Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/303



officer was entitled by law to keep in such service, agreeably to the rank of such officer.

. And be it further enacted, That when any officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, in the cavalry service, as aforesaid, having lost the horse or horses, which may have been taken by him into the said service, has received from the United States another horse or horses, in lieu; or in part payment, for the horse or horses so previously lost as aforesaid, such officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, shall be entitled to receive the allowance of forty cents per day, for the use and risk of the horse on which he may have been so remounted.

. And be it further enacted, That any person who, in the time aforesaid, has sustained damage by the destruction of his or her house or building by the enemy, while the same was occupied as a military deposite, under the authority of an officer or agent of the United States, shall be allowed and paid the amount of such damage: Provided, It shall appear that such occupation was the cause of its destruction.

. And be it further enacted, That the loss or destruction, as aforesaid, as well as the value, of such property shall be ascertained by the best evidence which the nature of the case will admit of, and which may be in the power of the party to produce; and the amount thereof, when established and ascertained, according to the provisions of this act, shall be paid to the sufferer or sufferers, out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated.

. And be it further enacted, That for the more speedy execution of the provisions of this act, the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is hereby authorized to appoint one commissioner, whose duty it shall be to decide upon all cases arising under this act; and who, in the discharge of his duties, shall be subject to such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the President of the United States. Such commissioner shall receive, as compensation for his services, at the rate of two thousand dollars per annum, for the time he shall be actually employed, which shall not exceed two years, to be computed from and after the passage of this act. All official communications to and from the commissioner appointed under this act, shall be free of postage.

. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioner, so to be appointed, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall take the following oath, to wit: “I, A B, do solemnly swear, that I will well and truly, according to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties of commissioner under an act of Congress, entitled ‘An act to authorize the payment for property lost, captured, or destroyed, by the enemy, while in the military service of the United States, and for other purposes;’ so help me God.” Upon which he shall proceed to appoint a clerk; and shall proceed, with all practicable despatch, to establish, under the direction, or with the assent, of the President of the United States, such rules, as well in regard to the receipt of applications of claimants to compensation for losses provided for by this act, as the species and degree of evidence, the manner in which such evidence shall be taken and authenticated, as shall, in his opinion, be the best calculated to attain the objects of this act; paying a due regard, in the establishment of such regulations, as well to the claims of individual justice as to the interest of the United States: which rules and regulations shall, upon his adoption, be published for eight weeks, successively, in the newspapers in the several states and territories in which the laws of the United States are published.

. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioner shall, in all cases in which the claim to compensation or indemnity shall exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, award a commission to some one or more or discreet commissioner in the vicinity of where the witnesses are