the United States, or either of the several States, in which any of the public lands may be situated.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That if two or more persons be settled upon the same quarter section, the same may be divided between the two first actual settlers, if, by a North and South, or East and West line, the settlement or improvement of each can be included in a half quarter section; and in such case the said settlers shall each be entitled to a pre-emption of eighty acres of land elsewhere in said land district, so as not to interfere with other settlers having a right of preference.

SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That prior to any entries being made under the privileges given by this act, proof of settlement or improvement shall be made to the satisfaction of the Register and Receiver of the land district in which such lands may lie, agreeably to the rules to be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office for that purpose, which Register and Receiver shall each be entitled to receive fifty cents for his services therein. And that all assignments and transfers

of the right of pre-emption given by this act, prior to the issuance of patents, shall be null and void.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not delay the sale of any of the public lands of the United States, beyond the time which has been, or may be appointed for that purpose, by the President's proclamation; nor shall any of the provisions of this act be available to any person, or persons, who shall fail to make the proof and payment required before the day appointed for the commencement of the sales of lands including the tract, or tracts, on which the right of pre-emption is claimed; nor shall the rights of pre-emption, contemplated by this act, extend to any land, which is reserved from sale, by act of Congress or by order of the President, or which may have been appropriated, for any purpose whatever

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be and remain in force, for one year from and after its passage.

CHAP. 210. An Act for the relief of Elizabeth Williams.

CHAP. 212. An Act to revive and continue in force An act fixing the compensations of the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives, of the Clerks employed in their offices, and of the Librarian.'

CHAP. 213. An Act for the relief of Benjamin Wells.

CHAP. 214. An Act increasing the

Terms of the Judicial Courts of the United States for the Southern District of New York, and adding to the compensation of several District Judges of the United States.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, hereafter, there shall be held, monthly, in the City of New York, a Session of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, to commence on the first Tuesday of each month, and be held in the manner now provided by law for holding the stated terms of the said Court.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That, hereafter, there shall be held, annually, in the City of New York, two additional Sessions of the Circuit Court of the United States, for the said dis

triot, for the trial of criminal causes, and suits in equity, to commence on the last Monday of February, and the last Monday of July: And further, That the said Court may, at its discretion, direct Special Sessions thereof to be held in the said city, for the trial of criminal causes or suits in equity; which said additional and special sessions may be held by the said District Judge alone. SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, "That, hereafter, the District Judge for the Southern District of New York, shall reside in the city of New York; and there shall be allowed the said Judge the yearly compensation of thirtyfive hundred dollars, to be paid at the Treasury of the United States, in quarterly payments; to the Judge of the Northern District of New York, the sum of two thousand dollars, and to the Judge for the District of Connecticut, one thousand five hundred dollars.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That, hereafter, there shall be allowed the District Judges of the United States for the Districts of Massachusetts, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and the .Eastern District of Pennsylvania, each, the yearly compensation of two thousand five hundred dollars; and to the Dis trict Judges of the following Districts, respectively, the yearly compensation following-to the District Judge of North Carolina, two thousand dollars; "of Maine, one thousand eight hundred dollars; of Rhode Island one thousand five hundred dollars; of Delaware one thousand five hundred dollars; of Maryland two thousand dollars; of New Jersey one thousand five hundred dollars; of Vermont one thousand two hundred dollars, and of the Western District of Pennsylvania one thousand eight hundred dollars, to be paid at the Treasury of the United States, in quarterly pay

ments.

CHAP. 215. An Act for the relief of sundry Owners of Vessels sunk for

the defence of Baltimore. CHAP. 216. An Act for the relief of certain Officers and Soldiers of the Virginia Line and Navy, and of the Continental Army, during the Revolutionary war.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress . assembled, That the officers and soldiers, sailors and marines, who were in the service of Virginia on her own State establishment during the Revolutionary

war, and who were entitled to military land bounties, by the laws and resolutions of that State, their heirs and assigns, shall be, and they are hereby, authorized, to surrender, to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, such of their warrants for the said land bounties as shall remain unsatisfied, in whole or in part, and to receive certificates or scrip for the same at any time before the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirtyfive, which certificates or scrip shall be issued by the said Secretary, and signed by him, and countersigned by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in the following manner, that is to say: There shall be a separate certificate or scrip for such sum as shall, at the time of issuing the same, be equal to the then minimum price of each quantity of eighty acres of land due by such warrant, and remaining unsatisfied at the time of such surrender, and a like certificate or scrip for such sum as, at the time, shall be equal to the minimum price of the quantity that shall so remain unsatisfied, of any such warrant after such subdivisions of the amount into quantities of eighty acres. And where any such warrant shall have been lost or mislaid, by time and aceident, it shall and may be lawful for the party desiring to surrender the same, to surrender an official copy thereof, certified under the seal of the land office of Virginia, with the affidavit of the party indorsed upon, or accompanying the same, stating that such warrant has been lost or mislaid, and that the original hath not been sold or transferred, to the knowledge or belief of the party so surrendering, or his or her guardian.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to request the Executive of Virginia to furnish him with a statement of all such act, as have already issued, showing the warrants, within the purview of this number and date of each warrant, and the quantity of acres granted by each, and also a monthly statement of the same description, showing the number, date, and quantity, of such warrants as shall hereafter be granted. And no warrant shall be taken to be within the provisions of this act, which shall hereafter be granted, unless the Executive of Virginia shall cause a certificate to be indorsed thereon, signed by some proper officer, stating that the party to whom such warrant shall be so granted his, her, or their ancestor or devisor,

