Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 12.djvu/961

 THIRTY—SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 30. 1863. 915 man for expenses incurred by him in repairs to the United States court. house in Boston. APPROVED, February 3, 1863. CHA1·. XXX.—An Act to authorize the Court 0' and delerminc lhc C/aim of the Heirs sy"`gtg;l1;?i}'<?}{rr.;gfnEfiAct€cijse~<§iat“ to hear F · Whereas by an act of Congress, passed July twentieth, eighteen hundred p,,,,,mb;<,_ and forty, for the relief of the children of Stephen Johnston, deceased, 1840, ch. 96. said heirs were thereby authorized to surrender to the United States Vo1.vi. p. 812. certain lands, and to receive in lieu thereof a certificate " receivable in payment at any land-office of the United States for any half section of land not subject to preemption ;" and whereas said heirs, in pursuance of' the provisions of said act, did, on the second day of February, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-one, surrender said land, and did receive a certificate as aforesaid, and did thereafter twice make application to the Commissioner of the General Land·Ofhce for the purchase of one half section of the public lands of the United States with said certificate, which several applications were refused by said Commissioner, although at the time of said applications the lands applied for were duly authorized to be sold; and whereas it was the manifest intention of Congress, by the passage of said act, to give to said heirs the right to make choice of and purchase with said certificate any half scction of the public lands of the United States, in order to compensate said heirs for the loss of a judicious selection of land granted to them by the provisions of a treaty made by the United States with the Potta- V°l· VH- P- 295- watomie Indians on the sixteenth day of October, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and twenty-six; and whereas since the passage of said act, and the issuing of said certificate, the most valuable lands of the United States have been disposed of and made subject to preemption, and the holders of the certihcate have been deprived of the use thereof in the purchase of such valuable lands by reason of the decisions aforesaid; and whereas there are now no public lands of the United States upon which said certificate could be used, aH`ording anything like a just compensation to said heirs for the loss of a judicious selection for them under the provisions of the treaty aforesaid: Therefore --· Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the claim of the heirs of Claim of heh-, Stephen Johnston, deceased, be, and the same is hereby, referred back to Sfhsfetnhsr b the Court of Claims of the United States, together with the record and rg}-;:0d"b8°;k‘:n papers of the case of Stephen Johnston and others against the United Com of Claims. States, formerly heard in said court; thereupon said court is authorized and directed to order proof to be taken of the value of such a selection of thDirecti0¤ w one half section of land within the boundaries of the treaty aforesaid as °°°""‘ said heirs were justly and equitably entitled to, as it was on the second day of February, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-onc; and in estimating the value of such a selection as it was on the day aforesaid, all Plague of or any improvements upon the land so valued shall not be considered, but “° °° °“* the value of such a selection shall be estimated considering its natural advantages of position, &c., and any increase of value from extrinsic and general causes to the date aforesaid. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That when the value of such a selec- _ Gourtwadd tion shall be so ascertained by the proof, and thereupon determined by ’°*°'°“*· the court, which is hereby required, said court shall add interest upon the value so determined from February second, eighteen hundred and forty- · one, and thereupon to ascertain and determine what amount of land scrip Bmtgucnsigolgnd of the United States, as hereinafter provided, may be necessary to be mipw bg mud issued to said heirs in compensation and satisfaction of the amount so when