Private Law 14–CXXIV

That so much of the nett proceeds of the forfeitures

Claim of U. S. to an amount not exceeding $50,000 relinquished in their favour.

and penalties, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, as has accrued to the United States by the condemnation and sale of the vessels and their cargoes, which were taken near the island of Barrataria, on the western coast of Louisiana, on the sixteenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, by a land and naval force, under the command of Colonel George T. Ross and Captain Daniel T. Patterson, and which were condemned and sold by order of the district court of the United States for the Orleans district, for violation of laws of the United States, be, and the same are hereby given up and relinquished in favor of the said George T. Ross and Daniel T. Patterson, and of their officers and men, for their zeal, activity and courage, in capturing the same. And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to pay to the said George T. Ross and Daniel T. Patterson, the amount of the said nett proceeds of the said sales, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be distributed among the land and naval forces employed in the capture of the said vessels, in such proportions, and under such regulations, as the Secretaries of War and Navy, with the approbation of the president, shall prescribe and determine.