faithfully execute the office of President of the United States; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States." SECTION 2. 1. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States. He may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal of ficer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respec. tive offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 3. The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session. SECTION 3. 1. He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper. He shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall commission all the officers of the United States. SECTION 4. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states; between a state and citizens of another state, between citizens of different states, between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects. 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed. SECTION 3. 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. ARTICLE IV. SECTION 1. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state; and the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. SECTION 2. 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 3. No person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. SECTION 3. 1. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress. 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any clain of the United States, or of any particular state. SECTION 4. 1. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. ARTICLE V. 1. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate. ARTICLE VI. 1. All debts contracted and engagements en tered into before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution, as under the confederation. 2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII. 1. The ratification of the conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same. Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. GEORGE WASHINGTON, President, and Deputy from Virginia. AMENDMENTS. [The following amendments were proposed at the first session of the first congress of the United States, which was begun and held at the city of New York, on the 4th of March, 1789, and were adopted by the requisite number of states. Laws of the U. S., vol. 1, page 82.] [The following preamble and resolution preceded the original proposition of the amendments, and as they have been supposed by a high equity judge (8th Wendell's Reports, p. 100), to have an important bearing on the construction of those amendments, they are here inserted. They will be found in the journals of the first session of the first congress. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. Begun and held at the city of New York, on Wednesday, the 4th day of March, 1789. The conventions of a number of the states having, at the time of their adopting the constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as extending the ground of public confidence in the government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution: Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in congress assembled, two-thirds of both houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the legislatures of the several states, as amendments to the constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said constitution, namely:] ARTICLE I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ARTICLE II. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. ARTICLE III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. ARTICLE IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ARTICLE V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall he be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. ARTICLE VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. ARTICLE VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. ARTICLE VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. ARTICLE IX. ARTICLE XII. 1. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vicepresident, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. They shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots, the per son voted for as vice-president; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-presi dent, and of the number of votes for each; which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate. The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But, in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from twothirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a president whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. 2. The person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice-president. A quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States. ARTICLE XIII. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ARTICLE XIV. SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. SECTION 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of president and vice president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who having previously taken an oath as a member of congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a mem ber of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. ARTICLE XV. SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2. The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ABSTRACT OF PUBLIC LAWS, PASSED AT THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS, WITH A SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATIONS MADE. CHAP. LXII. Abolishing grades of Admiral and Vice Admiral in the Navy.-Provides that vacancies occurring in the grades of Admiral and Vice Admiral shall not be filled by promotion or in any other manner; and that when the offices of said grades shall become vacant the grades shall cease to exist. CHAP. LXIV. Fixes time for holding the Annual Session of the Supreme Court.-The annual session shall commence hereafter on the second Monday of October in each year. CHAP. LXXXII. Franking Privilege.-Abolishes the Franking Privilege from and after July 1, 1873. CHAP. CXXVI. Relating to the Construction of eight War Steamers.-The aggregate tonnage shall not exceed 8,000 for all the vessels, and the cost thereof shall not be more than $3,200,000. Four of the ves sels shall be built in whole or in part at private yards, upon contract with the lowest bidders. CHAP. CXXXI. Revising and amending the laws relative to the Mints, Assay Offices and Coinage.