When the lands in the Territory shall be surveyed, under the direction of the general government, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered 16 and 36 in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved for schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same. The Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of New Mexico as elsewhere within the United States; and no citizen of the United States shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, in the Territory, except by the judgment of his peers, and the laws of the land. The provisions of this act are suspended until the boundary between the United States and the State of Texas shall be adjusted. eptember 9, 1850.

No. 24. An Act for the admission of the State of California into the Union. The State of California is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects, and until an apportionment from an actual enumeration the State shall be entitled to two Representatives in Congress.

The State is admitted upon the express condition that the people of said State, through their legislature or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall pass no law and do no act whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of, the same shall be impaired or questioned, and that they shall never lay any tax or assessment of any description whatsoever upon the public domain of the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors, who are citizens of the United States, be taxed higher than residents; and that all the navigable waters within the said State shall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of said States as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as recognizing or rejecting the propositions tendered by the people of California as articles of compact in the ordinance adopted by the convention which formed the constitution of the State. September 9, 1850.

No. 25. An Act to establish a Territorial Government for Utah. That part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, to wit, bounded on the west by the State of California, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, and on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and on the south by the parallel of 370 N., is erected into the Territory of Utah; and when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as its constitution may prescribe at the time of its admission. The provisions of this act are identical in all respects with those of the act admitting New Mexico, for which see above, No. 23, except that this act takes effect from its passage, and in it there is no provision that "no citizen of the United States shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property in the Territory, except by the judgment of his peers and the laws of the land." $20,000 are also appropriated for the erection of public buildings at the seat of government when established, and $ 5,000 for a library. September 9, 1850.

No. 26. An Act to authorize notaries public to take and certify oaths, affirmations, and acknowledgments in certain cases. In all cases in which, under the laws of the United States, oaths or acknowledgments may now be taken before any justice of the peace, such oaths or acknowledgments may be hereafter also taken by or before any notary public duly appointed, and when certified under the hand and official seal of such notary shall have the same force and effect as if taken by or before such justice of the peace. All the powers conferred by this act upon notaries public may be exercised by any commissioner appointed by any Circuit Court of the United States, under any act of Congress authorizing the appointment of commissioners to take bail, affidavits, or depositions, in causes pending in the courts of the United States. Perjury before such notaries or commissioners shall be punishable as now when committed before a justice of the peace. September 16, 1850.

No. 27. An Act to extend the port of New Orleans. The port of New Orleans is so extended as to embrace the whole parish of New Orleans, on both sides of the Mississippi River. September 16, 1850.

No. 28. An Act making appropriations for the support of the Military Academy for

the year ending June 30, 1851. The sum of $201,494.47 is appropriated. September

16, 1850.

No. 29. An Act to provide for the printing of the Annual Report upon Commerce and Navigation. The Annual Report on Commerce and Navigation shall be printed under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and be completed and ready for delivery by January 1st next after the close of the fiscal year to which the report relates. 20,000 copies shall be printed and bound substantially, if at a price not exceeding 124 cents a volume. September 16, 1850.

No. 30. An Act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1851. $6,035,950 are appropriated. Sept. 16, 1850. No. 31. An Act to amend and supplementary to the Act entitled “An Act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters," approved February 12, 1793. Commissioners of the Circuit Courts of the United States, now, or hereafter to be, appointed under any act of Congress, and thereby authorized to exercise powers given in section 33 of the act of September 24, 1789, are authorized and required to perform the duties required by this act. The Superior Courts of the organized Territories may appoint commissioners, who shall have the same powers as commissioners of the said Circuit Courts, and the number of commissioners shall be from time to time enlarged, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and promptly to discharge the duties imposed by this act. They shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the said courts in term time and vacation, and shall grant certificates to claimants, upon satisfactory proof, with authority to take and remove such fugitives, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled, and shall receive in full for services a fee of $10, if a certificate is granted, or of $ 5 where the proof does not allow the granting of a certificate, in either case to be paid by the claimant. And the better to enable the said commissioners to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, they are hereby empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writ ing, any suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such processes as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties, with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders or posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary, and the persons thus appointed shall each receive from the claimant $5 for each person arrested and taken before a commissioner, with other reasonable fees for additional necessary services. All good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose, and said warrants shall run and be executed by said officers anywhere in the State within which they are issued. If any marshal or deputy marshal shall refuse to receive any process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of $1,000, to the use of such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal, and after arrest of such fugitive by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, the marshal shall be liable on his official bond to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped. The marshal, deputies, clerks, &c., shall be paid for their services like fees as for similar services in like cases, to be paid wholly by the claimant, if the services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, &c., of a fugitive.

§ 6. When a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the samne may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant

from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistrate or other authority, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which such service or labor was due, to the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.

§7. Any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid; or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given, or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbour or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and im prisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages, to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of $1,000 for each fugitive so lost, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.

§ 9. Upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be rescued by force before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent or attorney. And to this end, the officer is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same ex

penses, as are now allowed by law for the transportation of criminals, to be paid out of the treasury of the United States.

