under the rule I cannot say all upon this subject I would like to say.

Mr. Chairman, this Congress upon its organization promised the people that the expenses of the Government should be curtailed, and at least a portion of the burdens they had so patiently borne should be removed. For that purpose, and with these objects in view, the joint select Committee on Retrenchment was raised. Among the subjects committed to its charge was the investigation of this very matter of the pay of the clerks in the Departments. I will not say with the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means [Mr. SCHENCK] and the gentleman from Massachusetts, of the Committee on Commerce, [Mr. ELIOT,] that we have worked night and day, in season and out of season. But I will say we have given it every attention its importance demands, and have found that many of these places are nothing but sinecures, that many of the incumbents in other places are utterly worthless to the Government, and as a whole the persons for whose benefit this amendment is intended are better paid than persons performing similar service in any city in the United States. I make the assertion here that nowhere can it be shown that so large an amount of money is paid for so small an amount of work. Not only is the salary as large or larger, but these clerks never work but six hours a day, and oftener but four, against ten and twelve hours in other places. Not only so, but most of them are granted furloughs from one to two months each year without any abatement of salary for their absence from duty.

Early in the session the Committee on Retrenchment introduced into the House a resolution calling on the Departments for information as to the cost of this twenty per cent. for the year ending July last. In answer to the inquiry the following figures were furnished: War Department....

Navy Department.

Treasury Department.....

Post Office Department..

Interior Department..

Patent Office Department.... State Department...

Agriculture Department...

Executive Mansion, Coast Survey, navyyard, Observatory, Arsenal, city post office, public buildings, Bureau of Freedmen, Capitol and Treasury extension, Attorney General, estimated...

Total...........

$345,402 62

47,015 77 647,334 67 55,508 01 124,212 63 31,203 02 17,386 60 20,079 01

50,000 00 $1,318,142 33

Nearly one million and a half dollars, Mr. Chairman, of the hard earnings of the people taken from the Treasury and distributed as a gratuity. I will not say where the bulk of it will finally go, for every gentleman on this floor well knows. Ask the proprietors of the jewelry stores, the billiard saloons, the places of amusement and debauchery, if they feel any interest in the passage of this amendment.

This amendment proposes to go out and hunt up every worthless drone who has been expelled from the Department for incompetency during the year and give him an additional twenty per cent. But, worse than that, several persons have been detected in criminal prac tices within the year and dismissed. Some of them are now either in jail or held to bail to answer for the crimes they have committed. Lest there might be a few dollars of the people's money left in your Treasury this amendment calls up all such; and you manifest your benevolence by visiting the prisoner and ministering to him in his afflictions.

Mr. Chairman, these are but items of the cases in which you are doing injustice to the people in passing this amendment. If you pass it, never again attempt a defense of your extravagance before the people. Discharge your Retrenchment Committee, and give loose rein to every cormorant who seeks entrance to your Treasury.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BENJAMIN] certainly cannot have heard my amendment read, or he would not make the objection he does to it. And I would ask the gentleman from Ten

nessee [Mr. MULLINS] if it was not too delicate a matter, and I will ask any gentleman here to state how he justifies receiving $5,000 a year, in some cases for months before he was elected? I have heard of no scruples of conscience from any one about that.

Mr. MULLINS. I will answer the gentleman. I take it by virtue of the law which you yourselves passed, and which I never asked you to pass. I do not ask for any more than the law gives me.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. So the gentleman would take advantage of an unjust law, while he would begrudge a pittance to these poor people who have large families to support.

Mr. BENJAMIN. I withdraw my amend ment to the amendment.

Mr. ELA. I move to amend the amendment by adding the following:

And to all persons in the employment of the Government of the United States in the city of Washington whose compensation is below the sum of $1.200 per year there shall be paid extra compensation at the rate of twenty per cent. thereupon.

is

Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that if there any class of persons entitled to an increased rate of pay under the provisions of the proposed measure it is those who are compelled to labor, not six hours a day, but ten hours a day, or more. The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. STEVENS] proposes to exclude from the benefits of his proposition the employés of the Government Printing Office; and for that reason I protest against the adoption of his amendment. I desire that they shall be included.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. Let me say to the gentleman that I find upon inquiry that the Superintendent of Public Printing has the right at any time to add to the pay of the employés of the Government Printing Office, and that their compensation has already been raised.

