seniority; which promotion shall take place according to usage, in the same manner as if they had not been thus transferred.(1) 7. The President of the United States is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to add to the quartermaster's department not exceeding two assistant quartermasters general, with the rank of colonel, two deputy quartermasters general, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and eight assistant quartermasters, with the rank of captain; the assistant quartermasters now in service, shall have the same rank as is provided by this act for those hereby authorized; and the pay and emoluments of the officers of the quartermaster's department, shall be the same as are allowed to officers of similar rank in the regiments of dragoons: Provided, That all appointments in the quartermaster's department shall be made from the army, and when officers taken for such appointments hold rank in the line, they shall thereupon relinquish said rank, and be separated from the line of the army; and that promotion in said department shall take place as in regiments and corps.(2) (See infra 31.) 8. The quartermaster general is hereby authorized from time to time, to employ as many forage-masters and wagon-masters as he may deem neces sary for the service, not exceeding twenty in the whole, who shall be entitled to receive each forty dollars per month, and three rations per day, and forage for one horse; and neither of whom shall be interested or concerned, directly or indirectly, in any wagon or other means of transport employed by the United States, nor in the purchase or sale of any property procured for or belonging to the United States, except as an agent for the United States.(3) 9. There shall be added to the commissariat of subsistence, one assistant commissary general of subsistence, with the rank, pay and emoluments of a lieutenant colonel of cavalry; one commissary of subsistence, with the rank, pay and emoluments of a quartermaster of the army; and three commissaries of subsistence, with the rank, pay and emoluments of assistant quartermasters.(4) (See infra 35.) 10. The stewards of hospitals at posts of more than four companies, shall be hereafter allowed the pay, clothing and rations of a sergeant of ordnance, and, at all other posts, the pay, clothing and rations of the first sergeant of a company of infantry.(5) 11. The President is hereby authorized to add to the ordnance department, whenever he may deem it expedient to increase the same, by and with the advice of the Senate, two majors; and he is further authorized to transfer ten first lieutenants, and ten second lieutenants, from the artillery to the ordnance department, and the pay and emoluments of the officers of the said department, shall be the same as those allowed to the officers of the regiment of dragoons.(6) (See infra 32.) So much of the fourth section of the act passed 4th of April, 1832, for the organization of the ordnance department, (see article 2237,) as authorizes the officers of ordnance to receive the same pay and emoluments now allowed to artillery officers, shall be construed to include the ten dollars per month additional pay to every officer in the actual cominand of a company, as compensation for the duties and responsibilities with respect to clothing, arms, and accoutrements of the company, under the authority of the second section of the act passed 2d of March, 1827, giving further com (1) Act 5th July, 1838, sec. 7 and 8. (2) Ibid. sec. 9. (3) Ibid. sec. 10. (4) Ibid. sec. 11. pensation to the captains and subalterns of the Army of the United States in certain cases: (See article 2278.) Provided, That the officers of the ordnance department claiming the compensation for such duties and responsibilities, shall have been actually in the command of enlisted men of the ordnance equal to a company of artillery, and thereby incurred the aforesaid responsibilities.(1) 12. Every commissioned officer of the line or staff, exclusive of general officers, shall be entitled to receive one additional ration per diem for every five years he may have served or shall serve in the army of the United States: Provided, That in certain cases where officers are entitled to and receive double rations, the additional one allowed in this section shall not be included in the number to be doubled.(2) 13. From and after the passing of this act, all enlistments in the army of the United States, shall be for five years, and the monthly pay of non-commissioned officers and soldiers shall be as follows: to each sergeant major, quartermaster-sergeant, and chief musician, seventeen dollars; to each first sergeant of a company, sixteen dollars; to all other sergeants, thirteen dollars; to each artificer, eleven dollars; to each corporal, nine dollars; and to each musician and private soldier, eight dollars: Provided, That two dollars per month of said pay be retained until the expiration of his term of service.