teenth day of December, eighteen hundred and forty-three, set our signa Signed in open counsel in presence of Wyandotts. JONATHAN PHILLIPS, sub-agent for the Wyandotts. JAMES M. SIMPSON. CHARLES GRAHAM. JOEL WALKER, Secretary of the Wyandott Council. be, and the same is hereby confirmed: Provided, That the Wyandott Indian nation shall take no better right or interest in and to said lands than is now vested in the Delaware nation of Indians. Approved, July 25, 1848. No. 2891.—An Act to transfer certain rights and duties conferred upon the trustees of the town of Vincennes, Indiana, to the common council of the city of Vincennes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the rights and duties. conferred upon the trustees of the town of Vincennes, in the State of Indiana, under the act entitled "An act to adjust the claims to lots in the town of Vincennes, and for the sale of the land appropriated as a common for the use of the inhabitants of the said town," approved the twentieth day of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, be, and the same are hereby, transferred to and vested in the common council of the city of Vincennes, in said State. Approved, June 2, 1856. No. 332.-An Act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes. * * * * * * * * SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where any oath, affirmation or affidavit, shall be made or taken before any Register or Re ceiver, or either or both of them, of any local land office in the United States or any Territory thereof, or where any oath, affirmation, or affidavit. shall be made or taken before any person authorized by the laws of any State or Territory of the United States to administer oaths or affirmations or take affidavits, and such oaths, affirmations, or affidavits, are made, used, or filed, in any of said local land offices, or in the General Land Office, as well in cases arising under any or either of the orders, regulations, or instructions, concerning any of the public lands of the United States, issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, or other proper officer of the Government of the United States, as under the laws of the United States, in any wise relating to or affecting any right, claim, or title, or any contest therefor, to any of the public lands of the United States, and any person or persons shall, taking such oath, affirmation or affidavit, knowingly, wilfully, or corruptly swear or affirm falsely, the same shall be deemed and taken to be perjury, and the person or persons guilty thereof shall, upon conviction, be liable to the punishment prescribed for that offence by the laws of the United States. Approved, March 3, 1857. No. 3271.-An Act for the admission of the State of Minnesota into the Union. Whereas an Act of Congress was passed February twenty-six, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, entitled "An act to authorize the people of the Territory of Minnesota to form a Constitution and State Government preparatory to their admission into the Union on an equal footing with the original States;" and whereas the people of said Territory did, on the twenty-ninth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, by delegates elected for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and State Government, which is republican in form, and was ratified and adopted by the people, at an election held on the thirteenth day of October, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven for that purpose: therefore Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Minnesota shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That said State shall be entitled to two representatives in Congress until the next apportionment of representatives amongst the several States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That from and after the admission of the State of Minnesota, as herein before provided, all the laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within that State as in other States of the Union; and the said State is hereby constituted a judicial district of the United States, within which a district court, with the like powers and jurisdiction as the district court of the United States for the district of Iowa, shall be established; the judge, attorney, and marshal of the United States for the said district of Minnesota shall reside within the same, and shall be entitled to the same compensation as the judge, attorney, and marshal of the district of Iowa; and in all cases of appeal or writ of error heretofore prosecuted and now pending in the supreme court of the United States, upon any record from the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, the mandate of execution or order of further proceedings shall be directed by the supreme court of the United States to the district court of the United States for the district of Minnesota, or to the supreme court of the State of Minnesota, as the nature of such appeal or writ of error may require; and each of those courts shall be the successor of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, as to all such cases, with full power to hear and determine the same, and to award mesne or final process therein. Approved, May 11, 1858. No. 337-An Act to authorize the President of the United States, in conjunction with the State of Texas, to run and mark the boundary lines between the territories of the United States and the State of Texas. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized and empowered to appoint a suitable person or persons, who, in conjunction with such person or persons as may be appointed by and on behalf of the State of Texas for the same purpose, shall run and mark the boundary lines between the Territories of the United States and the State of Texas: Beginning at the point where the one hundredth degree of longitude west from Greenwich crosses Red River, and running thence north to the point where said one hundredth degree of longitude intersects the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes. north latitude; and thence west with the said parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude to the point where it intersects the one hundred and third degree of longitude west from Greenwich; and thence south with the said one hundred and third degree of longitude to the thirty-second parallel of north latitude; and thence west with the said thirty-second degree of north latitude to the Rio Grande. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That such landmarks shall be established at the said point of beginning on Red River, and at the other corners, and on the said several lines of said boundary, as may be agreed on by the President of the United States, or those acting under his authority, and the said State of Texas, or those acting under its authority. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the sum of eighty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the provisions of this Act: Provided, That the person or persons appointed and employed on the part and behalf of Texas are to be paid by the said State: Provided further, That no persons, except a superintendent or commissioner, shall be appointed or employed in this service by the United States but such as are required to make the necessary observations and surveys to ascertain such line and erect suitable monuments thereon and make return of the same. Approved, June 5, 1858. No. 360.