agreements, policies, and other instruments as the nature of the case shall or may require; and all such instruments, bargains, contracts, policies, or agreements shall be in print or in writing, and shall be signed by the president and secretary, or such other persons as the managers may appoint for such purpose, and shall be under the seal of the company: Provided, That said president and directors may, at their option and discretion, make insurance on such terms and conditions as to them may appear equitable, reserving the premiums, or appropriating and returning such portions thereof to the insured as may to them appear conducive to the interest of the company and the insured, in such manner and on such conditions as may appear to them just and proper.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the president and directors shall, on the third Monday in June of each and every year, divide so much of the profits of said company as to them may appear advisable, first deducting all expenses, and pay the same to the respective stockholders or their agents, duly empowered, in ten days thereafter. But the money received as premiums upon risks which remain outstanding and undetermined at the time of declaring such dividend shall not then be considered as part of the profits; and if the capital stock paid in shall be lessened by losses, no subsequent dividend shall be made or declared until a sum equal to said diminution shall have been added to the capital stock.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the stock of said company shall be transferred on the books of the company in such manner only as the by-laws of the company shall direct.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be construed as making it perpetual, but Congress may at any time alter, amend, or repeal the same.

Approved February 14, 1865.

AN ACT for the relief of collectors and surveyors of customs in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases in which any collector or surveyor of the customs has paid or accounted for, or is charged, with duties accruing under the "Joint resolution to increase temporarily the duties on imports," approved April twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and in which the Secretary of the Treasury shall be satisfied that the collection of the said duties was omitted by such collector or surveyor, for the reason that he was not informed of the passage of said resolution when said duties accrued, the said Secretary be, and he is hereby, authorized, under such rules as he may prescribe, to remit or refund, as the case may require, such duties to such collector or surveyor.

Approved February 14, 1865.

AN ACT to authorize the establishment of ocean mail steamship service between the United States and China.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Postmaster General be, and he is hereby, authorized to invite proposals by public advertisement, for the period of sixty days, in one or more newspapers published in the cities of Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Franciscó, respectively, for mail steamship service between the port of San Francisco, in the United States, and some port or ports in the Chinese empire, touching at Honolulu,.

in the Sandwich Islands, and one or more ports in Japan, by means of a monthly line of first-class American sea going steamships, to be of not less than three thousand tons burden each, and of sufficient number to perform twelve round trips per annum between said ports, and to contract with the lowest responsible bidder for said service for a term of not more than ten years, to commence from the day the first steamship of the proposed line shall depart from the port of San Francisco with the mails for China: Provided, That no bid shall be considered which shall amount to more than five hundred thousand dollars for the twelve round trips per annum, nor unless the same is from a citizen or citizens of the United States, and accompanied by an offer of good and sufficient sureties (also citizens of the United States) for the faithful performance of such contract.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any contract which the Postmaster General may execute, under the authority of this act, shall go into effect on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and shall, in addition to the usual stipulations of ocean mail steamship contracts, provide that the steamships accepted for the service shall be constructed of the best material and after approved models, with all the modern improvements adapted to sea-going steamships of the first class, and shall be subject to inspection and survey by an experienced naval constructor, to be detailed for that purpose by the Secretary of the Navy, whose report shall be made to the Postmaster General. That the government of the United States shall be entitled to have transported, free of expense, on each and every steamer, a mail agent, to take charge of and arrange the mail matter, to whom suitable accommodation for that purpose shall be assigned. That in case of failure from any cause to perform any of the regular monthly voyages stipulated for in the contract, a pro rata deduction shall be made from the compensation on account of such omitted voyage or voyages. That suitable fines and penalties may be imposed for delays and irregularities in the performance of the service, and that the Postmaster General shall have the power to determine the contract at any time in case of its being underlet or assigned to any other party.

Approved February 17, 1865.

AN ACT supplementary to an act approved July fourteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to establish certain post roads."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act of Congress approved July fourteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to establish certain post roads," shall be, and the same is hereby, so amended as to authorize the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and the Jeffersonville Railroad Company (stockholders in the Louisville Bridge Company) to construct a railroad bridge over the Ohio river at the head of the falls of the Ohio, subject to all the provisions of said act: Provided, That the said bridge may be constructed at a height not less than fifty-six feet above low-water mark, and with three draws, sufficient to pass the largest boats navigating the Ohio river; one over the Indiana chute, one over the middle chute, and one over the canal: Provided, That the spans of said bridge shall not be less than two hundred and forty feet, except over the Indiana and middle chute and the canal; said bridge shall be constructed with draws of one hundred and fifty feet wide on each side of the pivot pier over the Indiana and middle chutes, and ninety feet wide over the canal: And provided further, That said bridge and draws shall be so constructed as not to interrupt the navigation of the Ohio river.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the bridge erected under the provisions of this act shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post route.

Approved February 17, 1865.

AN ACT to establish a bridge across the Ohio river at Cincinnati, Ohio, a post road.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the bridge across the Ohio river at Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, and at Covington, in the State of Kentucky, is hereby declared to be, when completed, in accordance with the laws of the States of Ohio and Kentucky, a lawful structure and post road for the conveyance of the mails of the United States.

Approved February 17, 1865.

AN ACT authorizing the President to appoint a Second Assistant Secretary of War. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the term of one year from the passage of this act, an officer in the War Department, to be called the Second Assistant Secretary of War, whose salary shall be three thousand dollars per annum, payable in the same manner as that of the Secretary of War, who shall perform all such duties in the office of the Secretary of War, belonging to that department, as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War, or as may be required by law.

