Places at which the improvements ced. object whatsoever than as directed by this act, before said improvements shall have been completed, the said grant for all lands then unsold shall thereby become null and void; and the said State of Alabama shall become liable and bound to pay to the United States the amount for which said land, or any part thereof, may have been sold, deducting the ex penses incurred in selling the same. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the improvements are to be commen. of said navigation shall be commenced at the lowest point of obstruction in said river, within said State, continued up the same until completed, and be calculated for the use of steamboats, according to such plan of construction as the United States engineers, appointed to survey and report thereon, may recommend, and the President of the United States approve: Provided, That such plan shall embrace, if practicable, a connexion of the navigation of Elk river with the said improvements. Surplus to be ap hawba, and Black Warrior. SEC. 6. And be further enacted, That, after the compleplied to Coosa, Ca- tion of said improvements, the surplus of said grant, if any, shall be applied to the improvement of the navigation of the Coosa, Cahawba, and Black Warrior rivers, in said State, under the direction of the Legislature thereof. Tolls forbidden. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said rivers, when improved as aforesaid, shall remain forever free from toll for all property belonging to the Government of the United States, and for all persons in their service, and for all the citizens of the United States, unless a toll shall be allowed by an act of Congress. Approved, May 23, 1828. *See chap. 305. until 1830. +See chap. 305. CHAP. 367.-An act to continue in force, for a limited time, and to amend an act entitled "An act to enable claimants to lands within the limits of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings to try the validity of their claims."* SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asAct May 26, 1824, sembled, That the act approved the twenty-sixth of May, continued in force eighteen hundred and twenty-four, entitled "An act to enable claimants to lands within the limits of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings to try the validity of their claims," shall be, and the same hereby is, continued in force-that is to say, for the purpose of filing petitions in the manner prescribed by that act-to and until the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, and for the purpose of enabling the claimants to obtain a final decision on the validity of their claims in the courts of Missouri and Arkansas, respectively; the said claims having been exhibited within the time above specified; the said act shall be continued in force to and until the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year claims according one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and no longer; and the courts having cognizance of said claims shall decide upon Courts to confirm and confirm such as would have been confirmed under the to Spanish laws. laws, usages, and customs, of the Spanish Government, for two years from and after the twenty-sixth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight'; and all the claims authorized by that act to be heard and decided shall be ratified and confirmed to the same extent that the same would be valid if the country in which they lie had remained under the dominion of the sovereignty in which said claims originated. abide decision of SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of the Costs of court to said act as subjects the claimants to the payment of costs in the cause. any case where the decision may be in favor of their claims, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and the costs shall abide the decision of the cause as in ordinary causes before the said court; and so much of the said act as requires the Adverse claimants. claimants to make adverse claimants parties to their suits, or to show the court what adverse claimants there may be to the land claimed of the United States, be also hereby repealed. And the confirmation had by virtue of said act, and Confirmations not the patents issued thereon, shall operate only as relinquish- adverse claimants. ment of title on the part of the United States, and shall in nowise affect the right or title, either in law or equity, of adverse claimants of the same land. to affect rights of tion given to re SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That where any claim Right of pre-emp founded on concession, warrant, or order of survey, shall be jected claimants. adjudged against and rejected, the claimant, or his legal representatives, by descent or purchase, being actual inhabitants and cultivators of the soil the claim to which shall have been rejected, shall have the right of pre-emption, at the minimum price of the public lands, so soon as the land shall be surveyed and subdivided by the United States, of the quarter section on which the improvement shall be situate, and so much of every other quarter section which contains any part of the improvement as shall be within the limits of the rejected claim. Approved, May 24, 1828. [See Part II, Nos. 15, 42, 56, 57, 58, 60, 64, 72, 77, 88, 93, 704, 1,001.] CHAP. 368.-An act to authorize the Legislature of the State of Indiana to sell the lands heretofore appropriated for the use of schools in that State. diana authorized to SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislature of the State of Indiana shall Legislature of In be, and is hereby, authorized to sell and convey, in fee sim- sell lands hereto ple, all or any part of the lands heretofore reserved and ap- the use of schools. propriated by Congress for the use of schools within said State, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof fore reserved for in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be forever applied, under the direction of said Legislature, for the use and support of schools within the several townships and districts of country for which they were originally reserved and set apart, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever : Provided, Said land, or any part thereof, shall in no case be sold without the consent of the inhabitants of such township or district, to be obtained in such manner as the LegisPortion of proceeds lature of said State shall by law direct: And provided, also, township may be That in the apportionment of the proceeds of said fund, each entitled. township and district aforesaid shall be entitled to such part thereof, and no more, as shall have accrued from the sum or sums of money arising from the sale of the school lands belonging to such township or district. to which each Where proceeds be invested. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the proceeds the interest may accruing to any township or district, from said fund, shall be insufficient for the support of schools therein, it shall be lawful for said Legislature to invest the same, as is hereinbefore directed, until the whole proceeds of the fund belonging to such township or district shall be adequate to the permanent maintenance and support of schools within the same. Approved, May 24, 1828. Certain claims to western district of ed. CHAP. 369.