Mr. ELA. There is a law expressly prohibiting the Public Printer from paying to the employés of the Government Printing Office more than is paid in printing offices outside. He is restricted in that way. Now, I repeat that if there is any class of persons entitled to the additional compensation of ten, fifteen, or twenty per cent, it is those who are engaged in the Government Printing Office, and also those Government employés generally whose compensation is less than $1,200 a year. The persons employed in the Government Printing Office work three or four hours a day longer than those engaged in the Departments. The men who receive less than $1,200 a year have families to maintain as well as those who get higher pay, and I protest against any legisla tion from the benefits of which they shall be excluded. I undertake to say that the employés of the Government Printing Office are generally competent to go into the Departments and take clerkships and perform the duties of those clerkships as well as they are performed by the present incumbents.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Does not the gentleman know that the pay of the employés of the Government Printing Office is not fixed by law, but is left to the discretion of the Superintend ent of Public Printing, and that he has already raised their compensation thirty-three and a third per cent. higher than that which is paid for the like work anywhere else in the United States?

Mr. ELA. I know that the Superintendent of Public Printing is, as I have stated, restricted by the limitations of law as to the amount which he shall pay. In addition to that, the employment of these printers will not average more than ten months in the year, if it averages nine; and when they are out of employment their pay is at once cut off. If they are absent from their work a single day a deduction is made from their pay; and if they are not in attendance at the sound of the whistle they lose a quarter of a day's pay. With the clerks in the Departments the case is different. They are absent for weeks and months at a time, and no deduction from their pay is made. I protest against this proposition for increased

pay unless it shall include those who work more hours per day and receive less pay than those now included in the amendment.

Mr. ELA's amendment to the amendment was not agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. I desire simply to say that the gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. ELA] altogether misunderstands my proposition. Under it those who receive the lowest rate of pay, (whatever it may be,) less than $1,400, will receive fifteen per cent. additional.

Mr. GARFIELD. I desire to move to strike out all that part of the amendment which proposes to give this increase of pay to persons not now in the public service. If the pending proposition should in its present form become a law it will give this additional allowance to every person who has been discharged from office, no matter for what cause, though it may have been a misdemeanor or a crime. The persons now out of the public service whom this amendment proposes to pay are scattered all over the United States, so that it will be almost impossible in many cases to discover where they are and how much they are entitled to receive. Besides that, as I have already suggested, this proposition will pay them without regard to their deserts or the cause by which their connection with the public service has terminated. The amendment, if I am not mistaken as to its scope, is one which no gentleman, when he properly understands it, can support. A provision of this objectionable nature was the chief thing that caused the reconsideration and rejection of the bill on this subject heretofore passed.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I move that the committee now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

The committee accordingly rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. WILSON, of lowa, reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had, according to order, had the special order under consideration, being the amendments of the Senate to House bill No. 605, making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the year ending the 30th of June, 1869, and had directed him to report the same back to the House recommending concurrence in some, non-concur. rence in others, and concurrence in some with amendments.

Also, that the committee had under consideration House bill No. 1341, making appropriations and to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes, and had come to no resolution thereon.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Mr. DIXON was granted leave of absence until Thurday; Mr. GETZ until Tuesday; and Mr. VAN AUKEN for one week.

I now

DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATION BILL. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. move that the rules be suspended, and the House resolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union upon the special order. And pending that motion I move that all general debate upon the pending section be closed in two minutes after its consideration shall be resumed by the committee. Mr. INGERSOLL. Say ten minutes. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I will say five.

Mr. MAYNARD. I did not contemplate that we would be called upon to vote on tiris question of twenty per cent. in committee, and that it should be decided without a quorum. I thought the only amendments under consid

eration were the Senate amendments to the legislative, &c., appropriation bill. I desire to withdraw unanimous consent to any arrangement heretofore adopted.

The SPEAKER. It was adopted by unanimous consent; and the Chair knows no way to rescind the order except by unanimous

consent.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I object. Mr. MAYNARD. Does the Chair decide we can go on and legislate on all matters without a quorum.

Mr. BLAINE. The committee does not legislate.

The SPEAKER. The Committee of the Whole does not legislate any more than the Committee of Ways and Means.

Mr. MAYNARD. I understand that less than a quorum can do no business.

The SPEAKER. That was decided before the House weut into committee on this bill by unanimous consent, and it can only be rescinded by unanimous consent.

Mr. WASIIBURNE, of Illinois. I object. Mr. MAYNARD moved that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was disagreed to.

CESSION OF LAND TO THE UNITED STATES.

The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, relative to the cession to the United States of a tract of land near New London, on the Thames, &c.; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed.

DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATION BILL-AGAIN.

The motion to close debate was then agreed to. The question recurred upon the motion to suspend the rules for the purpose of going into Committee of the Whoie.

The motion was agreed to.

So the rules were suspended; and the House accordingly resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, in the chair,) and resumed the consideration of the bill (H. R. No. 1341) making appropriations and to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes.

The pending question was on the amend ment to the amendment, to add the words "and to include only those now in service."

The question being taken on the amend. ment to the amendment, there were-ayes 30, noes 23.

Mr. WASHBURN, of Indiana, demanded tellers.

ask it. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I move that the committee rise and report the bill to the House.

The motion was agreed to.

The committee accordingly rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union had, according to order, had the special order under consideration, being House bill No. 1341, making appropriations and to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes, had made sundry amendments thereto, and had directed him to report the bill and amendments to the House.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. I now offer the amendment in relation to extra com

pensation in the form in which I originally offered it in the Committee of the Whole.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I desire to reserve a point of order on the amendment. The SPEAKER. The Chair would state that if it is the same amendment that the gentleman offered in Committee of the Whole, and has been considered by the Committee of the Whole, it is in order to offer it in the House.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. It was rejected by the Committee of the Whole. The SPEAKER. That may be; but if it was considered in Committee of the Whole it is in order to offer it in the House.

Mr. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania. I move to postpone the further consideration of this bill, and also of the amendments of the Senate to the legislative, &c., appropriation bill, until Monday next after the morning hour. The motion was agreed to.

IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION.

Mr. BUTLER, of Massachusetts. I rise to a privileged question. I submit a report from the committee of investigation relative to the

noes 38.

Mr. ELA. I move to add the following: Including persons employed in the Government Printing Office.

The amendment was disagreed to-ayes nine, noes not counted.

Mr. MULLINS. I move the amendment that I notified the House of a few moments ago, to add the following:

Resolved, That the Treasurer be, and he is hereby, required to refund to each person, firm, or party twenty per cent, of the amount of taxes for public revenue which have been paid by the same to the United States revenue collectors from the 30th day of June, 1867, to the 30th day of June, 1868.

The question being taken on the amendment there were ayes 20, noes 9.

printed. I shall not ask any action on it until there is a fuller House, and I do not care to have it read. I move that the report be recommitted and ordered to be printed. The motion was agreed to.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.

A message from the President, in writing, was communicated by Mr. MoORE, his Private Secretary, who also informed the House that the President had approved and signed bills and joint resolutions of the following titles:

An act (H. R. No. 365) constituting eight hours a day's work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed on behalf of the Government of the United States;

An act (H. R. No. 867) for the relief of

of certain vessels;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 295) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to remit the duties on certain articles contributed to the National Association of American Sharpshooters;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 268) for the relief of Robert Lindsay;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 246) directing the Secretary of State to present to George Wright, master of the British brig J. & G. Wright, a gold chronometer, in appreciation of his personal services in saving the lives of three American seamen wrecked at sea on board of the American schooner Lizzie F. Choate, of Massachusetts;

An act (II. R. No. 1218) appropriating money to sustain the Indian commission and carry out treaties made thereby;

An act (H. R. No. 828) for the relief of Captain William McKean ;

An act (H. R. No. 829) granting a pension to Mrs. Susan Ten Eyck Williamson;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 262) authorizing certain distilled spirits to be turned over to the Surgeon General for the use of the Army hospitals;

An act (H. R. No. 823) granting a pension to George W. Locker;

An act (H. R. No. 826) granting a pension to Michael Mellen;

An act (H. R. No. 827) granting a pension to Ann Wilson;

An act (H. R. No. 258) for the relief of Mary B. Craig;

An act (II. R. No. 280) to grant a pension to Margaret Huston;

Au act (H. R. No. 454) granting a pension to John Kelley;

An act (H. R. No. 455) granting a pension to David Van Nordstrand;

An act (H. R. No. 516) for the relief of the widow and minor children of Benjamin B. Naylor, late a pilot on the gunboat Patapsco;

An act (H. R. No. 517) granting a pension to Cornelia K. Schmidt, widow of Adam Schmidt, deceased, late a private in company A, thirty-seventh Ohio volunteers;

An act (H. R. No. 776) granting a pension to Jephaniah Knapp, of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania;

An act (H. R. No. 824) granting a pension to Annie Vaughn;

An act (H. R. No. 774) granting a pension to Amos Witham;

An act (H. R. No. 519) granting a pension to Eliza J. Rennard, widow of W. K. Rennard, deceased, late a private in tenth Ohio volunteers of war of 1861;

An act (H. R. No. 524) granting a pension to Austin M. Partridge;

An act (H. R. No. 520) to place the name of Josephine K. Bugher on the pension-roll; An act (H. R. No. 665) granting a pension to Susan V. Berg;

An act (H. R. No. 526) increasing the pension of Susan B. Mitchell;

An act (H. R. No. 659) granting a pension to Sarah E. Pickell;

An act (H. R. No. 667) granting a pension to Mary Graham:

An act (H. R. No. 152) for the relief of the widow and children of Henry E. Morse;

An act (H. R. No. 246) to grant a pension to Milton Anderson;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 264) to provide for the sale of the site of Fort Covington, in the State of Maryland;

An act (H. R. No. 257) for the relief of James L. Dickerson;

