paratively valueless, and the legislature may locate said lands in any legal subdivisions, not less than forty acres, within the limits of said State. Approved, August 11, 1848.

No. 154.-An Act to establish the Territorial government of Oregon.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, all that part of the Territory of the United States which lies west of the summit of the Rocky Mountains, north of the forty-second degree of north latitude, known as the Territory of Oregon, shall be organized into and constitute a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Oregon: Provided, that nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulation respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent to the government to make if this act had never passed: And provided also, That the title to the land, not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, now occupied as missionary stations among the Indian tribes in said Territory, together with the improvements thereon, be confirmed and established in the several religious societies to which said missionary stations respectively belong: And provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said Territory to any other State or Territory of the United States.

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SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States; but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the legislative assembly shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and if disapproved shall be null and of no effect: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to give power to incorporate a bank, or any institution with banking powers, or to borrow money in the name of the Territory, or to pledge the faith of the people of the same for any loan whatever, either directly or indirectly. No charter granting any privilege of making, issuing, or putting into circulation any notes or bills in the likeness of bank notes, or any bonds, scrip, drafts, bills of exchange or obligations, or granting any other banking powers or privileges, shall be passed by the legislative assembly; nor shall the establishment of any branch or agency of any such corporation, derived from other authority, be allowed in said Territory; nor shall said legislative assembly authorize the issue of any obligation, scrip, or evidence of debt by said Territory, in any mode or manner whatever,

except certificates for services to said Territory; and all such laws, or any law or laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be utterly null and void; and all taxes shall be equal and uniform, and no distinction shall be made in the assessments between different kinds of property, but the assessments shall be according to the value thereof. To avoid improper influences which may result from intermixing in one and the same act such things as have no proper relation to each other, every law shall embrace but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title.

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SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That, the inhabitants of said Territory shall be entitled to enjoy all and singular the rights, privileges, and advantages granted and secured to the people of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, by the articles of compact contained in the ordinance for the government of said territory, on the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven; and shall be subject to all the conditions, and restrictions and prohibitions in said articles of compact imposed upon the people of said territory; and the existing laws now in force in the Territory of Oregon, under the authority of the provisional government established by the people thereof, shall continue to be valid and operative therein, so far as the same be not incompatible with the constitution of the United States, and the principles and provisions of this act; subject, nevertheless, to be altered, modified, or repealed, by the legislative assembly of the said Territory of Oregon; but all laws heretofore passed in said territory making grants of land, or otherwise affecting or incumbering the title to lands, shall be, and are hereby declared to be, null and void; and the laws of the United States are hereby extended over, and declared to be in force in, said territory, so far as the same, or any provision thereof, may be applicable.

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SEC. 20. And be it further enacted, That when the lands in the said Territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved for the purpose of being applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same.*

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SEC. 26. And be it further enacted, That the revenue laws of the United States be, and are hereby, extended over the Territory of Oregon.

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Approved, August 14, 1848.

No. 155.-An Act in relation to military land warrants.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, or his widow or heirs, who shall receive and hold in his own right a land warrant, issued by the government of the United States for military service, may locate the same in on legal subdivision, on any public land subject to private entry, taking said land at the price at

* Sect. 20 amended, see No. 212.

which the same is subject to private entry, and reckoning the warrant at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the number of acres therein contained, and paying the balance, if any, in money; but no claim shall exist on the government to pay for any balance on said warrant in money. Approved, August 14, 1848.

No. 156.-Joint Resolution relative to the evidence which shall be considered satisfactory in applications for bounty land.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases of application for bounty land warrants under the act approved February eleventh, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, the honorable discharge of the applicant, showing the same was predicated on a surgeon's certificate of disability, shall be considered as satisfactory evidence to the Commissioner of Pensions that the disability was incurred in the course of service. Approved, March 24, 1848.

No. 157.-An Act supplemental to the act approved the sixth day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-two, entitled "An act confirming certain land claims in Louisiana."*

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a further term of two years, from and after the passage of this act, be, and the same is hereby, conceded to locate the claim named and alluded to in the third and sixth sections of the act to which this act is supplemental, and therein designated as claim number eight.

Approved, January 19, 1849.

