CHAPTER L. AN ACT to allow the United States to prosecute appeals and writs of error Feb. 21, 1863. without giving security. peals, &c., without Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of The United States the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when- may prosecute ap ever any writ of error, appeal, or other process in law, admiralty, security for costs. or equity shall issue from or be brought up to the Supreme Court of the United States, either by the United States or by direction' of any department of the government thereof, no bond, obligation, or security shall be required from the United States, or from any party acting under the direction aforesaid, by any judge or clerk of court, either to prosecute said suit or to answer in damages or costs. In case of an adverse decision, such costs as by law are taxable against the United States shall be paid out of the contingent fund of the department under whose direction the proceedings shall have been instituted. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here with are hereby repealed. Approved February 21, 1863. Costs, how paid. Repeal'g clause. CHAPTER LI. AN ACT extending the time for carrying into effect the provisions of the third section of the act entitled "An act relating to highways in the county of Washington and District of Columbia," approved May three, eighteen hundred and sixty-two. Feb. 21, 1863. 1862, ch. 63, § 3. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of Time extended the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the to three years. period named in the third section of the act entitled "An act relating to highways in the county of Washington and District of Columbia," approved May three, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, requiring that the roads designated in said section shall be surveyed, platted, and recorded within one year from the passage of said act, be extended to three years; and the levy court of said county of Washington is hereby authorized to cause the survey, platting, and recording of such roads, in each year, as it may deem proper and necessary: Provided, That all of said roads be so surveyed, platted, and recorded within the period of three. years. may fill vacancies in SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of the President United States be, and he is hereby, empowered, by and with the levy court. advice and consent of the Senate, to fill any vacancy that may hereafter occur in said levy court; and all acts or parts of acts ⚫ inconsistent with the above recited act or with this act are hereby repealed. Approved February 21, 1863. Feb. 21, 1863. Portions of New Jersey added to of New York. sor at Jersey city. CHAPTER LII. AN ACT to annex a part of the State of New Jersey to the collection district of New York, and to appoint an assistant collector, to reside at Jersey City. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of collection district the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that part of the State of New Jersey which lies north and east of Elizabethtown and Staten Island, comprising the counties of Hudson and Bergen, be, and the same is hereby, annexed to the colAssistant collec- lection district of New York; that an assistant collector, to be appointed by the President of the United States, shall reside at Jersey City, who shall have power to enter and clear vessels in like manner as the collector of New York is authorized by law to do, but such assistant collector shall, nevertheless, act in conformity to such instructions and regulations as he shall from time to time receive from the collector of New York; and that the said assistant collector shall receive for his annual salary two thousand dollars in full for all services to be by him performed, and in lieu of commissions and fees. Salary. Approved February 21, 1863. Feb. 21, 1863. President may land for the Win CHAPTER LIII. AN ACT for the removal of the Winnebago Indians, and for the sale of their reservation in Minnesota for their benefit. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of set apart a tract of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the nebago Indians. President of the United States is authorized to assign to and set apart for the Winnebago Indians a tract of unoccupied land beyond the limits of any State, in extent at least equal to their diminished reservation, the same to be well adapted for agricultural purposes. And it shall be lawful for the President to take such steps as he remove them from said Indians from the State of Minnesota, and to settle them upon may may deem proper to effect the peaceful and quiet removal of the the lands which may be assigned to them under the provisions of this act. President Minnesota. Subdivisions of SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, upon the removal of present reservation the said Indians from the reservation where they now reside, it to be appraised. shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to cause each legal subdivision of the said lands to be appraised by discreet persons to be appointed by him for that purpose. And in each instance where there are improvements upon any legal subdivision of said lands the improvements shall be separately appraised.. But no portion of the said lands shall be subject to pre-emption, When to be sub- settlement, entry, or location under any act of Congress, unless the party pre-empting, settling upon, or locating any portion of said lands shall pay therefor the full appraised value thereof, including the value of the said improvements, under such regulations as hereinafter provided. ject to pre-emp tion. T After appraisal to be opened to Who may pre empt. What is not pre sold. be SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That after the appraisal of the said reservation the same shall be opened to pre-emption, en- pre-emption, &c. try, and settlement, in the same manner as other public lands: Provided, That before any person shall be entitled to enter any portion of the said lands, by pre-emption or otherwise, previous to their exposure to sale to the highest bidder, at public outcry, he shall become an actual bonâ fide settler thereon, and shall conform to all the regulations now provided by law in cases of preemption, and shall pay, within the term of one year from the date of his settlement, the full appraised value of the land, and the improvements thereon, to the land officers of the district where the said lands are situated. And the portion of said reservation which may not be settled upon, as aforesaid, may be sold at pub- empted may lic auction, as other public lands are sold, after which they shall be subject to sale at private entry, as other public lands of the United States, but no portion thereof shall be sold for a sum less than their appraised value before the first of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-five, nor for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, unless otherwise provided Minimum price. by law: Provided, That where improvements have been made upon said lands by persons authorized by law to trade with said Indians, the value of such improvements, or the price for which the same may be sold, shall be paid to the parties making the same; and in case the land upon which such improvements shall have been made shall be purchased by the parties making the same, at the appraised value as aforesaid, the value of the improvements so made by him shall form no part of the purchase price to be paid for said land. Improvements. Lands set apart for debts to be sold Time, &c., for What received in payment. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the lands of said Indians which have been set apart for the payment of the debts of by sealed bids. the said Indians, shall be sold on sealed bids for the best price the same will bring; but no bids shall be received for said lands unil the first day of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-five, for less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Bids shall be received for tracts of quarter sections; and for such tracts conforming to the government surveys less than one hun- bidding. dred and sixty acres as will secure the largest price for said lands, the Secretary is authorized to receive, in payment of said lands, certificates of indebtedness of said Indians, issued by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the debts of said Indians, secured to be paid out of the sale of said lands by the third article of the treaty of the said Indians with the United States, concluded at Washington on the fifteenth day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine The money arising from the sale of their said lands, Proceeds, how after paying the indebtedness required by said treaty to be paid, shall be paid into the treasury of the United States, and shall be expended as the same is received, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in necessary improvements upon their new reservation; and it shall be the duty, of the Secretary of the Interior to allot to said Indians in severalty lands which they may respectively cultivate and improve, not exceeding eighty acres to severalty. each head of a family other than to the chiefs, to whom larger allotments may be made, which lands, when so allotted, shall be vested in said Indian and his heirs, without the right of alienation, and shall be evidenced by patent. disposed of. Allotments in Annual appropriations, how expended. chiefs. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the money to be annually appropriated for the benefit of the said Indians shall be expended in such manner as will, in the judgment of the President, best advance the said Indians in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and enable them to sustain themselves without the aid of Discrimination in the government. And in such expenditure reasonable discrimifavor of faithful nation may be made in favor of the chiefs who shall be found faithful to the government of the United States, and efficient in maintaining its authority and the peace of the Indians. Said Indians shall be subject to the laws of the United States, and to the criminal laws of the State or Territory in which they may happen to reside. They shall also be subject to such rules and regulations for their government as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; but they shall be deemed incapable of making any Contracts for In valid civil contract with any person other than a native member of their tribe without the consent of the President of the United States. The Secretary of the Interior shall also make reasonable provision for the education of said Indians, according to their capacity and the means at his command. Approved February 21, 1863. dians. Education. Feb. 24, 1863. Michigan divided districts. CHAPTER LIV. AN ACT to divide the State of Michigan into two judicial districts, and to provide for holding the district and circuit courts therein. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of into two judicial the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Michigan be, and the same is hereby, divided into two judicial districts, in the following manner, namely: Western district. THE EASTERN AND WESTERN DISTRICTS. The western district shall embrace all the territory and waters within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at the southwest corner of Hillsdale county, in the State of Michigan, and running from thence north, on the west line of said county, to the south line of Calhoun county; thence east, on the south line thereof, to the southeast corner of said last-named county; thence north, on the east boundary of said county, to the south line of Eaton county; thence east, on said south line, to the southeast corner of Eaton county; thence north, on the east boundary of Eaton county, to the south line of Clinton county; thence west, on the south boundary of said county, to the southwest corner thereof; thence north, on the west boundary of Clinton and Gratiot counties, to the south boundary of Isabella county; thence west, on its south boundary,. to the southwest corner of said lastnamed county; thence north, on the west line of Isabella and Clare counties, to the south boundary of Missaukee county; thence east, on its south boundary, to the southeast corner of Missaukee county; thence north, on the east line of Missaukee, Kalcasca, and Antrim counties, to the south boundary [of] Emmet county; thence east to the southeast corner of Emmet county; thence north, on the east boundary of Emmet county, to the SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be two terms of the circuit and district courts begun and held in each of said districts, to wit: At the city of Detroit, for the eastern district, on the first Tuesday in June, November, and March, in each year; and at the city of Grand Rapids, for the western district, on the third Monday of May, and third Monday of October, in each year. And the said courts are hereby authorized to hold adjourned terms when the business before the courts shall, in the opinion of the court, require it. Courts, where Eastern district. Place of holding courts. Terms of courts. for Provision pending suits and SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all suits and other proceedings, of whatever name or nature, now pending in the cir- process. cuit or district courts of the United States for the district of Michigan, shall be tried and disposed of in the circuit and district. courts, respectively, for the eastern district of Michigan, in the same manner as the same would have been in case said State had not been divided into two districts; and for that purpose the jurisdiction is reserved to said courts in the eastern district. And the clerk of the circuit and district courts for the present district of Michigan shall remove the records and files of the said circuit and Records and files. district courts to the city of Detroit, and do and perform all the duties appertaining to his office within the eastern district; and all process and other proceedings taken or issued, or made returnable to the circuit or district court for the present district of Michigan, shall be returnable at the next term of the said courts, respectively, in the eastern district of Michigan. Suits pending may be removed SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, upon the application of any party to any suit now pending which would have been to western district. commenced in the western district if this act had been in force before the commencement of said suit, the proper court may, and, if all parties consent, shall, order that the same be removed for further proceedings to the proper court for the western district; and thereupon the clerk shall transmit all the papers in the cause, with a transcript of the order of the removal, to the clerk of the court |