An act (H. R. No. 822) granting & pension to Hampton Thomson;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 266) to authorize the enlargement of the Hygeia Hotel, at Fortress Monroe, Virginia;

An act (H. R. No. 668) granting a pension to Elizabeth Butler, widow of Cyrus Butler; An act (H. R. No. 769) granting a pension to David Howe:

An act (H. R. No. 772) granting a pension to Robert McCrory;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 294) donating to the Washington City Orphan Asylum the iron railing taken from the old Hall of the House of Representatives;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 216) to authorize the Secretary of War to place at the disposal of the Lincoln Monument Association damaged and captured ordnance;

An act (H. R. No. 176) to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for carrying the mails from the United States to foreign ports, and for other purposes," approved March 25, 1864;

An act (H. R. No. 861) relating to the Supreme Court of the United States;

An act (H. R. No. 538) to extend the boundaries of the collection district of Philadelphia, so as to include the whole consolidated city of Philadelphia;

An act (H. R. No. 196) to reestablish the boundaries of the collection districts of Michigan, and to change the names of the collection districts of Michilimackinac and Port Huron;

An act (H. R. No. 1059) to relieve from disabilities certain persons in States lately in rebellion; and

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 316) extending the time for the completion of the Northern Pacific railroad.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Leave of absence for four days was granted to Mr. ROBERTSON.

ARMS FOR THE MILITIAJOwn

Mr. PAINE, by unanimous consent, from the Committee on Reconstruction, reported a bill (H. R. No. 1355) to provide for the issue of arms for the use of the militia; which was read a first and second time.

The bill, which was read, authorizes and requires the Secretary of War to deliver to the Governor of each State and Territory repre*sented in the Congress of the United States, at the seat of government of such State or Territory for the use of the militia thereof, as many serviceable Springfield rifled muskets, of caliber fifty-eight, with accouterments and equipments, and serviceable field-pieces, with carriages, caissons, equipments, and implements, as the Governor of such State or 'T'erritory shall require for the use of the loyal militia therein, not exceeding two thousand rifled muskets, with accouterments and equipments, and two field-pieces, with carriages, caissons, equipments, and implements, for each congressional district and Territory so represented, upon the certificate of the Governor showing to the satisfaction of the General of the Army that the regiments and companies for which such ordnance and ordnance stores are required are duly organized of loyal citi zens of such State or Territory under the laws thereof; and the ordnance and ordnance stores shall thereafter remain the property of the United States, subject to the control of Congress. dijon ut Mr. PAINE. I demand the previous question. By to wh

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed.

Mr. PAINE moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

CONVICT IMMIGRANTS.

The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the House the following message from the President of the United States; To the House of Representatives s

I transmit to Congress a copy of a dispatch from the United States consul at Elsinore, and of an in

struction from the Secretary of State to the United States minister at Copenhagen, relative to an alleged practice of the Danish authorities to banish convicts to this country. The expediency of making it a penal offense to bring such persons to the United States is submitted to your consideration. ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, June 29, 1868.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I move that the message and the accompanying papers be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and printed.

The motion was agreed to.

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE.

A 'message from the Senate, by Mr. GORHAM, its Secretary, announced that the Senate had passed, without amendment, bills and joint resolutions of the House of the following

titles:

A joint resolution (H. R. No. 96) for the relief of John Sedgwick, collector of internal revenue, third district of California; and

A joint resolution (H. R. No. 321) in relation to the erection of a bridge in Boston harbor.

The message further announced that the Senate had passed, with amendments in which the concurrence of the House was requested, House bills of the following titles:

A bill (H. R. No. 420) to incorporate the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway Com pany in the District of Columbia; and

A bill (H. R. No. 554) making a grant of land to the State of Minnesota to aid in the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi river.94 50 1

The message ge further announced that the Senate insisted upon its amendments to the following House bills, and agreed to the conference asked by the House upon the disagreeing votes of the two Houses upon the same:

A bill (H. R. No. 373) to place the name of Mahala A. Straight upou the pension-roll of the United States;

A bill (H. R. No. 456) granting a pension to the minor children of Pleasant Stoops;

A bill (H. R. No. 518) granting a pension to George F. Gorham, late a private în company B, twenty-ninth regiment Massachusetts volunteer infantry;

A bill (H. R. No. 521) to place the name of Solomon Zachman on the pension-roll; A bill (H. R. No. 522) granting a pension to W. W. Cunningha 525) granting a pension A bill (H. R. No.

to Jeremiah T. Hallett;

A bill (H. R. No. 661) granting a pension to the widow and minor children of William Craft;

A bill (H. R. No. 770) granting a pension to John H. Finlay ;

A bill (H. R. No. 771) granting a pension to John H. Lay;

A bill (H. R. No. 773) granting a pension to William H. McDonald; and

A bill (H. R. No. 825) granting a pension to John W. Hughes;

And that the Senate had appointed as the conferees upon the part of the Senate Mr. VAN WINKLE of West Virginia, Mr. TRUMBULL of Illinois, and Mr. EDMUNDS of Vermont.

The message further announced that the Senate had passed bills of the following titles; in which the concurrence of the House was requested, namely:

A bill (S. No. 487) to disapprove an act of the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory redistricting the Territory and reassigning the judges thereto; and

A bill (S. No. 564) concerning the tax commissioners for the State of Arkansas.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION.

Mr. CULLOM. I ask unanimous consent to report back from the Committee on Foreign Affairs two bills which have been referred to that committee, with a substitute, which I ask to have printed and recommitted.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman cannot report a substitute for two bills. He can report a substitute for one bill, and report back the other bill and move that it be laid on the table.

Mr. CULLOM. Very well; I will do that. I report back, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House bill No. 1139, to establish, under the direction of the Secretary of State, agencies in Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Norway for the promotion of emigration to the United States, with a substitute, which I ask to have printed and recommitted.

The SPEAKER. This can be regarded as an original bill.

Mr. CULLOM. Very well; Ireport it, and ask that it be printed and recommitted.

The bill (H. R. No. 1355) for the encouragement of immigration was read a first and second time, ordered to be printed, and recommitted.

Mr. CULLOM. I move that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of House bill No. 1139, of which I have just given the title, and also House bill No. 1145, to establish an unpaid emigration agency at Liverpool, Glasgow, and Dublin, in Great Britain and Ireland, and that the same be laid on the table.

The motion was agreed to.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Indefinite leave of absence was granted to Mr. SHELLABARGER, on account of ill health. REGISTERING, ETC., OF SHIPS OR VESSELS. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, by unani.

to the widow and minor children of George R. Waters;

A bill (H. R. No. 663) granting a pension to Cyrus K. Wood, the legal representative of Cyrus D. Wood;

A bill (H. R. No. 664) granting a pension

to the minor children of Charles Gouler; A bill (H. R. No. 666) granting a pension to Henry H. Hunter;

to the widow and minor children of Myron A bill (H. R. No. 669) granting a pension Wilklow;

A bill (H. R. No. 670) granting a pension to the widow and children of Andrew Holman; A bill (H. R. No. 672) granting a pension to the widow and minor children of Charles W. Wilcox;

A bill (H. R. No. 673) granting a pension to the widow and minor children of John S. Phelps;

A bill (H. R. No. 675) granting a pension to the widow and minor children of Cornelius L. Rice;

A bill (H. R. No. 676) granting a pension to Thomas Connolly;

Lith

A bill (H. R. No. 677) granting a pension to the minor children of James Heatherly;

mous

mittee on Commerce, with the recommendation amend section five of an act entitled "An act that the same do pass, Senate bill No. 505, to concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels," approved December 31, 1792.

The question was upon ordering the bill to be read a third time.

Mr. SPALDING. Will the gentleman explain the object of this bill?

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. It proposes to change a provision of the present law which requires all the owners of a vessel to make oath every time the vessel is transferred. That provision has been a dead letter for some years past, but has been revived lately, and is deemed the cause of unnecessary trouble.

The bill was then read the third time, and passed.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to

reconsider be laid on the table. The latter motion was agreed to.

BARK AUG. GUARDIEN Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I ask unanimous consent to report back from the

Committee on Commerce, for action at this time, Senate joint resolution No. 36, authoriz ing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue an American register to the bark Aug. Guardien. Mr. MAYNARD. I move that the House now adjourn.

The question was taken; and upon a division there were-ayes 46, noes 25.

So the motion was agred to; and accordingly (at two o'clock and ten minutes p. m.) the House adjourned till Monday next.

PETITION.

The following petition was presented under the rule, and referred to the appropriate com

mittee:

By Mr. O'NEILL: The petition of Catharine Skinner, for a pension.

IN SENATE.

MONDAY, July 6, 1868.

Prayer by Rev. A. D. GILLETTE, D. D. On motion of Mr. MORTON, and by unanimous consent, the reading of the Journal of Friday last was dispensed with.

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Interior, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the 16th ultimo, information in relation to prohibiting Oneida Indians from cutting and removing timber from the common lands of the tribe; which, on motion of Mr. POMEROY, was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, and ordered to be printed. FOURTEENTH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate resolutions of the Legislature of North Carolina, ratifying the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed to the several States by joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress passed on the 13th day of June, 1866, to be designated article fourteen of amendments to the Constitution of the United States; which was ordered to lie on the table, and be printed.

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS.

Mr. CONKLING presented a petition of citizens of Steuben county, New York, praying the passage of the House bill granting pensions to the soldiers of the war of 1812; which

was ordered to lie ou the table, the bill having been reported.

