Mr. MAYNARD. I desire to say in this case that in the opposition I have made to the resolution I have not been moved by any doubt that the present clerk has rendered service commensurate with what it is proposed to pay him. It is not because I do not think he is worthy of all the resolution would give him;

but I can see in this resolution that it fastens upon us another salaried officer in the shape of a committee clerk. Reference has been made to the clerk of the Committee of Claims. Before the establishment of the Court of Claims that committee had all the business before it that now devolves upon the Court of Claims. It was really a judicial body. It kept a record, and it was necessary to have a clerk of consid erable acquirements. He was, in fact, a man of very high character. But since the Court of Claims has been established the business

of the committee has dwindled and become inconsiderable, and the clerk of that committee ought not to be salaried any more than ten other clerks of committees in the House. We know that the Committee on Invalid Pensions has a great amount of business to do at this time, but after one or two Congresses the business will fall off unless we have another war. We know the claims of pensioners under the revolutionary war and the war of 1812 are referred to a single committee, and that it has very little work at all. If I am incorrect my colleague will correct me. I should be unwilling, therefore, to see the clerk of this committee made a salaried officer. The House has never been niggardly toward its officers. It has always been liberal, and I am quite sure it will be so in this case. I trust, therefore, that the gentleman will not feel bound to pass his resolution.

PETITIONS, ETC.

The following petitions, &c., were presented under the rule, and referred to the appropriate

committees:

By Mr. COBURN: A memorial of Delass Indiana, praying for the enlargement of the Root and others, citizens of Indianapolis, ship-canal at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

By Mr. HILL: The petition of John P. Brown and others, of Charlottesburg, Morris county, New Jersey, representing that the depression of manufacturing industry affects disastrously every form of production and business, and must reduce the revenues and endanger the credit of the Government, and praying for such increase of protective duties as will revive manufactures and restore prosperity to the country.

petition of Captain Hogshead and others, of By Mr. JONES, of North Carolina: The North Carolina, asking compensation for services rendered the United States during the rebellion.

By Mr. KELLEY: The petition of La Fayette Green, Hon. W. W. Holden, and seven others, of the county of Stanley, North Carolina, asking for the removal of disabilities of said La Fayette Green.

Also, the petition of Edward W. Davis, of the county of Stanley, State of North Carolina, asking for the reinoval of his disabilities.

Also, the petition of James T. Ramsey, of the county of Stanley, State of North Carolina, asking for the removal of disabilities.

Also, the petition of John W. Morton and 7 others, of the county of Stanley, State of North Carolina, asking for the removal of disabilities of said Morton.

IN SENATE.
FRIDAY, July 10, 1868.

Prayer by Rev. E. H. GRAY, D. D.

yesterday was dispensed with.

RESIGNATION OF SENATOR JOHNSON.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate the following communication; which was read:

Mr. MILLER. A word in reply to the gentleman from Tennessee. I hope he will not insist upon his objection. This laborer is certainly worthy of his hire. We have had during this session seven hundred and eighty-five On motion of Mr. WILLIAMS, and by unancases before the committee. This gentlemanimous consent, the reading of the Journal of has received for his compensation during the last Congress for one year only $792. He has had to commence early in the morning and work till late in the day. The lowest salary of Department clerks is $1,200, and they work from nine till three or four o'clock. Now, I am perfectly willing to limit the compensation to the present Congress. We ought to include the entire Fortieth Congress, but as the Clerk of the House has settled the account till the 1st of July we cannot go back. This gives the young man a meager compensation for the labor he has before him. The constituents of the gentleman from Tennessee bring before our committee their full share of the labor which this clerk has to perform. I hope, therefore, the resolution will pass. I demand the previous question.

The SPEAKER. The Chair understands the gentleman to amend the resolution limiting the compensation to the 4th of March, 1869. If there is no objection the amendment will be considered as agreed to. The question is on the resolution as amended.

Mr. MAYNARD. I understood the gentleman to demand the previous question.

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman insist on the previous question?

Mr. MAYNARD. Suppose the previous question is sustained, and the House then adjourns, when will the resolution come up before the House again?

The SPEAKER. The Chair thinks it will come up as unfinished business as soon as the business pending at the recess to-day is completed in reference to the Falls of St. Anthony.

Mr. MAYNARD. I suggest that it take that course.

