The Speaker, by unanimous consent, laid before the House the following message this day received from the President of the United States, viz: To the House of Representatives: In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th ultimo, requesting information as to expenditures by the northwestern boundary commission, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State on the subject, and the papers which accompanied it. WASHINGTON, February 9, 1869. The same having been read, ANDREW JOHNSON. Ordered, That it be laid on the table and printed. The Speaker also, by unanimous consent, laid before the House execu tive communications, which were referred as follows, viz: I. A letter from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting vouchers of J. C. D. Blackburn for subsistence furnished Wichita and other Indians; II. A letter from the same, submitting a report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, asking an appropriation for additional and temporary clerks in the Indian Bureau; severally to the Committee on Appropriations. III. A letter from the Secretary of War, submitting a communication from the Commissary General of Subsistence, suggesting the propriety of limiting by law the jurisdiction of the act of July 4, 1864, to restrict the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims, to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed. The hour of 4 o'clock p. m. having arrived, the House took a recess until 7 o'clock p. m. After the recess, The House, in pursuance of previous order, resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; and after some time spent therein the Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Cullom reported that the committee having had under consideration the annual message of the President of the United States of last session had come to no conclusion thereon. And then, On motion of Mr. Bromwell, at 11 o'clock and 10 minutes p. m., the House adjourned. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1869. The following petitions and other papers were laid upon the Clerk's table, and referred, under the rules: By Mr. Thomas L. Jones: The petition of Mrs. Lizzie Reid, praying for a pension, to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. By Mr. Haughey: The petition of Joab Bagley, praying for relief, to the Committee on the Public Lands. By Mr. Van Trump: The petition of John P. Brown, praying for an increase of salary, to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. By Mr. Brooks: The petition of New York brewers, relative to duty on Canadian barley, to the Committee of Ways and Means. By Mr. Wood: The petition of citizens of New York, of similar import, to the same committee. By Mr. Ross: Resolutions of the Board of Trade of Chicago, relative to sales of gold, to the same committee. By the Speaker: The petition of T. B. Daeton, praying for the removal of his political disabilities, to the Committee on Reconstruction. By Mr. Brooks: The petition of G. W. Edwards, of similar import, to the same committee. By Mr. Benjamin: The petition of David Wakeler, of similar import, to the same committee. By Mr. Kellogg: The petition of James Bond, of Alabama, of similar import, to the same committee. By Mr. Benjamin F. Butler: The petition of M. B. Hewson, relative to the carrying trade, to the Committee on Commerce; Also, the petition of Amaziah Goodwin, praying for a pension. By Mr. Bingham: The petition of David H. Doyle, praying for a pension. By Mr. Lynch: The petition of Barshebe Fisher, praying for a pension, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. By Mr. Reader W. Clarke: The petition of citizens of State of Ohio, praying for an amendment to the Constitution; By Mr, Buckland: A petition of similar import; By Mr. Kelsey: A petition of similar import from citizens of the State of New York; By Mr. Garfield: A petition of similar import from citizens of the State of Ohio; to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Kelsey: The petition of citizens of South Bristol, New York, praying for a post route, to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. By Mr. Lynch: The petition of J. G. Cousens and others, praying for an American register to schooner Venilia, to the Committee on Commerce. By Mr. Garfield: The petition of citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, asking for the extension of the piers at Ashtabula harbor, to the same committee. By Mr. Julian: The petition of citizens of Vermont, praying that women shall have the same right as men to vote, to the Committee on the Judiciary; Also, the petition of citizens of Illinois of similar import, to the same committee. By Mr. George V. Lawrence: The petition of citizens of Lawrence and Washington counties, Pennsylvania, praying for a change in the Constitution, to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Stokes: The petition of Dewhitt, Murray, and Cox, praying for the removal of their political disabilities, to the Committee on Reconstruction. By Mr. Stephen F. Wilson: The petition of citizens of the United States, praying for an act to facilitate the settlement of Alaska, to the Committee on the Public Lands. The Speaker having proceeded, as the regular order of business, to call the States and Territories for bills on leave, Bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read a first and second time, and referred as follows, viz: By Mr. Woodward: A bill (H. R. 1975) for the restoration of Commander John C. Beaumont, of the United States navy, to the active list of the navy, to the Committee on Naval Affairs. By Mr. Miller: A joint resolution (H. Res. 453) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Callis: A bill (H. R. 1976) granting a loan of five millions of the five per cent. bonds of the United States to the New Orleans and Selma Railroad Company and Immigration Association, to the Committee of Ways and Means and ordered to be printed; Also, a bill (H. R. 1977) to relieve Jones M. Withers, a citizen of Alabama, from all political disabilities imposed by the 3d section of the 14th article of the Constitution of the United States, to the Committee on Reconstruction. By Mr. Blackburn: A bill (H. R. 1978) to relieve all American citizens from