tions, at such times and places as they may deem most expedient, out of any moneys in the treasury, heretofore appropriated for the redemption of the public debt, or out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, January 22, 1824. ized to make under certain such purchases restrictions. STATUTE I. CHAP. XVII.-An Act to authorize the surveying and making a road from a point Jan. 31, 1824. opposite to Memphis, in the state of Tennessee, to Little Rock, in the territory of Arkansas. 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 appoint three commissioners, who shall explore, survey, and mark, in the most eligible course, a road from a point on the right bank of the river Mississippi, opposite to the town of Memphis, in the state of Tennessee, to Little Rock, in the territory of Arkansas; and said commissioners shall make out accurate plats of such surveys, accompanied with field notes, and certify and transmit the same to the President of the United States: who, if he approves of the said survey, shall cause the plats thereof to be deposited in the office of the treasury of the United States, and the said road shall be considered as established and accepted. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said road shall be opened and made under the direction of the President of the United States, who is hereby authorized to employ the troops of the United States in the completion, or assisting in the completion, of said road. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall, each, be entitled to receive three dollars, and their assistants one dollar and fifty cents, for each and every day which they shall be necessarily employed, in the exploring, surveying, and marking, said road: And, for the purpose of compensating the aforesaid commissioners and their assistants, and for opening and making said road, there shall be, and hereby is, appropriated, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, to be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, January 31, 1824. Act of March The Presi 3, 1827, ch. 96. dent to appoint three commissioners to open point on the right bank of the Mississippi, town of Memopposite to the phis, to Little Rock, Arkansas. a road from a United States troops to complete the same. Compensa tion to the commissioners, three dollars; Assistants, one dollar fifty cents per day. CHAP. XX.-An Act to revive and continue in force an act, entitled "An act fixing APPROVED, February 20, 1824. CHAP. XXII.—An Act to authorize the laying out and opening certain public roads in the territory of Florida. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President of the STATUTE I. Feb. 28, 1824. [Obsolete.] A public road to be opened from Pensacola to St. Augustine. The troops of the United States to open the same. 20,000 dollars ated. United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be opened, in the territory of Florida, a public road from Pensacola to St. Augustine, commencing at Deer Point, on the bay of Pensacola, and pursuing the Old Indian Trail to the Cow Ford, on the Choctawhatchy river; thence, direct to the natural bridge on the Ecanfinan river; thence, to the Ochesee Bluff, on the Appalachicola river; thence, in the most direct practicable route, to the site of Fort St. Lewis; thence, as nearly as practicable, on the old Spanish road to St. Augustine, crossing the St. John's river at Picolata; which road shall be plainly and distinctly marked, and shall be of the width of twenty-five feet. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ the troops of the United States, stationed in Florida, in such manner as he may think proper, in the completion, or in assisting in the completion, of said road. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, for defraying the expenses to be appropri- of opening the said road, the sum of twenty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. The most di cable route to be surveyed from Cape Sable SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and he is rect and practi-hereby, authorized to cause to be surveyed and marked out, the most direct and practicable route for a public road from Cape Sable, passing by Charlotte Harbour and the bay of Tampa, to the point where the Suwaney river will be intersected by the road to be opened from Pensacola to St. Augustine, and to cause to be surveyed, and marked out, the route for a public road, from Cape Florida to St. Augustine. to where the Suwaney river will be intersected by the road from Pensacola to St. Augustine, &c. 3000 dollars to be appropri ated. STATUTE I. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, for defraying the expenses of the surveys aforesaid, the sum of three thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated. APPROVED, February 28, 1824. Feb. 28, 1824. CHAP. XXIII.—An Act to regulate the surveying of public and private lands in Lands to be asached to the di rict of the Surveyor, and the deputy sur veyor east of the island of New Orleans, &c. the southern part of Alabama. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That all the lands in the state of Alabama shall be attached to the district of the surveyor of the public lands in the state of Alabama, and the surveying of all public and private lands, in the said state, shall hereafter be made under his direction; and it shall be the duty of the deputy surveyor of the district east of the island of New Orleans, and east of Pearl river, to return the plats of all private claims within the state of Alabama, to the office of the said surveyor. APPROVED, February 28, 1824. STATUTE I. Feb. 28, 1824. CHAP. XXV.—An Act to extend the time limited for the settlement of private land claims in the territory of Florida. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the time limited for the settlement of private land claims in the territory of Florida, by an act of the seventeenth Congress, entitled "An act amending, and supplementary to, the act for ascertaining claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida, and to provide for the survey and disposal of the public lands in Florida, be, and the same is hereby, extended and enlarged, until the (a) See notes to the act of May 8, 1822, ch. 129. Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 83. first day of January.next, when the commissioners for ascertaining claims and titles to the lands aforesaid shall make a return of their proceedings April 22, 1826, to the secretary of the treasury, to be laid before Congress. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the claimant or claimants shall not be required to produce, in evidence, a deraignment of title from the original grantee or patentee, but the exhibition of the original title papers, agreeably to the fourth section of an act, passed the eighth of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, entitled "An act for ascertaining claims and titles to lands within the territory of Florida," with the deed or devise, to the claimant, and the office abstract or abstracts of the intermediate conveyances for the last ten years preceding the surrender of Florida to the United States; and, where they cannot be produced, their absence being satisfactorily accounted for, shall be sufficient evidence of the right of the claimant or claimants to the land so claimed as against the United States: Provided, The claim be defined in quantity, and the amount does not exceed the quantity limited in the second section of the act which this is intended to extend; And provided, the conditions required by the laws and ordinances of the Spanish government, and the treaty between Spain and the United States, shall have been complied with. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be taken and deemed to be an actual settler, within the provisions of the "act amending, and supplementary to, an act for ascertaining claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida," passed on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, unless such person, or those under whom he claims title, shall have been in the cultivation, or occupation, of the land, at and before the period of the cession. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act of which this is an amendment, as authorizes the secretary of said commissioners to demand and receive from the claimants ten cents per hundred words for recording titles to land, be, and the same is hereby repealed. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the former secretaries, or those who may now be secretaries, to the said boards of commissioners, who shall have received their salary of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, from the treasury of the United States, which is, by law, declared to be their full compensation, shall be, and they are hereby, required to pay over, respectively, to the commissioners, conformably with the provisions of the original law, all such fees as have been demanded, and received by them, which shall be appropriated to defray the expenses of the commission. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of the acts of which this is amendatory, as makes void all claims not filed before the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and it shall be lawful for claims to be filed any time previous to the first day of September next; but all and every claim not filed by that time, shall be held and deemed void and of none effect. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That each of the commissioners heretofore appointed, or who may hereafter be appointed, who has performed, and shall hereafter perform, the duties assigned him, shall receive, from the first Monday in February until the first day of January next, at the rate of two thousand dollars per annum, in full compensation for his services. APPROVED, February 28, 1824. ch. 29. The claimant or claimants not required to pro Proviso. Proviso. No person to be deemed an actual settler within the provisions of the act of March 3, 1823, ch. 29, unless he be an occupier, &c. Part of act re pealed. Secretaries of commissioners having received 1250 dollars, required to pay over such fees as have been demanded and received by them. So much of the acts of which this is amendatory, as claims not filed before Dec. 1, makes void all 1823, to be repealed. Compensation of the com missioners. STATUTE I. March 8, 1824. CHAP. XXVI.—An Act to repeal, in part, an act, entitled “An act to lessen the compensation for marshals, clerks, and attorneys, in the cases therein mentioned." So much of the act of April 18, lessens the compensation of marshals, &c., to be repealed. 1814, ch. 79, as STATUTE I. March 10, 1824. [Obsolete.] Specific appropriations for the military service, for 1824. Proviso. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That so much of the act, passed on the eighteenth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, entitled "An act to lessen the compensation for marshals, clerks, and attorneys, in the cases therein mentioned," as prohibits the allowance of daily compensation to marshals, clerks, and attorneys, in the districts in said act mentioned, be, and the same hereby is, repealed; and that there, hereafter, be allowed to the marshals, clerks, and attorneys, for said districts, the same daily compensation as is allowed to the same officers in other districts. APPROVED, March 8, 1824. CHAP. XXVII.-An Act making appropriations for the military service of the United States, for the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, respectively, appropriated for the military ser vice of the United States, for the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, to wit: For pay of the army, and subsistence of officers, nine hundred and ninety-four thousand four hundred and seven dollars and five cents, including the sum of one hundred and twenty-eight thousand one hundred and nineteen dollars, for the pay and subsistence of the officers and cadets belonging to the military academy at West Point. For subsistence, in addition to an unexpended balance of twenty-one thousand six hundred dollars, two hundred and sixty-nine thousand three hundred and forty-seven dollars. For forage for officers, thirty-six thousand one hundred and twentythree dollars. For the recruiting service, in addition to an unexpended balance of sixteen thousand dollars, thirteen thousand four hundred dollars. For contingent expenses for the recruiting service, sixteen thousand eight hundred dollars. For the purchasing department, in addition to the amount of clothing on hand, one hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred and twentyseven dollars and fifty-nine cents. For the purchase of woollens, during the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, in advance for the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, twenty thousand dollars. For the medical and hospital department, in addition to supplies on hand, and an unexpended balance, both amounting to twenty-two thousand seven hundred dollars, ten thousand dollars. For the quartermaster general's department, in addition to an unexpended balance of thirty-five thousand dollars, two hundred and fortynine thousand dollars. For the purchase of Gridley's farm, ten thousand dollars: Provided, said farm shall not be purchased unless the same shall be procured for said ten thousand dollars. For the contingencies of the army, fifteen thousand dollars. For the national armories, three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. For the current expenses of the ordnance service, forty-two thousand dollars. For pensions to the revolutionary pensioners of the United States, one million two hundred and ninety-one thousand seven hundred and sixteen dollars and thirty-nine cents. For the pensions to the invalids, to the commutation pensioners, and to the widows and orphans, three hundred and thirteen thousand one hundred and seventy-four dollars and forty-two cents. For arrearages in the War Department, prior to the first of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, twenty-six thousand dollars. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the several sums hereby appropriated, shall be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise ppropriated: Provided, however, That no money appropriated by this act, shall be paid to any person, for his compensation, who is in arrears to the United States, until such person shall have accounted for, and paid into the treasury, all sums for which he may be liable: Provided, further, That nothing in this section contained, shall extend to balances arising solely from the depreciation of treasury notes, received by such person, to be expended in the public service; but, in all cases where the pay or salary of any person is withheld, in pursuance of this act, it shall be the duty of the accounting officer, if demanded by the party, his agent or attorney, to report forthwith to the agent of the Treasury Department the balance due; and it shall be the duty of the said agent, within sixty days thereafter, to order suit to be commenced against such delinquent, and his securities. APPROVED, March 10, 1824. CHAP. XXVIII.—An Act for the better organization of the district courts of the March 10, 1824. United States within the state of Alabama. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the state of Alabama shall be, and the same is hereby, divided into two districts, in manner following, to wit:-That part thereof composing the counties of Jackson, Decatur, Madison, Limestone, Lauderdale, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Blount, St. Clair, Jefferson, Walker, and Marion, shall compose one district to be called the northern district of Alabama; and the residue thereof, shall compose another district to be called the southern district of Alabama. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be two terms of the district court for the southern district, held at Mobile, in each year, to begin on the third Monday after the fourth Monday in March, and the fourth Monday after the fourth Monday in October; and one term at Cahawba, in each year, to begin on the third Monday in June; and one term of the district court, for the northern district, shall be held in Huntsville, in each year, to begin on the second Monday in July; and the district judge of the United States, for the state of Alabama, is hereby required to hold the courts aforesaid, and furthermore, to hold one or more special terms, at Cahawba, and at Huntsville, in each year, if, in his opinion, the business of the court shall require it to be done. Act of April 21, 1820, ch. 47. Alabama to be divided into two The state of districts. District court for the southern district to be twice, at Cahawba once; and that of the held at Mobile northern district at Hunts ville once in each year. All writs and returned to the district court at SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the third Monday in December, in each year, shall be a return day for writs and executions, executions to be returnable to the said district court at Cahawba; and the second Monday in January, in each year, shall be a return day for writs and executions returnable to the said district court at Huntsville; and the parties to such suits as shall be so returned, shall make up their pleadings under such rules as the court shall prescribe, in order to have the causes so returned, in a state for trial at the next regular term. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all causes pending in the (a) See notes to act of April 21, 1820, ch. 47. Mobile and Cahawba, to be adjourned, &c. pointed by this to the times ap act. All cases VOL. IV.-2 |