SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That Luther McNeal be paid the sum of one hundred and seventy-five dollars and forty-six cents for money and postage stamps belonging to the United States, and which were stolen from the post office at the town of Lancaster, Érie county, New York, while he was postmaster, and which sum he has paid to the government on settlement with the Post Office Department, as such postmaster, and that such sum be paid out of the post-office fund by the Postmaster General upon the said McNeal making proof to his satisfaction that said money and stamps were stolen without any fault of said McNeal.

SEC. 3. And be _it_further resolved, That in the settlement of the accounts of Seth M. Gates, postmaster at Warsaw, New York, with the Post Office Department, the Postmaster General be, and he is hereby, authorized to allow a credit to the said Seth M. Gates of seven hundred and twenty-six dollars and seventy-three cents, the amount in value of postage stamps belonging to the United States, stolen from the post office on the sixteenth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, while the said Gates was postmaster: Provided, That it shall satisfactorily appear to the Postmaster General that the said Gates was guilty of no negligence in the custody of said stamps. Approved, March 3, 1869.

[PRIVATE RESOLUTION-No. 7.]

JOINT RESOLUTION for the relief of Mrs. Ella E. Hobart.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Ella E. Hobart, who was appointed as chaplain to the first regiment of Wisconsin volunteer heavy artillery, shall be entitled to receive the full pay and emoluments of a chaplain in the United States army, for the time during which she faithfully performed the services of a chaplain to said regiment, as if she had been regularly commissioned and mustered into service. Approved, March 3, 1869.

[PRIVATE RESOLUTION-No. 8.1

JOINT RESOLUTION authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to remit the duty on certain meridian circles.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to remit the duties on a meridian circle, imported for the observatory at Cambridge, in the State of Massachusetts, and a meridian circle imported for the observatory connected with the Chicago University, at Chicago, in the State of Illinois. Approved, March 3, 1869.

ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS

OF THE

UNITED STATES-OF AMERICA

PASSED AT THE

FIRST SESSION OF THE FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS,

MARCH 4, 1869.-APRIL 10, 1869.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the government to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle conflicting questions and interpretations of the laws by virtue of which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its equivalent of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest, known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold and silver. But none of said interest-bearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity unless at such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.

J. G. BLAINE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SCHUYLER COLFAX,

Vice-President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

Approved, March 18, 1869.

U. S. GRANT.

[PUBLIC-No. 2.]

AN ACT supplementary to an act entitled "An act to authorize the extension, construction, and use of a lateral branch of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad into and within the District of Columbia," approved February 5, 1867.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company, which, by the act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize the extension, construction, and use of a lateral branch of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad into and within the District of Columbia," was authorized to extend into and construct within the District of Columbia the lateral branch of its road in said act of Congress mentioned, may enter the city of Washington with their said railroad and construct the same within the limits of said city on and by whichever one of the