-An Act to protect the timber growing upon lands of the United States reserved for military and other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any person or persons shall unlawfully cut, or aid, assist, or be employed in unlawfully cutting, or shall wantonly destroy, or procure to be wantonly destroyed, any tim ber standing, growing, or being upon any lands of the United States, which in pursuance of any law passed, or hereafter to be passed, have been, or shall be, reserved or purchased by the United States, for military or other purposes, every such person or persons so offending, on conviction thereof before a court having competent jurisdiction, shall, for every such offence, pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding twelve months. Approved, March 3, 1859. No. 706.-Extracts from the decision of the supreme court of Michigan, in the Ontonagon town site case. Appeal of Daniel R. Cash and others from the decision of the district judge of the Upper Peninsula, awarding certain lands to Henry Selby, in Ontonagon. CAMPBELL, J.-The District Judge of the Upper Peninsula, on the 28th day of November, 1856, received a patent for lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, of section 25, and lot 1, in section 36, in township 52 north, of range 40, west, in Ontonagon county, in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests. This purported to be granted under the provisions of an Act of Congress, approved May 23, 1844, entitled "An act for the relief of citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances." Lots 1, 2 and 3, in section 25, lie on the east side of Ontonagon River, and extend from its mouth to section 36. Lot 4, in section 25, is an island in the river, near its mouth. Lots 5 and 6, in section 25, are west of the river. Lot 1, in section 36, is on the east side of the river. In pursuance of an act of the legislature of this State, entitled "An act to authorize the District Judge of the Upper Peninsula to hold and convey lands included in the town site of the village of Ontonagon," approved January 29, 1853, the district judge having obtained the patent, proceeded to act, and awarded lot 6, in section 25, to Henry Selby. Daniel S. Cash and Isaac C. Spalding, severally opposed Selby's claim, and severally appealed from its allowance. An objection is made against the right of either Cash or Spalding to appeal from the decision of the trustee, based upon an alleged want of interest. The consideration of the question renders it necessary to look into the legislation on this subject, to ascertain what rights are provided for and protected under the laws applicable to the subject. By the pre-emption laws of 1841, no pre-emption could be made by any individual of any sections or fractions of sections included within the limits of any incorporated town, or which had been selected as the site for a city or town, or any parcel of land actually settled and occupied for the purposes of trade and not agriculture. And by the Act of 1844, above referred to, it is provided as follows: (see No. 79.) As the Indian title to the lands in question was not extinguished until 1842, none of the previous retrospective acts are applicable. The authority of the district judge to act as trustee was not brought in question on the argument, and we shall not, therefore, inquire into it for the purposes of this investigation. In order to understand fully the meaning of the Act of 1844, it becomes necessary to examine for a moment into the rights in land as existing before that. Agricultural pre-emptions were permitted, under very stringent provisions confining the settlers to a bona fide occupation for agriculture alone. The lands in the excepted list were for reasons of public policy taken from the power of the agricultural settler, but no one else was, by the law of 1841, authorized to enter them, and under that law they still remain public property, subject to the action of Congress. Individual rights were not recognized. The only authority in any one. to enter such property existed in counties, which were authorized, by an Act of 1824, to select one hundred and sixty acres for a county site. (4 Stats. at Large, p. 50.) Inasmuch as until the law of 1844 was passed, no other right could intervene, it is necessary to see how an agricultural pre-emptioner could ascertain whether the property was subject to his entry or not; for, if not otherwise appropriated, he would clearly have a right to select it and improve it as agricultural land. If covered by an incorporated town, he would have notice of that, for no town ever becomes incorporated without inhabitants, and if such a thing were imaginable, he would still have notice, for no town could become incorporated unless by proceedings under the public. laws. If actually occupied for trading purposes, there would be the same visible notice. But if any selection could exist not based upon occupancy, no such notice could be easily obtained, for inasmuch as the law does not provide how or by whom such selection may be made, and gave no rights to any one under it, the agricultural pre-emptioner would not know where to look for information. But there are very serious difficulties in the way of allowing any selection by individuals, beyond their actual occupancy. The pre-emption law requires, whether the pre-emption be made by one or two persons jointly, that the applicants shall make oath that the lands were settled upon and improved in good faith, to be appropriated to the exclusive use or benefit of the applicant, and not for purposes of speculation; and that no contract exists, directly or indirectly, with any other person for a beneficial interest in it. It would be a singular construction to hold that an agricultural or other settler could waive these plain provisions, and claim a better right where he professedly enters land for speculation, and with the intention of selling it to others, than where he in good faith observes the law. To hold that an agriculturist can be displaced for another individual who may hold the entire tract for private purposes, would be to defeat the plain language of the statute. And until the law of 1844 was passed, there could be no pretence whatever in favor of any private claims of an exclusive right. The law gave rights to no one. The language of the Act of 1844 is confined to lands actually settled and occupied. It has no reference to "selected" lands, unless the selection is included in the other language. The words "settle" and " occupy," do not first occur in this Act-they are to be found in all the pre-emption laws. See Brightly's Digest, p. 469, et seq., where the various acts are collected. They are inapplicable to any other state of things than a bona fide use and improvement of the land. And not only is the land to be entered by the county judges required to be "settled upon and occupied as a town site," but the specific trust is confided to the use and benefit of the occupants. It is claimed for the appellee, in this case, that one person may select one hundred and sixty acres, or two persons three hundred and twenty acres, as a town site, and so appropriate the whole against all comers, and that the law protects them in such selection, and that the entry by the judges will enure to their benefit. But, if this is so, the language of the act is not well chosen to convey the idea. Settlement and occupancy are not such terms as convey this meaning; and the term "occupants," which |