Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir. The committee had a meeting yesterday and determined to pay them. Mr. CAMERON. I withdraw the amendment. Mr. HUNTER. I wish to understand one thing: has the resolution of the special committee providing for the appointment of these clerks been adopted?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. It has not been acted on.

Mr. HUNTER. Then you provide sixty days' pay after the session, but not for the residue of the time. I hope we shall act on the resolution of the special committee first.

Mr. SLIDELL. This is a substantive, distinct resolution.

Mr. BENJAMIN. The resolution of my colleague requires amendment. According to the terms of the resolution, sixty days' extra pay will be paid to those clerks who receive a permanent annual salary.

Mr. SLIDELL. No, sir; I have taken care to guard against it. The resolution says they shall receive the same per diem compensation. Those clerks do not receive a per diem, but a salary.

Mr. BENJAMIN. The clerk of the Committee on Claims receives a per diem.

Mr. SLIDELL. I have no objection to any provision that will obviate such a difficulty.

Mr. RUSK. Say "excepting the clerks of the Committees on Finance, Claims, and Printing." I move that amendment.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HUNTER. There is another resolution necessary, as I apprehend the original resolution providing for committee clerks expired with the Congress.

Mr. MASON. If my colleague will give me the floor, I will move to lay the subject on the table. It is necessary we should go into executive session. I move to lay the subject on the table.

Mr. SLIDELL. I hope not.

Mr. MASON. We have but one half hour left.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to; there being, on a dívision-ayes 17, noes 15.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

Mr. MASON. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. Mr. HUNTER. Before that motion is car

Proceedings of the Special Session.

ried, I suggest that the time of adjournment ought to be extended beyond one o'clock.

Mr. MASON. I hope not.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Before that is done, we ought to elect a President pro tempore.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will suggest that this is not a debatable question.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Will the Senator from Virginia withdraw his motion for a moment, in order to allow us to elect a President pro tempore? Mr. MASON. I cannot withdraw it. We have but half an hour of the session left. The motion was not agreed to.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE. Mr. FITZPATRICK. The action of the Vice President devolves on the Senate the performance of a constitutional duty, the election of a President pro tempore to fill the chair. Time, I am admonished, is very precious; and I move, therefore, that the Hon. THOMAS J. RUSK be unanimously elected President pro tempore.

Mr. BIGLER. I second that motion. Mr. WILSON. I move that we proceed to ballot.

Mr. PUGH. Very good; let us ballot. The PRESIDING OFFICER. If demanded, the vote must be by ballot.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. I was aware of that; but I trusted there would be no opposition to the

motion.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. prepare their ballots.

Senators will

Mr. MASON. Has one Senator the right to insist on a ballot?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will state to the Senator from Virginia that the rules of the Senate require all elections to be by ballot.

Mr. IVERSON. I move to take up the resolution for adjournment, for the purpose of prolonging the hour. It is now half past twelve o'clock. It is impossible to get through by one o'clock.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair is under the impression that this question must be first disposed of.

Mr. BRIGHT. The Senate have ordered an election, and we must proceed with it.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair announced that as his opinion. Senators will prepare their ballots for the election of a President pro tempore.

The ballots having been cast and canvassed, were announced as follows:

Whole number of votes cast 47; necessary to a choice 24; of which

Mr. Rusk received. Mr. Wade..

Mr. Mason.....

Mr. Foot..

Mr. Foster.
Mr. Trumbull.
Blank.....

8

4

1

1

1

3

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Mr. Rusk having received a majority of all the votes cast is elected President pro tempore of the Senate. Mr. CLAY and Mr. ALLEN will conduct the President pro tempore to the chair.

Mr. RUSK, on taking the chair, said: Gentlemen of the Senate, I return you my sincere thanks for the honor conferred on me, and I will endeavor to requite it by discharging as impartially as I can the duties which may be devolved on me.

EXECUTIVE BUSINESS.

Mr. MASON. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. Mr. SEWARD. I hope the Senator will allow me to offer a resolution.

Mr. MASON. I have a resolution that I have been requested to offer by a Senator, which I have refrained from doing.

The motion was agreed to.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Sergeantat-Arms will close the doors, and clear the galleries.

Mr. JONES. I ask, while the Chamber is being cleared, that the Senate take up the resolution I offered yesterday.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It requires

unanimous consent.

Mr. EVANS. I object.

THANKS TO THE VICE PRESIDENT. Mr. SEWARD. I ask unanimous consent to offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the thanks of the Senate are unanimously tendered to the Hon. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, for the dignity and impartiality with which he has discharged the duties of Presiding Officer of this body.

There being no objection, the resolution was considered, and unanimously agreed to.

COMMITTEE CLERKS.

Mr. IVERSON. I move to reconsider the action of the Senate which laid upon the table the resolution of the Senator from Louisiana in relation to the compensation of committee clerks. I voted with the majority, and it can be done by unanimous consent.

The motion to reconsider was agreed to; and the resolution was adopted.

Mr. TOOMBS afterwards, in executive session, it was understood, moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was agreed to.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; and, after some time spent therein, the hour of one o'clock having arrived, the President pro tempore declared the Senate adjourned sine die; Mr. THOMSON, of New Jersey, having previously reported on behalf of the committee to wait on the President of the United States, that he had no further communication to make.

PUBLIC, X.-An Act making Appropriations for the Consular and Diplomatic Expenses of the Government for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the objects hereafter expressed, for the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, namely:

For salaries of envoys extraordinary, ministers, and commissioners of the United States at Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, Rome, Naples, Sardinia, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Peru, Chili, Buenos Ayres, New Granada, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, China, and Sandwich Islands, two hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars.

For salaries of the secretaries of legation of the United States at Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres, twenty thousand five hundred and fifty dollars.

For salaries of assistant secretaries of legation at London and Paris, three thousand dollars. For salary of the secretary of legation to China, acting as interpreter, five thousand dollars.

For salary of the secretary of legation to Turkey, acting as dragoman, three thousand dollars. For contingent expenses of all the missions abroad, seventy-five thousand dollars.

For contingent expenses of foreign intercourse, sixty thousand dollars.

For expenses of intercourse with the Barbary Powers, six thousand dollars.

For expenses of the consulates in the Turkish dominions, viz: interpreters, guards, and other expenses of the consulates at Constantinople, Smyrna, Candia, Alexandria, and Beyrout, two thousand five hundred dollars.

For the relief and protection of American seamen in foreign countries, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

For expenses which may be incurred in acknowledging the services of the masters and crews of foreign vessels in rescuing citizens and vessels of the United States from shipwreck, three thousand dollars, to be expended under the direction of the President of the United States.

For the purchase of blank-books, stationery, arms of the United States, seals, presses, and flags, and for the payment of postages for the consuls of the United States, fifty thousand dollars.

For compensation of the commissioner provided in the first article of the reciprocity treaty with Great Britain, two thousand dollars.

For per diem of commissioner and compensation of surveyor, four thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars.

For payment of all expenses attending the employment of steamer or sailing vessel, and for surveys and umpirage, fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

For traveling expenses, transportation, repairs of instruments, and all other expenses, seven hundred dollars.

For compensation of the commissioner, secretary, chief astronomer and surveyor, assistant astronomer and surveyor, clerk, and for provisions, transportation, and contingencies of the commission to run and mark the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions bounding on Washington Territory, seventy-one thousand dollars: Provided, That the annual compensation of said officers shall not exceed the rates provided in the third section of the act of eleventh August, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, entitled "An act to provide for carrying into effect the first article of the treaty between the United States and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the fifteenth day of June, eighteen hundred and forty-six."

For purchase of bell, and mounting the same with the clock on one of the public buildings, eight hundred dollars.

To procure the balistic apparatus for gun pendulum, five hundred dollars.

For repairs to officers' quarters, five hundred dollars.

For models for the department of cavalry, one thousand dollars.

For extension of water pipes and increase of reservoir, two thousand dollars.

For targets and batteries for artillery exercise, two hundred dollars.

For gas pipes, gasometers, and retorts, seven thousand five hundred dollars.

Demarara, Halifax, Kingston, (Jamaica,) Leeds, Manchester, Nassau, (New Providence,) Southampton, Turk's Island, Prince Edward's Island, Havre, Paris, Marseilles, Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Lyons, Moscow, Odessa, Revel, St. Petersburgh, Matanzas, Trinidad de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, San Juan, (Porto Rico,) Cadiz, Malaga, Ponce, (Porto Rico,) Trieste, Vienna, Aix-la-Chapelle, Canton, Shanghai, Fouchou, Amoy, Ningpo, Beyrout, Smyrna, Jerusalem, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Funchal, Oporto, St. Thomas, Elsineur, Genoa, Basle, Geneva, Messina, Naples, Palermo, Leipsic, Munich, Leghorn, Stuttgardt, Bremen, Hamburg, Tangiers, Tripoli, Tunis, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, Callao, Valparaiso, Buenos Ayres, San Juan del Sur, Aspinwall, Panama, Laguayra, Honolulu, Lahaina, Capetown, Falkland Islands, Venice, Stettin, Candia, Cyprus, Batavia, Fayal, Santiago, (Cape de Verdes,) Saint Croix, Spezzia, Athens, Zanzibar, Bahia, Maranham Island, SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the comPara, Rio Grande, Matamoras, Mexico, (city,)||pensation of the master of the sword be fifteen Tampico, Paso del Norte, Tabasco, Paita, Tum- hundred dollars per annum, with fuel and quarbez, Talcahuano, Carthagena, Sabanillo, Omoa, ters. Guayaquil, Cobija, Montevideo, Tahiti, Bay of Islands, Apia, Lanthala; commercial agents at San Juan del Norte, Port-au-Prince, San Domingo, (city,) St. Paul de Loanda, (Angola,) Monrovia, Gaboon, Cape Haytien, Aux Cayes, and Amoor river, two hundred and seventy-three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

For interpreters to the consulates in China, four thousand five hundred dollars.

For estimated loss by exchange on drafts of consuls, and interpreters, for salary, forty-five thousand dollars.

For the preservation of the archives of the several consulates of the United States and the commercial agencies, eleven thousand nine hundred dollars.

For office rent for those consuls-general, consuls, and commercial agents who are not allowed to trade, not to exceed ten per centum on the amount of their compensation, as fixed by the act of eighteenth August, eighteen hundred and fiftysix, twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the seventh section of "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of the United States," approved eighteenth August, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. APPROVED, February 7, 1857.

PUBLIC, XI.-An Act making Appropriations for the support of the Military Academy for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the support of the Military Academy, for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight:

For pay of officers, instructors, cadets, and musicians, ninety-one thousand one hundred and

six dollars.

For commutation of subsistence, two thousand and forty-four dollars.

For forage for officers' horses, eight hundred and sixty-four dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed at the Military Academy, in addition to the professors authorized by the existing laws, a professor of Spanish, at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum.

APPROVED, February 16, 1857.

PUBLIC, XII.-An Act for the construction of a Wagon Road from Fort Kearney, via the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains and Great Salt Lake Valley, to the eastern portion of the State of California, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the construction of a wagon road from Fort Kearney, in the Territory of Nebraska, via the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, to the eastern boundary of the State of California, near Honey Lake, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to contracts to be made by him; said road to connect with and form an extension of the road already authorized from Fort Ridgely to the aforesaid South Pass.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the construction of a wagon road from El Paso, on the Rio Grande, to Fort Yuma, at the mouth of the Gila river, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to contracts to be made by him.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That a sum of fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the construction of a wagon road from Fort Defiance, in the Territory of New Mexico, to the Colorado river,

near the mouth of the Mohava river. APPROVED, February 17, 1857.

PUBLIC, XIII.-An Act to increase the Pay of the Officers of the Army.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the commencement of the present fiscal year, the pay of each commissioned officer of the Army, including mil

lars per month, and that the commutation price of officers' subsistence shall be thirty cents per ration.

For current and ordinary expenses, as follows: repairs and improvements, fuel and appa-itary storekeepers, shall be increased twenty dolratus, forage, postage, stationery, transportation, printing, clerks, miscellaneous and incidental expenses, and departments of instruction, thirtyfive thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars.

For gradual increase and expense of library, one thousand five hundred dollars.

For expenses of the Board of Visitors, three thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War be authorized, on the recommendation of the council of administration, to extend the additional pay herein provided to any person serving as chaplain at any post of the Army. APPROVED, February 21, 1857.

Forforage for artillery and cavalry horses, eight|| PUBLIC, XIV.-An Act relating to Foreign Coins, thousand six hundred and forty dollars.

For supplying horses for cavalry and artillery practice, one thousand dollars.