Mr. POMEROY. I have received a petition, very numerously signed, asking for a mail route from Waterville, the terminus of the Union Pacific railway, central branch, by way of Salina, Sharpe's, and Creek county, to Witchita, Kan

sas.

I believe we have passed a post route bill this session; I should have been exceedingly gratified to have got this route upon the bill; but as it is, I move that the petition be referred to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, that it may receive the attention in the next bill that comes from the committee.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN presented a memorial of citizens of New Jersey, protesting against the ratification or confirmation by Congress of any conveyance of any part of the Yosemite valley by the State of California to individuals; which was referred to the Committee on Private Land Claims.

Mr. MORRILL. of Maine, presented the petition of John Bulfinch, praying compensation for the use by the Government of his schooner Wings of the Morning and damages sustained by the explosion of the Government warehouse in Mobile in May, 1865; which was referred to the Committee on Claims.

Mr. CATTELL presented a petition of citi zens of New Jersey, praying the adoption of measures for the reduction of taxes; which was referred to the Committee on Finance.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

(H. R. No. 202) to create the office of surveyor general in the Territory of Utah, and establish a land office in said Territory, and extend the homestead and preemption laws over the same, reported it with amendments.

Mr. HOWE, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the petition of O. N. Cutler, submitted a report, accompanied by a bill (S. No. 591) for the relief of O. N. Cutler. The bill was read and passed to a second reading, and the report was ordered to be printed.

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 588) for the relief of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, reported it without amendment and without any recommendation.

Mr. HOWARD, from the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, to whom was referred the bill (S. No. 570) for a grant of land, and granting the right of way over the public lands to the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, and for other purposes, reported it with amendments.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the petition of John Potts, submitted a report, accompanied by a bill (S. No. 595) for the relief of John Potts. The bill was read and passed to a second reading, and the report was ordered to be printed.

BILLS INTRoduced.

Mr. WILLEY asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 592) relating to the Commissioner of Patents; which was read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. CONKLING asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 593) in addition to the acts concerning naturalization; which was read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 594) for the relief of L. Merchant & Co. and Peter Rosecrantz; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Claims.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

tives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced A message from the House of Representathat the House had passed the bill (S. No. 505) to amend section five of an act entitled "An act

concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels," approved December 31, 1792.

OATH OF OFFICE.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I move to take up for consideration House bill No. 869.

The motion was agreed to; and the bill (H. R. No. 869) prescribing an oath of office to be taken by persons from whom legal disabilities shall have been removed was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It provides that whenever any person, who has participated in the late rebellion, and from whom all legal disabilities arising therefrom has been removed by act of Congress by a vote of two thirds of each House, has been or shall be elected or appointed to any office or place of trust in or under the Government of the United States, he shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, and no other:

"I, A B, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

The Committee on the Judiciary proposed two amendments to the bill. The first amendment was in line five, to strike out the word "has” and insert have."

Mr. TRUMBULL. That is merely a verbal amendment.

The next amendment, was after the word "thereof," in line nine, to insert the words "instead of the oath prescribed by the act of July 2, 1862."

The amendment was agreed to.

The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendments were concurred in.

Mr. SUMNER. I should like to inquire of the Senator from Illinois if I understand the operation of the amendment proposed. It is not to alter the bill substantially as it comes from the other House.

Mr. TRUMBULL. No, sir; to make it more definite. One is grammatical, to strike out the word "has" and insert "have ;" and the other is to insert a provision that the oath prescribed shall be in lieu of the oath required by the act of July 2, 1862.

Mr. SUMNER. That I understand is the effect of the bill as it comes from the House of Representatives, is it not?

Mr. TRUMBULL. I suppose it was intended to be that.

Mr. SUMNER. The language being "he shall before entering upon the duties thereof take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, and no other." That is the language of the House bill, and now it is proposed to insert "instead of the oath prescribed by the act of July 2, 1862."

Mr. TRUMBULL. To make it a little more specific.

Mr. SUMNER. I simply wished to understand it.

The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a third time. The bill was read the third time, and passed.

TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO.

Mr. YATES. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Senate bill No. 417.

The motion was agreed to; and the bill (S. No. 417) to amend an act entitled "An act proposing to the State of Texas the establish ment of her northern and western boundaries, the relinquishment by said State of all terri tory claimed by her exterior to said boundaries, and of all her claims upon the United States, and to establish a territorial government for New Mexico," was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. The act referred to is to be amended so as to provide:

Every bill which shall have passed the council and house of representatives of said Territory shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor of the Territory; if he approve he shall sign it, but if he do not approve it, he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that house it shall become a law, the Governor's objections to the contrary notwithstanding. But in such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal of each bouse respectively. And if the Governor shall not return any bill presented to him for approval, after its passage by both houses of the Legislature, within three days, (Sundays excepted,) after such presentation, the same hall become a law in like manner as if the Governor had approved it: Provided, however. That the Assembly shall not have adjourned sine die during the three days prescribed as above, in which case it shall not become a law.

