by sea, shall be enrolled and licensed in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; which enrolment and license shall authorise any such boat, sloop, or other vessel, to be employed either in the coasting or foreign trade; and no certificate of registry shall be required for vessels so employed on said frontiers; Provided, That such boat, sloop, or vessel, shall be, in every other respect liable to the rules, regulations, and penalties, now in force, relating to registered vessels on our northern, northeastern, and northwestern frontiers.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of the fees, emoluments, salary, and commissions, now allowed by law, to any collector or surveyor of any district on our northern, northeastern, and northwestern lakes and rivers, each collector or surveyor, as aforesaid, shall receive, annually, in full compensation for these services, an amount equal to the entire compensation received by such officer during the past year. CHAP. 99. An Act declaratory of the

law concerning Contempts of Court. SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the power of the several courts of the United States to issue attachments and inflict summary punishments for contempts of court, shall not be construed to extend to any cases except the misbehavior of any person or persons in the presence of the said courts, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, the misbehavior of any of the officers of the said courts in their official transactions, and the disobedience or resistance by any officer of the said courts, party, juror, witness, or any other person or persons, to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command, of the said courts.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall, corruptly, or by threats or force, endeavor to influence, intimidate, or impede any juror, witness, or officer, in any court of the United States, in the discharge of his duty, or shall, corruptly, or by threats or force, obstruct, or impede, or endeavor to obstruct or impede, the due administration of justice therein, every person or persons, so offending, shall be liable to prosecution therefor, by indictment, and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished, by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment, not exceeding three months, or both, according to the nature and aggravation of the offence.

CHAP. 105. An Act for the relief of William B. Matthews, trustee,

CHAP. 106. An Act for the relief of John Nicks.

CHAP. 107. An Act for the relief of

Brevet Major Riley, and Lieutenants Brook and Seawright. CHAP. 108. An Act for the relief of Duval and Carnes.

CHAP. 109. An Act for the relief of

the legal representatives of General Moses Hazen, deceased. CHAP. 110. An Act for the relief of Benjamin S. Smoot, of Alabama. CHAP. 111. An Act for the relief of John Nicholson.

CHAP. 112. An Act for the relief of John Gough, and other Canadian refugees.

CHAP. 113. An Act to extend the

patent of Samuel Browning for a further period of fourteen years. CHAP. 114. An Act for the relief of

John Culbertson, and to provide an interpreter for the District Court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana.

CHAP. 115. An Act concerning ves

sels employed in the whale fishery.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the provisions of the act entitled An act to authorise the register or enrolment, and license, to be issued in the name of the President or Secretary of any incorporated company

owning a steamboat or vessel,' passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twentyfive, shall extend and be applicable to every ship or vessel owned by any incorporated company, and employed wholly in the whale fishery, so long as such ship or vessel shall be wholly employed in the whale fishery.

CHAP. 116. An Act to create the office

of Surveyor of the Public Lands for

the State of Louisiana.

SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a Surveyor General for the State of Louisiana shall be appointed, who shall have the same authority, and perform the same duties, respecting the public lands and private land claims in the State of Louisiana, as are now vested in, and required of the Surveyor of the lands of the United States, south of the State of Tennessee, or the principal Deputy Surveyors in the said State; and that from and after the first day of May next, the oflice of principal Deputy Surveyors, as created by the ninth section of the act of Congress of the twentyfirst day of April, eighteen hundred and six, entitled An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to lands within the Territory of Orleans and District of Louisiana " be, and the same are hereby, abolished; and it shall be the duty of said principal Deputy Surveyors to surrender to the Surveyor General of Louisiana or to such person or persons as he may appoint to receive the same, all the maps, books, records, field notes, documents, and articles of every description, appertaining or in any wise belonging to their offices respectively.

Srer. 2. And be it further enacted, That the principal Deputy Surveyor for the district east of the island of New Orleans be and he hereby is, required to separate and arrange the papers in his office; and all the maps, records, papers, and documents of every description which refer to lands in the State of Louisiana, shall be delivered to the order of the Surveyor General for that State; and such of them as refer to lands in the State of Alabama shall be delivered to the surveyor for the State of Alabama; and such of them as refer to lands in the State of Mississippi, together with such maps, papers, records, and documents in the office of said principal Deputy Surveyor, as are not hereby required to be delivered to the Surveyor General of the State of Louisiana

or to the Surveyor for the State of Alabama, shall be delivered to the order of the surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the State of Tennessee; and the office of said principal Deputy shall be, and the same is hereby abolished from and after the first day of May next; and the powers and duties now exercised and performed by the said principal Deputy Surveyor shall be vested in and performed by the aforesaid surveyors, within their respective States.

SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the surveyor south of the State of Tennessee to deliver to the Surveyor General of the State of Louisiana all the maps, papers, records, and documents, relating to the public lands, and private claims in Louisiana, which may be in his office; and in every case where it shall be impracticable to make a separation of such maps, papers, records, and documents, without injury to the portion of them relating to lands in Mississippi, it shall be his duty to cause copies thereof, certified by him, to be furnished to the Surveyor General of Louisiana and which copies shall be of the same validity as the originals.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Surveyor General of Louisiana shall appoint a sufficient number of skilful and experienced surveyors as his deputies, who, with one or more good and sufficient sureties to be approved by said Surveyor General, shall enter into bond for the faithful performance of all surveying contracts confided to them, in the penalty of double the amount of money accruing under the said contracts, at the rate per mile stipulated to be paid therein, and who, before entering on the performance of their duties, shall take an oath, or make affirmation, truly, faithfully, and impartially to the utmost of their skill and ability, to execute the trust confided to them; and in the event of the failure of a deputy to comply with the terms of his contract, unless such failure shall be satisfactorily shown by him to have arisen from causes beyond his control, he shall forfeit the penalty of his bond on due process of law, and ever afterwards be debarred from receiving a contract for surveying public lands in Louisiana or elsewhere.

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Surveyor General to be appointed in pursuance of this act, shall establish his office at such place as the President of the United States may deem most expedient for the public service; and that he shall be allowed an annual salary of two thousand dollars,

and that he be authorised to employ one skilful draughtsman and recording clerk whose aggregate compensation shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars per annum; and that the fees heretofore authorised by law for examining and recording surveys be, and the same are hereby abolished; and any copy of a plat of survey, or transcript from the records of the office of the said Surveyor General, shall be admitted as evidence in any of the Courts of the United States or Territories thereof; and for every copy of a plat of survey, there shall be paid twentyfive cents, and for any transcript from the records of said office, there shall be paid at the rate of twentyfive cents for every hundred words, by the individuals requiring the same. SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, That in relation to all such confirmed claims as may conflict, or in any manner interfere with each other, the Register of the land office and Receiver of public moneys for the proper land district, are hereby authorised to decide between the parties, and shall in their decision be governed by such conditional lines or boundaries as have been or may be agreed upon between the parties interested, either verbally or in writing; and in case no lines or boundaries be agreed upon between the parties interested, then the said Register and Receiver are hereby authorised to decide between the parties in such manner as may be consistent with the principles of justice; and it shall be the duty of the Surveyor General of the said State to have those claims surveyed and platted in accordance with the decisions of the Register and Receiver: Provided, That the said decisions and surveys and the patents which may he issued in conformity thereto, shall not in any wise be considered as precluding a legal investigation and decision by the proper judicial tribunal between the parties to any such interfering claims, but shall only operate as a relinquishment on the part of the United States of all title to the land in question.

SECT. 7. And be it further enacted,

That all the lands to which the Indian title has been extinguished lying north of the northern boundary of the State of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, and east of the Mississippi river, shall be surveyed in the same manner, and under the same regulations, provisions, restrictions and reservations, as the other public lands are surveyed.

SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Legislature of the State of Missouri be, and is hereby authorised to sell and convey in fee simple, all or any

part of the lands heretofore reserved and appropriated by Congress for the use of a seminary of learning in said State, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof in some productive fund, the proceeds of which, shall be forever applied by the Legislature of said State, solely to the use of such seminary, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever. And that the Legisfature of said State of Missouri shall be, and is hereby authorised to sell and convey in fee simple all or any part of the salt springs, not exceeding twelve in number, and six sections of land adjoining to each, granted to said State by the United States for the use thereof, and selected by the Legislature of said State, on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twentyfive, and to invest the money arising from the sale thereof, in some productive fund, the proceeds of which shall be forever applied under the direction of said Legislature, for the purpose of education in said State, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever. CHAP. 117. An Act for the relief of George B. Dameron and William Howze, of Mississippi.

CHAP. 118. An Act for the relief of

James Thomas, late Quartermaster
General in the army of the United
States.

CHAP. 119. An Act for the relief of

Christopher Bechtler.

CHAP. 120. An Act for the relief of James Hogland.

CHAP. 121. An Act granting a pension to Martin Miller.

CHAP. 122. An Act for the relief of Joseph S. Cannon.

CHAP. 123. An Act for the relief of Antoine Dequindre, and the legal representatives of Louis Dequindre, deceased.

CHAP. 124. An Act for the relief of

Samuel Coburn, of the State of
Mississippi.

CHAP. 125. An Act for the relief of

Woodson Wren, of Mississippi.
Approved March 3, 1831.

RESOLUTIONS.

No. 1. Resolution in relation to the transmission of public documents, printed by order of either House of Congress. Approved January 13, 1831.

No. 2. Resolution directing the Secretary of State to subscribe for seventy copies of Peters' condensed reports of decisions of the Supreme Court. Approved March 2, 1831.

THIS case came before the Court on a motion on behalf of the Cherokee nation of Indians for a subpoena, and for an injunction, to restrain the State of Georgia, the Governor, Attorney General, Judges, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Deputy Sheriffs, Constables, and others, the officers, agents, and servants of that State, from executing and enforcing the laws of Georgia, or any of these laws, or serving process, or doing anything towards the execution or enforcement of those laws within the Cherokee territory, as designated by treaty between the United States and the Cherokee nation. The motion was made, after notice, and a copy of the bill filed at the instance and under the authority of the Cherokee nation, had been served on the Governor and Attorney General of the State of Georgia, on the 27th December, 1830, and the 1st of January, 1831. The notice stated that the motion would be made in this Court on Saturday, the 5th day of March, 1831. The bill was signed by John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee nation, and an affidavit, in the usual form, of the facts stated in the bill was annexed; which was sworn to before a Justice of the Peace of Richmond county, State of Georgia.

Messrs Wirt and Sargeant appeared on behalf of the complainants.

The facts in the case are fully stated in the opinion of the Court.

Mr Chief Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court:

This bill is brought by the Cherokee nation, praying an injunction to restrain the State of Georgia from the execution

of certain laws of that State, which, as is alleged, go directly to annihilate the Cherokees as a political society, and to seize, for the use of Georgia, the lands of the nation which have been assured to them by the United States in solemn treaties repeatedly made and still in force.

If courts were permitted to indulge their sympathies, a case better calculated to excite them can scarcely be imagined. A people once numerous, powerful, and truly independent, found by our ancestors in the quiet and uncontrolled possession of an ample domain, gradually sinking beneath our superior policy, our arts and our arms, have yielded their lands by successive treaties, each of which contains a solemn guarantee of the residue, until they retain no more of their formerly extensive territory than is deemed necessary to their comfortable subsistence. To preserve this remnant, the present application is made.

Before we can look into the merits of the case, a preliminary inquiry presents itself. Has this Court jurisdiction of the cause?

The third article of the Constitution describes the extent of the judicial power.

The second section closes an enumeration of the cases to which it is extended, with 'controversies' 'between a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.' A subsequent clause of the same section gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in all cases in which a State shall be a party. The party defendant may then unquestionably be sued in this court. May the plaintiff sue in it? Is the Cherokee nation a foreign State,