pre-emption to certain quarter-sections of land;" and "An act explanatory of an act, entitled • An act for the relief of the officers, volunteers, and other persons, engaged in the late campaign against the Seminole Indians,' passed the 4th of May," 1822; in which amendment, and two bills last mentioned, the Senate ask the concurrence of this House. And then he withdrew.

The said two last mentioned bills were, respectively, read the first and second time, and referred, the first to the Committee on the Public Lands; the second, to the Committee on Military Affairs.

The amendment proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act authorizing the Commissiouers of the Sinking Fund to purchase the seven per cent. stock of the United States, in the year 1824," was read, and concurred in by the House.

Ordered, That the Clerk do acquaint the Senate therewith.

A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Mosher, his Secretary, notifying that the President did, on the 19th instant, approve and sign

An act making a partial appropriation for the year 1824;

An act for the relief of certain distillers within the county of Berks,

in the state of Pennsylvania;

An act for the relief of William Kendall;

An act for the relief of Jacob Babbitt;

An act for the relief of Brintnell Robbins;

An act for the relief of William Bartlett and John Stearns, owners of the schooner Angler, and Nathaniel Carver, owner of the schooner Harmony, and others.

Ordered, That the Clerk do acquaint the Senate therewith.
And then the House adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1824.

Mr. Cocke, by leave of the House, presented a resolution, adopted by the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee, "that the Congress of the United States be requested to pass a law authorizing payment to the officers, as well staff officers as others, and soldiers, for property lost by them in the Seminole campaign; and that the ambiguity, or doubtful meaning, of the act of the 4th of May, 1822, be explained, or modified, or that such a construction be given to said act, as will embrace the cases of the claimants;" which resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Ordered, That the Committee of Claims be discharged from the consideration of the petition of Colonel Anthony Gale, and that it be referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, from the Committee of Claims, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act for the relief of Josiah Hook, jun." made a report thereon, adverse to the passage of the said bill; which report and bill were ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, made a report on the petition of Robert S. Forman, accom

panied by a bill for his relief; which bill was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow. Ordered, That the Committee on the Public Lands be discharged from the consideration of the petition of sundry inhabitants of Michilimackinac, referred on the 22d of December ultimo, and that it be laid on the table.

Mr. Little, from the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Joseph Reid and Hannah M. Farr; which was ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Poinsett, from the joint Library Committee, reported the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of appropriating five thousand dollars for the use of the Library of Congress; and,

On the question to agree to the resolution,

It passed in the affirmative.

Mr. Foot, of Connecticut, from the joint Committee for Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee had examined two enrolled bills, entitled "An act authorizing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to purchase the seven per cent. stock of the United States, in the year 1824," and "An act further extending the term of half-pay pensions to the widows and children of officers, seamen, and marines, who died in the public service," and found the same to be truly enrolled; when The Speaker signed the said bills.

Ordered, That the Clerk do acquaint the Senate therewith.

Mr. Moore, of Alabama, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, made a report on the petition of Thomas T. Townley, in behalf of the heirs of the late Don Miguel Eslava, accompanied by a bill confirming to the said heirs sundry claims to land in the city and county of Mobile, in the state of Alabama; which bill was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Mr. Hamilton, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act explanatory of an act, entitled 'An act for the relief of the officers, volunteers, and other persons, engaged in the late campaign against the Seminole Indians, passed the 4th day of May, 1822," reported the same without amendment.

Ordered, That the said bill be committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Ordered, That the Committee on Military Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of the petition of John Francis Girod, and that it be referred to the Committee of Claims.

Ordered, That the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions be discharged from the consideration of that part of the petition of Samuel Howell which prays for compensation for a house destroyed while occupied by the army of the United States, and that it be referred to the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims.

Ordered, That leave be given to withdraw the petition of John Bisland, presented on the 19th of March, 1816.

Ordered, That the report of the Committee of Claims, on the petition of John B. Smith, be committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

On motion of Mr. Cocke,

Resolved, That the report of the Land Commissioners in Louisiana, in the claim of the representatives of the Marquis de Maison Rouge, which was sent to this House by the Secretary of the Treasury, together with all papers and documents accompanying the same, be rereferred to the Committee on Private Land Claims; and that said committee be instructed to report with a view to the final settlement and disposal of said claim.

On motion of Mr. Brent,

Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making provision by law for surveying the coast, from the mouth of the Mississippi to the Sabine river, in Louisiana; and of causing buoys to be placed at, and upon, the shoals and banks off the mouth of Berwick's Bay, at the pass into said bay, which leads from the Gulf of Mexico into the river Têche, so as to render the said passage secure for vessels entering thereinto.

Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire into the expediency of having a light-house erected, or of placing a lamp upon, or near, Point Fêr, or upon, or near, the island of "Belle Isle," in Louisiana, for the facility and security of vessels navigating the coast, at the entrance into the pass which leads into the river Têche.

On motion of Mr. Call,

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire and report what alterations and amendments are necessary in the act of Congress amending an act organizing the territorial government of Florida.

An engrossed resolution, in relation to an intended visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States, was read the third time, and passed, unanimously.

Ordered, That the Clerk do carry the said resolution to the Senate, and ask their concurrence therein.

The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the state of the Union; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Taylor reported, that the committee had, according to order, had the state of the Union, generally, under consideration, and particularly the resolution submited by Mr Webster, on the 8th of December ultimo, to make provision to meet the expenses incident to the appointment of an agent or commissioner to Greece, and had come to no resolution thereon.

And then the House adjourned.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1824.

Ordered, That the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims be discharged from the consideration of the petition of Giles Reed, and that it be referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions.

Mr. Rankin, from the Committee on the Public Lands, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act granting to the state of Alabama the right of pre-emption to certain quarter sections of land," reported the same, without amendment.

Ordered, That the said bill be committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Ordered, That the Committee on the Public Lands be discharged from the consideration of the petitions of Simeon Geren; of the Western Missionary Society; of inhabitants of township No. 4, Range 2, in the Piqua Land District, in the state of Ohio; and of Joseph Smith; and that the said petitions lie on the table.

Mr. Foot, from the joint Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported, that the committee did, this day, present to the President of the -United States, for his approbation, enrolled bills, entitled "An act further extending the term of half-pay pensions to the widows and children of officers, seamen, and marines, who died in the public service," and "An act authorizing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to purchase the seven per cent. stock of the United States, in the year 1824."

Ordered, That the Committee for the District of Columbia be discharged from the consideration of the petition of William Thornton, and that it be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

On motion of Mr. Cocke,

Resolved, That the committee on so much of the public accounts and expenditures, as relates to the Department of the Navy, be instructed to inquire and report, specially, touching the contingent expenses in the Navy Department, in the years 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, and 1823, designating the objects of expenditure in each year, separately, and to whom paid.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, transmitting a list of the officers of the Navy of the United States, denoting the periods of their admission into the public service, the dates of their present commissions, and the time of their actual service at sea, since the 1st January, 1815; prepared in obedience to a resolution of this House, of the 16th of December ultimo; which letter and list were ordered to lie on the table.

A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Mosher, his Secretary, notifying that the President did, this day, approve and sign "An act authorizing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to purchase the seven per cent. stock of the United States, in the year 1824," and "An act further extending the term of the half-pay pensions to the widows and children of officers, seamen, and marines, who died in the public service."

Ordered, That the Clerk do acquaint the Senate therewith.

The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole House on the state of the Union; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Taylor reported, that the committee had, according to order, had the state of the Union, generally, under consideration, and particularly the resolution submitted on the 8th of December ultimo, by Mr. Webster, to make provision for the expense

attending the sending an agent or commissioner to Greece, and had come to no resolution thereon.

And then the House adjourned.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1824.

Mr. M'Lane, of Delaware, from the Committee of Ways and Means, reported a bill making appropriations for the support of Government, for the year 1824; which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Mr. M'Lane, from the same committee, reported a bill making appropriations for the military service of the United States for the year 1824; [pay of the army] which was read the first and second time, and committed to the committee of the whole House to which is committed the bill making appropriations for the support of Government.

Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, from the Committee of Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of the heirs of William Forbes; which was committed to a committee of the whole House to

morrow.

Mr. Williams, from the same committee, made unfavorable reports on the petitions of Daniel Fielding; of inhabitants of East Baton Rouge; of Samuel Allen and James H. Leonard; and of Thomas Cutts, jr.; which reports were ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Rich, from the same committee, made a report on the petition of Charles Humphrey, accompanied by a bill for his relief; which bill was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Mr. Newton, from the Committee on Commerce, reported a bill to allow a salary to the Collector of the port of entry for the district of Pensacola, and to abolish the office of surveyor; which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Mr. Newton, from the same committee, reported a bill to abolish the office of Measurer; which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Mr. Hamilton, from the Committee on Military Affairs, made an unfavorable report on the memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, on behalf of a company of rangers in the late war, under the command of Captain James Biggar; which report was ordered to lie on the table.

Ordered, That the Committee on Military Affairs be discharged from the consideration of the memorial of the officers engaged in the late war against the Seminole Indians, as, also, of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee, on behalf of the said officers; and that the said memorial and resolutions be committed to the committee of the whole House to which is committed the bill from the Senate explanatory of the act of the 4th of May, 1822, for the relief of the officers and volunteers engaged in the late campaign against the Seminole Indians.

Mr. Little, from the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary