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to an act entitled "an act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees" approved March 3d 1865.

I am clearly of the opinion that the phraseology of the fourth section of the act excludes from its operation the public domain owned by the United States at the commencement of the rebellion, and which, has since remained its property. The person to whom may be assigned a tract of land within the insurrectionary States, must pay "an annual rent not exceeding six per cent, upon the value of such land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year 1860 for the purpose of taxation; and in case no such appraisal can be found then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the Commissioner, may by regulation prescribe"  The public lands of the United States are not subject to taxation, and consequently no appraisal of such lands was made in the year 1860. The term "in case no such appraisal can be found" obviously means that the appraisal was actually made, but has been lost or destroyed. 

Your authority under that section is limited to such tracts within the insurrectionary States as    

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