Accordingly, by unanimous consent, the previous question was seconded and the main question ordered.

Mr. MAYNARD. I move that the House adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; and thereupon (at nine o'clock and forty minutes p. m.) the House adjourned.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1868.

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I write by this day's mail, to the Governor of my State, resigning my seat as a Senator of Maryland, the resignation to take effect at once. Do me the favor to make the fact known to the Senate.

I remain, with high regard, your obedient servant, REVERDY JOHNSON.

Hon. BENJAMIN F. WADE, President United States Senate, Washington.

HOUSE BILL REFERRED.

The bill (H. R. No. 1381) providing for an election in Virginia, yesterday received from the House of Representatives for concurrence, was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS.

Mr. WILSON presented a petition of officers of the United States Army praying the passage of the bill to fix and equalize the pay of officers and to establish the pay of enlisted soldiers of the Army; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

Mr. HOWE presented a petition of soldiers and widows of soldiers of the war of 1812, praying to be allowed pensions; which was referred to the Committee on Pensions.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

Mr. DRAKE, from the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, submitted a report accompanied by a joint resolution (S. R. No. 157) in relation to the Union Pacific railway, eastern division. The joint resolution was read and passed to a second reading, and the report was ordered to be printed.

Mr. MORGAN. The Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the draft of a section prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury for incorporation into one of the fiscal bills, together with a communication from the Sec

retary of the Treasury recommending the repeal of all acts and parts of acts which authorise the abatement, reduction, or return of duties on account of damages occurring to merchandise during a voyage, or from injury or destruction by fire, or other cause, after reaching port and while yet in custody of customs officers, have had the same under consideration, and have come to a conclusion unfavorable to the recom

mendation of the Secretary, and have directed me to make a report in writing. I move that the report be printed.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. VAN WINKLE, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the following bills, reported them without amendment: A bill (H. R. No. 1222) granting a pension to Catharine Ginsler;

A bill (H. R. No. 1223) granting a pension to Margaret Filson;

A bill (H. R. No. 1224) granting a pension to Jane E. Rogers;

A bill (H. R. No. 1225) granting a pension to Patrick Collins;

A bill (H. R. No. 1226) granting a pension to Barbara Weisse;

A bill (H. R. No. 1228) granting a pension to Joanna L. Shaw;

A bill (H. R. No. 1229) granting a pension to Anna H. Pratt;

A bill (H. R. No. 1230) granting a pension to Hannah K. Cook;

A bill (H. R. No. 1231) granting a pension to John Morley;

A bill (H. R. No. 1232) granting a pension to Ruth Barton;

A bill (H. R. No. 1233) granting a pension to William F. Moses;

A bill (H. R. No. 1234) granting a pension to Frederica Brielmayer;

A bili (H. R. No. 1235) granting a pension to Johannah Connelly;

A bill (H. R. No. 1236) granting a pension to the minor children of Michael Travis;

A bill (H. R. No. 1237) granting a pension to the widow and minor children of James Cox; and

A bill (H. R. No. 1238) granting a pension to Lavinia A. Gittings, mother of Andrew J. Gittings.

Mr. VAN WINKLE. I also report back the bill (H. R. No. 1227) granting a pension to Martha Ann Wallace, with a view of asking to be discharged from it, and at the request of the friends of the applicant I move its reference to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont, from the Committee on Finance, to whom was referred the memorial of members of the First Church and Society of Boston, submitted an adverse report thereon; which was ordered to be printed.

He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the memorial of the Protestant Episcopal parish of St. Mary's, Burlington, New Jersey, submitted an adverse report thereon; which was ordered to be printed.

TRUSTEES OF colored SCHOOLS.

Mr. PATTERSON, of New Hampshire. The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom the subject was referred, have directed me to report a bill (S. No. 609) transferring the duties of trustees of colored schools of Washington and Georgetown, and to ask for action upon it at this time. It is very short and will take but a moment.

By unanimous consent, the bill was read twice by its title and considered as in Committee of the Whole. It proposes to so modify the acts of Congress authorizing the appointment and defining the duties of the board of trustees of colored schools for the cities of Washington and Georgetown as to transfer all the duties heretofore imposed by those acts ou the trustees of colored schools to the trustees of the public schools in those cities.

The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

PUBLIC EXPENDITURES.