-An act to confirm claims to lands in the district between the Rio SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the claims to lands founded on habitation and cultivation, reported for confirmation by the register and relands in the South ceiver of the Southwestern district of Louisiana, in their reLouisiana, confirm- port dated November first, eighteen hundred and twentyfour, in conformity to the provisions of the acts of Congress of the third of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-three, and twenty-sixth of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, contained in the third class of the report of said register and receiver, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, except claim number forty-two, near Cantonment Jessup, and the claims of Leonard Dyson, numbers fourteen and eighteen; Samuel Norris, numbers ten and thirteen; Baptiste Poiret, brother and sisters, number nineteen; Baptiste Poiret, senior, number twenty; Henry Stockman, number thirty-one; Peter Stockman, number ; Moses Robison, number twentyone; James Pharis, number twenty-four; Cesaré Wallace, number thirty-four and fifty-six; John Montgomery, junior, number sixty-nine; and Emanuel Trickel, number two hundred and thirty-one; which claims are suspended until it is ascertained whether they are situated within the limits of the lands claimed by the Caddoe Indians. Certain other cl'ms suspended. Effect of confirmations by this act. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the confirmations made by this act shall not be construed to extend further than claims. to a relinquishment of title on the part of the United States, and the claims hereby confirmed shall be located, under the Location of the direction of the register and receiver of the proper land office, in conformity with the legal subdivisions of the public surveys, so far as practicable, and shall include the improvements of the claimants, respectively. Approved, May 24, 1828. [See Part II, Nos. 694, 727.] CHAP. 370.—An act supplementary to the several acts providing for the adjustment of land claims in the State of Mississippi. of lands in the dis Court-house, their titles, &c. al SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the claimants of lands within that part of the Certain claimants limits of the land district of Jackson Court-house, in the State trict of Jackson of Mississippi, lying below the thirty-first degree of north lowed until Jan. 1, latitude, whose claims have been presented to the commis- 1829, to present sioners appointed to receive and examine claims and titles to lands in said district of Jackson Court-house, or to the register and receiver of the land office at Jackson Courthouse, acting as commissioners under the provisions of the act of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled "An act for adjusting the claims to lands, and establishing land offices, in the district east of the island of New Orleans,"* and which have not been reported to See chap. 236. Congress, or whose claims have not been heretofore presented to said commissioners, or to the register and receiver, acting as commissioners, or whose claims have been acted upon, but additional evidence adduced, be allowed until the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, to present their titles and claims, and the evidence in support of the same, to the register and receiver of the land office at Jackson Court-house, in the State of Mississippi, whose powers and duties in relation to the same shall, in all respects, be governed by the provisions of the acts before recited, and of the act of the eighth of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, entitled "An act supplementary to the several acts for adjusting the claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the district east of the island of New Orleans." ses ¡See chap. 273. ceiver to hold their sessions at Jackson Court-house and the town of &c. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said register Register and reand receiver shall have power to receive and examine such titles and claims, and for that purpose shall hold their sions at Jackson Court-house, and the town of Shieldsbo- Shieldsborough, rough. They shall give immediate notice, after the passage of this act, of the time and place of their meeting, but may adjourn from time to time, as may best suit the convenience of claimants, upon giving due notice thereof. And the said And to appoint a register and receiver shall have power to appoint a clerk, who shall be a person capable of translating the French and clerk. Their tion, each. Spanish languages, and who shall perform the duty of translator and such other duty as may be required by the said register and receiver; and the said register and receiver compensa- shall each be allowed, as a compensation for their services in relation to said claims, and for the services to be performed under the provisions of the several acts to which this is a supplement, the sum of eight hundred dollars each, and the clerk the sum of eight hundred dollars; which several sums of money shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the payment of the whole of the aforesaid compensation shall be withheld by the Secretary of the Treasury until a report, approved by him, shall have been made to him, by said register and receiver, of the performance of the services herein required. *See chap. 235. land may be cor of patents. Approved, May 24, 1828. [See Part II, No. 873.] CHAP. 371.-An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act providing for the correction of errors in making entries of lands at the land offices," passed March third, eighteen hundred and nineteen. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asErrors in entry of sembled, That the provisions of the act entitled "An act rected after issuing providing for the correction of errors in making entries of lands at the land offices," approved March third, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, are hereby declared to extend to cases where patents have issued or shall hereafter issue; upon condition that the party concerned shall surrender his or her patent to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with a relinquishment of title thereon, executed in a form to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Approved, May 24, 1828. [See Part II, Nos. 40, 368, 378, 416, 420, 423, 455.] CHAP. 372.-An act to authorize the selection of lands for the benefit of a seminary of learning in the State of Alabama, instead of other lands heretofore selected. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asExchange of lands sembled, That the trustees of the University of the State of with the Univer Alabama be, and they are hereby, authorized to surrender sity of Alabama. the patents issued for section twelve, the northeast quarter of section seventeen, the northeast quarter of section twenty-eight, and the east half of the northeast quarter of section thirty-four, in township four, range eleven west, in |