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Publishes act relating to Bureau.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands,
Washington, August 3, 1868.
CIRCULAR
No. 7.
The following Act of Congress is published for the information and government of all concerned:
[Public-No. 97.]
AN ACT
Relating to the Freedmen's Bureau and providing for its discontinuance.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the duties and powers of the Commissioner of the Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees shall continue to be discharged by the present Commissioner of the Bureau, and in case of vacancy in said office occurring by reason of his death or resignation, the same shall be filled by appointment of the President on the nomination of the Secretary of War, and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and no officer of the army shall be detailed for service as Commissioner or shall enter upon the duties of the Commissioner unless appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and all assistant commissioners, agents, clerks, and assistants, shall be appointed by the Secretary of War on the nomination of the Commissioner of the bureau. In case of vacancy in the office of Commissioner happening during the recess of the Senate, the duties of the Commissioner shall be discharged by the acting assistant adjutant general of the bureau until such vacancy can be filled.
Sec.2. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of the bureau shall, on the first day of January next, cause the said bureau to be withdrawn from the several states within which said bureau has acted and its operations shall be discontinued. But the educational department of the said bureau and the collection and payment of moneys due the soldiers,