ment depending to the bill, entitled "An act making appropriations for the military service of the United States for the year 1818," made a report which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

A message froin the Senate, by Mr. Cutts, their Secretary: Mr. Speaker The Senate have received official information that the President of the United States did, on the 6th instant, approve and sign an enrolled bill, entitled "An act to allow the benefit of drawback on merchandise transported by land conveyance from Bristol to Boston, and from Boston to Bristol, in like manner as if the same were transported coastwise." And the Senate have passed a bill, entitled "An act for the relief of Martin Warner;" in which they ask the concurrence of this House.

And then he withdrew.

The said bill was read the first and second time, and committed to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

The Speaker laid before the House, a letter from the Comptroller of the Treasury, transmitting a partial list, tendered to him by the Register of the Treasury, of balances which appear to have been due more than three years prior to the 30th September last, or to have remained unsettled on that day; which was ordered to lie on the table.

The Speaker also laid before the House, a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a report of the Director of the Mint, giving the result of sundry assay of foreign coins, made in pursuance of instructions from the Treasury Department, and in obedience to the act of the 29th April, 1816, regulating the currency of certain foreign coins; which was ordered to lie on the table.

Ordered, That the message from the President, in relation to the case of Richard W. Meade, confined in prison in the city of Cadiz, in Spain, and the resolution submitted by Mr. Trimble on the 3d instant in relation to the same subject, be referred to a select committee; and,

Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Trimble, Mr. Hopkinson, Mr. Butler, Mr. Claiborne, Mr. Floyd, and Mr. Simkins, were appointed the said committee.

Ordered, That the select committee, appointed on the claim of the heir of the late Caron de Beumarchais have power to send for persons and papers.

Mr. Harrison gave notice that on to-morrow, he would move the House for leave to introduce a bill to extend for a further term of five years the pensions heretofore granted to the widows and orphans of the officers and soldiers who died, or were killed in the late

war.

Mr. Sergeant submitted the following joint resolution, which was read the first and second time, and ordered to be engrossed and read a third time to-morrow:

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secre

tary of state cause to be distributed one set of State papers and public documents, printed by T. B. Wait & Sons, in pursuance of acts of Congress heretofore passed, to the chief justice, and to each of the judges of the supreme court of the United States.

On motion of Mr. Edwards,

Resolved, That the committee on Military Affairs, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making some provision for the widows of such soldiers of the militia as died after they reached home, in consequence of disease contracted whilst in service.

On motion of Mr. Burwell,

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to lay before this House, a statement of the moneys paid for defraying the expenses of the commissioners, under the 4th, 6th, and 7th articles of the treaty of Ghent, specifying the items of expenditure, and the claims at this time presented for payment.

On motion of Mr. Smith, of Maryland,

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be directed to lay before this House, any information he may possess, relative to the destruction by the enemy, of the foundery of Samuel Hughes, heretofore employed to cast cannon for the Navy Department, and particularly what number of cannon and weight of shot were at said foundery when the same was destroyed; and whether any, and what measures were adopted by the Navy Department, for the protection of the cannon and foundery; and to state what time the cannon and shot were permitted to remain, after they had been proved and received by the Department.

On motion of Mr. M.Lane,

Resolved, That the President of the United States, be requested to communicate to this House, a letter from Arthur Lee, to the commitee of Foreign Relations, dated at Paris, October 6, 1777; and also a letter from Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, to the committee of Foreign Relations, dated the 7th September, 1777, if such letters are now to be found, and if not, that he communicate to this House, whether such letters ever were received, the contents thereof, and in what manner they have been lost; and, Mr. M.Lane and Mr. Austin, were appointed a committee to present the foregoing resolution to the President of the United States.

On motion of Mr. Earle,

Resolved, That the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post route from Andersonville, by the Beaver Dam, to Houston ville, near the Oconney Mountain, in Pendleton district, South Carolina.

On motion of Mr. Cushman,

Resolved, That the committee on Military Affairs, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making further provision by law, to enable any soldiers, enitled to bounty lands, who has receiv

ed an honorable discharge, or a military land warrant, and is unable to produce the same, to obtain a patent.

The House again resolved itself into a committee of the whole House. on the resolutions submitted by Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, Mr. Walker, of North Carolina, and Mr. Comstock; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Smith, of Maryland, reported the agreement of the committee of the whole, to the 6th and 9th resolutions submitted by Mr. Johnson, with amendments to the latter, and their disagreement to the residue of the resolutions committed to them, except the fourth of those submitted by Mr. Johnson, on which he was directed to ask leave to sit again.

Ordered, That the committee of the whole have leave to sit again on the said 4th resolution.

The House proceeded to consider the report of the committee of the whole; when,

Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, moved to add to the 6th resolution, the following, viz:

"And that the committee on Military Affairs be instructed to report a bill, providing for the education at the military school of the United States, of the sons of all officers, noncommissioned officers and privates, who have fallen, fighting the battles of their country."

