The yeas and nays being required by one-fifth of the members

Ordered, That when the House adjourns, it will adjourn to

meet again on Monday next.

And then the House adjourned.

MONDAY, December 7, 1818.

Two other members, to wit: from Maryland, Samuel Ringgold; and from Ohio, Peter Hitchcock, appeared and took their seats.

Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, from the committee for Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee did on Friday last, present to the President of the United States, the enrolled bill, entitled "An act to authorize the employment of an additional number of clerks in the War Department;" and an enrolled resolution, "authorizing the transmission of certain documents free of postage."

On motion of Mr. Sampson,

Ordered, That the petition of Rufus Lincoln, presented on the 13th of April, 1818, be referred to the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims.

Mr. Pawling presented a petition of Hannah Wentz, Elizabeth Connard, and Susannah Evans, heirs and legal representatives of Abraham Nanna, deceased, praying compensation for a large quantity of supplies furnished by the deceased for the use of the revolutionary army.

Mr. Pindall presented a petition of Zedekiah Morgan, an offi. cer in the quartermaster's department in the revolutionary army, praying for a settlement of his accounts, and that he may be repaid the sum of two thousand dollars, which he advanced for the use of his department, and which has never been returned to him; as also, the sum of one hundred dollars, recovered from him by course of law, for a quantity of timber which he was ordered to cut by his su perior officer for the use of the said army.

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

Mr. Sampson presented a petition of David Dexter,

Mr. Rich presented a petition of Samuel Woodman,

Mr. Allen, of Vermont, presented a petition of Rosewell Hop kins,

respectively praying for pensions.

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

Mr. Williams, of Connecticut. presented a petition of Russell Vibbert, praying for a grant of the land to which he conceives himself entitled as a soldier in the late army, which is denied him at the proper office because he enlisted on the day after the arrival of the treaty of peace in the United States.

Mr. Comstock presented a petition of Elijah Leech, and a petition of Esther Pratt, wife of Samuel Pratt, deceased.

Mr. Little presented a petition of Augustus Porter,

respectively praying compensation for property destroyed by the British army upon their invasion of the Niagara frontier in the late

war.

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

On motion of Mr. Tallmadge,

Ordered, That the petition of Frederick Brown, presented on the 5th December, 1817, be referred to the committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Cushman presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the states of Massachusetts and New York, praying for the establishment of a post route.

Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, presented a petition of Joseph Timberlake, postmaster at Fredericksburgh, in Virginia, praying for an increase of his compensation.

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

Mr. Cushman also presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the state of New York, on behalf of the surviving officers of the revolutionary army, which was referred to the committee appointed on the petition of William Jackson, solicitor for said officers."

The Speaker presented a petition of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Alabama territory, accompanied with a census of the inhabitants of said territory; praying that the said territory may be admitted into the Union as a state; which petition was referred to a select committee; and,

Mr. Poindexter, Mr. Claiborne, Mr. Cobb, Mr. Orr, and Mr. Butler, of New Hampshire, were appointed the said committee.

The Speaker also presented another petition from the Legisla tive Council and House of Representatives of the Alabama territory, praying for certain alterations in the judicial system of the said territory; which petition was ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. McLean, of Illinois, presented a petition of the general assembly of the state of Illinois, stating that previous to the survey of the public lands in the district of Shawneetown, several persons settled on public lands, which, since the survey, have been discovered to be the section No. 16, reserved for the use of schools; and pray

ing that other lands may be assigned for the use of schools in such

cases.

Mr. McLean presented another petition of the general assembly of the state of Illinois, praying for a donation of four sections of land for the purpose of establishng thereon the seat of the government of the said state, for twenty years.

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

Mr. Scott presented a petition of Francis Le Clerc, Joseph Boyer, Peter Boyer, and Francis Laforrest; a petition of Andrew Henry; a petition of Joseph Pratte, Robert T. Brown, Walter Wilkinson, Francis Valle, Charles C. Valle, and Celeste Bullett, heirs of Francis Valle, deceased; a petition of Joseph Pratt, in his own right; a petition of Francis Valle, on behalf of himself, and the other heirs of Francis Valle, deceased, late Spanish commandant of St. Genevieve; a petition of Celeste Bullett, by Robert T. Brown, her uncle and friend; a petition of John Bear, assignee of John Anderson; and a petition of Joan Baptiste Pratte, John Baptiste St. Gomes Bauvais, Joan Baptiste Valle, and Joseph Pratte, and others, heirs of Francis Valle, deceased;

respectively praying that their titles to lands in the territory of Missouri, may be confirmed.

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

Mr. Taylor, from the committee of Elections, made the follow ing report:

The committee of Elections, have examined the certificate of election, of John M Lean, who is returned a representative of the state of Illinois, and find the same sufficient to entitle him to a seat in this House. December 7, 1818. John W. Taylor, Chairman.

Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, from the committee of Claims, made a report on the application of Jacob Dox, for compensation for his services as a commissioner on behalf of the United States, in taking evidence on the Niagara frontier, in relation to claims against the United States, which report was read; when,

Mr. Williams reported a bill for the relief of the said Jacob Dox, which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole to-morrow.

Mr. Rhea, from the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims, made a report on the petition of George Merrick, which was read, and the resolution therein contained, was concurred in by the House, as follows:

Resolved, That the petition be rejected.

Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, from the committee on Military Af fairs, reported a bill concerning widows and orphans; which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole to-morrow.

Mr. Johnson submitted to the House, a letter addressed to him

as chairman of the committee on Military Affairs, from the Secretary of War, upon the subject of the establishment of an additional armoury, which was referred to the committee of the whole, to which is committed the bill authorizing the establishment of a national armoury.

Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, from the committee appointed on the petition of William Jackson, solicitor for the surviving officers of the revolutionary army, and to which were referred sundry petitions of said officers, and of inhabitants of the United States on their behalf, made a detailed report upon said petitions, which was read, and committed to a committee of the whole to-morrow.

A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. J. J. Monroe, his Secretary, notifying, that the President did, on the 5th instant, approve and sign, an enrolled bill entitled, "An act to increase the number of clerks in the Department of War;" and an enrolled resolution, “authorizing the transmission of certain documents free of postage."

Ordered, That the Clerk acquaint the Senate therewith..

On motion of Mr. Harrison,

Resolved, That the Judiciary committee, be instructed to in quire into the expediency of providing by law, that the sessions of the circuit and district courts of the United States, for the district of Ohio, be held alternately in the city' of Cincinnatti, and at such other place, as now is, or may hereafter be appointed by law, for holding the same.

Mr. Simkins submitted the following resolution, which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury, be requested to lay before this House, a statement of the sales, public or private, of public lands northwest of the Ohio, the respective years in which such sales have taken place, the credits given on such sales, the sums which have been paid thereon, those which are now due, and the period at which they became so, whether any instalments are yet to fall due, and to what amount; also what descriptions of paper has been received, and what is now receivable in payment for said lands.

On motion of Mr. Poindexter,

Resolved, That the committee on Private Land Claims, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the register of the land office, and receiver of public moneys, west of Pearl river, in the state of Mississippi, to receive additional evidence in the claim to land of the legal representatives of Alexander Montgomery, deceased, founded on a warrant of survey, from the Spanish government, granted to John Montgomery, and reported to the Secretary of the Treasury, according to law.

On motion of Mr. Livermore,

Resolved, That the committee of Ways and Means, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of repealing an act passed March