Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the Commissioner of the second Judicial Circuit, is hereby authorized and required to pay, [out] of the Internal Improvement fund appropriated to the Western Mail route, to ^John^ Winstanly and Hugh Duffy, the sum of three thousand dollars; and that the acceptance of the same, shall be bar to any cause of action at law or equity which may have existed upon contracts numbered 4 and 6, which were entered into by said Winstanly ^&^ Duffy of the one part, and the People of the State of Illinois by their Commissioners, of the second part: Provided, that said payment shall be made out of the special appropriation made for the American bottom Division of the said Work.