SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect, and be in force from and after the first day of May next ensuing the passage thereof. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. Act to take effect 1st May next. STATUTE II. CHAP. LIII.—An Act making the gold coins of Great Britain, France, Portugal, March 3, 1823. and Spain, receivable in payments on account of public lands. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, from and after the passage of this act, the following gold coins shall be received in all payments on account of public lands, at the several and respective rates following, and not otherwise, viz: the gold coins of Great Britain and Portugal, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-seven grains, or eighty-eight cents and eight-ninths per pennyweight: the gold coins of France, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-seven and a half grains, or eighty-seven and a quarter cents per pennyweight: and the gold coins of Spain of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-eight and a half grains, or eighty-four cents per pennyweight. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause assays of the foregoing coins to be made at the mint of the United States, at least once in every year; and to make report of the result thereof to Congress. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. Act of March 3, 1823, ch. 50. Gold coins of Great Britain, ment on ac- Secretary of the Treasury to cause assays to be made annually at the mint. STATUTE II. President to cause certain mail-roads to be cleared, repaired, and improved. CHAP. LIV.-An Act for clearing, repairing, and improving, certain roads for March 3, 1823. the purpose of facilitating the transportation of the United States' Mail. 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 hereby is, authorized to cause to be cleared, repaired, and improved, the United States' mail road, from Nashville in the state of Tennessee, to New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana: Provided, He shall not expend more than seven thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars, in clearing, repairing, and improving, the same, and that the said sum shall be expended on that part of the road which may lie within [the] territory occupied by the Indians, and to which their title has not yet been extinguished. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. Proviso. CHAP. LV.-An Act respecting stamps. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, whenever any person or persons shall pay to the Secretary of the Treasury, the duty chargeable by the act, entitled "An act to establish a general stamp office," passed on the twenty-third day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred, on any deed, instrument, or writing, on which the said stamp duty chargeable by law shall not have been paid, together with the further sum of ten dollars, and shall obtain a certificate thereof, from the Secretary of the Treasury, such deed, instrument, or writing, shall be, to all intents and purposes, as valid and available, as if the same had been, or Act to continue in force for one year. were, stamped, counter stamped, or marked, as by said law required; any thing in any act to the contrary notwithstanding. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be, and continue, in force for the term of one year from the passage thereof, and no longer. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. CHAP. LVI.-An Act to authorize the building of lighthouses, light vessels, and beacons, therein mentioned, and for other purposes. Secretary of the Treasury empowered to contract for building lighthouses, &c. on certain sites and shoals. Proviso. Appropriations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, empowered to provide by contract, for building lighthouses, and light vessels, erecting beacons, and placing buoys, on the following sites or shoals, to wit: A lighthouse on Baker's Island, near Mount Desert, in the state of Maine; one on Monamoy Point, in the state of Massachusetts; a lighthouse on Goat Island, in the state of Rhode Island; alight vessel, not to be under two hundred and fifty tons, on Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina; a lighthouse on Cape Romain, in the state of South Carolina; a lighthouse at or near the entrance of the harbour of Pensacola, for that part of the territory known as West Florida; a light-house near Fort Gratiot, in Michigan territory; a beacon on Hadrell's Point, in the state of South Carolina; two light vessels to be placed in the Bay of Delaware, the one at or near the Brandywine Shoal, and the other at or near the shoal called the Upper Middle; and also, to agree for the salaries, wages, or hire, of the persons to be appointed by the President of the United States, for the superintendence of the same: Provided, That no moneys shall be expended in erecting such lighthouses, until the jurisdiction to such portions of land as the President of the United States shall select as the sites of the same, respectively, shall be ceded to, and the property thereof vested in, the United States. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there be appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following sums of money, to wit: For building the lighthouse on Baker's Island, two thousand five hundred dollars; for one on Monamoy Point, three thousand dollars; for one on Goat island, two thousand five hundred dollars; for an additional sum to complete the light vessel authorized to 1822, ch. 119. be built, by an act, entitled "An act to authorize the building lighthouses therein mentioned, and for other purposes," passed the seventh day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, for the state of New York, five thousand dollars; for an additional sum to complete the lighthouse on Oldfield Point, in the same state, one thousand five hundred dollars; for an additional sum to complete a tower for the light on Fort Niagara, in the same state, one thousand five hundred dollars; for placing a lantern at Fort Delaware, in the river Delaware, one thousand five hundred dollars; for completing the lighthouse on Cape May, in the state of New Jersey, a sum not exceeding five thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars; for placing a light vessel at or near Cape Hatteras shoals, a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars; for building a lighthouse on Cape Romain, ten thousand dollars; for erecting a beacon on Hadrell's Point, one thousand five hundred dollars; for finishing the lighthouse near St. Augustine, in the territory of East Florida, the sum of five thousand dollars; for building a lighthouse at or near Pensacola, a sum not exceeding six thousand dollars; for building a lighthouse at Fort Gratiot, three thousand five hundred dollars, and for building and placing two light vessels in Delaware Bay, twenty thousand dollars. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause such an examination 66 CHAP. LVII.—An Act further to extend the provisions of the act, entitled “ An act supplementary to an act, entitled An act for the relief of the purchasers of the public lands prior to the first July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty.' Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That all persons who shall produce satisfactory evidence to the register and receiver of the proper land office, that they were actually entitled to, and would have availed themselves of, the provisions of the act, entitled "An act supplementary to the act, entitled 'An act for the relief of the purchasers of the public lands prior to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty,'" approved April twentieth, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, and their failure to do so was owing to such cause or circumstance as he [they] could not control or prevent, shall be allowed until the thirtieth day of September next, to avail themselves of all the privileges, advantages and provisions, of the said act, in the same manner they could have done prior to the thirtieth day of September last. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. CHAP. LVIII.