(ACT of February 22d, 1817.)

troller of the treasury, of sending and receiving letters and packages, and also final certificates and patents for land, free of postage.

Sec. XII. The commissioner of the land office shall be authorized to employ a sufficient number of clerks: Provided, That their annual compensation shall not exceed, in the whole, seven thousand dollars.

ACT of March 3, 1813. 4 Bioren, 514.

11. [Purchasers prior to April 1, 1809, of lands not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, allowed the further time of three years from the expiration of the period now given by law.

Provided the benefit of this act, not to apply to purchases made at any land office north west of the Ohio, prior to April 1,

1808.

ACT of February 19, 1814. 4 Bioren, 646.

[Purchasers, prior to April 1, 1810, of land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, allowed the further time of three years, from and after the period already given by law for completing their payments.

This act not to extend to purchases made at land offices north west of the Ohio, prior to April 1, 1809. [Infra, 14, 18.]

ACT of March 25, 1816. Pamphlet edit. 19.

An act relating to settlers on the lands of the United States.

12. [This act provided that settlers on lands ceded by a foreign nation or by any state, to the United States, and residing on the land, might obtain permission at the land office, if application were made prior to September 1, 1816, to remain, as tenants at will, upon the land. To remain in force one year. Continued by act of March 3, 1817. Pamph. edit. 280, until March third, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.]

ACT of February 22d, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 204.

An act providing for the division of certain quarter sections, in future sales of the public lands.

13. SEC. 1. From and after the first day of September next, the sections designated by number two, five, twenty, twenty-three, thirty, and thirty-three, in each and every township of the public lands, the sale of which is now, or hereafter may be, authorized by law, shall be offered for sale either in quarter sections, or half quarter sections, at the option of the purchaser; and in every case of the division of a quarter section, the portion shall be made by a line

(ACT of March 3rd, 1819.)

running due north and south, and in every other respect the said sections shall be offered, whether at public or private sale, on the same terms and conditions as have been, or may be, by law provided for the sale of the other public lands of the United States.

ACT of April 18, 1818, Pamphlet edit. 91.

14. [The operation of the sixth condition of the fifth section of the act to amend the act, entitled, " An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States northwest of the Ohio and above the mouth of Kentucky river," suspended until the thirtyfirst day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, in favour of the purchasers of public lands, at any of the land offices. of the United States. The benefit of this act not to extend to any one purchaser for a greater quantity than six hundred and forty acres of land. Infra, 18.]

ACT of April 20, 1818. Pamphlet edit. 147.

An act for changing the compensation of receivers and registers of the land offices.

15. SEC. 1. Instead of the compensation now allowed by law to the receivers of public moneys, for the lands of the United States, they shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars each, and a commission of one per centum on the moneys received, as a compensation for clerk hire, receiving, safe keeping, and transmitting such moneys to the treasury of the United States: Provided always, that the whole amount which any receiver of public moneys shall receive, under the provisions of this act, shall not exceed, for any one year, the sum of three thousand dollars.

SEC. I. Instead of the compensation now allowed by law, to the registers of the land offices, they shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars each, and a commission of one per centum, on all the moneys, expressed in the receipts by them filed and entered, and of which they shall have transmitted an account to the secretary of the treasury: Provided always, that the whole amount which any register of the land offices shall receive, under the provisions of this act, shall not exceed, for any one year, the sum of three thousand dollars.

ACT of March 3, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 93.

An act providing for the correction of errors in making entries of land at the land offices.

16. SEC. I. In every case of a purchaser of public lands, at private sale, having entered, at the land office, a tract different from that he intended to purchase, and being desirous of having the error in his entry corrected, he shall make his application, for

(ACT of April 24th, 1820.)

that purpose, to the register of the land office; and if it shall appear, from testimony satisfactory to the register and receiver of public moneys, that an error in the entry has been made, and that the same was occasioned by original incorrect marks made by the surveyor, or by the obliteration, or change of the original marks and numbers at corners of the tract of land; or that it has, in any otherwise, arisen from mistake or error of the surveyor, or officers of the land office; the said register and receiver of public moneys shall report the case, with the testimony, and their opinion thereon, to the secretary of the treasury, who shall have power to direct, if in his opinion it shall be proper; that the purchaser shall be at liberty to withdraw the entry so erroneously made, and that the moneys which had been paid, shall be applied in the purchase of other lands in the same district, or credited in the payment for other lands which shall have been purchased at the same office.

ACT of March 3, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 86.

An act authorizing the sale of certain military sites.

17. SEC. 1. The secretary of war is hereby authorized, under the direction of the president of the United States, to cause to be sold such military sites, belonging to the United States, as may have been found, or become, useless for military purposes. And the secretary of war is hereby authorized, on the payment of the consideration agreed for, into the treasury of the United States, to make, execute, and deliver, all needful instruments, conveying and transferring the same in fee; and the jurisdiction, which had been specially ceded, for military purposes, to the United States, by a state, over such site or sites, shall thereafter cease.

ACT of March 30, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 31.

An act further to suspend, for a limited time, the sale or forfeiture of lands, for failure in completing the payments thereon.

18. SEC 1. The operation of the sixth condition of the fifth section of the act to amend the act, entitled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river," is suspended until the thirty-first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twentyone, in favour of the purchasers of public lands, at any of the land offices of the United States: Provided, That the benefit of this act shall not be extended to any one purchaser for a greater quantity than six hundred and forty acres. [Supra, 14.]

ACT of April 24, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 53.

An act making further provision for the sale of the public lauds. 19. SEC. 1. From and after the first day of July next, all the

(ACT of April 24th, 1820.)

public lands of the United States, the sale of which is, or may be, authorized by law, shall, when offered at public sale, to the highest bidder, be offered in half quarter sections: and, when offered at private sale, may be purchased, at the option of the purchaser, either in entire sections, half sections, quarter sections, or half quarter sections; and in every case of the division of a quarter section, the line for the division thereof shall run north and south, and the corners and contents of half quarter sections, which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained in the manner, and on the principles, directed and prescribed by the second section of an act, entitled "An act concerning the mode of surveying the public lands of the United States," [Supra] passed on the eleventh day of February, eighteen hundred and five; and fractional sections, containing one hundred and sixty acres, or upwards, shall in like manner, as nearly as practicable, be subdivided into half quarter sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the treasury; but fractional sections, containing less than one hundred and sixty acres, shall not be divided, but shall be sold entire: Provided, That this section shall not be construed to alter any special provision made by law for the sale of land in town lots.

20. SEC. 11. Credit shall not be allowed for the purchase money on the sale of any of the public lands which shall be sold after the first day of July next, but every purchaser of land sold at public sale thereafter, shall, on the day of purchase, make complete payment therefor; and the purchaser at private sale shall produce to the register of the land office, a receipt from the treasurer of the United States, or from the receiver of public moneys of the district, for the amount of the purchase money on any tract, before he shall enter the same at the land office; and if any person, being the highest bidder, at public sale, for a tract of land, shall fail to make payment there for, on the day on which the same was purchased, the tract shall be again offered at public sale, on the next day of sale, and such person shall not be capable of becoming the purchaser of that or any other tract offered at such public sales.

21. Sec. 111. From and after the first day of July next, the price at which the public lands shall be offered for sale, shall be one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre; and at every public sale, the highest bidder, who shall make payment as aforesaid, shall be the purchaser; but no lands shall be sold, either at public or private sale, for a less price than one dollar and twenty five cents an acre, and all the public lands which shall have been offered at public sale before the first day of July next, and which shall then remain unsold, as well as the lands that shall thereafter be offered at public sale, according to law, and remain unsold, at the close of such public sale shall be subject to be sold at private sale, by entry at the land office, at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, to be

(ACT of April 24th, 1820.)

paid at the time of making such entry as aforesaid, with the exception, however, of the lands which may have reverted to the United States, for failure in payment, and of the heretofore reserved sections for the future disposal of congress, in the states of Ohio and Indiana, which shall be offered at public sale, as hereinafter directed.

22. SEC. iv. No lands which have reverted, or which shall hereafter revert and become forfeited to the United States, for failure in any manner to make payment, shall, after the first day of July next, be subject to entry at private sale, nor until the same shall have been first offered to the highest bidder at public sale, and all such lands which shall have reverted before the said first day of July next, and which shall then belong to the United States, together with the sections, and parts of sections, heretofore reserved for the future disposal of congress, which shall, at the time aforesaid, remain unsold, shail be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, who shall make payment therefor, in half quarter sections, at the land office for the respective districts, on such day or days as shall by proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose; and all lands which shall revert and become forfeited for failure of payment after the first day of July next, shall be offered, in like manner, at public sale, at such time or times as the president shall, by his proclamation, designate for the purpose: Provided, that no such lands shall be sold at any public sales hereby authorized, for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, nor on any other terms that that of cash payment; and all the lands offered at such public sales, and which shall remain unsold at the close thereof, shall be subject to entry at private sale, in the same manner, and at the same price, with the other lands sold at private sale at the respective land offices.

23. SEC. v. The several public sales authorized by this act, shall, respectively, be kept open for two weeks, and no longer; and the registers of the land office, and the receivers of public money, shall each, respectively, be entitled to five dollars for each days' attendance thereon.

24. SEC. VI. In every case hereafter, where two or more persons shall apply for the purchase, at private sale, of the same tract, at the same time, the register shall determine the preference, by forthwith offering the tract to the highest bidder.

ACT of April 24, 1800. Pamphlet edit. 57.

An act in addition to the several acts for the establishment, &c. of the treasury, war, and navy department.

25. SEC. VII. No land shall be purchased on account of the United States except under a law authorizing such purchase.