Mr. HOWARD. I ask the Senate to take up the joint resolution (S. R. No. 72) for the relief of John M. Broome and others, the band of the twelfth Kentucky infantry.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It requires unanimous consent to take it up at this time. Mr. POMEROY. Are resolutions in order. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. They are, if we can get at them.

Mr. POMEROY. The Senator from Indiana [Mr. HENDRICKS] some time ago offered a resolution of inquiry in the morning hour which was passed. Subsequently I moved a reconsideration with a view of amending it. I now desire to have the motion acted upon, and then to offer an amendment to the resolution and let it be passed. I suppose it is in order to do that now.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair will put the question on the motion to reconsider.

The motion was agreed to; and the question recurred on the passage of the following resolution:

Resolved. That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to inform the Senate what have been the monthly expenditures and the average expenditures per month of the War, Navy, and Interior Departments since the 1st day of July, 1865; and also the monthly expenditures of each bureau of said Departments during the present fiscal year.

The reso

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. lution is now open to amendment. Mr. POMEROY. I offer the following amendment

Mr. CONNESS. I suppose it is not proposed to consider it now.

Mr. POMEROY. If it takes any time I do not wish to urge it.

Mr. CONNESS. I hope it will lie over. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It cannot be considered, objection being made. Reports from committees are still in order.

Mr. POMEROY. I do not understand the Chair. Does the Chair rule that it is not in order?

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It is not in order because it is objected to, and the morning business has not been gone through with.

Mr. POMEROY. This is morning business, and resolutions are now in order.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolution has been reconsidered, and now you propose to put it on its passage, and I suppose that does not come within the rule. It must wait until the morning business is disposed of if objection is made.

Mr. POMEROY. Is there any objection? Mr. HENDRICKS. It will be discussed. Mr. CONNESS. I think it had better be laid over until to-morrow.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is made, and the resolution will lie over.

BILLS INTRODUCED.

Mr. RAMSEY asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 608) to incorporate the United States Postal Telegraph Company and to establish a postal telegraph system; which was read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. WILLIAMS asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a joint resolution (S. R. No. 158) to extend the act establishing the Court of Claims to the claims arising under the act of the 2d of March, 1861, providing for the payment of the expenses of the Washington and Oregon Indian war of 1855-56; which was read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. CONKLING asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 610) in relation to corporations created by laws of the United States; which was read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

resolution, and ask for its present consideration:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to furnish the Senate with a description of the Presidio military reservation, including Black Point, lying upon the Bay of San Francisco; accompanied by a diagram showing the external boundaries, the area, and the portions of said reservation actually occupied by the United States.

Mr. CONNESS. I wish to suggest that

these are two several reservations, and the language ought to be changed a little if the information is wanted as to both.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I desire a description of all the military reservations lying between San Francisco and the ocean, both of the Presidio and of the Black Point reservation.

Mr. CONNESS. They are separate reserv. ations.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I say "including Black Point."

Mr. CONNESS. Very well.

Mr. COLE. I suppose they are really all occupied by the military authorities as reservations and reserved for military purposes. do not know the object of the resolution. I have no special objection to it.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I simply wish to say that there are questions pending before the Committee on Private Land Claims that render it necessary for that committee to have this information. I understand that there is a large tract of land reserved there by the United States, exceeding fourteen hundred acres, and I desire to know exactly the external boundaries of the reservations and these portions that are actually occupied. There are certain portions of the reservations that are not actually occupied by the United States for any purpose. I simply wish that information to enable the Committee on Private Land Claims to transact its business and to investigate claims that are pending before the committee.

Mr. COLE. Will the Senator from Oregon be so good as to state what claims there are before the committee on which this information is desired?

Mr. WILLIAMS. There may be business before the Committee on Private Land Claims of which the honorable Senator is ignorant. I have no objection to stating the business. One case is an application on the part of Mrs. Jessie Frémont for indemnification for property that was taken, as she claims, by the military authorities in violation of her rights; and this information is desired for the purpose of enabling the committee to consider that claim. Mr. CONNESS. There can be no objection to it.

Mr. COLE. As it is an application for information, I do not suppose there can be any objection.

The resolution was agreed to.

INTERNAL TAXES.

Mr. YATES. I happened to be absent yesterday in my committee-room when the final vote was taken on the tax bill. I simply desire to say that if I had been present I should have voted for the bill.

BILL RECOMMITTED.

On motion of Mr. HENDRICKS, the joint resolution (H. R. No. 215) relative to the Louisville Bridge Company, was taken from the table and recommitted to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads.

PRINTING OF A DOCUMENT.

Mr. ANTHONY. I move to reconsider the vote by which the Senate the day before yesterday rejected a resolution to print a report from the Quartermaster General of the Army. I desire to have it reconsidered with a view of

recommitting it to the Committee on Printing.

The motion to reconsider was agreed to. Mr. ANTHONY. I now move to recommit it to the Committee on Printing. The motion was agreed to.

RIGHTS OF CITIZENS ABROAD.

RESERVATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I should like to have that lie over until the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations comes in. I presume he will be here in a short time.

Mr. CONNESS. I wish to say that the honorable chairman has already suggested that he would be ready for its consideration at the beginning of the week, and it is in accordance with that suggestion that I make this motion.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I think it would be no more than right to let it lie until he comes in.

Mr. CONNESS. To let it lie until he comes in is simply to let it lie for another day. I ask a vote on my motion. There can be no objection to it. Mr. SHERMAN. I desire to have an understanding with the Senator from California, that it shall not be antagonized to the funding bill which is now the special order, and on which I hope to get a vote to-day or

to-morrow.

Mr. CONNESS. I agree with the Senator that that bill must have precedence.

Mr. SHERMAN. That is the only thing I have charge of, and with that understanding I have no objection.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on making the bill mentioned by the Senator from California the special order for Monday next at one o'clock.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I hope not; I only ask the Senator to wait until the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations is present.

Mr. CONNESS. I make a full answer to that. It appears to me that the Senator ought to accept my answer. The whole Senate will bear witness to the motion I made a few days since, and at the suggestion of the Senator from Massachusetts I withdrew the motion that I then made. The suggestion was that he would be ready in the beginning of the week for that bill. I now make this motion in accordance with that suggestion, which I know will be acceptable to him.

Mr. POMEROY. I do not wish to object to the bill being considered; I want to consider it, but there are bills to protect American citizens at home that should be considered. I am quite as anxious to protect American citizens at home as I am to protect American citizens abroad, and I should not like to sacrifice the interests of American citizens at home to those abroad. I am ready to consider that bill at any time the Senator can get it up.

Mr. CONNESS. The honorable Senator is a little at fault in what he says. American citizens at home are not in jeopardy as citizens abroad are.

Mr. POMEROY. Some of them are very much so.

Mr. CONNESS. I ask for a vote on my motion.

Mr. FESSENDEN. I hope the bill will not be made a special order under the circumstances.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The quesMonday next at one o'clock. tion is on making the bill a special order for

Mr. CONNESS. I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. MORTON. As a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, I hope the bill will be made a special order for Monday. I know of no reason why it should not.

Mr. CONNESS. There is not any reason at all.

resulted—yeas 22, nays 8; as follows: The question being taken by yeas and nays,

YEAS-Messrs. Buckalew, Cameron, Cattell, Cole, Conness, Davis, Drake, Harlan, Hendricks, Howard, McCreery, Morgan, Morton, Nye, Ramsey, Ross, Stewart, Thayer, Wade, Williams, Wilson, and Yates-22.

NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, Morrill of Vermont, Pomeroy, Trumbull, and Vickers-8.

ABSENT-Messrs. Bayard, Chandler, Conkling, Corbett, Cragin, Dixon, Doolittle, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Henderson, Howe, McDonald, Morrill of Maine, Norton, Osborn, Patterson of New

Hampshire, Patterson of Tennessee, Rice, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Tipton, Van Winkle, Welch, and Willey-27.

So the motion was agreed to.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced that the House had passed the following bills of the Senate without amendment:

A bill (S. No. 232) granting a pension to Henrietta Nobles;

A bill (S. No. 238) granting a pension to Carrie E. Burdett;

A bill (S. No. 282) granting a pension to Annie E. Dixon;

A bill (S. No. 291) granting a pension to Ann Kelley, widow of Bernard Kelley;

A bill (S. No. 292) granting a pension to Maria Raftery;

A bill (S. No. 316) for the relief of Rebecca V. Senor, mother of James H. Senor, deceased; A bill (S. No. 318) for the relief of Charlotte Posey, widow of Sebastian R. Posey;

A bill (S. No. 321) for the relief of Mrs. Mary Gaither, widow of Wiley Gaither, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 332) granting a pension to John W. Harris ;

A bill (S. No. 333) for the relief of Julia M. Molin;

A bill (S. No. 342) granting a pension to Thomas Stewart;

A bill (S. No. 359) granting a pension to Louisa Fitch, widow of E. P. Fitch, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 381) granting a pension to Edward Hamel, minor child of Edward Hamel, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 427) for the relief of the widow and children of John W. Jameson;

A bill (S. No. 434) for the relief of Elizabeth Barker, widow of Alexander Barker, deceased; A bill (S. No. 456) for the relief of Sylvester Nugent;

A bill (S. No. 494) granting a pension to Elizabeth Steepleton, widow of Harrison W. Steepleton, deceased';

A bill (S. No. 495) for the relief of Henry Reens;

A bill (S. No. 497) for the relief of Catharine Wands;

A bill (S. No. 498) granting a pension to Anna M. Howard;

A bill (S. No. 500) granting a pension to Lucinda R. Johnson;

A bill (S. No. 501) granting a pension to Harriet W. Pond;

A bill (S. No. 520) granting a pension to Martha Stout; and

A bill (S. No. 549) granting an increase of pension to Catharine Eckhardt.

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

A bill (S. No. 175) for the relief of Joseph McGhee Cameron, and Mary Jane Cameron, minor children of La Fayette Cameron, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 382) granting an increase of pension to Obadiah T. Plum;

A bill (S. No. 422) granting a pension to Maria Schweitzer and the children of Conrad Schweitzer, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 518) granting a pension to the widow and child of John P. Felty;

A bill (S. No. 547) granting a pension to John Sheets;

A bill (S. No. 314) for the relief of George T. Brien;

A bill (S. No. 383) granting a pension to John A. Weed and Elizabeth J. Weed, minor children of Robert T. Weed, deceased;

A bill (S. No. 517) granting a pension to the widow and children of Henry Brown; and A bill (S. No. 521) granting a pension to the children of William M. Wooten, deceased. The message also announced that the House had passed the following bills, in which it requested the concurrence of the Senate:

A bill (H. R. No. 1337) granting an increase of pension to Frances T. Richardson, widow

of the, late Major General Israel B. Richardson; and.

A bill (H. R. No. 1363) granting an increase of pension to Emily B. Bidwell, widow of Brigadier General Daniel D. Bidwell.

ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE.

Mr. HARLAN. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of House joint resolution No. 201.

Mr. CATTELL. I cannot refrain from saying that I think a bill of a good deal of public importance, which was up yesterday and pretty well discussed, and laid over at the request of the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. TRUMBULL,] should properly come up first this morning and be disposed of.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is nothing for the Senator to do but to object until the morning business is disposed of.

Mr. CATTELL. I do not like to do so ungracious a thing as to object.

Mr. HARLAN. I hope the Senator will not object

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the motion of the Senator from Iowa. The motion was agreed to; and the Senate resumed the consideration of the joint resolution (H. R. No. 201) in relation to the Rock Island bridge.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I move to amend the joint resolution by inserting after the words "Rock Island," in the ninth line, the words "to connect said island with the cities of Davenport and Rock Island." That is the language of the original act. It will make it more specific.

Mr. EDMUNDS. Explain the necessity of it.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I want it to be specific, that it is the bridge provided for there, and

not elsewhere.

Mr. SHERMAN. The island of Rock Island, as I understand, is a little above those two cities.

Mr. TRUMBULL. The language of the a bridge to original act passed in 1867, is connect the island of Rock Island with the cities of Davenport and Rock Island," and I propose to insert these words so as to have it specific. They are the very words of the original act.

Mr. SHERMAN. Does that increase the length of the bridge?

Mr. TRUMBULL. I do not think it changes it at all; but I thought it was proper that it should be specific, and as the joint resolution must go back to the House I thought it better to adopt the very words of the law.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I desire to ask my friend from Iowa whether he would object to an amendment of this character:

Provided, That in no case shall the cost of the bridge exceed $1,000,000?

