*

lands which may be hereafter sold in conformity to the act entitled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," at the following Ante, chapter 42. rates, viz: the present foreign debt of the United States, and such debt or stock as, at the time of payment, shall bear an interest of six per centum per annum, shall be received at their nominal value; and the other species of debt or stock of the United States shall be received at a rate bearing the same proportion to their respective market price at the seat of Government at the time of payment, as the nominal value of the above-mentioned six per centum stock shall, at the same time, bear to its market price at the same place; the Secretary of the Treasury, in all cases, deter- The Secretary of mining what such market price is. Approved, March 3, 1797.

the Treasury to determine the mar ket price of the stock.

CHAP. 45.-An act for the relief of the refugees from the British provinces of

Canada and Nova Scotia.†

+Expired. See the act of Feb. 18, 1801, chap. 56, post, and

chapter 107.

13.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- act of Feb. 24, 1810, sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, to satisfy the claims of certain persons claiming lands under the resolutions of Congress of the twenty-third of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and the thirteenth of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five,‡ as refugees from the British See ante, chapter provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia, the Secretary of the The Secretary of Department of War be, and is hereby, authorized and di- War to give notice rected to give notice, in one or more of the public papers of the resolutions of each of the States of Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, April 13, 1785, &c. New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, to all persons having claims under the said resolutions, to transmit to the War Office, within two years after the passing of this act, a just and true account of their claims to the bounty of Congress.

to claimants under

April 23, 1783, and

sons entitled to the

&c.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no other persons Descriptions of pershall be entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the act benefit of the act, than those of the following descriptions, or their widows and heirs, viz: First, those heads of families, and single persons not members of any such families, who were residents in one of the provinces aforesaid prior to the fourth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, and who abandoned their settlements in consequence of having given aid to the United Colonies or States in the revolutionary war against Great Britain, or with intention to give such aid, and continued in the United States, or in their service, during the said war, and did not return to reside in the dominions of the King of Great Britain, prior to the twenty-fifth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. Secondly, the widows and heirs of all such persons as were actually residents as aforesaid, who abandoned their settle

Proof of facts may be taken before

Court, &c.

tity.

ments as aforesaid, and died within the United States, or in their service, during the said war. And, thirdly, all persons who were members of families at the time of their coming into the United States, and who, during the war, entered into their service.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the proof of the judge of Supreme several circumstances necessary to entitle the applicants to the benefits of this act may be taken before a judge of the supreme or district court of the United States, or a judge of the supreme or superior court, or the first justice or first judge of the court of common pleas, or county court, of any State. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, at the expiration dence of claims be of fifteen months, from and after the passing of this act, and fore the Secretary from time to time thereafter, it shall be the duty of the the Treasury, and, Secretary for the Department of War to lay such evidence amine and decide of claims as he may have received before the Secretary and land is due to each Comptroller of the Treasury, and, with them, proceed to examine the testimony, and give their judgment, what quantity of land ought to be allowed to the individual claimants, in proportion to the degree of their respective services, sacrifices, and sufferings, in consequence of their attachment to Limitation of quan- the cause of the United States; allowing to those of the first class a quantity not exceeding one thousand acres, and to the last class a quantity not exceeding one hundred; making such intermediate classes as the resolutions aforesaid, and distributive justice, may, in their judgment, require; and Report to Congress make report thereof to Congress. And in case any such claimant shall have sustained such losses and sufferings, or performed such services for the United States, that he cannot justly be classed in any one general class, a separate reSeparate reports of port shall be made of his circumstances, together with the peculiar cases. quantity of land that ought to be allowed him, having referGrants by the U. ence to the foregoing ratio: Provided, That, in considering al states, to dedu: what compensation ought to be made by virtue of this act, sidered in whole, all grants, except military grants, which may have been made by the United States, or individual States, shall be considered, at the just value thereof at the time the same were made, respectively, either in whole or in part, as the case may be, a satisfaction to those who may have received Cars not assign the same: Provided, also, That no claim under this law shall be assignable until after report made to Congress as aforesaid, and until the said lands be granted to the persons entitled to the benefit of this act.

be con

or in part, satisfaction, &c.

able until after report, grant, &c.