was entitled thereto by some law or resolution of the said State, in force at the time of the deed of cession, by the State of Virginia, to the United States. SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That before the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue the scrip required by the provisions of this bill, the applicants shall produce to him the certificate of the Register of the Land office in Kentucky, and the certificate of the Surveyor of the military lands of the Virginia line, that the warrants (when the original is presented, or the copy, when the original has been lost or destroyed,) has not been located, surveyed, or patented, in Kentucky, attested, by the seal of his office.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the certificates or scrip to be issued by virtue of this act, shall be receivable in payment for any lands hereafter to be purchased, at private sale, after the same shall have been offered at public sale, and shall remain unsold at any of the land offices of the United States, established, or to be established in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. And all such certificates or serip, as shall be issued by virtue of this act, shall be assignable, by indorsement thereon, attested by two witnesses: Provided, That all certificates or scrip to be issued, in virtue of any warrant hereafter to be granted, shall be issued to the party originally entitled thereto, or his heir or heirs, devisee or devisees, as the case may be.

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall be deemed and taken to extend to all such officers, soldiers, sailors, marines, chaplains, musicians, surgeons, and surgeons' mates, in the land or sea service of the State of Virginia during the Revolutionary war, and generally, to every person to whom the State had engaged to pay a land bounty for service in that war, of any description, by any law or resolution passed before, and in force at the date of the said deed of cession; except only such persons as are mentioned in, and provided for by the reservation contained in the said deed of cession in favor of the officers and soldiers of the said State on continental establishment: Provided, That no scrip issued under the provisions of this act, shall entitle the holder to enter or purchase any settled or occupied lands, without the written consent of such settlers or occupants, as may be actually residing on said lands at the time the same shall be entered or applied for:

And provided, also, That the amount of land thus located, shall not exceed two. hundred and sixty thousand acres.

SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the first and fourth sections of this act, shall extend to and embrace owners of military land warrants, issued by the United States, in satisfaction of claims for bounty land for services during the Revolutionary war; and that the laws, heretofore enacted, providing for the issuing said warrants, are hereby revived and continued in force for two years.

SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall also be deemed and taken to extend to all the unsatisfied warrants of the Virginia army on continental establishment: Provided, That the quantity thereof shall not exceed fifty thousand acres, in addition to the two hundred and sixty thousand acres heretofore authorized to be located by their State line. CHAP. 217. An Act for the relief of Lewis Rouse.

CHAP. 218. An Act making appropriations for certain expenditures on account of the Engineer, ordnance, and Quartermaster's Department. CHAP. 219. An Act making a re-ap

propriation of a sum heretofore appropriated for the suppression of the slave trade.

CHAP. 220. An Act to repeal the ton

nage duties upon ships and vessels of the United States, and upon certain foreign vessels.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the first day of April next, no duties upon the tonnage of the ships and vessels of the United States, of which the officers and two thirds of the crew shall be citizens of the United States, shall be levied or collected; and all acts and parts of acts imposing duties upon the tonnage of ships and vessels of the United States officered and manned as aforesaid, so far as the same relate to the imposition of such duties, shall, from and after said first day of April next, be repealed.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the said first day of April next, all acts and parts of acts imposing duties upon the tonnage of the ships and vessels of any foreign nation, so far as the same relate to the imposition of such duties, shall be repealed: Provided, That the President of the United

States shall be satisfied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of such foreign nation, so far as they operate to the disadvantage of the United States, have been abolished.

CHAP. 221. An Act to authorize the President of the United States to cause the present site of the National Mint to be sold, and making an appropriation for completing the new buildings now erecting. CHAP. 222. An Act authorizing the County of Allen to purchase a portion of the reservation including Fort Wayne.

CHAP. 223. An Act for the relief of John Reily.

CHAP. 224 An Act for the relief of

John Baptiste Jerome. CHAP. 225. An Act for the relief of the legal representatives of Simeon Theus, deceased.

CHAP. 226. An Act for the relief of John F. Carmichael, of the State of Mississippi.

