1st Session. No. 28. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JANUARY 28, 1858.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. DAVIS made the following REPORT. [To accompany Bill S. 102.] The Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom was referred the petition of Thomas Phoenix, jr., having had the same under consideration, report: The petitioner during the war with Mexico was employed by D. Randall, deputy paymaster general, as his clerk, and received his regular pay of $500 per annum for a little more than two years. The disbursements of the deputy paymaster general at New Orleans were very heavy, and would have justified the employment of extra clerks. The expense of additional clerks, however, was saved to the government by the extraordinary efforts of the petitioner, under the assurances of the deputy paymaster that he should be allowed an increased compensation for these services, which increased compensation has been allowed to many other paymasters' clerks under the same circumstances. The justice and equity of this claim are acknowledged by the Paymaster General and by the Secretary of War. The latter officer admits that if Colonel Randall had paid the increased compensation now claimed it would have been allowed by the department, as being in strict accordance with law. This case was favorably reported upon a year ago in the House of Representatives, was not acted upon for want of time, but was, with all the other unfinished business of the House, referred to the Court of Claims. The Court decided the case to be beyond their jurisdiction, but that the petitioner has a strong equitable claim upon the United States. Colonel Randall says: "I believe the labors and services to the government of Mr. Phoenix were at least equal to any other paymaster's clerk, and I earnestly recommend that he be allowed the highest rate of pay that has been received by any paymaster clerk in the public service during the war with Mexico." The committee, in view of all the circumstances of the case, recommend that the petitioner be paid, during the time he was in the employment of Colonel Randall as paymaster's clerk, the same compensation as was paid to other paymasters' clerks similarly situated, say $3 per day, instead of $500 per annum, and report a bill accordingly. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JANUARY 28, 1858.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. SLIDELL made the following REPORT. [To accompany Bill S. 104.] The select committee appointed under a resolution of the Senate of 17th December last "to examine into the condition of the corporations or associations acting as banks of deposit, discount, and issue in the District of Columbia, and the authority under which said corporations or associations assume to transact the business of banking; also to inquire whether any, and what, further legislation is necessary to regulate and control banks of deposit, circulation, and issue in the District of Columbia," ask leave to make the following report: In pursuance of the power conferred upon them, your committee addressed the following circular to the several corporations or associations carrying on business in the District of Columbia as banks of issue, to wit: the trustees of the Bank of the Metropolis, Bank of Washington, Patriotic Bank, Farmers and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, and the Bank of Commerce of Georgetown: SENATE CHAMBER, December 23, 1857. SIR: I have been instructed by the select committee of the Senate appointed to examine the condition of the corporations or associations acting as banks of deposit, discount, and issue in the District of Columbia, to request that you will furnish, at as early a day as possible, a full statement of the affairs of the Board of Trustees of the detailing the assets and liabilities of the same, with full and complete list of its debtors; the amounts due by each; when their obligations were contracted, and when they mature; how the same are secured, and any other information which you may consider as proper and necessary to a just appreciation of the condition of its affairs. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN SLIDELL, Chairman. The circular was sent to the last named institution, under the erroneous impression that it was in the same category as the four others, receiving its title and exercising its powers derivatively from a special act of incorporation. It appears, however, that the Bank of Commerce was organized in 1852, by an association of individuals claiming no peculiar immunities or privileges, but forming a partnership for the transaction of banking business, under no other obligations or restrictions than those resulting from the general law regulating commercial partnerships in the District of Columbia, and therefore not subject to the supervision of Congress in the administration of their affairs. If the partners have violated the law, as in the opinion of your committee they have, by issuing notes for circulation, they are only amenable for such violation to the ordinary judicial tribunals. The president, however, furnished a statement of the condition of the bank, which will be incorporated in the general statement of the affairs of all the banks of issue, for the purpose of presenting a synoptical view of the extent and character of their operations. To understand the present condition and rights of the other associations, it is necessary to present a brief history of their origin, of the several acts of Congress amending or extending their charters and providing for the liquidation of their