Public Acts of Congress. issary general of purchases, as heretofore auorized, with the annual salary of three thousand ollars, and one deputy commissary to each divion, with the annual salary of two thousand ollars, and six assistant commissaries of issues, ith the annual salary of one thousand three undred dollars, and as many military store eepers as the service may require, whose salaes shall be regulated by the Secretary of War, ccording to the duty they may perform: Proided, That the pay and emoluments shall not xceed that of a captain of infantry. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all of icers of the pay, commissary, and quartermaster's epartment, shall, previous to their entering on he duties of their respective offices, give good and sufficient bonds to the United States, fully o account for all money and public property which they may receive, in such sum as the Secetary of War shall direct. And all paymasters, commissaries, and storekeepers, shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, in the same manner as commissioned officers: Provided also, That all officers of the pay and commissary's departments be submitted to the Senate for their confirmation, in the same manner as the officers of the army. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe the quantity and kind of clothing to be issued annually to the troops of the United States: Provided, That whenever more than the authorized quantity is required, the value of the extra articles shall be deducted from the soldiers' pay, and in like manner the soldiers shall receive pay, according to the annual estimated value for such authorized articles of uniform as shall not have been issued to them in each year. Provided, also, That the manner of issuing and accounting for clothing shall be established in the general regulations of the War Department. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where a soldier of the regular army shall have been discharged from the service of the United States, and clothing shall be due to said soldier, it shall be the duty of the Paymaster General to cause the same to be paid for, according to the price paid in the seventh section of this act. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the several officers of the staff shall respectively receive the pay and emoluments, and retain all the privileges secured to the staff of the Army, by the act of March third, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, and not incompatible with the provisions of this act; and that the regulations in force before the reduction of the Army be recognised, as far as the same shall be found applicable to the service, subject however to such alterations as the Secretary of War may adopt, with the approbation of the President. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the staff, provisionally retained by the President, and in this act enumerated and made permanent, be recognised in service under this act, and that the garrison surgeons and mates be hereafter considered as post surgeons; and hereafter the staff of the Army may be taken from the line of the Army, or from citizens. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the ordnance department be continued as at present organized under the act of February eighth, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, and that ordnance officers be assigned to their duties with the staff of the Army, in the same manner as from the corps of engineers. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That when forage is not drawn in kind by officers of the Army entitled thereto, eight dollars per month for each horse, not exceeding the number authorized by existing regulations, shall be allowed in lieu thereof: Provided, That neither forage nor money shall be drawn by officers, but for horses actually kept by them in service: Provided, also, That none except company officers shall be allowed to take as servants or waiters soldiers of the Army, and that all officers be allowed, for each private servant actually kept in service, not exceeding the number authorized by existing regulations, the pay, rations, and clothing of a private soldier, or money in lieu thereof, on a certificate setting forth the name and description of the servant or servants, in the pay account: Provided, also, That one additional ration be allowed to all subaltern officers of the Army. Approved, April 24, 1816. An Act concerning the entry of vessels at the ports of Middletown and Plymouth. Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be lawful to make entry of foreign ships or vessels, and of cargoes which may be on board the same, and to unlade such cargoes respectively, or any part thereof, at the port of Middletown, in the State of Connecticut, and at Plymouth, in the State of North Carolina, under the regulations in such cases by law provided. Approved, April 24, 1816. An Act making appropriations for the support of the Navy of the United States for the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. Be it enacted, &c., That, for defraying the expenses of the Navy for the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, the following sums be, and they are hereby, respectively appropriated, that is to say: For pay and subsistence of the officers, and pay of the seamen, one million one hundred and fortytwo thousand and fifteen dollars. For provisions, three hundred and fifty-six thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars. For medicine, hospital stores, and all expenses on account of the sick, including those of the marine corps, twenty-five thousand dollars. For repairs of vessels three hundred thousand dollars. For ordnance, ammunition, and military stores, two hundred and ten thousand dollars. For navy yards, docks, and wharves, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Public Acts of Congress. For contingent expenses, including freight, transportation, and recruiting expenses, three hundred thousand dollars. For pay and subsistence of the marine corps, one hundred and forty-one thousand, one hundred and seventy-two dollars. For clothing for the same, thirty-four thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars. For military stores for the same, one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight dollars. For contingent expenses for the same, fourteen thousand five hundred dollars. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the several appropriations, herein before made, shall be paid out of moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Approved, April 24, 1816. An Act for the more convenient arrangement of the times and places of holding the Circuit Courts of the United States, for the districts of South Carolina and Georgia. Be it enacted, &c., That, from and after the first day of June next, the circuit courts in and for the sixth circuit of the United States shall be held at the following times and places, and no others; that is to say, for the district of Georgia, at Savannah, on the fourteenth day of December, in every year, and at Milledgeville, on the sixth day of May in every year; for the district of South Carolina, at Charleston, on the twentieth day of November in every year, and at Columbia on the twentieth day of April in every year; and the circuit courts for the said districts respectively, or the circuit judge of the said sixth circuit is authorized and required to make all such rules and orders as may be necessary to carry into effect the change in time and place of holding the said courts, according to the true intent and meaning of this act. Approved, April 24, 1816. An Act for the relief of certain purchasers of public lands in the Mississippi Territory, Be it enacted, &c., That every person who, since the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eleven, and prior to the eighteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, had purchased any tract or tracts of public land in the Mississippi Territory, not exceeding in the whole six hundred and forty acres, unless the tract purchased be a fractional section or sections, or fractional sections classed with an entire section, and whose lands have not already been actually sold or reverted to the United States for non-payment of part of the purchase money, shall be allowed the further time of two years and eight months from and after the expiration of the present period already given by law for completing the payment of the said purchase money; which further term of two years and eight months shall be allowed only on the condition, that all arrears of interest on the purchase money shall have been paid on or before the time shall have expired for completing the payment of the purchase money: Provided, That in all cases in which the time for completing the payment of the purchase money may have expired, or shall expire, before the first day of July next, the interest may be paid on or before that day. But in case of failure in paying either the arrears, or the residue of principal with the accruing interest, as is herein provided, the tract of land shall forthwith be advertised and offered for sale, in the same manner, and on the same terms, as is directed by law in case of lands not paid for within the limited term, and shall revert in like manner, if the sum due, with interest, be not at such sale bidden and paid. And in cases where any tract or tracts of land in said Territory, not exceeding in the whole, six hundred and forty acres, unless the tract be a fractional section or sections, or fractional sections classed October last, reverted to the United States, for with an entire section have, since the first day of default of payment, the original purchaser may again enter the same tract or tracts at the price at which such tract or tracts were originally sold; and all moneys which such original purchaser may have paid shall be replaced to his credit by the receiver of public moneys for the district in which the land may lie, and such re-purchasers shall be allowed the same benefits of the extension of the time of payment created by this act, as though no such reversion had occurred: Provided, That such original purchaser shall make to the proper officer such application for such re-entry as is required by law for the entry of lands on or before the first day of July next, and that the land so reverted shall not have then been previously resold. Approved, April 24, 1816. An Act supplementary to an act, entitled “An act granting bounties in lands and extra pay to certain Canadian volunteers." Be it enacted, &c., That instead of the Treasurer of the United States, as is prescribed by the third section of the act to which this is a supplement, the Paymaster of the Army of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to pay to each of the persons described in the act above recited, according to the provisions thereof, three months' pay in addition to that to which they may have been previously entitled, according to the rank they respectively held in the Army of the United States during the late war. Approved, April 26, 1816. An Act declaring the assent of Congress to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia. Be it enacted, &c., That the assent of Congress is hereby given and declared to an act of the Genercl Assembly of Virginia, entitled "An act incorporating a company for the purpose of improving the navigation of James river from Warwick to Rockett's landing," which act was passed on Public Acts of Congress.