CHAP. 227. An Act for the relief of Gabriel Godfroy.

CHAP. 228. An Act for the relief of

Samuel Ward.

CHAP. 229. An Act to amend the act, entitled An act for the relief of certain surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the Revolution.' SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress as sembled, That the second section of the act, entitled 'An act for the relief of certain surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the Revolution,' approved the fifteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twentyeight, shall not be construed to embrace Invalid Pensioners, and that the pension of invalid soldiers, shall not be deducted from the amount receivable by them under the said act. CHAP. 230. An Act to amend the

Charter of Georgetown.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That public notice of the time and place of sale of any real property chargeable with taxes in Georgetown, in all cases hereafter, shall be given once in each week, for twelve successive weeks, in some one newspaper in the County of Washington, in which shall be stated the number of the lot or lots, or

parts thereof, intended to be sold and the value of the assessment, and the amount of the taxes due and owing thereon; and that so much of the seventh section of an act of Congress, approved May twentysixth, one thousand eight hundred and twentyfour, as requires said notice to be given in the National Intelligencer, and in a newspaper in Alexandria, be, and the same is hereby repealed; Provided, That nothing in this act shall the sales of property owned by persons change the manner of giving notice of not residing in the District of Columbia.

SECT. 2. And be it further_enacted, That on the fourth Monday of February next, and on the same day biennially thereafter, the citizens of Georgetown, qualified to vote for Members of the two Boards of the Corporation of said Town, shall, by ballot, elect some fit and proper persons having the qualifications now required by law to be Mayor of the Corporation of Georgetown, to continue in Office two years, and until a successor is duly elected, and the person having at said election, which shall be conducted by Judges of election appointed by the Corporation, the greatest number of legal votes, shall be declared duly elected, and in the event of an equal number of votes being given to two or more candidates, the two Boards in joint meeting, by ballot, shall elect the Mayor from the persons having such equal number of

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated viz.

For defraying the expenses incidental to making examinations and surveys for National works, under the act of thirtieth April, one thousand eight hundred and twentyfour, including five thousand one hundred and four dollars and twentyseven cents, for arrearages on account of surveys and office rent, in the years one thousand eight hundred and twenty six, one thousand eight hundred and twentyseven, and one thousand eight hundred and twentyeight, thirty thou sand dollars.

For continuing the road from Detroit to Fort Gratiot, seven thousand dollars. For continuing the road from Detroit to Saginaw Bay, seven thousand dollars. For continuing the road from Detroit to Chicago, eight thousand dollars.

For completing repairs on the road between Alachua Court House, and Jacksonville, in Florida, two thousand dollars. For completing the road from Alagua to Mariana, two thousand dollars.

For completing the survey and estimate of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico,ten thousand four hundred dollars. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to cause a detailed report to be made out, shewing the practicability or impracticability of making a ship or other canal, and the reasons for either, with an estimate of the probable expense and advantages of such canal as may be considered ✓ practicable.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of opening, grading and making the Cumberland road, westwardly of Zanesville, in the State of Ohio; and that the sum of sixty thousand dollars be, and the same is, hereby appropriated for the purpose of opening, grading, and bridging the Cumberland road, in the State of Indiana, commencing at Indianopolis, and progressing with the work to the eastern and western boundaries of said State, and that the sum of forty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of opening, grading, and bridging the Cumberland road in the State of Illinois; which said sums shall be paid out of any money not otherwise

appropriated, and replaced out of the fund reserved for laying out and making roads, under the direction of Congress, by the several acts passed for the admission of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States.

SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That for the immediate accomplishment of these objects, the superintendents heretofore appointed, or hereafter to be appointed in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, shall, under the direction of the President of the United States, faithfully execute the work, and disburse the money, giving bond and security as he shall direct, and receiving such compensation as in his opinion shall be equitable and just, not exceeding to each that heretofore allowed by law to the Superintendent of the Cumberland road in the State of Ohio.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the sum of fifteen thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby granted, for claims due and remaining unpaid at the Treasury, on account of the Cumberland road, east of Wheeling, to be paid out. of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

I approve this bill, and ask a reference to my communication to Congress of this date, in relation thereto.

ANDREW JACKSON.

CHAP. 234. An Act making additional Appropriations for pay of the Marine Corps.

CHAP. 235. An Act to authorize the payment of the Claim of the State of Massachusetts, for certain services of her Militia during the late

war.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, under the superintendence of the Secretary of War, be, and they are hereby authorized and directed to credit and settle the claims of the State of Massachusetts against the United States for the services of her Militia during the late war, in the following cases: First, where the Militia of the said State were called out to repel actual invasion, or under a well founded apprehension of invasion: Provided, their numbers were not in undue proportion to the exigency: "second, where they were called out by the authority of the State, and afterwards