The bill further provides that the secretary of the Territory of New Mexico shall hereafter be ex officio superintendent of public buildings and grounds, and shall have control and management of all public buildings now erected, in progress of erection, or to be hereafter erected, and of all grounds pertaining thereto; and he is to be under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, who shall establish such rules in relation to these public buildings and grounds as in his judgment he may devise, and for his services as such superintendent the secretary is to receive an annual salary of $1,000. It is to be the duty of the secretary of the Territory, upon the convening of the Legislature thereof, to administer the oath of office to the members-elect of the two houses and the officers thereof when chosen ;

and no other person shall be competent to administer the oath, save in the absence of the secretary; in which case any one member of either house may administer the oath to the presiding officer elect, and he shall administer the same to the members and other officers. The annual salary of the secretary of the Territory is to be $3,000 per annum from and after || the 1st day of February, 1867.

The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment.

Mr. HARLAN. I see from the reading of the bill that the salary of the secretary of the Territory is to be increased and redate back a year or so. I inquire the object of that? Is there any necessity for it?

Mr. YATES. Only that that officer has been in office that long; that is all.

Mr. HARLAN. What is the salary of the secretary now?

Mr. YATES. The salary is $2,000.

Mr. HARLAN. I move to amend the bill so as to make the increase of salary to take effect from and after the passage of this act.

Mr. YATES. I accept the amendment. The CHIEF CLERK. It is proposed to amend the bill in section two, line eleven, by inserting after the word "dollars" the words "to take effect from and after the passage of this act." The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I understand that this bill increases the salary of the secretary of the Territory of New Mexico $1,000. Am I right?

Mr. YATES. One thousand dollars is added

for his services as superintendent of public buildings and grounds.

Mr. TRUMBULL. It takes that much from some other officers?

Mr. YATES. No; it gives him $1,000 as superintendent of public buildings and grounds.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I am not informed in regard to the bill, but if you increase the salary of one of these secretaries to $3,000 the Senate may as well understand they will all be after the same thing. I do not wish to interpose any objection to it more than call attention to it. I leave the subject to the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Appropriations, who usually look after those matters.

Mr. YATES. I see that there is a mistake in the printing of the bill. In the twenty-first line of the second section the word "three' is printed by mistake for two." I move to amend it by striking out "three" and inserting "two;" so as to make the proviso read:

Provided, That the annual salary of the secretary of said Territory shall be $2,000 per annum from and after the 1st day of February, 1867.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. POMEROY. I see that the bill makes provision in reference to the veto power of the Governor? Is that a new provision? How does it change the existing law?

Mr. YATES. The veto power of the Governor of New Mexico is now unqualified. He can veto any law passed by the territorial Legis lature, and it cannot be repassed over his head by a two-thirds vote. This enables a two-thirds vote to pass a bill over his veto.

Mr. POMEROY. It changes the organic act, then, in that respect.

Mr. YATES. Yes, to conform to what our Constitution is, and what the constitution of

Kansas is.

Mr. POMEROY. I do not know what were the reasons which influenced Congress when in passing the organic act for the Territory of New Mexico it provided that the Governor might veto a bill and there should be no remedy in the Legislature. If there were good reasons for it formerly, and those reasons do not exist now, it may be very well to make this change; but I do not understand how the fact is.

Mr. YATES. Under the law as it now stands the veto power of the Governor is absolute. Mr. POMEROY. I understand that, but I say there must have been some reason for it at the time the law was passed, and I want to know whether that reason exists to day.

Mr. YATES. I will state, for the informa tion of the Senator, that the Legislature has

passed a great many laws which have not gone into force because of the Governor's veto. The object of this bill is to regulate the veto power and to allow the representatives of the people in the territorial Legislature to overrule a veto by a two-thirds vote.

Mr. POMEROY. It may be right. The only question I had was why it was not put so in the beginning? Why New Mexico was made an exception to all other Territories? If the Senator and his committee agree that the change should be made I will not oppose it.

Mr. RAMSEY. The organic acts of the Territories differ; they are not alike in this respect. Some territorial Governors had an absolute veto previously to the organization of New Mexico, and the committee have endeavored to make the veto power uniform throughout || the Territories, to make it in all cases a quali- || fied instead of an absolute veto.

Mr. HENDRICKS. I think some little explanation ought to be given of this bill. I suppose my attention was called to it heretofore, but I perceive that it was reported in March last, and other things have excluded it from my mind. I should like to have some explanation of the bill from the chairman of the committee.