§ 10. When any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or District in which the person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence, if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants of fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified, and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs competent in law. September 18, 1850.

No. 32. An Act granting the right of way and making a grant of land to the States of Illinois, Mississippi, and Alabama, in aid of the construction of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile. The right of way not exceeding 100 feet on each side of the length thereof, through the public lands, is granted to the State of Illinois for the construction of a railroad from the Southern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, with a branch of the same to Chicago on Lake Michigan, and another via the town of Galena, in said State, to Dubuque, in the State of Iowa, with the right also to take necessary materials for its construction.

There is granted to the State of Illinois, to aid in making the railroad and branches, every alternate section of land designated by even numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said road and branches, subject to preëmption and other rights, but the land located shall not be more than fifteen miles from the line of the road, and shall be disposed of only as the work progresses, and be applied only to its construction. The construction of the road shall be commenced at its southern terminus, at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and at its northern terminus upon the Illinois and Michigan Canal simultaneously, and continued from each of said points until completed, when said branch roads shall be constructed, according to their survey and location.

If it shall not be completed within ten years, the State of Illinois shall pay to the United States the amount of sales of any part of said lands, the title to the purchasers remaining valid, and the title to the residue shall reinvest in the United States. The sections and parts of sections of land which, by such grant, shall remain to the United States, within six miles on each side of said road and branches, shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price of the public lands.

The railroad and branches shall be public highway, free from toll or other charge upon the transportation of any property or troops of the United States, and the mail shall at all times be transported on the said railroad, under the direction of the Post-Office Department, at such price as Congress may direct.

All the privileges conferred on the State of Illinois shall be granted to the States of Alabama and Mississippi respectively, for the purpose of aiding the construction of a railroad from Mobile to a point near the mouth of the Ohio River, and public lands of the United States to the same extent, in proportion to the length of the road, and on the same terms, are granted to said States. September 20, 1850.

No. 33. An Act giving the assent of the United States to an act of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at the December Session, 1844, chapter 287. The provisions of that act, relative to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, are extended to so much of the canal as is within the District of Columbia. September 20, 1850.

No. 34. An Act to suppress the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. From and after January 1, 1851, it shall not be lawful to bring into the District of Columbia any slave whatever for the purpose of being sold, or for the purpose of being placed in depot, to be subsequently transferred to any other State or place, to be sold as merchandise, and any slave so brought into the District, by or with the consent of its owner, shall be free.

The cities of Washington and Georgetown, and the Levy Court of Washington County within its jurisdictional limits from time to time, and as often as may be necessary, may abolish any depot or place of confinement of slaves brought into the said District as merchandise, by such appropriate means as may appear to either of the said cities expedient and proper. September 20, 1850.

No. 35. An Act to supply a deficiency in the appropriation for pay and mileage of members of Congress, for the present session. September 20, 1850.

No. 36. An Act to repeal so much of the Act approved Aug. 11, 1848, as extends the provisions thereof to Macao. The right to exercise judicial powers is taken from consuls of the United States in Macao. September 20, 1850.

No. 37. An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to permit vessels from the British North American Provinces to lade and unlade at such places in any collection district of the United States as he may designate. The above permission is to be given when the President shall be satisfied that similar privileges are extended to vessels of the United States in the said Provinces. September 26, 1850.

No. 33. An Act to increase the Commissariat of the United States Army. Four commissaries, with the rank of Captain, may be taken from the line of the army. The senior aid-decamp of the Major-General commanding may be taken from captains or majors, and shall be allowed the pay and emoluments of a major of cavalry. September 26, 1850.

No. 39. An Act providing for the examination and settlement of claims for land at the Sault Ste. Marie, in Michigan. The Register and Receiver are authorized to examine and report upon claims for land at the Sault Ste. Marie, under instructions from the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, and to report to the Commissioner the amount due, if any, from the government to the several claimants.

Bona fide claimants under the original claims reported by the commissioners under the act of Congress of Feb. 21, 1823, may, within one year, present a sworn notice of their claims, in writing, to the Register and Receiver, who shall record all notices and testimony in favor of said claims. Any bona fide claimants who had reduced a lot to possession Jan. 1, 1849, shall have the same right. The Surveyor General at Detroit shall then survey the village of Sault Ste. Marie into town lots, &c., and make a plat thereof, exhibiting the claims and claimants aforesaid, and send the same to the Commissioner, who shall decide finally upon each case, and after ten months' public notice may order into the market all vacant lots, or lots upon which the claims have been rejected, and the net proceeds of the sales thereof shall be paid to the authorities of Sault Ste. Marie, to be expended upon streets and public buildings. September 26, 1850.

No. 40. An Act to reduce the minimum price of the mineral lands in the Lake Superior district in Michigan, and in the Chippewa district in Wisconsin. The mineral lands in the Lake Superior district in Michigan, and in the Chippewa district in Wisconsin, shall be offered for sale in the same manner, and be subject to the same minimum price, and the same rights of preemption, as the other public lands of the United States, and the portions of the acts of March 1, 1847, and March 3, 1847, inconsistent herewith, are repealed. The