affairs. The Bank of Washington was incorporated February 15, 1811; the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, Patriotic Bank, and Bank of Metropolis, March 3, 1817. By the act of March 2, 1821, the charters. of all these banks were extended to March 3, 1836; and by act of February 9, 1836, they were further extended and limited to October, 1, 1836; and again, on July 2, 1836, extended to July 4, 1838; on May 31, 1838, they were extended to July 4, 1840; on July 3, 1840, they were further continued to July 4, 1844. By this act, Congress adopted the policy of liquidating all the incorporated banks in the District of Columbia. The country was then slowly recovering from the disastrous consequences of the general suspension of 1837, and the mischievous effects of a debased currency were felt and appreciated by all classes of the community. As the act of July 3, 1840, seems to have escaped the attention of the courts and jurisconsults, whose judgments and opinions have been invoked to sustain the present action of the banks originally deriving their charters from Congress, it may be well to give its provisions in full. It is to be found in the 6th volume of Brown and Little's edition of Statutes at Large, page 802. Why it was placed among the private statutes, when every other act relating to a bank or banks in the District of Columbia has been classed with the public acts, is not the province of your committee to decide. The failure of the trustees and counsellors of the banks to take any notice of it, in the various arguments they have adduced to sustain the legality of their operations, since July 4, 1844, might, perhaps, warrant the suspicion that this deviation from the ordinary classification was not accidental. It is entitled "An act to continue the corporate existence of certain banks in the District of Columbia for certain purposes. It declares that "the provisions, restrictions and enactments of the act of Congress of May 25, 1838, entitled 'An act to extend the charter of the Union Bank of Georgetown, in the District of Co lumbia, be, and the same are hereby, extended to the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, the Bank of the Metropolis, the Patriotic Bank of Washington, and the Bank of Washington: Provided, That whenever, in the original act, the 1st July, 1838, occurs, it shall be so construed as to mean the 4th July, 1840;" and whenever the 1st July, 1842, occurs, it shall be construed to mean the 4th July, 1844.'' The preamble states the motives and object of the law; it is in these words: "Whereas it appears that an extension of the charter of the Union Bank of Georgetown beyond 1st day of July, 1838, together with some amendment thereof, is necessary to enable the said corporation the better to close its concerns, redeem its obligations, and collect its debts; and the extension and amendment aforesaid have been asked by the said corporation for the purposes above specified, and for none other." The 3d section provides for a meeting of the stockholders, who may elect a trustee or trustees, not exceeding three, to whom shall be granted until July 1, 1842, (July 4, 1844,) the management of the concerns of the bank as fully and with the same limitations, together with others thereinafter to be named, as were then given to the president and directors of said corporation. If trustees be elected, the president and directors shall appoint a commissioner to transfer to the trustees all the property of the corporation, upon the condition, first, of discharging all the debts due from said corporation; and, after the satisfaction of this trust, upon such other trusts and conditions, not inconsistent with their charter as therein amended, as they may see fit. The 4th section provides that the said corporation shall not, after July 1, 1838, (July 4, 1840,) issue or reissue any bills, notes, or checks payable to bearer, nor issue certificates of deposit payable to bearer, nor receive any money or other property from any other corporation, and from any person other than one of its stockholders on deposit, and under obligation to return it; nor shall the said corporation, at any time after the 1st of July, 1838,. receive or enter into any new obligations or liabilities other than such deeds or assignments as may be necessary to convey away absolutely the property, real or personal, of the said bank, or other than the renewal from time to time of existing debts due said corporation on the receipt of partial payments, and the taking of such obligations,. additional assurances, new liens, or new sureties, as may be necessary and proper for securing the collection of debts due to the said bank on the first of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and for enforcing the performance of obligations created on or before the day and year last aforesaid. The act then goes on to provide remedies for recovery of debts due to corporation. The 8th section declares, that, unless the president and directors, for the time being, of the said corporation, shall, on behalf of the stockholders, and in virtue of an authority from a majority in interest and number of them, file their declaration in writing in theoffice of the Secretary of the Treasury within six months from the date of the act, assenting to and accepting the extension of the charter. thereby granted, under the terms, conditions, and limitations contained in the act, the corporation shall forfeit all right to an extension of the charter. By the annual letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, it appears that the Bank of the Metropolis, Bank of Washing |