XI. TITLES AND ABST ACTS OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, PASSED AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 28TH CONGRESS. Deficiencies in appropriations for year ending June 30, 1844, 211,270 82 To test the submarine telescope, and mark the boundary of Mo., 6,000 00 $25,000 00 Improvements on west shore of Lake Mich., (Nos. 37, 38,) Insane persons in the District of Columbia, Total, 532,000 62 64,500 00 4,000 00 55,657 36 $21,838,273 26 No. 1. An Act to supply a deficiency in the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1844, for the relief and protection of American Seamen. See abstract on page 144. Jan. 22, 1844. No. 2. An Act to authorize the President of the United States to direct transfers of appropriations in the Naval service, under certain circumstances. From unexpended appropriations for the naval service, $200,000 may be transferred to the appropriation for the increase, repairs, armament, &c., of the navy; provided, that balances be not taken from the appropriations for navy yards, nor any transfer be made which will afterwards require another appropriation to supply the deficiency. Feb. 23, 1844. No. 3. An Act changing the time of holding the Courts at Clarksburg and at Wheeling, in the Western District of Virginia, and the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Arkansas. See pp. 105, 108. March 4, 1844. No. 4. An Act to repeal the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Act of March 10, 1838, entitled 'An Act to change the time of holding the Circuit and District Courts in the District of Ohio." See pp. 105, 109. March 4, 1844. No. 5. An Act to amend the Act entitled "An Act to establish branches of the Mint of the United States." The oath required may be taken before the judge of any court of record in the State where the branch is situated. April 2, 1844. No. 6. An Act directing the disposition of certain unclaimed goods, wares, or merchandise, seized for being illegally imported into the United States. The collector shall make a list in duplicate of goods that are seized, describing them, and shall cause them to be appraised by two sworn appraisers, who shall receive $1.50 a day each. If the value appraised be $100 or less, the collector shall advertise the goods for three weeks, requiring the owners to appear and claim them within ninety days. The claimants may give a bond to the United States for $250, with two sureties, providing that, in case of condemnation, they will pay costs and expenses, and the bond shall be given to the District Attorney, who shall proceed thereon. If no claim be made, or no bond given, within the time specified, the collector shall give twenty days notice of sale, and at the end of that time shall sell the goods, and deposit the proceeds to the credit of the Treasury. Within one year after the sale, the claimant may apply for a rémission of forfeiture, if he can show that he was in such circumstances as not to know of the seizure, and that the forfeiture was made without negligence on his part; and the Secretary of the Treasury, upon satisfactory proof, may grant this application, and restore the proceeds of the sale. If no such application be made within a year, the proceeds shall be distributed according to law. April 2, 1844. No. 7. An Act requiring one of the Judges of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, hereafter to reside in Alexandria. When a vacancy shall occur in this Court, the Judge to be appointed shall reside in Alexandria, and afterwards one shall always reside there. The Judges may exchange residences, if they see fit. April 4, 1844. No. 8. An Act to repeal so much of the Act approved Aug. 23, 1842, as requires the second regiment of dragoons to be converted into a regiment of riflemen, after March 4, 1843. The riflemen are to be remounted, and called the second regiment of dragoons. April 4, 1844. No. 9. An Act to change the time of holding the Spring term of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Virginia, and of the Circuit Court of Alabama. See pp. 105, 108. April 12, 1844. No. 10. An Act making appropriations for the support of the Military Academy for the fiscal year ending, June 30th, 1845. See abstract on page 144. April 4, 1844. No. 11. An Act making an appropriation of certain moneys in the Treasury for the naval service. See abstract, (sales of condemned naval stores,) page 144. April 22, 1844. No. 12. Appropriations for pensions. See abstract on page 144. April 30, 1844. No. 13. An Act giving the assent of Congress to the holding of an extra session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa. An extra session may be held in June, 1844, but the expenses of it shall not be paid by the United States. April 30, 1844. No. 14. An Act for the relief of citizens of towns upon the lands of the United States, under certain circumstances. When any part of the public lands has been settled as a town site, and therefore not subject to entry under the preemption laws, the corporate authorities thereof, or the county Judges of its county, may enter at the minimum price the land as settled in trust for the benefit of the occupants thereof, the execution of which trust, as to the disposal of the lots, &c., shall be regulated by the legislative authority of the State or Territory wherein it is situated; but the entry must be made before the public sale of the land, and shall include only such land as is actually occupied, and be made according to the act of April 24, 1820, and shall not exceed 320 acres. The authorities of the town of Weston, in the State of Missouri, shall be allowed a year from the passage of this act to enter their lands. May 23, 1844. No. 15. An Act to authorize the transfer of the names of pensioners from the agencies in the State of Kentucky to the agency in Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio. Such