Claims not exhib

ited in time, barred.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That all claims, in virtue of said resolutions of Congress, which shall not be exhibited as aforesaid, within the time by this act limited, shall forever *Time enlarged by thereafter be barred.*

act of 16th March,

1804, chapter 66.

Approved, April 7, 1798.

[NOTE. That part of the ordinance of May 20, 1785, which reserved three townships on Lake Erie for the use of the refugees, was never carried into effect, other lands having been appropriated in lieu thereof by the preceding and other acts.]

CHAP. 46.-An act for an amicable settlement of the limits with the State of Georgia, and authorizing the establishment of a Government in the Mississippi Territory.*

*See appendix No. 3, and supplemental act of 10th May,

post.

commissioners

claims to the terri

and to receive pro

tory claimed by

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- 1800, chapter 204, sentatives of the United States of America in Congress as- The President ausembled, That the President of the United States be, and thorized to appoint he hereby is, authorized to appoint three commissioners, any adjust interfering two of whom shall have power to adjust and determine, with tory mentioned, such commissioners as may be appointed under the legisla-posals for the cestive authority of the State of Georgia, all interfering claims sion of other terriof the United States and that State to territory situate west Georgia. of the river Chatahouchee, north of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and south of the cession made to the United States by South Carolina;† and also to receive any pro- See appendix No. posals for the relinquishment or cession of the whole or any part of the other territory claimed by the State of Georgia, and out of the ordinary jurisdiction thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the lands thus ascertained as the property of the United States shall be disposed of in such manner as shall be hereafter directed by law; and the nett proceeds thereof shall be applied to the sinking and discharging the public debt of the United States, in the same manner as the proceeds of the other public lands in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio.

4.

Lands ascertained

to

of the U. States, to

be

be the property disposed of, &c.

the Mississippi

The President au

lish a Government,

sippi Territory.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That all that tract of coun- Boundaries of a distry bounded on the west by the Mississippi, on the north by trict to be called a line to be drawn due east from the mouth of the Yasous to Territory, &c. the Chatahouchee river, on the east by the river Chatahouchee, and on the south by the thirty-first degree of north latitude, shall be, and hereby is, constituted one district, to be called the Mississippi Territory; and the President of the thorized to estab United States is hereby authorized to establish therein a and appoint offi Government, in all respects similar to that now exercised in the cers, in the Missis Territory northwest of the river Ohio, excepting and excluding +See chapter 20. the last article (1) of the ordinance made for the government thereof, by the late Congress, on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all the necessary officers therein, who shall, respectively, receive the same compensations for their services, to be paid in the same manner, as by law established for similar officers in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio; and the powers, duties, and emoluments of a superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern department shall be united with those of Governor: Provided, always, That if the President of the President may ap United States should find it most expedient to establish this point officers in the Government in the recess of Congress, he shall, neverthe- &c. less, have full power to appoint and commission all officers. herein authorized; and their commissions shall continue in

(1) Viz: Article 6, which provides that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, &c.

recess of Congress,

Congress may hereafter divide the

tory into two districts, &c.

force until the end of the session of Congress next ensuing the establishment of the Government.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That the Territory hereby Mississippi Terri- constituted one district, for the purposes of government, may, at the discretion of Congress, be hereafter divided into two districts, with separate Territorial Governments in each, similar to that established by this act.

Saving of the rights

of Georgia, and of jurisdiction and

soil.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That the establishment of individuals, to the this Government shall in no respect impair the right of the State of Georgia, or of any person or persons, either to the jurisdiction or the soil of the said Territory; but the rights and claims of the said State, and of all persons interested, are hereby declared to be as firm and available as if this act had never been made.