And on the question to agree to this amendment;

It was determined in the negative.

The said 6th resolution was then again read and agreed to by the House, as follows:

Resolved, That it is expedient to provide by law for the repeal of so much of the act of Congress of the 6th of July, 1812, as authorizes additional pay and emoluments to brevet rank, in the armies of the United States.

The amendments reported by the committee of the whole to the 9th resolution, were read and concurred in by the House, and the said 9th resolution was then agreed to as follows:

Resolved, That the committee on the subject of Military Affairs, be instructed to report a bill, pursuant to the 6th resolution.

The question was then taken to concur with the committee of the whole, in their disagreement to the residue of the resolutions committed to them;

And passed in the affirmative.

Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, then moved the following resolution, viz:

Resolved, That the committee on Military Affairs, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of educating, at the military school of the United States, the sons of all officers, noncommissioned officers and privates, who have fallen, fighting the battles of their country,

And debate arising thereon,

The House adjourned.

FRIDAY, February 13, 1818.

Mr. Mason, of Massachusetts, presented a petition of Thomas B. Wait & Sons, stating that they are preparing for the press a third edition of their state papers, and praying that Congress would authorize a subscription for an additional number of said work, and for its continuation; also, that they may be permitted to publish from the files of this House, and from the records of the Secretary of State, such confidential documents as may now be printed without detriment to the public interest.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Joint Library committee.

Mr. Morton presented a petition of Lemuel Tripp, praying to be allowed the bounty granted by law, to vessels employed in the cod fisheries, which he is unable to obtain in consequence of the capture of his vessel by a British cruizer.

Ordered, That the said petitition be referred to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

Mr. Mason, of Rhode Island, presented a petition of Stephen Olney, an officer in the revolutionary army, who resigned his commission after the capture of the British army at Yorktown, in Virginia, praying to be allowed the pay, bounty, and commutation of half pay for life, which have been allowed to officers, who served until the end of the war.

Mr. Floyd presented a petition of George Greenway, praying to be allowed the pay and bounty, to which he conceives himself entitled for services, as an officer in the revolutionary army.

Mr. Baldwin presented a petition of Thomas Baird and others, heirs of A. Baird, deceased, praying to be allowed and paid the commutation of half pay, to which the deceased was entitled for services, as an officer in the medical department of the revolutionary army.

Mr. Austin presented a petition of Willis Wilson, praying that he may be paid the amount of a certificate, granted him for the commutation of his half pay as an officer of the revolutionary army, which certificate, he alleges, that he was unjustly compelled by the state of Virginia, to return to the United States' Ioan office, in that state, as the only condition on which he could be placed on its pension list.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims.

Mr. Taylor presented a petition of the New York Emigrant Society, praying that a tract of ten townships of public land, in the territory of Illinois, may be vested in trustçes, and set apart for,

and sold to, Irish emigrants, on a credit, beyond what is now given by law.

Mr. Baldwin presented a similar petition from sundry Irishmen, the descendants of Irishmen and other inhabitants of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, in the state of Pennsylvania; and,

Mr. Smith, of Maryland, presented a similar petition of the Hibernian Society of Baltimore.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referrrd to the committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Palmer presented a petition of Frederick Halsey, stating, that during the time the British army was in the town of Plattsburg, in the state of New York, they occupied his houses as deposits for stores, and as quarters for officers, for which they made him compensation, which compensation he delivered over to general Macomb upon the retreat of the British forces, and praying that the amount thereof my be returned to him.

Mr. Tyler presented a petition of Reuben Binns, praying to be allowed and paid the bounty to which he is entitled by virtue of his enlistment, as a soldier in the army of the United States, and which is withheld in consequence of the erroneous accounts of the paymaster of the regiment, to which he belonged.

Mr. Poindexter presented a petition of William Fisher, John B. Bouyage, Diego M·Boy alias MVoy, and of Mary Ann Bouyage, praying compensation for cattle and other property, taken from them during the late war, for the use of the army.

Mr. Poindexter also presented a petition of Edwin Lewis, praying compensation for a quantity of timber, taken for the public use by a detachment of soldiers, belonging to the army of the United States.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee of Claims.

On motion of Mr. Palmer,

Ordered, That the petition of Septa Fillmore, presented on the 2d day of February, 1816, be also referred to the committee of Claims.

Mr. Beecher presented petitions of sundry inhabitants of the counties of Scioto, and Pickaway, in the state of Ohio, praying that a road may be made from Lower Sandusky, on lake Erie, to Chillicothe, in said state.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referrred to the committee appointed on so much of the President's message, as relates to Roads, Canals, and Seminaries of Learning.

Mr. Rhea, from the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims, made reports on the petitions of Jeptha Brown, Samuel White, William Brough, and Joseph Davis, which were read, and the resolutions therein contained, were concurred in by the House, as follows: