No. 8. An Act to repeal the Act requiring one of the Judges of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia hereafter to reside in Alexandria. March 24, 1846.

No. 9. An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to contract for the purchase of American water-rotted hemp for the use of the Navy. A contract may be made for a period not exceeding three years. March 30, 1846.

No. 10. Pensioners' appropriation bill. See page 199. May 7, 1846. No. 11. Appropriation bill to supply deficiencies in appropriations. See page 200. May 8, 1846.

No. 12. An Act to repeal a part of the Act entitled an Act supplementary to the several laws for the sale of the public lands, approved April 5, 1832, and for other purposes. The second proviso in said act is repealed. May 8, 1846.

The offi

No. 13. An Act providing for the prosecution of the existing war between the United States and the Republic of Mexico. "Whereas, by the Act of the Republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that Government and the United States," the President may employ the militia, naval and military forces of the United States, and may call for 50,000 volunteers, to serve for 12 months, or during the war, unless sooner discharged; and $10,000,000 are appropriated for this object. The militia, when called out, may be compelled to serve for not more than 6 months. The volunteers must furnish their own clothes, and, if cavalry, their own horses and horse equipments, but shall be armed by the United States. The volunteers are subjected to the rules and articles of war, and are placed on the same footing, except as to clothing and pay, with the United States army. For clothing, they receive a sum equal to the cost of clothing a private in the army. cers of companies, battalions, squadrons, and regiments shall be appointed according to the laws of their respective States or Territories. The President may organize the companies, &c., into brigades and divisions, and shall, if necessary, apportion the staff, field, and general officers among the respective States as he may deem proper. Wounded or disabled volunteers shall be entitled to all the benefits of wounded or disabled soldiers. All the public armed vessels now authorized by law may be completed, and merchant vessels or steamboats may be purchased, chartered, armed, manned and equipped, as the President may deem proper. The militia or volunteers, when called out, shall be organized and paid like the army of the United States, and mounted privates, &c., shall receive 40 cents a day for the use and risk of their horses. May 13, 1846.

No. 14. An Act to authorize an increase of the rank and file of the army of the United States. Each company may be increased to 100, and again reduced to 64, when the present exigency shall cease. The enlistments shall be for five years only. May 13, 1846.

No. 15. Appropriations for fortifications. See page 200. May 15, 1846. No. 16. An Act for the organization of a company of sappers, miners, and pontoniers. Such a company, amounting in all to 100 men, shall be added

to the corps of engineers. The pay shall be like that of the workmen in the ordnance department. The officers shall be taken from the corps of engineers; the men shall aid in giving practical instruction at the Military Academy, shall aid and oversee the workmen employed on the public works, and act as fort-keepers, under the orders of the Chief Engineer. $25,000 are appropriated for this object for the ensuing year. May 15, 1846.

No. 17. An Act to provide for raising a regiment of mounted riflemen, and for establishing military stations on the route to Oregon. The regiment shall consist of ten companies, each having 64 privates; the pay shall be like that of the dragoons. The regiment in all other respects is put on the same footing with the rest of the army. When on fatigue duty, as in making fortifications, surveys, roads, &c., 15 cents a day of extra pay and a commutation for the spirit ration shall be allowed them. $76,500 are appropriated for this object, $3,000 more for each military station that may be established on the route to Oregon, and $2,000 more in each case, to pay the Indians for the ground.

No. 18. An Act to establish the value of certain foreign coins and moneys of account, and to amend existing laws. The specie dollar of Sweden and Norway shall be estimated at 106 cents; of Denmark, 105 cents; the thaler of Prussia, 69 cents; the florin of South Germany, 40 cents; the florin of Austria, 48 1-2 cents; the lira of Lombardy and Tuscany, 16 cents; the franc of France and Belgium, and the lira of Sardinia, 18.6 cents; the ducat of Naples, 80 cents; the ounce of Sicily, 240 cents; the pound of the British North American provinces, 400 cents. May 22, 1846.

