Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/613



the claimants; and shall, at the commencement of each session of Congress during said term of examination, lay before the commissioner of the general land office a report of the claims so classed, stating therein the date and quantity of each, whether there be any, and what, conflicting claims, and the evidence upon which each claim depends, and the authority and power under which the said claim was granted by the Spanish or French governor, commandant or sub-delegate, to be laid before Congress for their final decision upon the claims contained in such first class.

. And be it further enacted, That from and after the final report of the recorder and commissioners, the lands contained in the second class shall be subject to sale as other public lands; and the lands contained in the first class shall continue to be reserved from sale as heretofore, until the decision of Congress shall be made thereon; and if the decision of Congress shall be against the claims, or any of them, the lands so decided against shall be, in like manner, subject to sale as other public lands: Provided, That actual settlers being housekeepers upon such lands as are rejected, claiming to hold, under such rejected claim, or such as may waive their grant, shall have the right of pre-emption to enter within the time of the existence of this act not exceeding the quantity of their claim, which in no case shall exceed six hundred and forty acres, to include their improvements, who shall give notice and prove their right of pre-emption, and in all things conform to the regulations as have been or may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury under the existing laws relative to pre-emption; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury immediately to forward to the several land offices in said state, the manner in which all those who may wish to waive their several grants or claims, and avail themselves of the right of pre-emption, shall renounce or release their said grants.

. And be it further enacted, That the recorder and commissioners shall each receive the sum of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, to be paid quarter yearly by the United States, in full compensation for their services under this act; and may, when necessary, employ an interpreter of the French or Spanish language, for a reasonable compensation, to be allowed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and paid by the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the heirs of Carlos de Villemont to submit the evidence of their claim to a tract of land in Arkansas territory, to a place called “Chicot point,” to the said recorder and commissioners, and it shall be the duty of said recorder and commissioners to report upon said claim in the manner that other claims provided for in this act are to be reported and proceeded upon.

, July 9, 1832.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where public lands have been purchased, on which a further credit has been taken under the provisions of the, or under any other act of Congress granting relief to the purchasers of the public lands, and have reverted to the United States for failure to pay the purchase money, or have been sold by the United States by reason of such failure to pay, it shall be the duty of the register of the land office where the purchase was made, to issue