—An Act to amend an act, entitled “And [An] act further to regu- March 3, 1823. late the entry of merchandise imported into the United States from any adjacent territory." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, from and after the passage of this act, every master or other person having charge of a vessel, boat, canoe, or raft, or the conductor or driver of any carriage, or sleigh, or other person bringing merchandise, from any foreign territory adjacent to the United States, who shall neglect or refuse to deliver a manifest, as is required in and by the act, entitled "An act further to regulate the entry of merchandise imported into the United States from any adjacent territory," passed the second day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, shall be subject to pay, instead of the penalty of four hundred dollars imposed by the first section of said act, four times the value of the merchandise so imported. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons Penalty of the act of March 2, 1821, ch. 14, for regulating the entry of from any foreign territory, altered. merchandise Persons receiving, &c. goods illegally imported and liable to seizure, to forfeit double the amount. Persons forcibly resisting, &c. an officer of the customs, to be fined. Provisions of per shall receive, conceal, or buy, any goods, wares, or merchandise, know- SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall forcibly resist, prevent, or impede, any officer of the customs or their deputies, or any person assisting them in the execution of their duty, such person, so offending, shall, for every such offence, be fined a sum not exceeding four hundred dollars. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the fortysixth section of the act, entitled "An act to regulate the collection of the 46th section duties on imports and tonnage," passed the second day of March, Anno of the act of March 2, 1799, ch. 22, sec. 46, extended.. Domini one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, be, and they are hereby, extended to the case of goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into the United States from an adjacent territory. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all penalties and forfeitures, incurred by force of this act, shall be sued for, recovered, distributed, and accounted for, in the manner prescribed by an act, entitled “An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," passed on the second day of March, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. March 1, 1823. CHAP. LIX.-An Act supplementary to the acts to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary Act of March 11, 1818, ch. 19. Secretary of War authorized to restore to the A judge may attend at the dwelling of such person as shall be unable to attend in court to make his schedule. war. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to restore to the list of pensioners the name of any person who may have been, or hereafter shall be stricken therefrom, in pursuance of the act of Congress, passed the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, entitled " An act in addition to an act, entitled 'An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary war," passed the eighteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, if such person, so stricken from the list of pensioners, has heretofore furnished, or hereafter shall furnish, evidence, in pursuance of the provisions of said act, to satisfy the Secretary of War that he is in such indigent circumstances as to be unable to support himself without the assistance of his country, and that he has not disposed of or transferred his property, or any portion thereof, with a view to obtain a pension. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, when any person, coming within the provisions of the acts to which this is supplementary, shall, by reason of bodily infirmity, be unable to attend in court to make his schedule, and furnish the evidence by said acts required, it shall be lawful for any judge or justice of a court of record in the district, city, county, or borough, in which such person resides, to attend at his place of abode and receive his schedule, and oath or affirmation, and said judge or justice shall certify that said applicant was, from bodily infirmity, unable to attend such court; which schedule, and oath or affirmation, and certificate, shall, by said judge or justice, be produced in the court of which he is judge; and the opinion of said court, of the value of the property contained in said schedule, shall be entered thereon, and certified by the clerk of said court; and such schedule shall be valid for all the purposes contemplated by the acts aforesaid. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That no pension hereafter to be allowed on claims or schedules heretofore filed under the act or acts to which this act is a supplement, or under the provisions of this act, shall commence before the passage thereof; and all other pensions hereafter to be allowed under the acts aforesaid, shall commence from the time of completing the proof. APPROVED, March 1, 1823. No pension to commence previous to the passing of this act, &c. STATUTE II. CHAP. LX.-An Act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to designate the March 3, 1823. boundaries of districts, and establish land offices for the disposal of the public lands, not heretofore offered for sale, in the states of Ohio and Indiana.” Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That all the lands ceded and relinquished to the United States, by the Wea tribe of Indians, under the first article of the treaty held at Vincennes, on the elventh [eleventh] day of August, eighteen hundred and twenty, and which is specified and designated by the second article of the treaty between the United States and the said tribe, concluded at St. Mary's, on the second day of October, eighteen hundred and eighteen, be, and the same is hereby, attached to the Terre Haute district for the sale of public lands in the state of Indiana. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the public lands specified, designated, and embraced, within the first and second article of the treaties aforesaid, which have not been granted to, or secured for, the use of any individual or individuals, or appropriated and reserved for any other purpose, by any existing treaties or laws, and, with the exception of section numbered sixteen, in each township, which shall be reserved for the support of schools therein, shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder, at the land office in the Terre Haute district, under the direction of the register of the land office and receiver of public moneys, on such day or days as shall, by proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose. The lands shall be sold in tracts of the same size, on the same terms and conditions, and, every respect, as provided by the act, entitled "An act making further provision for the sale of the public lands," approved April twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and twenty. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office and the receiver of public moneys shall, each,receive five dollars for each day's attendance in superintending the public sales of the land before described, according to the President's proclamation. APPROVED, March 3, 1823. 1819, ch. 92. Lands ceded by the Wea Indians to be at tached to the Terre Haute district. Lands to be sold at the land office of the Terre Haute district, on such day or days as shall be designated by the President. Act of April 24, 1820, ch. 51. Register and receiver to re ceive five dollars a day each. CHAP, LXI.—An Act making appropriations for certain fortifications of the United Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United For Fort Delaware, fifty-eight thousand dollars: For Fort Washington, forty-six thousand dollars: For Fort Monroe, one hundred thousand dollars : For Fort Calhoun, eighty thousand dollars: For collecting materials for a fortification at Mobile Point, in the state of Alabama, fifty thousand dollars: STATUTE II. March 3, 1823. [Obsolete.] Specific appropriations for fortifications. |