For furniture for hospital for cadets, two hun

For barracks for dragoon detachment, five thousand dollars.

and to the Coinage of Cents at the Mint of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish

pillar dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be same is hereby, divided into two judicial districts, receivable at the Treasury of the United States, in the following manner, to wit: All the territory and its several offices, and at the several post offices of the State of Texas embraced in the counties of and land offices, at the rates of valuation follow- Newton, Jasper, Jefferson, Orange, Tyler, Polk, ing, that is to say, the fourth of a dollar, or piece Liberty, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery, Austin, of two reals, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dol- Fort Bend, Brazoria, Colorado, Wharton, Matlar, or piece of one real, at ten cents, and the six-agorda, Lavacca, Jackson, Calhoun, Dewitt, Victeenth of a dollar, or half real, at five cents. toria, Goliad, Refugio, San Patricio, Nueces, Cameron, Starr, Webb, and Hidalgo, as they existed in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, shall compose one district, to be called the eastern district of Texas; and all the remaining part of the territory of the said State shall compose another district, to be called the western district of Texas.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said coins, when so received, shall not again be paid out or put in circulation, but shall be recoined at the Mint. And it shall be the duty of the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary and proper, to secure their transmission to the Mint for recoinage, and the return or distribution of the proceeds thereof, when deemed expedient, and to prescribe such forms of account as may be appropriate and applicable to the circumstances: Provided, That the expenses incident to such transmission or distribution, and of recoinage, shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss, and the net profits, if any, shall be paid, from time to time, into the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or silver coins, and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for debts, are hereby repealed; but it shall be the duty of the Director of the Mint to cause assays to be made, from time to time, of such foreign coins as may be known to our commerce, to determine their average weight, fineness, and value, and to embrace in his annual report a statement of the results thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be held in each year four terms of the district court of the eastern district of Texas, two of which terms shall be begun and held at Galveston on the first Mondays in December and May, respectively; and the other two shall be begun and held at Brownsville on the first Mondays of March and October, respectively; and four terms of the district court of the western district of Texas shall be held in each year, two of which terms shall be begun and held at Austin on the first Mondays of January and June, respectively; and the other two shall be begun and held at Tyler on the first Mondays of March and November, respectively; and the said courts are hereby authorized to hold adjourned terms when the business of the said courts shall, in the opinion of the judge or judges, require it.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all suits and proceedings of whatever name or nature, pending in the district court of Texas, at any of the places at which terms of the said courts were enjoined to be held, and which said places may be within the eastern district of Texas, shall be transferred to the district court of the eastern district of Texas, and such suits and proceedings

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, the standard weight of the cent coined at the Mint shall be seventytwo grains, or three twentieths of one ounce troy, with no greater deviation than four grains in each piece; and said cent shall be composed of eighty-pending at any of the places at which terms of eight per centum of copper and twelve per centum of nickel, of such shape and device as may be fixed by the Director of the Mint, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury; and the coinage of the half cent shall cease.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Treasurer of the Mint, under the instruction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall, from time to time, purchase from the bullion fund of the Mint the materials necessary for the coinage of such cent piece, and transfer the same to the proper operative officers of the Mint to be manufactured and returned in coin. And the laws in force relating to the Mint and the coinage of the precious metals, and in regard to the sale and distribution of the copper coins, shall, so far as applicable, be extended to the coinage herein provided for: Provided That the net profits of said coinage, ascertained in like manner as is prescribed in the second section of this act, shall be transferred to the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful to pay out the said cent at the Mint in exchange for any of the gold and silver coins of the United States, and also in exchange for the former copper coins issued; and it shall be lawful to transmit parcels of the said cents, from time to time, to the Assistant Treasurers, depositaries, and other officers of the United States, under general regulations proposed by the Director of the Mint, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for exchange as aforesaid. And it shall also be lawful for the space of two years from the passage of this act, and no longer, to pay out at the Mint the cents aforesaid for the fractional parts of the dollar hereinbefore named at their nominal value of twenty-five, twelve and a half, and six and a quarter cents, respectively.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That hereafter the Director of the Mint shall make his annual report to the Secretary of the Treasury up to the thirtieth of June in each year, so that the same may appear in his annual report to Congress on the finances.

APPROVED, February 21, 1857. PUBLIC, XV.-An Act to divide the State of

Texas into two Judicial Districts. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Texas be, and the

the said district court were enjoined to be held, and which said places may be within the western district, shall be transferred to the district court of the western district of Texas; and this act shall not produce a discontinuance of any such suit or proceeding, or of any order, issue, or process therein; and jurisdiction is here given to the said district courts respectively, and perform all duties appertaining to the said suits and proceedings, and to proceed to try and dispose of the same as fully as the district court of Texas was authorized to do; and all process, mesne or final, which may have issued from any of the courts of the district of Texas, shall be proceeded in and returned to the district court to be holden at the place from whence the same issued, and shall

be of as full force and effect as if the said district had not been divided into two districts; and all process which may have issued from the said district court of Texas in any cause pending therein, or any penal or other process which may hereafter issue from any of the said courts to enforce any order, judgment, or decree, in any cause heretofore ended and determined therein, shall be issued from and made returnable to the court in which the said cause or the record thereof may be, and may issue and be executed by the marshal of the district from which issues in any part

of the State.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That either of the said district courts may, on application of the parties defendant, and for good cause shown, order any suit now pending, and transferred to such court by this act, to be removed to the proper court of the other district for further proceedings; and thereupon the clerk shall transmit all the papers in the cause, with a transcript of all the proceeding and orders in relation thereto, to the clerk of the court to which the suit shall be removed, and all further proceedings shall be had in the said court, as if the suit had been originally commenced therein.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the present judge of the district of Texas be, and he is hereby, assigned to hold said courts in the eastern district of Texas, and shall exercise the same jurisdiction and perform the same duties within the said district as he now exercises and performs within his present district. There shall be appointed a district judge for the western district of Texas, who shall possess the same powers, and

do and perform all such duties in his district as are now enjoyed, or in any manner appertaining to the present district judge for the district of Texas. And the district judge of each district shall be entitled to the same compensation as by law is provided for the present judge of the district of Texas.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That there be appointed one person as district attorney, and one person as marshal, for said western district, whose terms of appointment and service, as well as duties and emoluments, shall be the same with those respectively appertaining to the said offices in the district of Texas; and said marshal shall give the same bond that other marshals are required to give, to be approved and recorded as now directed by law: Provided, That the present district attorney of the district of Texas shall be the district attorney for the eastern district, but shall retain charge of all suits already commenced until the final termination, unless the President of the United States shall otherwise direct; and the present marshal of the district of Texas shall be the marshal of the eastern district during their respective official terms.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all suits hereafter to be brought in either of said courts, not of a local nature, shall be brought in the court of the district where the defendant resides; but if there be more than one defendant, and they reside in different districts, the plaintiff may issue in either, and send a duplicate writ against the defendants, directed to the marshal of the other district; on which writ an indorsement shall be made, that the writ thus sent is a copy of a writ sued out of the court of the proper district; and said writs, when executed and returned into the office from whence they issued, shall constitute one suit, and be proceeded in accordingly. APPROVED, February 21, 1857.

PUBLIC, XVI.-An Act to authorize the People of the Territory of Minnesota to form a Constitution and State Government, preparatory to their admission in the Union on an equal footing with the original States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of that portion of the Territory of Minnesota which is embraced within the following limits, to wit: Beginning at the point in the center of the main channel of the Red river of the North, where the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions crosses the same; thence up the main channel of said river to that of the Bois des Sioux

river; thence [up] the main channel of said river to Lake Travers; thence up the center of said lake to the southern extremity thereof; thence in a direct line to the head of Big Stone lake; thence through its center to its outlet; thence by a due south line to the north line of the State of Iowa; thence east along the northern boundary of said State to the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence up the main channel of said river, and following the boundary line of the State of Wisconsin, until the same intersects the Saint Louis river; thence down said river to and

through Lake Superior, on the boundary line of Wisconsin and Michigan, until it intersects the dividing line between the United States and the British possessions; thence up Pigeon river, and following said dividing line, to the place of beginning, be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves a constitution and State government, by the name of the State of Minnesota, and to come into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, according to the Federal Constitution.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said State of Minnesota shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi and all other rivers and waters bordering on the said State of Minnesota, so far as the same shall form a common boundary to said State and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed or bounded by the same; and said river and waters, and the navigable waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to all other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, er toll therefor.