(3) (See article 2278, and infra 33.) The allowance of sugar and coffee to the non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, in lieu of the spirit or whiskey component part of the army ration, now directed by regulation, shall be fixed at six pounds of cof fee and twelve pounds of sugar to every one hundred rations, to be issued weekly, when it can be done with convenience to the public service, and, when not so issued, to be paid for in money.(4) 14. It shall be lawful for the officers composing the council of adminis tration at any post, from time to time, to employ such person as they may think proper, to officiate as chaplain, who shall also perform the duties of schoolmaster at such post; and the person so employed, shall, on the certificate of the commanding officer of the post, be paid such sum for his services, not exceeding forty dollars per month, as may be determined by the said council of administration, with the approval of the Secretary of War; and, in addition to his pay, the said chaplain shall be allowed four rations per diem, with quarters and fuel.(5) (See infra 30.) 15. An additional professor shall be appointed to instruct in the studies of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, with the pay and emoluments now allowed to the professor of mathematics; and the Secretary of War may assign to the said professor, an assistant, to be taken from the officers of the line or cadets: which assistant professor will receive the pay and emoluments allowed to other assistant professors.(6) 16. Whenever suitable non-commisioned officers or privates cannot be procured from the line of the army, to serve as paymaster's clerks, paymasters are authorized and empowered by and with the approbation of the Secretary of War, to employ citizens to perform that duty, at salaries not to exceed five hundred dollars per annum, each.(7) 17. All letters and packages on public business, to and from the commanding-general, the colonel of ordnance, the surgeon-general, and the head of the topographical corps, shall be free from postage.(8) (1) Act 5th July, 1838, sec. 14. (2) Ibid. sec. 15. (3) Ibid. sec. 16. (4) Ibid. sec. 17. (5) Ibid. sec. 18. 18. The President shall be and he is hereby authorized, whenever he may deem the same expedient, to cause, not exceeding two of the regiments of infantry, to be armed and equipped, and to serve as a regiment of riflemen, and one other of the regiments of infantry to be armed and equipped, and to serve as a regiment of light infantry.(1) 19. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be and the same are hereby repealed.(2) 20. Hereafter the officers of the pay and medical departments of the army shall receive the pay and emoluments of officers of cavalry of the same grades respectively, according to which they are now paid by existing laws.(3) 21. When volunteers or militia are called into the service of the United States, so that the paymasters authorized by law, shall not be deemed sufficient to enable them to pay the troops with proper punctuality, it shall be lawful for the President to appoint as many additional paymasters as he shall deem necessary, who shall perform the same duty, give the same bond, be subject to the same liability, and receive the same pay and emoluments, as are now provided for paymasters of the army: Provided, however, That the number so appointed shall not exceed one for every two regiments of militia or volunteers: And provided, also, That the persons so appointed, shall continue in service only so long as their services are required to pay militia and volunteers.(4) 22. The compensation hereafter to be allowed to such ordnance storekeepers as shall be designated as paymasters, shall not exceed the pay and emoluments of a captain of ordnance.(5) 23. It shall be the duty of the engineer superintending the construction of a fortification, or engaged about the execution of any other public work, to disburse the moneys applicable to the same; and as a compensation therefor, may be allowed by the Secretary of War, at the rate of two dollars per diem, during the continuance of such disbursements: Provided, That the whole amount of emolument shall not exceed one per cent. on the sum disbursed.(6) (See infra 34.) 24. The term for which cadets hereafter admitted into the Military Academy at West Point shall engage to serve, is hereby increased to eight years, unless sooner discharged.(7) 25. In lieu of the bounty now provided by law for re-enlistment, (see article 2271,) every able-bodied non-commissioned officer, musician, or private soldier, who may re-enlist into his company or regiment within two months before or one month after the expiration of his term of service, shall receive three months extra pay; and also, any non-commissioned officer or soldier, who shall have served ten consecutive years, and shall obtain from the commanding officer of his company, battalion or regiment, a certificate that he had faithfully performed his duty whilst in service, shall be allowed one hundred and sixty acres of land, to be designated, surveyed, and laid off at the public expense, in such manner and upon such conditions as may be provided by law, which land shall be patented to the soldier or his heirs, and not be assignable until patented.