-Establishes the mint as a bureau of the Treasury Department. The chief officer of the said bureau, which also embraces in its organization all mints and assay offices, shall be called the Director of the Mint. He shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and hold his office for the term of five years, unless sooner removed by the President, upon reasons to be communicated by him to the Senate. SECTION 14 provides That the gold coins of the United States shall be a one-dollar piece, which, at the standard weight of twenty-five and eighttenths grains, shall be the unit of value; a quar such motto; and any one of the foregoing inscriptions may be on the rim of the gold and silver coins. ter-eagle, or two-and-a-half dollar piece; a threedollar piece; a half-eagle, or five-dollar piece; an eagle, or ten-dollar piece; and a double eagle, or twenty-dollar piece. And the standard weight of SEC. 19, That at the option of the owner, gold the gold dollar shall be twenty-five and eight- or silver may be cast into bars of fine metal, or tenths grains; of the quarter-eagle, or two-and-a- of standard fineness, or unparted, as he may prehalf dollar piece, sixty-four and a half grains; of fer, with a stamp upon the same designating the the three-dollar piece, seventy-seven and four-weight and fineness, and with such devices imtenths grains; of the half-eagle, or five-dollar pressed thereon as may be deemed expedient to piece, one hundred and twenty-nine grains; of the prevent fraudulent imitation, and no such bars eagle, or ten-dollar piece, two hundred and fifty- shall be issued of a less weight than five ounces. eight grains; of the double-eagle, or twenty-dollar SEC. 20, That any owner of gold bullion may depiece, five hundred and sixteen grains; which posit the same at any mint, to be formed into coins shall be a legal tender in all payments at coin or bars for his benefit; but it shall be lawful their nominal value when not below the standard to refuse any deposit of less value than one hunweight and limit of tolerance provided in this act dred dollars, or any bullion so base as to be unsuitfor the single piece, and when reduced in weight, able for the operations of the mint; and when below said standard and tolerance, shall be a le- gold and silver are combined, if either metal be gal tender at valuation in proportion to their ac- in such small proportion that it cannot be separtual weight; and any gold coin of the United ated advantageously, no allowance shall be made States, it reduced in weight by natural abrasion to the depositor for its value. not more than one-half of one per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law, after a circulation of twenty years, as shown by its date of coinage, and at a ratable proportion for any period less than twenty years, shall be received at their nominal value by the United States treasury and its offices, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe for the protection of the government against fraudulent abrasion or other practices; and any gold coins in the treasury of the United States reduced in weight below this limit of abrasion shall be recoined. SEC. 21, That any owner of silver bullion may deposit the same at any mint, to be formed into bars, or into dollars of the weight of four hundred and twenty grains, troy, designated in this act as trade-dollars, and no deposit of silver for other coinage shall be received; but silver bullion contained in gold deposits, and separated therefrom, may be paid for in silver coin, at such valuation as may be, from time to time, established by the Director of the Mint. The act consists in all of 67 sections, and it is provided that it shall be known as "the Coinage Act of 1873." SEC. 15, That the silver coins of the United CHAP. CLXVI. For obtaining information of the States shall be a trade-dollar, a half-dollar, or condition of banks organized under State Laws.-Makes fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar, or twenty-five it the duty of the Controller of the Currency to cent piece, a dime, or ten-cent piece; and the report annually to Congress the resources and weight of the trade-dollar shall be four hundred liabilities of banks, banking companies, and sav and twenty grains troy; the weight of the half-ings banks organized under State or Territorial dollar shall be twelve grams (grammes) and one- laws; such information to be obtained from their half of a gram (gramme) the quarter-dollar and reports to the legislatures or officers of the differthe dime shall be respectively, one-half and one- ent States and Territories. fifth of the weight of said half dollar; and said coins shall be a legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment. SEC. 16, That the minor coins of the United States shall be a five-cent piece, a three-cent piece, and a one-cent piece, and the alloy for the hive and three-cent pieces shall be of copper and nickel, to be composed of three-fourths copper and one-fourth nickel, and the alloy of the onecent piece shall be ninety-five per centum of copper and five per centum of tin and zinc, in such proportions as shall be determined by the Director of the Mint. The weight of the piece of five cents shall be seventy-seven and sixteen-hundredths grains, troy; of the three-cent piece, thirty grains; and of the one-cent piece, fortyeight grains; which coins shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for any amount not exceeding twenty-five cents in any one payment. SEC. 17, That no coins, either of gold, silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the mint other than those of the denominations, standards, and weights herein set forth. SEC. 18, That upon the coins of the United States there shall be the following devices and legends: Upon one side there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word "Liberty" and the year of the coinage, and upon the reverse shall be the figure or representation of an eagle, with the inscriptions "United States of America" and "E Pluribus Unum," and a designation of the value of the coin; but on the gold dollar and three-dollar piece, the dime, five, three, and one-cent piece the figure of the eagle shall be omitted; and on the reverse of the silver trade-dollar, the weight and fineness of the coin shall be inscribed; and the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treas ury, may cause the motto "In God we trust" to be inscribed upon such coins as shall admit of CHAP. CCXIII.-To carry into effect the provisions of the Treaty of Washington.-Admits Canadian and New Foundland fish-oil and fish free of duty into the United States, upon the passage of laws by Canada and New Foundland to carry into effect on their part the provisions of the treaty. Also provides for the admission and conveyance of foreign merchandise arriving at Portland, Boston, and New York in transit for the British possessions in North America, and also for the admission, free of duty, and conveyance of the produce of said possessions destined for exportation beyond the United States. Also that British subjects may carry goods and merchandise in British vessels, without duty, from place to place on the lakes and rivers of the United States, it part of the transportation is through Canada by land carriage and in bond. CHAP. CCXVII. In relation to the TerritoriesProvides that the Secretary of the Interior shall hereafter exercise all the powers and perform all the duties in relation to the Territories of the United States that are now by law or by custom exercised and performed by the Secretary of State. CHAP. CCXXXIV.-Revises, consolidates and amends the laws relating to pensions. CHAP. CCXXXVI.-Extends for four years from March 10, 1873, the acts establishing the Board of Com missioners of Claims, and the acts relating thereto.