Mr. HARLAN. The joint resolution now provides that it shall not exceed the estimates, and I think the estimates were $1,000,000. Therefore I do not see any necessity for the amendment suggested by my honorable friend from Vermont.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I think you had better accept it.

The ques

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. tion now is on the amendment offered by the Senator from Illinois.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HARLAN. I will not object to the amendment suggested by the Senator from Vermont.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. Then I move to insert at the end of the first section the following proviso:

And provided also, That in no case shall the expenditure on the part of the United States exceed $1,000,000.

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. WILSON. I desire to say a word in regard to this measure. It is a very large appropriation, but I suppose we must make it as we have undertaken this work. I hope, however, that we shall for some time to come be

spared the pressure that I plainly see is to be made upon us for expenditures at Rock Island, amounting to millions of dollars. In the first place, as a matter of fact, it was not necessary to have this arsenal there. We have an arsenal now that can make ten thousand arms a day, three hundred thousand arms a year, and we have more than two million muskets and rifles on hand. We do not wish to make any, and do not wish to improve any. We have improved about fifty thousand of the Springfield muskets that we have on hand at the present time. That institution is more than ample for all the needs of the country. But it was thought best for local reasons to establish this arsenal. I voted for it on account of the fact that it was claimed as a local measure; but when I did so I had no idea that we were to go on and establish an institution on a plan so vast as is now proposed, and that we proposed to expend such enormous sums of money upon it. I know vast sums are to be asked for it, sums that will dwarf this appropriation or any that we ever dreamed of.

I consider it a great mistake that we entered on this work, because we do not need it, and we ought not to establish such institutions East, West, North, or South unless they are absolutely needed for the good of the common country; but we have entered upon it. This bridge, which is to connect the cities of Davenport and Rock Island, will be, of course, for the interest of this arsenal if we are to go on and build it up.

A considerable sum of money has already been expended there; and I know that the gentleman who has charge of it feels that it is a magnificent place; that it is a place where we should lay out several million dollars in establishing an arsenal. I expect that Congress will be called to appropriate six or ten million dollars to build up this work. I do not wish to undertake to arrest this work after we have begun it; but I hope that those who take an interest in it will see to it that all these extravagant aspirations and pretensions are kept of money as are necessary for the country at down, and that we spend only such amounts this place, and that we proceed gradually and slowly in building up that institution. It is fixed there, and I have no doubt will stay there.

I desire to say this much because I know that the gentleman who is at the head of this foundations there on a large and broad scale, institution at Rock Island, desires to lay the of an establishment that must cost many million dollars before it is completed. I hope that those who are friendly to it will not press us into these extravagant appropriations, and especially that those of us who think we ought to proceed with some degree of care in this project, will not be held here or elsewhere as being actuated by a local spirit or a feeling of jealousy simply because this institution is in another part of the country.

General Dyer, chief of the ordnance office, states in a note to me that the expenditures at Springfield armory from 1795 to 31st May, 1868,

and at Rock Island arsenal from its establishment in 1862 to 31st May, 1868, have been as follows:

Springfield for buildings, improvements, and machinery. Unless carefully watched by Congress we shall soon find that the expenditures at Rock Island will cast in the shade all the expenditures made at Springfield during the past seventy years. I call the attention of our friends from the West to this demand for vast expenditures for this armory in time of peace. Mr. HARLAN. Perhaps I ought to say, in response to the Senator's appeal, that I shall not press any appropriation for the construction of additional works at Rock Island beyond those which the committee, over which the Senator so ably presides, shall deem demanded by the best interests of the country. I do not agree with him as to the original propriety of locating these works there; I think it was highly proper that they should be located there. Arms will be needed on that side of the Republic probably for a long series of years, more than at any other point. I think it is a very appropriate place to have a depot of arms; but I shall not press any appropriation beyond that which his committee will recommend.

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I shall content myself with merely calling for the yeas and nays on this resolution. Without any reference to the arsenal, I consider this appropriation wholly improper. I merely ask for the yeas and nays upon it.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator ask for the yeas and nays on the third reading or on the passage of the joint resolution?

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. On its passage.

The amendments were ordered to be engrossed, and the joint resolution to be read a third time. It was read the third time.

Mr. MORGAN. I beg to inquire of the Senator from Vermont whether it is expected that the Government is to pay $1,000,000 for the building of this bridge?

Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. The estimate is that it will cost $1,000,000. There is a provision in the resolution that the railroad company across the river there may have the use of it by paying one half of the cost. There is also another provision that provides for tearing down the existing bridge, by which I think we shall render ourselves liable, if we go on, to pay probably more than half as much more.

Mr. HARLAN, The resolution provides specifically that the Rock Island Railroad Company shall pay one-half the cost of this structure, and if the old bridge is torn down, it renders it absolutely necessary that they should for their own convenience. It also provides that if any other railroad company shall avail themselves of this structure across the river they shall pay a proportional part of the cost, and I have been informed it is probable that another road will avail themselves of the opportunity, and this will still further reduce the amount that the Government will be called upon to pay.

Mr. YATES. I desire to state that I have seen the old bridge at this point, and it is perhaps the greatest obstruction to the Mississippi river. It is constructed so as not to run at right angles across the channel, but diagonally, so that a boat in passing is in danger all the time of being carried by the current on to the piers of the bridge. The consequence is that there have been many steamboats lost there, and navigation has suffered very materially. By the provisions of this joint resolution that obstruction is to be removed-a duty which devolves upon the United States, and is to a great extent the consideration for which the Government makes this appropriation. I think there can be no reasonable objection to it.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the joint resolution, on which the yeas and nays are demanded.

The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 26, nays 10; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Cameron, Cattell, Cole, Conness, Cragin, Davis, Drake, Fowler, Harlan, Howard, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Stewart. Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, and Yates-26.

NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Conkling, Edmunds, Fessenden, McCreery, Morgan, Morrill of Vermont, Sherman, and Vickers-10.

ABSENT-Messrs. Bayard, Chandler, Corbett, Dixon, Doolittle, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Henderson, Hendricks, Howe, McDonald, Morrill of Maine, Norton, Patterson of New Hampshire, Patterson of Tennessee, Rice, Saulsbury, Sprague, Welch, and Wilson-21.

So the joint resolution was passed.

TEMPORARY LOAN CERTIFICATES.

Mr. CATTELL. I now move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Senate bill No. 543.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the bill (S. No. 543) to provide for a further issue of temporary loan certificates, for the purpose of redeeming and retiring the remainder of the outstanding compound-interest notes.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I move to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting:

That for the purpose of redeeming and retiring the remainder of the compound-interest notes, saving the unnecessary payment of interest and reducing the public debt, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to make sale of $10,000,000 of the surplus coin in the Treasury of the United States on the first Monday of the month of August next, and on the first Monday of every month thereafter, until the amount of coin in the Treasury, exclusive of that for which no certificates of deposits shall have been given, shall be reduced to the sum of $40,000,000; the sale to be made in the manner following: The Secretary shall give five days public notice in one daily newspaper published in cach of the cities of Washington and New York, that sealed proposals for ten millions of gold coin will be received at the office of the Assistant Treasurer in the city of New York. till three o'clock p. m., of the day appointed for the sale. Such proposals shall be addressed to the Assistant Treasurer at New York, and shall be opened by him in the presence of such persons as may choose to attend at the time designated in the notice. No proposals shall be received unless accompanied by a certificate of deposit in the Treasury of the United States of five per cent. in currency of the amount of coin bid for in such proposal, which shall be received in part pay for the coin bid for in case the bid is accepted, and if not accepted shall be returned to the party who made the bid. Payments may be received for coin in currency, or compound-interest notes with the interest accrued thereon. When compound-interest notes are received, they shall be canceled by the Secretary of the Treasury, and with the currency received he shall purchase and cancel any

last two years I think the average would be about the same. I have the figures here showing the amounts. The amount of currency on deposit during the same length of time and lying idle in the Treasury is also stated in a table which I have before me. The average for the last year has exceeded $34,000,000. Now, if you change the gold which has lain idle in the Treasury for the last year into currency at its market value, and add to it the currency that has lain in the Treasury, you will find that more than one hundred and fifty million dollars of currency and gold turned into currency have lain idle in your Treasury for the last twelve months.

Mr. MORTON. I should like to ask the Senator if he can state the amount of gold that has been sold by the Treasury within the last two years?