No. 158.-An Act to relinquish the reversionary interest of the United States in a certain Indian reservation in the State of Alabama.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the right, title, and interest, which might accrue or revert, or has accrued or reverted to the United States, to a certain reservation confirmed to the heirs of William Jones, deceased, by the certificate from the United States, bearing date the twelfth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, being known and described as fractional section sixteen, and the southeast and southwest quarters of section nine, in township six, and range five, under a treaty made and concluded at Fort Jackson, on the ninth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and lying in the State of Alabama, be, and the same are hereby, relinquished and vested in Stephen Steele and

* See No. 54.

James Daniel, respectively, according to the extent of their several interests therein: Provided however, (and this relinquishment is made upon the condition,) that the said Steele and Daniel, or either of them, have fairly, and in good faith, and for a valuable and adequate consideration, purchased of the said heirs, by authentic and valid deeds, their respective rights in and to the said reservations: And provided further, That no sale or conveyance of said reservation, or any part thereof, by the said reservees, or either of them, shall be deemed regular or valid, nor shall this act have effect, until the President of the United States, or some officer to be by him. designated, shall have approved such conveyance, and endorsed his approval thereon.

Approved, February 19, 1849.

No. 159.-An Act for authenticating certain records.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it may and shall be lawful for the keepers or persons having the custody of laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public documents, of any foreign government or its agents, relating to the title to lands claimed by or under the United States, on the application of the head of any one of the departments, the Solicitor of the Treasury, or the Commissioner of the General Land office, to authenticate the same under his hand and seal, and certify the same to be correct and true copies of such laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public documents; and when the same shall be certified by such minister, consul, or judge, mentioned in the first section of this act, under his hand and seal of office, to be true copies of the originals, the same shall be sealed up by him and returned to the Solicitor of the Treasury, who shall file the same in his office, and cause it to be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose. A copy of said laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public. documents, so filed, or of the same so recorded in said book, may be read in evidence in all courts where the title to land, claimed by or under the United States, may come into question equally with the originals thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Solicitor of the Treasury shall cause a seal to be made and provided for his office, with such device as the President of the United States shall approve, and copies of any public documents, records, books, or papers, belonging to or on the files of the said office, under the signature of the said Solicitor, or, when the office shall be vacant, under the signature of such officer as may be officiating for the time being, accompanied by an impress of the said seal, shall be competent evidence in all cases equally with the original records, documents, books, or papers.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all books, papers, documents, and records in the War, Navy, Treasury, and Post Office Departments, and the Attorney General's office, may be copied and certified under seal in the same manner as those in the State Department may now by law be, and with the same force and effect, and the said Attorney General shall cause a seal to be made and provided for his office, with such device as the President of the United States shall approve.

Approved, February 22, 1849.

No. 160.-An Act to establish an additional land office in the State of Missouri.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of the public lands of the United States included in the present Fayette district, in the State of Missouri, as lies within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the point on the northern boundary of the State intersected by the line between ranges thirteen and fourteen; thence south along that line until it intersects the line between townships fifty-five and fifty-six; thence west along that line until it intersects the line between ranges twenty-three and twenty-four; thence north along the last mentioned line to the northern boundary of the State; thence east with said boundary line to the beginning, shall be formed into a new land district, to be called the "Chariton district;" and for the sale of the public lands within the district hereby constituted a land office shall be established at such most convenient place within the said district as the President of the United States may designate.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That for the office in the land district hereby created, a register and receiver shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall severally give bond and security, according to law, before entering on the duties of their respective offices. They shall receive the same compensation, fees and emoluments, and shall perform similar duties, and possess the same powers with all other registers and receivers of land offices, and shall, in all respects, be governed by the laws of the United States providing for the sale of the public lands.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall cause to be transferred to the land office hereby created all such books, maps, records, field notes, and plats, or transcripts thereof, relating to the surveys and entries of the public lands in this district, as may be necessary for the sale of the public lands, in compliance with the provisions of this act.

Approved, February 26, 1849.

No. 161.-An Act to extend the provisions of an act approved the third of March, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, for carrying into effect the existing compacts with the States of Alabama and Mississippi, with regard to the five per cent. fund and school reservations.*

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to carry into effect, in the States of Alabama and Mississippi, the existing compacts with those States with regard to the five per cent. fund and the school reservations,' approved March third, eighteen hundred and forty-seven," be and the same are hereby extended, so as to enable the State of Alabama to have three years from the passage of this act in which to make the selections of land authorized by the preceding acts to which this is an amendment. Approved, February 26, 1849.

* See Nos. 131, 215.