-No petition shall be received, however, by said com. missioners unless filed on or before March 3, 1873. CHAP. CCXXXIX.-California Election of Congressmen.-Provides that the election in California for representatives to the XLIVth Congress shall be held on the first Wednesday in September, 1874. CHAP. CCXLIX.-Military Prison.-Establishes a military prison at Rock Island, Ills. CHAP. CCLII.-To prevent Cruelty to Animals while in transit by Railroad or other conveyance-Provides that animals shall not be carried in cars or vessels for more than twenty-eight consecutive hours without being unloaded for rest, feeding and watering, and shall have rest at such times for five consecutive hours before being reloaded. The penalty for a violation of the act is a fine of $100 to $500, to be recovered by civil action in the name of the United States, in the circuit court or district court of the United States holden within the district where the offense may have been committed, or the person or corporation resides or carries on its business. It shall be the duty of all U. S. marshals, their deputies and subordinates, to prosecute all violations of this act which shall come to their notice or knowledge. CHAP. CCLXI.-The Alabama Award.-Provides that the $15,500,000 in gold awarded to the United States by the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva be used to redeem an equal amount of United States public debt. Also that an amount of $15,500,000 in five per cent. bonds be set apart and held subject to the future disposition of Congress. CHAP. CCLXVIII.-To establish the Custom House value of the English Sovereign, or pound sterling.— Provides that in all payments by or to the treasury, whether made here or in foreign countries, where it becomes necessary to compute the value of the sovereign or pound sterling, it shall be deemed equal to four dollars eighty-six cents and six and one-half mills, and the same rule shall be applied in appraising merchandise imported where the value is, by the invoice, in sovereigns of pounds sterling, and in the construction of contracts payable in sovereigns or pounds sterling; and this valuation shall be the par of exchange between Great Britain and the United States; and all contracts made after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, based on an assumed par of exchange with Great Britain of fifty-four pence to the dollar, or four dollars forty-four and four-ninths cents to the Sovereign or pound sterling, shall be null and void. CHAP. CCLXIX.-To require national banks to restore their capital when impaired.-Provides that all national banks which shall have failed to pay up their capital stock, as required by law, and all national banks whose capital stock shall have become impaired by losses or otherwise, shall, within three months after receiving notice there of from the controller of the currency, be required to pay the deficiency in the capital stock by assessment upon the shareholders, pro rata, for the amount of capital stock held by each, and the treasurer of the United States shall withhold the interest upon all bonds held by him in trust for such association, upon notification from the controller of the currency, until otherwise notified by him; and if such banks shall fail to pay up their capital stock, and shall fail to go into fiquidation, as provided by law, for three months after receiving notice from the controller, a receiver may be appointed to close up the business of the association, according to the provisions of the fiftieth section of the national-currency act. Also amends section 57 of the national-currency act by adding thereto the following: And provided further, That no attachment, injunction, or execution shall be issued against such association, or its property, before final judgment in any such suit, action, or proceeding in any State, county or municipal court." CHAP. CCLXXVII.-To encourage the growth of Timber of Western prairies.-We give this act in full: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatires of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in a healthy, growing condition for ten years, forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the United States shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter-section at the expiration of said ten years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses; Proviced, That only one quarter in any section shall be thus granted. SEC. 2. That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land-office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before said register or receiver that said entry is made for the cultivation of timber, and upon filing said affidavit with said register and receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified : Provided however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issue therefor until the expiration of at least ten years from the date of such entry: and if at the expiration of such time, or at any time within three years thereafter, the person making such entry, or if he or she be dead, his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have planted, and for not less than ten years have cultivated and protected such quantity and character of timber as aforesaid, they shall receive the patent for such quarter-section of land. SEC. 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for said land, it shall be proven after due notice to the party making such entry and claiming to cultivate such timber, to the satisfaction of the register of the land-office that such person has abandoned or failed to cultivate, protect and keep in good condition such timber, then, and in that event, said land shall revert to the United States. SEC. 4. That each and every person who, under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," approved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or any amendment thereto, having a homestead on said public domain, who, at the end of the third year of his or her residence thereon, shall have had under cultivation, for two years, one acre of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, and in a good, thrifty condition, for each and every sixteen acres of said homestead, shall upon due proof of said fact by two credible witnesses receive his or her patent for said homestead. SEC. 5. That no land acquired under provisions of this act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of a patent therefor. SEC. 6. That the commissioner of the general land-office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and the receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money. SEC. 7. That the fifth section of the act entitled An act in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act. CHAP. CCLXXIX.-To provide for the sale of public lands containing coal.-Provides that any person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become such, or any association of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the proper landoffice, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the receiver of not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road. Any |