The people of the
Mississippi Terri-

same rights asthose

Northwest of the

the ordinance of

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, from and after tory to enjoy the the establishment of the said Government, the people of the of the Territory aforesaid Territory shall be entitled to, and enjoy, all and river Ohio, under singular the rights, privileges, and advantages, granted to the July 13, 1787. See people of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, in and by the aforesaid ordinance of the thirteenth day of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, in as full and ample a manner as the same are possessed and enjoyed by the people of the said lastmentioned Territory.

chapter 20.

$10,000 appropri

ated for carrying

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the sum of ten this act into effect. thousand dollars be, and hereby is, appropriated for the purpose of enabling the President of the United States to carry into effect the provisions of this act; and that the said sum be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Approved, April 7, 1798.

*See act 21st Feb. 1806, chapter 77.

Survey to be made

of 1,200 acres of

Boundaries of the the survey.

CHAP. 47.-An act to authorize a grant of lands to Stephen Monot and others, inhabitants of Galliopolis, therein named.*

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repreland on the Ohio. sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the Northwestern Territory to survey one thousand two hundred acres of land, beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, at the lower corner of a tract surveyed pursuant to an act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize a grant of lands to the French inhabitants of Galliopolis, and for other purposes therein mentioned," and running thence, down said river, along the courses thereof, six hundred and forty poles when reduced to a straight line; thence, extending back from the river and parallel to the lower line of the said grant, so far as to The tract to be di include the quantity aforesaid. And the said surveyor geneparts, &c., and as- ral shall, by lines plainly marked upon trees, divide the said signed, by lot, to tract into eight equal parts, or lots, having each, as nearly as may be, an equal front on the river, and designated by pro

†See chapter 40.

vided into eight

the persons named.

gressive numbers, marked on the corners thereof. And the surveyor general, when the said lots are laid off and numbered as aforesaid, shall distribute or assign the same, by lot, to Stephen Monot, Lewis Anthony Carpentier, Lewis Vimont, Francis Valton, Lewis Philip, A. Fichon, Anthony Maguet, Margaret G. C. Champaigne, wife of Peter A. Laforge, and Maria I. Dalliez, wife of Peter Luc, and to their heirs, being inhabitants of Galliopolis, who were prevented from obtaining their proportion of the land granted by the act aforesaid. The said surveyor general shall also make A plat to be made out a fair plat of the said tract, and shall designate thereon the lots designated, the said lots, marked, each, with the name of the person to whom the same shall have been assigned by lot, as aforesaid; which plat, with a certificate of the bounds and courses Plat to be recordof the said tract and lots, he shall record in his office, and ed, &c. return a copy thereof to the Secretary of State, to be filed in

his office.

of the tract, and

&c.

be issued for the

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of Letters patent to the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized and em- tract, &c. powered to issue letters patent, in the usual form, thereby granting to the persons above named, and to their heirs, the said tract of land, to be held by them and their heirs in severalty, in lots designated, numbered, and marked, as aforesaid.

contracts made by the grantees.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act Saving of private shall be taken or considered in any manner to affect the claims of the persons herein named, against any person or persons, for or by reason of any contracts heretofore made by them, but that the same contracts shall be and remain in the same state as if this act had not passed. Approved, June 25, 1798.

CHAP. 48.-An act to amend the act entitled "An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, and for the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen."*

*See original act of 1st June, 1796, chapter 43.

the act mentioned,

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the fourth section of an act entitled "An act The 4th section of regulating the grants of land appropriated for military ser- repealed. vices, and for the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen," be, and the same +Chapter 43. is hereby, repealed.

the 1st section of

remaining unloca

tion, &c.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the lands set Lands set apart by apart by the first section of the above-mentioned act, which the act mentioned, shall remain unlocated on the first day of January, in the ted, &c., released year one thousand eight hundred and two, shall be released from the reserva from the said reservation, and shall be at the free disposition of the United States, in like manner as any other vacant territory of the United States. And that all warrants or claims not registered, &c. for lands, on account of military services, which shall not, 1802, barred, &c.

Military warrants,

before the 1st Jan.