(8) (See article 36, infra.) So much of the eleventh section of the act of 16th March, 1802, and so (1) Aet 5th July, 1838, sec. 22. (2) Ibid. sec. 23. (3) Ibid. sec. 24. (4) Ibid. sec. 25. (5) Ibid. sec. 26. much of the fifth section of the act of the 12th of April, 1808, as fix the height of enlisted men, at five feet six inches, is hereby repealed.(1) (See article 2278.) 26. The officers of the army shall not be separated from their regiments and corps, for employment on civil works of internal improvement, or be allowed to engage in the service of incorporated companies, and no officer of the line of the army shall hereafter be employed as acting paymaster, or disbursing agent for the Indian department, if such extra employment require that he be separated from his regiment or company, or otherwise interfere with the performance of the military duties proper: Provided, That where officers of the army are now employed on civil works, or in the Indian or pay departments, as contemplated in this section, they may be continued therein not exceeding one year, unless the convenience of the service will admit of their withdrawal sooner.(2) 27. The superintendents of the armories at Springfield and Harper's Ferry, shall hereafter receive each the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, and rations, fuel, and quarters, as at present authorized; and that the master armorers of the same, shall each receive the sum of twelve hundred dollars, and fuel, and quarters, as at present authorized; and that the aforesaid sums and allowances to the officers aforesaid, shall be in full compensation for their services respectively.(3) 28. The President is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint seven additional surgeons; and the officers whose appointmet is authorized in this section, shall receive the pay and allowances of officers of the same grades respectively.(4) 29. The act approved January 1837, entitled "An act to provide for the payment of horses and other property lost or destroyed in the military ser vice of the United States," is hereby continued in force for two years from the end of the present session of Congress. (5) (See Article 2295.) The act to which this is a supplement, (Act 5th July, 1838,) shall be, and the same hereby is explained, limited, and modified as follows: First. Nothing contained in said act shall be so construed as to allow to any officer additional rations for time past, commonly called back rations. 30. Second. The posts at which chaplains shall be allowed shall be limited to the number of twenty, and shall be first approved by the Secretary at War, and shall be confined to places most destitute of instruction. (See supra 14.) 31. Third. That so much of said act as requires assistant quartermas ters to be separated from the line, shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed. (See supra 7.) 32. Fourth. That the number of lieutenants authorized by said act to be added and transferred to the Ordnance Department, shall be limited to twelve. (See supra 11.) 33. Fifth. That the monthly pay of a private soldier, raised by said act to eight dollars, shall be limited and fixed at seven dollars a month; one dollar thereof shall be retained, as provided for in said act. (See supra 13.) 34. Sixth. That no compensation shall be allowed to officers of the Engineer Department for disbursement of public money, while superintending public works. (See supra 23.) 35. Seventh. That the three commissaries of subsistence authorized by said act, shall not be separated from the line of the army. (See supra 9.) 36. Eighth. That so much of said act as allows one hundred and sixty acres of land to soldiers who shall have served ten consecutive years be, and the same is hereby, repealed. (See supra 25.) 37. Ninth. That the said act shall be so construed as to allow the paymaster-general and surgeon-general of the army, the additional rations therein granted to officers of the line and staff for every five years service. (1) BLOCKADE. Vessels turned from Mexican Ports by blockading squadron allowed to enter, &c. U. S. 1 ART. 1. Any vessel which may have been turned off from her port of destination in Mexico, by the blockading squadron, may land and store her cargo in any port of the United States into which she may first enter, to be kept under the custody of the custom-house, free from duty or any other charge, except the usual storage: Provided, The said cargo be re-exported within twelve months from the time of its being so stored, and the provisions of the existing laws relating to the importation of goods, with the privilege of reexportation without the payment of duty, or with the privilege of a drawback of duty, shall be applicable to goods entered and stored under the provisions of this act, except as is herein otherwise provided. (2) ART. 1. The several collectors, naval officers, surveyors, inspectors of customs, the marshals, and deputy marshals of the United States, and every (1) Act July 7th, 1838. (2) Act July 5th, 1838. B |