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grade of rank, with the pay of such grade, to any corps of the army, provided that there be not more than one so attached to any one company at the same time. If a private soldier distinguish himself, the President may grant him a certificate, which shall entitle him to two dollars per month, additional pay. If the rank and file of any regiment or regiments, including volunteers, be not filled, the President may consolidate such deficient regiment or regiments, and dismiss all supernumerary officers; the officers so discharged to receive each, three months' additional pay and mileage. The rank and file, raised under this act, shall be disbanded at the close of the war with Mexico, except the additional officers of ordnance, and the two additional companies to each regiment of artillery. March 3, 1847.

No. 42. An Act providing for the building and equipment of four naval steamships. One million of dollars is appropriated to build "four first-class sea-going steam-ships," to be attached to the navy of the United States. The Secretary of the Navy shall accept the proposal of E. K. Collins and others, for the transportation of the mail between New York and Liverpool. The steam-ships are to be built under the superintendence of a United States naval constructor, so as to be easily convertible into war-steamers of the first class; and they are to receive, without charge, four passed midshipmen and a mail-agent. The Secretary of the Navy shall accept the proposal of A. G. Sloo, of Cincinnati, to transport the mail from New York to New Orleans and back, touching at Charleston, if practicable, Savannah and Havana; and from Havana to Chagres and back, twice a month. The mail is to be transported in at least five steamships, of not less than fifteen hundred tons burden, with engines of not less than one thousand horse power, to be constructed under the direction of a United States naval constructor, so as to be convertible into first-class war-steamers, to be commanded by United States officers, not lower in rank than a lieutenant, to be selected by the constructor and approved by the Secretary of the Navy, who shall be accommodated, without charge, and four passed midshipmen and a mail agent. The Secretary of the Navy may, at his discretion, admit a steamer of not less than six hundred tons, with engines in proportion, to be employed between Havana and Chagres. The compensation is not to exceed $290,000 (per annum ?). The Secretary of the Navy shall contract for the transportation of the mail, either by sailing or steam-vessels, from Panama to some port in Oregon, once a month each way, so as to connect with the mail from Havana to Chagres. The Navy department shall control the steamers, and may take them, at any time, for the government; due provision being made in the contracts for ascertaining the compensation to contractors therefor. March 3, 1847.

No. 43. An Act to establish certain post routes.

SEC. 1 defines these routes, which are very numerous, and, by the provisions of Sec. 2, go into operation July 1, 1847, or sooner.

SEC. 3 appropriates $30,000 for a mail, weekly or oftener, from New

Orleans, via Galveston, Passo Callo, Brazos de St. Jago, to Tampico, with return mails; the service to be performed by contract, or by the use of public steamers now in the service.

SEC. 4.—All letters or packages, weighing not more than one ounce each, directed to any officer, musician, or private, of the army of the United States in Mexico, or at any post or place on the frontier of the United States, bordering on Mexico, shall be conveyed to the mail free of postage. The words "belonging to the army" must compose part of the direction. SEC. 5. The provisions of the two foregoing sections are to be discontinued three months after the close of the war.

SEC. 6 authorizes a contract for transporting a mail from Charleston, South Carolina, to Chagres, touching at St. Augustine and Key West, and also at Havana, in the island of Cuba, if deemed expedient, and across the isthmus of Panama, and from thence to Astoria, or the mouth of the Columbia River, touching at Monterey, St. Francisco, and other places. The water service is to be done by steamers, and the mail to be transported each way at least once in two months, at a cost not exceeding $100,000 per

annum.

SEC. 7 authorizes the appointment of a deputy postmaster at Astoria and other places in the United States territory on the Pacific. Letters sent to Chagres to be charged 20; Havana, 122; Panama, 30; and to the Pacific Coast, 40 cents each.

SEC. 8.-Any contract made in pursuance of this act shall provide for the purchase, by the United States, of the steamships to be employed in conveying the mail, at its option, agreeably to the provisions of March 3, 1845. The place of departure and return of said mail may, at the discretion of the Postmaster-General, be either from Charleston, New York, Savannah, Pensacola, or New Orleans.

SEC. 9 appropriates $30,000 for the service herein provided for.

SEC. 10 authorizes the Postmaster-General to establish branch postoffices in cities or places, and to prescribe rules for their regulation. No additional postage shall be charged for the receipt or delivery of any letter or packet at such branch post-office.

SEC. 11 authorizes the Postmaster-General to have prepaid postage stamps prepared, and kept for sale by deputy postmasters, and makes it felony to counterfeit said stamps.

SEC. 12 appropriates $200,000 per annum from the general fund, in lieu of the sums now paid for mail service performed for the two houses of Congress.

SEC. 13 imposes a fine of ten dollars for enclosing two or more letters, directed to different persons, in the same envelope; one half of the fine to go to the informer. The provision does not apply to letters sent to foreign countries. All newspapers sent by mail, except exchange papers of newspapers and those regularly franked, to be subject to postage. Newspa

pers not sent from the office of publication, and all handbills or circulars, printed or lithographed, not exceeding one sheet, shall be subject to three cents postage each, to be prepaid. Contractors or mail carriers to be allowed to transport newspapers out of the mail, for sale or distribution to subscribers; and the Postmaster-General shall have authority to pay, or cause to be paid, a sum not exceeding two cents each, for all letters or packets conveyed in any vessel or steamboat not employed in carrying the mail from one port or place to any other port or place in the United States. Books that have been published or procured by order of either House of Congress, or both of them, may be franked as public documents. No allowance or compensation shall be made to deputy postmasters, in addition to their commissions authorized by law, excepting the receipts from boxes, of which all beyond $2,000 shall be applied in defraying the expenses of their offices. The special allowance made by law to the postmasters at Washington city and New Orleans is continued.

SEC. 14 repeals so much of the act of March 3, 1845, and of other acts, as is inconsistent with this act. March 3, 1847.

No. 44. An Act to amend an Act, entitled "An Act to amend '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.' Extends the provisions of this act so as to enable the State of Alabama to locate a quantity of land, in any State or territory, equal to the quantity due to the inhabitants in the Chickasaw cession, March 3, 1847.

No. 45. An Act to authorize the constituted authorities of the city of Dubuque, in the State of Iowa, to enter certain islands between the landings of said city and the main channel of the Mississippi River. March 3, 1847.

No. 46. An Act to amend un Act, entitled "An Act to provide for the better organization of the department of Indian affairs," and an Act, entitled "An Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers," approved June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, and for other purposes. The limits of the superintendencies, &c., shall be defined; the superintendents, &c., shall be furnished with offices, and the agents and subagents with houses, and shall, with the assent of the Indians, be permitted to cultivate such portions of land as the Secretary of War shall deem proper. In addition to the fines imposed by act, June 30, 1834, persons vending or giving spirituous liquors or wines to an Indian, in the Indian country, or introducing the same to said country (except army supplies), shall be punished, on conviction before the proper United States District Court, in the former case by imprisonment not exceeding two years, and in the latter not exceeding one year. Indians are made competent witnesses, in prosecutions under this act, and under the 20th section of the act, June 30, 1834. The 11th section of said act is so amended that annuities, moneys, or goods, payable by treaty to any Indian tribe, may (at the President's or Secretary

of War's discretion) be divided among the persons entitled, or, with the consent of the Secretary of War, be so applied as will be best for them. No moneys, &c., shall be paid to any Indians while intoxicated, nor while they have intoxicating liquor within reach, nor until the head-men have pledged themselves to endeavor to prevent the sale of such liquor in their country. All executory contracts made by an Indian for the payment of money or goods shall be held to be null and void. One of the $1,000 clerkships in the office of Indian affairs shall be discontinued after June 30th. The chief clerk is to receive $100, and one of the $1,000 clerks $200 additional per annum. $5,000 are appropriated to collect historical statistics, &c. of the Indian tribes; $20,000, for presents to the Indians of Texas and the south-western prairies, for the years 1846 and 1847; $3,650 to pay a special Indian agent and two interpreters for one year; and $10,000 to carry into effect a treaty with the Camanche and other Indians; $6,000 to the commission sitting under the Cherokee treaty.

No. 47. An Act giving the consent of Congress to an Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, authorizing the levy of tolls on the James River. March 3, 1847.

XXXI. PUBLIC RESOLUTIONS.

No. 1. A Resolution respecting the maps and charts of the surveys of the boundary lines of the United States of America with foreign states. March 1, 1847.

No. 2. Resolutions giving the thanks of Congress to Major General Taylor, and the officers and men under his command, in the late military operations at Monterey. March 2, 1847.

No. 3. Resolution to refund money to the States which have supplied volunteers and furnished them transportation during the present war, before being mustered and received into the service of the United States. March 3, 1847.

No. 4. A Resolution for lighting with gas the capitol and capitol grounds. March 3, 1847.

No. 5. A Resolution concerning the purchase of additional lands for the use of the United States armories at Harper's Ferry and Springfield. March 3, 1847.

No. 6. A Resolution authorizing the employment of the United States ships Macedonian and Jamestown, in transporting provisions for the famishing poor of Ireland and Scotland. March 3, 1847.

No. 7. A Joint Resolution, relative to the preparation and presentation of medals to certain French, British, and Spanish officers. March 3, 1847.

No. 8. A Joint Resolution to prohibit the sale at private entry of certain lands in Cincinnati, Ohio. March 3, 1847.

XXXII. PUBLIC TREATIES OF THE UNITED STATES RATIFIED SINCE THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTYNINTH CONGRESS.

1. Additional article to the convention, for the surrender of criminals between the United States and France, of the 9th November, 1843. Concluded.

2. Convention with Saxony for the mutual abolition of the Droit d'Aubaine and taxes on emigration. Concluded, May 14, 1845; ratified, August 12, 1846.

3. Convention with Nassau for the mutual abolition of the Droit d'Aubaine and taxes on emigration. Concluded, May 27, 1846.

4. Convention with Peru, for the payment of claims presented by Samuel Larned, Esq., when Chargé d'Affaires at Lima. Concluded, March 17, 1841; ratified, October 21, 1845; President's proclamation, January 8, 1847.

5. Treaty with the Winnebagoes. Concluded, October 13, 1846.

6. Treaty with the Camanches and other Indians. Concluded, August 13, 1846.

7. Commercial treaty between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of Hanover. Concluded, June 10, 1846.

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