¡ e twenty-second day of February, in the year he thousand eight hundred and sixteen. Approved, April 26, 1816. n Act rewarding the officers and crew of the Constitution, for the capture of the British sloop-of-war Levant. Be it enacted, &c., That the President of the nited States be, and he hereby is, authorized to ave distributed as prize money, to Captain Chas. -tewart, late of the frigate Constitution, his offiers and crew, the sum of twenty-five thousand ollars, for the capture of the British sloop-of-war evant; and that the sum of twenty-five thouand dollars, out of any money in the Treasury ot otherwise appropriated, be, and the same is ereby, appropriated for the purpose aforesaid. Approved, April 26, 1816." An Act authorizing the payment of a sum of money to John T. Courtnay and Samuel Harrison, or their legal representatives. Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to pay to John T. Courtnay and Samuel Harrison, citizens of Virginia, or if either of both of chem be dead, then to their legal representatives, the sum of three hundred and seventy-five dollars, to be equally divided between them; which sum is paid them in consequence of their exertions in saving from being destroyed by fire, the gunboat schooner Asp, belonging to the United States, when she was set on fire and left burning by the enemy, after having been taken by them in an action in the month of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, in the river Potomac. Approved, April 26, 1816. An Act supplementary to the act to provide additional revenues for defraying the expenses of Government and maintaining the public credit, by laying a direct tax upon the United States, and to provide for assessing and collecting the same. Be it enacted, &c., That, in regard to the direct tax imposed by the act of Congress, passed the fifth of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, and to any other direct tax that may be hereafter imposed, the enumerations, valuations, and assessments first made, or to be made, in virtue of the "Act to provide additional revenues for defraying the expenses of Government and tax upon the United States, and to provide for maintaining the public credit, by laying a direct assessing and collecting the same," passed the ninth of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, shall remain unchanged, except insomuch as the respective amounts of tax may be affected by the augmentation or diminution of the aggregate tax laid, or to be laid, and the property so enumerated, valued, and assessed, shall continue liable, with such qualification, to the taxes so assessed, subject only to the changes hereinfrom the correction of errors, as authorized by the after provided for, and to those that may arise last recited act. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the changes to be made in the said enumerations, valuations, and assessments, and in the subsequent revisions thereof, shall be relative to the first day of June in the present year, and in every subsequent year in which a direct tax may be imposed, shall be effected by the principal assessors, without the employment of assistant assessors, and shall extend to the supplying omissions of assessable property, to the transfers of real estate and slaves, to the changes of residents and non-resi. dents, to the burning or destruction of houses or other fixed improvements of real estate, to the exemption of property that may have ceased to be assessable, and to the assessment of property Be it enacted, &c., That the town of the Bayou that may have ceased to be exempted from assesSt. John, in the State of Louisiana, shall be a portment, to such other cases as the Secretary of the of delivery; that a surveyor shall be appointed to Treasury may find it necessary in the furtherance reside at said port; that all ships and vessels of justice specially to authorize, and to the birth bound to said port shall, after proceeding thereto, or death of slaves, or their running away, or and making report and entry, at the port of New otherwise becoming useless: Provided, That Orleans, within the time limited by law, be per-changes in the last case shall be solely where the mitted to unlade their cargoes at the said town of the Bayou St. John, or at the basin of the canal of Carondolet, adjoining the city of New Orleans, under the rules and regulations prescribed by law. An Act establishing a port of delivery at the town of the Bayou St. John. tax standing chargeable to any person for slaves would be diminished by the valuation on the said first day of June of all those then owned by such person, excepting those obtained by transfer, in which case the reduction in the valuation shall be equal to the difference between the amount of the original and existing valuation. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of the sixth section of the act of Congress, passed on the twenty-fourth day of February, one thou- SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall sand eight hundred and four, entitled "An act for be the duty of each of the principal assessors, laying and collecting duties on imports and ton-within fifteen days from the first of June, to atnage, within the territories ceded to the United States by the treaty of the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States and the French Republic, and for other purposes," as is contrary to this act, is hereby repealed. Approved, April 26, 1816. 14th CoN. 1st SESS.-59 tend in person, or in case of his sickness, by a deputy to be appointed by him, at six several places within his district most convenient to the inhabitants, the court-houses being of the number, except where they exceed six, and then at each court-house within the district, for one full day at each place, for the purpose of receiving any in Public Acts of Congress. formation as to the changes as aforesaid, which may have taken place since the preceding assessment or revision, which information shall be given in writing under the signature of the person whose tax may be affected thereby; of which attendance, and the object thereof, the said principal assessor shall, on or before the fifteenth day of May preceding, cause notice to be given, which notice shall be inserted three times weekly in all the newspapers published within his district, and in handbills, to be posted up at all the courtbouses therein; causing, at the same time and in the same mode, notice to be given that he will attend to hear appeals relative to any such changes at the times and places herein specified therefor. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That each of the said principal assessors shall, within ten days after the said fifteen days, according to the information so received, or to any other information satisfactory to him, revise the general lists for his district, and note in a supplementary form such changes as shall appear to him to have occurred; and shall, within the said term of ten days, make out a distinct statement of each change, which shall include the name of the person so liable to tax, and the valuation of the property, and shall either cause the same to be delivered to such person, or to be put in the mail, addressed to him or her, and directed to the post office nearest to his or her abode, agreeably to the best information of the said principal assessor, with a notification of the times and places of hearing any appeals that may be made, as hereinafter provided for: Provided, That no such notice need be given to persons not residing within the district. SEO. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said principal assessor to attend at the several places aforesaid within his district, within fifteen days from the expiration of the ten days aforesaid, for at least one day at each courthouse, for the purpose of receiving any appeals that may be made in writing as to the changes aforesaid, which changes shall be open to the inspection of any person who may apply to inspect the same. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the changes aforesaid shall be made in the following manner, and according to the following principles, in addition to those herein before stated, that is to say: In all cases that relate to real estate, and to the transfer of slaves, other than is herein specially provided for, the rate at which the same were or would have been valued under the act aforesaid, passed the ninth of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, shall, as near as may be, be maintained; excepting where a partial alienation of real estate shall occur, in which case the original tax shall be apportioned among the several parts according to their existing value. In all other cases relative to slaves, the valuation shall be made according to their existing value. In cases in which real property shall have been once sold for taxes, and purchased on behalf of the United States, such property shall, notwithstanding, continue to be entered on the general lists, and the tax lists, in the name of the original proprietor, until the period allowed for the redemption thereof shall have expired, after which, unless redeemed, it shall be stricken therefrom; but after being so purchased it shall not, while it remains unredeemed, be again sold for any other direct tax; and, during such period, the redemption thereof shall only be effected on the payment of all the taxes, additions, and charges due thereon, the same as if it still continued the property of the original owner, and as if it had been sold for each accruing tax; and the collectors shall, on rendering the proper accounts, be credited for the amount of taxes on property thus continuing unredeemed. Any person becoming the owner of a slave by transfer to him from a district other than that in which he resides, shall, at the time and place prescribed by the third section of this act, furnish the principal assessor with a statement, specifying the sex and age of such slave, who shall be valued according to his or her existing value; and any such person who shall neglect to furnish a statement, shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding ten dollars; one half thereof for the use of the United States, and the other half for the use of the informer. And where a transfer of a slave shall be made by a person residing within one district to a person residing in another, which shall become known to the principal assessor of the former district, he shall forthwith advise, through the mail, the principal assessor of the latter district thereof, who shall, in case the statement aforesaid shall not have been rendered as aforesaid, institute a prosecution against the person to whom the transfer has been made for the said penalty. In all cases the individual statements of changes shall be made out in such a manner as may be directed by the principal assessor, and shall, ia their form, be as similar as practicable to the lists taken at the preceding assessment. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of insuring a correct execution of the objects aforesaid, the principal assessors shall take and pursue all other lawful measures, by the examination of records, the entry on the premises, or by any other satisfactory proof, which they shall consider necessary. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That, within thirty days after the expiration of the time allotted as aforesaid to the hearing of appeals, it shall be the duty of the principal assessor in each district to revise, agreeably to his decision and the information he may possess, the enumerations and valuations aforesaid, correcting the same agreeably to the changes aforesaid, and to make out a complete corrected list of all the enumerations and valuations in his district, agreeable to the form prescribed by the act aforesaid, passed the ninth of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, which the said principal assessor shall sign and preserve among his official papers; and Public Acts of Congress. urther to make out and deliver to the collector, the whole extra amount thus allowed-shall not within the same time, agreeably to the twenty-exceed in such year ten thousand dollars. And rst section of the said act, the tax lists therein for the purpose of carrying this act into effect, esignated, made to conform to such changes; there is hereby appropriated, in each year in whereupon the respective steps required by the which a direct tax shall be laid, a sum of one rovisions of the said act, not incompatible with hundred thousand dollars, to be paid out of any hose prescribed by this act, shall be pursued. money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriSEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That so much ated: Provided, That any other existing appro f the thirty-ninth section of the act aforesaid, priation for the said purposes be, and the same assed the ninth of January, one thousand eight is hereby, repealed. undred and fifteen, as respects the time within which transfers and changes of property shall be scertained, and the making out and delivery of he lists thereof, be, and the same are hereby, reealed. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted. That in ase any circumstance shall prevent a compliance, n point of time, with the foregoing provisions, he steps required shall nevertheless be taken hereafter; in which event the same notices shall be given, and the same terms of time be allotted o the performance of the several duties that would have been requisite had no such failure existed. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the duties aforesaid, required of the principal assessors, and the compensation for the performance hereof, shall be confined to those States which shall not have assumed the payment of the direct ax laid in any year, or, having assumed, shall not have duly paid the same. SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of the time now fixed by law for the commencement of the collection of the direct tax, it shall be in each district immediately subsequent to the day on which the tax lists shall be delivered to the collector thereof. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That in all cases in which a tax shall be charged for slaves, the real estate of the person charged therewith may be sold therefor, in the same man. ner as for a tax due thereon; but no slaves sold for taxes shall be purchased on behalf of the United States. SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to assign to the commissioner of the revenue the duty of superintending the assessor's valuations and assessments, under the laws imposing a direct tax, as well as the collection of the tax, subject to his directions and control, according to the powers vested in him by law. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That in SEC. 18. And be it further enacted, That the default of the performance of the duties enjoined foregoing provisions shall apply to any direct tax by this act on any principal assessor, he shall for-imposed or to be imposed upon the District of feit and pay, for the use of the United States, a Columbia, and shall be and remain in force, anysum not exceeding five hundred dollars, to be thing in any former act or acts to the contrary sued for and recovered in the name of the United notwithstanding. States in any court having competent jurisdiction. SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That all letters to and from the principal assessors, relative to their official duties, shall be transmitted free of postage. And any principal assessor who shall put his frank on any other letter, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars, the whole of which shall be for the use of the person who shall give information thereof. SEC. 19. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That the equalization and apportionment of the direct tax made in the year eighteen hundred and fifteen by the board of principal assessors for the State of Delaware, in virtue of the before recited act, entitled "An act to provide additional revenues for defraying the expenses of Government and maintaining the public credit, by laying a direct tax upon the United States, and to provide for the assessing and collecting SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That in lieu the same," shall not be in force or have any effect of the compensations heretofore allowed to the as it relates to that State's quota of the direct principal assessors, they shall respectively re- tax imposed by the act of Congress, passed the ceive, for every year in which a direct tax shall fifth day of March, one thousand eight hundred be laid, a salary of two hundred dollars, and three and sixteen, or that shall be imposed by any subdollars for every hundred taxable persons consequent act of Congress; and it shall be the duty tained in the tax lists delivered to the collectors, of the said board of principal assessors again to together with an allowance for their necessary and reasonable charges for books and stationery used in the execution of their duties, which said duties shall be considered as embracing the correction of errors, as authorized by law. And the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to augment, in cases where he shall deem it necessary, the foregoing compensations: Provided, That there shall not be allowed to any one principal assessor, in any such year, more than two hundred dollars, in addition to his fixed compensation: And provided, That convene in general meeting on the first Monday in June next, at Dover, in the said State, and then and there diligently and carefully reconsider and re-examine the several lists of valuation for the direct tax for the said State, for the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and they shall have power to revise, alter, readjust, and equalize the several lists of valuation aforesaid for the counties of the said State respectively, by adding thereto or deducting therefrom such a rate per centum, as shall render the valuation of the said counties relatively equal according to |