Appropriations. For the Rigolets, and Chief [Chef] Menteur, one hundred thousand dollars: For collecting materials for, and progressing with, a fort on the right bank of the Mississippi, opposite Fort St. Philip, forty thousand dollars: For repairing Fort Jackson, in the harbour of Savannah, eight thousand dollars: For contingencies and repairs of fortifications, twenty-six thousand dollars: For the purchase of small arms for arming the whole body of the militia, in addition to the annual appropriation of the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three for arming the militia, twenty thousand dollars: For completing the barracks and other public buildings, at Baton Rouge, twenty-nine thousand one hundred seventy-eight dollars seventy seven cents. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. CHAP. LXII.—An Act making appropriations for the public buildings. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the following sums of money be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, to wit: For improving the grounds around the Capitol, one thousand dollars: For making the necessary alteration in the Representatives' Hall, for the accommodation of the eighteenth Congress, the sum of one thousand two hundred dollars: For finishing the south portico to the President's house, the sum of nineteen thousand dollars. For an allegorical ornament for a clock for the use of the Senate, two thousand dollars. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That said several sums of money be paid out of any moneys in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. March 3, 1823. CHAP. LXIII.-An Act to authorize the Postmaster General to pay for certain repairs to the general post-office, and keep the engine house, the fire engine, and apparatus, in repair. Postmaster certain bal ances. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United General to pay States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Postmaster General be authorized to pay, out of the moneys arising from the postages of letters and packets, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars and fifty-two cents, being a balance due for repairs to the general post-office, and for procuring a fire engine, under the provisions of the act of the seventeenth [fifteenth] of May, eighteen hundred and twenty. Act of May 15, 1820, ch. 133. To pay for repairs from the contingent fund. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. [Obsolete.] Officers of the treasury to set SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General shall be authorized, out of the contingent fund of said department, to defray such expenses as may be necessary for keeping in repair the engine-house, the fire engine, and hose apparatus, belonging to said department. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. CHAP. LXIV.-An Act to enable the proper accounting officers of the Treasury Department to audit and settle the accounts of the surveyor of public lands in the states of Illinois and Missouri, and territory of Arkansas, for extra clerk hire in his office. 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 shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to audit and settle the accounts of the surveyor of public lands in the states of Illinois and Missouri, and territory of Arkansas, for extra clerk hire in his office, for surveying executed before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and for which provision was not made by an allowance of mileage on the surveys of the public lands, under the act of the Congress of the United States, of the third day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and make him an allowance therefor, not exceeding the rate of clerk hire now allowed by law in the offices of the other surveyors general, proportioned to the quantity of work done in each; and the amount, so allowed, shall be paid out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. tle the accounts of the surveyor of Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, for ex tra clerk hire. Act of April 3, 1818, ch. 26. STATUTE II. CHAP. LXV.-An Act providing for the accommodation of the circuit court of March 3, 1823. the United States for Washington county, in the District of Columbia, and for the preservation of the records of said court. Circuit court of Washington 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 is hereby, authorized to cause to be purchased, and completely finished, in the City Hall, now building in the city of Washington, permanent and suitable apartments for holding the sessions of the circuit court of the United States, for the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia, for the use of the grand and petit juries of the said county, for the offices of the clerk of the said court and the marshal of the said district, and for the preservation and security of the books, papers, and records, of the said court, provided that the said purchase can be made upon reasonable terms, and not exceeding the sum hereinafter appropriated. And for effecting the object of this act, the Appropriation. sum of ten thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the appropriation hereinbefore made shall be expended under the superintendence of the commissioner of the public buildings, in such manner as shall be directed by the President of the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, so soon as the said apartments shall have been provided, the said circuit court, and the said clerk's and marshal's offices, with all the books, papers, and records, thereunto belonging, shall be removed thereto; and no allowance of money for the rent of apartments for the use of the said court and offices shall thenceforth, or thereafter, be made out of the treasury of the United States. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. To be expended under the superintendence of the commissioner of public build ings. When apartments are finshed, court to be removed, and no allow ance admitted afterwards for rent. CHAP. LXVI.—An Act to establish an additional land office in the state of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. A new land district to be formed, to be called the western district, for which a land tablished. office is to be es A register and receiver to be appointed. From 1st April next there shall be a new township line between the townships No. 37 and 38. receiver appointed to the said office, to superintend the sales of the public lands in the said district, who shall reside at the place where said office is established, give security in the same manner and sums, and whose compensation, emoluments, duties, and authorities, shall, in every respect, be the same, in relation to the lands to be disposed of at their offices, as are, or may be, by law, provided in relation to the registers and receivers of public moneys in the several offices established for the sale of the public lands. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the first day of April next, the division line between the St. Louis and the Jackson land districts, in the state of Missouri, shall be the township line between the townships number thirty-seven and thirty-eight; any thing in the former acts, creating land districts in the state of Missouri, to the contrary notwithstanding. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. The Secretary ized to sub scribe for 550 copies of the 6th volume of the laws of the United States. Distribution. CHAP. LXVII.-An Act to authorize the purchase of a number of copies of the sixth volume of the laws of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United of State author- States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secretary for the Department of State be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to subscribe for, and receive, for the use and disposal of Congress, five hundred and fifty copies of the sixth volume of the laws of the United States, published by Davis and Force, of the city of Washington, and cause to be distributed one copy thereof to the President of the United States, one copy to the Vice President of the United States, one copy to each of the heads of departments, to the attorney general of the United States, to each of the senators and representatives, and to each delegate of territories of the seventeenth Congress; fifteen copies to the secretary of the Senate, for the use of the Senate, and thirty copies to the clerk of the House of Representatives, for the use of that House; one copy to each branch of the legislature of each state and territory, and one copy to each of the executives of the several states and territories; and cause the residue to be deposited in the library of Congress. Appropriation. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose aforesaid, the sum of two thousand two hundred dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. CHAP. LXVIII.-An Act to confirm certain claims to lotts [lots] in the village Certain claims to lots in the village of Peoria confirmed. Act of May 15, 1820, ch. 117. of Peoria, in the state of Illinois. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there is hereby granted, to each of the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers in the village of Peoria, in the state of Illinois, whose claims are contained in a report made by the register of the land office at Edwardsville, in pursuance of the act of Congress, approved May the fifteenth, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and who had settled a lot in the village aforesaid, prior to the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, and who have not heretofore received a confirmation of claims, or donation of any tract of land or village lot from the United States, the lot so settled upon and improved, where the same shall not exceed two acres, and where the same shall exceed two acres, every such claimant shall be confirmed in a quantity not exceeding ten acres: Provided, Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to affect the right, if any such there be, of any other person or persons to the said lots, or any part of them derived from the United States, or any other source whatever, or as a pledge on the part of the United [States,] to make good any deficiency occasioned by any other interfering claim or claims. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the surveyor of the public lands of the United States for that district, to cause a survey to be made of the several lots, and to designate on a plat thereof the lot confirmed and set apart to each claimant, and forward the same to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall cause patents to be issued in favour of such claimants, as in other cases. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. Proviso. The several lots to be sur veyed. STATUTE II. CHAP. LXIX.-An Act concerning the lands to be granted to the state of March 3, 1823. Certain lands the state of Missouri for Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, in all cases in which to be granted to section number sixteen, in any township within the state of Missouri, has been sold, or otherwise disposed of, it shall be the duty of the register schools. and receiver of the respective land office in whose district such land may lie, so soon after the passage of this act as may be, to select the like quantity of other lands equivalent thereto, from any of the unappropriated lands of the United States in that state, including the residue of such section, where only a part of it has been disposed of, and the value of the residue is not materially diminished by such disposition, and is nearly contiguous to such sixteenth section as may be; and a descriptive entry of such selected lands shall be made on the books of the register, specifying as well the township in which, as that for the use of which, the selection shall have been made; and the lands thus selected and located, are hereby granted to the said state for the use of the inhabitants of the respective townships, for the use of schools, instead of such sixteenth sections so sold or otherwise disposed of. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, in all cases in which the general assembly of the state of Missouri has selected, or shall hereafter select, a salt spring, for the use of the state, according to the provisions of an act of Congress of the sixth of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and the six sections of unappropriated lands cannot be found adjoining to such spring, agreeably to the provisions of said act, the deficiency shall be supplied by the selection of other sections equivalent thereto, and not farther distant than six miles therefrom, of unappropriated lands of the United States in that state, and as nearly adjoining to such spring as may be, shall be subject to the selection of the legislature of the state for the use thereof; and such sections, when so selected and located, are hereby granted according to the provisions of said act: and authenticated copies of the selections made by the register and receiver, under the provisions of this act, shall be furnished the state, and returns transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, of the selections now made, and of those to be made, immediately after such selections shall have been made, either by the register and receiver, or by the legislature of the State. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. Certain lands granted to salt springs. Act of March 6, 1820, ch. 22. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. CHAP. LXX.-An Act supplementary to "An act relating to the ransom of American captives of the late war." March 1, 1817, ch. 29. the act of March 1, 1817, respecting the ransom of American captives, extended. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the act, entitled "An Provisions of act relating to the ransom of American captives of the late war," passed the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, be so construed as to embrace within its provisions all officers, soldiers, and persons, attached to, and followers of, the army of the United States, who were captured and made prisoners by the enemy, and who were ransomed during the late war with Great Britain; and that the proper accounting officer of the War Department be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to adjust and settle the accounts of any person, his assigns or his legal representatives, who may have purchased and ransomed from captivity any citizen, officer, soldier, or other person aforesaid, upon equitable principles: Provided, The evidence produced in support of such accounts shall be the best in the power of the claimant, and sufficient to satisfy the accounting officer of the justice of the claim; Provided also, That in no case shall a greater sum than one hundred and fifty dollars be allowed for the ransom of any one person. Proviso. Proviso. Accounting officer authoriz ed to adjust and settle accounts for clothing fur nished. Proviso. Sums to be SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of such accounting officer, and he is hereby authorized and required, to adjust and settle the accounts of any person, his assigns, or his legal representatives, who shall have furnished proper and necessary articles of clothing to, and for the use of, any citizen, officer, soldier, or other person, purchased and ransomed from captivity during the late war with Great Britain, aforesaid: Provided, It shall be satisfactorily proved, and made to appear, to such accounting officer, that the apparel and clothing so furnished were necessary, at the time, to the safety, support, and comfort, of the person ransomed; and that the articles charged were applied to the clothing of such prisoners, and to no other purpose whatever. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all sums of money to be paid out of the audited and allowed under this act, and the act to which this is an amendTreasury. ment, shall be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. President authorized to employ an engi neer to examine a site for a national armory on the western waters. Appropriation. CHAP. LXXI.-An Act to establish a national armory on the western waters. 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 is hereby authorized to employ a skilful engineer or officer of the ordnance department, with such other person or persons as he may judge proper, to examine the most suitable site for a national armory on the western waters; and that the said engineer, and such other person or persons be requested to report the result of their examinations to Congress at the commencement of its next session, particularly designating the sites by them examined, with the comparative advantages of each, and an estimate showing the amount necessary for purchasing each, and erecting all necessary buildings thereon. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to effect the object of this act. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. |