sation for his services as a soldier in the revolutionary army, and for a grant of the bounty land to which he is entitled for said services.

Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, presented a petition of Cornelius Baldwin, praying compensation for his services rendered as a surgeon in the revolutionary army.

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

On motion of Mr. Edwards,

Ordered, That the petition of Daniel Jones, presented on the 7th March, 1810, be referred to the same committee.

Mr. Merrill presented a petition of Zachariah Harwood, praying to be paid the expenses incurred by him for medicine for, and attendance on, his son while confined by sickness, contracted while a volunteer in the army of the United States, during the late war with Great Britain.

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

On motion of Mr. McCoy,

Ordered, That the petition of Bowie & Kurtz and others, presented on the 15th of February, 1816, be referred to the same committee.

Mr. Lowndes presented a petition of Nathaniel Cutting, praying for a grant of land in consideration of his long and faithful public services.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Hitchcock presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of Cleveland, in the state of Ohio, praying that a light house may be erected on the shore of Lake Erie, near the entrance of the harbor of Cleveland aforesaid.

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

Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, presented a petition of the president and directors, of the Auxiliary Colonization Society, of Federick county, in the state of Virginia, praying that the plan at present before the national legislature, for colonizing the free people of color of the United States, may be adopted and carried into effect.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee appointed on the petition of the representatives of the annual meeting of the society of Friends, in Baltimore.

On motion of Mr. Scott,

Ordered, That leave be given to withdraw the petition of Joseph Hertick, presented on the 17th February, 1815.

On motion of Mr. Scott,

Ordered, That the petition of John Rice Jones, presented on the 24th December 1816, be referred to the committee on Private Land Claims.

Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, from the committee on the Public

Lands, who were instructed on the 12th instant, to inquire what further provisions are necessary, for the more effectual prevention of frauds by the purchasers of public lands, made a report thereon, which was read and ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Williams, from the committee of Claims, made a report on the petition of John Anderson, of the Michigan territory, which was read: when,

Mr. Williams reported a bill for the relief of John Anderson, of the Michigan territory, which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Ordered, That the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims be discharged from a further consideration of the petitions of Gustavus Aldrich, and Andrew S. M'Girk, and that leave be given to withdraw the former, and that the latter be referred to the Secretary of War.

Ordered, That the committee on Private Land Claims be discharged from a further consideration of the petition of sundry inhabitants of Bayou Beouff, and that it be referred to the committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Trimble, from the committee appointed to present to the President of the United States, a resolution concerning R. C. Meade; reported that the committee had performed that service, and that the President answered that he would attend to the request contained in the said resolution.

On motion of Mr. Edwards,

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before this House, information of the number of states, which have ratified the 13th article of the amendments to the Constitution of the Uniteh States, proposed at the second session of the Eleventh Congress.

Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Baldwin, were appointed a committee to present the foregoing resolution to the President of the United States.

On motion of Mr. Murray,

Resolved, That the committee on the Post Office and the Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of changing the post route, between Millerstown in Cumberland county, and Selinsgrove in Union county, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The House took up the bill in addition to the act, entitled "An act for the relief of John Thompson," and ordered the same to be engrossed and read a third time to-morrow.

The following joint resolution was submitted by Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, which was read twice and committed to the committee on the Judiciary.

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representative of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of State be, and he is hereby authorized to cause the laws of the United States, passed or to be passed during the present session,

or any future session of Congress, to be published in any number of newspapers, in each and every state and territory of the United States, not exceeding six; Provided, that in his opinion it shall become necessary and expedient.

On motion of Mr. Storrs,

Resolved, That the committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law, for the introduction into all patents hereafter to be issued, for lands sold or granted by the United States, of a reservation to the use of the United States, of all gold and silver mines.

On motion of Mr. Huntington,

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to lay before this House, a return of the arms and military stores furnished to the respective states, under the provisions of the laws of 1808, appropriating annually, the sum of two hundred thousand dollars for the furnishing arms and military equipments to the whole body of the militia of the United States;" and also to inform this House, on what principle the distribution has been made.

On motion of Mr. Huntington,

Resolved, That the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to take into consideration the expediency of providing by law, to authorize the governors of states and territories for the time being, to receive and transmit through the post offices, all official communications free of postage.

On motion of Mr. Walker, of Kentucky,

Resolved, That the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post route, from Louisville in Kentucky, by Woodsonsville, Glasgow, Burksville, and 'Seventy Six, to Monticello in the same state.

On motion of Mr. Tallmadge,

Resolved, That the committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of continuing the pension of half pay to the widow of captain James Lawrence, deceased, during her widowhood; or, in case of its sooner termination, to his infant daughter, until she arrives to the age of twenty-one years.

On motion of Mr. Peter,

Resolved, That the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post road from Georgetown, District of Columbia, to the cross roads, Sineca Mills, Johnson's Furnace, New Market, and town of Liberty, in the state of Maryland.

The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on the bill for the relief of John Anderson, reported by the committee of Claims on the 30th instant; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Desha reported the same without amendment.

Ordered, That the said bill be engrossed and read a third time to-morrow.

The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on the bill to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States, within the state of Mississippi; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Wilkin reported that the committee had made some progress therein, and directed him to ask leave to sit again.

Ordered, That the said bill be recommitted to the committee on the Judiciary.

The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on the bill to prescribe the effect which certain records and judicial proceedings of the courts of each state, shall have in every other state and in the courts of the United States; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Smith, of Maryland, reported, that the committee had made some progress therein, and directed him to ask leave to sit again.

Ordered, That the committee of the whole have leave to sit again on the said bill.

On motion of Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky,

Ordered, That when the House adjourns it will adjourn to meet again on Friday the 2d of January, 1818. And then the House adjourned.

FRIDAY, January 2, 1818.

Another member, to wit: from Massachusetts, Timothy Fuller, appeared, produced his credentials, and took his seat; the oath to support the constitution of the United States being first administered to him by Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Parris presented a petition of Nathaniel Kinnard, praying for a pension,

Mr. Cushman presented a petition of Jeptha Brown, praying for an increase of the pension heretofore granted to him,

Mr. Ball presented a petition of Rawleigh C. Christian, praying for a pension,

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

On motion of Mr. McCoy,

Ordered, That the petition of Henry Dowberman, presented on the 14th January, 1812, be referred to the same committee. On motion of Mr. Whitman,

Ordered, That the petition of sundry merchants of Portland, in the district of Maine, presented on the 30th January, 1817, be referred to the committee on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Folger presented a petition of William Coffin, on behalf of himself and the other owners of the brig Bonif, praying to be allowed the drawback on a quantity of fish oil, exported from the United States in the said brig, which is denied them for reasons stated in the petition.

Ordered. That the said petition be referred to the committee of Ways and Means.

On motion of Mr. Merrill,

Ordered, That the petition of Isaac Clark, presented on the 3d of April, 1816, be referred to the committee of Claims.

Mr. McCoy presented a petition of John McCausland, praying that a fine imposed upon and paid by him for failing to perform a tour of militia duty in the service of the United States during the late war with Great Britain, may be remitted, as he was at the time of imposing and paying the same, attached to and actually performing duty in another company.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of

Claims.

Mr. Moore presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the counties of Butler, Armstrong and Venango, in the state of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Hitchcock presented petitions of sundry inhabitants of Paintville, New Hagerstown, and their vicinities, in the state of Ohio; which petitions respectively pray the establishment of post

routes.

Mr. Ringgold presented a petition of James F. Huston, postmaster, in Fredericktown, in the state of Maryland, praying for an increase of compensation.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

Mr. Mercer presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the state of Virginia, a copy of that presented by Mr. Ballard Smith on the 9th December last.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committe of the whole, to which is committed the report, in part, of the committee appointed on so much of the President's message as relates to roads, canals, and seminaries of learning.

Mr. Lewis presented a petition of Berryman Green, stating that he is the proprietor of a land warrant granted by the state of Virginia for services in the revolutionary war, and that owing to the insufficiency of the lands set apart to satisfy the same, he has been unable to locate the whole of said warrant, and praying that other lands may be granted him to make up the deficiency.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on Private Land Claims.

Mr. Settle presented a petition of the Manumission and Colonization Society of North Carolina, praying that the plan at present before the National Legislature, for colonizing the free people of color of the United States, may be adopted and carried into effect.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee appointed on a petition from the representatives of the annual meeting of the Society of Friends, in Baltimore.

Mr. Lowndes, from the committee of Ways and Means, made a report on the petition of Purley Keyes, which was read; when