Mr. YATES. I have already said that under the law as it now is the Governor of the Territory of New Mexico has an unqualified veto power, without any limitation whatever. The object of the first section of this bill is to provide that the territorial Legislature, by a twothirds vote, may overrule his veto. The other section is that the Secretary of the Treasury shall have the supervision of the public buildings and grounds.

Mr. HENDRICKS. If that is all I see no objection to it.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, was read the third time, and passed.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER IMPROVEMENT.

Mr. POMEROY. I ask the unanimous consent of the Senate to enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which the bill (H. R. No. 554) making a grant of land to the State of Minnesota to aid in the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi was passed on Friday. It is a bill granting some two or three hundred thousand acres of land in the State of Minnesota to improve the Falls of St. Anthony. I do not know but that it is right; but I have been told this morning that the falls are owned by private individuals, and the bill ought not to pass. I wish to enter a motion to reconsider in order that I may have an opportunity to examine and

look into it.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The motion will be entered.

Mr. POMEROY. I will call it up for consideration at some future time.

Mr. RAMSEY. I hope the Senator will do it shortly; within a few days.

Mr. POMEROY. The information which I have received only came to me this morning. I did not know it before. I desire to examine the bill before it goes out of our hands.

Mr. RAMSEY. It is true that the falls in a measure are private property; but the navigation of the river above the falls, which has been much damaged by them, is public property; and the injury to that navigation is what the people there complain of.

Mr. POMEROY. I will inquire of the Chair if the bill to which I refer has gone to the other House?

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair is informed that it has.

Mr. POMEROY. Then I move that the Secretary be directed to request the return of the bill from the House of Representatives. The motion was agreed to.

LADIES' MOUNT VERNON ASSOCIATION. Mr. JOHNSON. The Committee on Claims presented to the Senate to-day a report without expressing any opinion on the question which the bill presents. It is a bill providing compensation upon certain grounds for the

Ladies' Mount Vernon Association. Their memorial I presented to the Senate some three or four weeks ago. It states the whole case, and presents one, as I think, that will command the favor of the Senate. It is shortly this: they were incorporated for the purpose of securing the tomb of Washington. They were comparatively without funds after having paid the purchase-money for the place. The only sonrce of revenue they had was what they received from the passengers, who from day to day went from this city in a steamer under the control of the association, yielding them several thousand dollars, and with that they were enabled to keep the premises in repair. The United States, during the war, having occasion for the use of the steamer, took possession of it, and they lost, therefore, that source and the only source of revenue they had. They are now utterly destitute of all means with which to preserve the house and the tomb of Washington. Their memorial was presented to the House of Representatives, and a bill identical with the one upon your table was reported by the appropriate committee, and was passed by a very large inajority, but the yeas and nays being called it turned out that there was not a quorum, and upon that ground, and that ground alone, it was defeated. The friends of the bill there are exceedingly anxious that the Senate should act upon it, if the Seuate shall see fit to act upon a measure like this at once, there being no doubt that it will forthwith receive the sanction of the House of Representatives; and I am sure that every member of the Senate will instinctively be ready to do anything that shows the veneration in which we all hold the remains of Washington, and everything connected with the place where, for so many years, he resided, and where amid the tears of the nation he died. I move, therefore, that the Senate take up that bill.

The motion was agreed to; and the bill (S. No. 588) for the relief of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union was considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to appropriate $7,000 for the relief of the association.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. Mr. President, I do not know why we should pass this bill. Unless Congress is going to take possession of Mount Vernon and take care of it I do not see why we should make this appropriation. I should be quite willing that Congress should do it in order to rescue it from the disgrace of such care as it has had for the last few years. I understand it is in a very dilapidated condition; but this appropriation is to keep a certain family housed therein, and to contribute to their support.

So far as the equities of the case are concerned any party that suffered damage during the war, any watering establishment that did not receive as much patronage during the war as it would have done if there had been no war, would have the same right and the same claim to come to Congress for a further compensation.

I have been informed-I know not with what truth-that the party who has charge of this Mount Vernon establishment is a regular secessionist, one of the fiercest of the tribe, of the feminine gender. I do not know whether it is true or not, but I have so understood. So far as my sympathies are concerned I am free to say that I have none in favor of the appropriation. I do not think that the matter is well

managed, or will be by the parties who now have it in charge.

Mr. CONKLING. I hope the Senator who moves the bill will give us some statement or explanation in regard to it.

Mr. JOHNSON. I did.

Mr. CONKLING. It is a round appropriation of $7,000 for the benefit of this association, I know that the Senator did say something about it; but I should like to know what has been done a little more specifically with the money, and how it is that its returns, heretofore understood to yield so much, have fallen short.

Mr JOHNSON. I gave the only explanation that I thought necessary to be given;