transfers may be made on the application of the pensioners. May 23, 1844. No. 16. An Act relating to the Port of entry in the District of Passamaquoddy, in the State of Maine. The port constituted under the act of March 3, 1803, shall also be a port of entry for vessels arriving from the Cape of Good Hope, and from places beyond. May 31, 1844. No. 17. An Act to amend the Judiciary Act passed September 24, 1789. Final judgments in any circuit court in any civil action brought by the United States, for the enforcement of the revenue laws, may be reëxamined in the U. S. Supreme Court, upon writ of error, as in other cases, without regard to the sum in controversy, at the instance of either party. May 31, 1844. No. 18. Appropriations for fortifications. See abstract on page 144. No. 19. An Act directing a disposition of the maps and charts of the survey of the coast. The Secretary of the Treasury may dispose of them at such prices as he shall see fit. Copies of each sheet, not exceeding 300, may be given to such foreign governments, departments of our own governments, and literary and scientific associations, as he shall direct. June 3, 1844. No. 20. An Act to alter the places of holding the District Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey. See page 108. June 4, 1844. No. 21. An Act relating to bonds to be given by Custom House Officers. The bonds required must be given before they are qualified to enter on the performance of their duties. June 4, 1844. No. 22. Appropriations for the improvement of harbors and rivers. See abstract on page 144. June 11, 1844. No. 23. An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act to reorganize the General Land Office." The office of Solicitor of the Land Office is abolished; the duties formerly required of him shall be performed by the Recorder of the Land Office, or by such other persons as the Land Commissioner shall direct. June 12, 1844. No. 24. An Act to establish a port of delivery at the city of Lafayette, in the State of Louisiana. The city shall be a port of delivery, and a surveyor shall be appointed there; vessels bound to it shall first make entry at New Orleans, and then may unlade at Lafayette, according to the directions of law and of the Secretary of the Treasury. Vessels about to depart from Lafayette, shall clear out with their cargoes at the customhouse in New Orleans, and depart as from New Orleans. Goods shall be entitled to drawback in the same way as if exported from New Orleans. June 12, 1844. No. 25. An Act relating to the unlading of foreign merchandise on the right bank of the river Mississippi, opposite New Orleans. Foreign salt may be unladen at any point on the right bank, between the upper and lower limits of the municipalities of New Orleans. June 12, 1844. No. 26. An Act for repairing the roof of the Court House in Alexandria. $550, and the proceeds of the sale of the zinc with which it is now covered, are appropriated for covering the roof with tin. June 15, 1844. No. 27. An Act granting a section of land for the improvement of Grant river, at the town of Potosi, in Wisconsin Territory. Section 34, in township 3 North, in range 3 West, of the fourth principal meridian, is granted for said purpose, the land to be sold under direction of the legislature of the Territory, reserving preëmption rights to actual settlers. The Surveyor general of Wisconsin shall appoint three commissioners to estimate the value of the lots without taking into view the improvements on them; and the occupants may secure their lots by paying said assessed value within one year. The compensation of the commissioners shall not exceed $120. June 15, 1844. No. 28. An Act relating to certain collection districts, and for other purposes. Ipswich, Mass., St. Mary's, and Snow Hill, Md., Folly Landing, and East River, Va., and Sunbury, Hardwick, and Brunswick, Ga., are abolished as separate collection districts, and are constituted ports of delivery. They shall be annexed to other districts, as follows: Ipswich to Newburyport, St. Mary's to Annapolis, Snow Hill to Vienna, Folly Landing to Cherrystone, East River to Yorktown, Sunbury and Hardwick to Savannah, and Brunswick to St. Mary's. The following ports of delivery are discontinued: Chester and Nanjemoy, Md., South Quay, Va., Hertford, Murfreesborough, and Swansborough, N. C. The office of assistant collector to reside at Jersey, N. J., is abolished. The port of entry for the district of Pearl river, Miss., shall be at Shieldsborough instead of Pearlington, which is made a port of delivery. The district of Mississippi shall be hereafter called the district of New Orleans. June 15, 1844. No. 29. An Act to establish a Navy Yard and Depot at or adjacent to the city of Memphis, on the Mississippi river, in the State of Tennessee. $100,000 are appropriated to purchase the site and erect the buildings; and the President is empowered to purchase the necessary water-rights, and to receive donations of land, water-rights, &c. June 15, 1844. No. 30. An Act for the relief of the widows and orphans of the officers, seamen, and marines of the United States schooner Grampus, and for other purposes. In order to fix the time for the commencement of the pensions, March 20, 1843, shall be deemed the day on which the Grampus was lost, and May 1, 1839, shall be deemed the day on which the Sea Gull was lost. If any of the men shall have left no widow, and there be children under sixteen years of age, the pension to which the widow would have been entitled shall go to the children for a like period of five years. In case, also, of the death or intermarriage of the widow, the pension shall go to the children, and shall cease, if they die before the expiration of the five years. The accounts of James S. Thacher, the purser who was lost in the Grampus, shall be settled, and a credit allowed for whatever sum may |