No. 19. An Act establishing certain post-routes (in Texas), and for other purposes. Certain routes are established, and the continuance of a part of the present mail service in Texas is authorized, but not beyond June 30, 1850. Contracts for mail service there may be made with or without advertisement, as deemed expedient, if the prices be not beyond the average for like service in other parts of the United States. Accounts with contractors and postmasters are to commence Feb. 16, 1846. The former act (No. 5, see page 200), is repealed. May 29, 1846.

No. 20. An Act in relation to the July term of the circuit and district courts in the district of Ohio. See pp. 114 and 116. May 29, 1846.

No. 21. An Act supplemental to the Act entitled" an Act providing for the prosecution of the existing war between the United States and the Republic of Mexico," and for other purposes. One major-general and two brigadier-generals may be appointed in addition to the present number; but, at the end of the war, the whole number shall be reduced to one major and two brigadiergenerals, the President selecting those who are to be retained without regard to the date of their commissions. General officers of the militia may be called into service. Any volunteer company may have from 64 to 100 privates, and an additional second lieutenant. The President may appoint additional officers in the quartermaster, commissary, and medical depart

ments, to continue in office as long as the volunteers; also, four new assistant adjutant-generals. Majors in the quartermasters' department must be taken from the army captains. Appointments in the line and staff, of equal rank, shall not be held by the same officer at the same time. Aids-de-camp of the major-general commanding may be taken from the line without regard to rank; of the other generals, from the captains or subalterns. The general commanding in the field may appoint a military secretary. The allowance for clothing to volunteers shall be $3.50 à month; and 50 cents for subsistence, and 25 cents for forage, for every 20 miles by the most direct route from their homes to the general rendezvous. Master armorers, blacksmiths, &c., may be enlisted in the ordnance department as the service may require. June 18, 1846.

No. 22. An Act making alterations in the pay department of the army. Three additional paymasters may be appointed. June 17, 1846.

No. 23. An Act to authorize the justices of the county court of Bates county, in the State of Missouri, to enter a certain quarter section of land for a county seat. June 19, 1846.

No. 24. Post-office appropriation bill. See page 200. June 19, 1846. No. 25. An Act to provide for the organization of the volunteer forces, brought into the service of the United States, into brigades and divisions, and for the appointment of the necessary number of general officers to command the same. The general officers thus appointed shall be discharged at the close of the war Each brigade shall have at least three regiments, and each division at least two brigades. June 26, 1846.

No. 26. Indian department appropriation bill. See page 200. June 27, 1846.

No. 27. An Act to retrocede the county of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, to the State of Virginia. Virginia having signified her willingness to take back this county, it is hereby forever relinquished to her, if the people of the county assent to the retrocession. Every free white male who has resided six months in the county may vote viva voce on this question, insane persons and paupers excepted. Five commissioners appointed by the President shall superintend this voting, and a majority of the votes shall determine. The right of property in the custom-house and post-office is not ceded, nor in the soil so as to affect the rights of individuals. Till Virginia provides for the extension of her own judicial system over the territory, the legal jurisdiction of the United States is retained. The two public half squares are ceded for the use of the county. Congress will not assume or pay any debt of the city of Alexandria. July 9, 1846.

No. 28. An Act to authorize the President of the United States to sell the reserved mineral lands in the States of Illinois and Arkansas, and Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, supposed to contain lead ore. Six months' notice of such sales shall be given, and the lands shall not be subject to preëmption rights till they have been offered at public sale. If the lands contain mines actu

ally discovered and being worked, they shall be sold in such subdivisions as shall include these mines at not less than $2.50 an acre; but if not sold publicly at such price, they may be entered within 12 months thereafter at private sale like other lands. Outstanding leases must expire before the sale. July 11, 1846.

No. 29. An Act to legalize certain land sales made at Chocchuma and Columbus, in the State of Mississippi, and to indemnify the Chickasaws therefor. July 15, 1846.

No. 30. An Act to change the time of holding the Federal Court in North Carolina. See page 114. July 15, 1846.

No. 31. An Act to establish the collection district of Chicago. July 16, 1846. No. 32. An Act to exempt canal-boats from the payment of fees and hospital money. Persons employed in these boats without masts or steam power, shall not pay any marine hospital tax, or receive any benefit from the marine hospital fund; nor shall the boats be libelled in any of the United States courts for the payment of wages. July 20, 1846.