the legal and political disabilities imposed by the amendment to the Constitution of the United States known as the 14th article, to the Committee on Reconstruction. Mr. Blackburn moved that the said bill be printed; which motion was disagreed to. By Mr. Van Trump: A bill (H. R. 1979) to increase the pay of the officers in the army of the United States in a graduated scale, to the Committee on Military Affairs. By Mr. William Lawrence: A joint resolution (H. Res. 454) concerning the compensation of women employed in the several executive departments, to the Committee on Appropriations. By Mr. Roderick R. Butler: The memorial of the State of Tennessee, by J. C. Johnson, special commissioner, in regard to the claim of said State for the value of the iron rails &c., removed from the track of the Winchester and Alabama railroad, to the Committee of Claims and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Niblack: A joint resolution (H. Res. 455) directing the Secretary of the Treasury to sell thirty million dollars of the surplus coin now in the Treasury of the United States, to the Committee of Ways and Means. By Mr. Bromwell: A joint resolution (H. Res. 456) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, concerning electoral votes for President and Vice-President of the United States, to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Hamilton: Joint resolution of the legislature of the State of Florida, asking a donation of certain public property in St. Augustine to said State for educational purposes, to the Committee on the Public Lands. By Mr. Cadwalader C. Washburn: A joint resolution (H. Res. 457) extending time to construct a railroad from St. Croix lake to Lake Superior, and granting lands to the Western Wisconsin Railroad Company, to the Committee on the Public Lands and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Sidney Clarke: Concurrent resolutions of the legislature of the State of Kansas; which were severally referred to the Committee on the Public Lands and ordered to be printed, as follows, viz: 1. Protesting against the ratification of the treaty with the Great and Little Osage Indians, unless certain conditions are prescribed; 2. In regard to bona fide settlers upon the Cherokee neutral lands in said State; 3. In favor of the passage of a law authorizing persons who have taken less than 160 acres as homesteads in certain counties in Kansas to prove up and hold enough more to make their claims that amount. By Mr. Charles D. Hubbard: A bill (H. R. 1980) supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide a national currency by pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof." approved June 3, 1864, and for other purposes, to the Committee on Banking and Currency and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Burleigh: A bill (H. R. 1981) in regard to the expenditure of appropriations for the several Indian tribes, to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Benjamin F. Butler: A bill (H. R. 1982) to prevent restrictions on trade by the laws of any State between citizens of the different States, to the Committee on Commerce, together with the accompanying papers; Also, a bill (H. R. 1983) supplemental to an act entitled "An act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864, to the Committee on Banking and Currency and ordered to be printed. By Mr. Young: A bill (H. R. 1984) to remove legal and political disabilities from George Cleland, of Cobb county, State of Georgia, to the Committee on Reconstruction. All the States and Territories having been called for bills on leave, The Speaker announced as the business next in order the joint resolution of the House (H. Res. 448) to prevent the further sale of the public lands of the United States, except as provided for in the pre-emption and homestead laws, and the laws for disposing of town sites and mineral lands, and regulating further grants of lands in aid of railroads, introduced on leave on Monday last, the pending question when the morning hour expired on that day being on the demand for the previous question on its engrossment; When The House refused to second the same. The question then recurring on the engrossment of the said resolution, Mr. Hopkins moved that it be referred to the Committee on the Public Lands. Pending which, Mr. Hopkins moved the previous question, which was seconded and the main question ordered and put, viz: Shall the said resolution be referred to the Committee on the Public Lands? The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are Mr. Samuel B. Axtell Demas Barnes James B. Beck John F. Benjamin Mr. Thomas D. Eliot Mr. John H. Ketcham J. Proctor Knott Mr. Luke P. Poland Row'd E. Trowbridge Fred'k E. Woodbridge. Mr. Kellogg moved that the vote last taken be reconsidered, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to. Mr. Hunter, on leave, introduced a joint resolution (H. Res. 458) granting the consent of Congress provided for in section ten of the act incorporating the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, approved July 2, 1864; which was read a first and second time. Pending the question on its engrossment, Mr. Hunter moved the previous question, which was seconded and the main question ordered, and under the operation thereof the said resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. Being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time and passed. Mr. Hunter moved that the vote last taken be reconsidered, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to. Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in the said joint resolution. By unanimous consent, indefinite leave of absence was granted to Mr. Boles. Mr. Niblack submitted the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That the Clerk of this house be, and is hereby, directed to pay to John D. Young, out of the contingent fund of the House, the sum of $2,509 for his expenses in prosecuting his claim to a seat in this house as a representative of the 9th congressional district of Kentucky. The same having been read, Mr. Niblack moved the previous question; which was seconded and the main question ordered to be put; When Mr. McKee moved that the said resolution be laid on the table. |