Approved February 20, 1865.

AN ACT to enlarge the port of entry and delivery for the district of Philadelphia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the port of entry and delivery for the district of Philadelphia shall be bounded on the river Delaware by Frankford creek on the north, and Broad street on the south.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all acts or parts of acts conflicting with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed. Approved February 20, 1865.

AN ACT to repeal an act entitled "An act to remove the United States arsenal from the city of Saint Louis, and to provide for the sale of the lands on which the same is located." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to remove the United States arsenal from the city of Saint Louis, and to provide for the sale of the lands on which the same is located," approved March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved February 20, 1865.

AN ACT to extinguish the Indian title to lands in the Territory of Utah suitable for agricultural and mineral purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to enter into treaties with the various tribes of Indians of Utah Territory, upon

such terms as may be deemed just to said Indians and beneficial to the government of the United States: Provided, That such treaties shall provide for the absolute surrender to the United States, by said Indians, of their possessory right to all the agricultural and mineral lands in said Territory, except such agricultural lands as by said treaties may be set apart for reservations for said Indians: And provided, further, That all such reservations shall be selected at points as remote as may be practicable from the present settlements in Utah Territory.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in agreeing with said Indians upon the amounts to be paid to them under the provisions of the treaties to be negotiated in pursuance of this act, care shall be taken to obtain from the Indians, to the greatest possible extent, their consent to receive for such payments agricultural implements, stock, and other useful articles rather than money.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of negotiating said treaties and carrying out the provisions of this act, making presents to said Indians, and defraying the necessary expenses incident to such negotiation, there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. Approved February 23, 1865.

AN ACT to provide for the payment of the value of certain lands and improvements of private citizens, appropriated by the United States for Indian reservations, in the Territory of Washington.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of eighteen thousand six hundred and eleven dollars and sixty-two cents, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying for the lands and improvements of private citizens, taken and appropriated, by order of the Department of the Interior, for Indian reservations and uses in the Territory of Washington; and the claims herein provided to be paid shall be allowed and paid in such manner and upon such proofs of the value of the property as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

Approved February 23, 1865.

AN ACT to facilitate the collection of certain debts due the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where debts are due from postmasters, mail contractors, or other officers, agents, or employés of the Post Office Department, who are in default or delinquency, a warrant of attachment may issue against all property, real and personal, possessions, and rights legal, equitable, and contingent, belonging to such officer and his sureties, or either of them, in the following cases:

First. When any such officer, agent, or employé, and his sureties, or either of them, has, within the meaning of the act of July seventeen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, chapter one hundred and ninety-five, and the proclamation of the President in pursuance thereof, dated the twenty-fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, participated in, aided, abetted, or countenanced any rebellion against the United States.

Second. When such officer, agent, or employé, and his sureties, or either of them, is a non-resident of the district where such officer was appointed, or has departed

from such district for the purpose of residing permanently out of such district, or of defrauding the United States, or of avoiding the service of civil process. Third. When such officer or his sureties, or either of them, has conveyed away or is about to convey away his property, or any part thereof, or has removed or is about to remove his property, or any part thereof, from the district wherein the same is situated, with intent to defraud the United States. And where such removal has taken place, certified copies of the warrant may be sent to the marshal of any other district into which such property may have been removed, under which certified copies it shall be lawful for such marshal to seize such property and convey it to some convenient point within the jurisdiction of the court from which the warrant originally issued. Alias warrants may issue upon due application, and the validity of the warrant first issued shall continue until the return day thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That application for such warrant may be made by any district attorney or assistant district attorney, or any other person authorized by the Postmaster General, before any judge, or, in his absence, before any clerk of any court of the United States having original jurisdiction of the cause of action. Such application shall be made upon an affidavit of the applicant, or some other credible person, stating the existence of either of the grounds of attachment enumerated in the first section of this act, and upon production of legal evidence of the debt. Upon such application, and upon due order of any judge of the court, or in the absence of any judge without such order, the clerk shall issue a warrant for the attachment of all the property of any kind belonging to the party or parties specified in the affidavit, which warrant shall be executed with all possible despatch by the marshal, who shall take the property attached, if personal, into his custody, and hold the same subject to all interlocutory or final orders of the court.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the party or parties whose property is attached may, at any time within twenty days before the return day of the warrant, on giving to the district attorney notice of his intention, file a plea in abatement, traversing the allegations of the affidavit, or denying the ownership of the property attached in the defendants, or either of them, in which case the court may, upon application of either party, order an immediate trial by jury of the issues raised by the affidavit and plea. But the parties may, by consent, waive a trial by jury, in which case the court shall decide the issues raised by the affidavit and plea. Any party claiming ownership of the property attached and a specific return of the same shall be confined to the remedy afforded by this act, but his right to an action of trespass or other action for damages shall not be impaired thereby.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That when the property attached shall be sold on any interlocutory order of the court, or when it shall be producing any revenue, the money arising from such sale or revenue shall be invested in securities of the United States, under the order of the court, and all accretions shall be held subject to the order of the court.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That immediately upon the execution of the warrant of attachment the marshal shall cause due publication of such attachment to be made, in the case of absconding debtors or adherents of the rebellion, for two months, and in case of non-residents for four months. Such publication shall be made in some newspaper or newspapers within the district where the property attached is situated, and the details of such publication shall be regulated in each case by the order under which the warrant is issued.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That after the first publication of such notice of attachment in all the newspapers required by this or any subsequent act, every person indebted to the defendants, or either of them, and having knowledge of such notice, whose property is liable to attachment, and every person having possession of any property belonging to such defendants, or