No. 33. Appropriation bill for the support of volunteers. See page 199. July 20, 1846.

No. 34. An Act to authorize an issue of Treasury Notes and a Loan. Treasury notes may be issued and re-issued, as necessity may require, so as not to exceed $10,000,000 outstanding at any one time, according to the act of Oct. 12, 1837; except that the authority here given shall expire at the end of one year. The President, if he sees fit, may borrow the money and issue the stock therefor, according to the act of April 15, 1842; but the sum thus borrowed, together with the treasury notes, shall not exceed ten millions in the whole. The interest shall not be over six per cent., and the stock shall not be sold at less than par. No compensation shall be made for preparing these notes, nor shall any additional clerks be allowed except as provided by the act above mentioned. $50,000 are appropriated to pay bonâ fide holders of certain treasury notes fraudulently re-issued. July 22, 1846.

No. 35. Appropriation bill for members of Congress and wild Indians. See page 200. July 23, 1846.

No. 36. An Act in relation to the payment of claims. When a claim is allowed by a resolution or act of Congress, the money shall not be paid except to the claimants, their executors or administrators, or to a person producing a warrant of attorney from them, attested by two witnesses and duly acknowledged, and specifying the resolution or act, and the amount allowed thereby. July 29, 1846.

No. 37. An Act further to extend the time for locating Virginia military land warrants, and returning surveys thereon to the General Land Office. The time is prolonged to Jan. 1, 1848. July 29, 1846.

No. 38. An Act giving the assent of Congress to a change of the compact entered into between the United States and State of Arkansas on her admission into the Union. Seventy-two sections of the land formerly appropriated for

a seminary of learning in Arkansas may be devoted to the benefit of common schools. July 29, 1846.

No. 39. An Act reducing the duty on imports, and for other purposes. The new tariff; see page 164. July 30, 1846.

No. 40. An Act to exempt coffee imported from the Netherlands from duty in certain cases, and for other purposes. If grown or produced in the dependences of the Netherlands, and imported direct from the Netherlands in Dutch or American vessels, the coffee shall be free of duty, and duties collected upon such coffee from Aug. 30, 1842, to Sept. 11th, 1845, shall be refunded. No discriminating tonnage duties shall be levied on Spanish vessels coming from foreign countries, except from Cuba or Porto Rico, and all such duties collected under the act of July 30, 1832, shall be refunded. August 3, 1846.

No. 41. An Act in relation to the time of holding the Circuit and District Courts of the United States for the district of Ohio. See pages 114, 116. Aug. 3, 1846.

No. 42. An Act to grant the right of preemption to actual settlers on the land acquired by treaty from the Miami Indians in Indiana. Aug. 3, 1846.

No. 43. An Act providing for the adjustment of all suspended preemption land claims in the several States and Territories. The commissioner of the general land office may determine, any time within two years from this date, all cases of suspended entries now existing in his office, upon the principles of courts of equity, and in accordance with general equitable rules to be settled by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney-General, and the said commissioner conjointly. But these shall vacate only the United States title, without affecting the rights of conflicting claimants. The power herein given shall cease at the end of two years, and a list of the cases, with the principles on which they were determined, shall then be reported to Congress. The list shall comprise two classes, the one of titles confirmed, the other of claims rejected. Lands coming under the second of these classes shall be offered at public sale. Aug. 3, 1846.

No. 44. An Act to define the boundaries of the State of Iowa, and to repeal so much of the Act of March 3, 1845, as relates to the boundaries of Iowa. The boundaries of Iowa shall be as follows:- From the mouth of the Des Moines river, up the main channel of that river, to the northern boundary line of Missouri as established in the Missouri State constitution of 1820; thence west along said boundary line to the Missouri river; thence up the Missouri river to the mouth of the Big Sioux river, according to Nicollet's map; thence up the Big Sioux river to the parallel of 43° 30′ north latitude; thence east along said parallel to the Mississippi river; thence down the Mississippi to the place of beginning. The controversy respecting the boundary between Iowa and Missouri is referred to the Supreme Court of the United States for decision. Until the next census, Iowa shall have two Representatives in Congress. Aug. 4, 1846.