Mr. TRUMBULL. I cannot; I have not those figures, but this amount remains after all the sales. I will state to the Senator that I can give him the receipts of gold for the year ending June 30, 1867. The amount received from customs, which is collected, as the Senator is aware, in gold coin, was $176,000,000. One hundred and seventy-six millions were received during the last fiscal year which has been reported, and for the quarter ending on the 30th of September last there were received $48,000,000. I have not the figures to show what the receipts into the Treasury for the entire year were, but assuming that the other quarters yielded as large an amount of customs as the quarter ending the 30th of September last, there would have been received during the fiscal year which has just expired into the Treasury $192,000,000 in gold. The amount of the indebtedness of the United States as reported on the 1st day of June, 1868, upon which we have agreed to pay the interest in gold is $2,020,827,841 80. This indebtedness does not at all bear the same rate of interest. Some of it bears a less rate than six per cent. interest; but assuming that we paid six per cent. upon the whole indebtedness of the United States on the 1st of June last, which we have agreed to pay in coin, the whole amount would be $121,000,000. Thus you see that we are

paying therefor not exceeding its current market value at the time. None but the highest bids shall be accepted for gold, and in case of different bids at the same rate said bids shall be accepted only pro rata; and the Assistant Treasurer, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall have the right to reject all or any bids if deemed by him less than the fair value of gold at the time.

Mr. President, it will be observed that the amendment which I have offered proposes to reduce the coin in the Treasury of the United States to $40,000,000 by monthly sales of $10,000,000 until it is reduced to that amount. Had I followed my own inclinations entirely I should have introduced a proposition to reduce it much lower than that. I do not think there is any reason for retaining so large a sum as $40,000,000 in gold in the Treasury. But inasmuch as Congress has manifested a disposition to keep more than twice that amount in the Treasury for the last two years, I thought it would be accomplishing much if we could reduce the amount to $40,000,000.

Since this subject was up yesterday I have sent to the Treasury Department and received from that Department a statement showing the amount of coin on hand in the Treasury of the United States at the close of each month for the last two years beginning with July 1, 1866, and ending with July 1, 1868. The amount of coin, including that deposited for which certificates were issued, has frequently exceeded $100,000,000. The average for the last year, after deducting the gold for which certificates of deposit have been issued, exceeds $83,000,000. More than eighty-three millions of gold have lain idle in the Treasury for the last twelve months. Besides, an average of about twenty millions of gold certificates were issued. So that considerably over one hundred millions have been there in all. Over eighty-three millions in gold have been in the Treasury all the time for the last twelve months, aud for the

duties than the amount of interest which we pay in gold. We received $50,000,000 more in gold during the last year which is reported than will be our interest for the coming year.

This being so, I can see no necessity for retaining on hand a surplus of forty millions of gold; but I have framed my amendment so as to require the disposition only of the excess over forty millions, and that at the rate of ten millions a month, and providing that there shall be received for the gold, when it is disposed of, the compound-interest notes, with their accruing interest, and the currency of the country; and that it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the receipt of the compound-interest notes, to cancel them, and with the currency to purchase the interest-bearing indebtedness of the United States in the market, and destroy that interestbearing indebtedness as soon as he receives it. This will be a saving to the United States of many millions of dollars. During the last year we might, by the disposition of gold which we had on hand, have saved in currency to the United States at least $6,000,000, probably something more. In former times $6,000,000 would have been considered a very considerable sum; and at this time, when the country is complaining of taxation, when the feeling of the nation is such that an attempt is being made to tax the bonds of the United States, as some suppose in violation of the good faith of the Government, it does seem to me that we should save this $6,000,000 to the Treasury of the United States, and not suffer this money to lie idle in its vaults.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. It is the duty of the Chair to call the attention of the Senate to the fact that the morning hour having expired the unfinished business of yesterday is before the Senate regularly.

Mr. SHERMAN. I will ask whether the unfinished business takes precedence of the special order?

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the rule of the Senate the unfinished business supersedes everything else.

Mr. EDMUNDS. If we can once get up the joint resolution, which is the unfinished business, we can dispose of it in two or three hours.

Mr. SHERMAN. I have no objection to the special order going over informally, in the hope that we may get a speedy vote on that resolution.

Mr. POMEROY. It cannot go over informally, because the unfinished business takes precedence of it.

Mr. SHERMAN. But I want to continue the funding bill as a special order. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The special order will be laid aside informally, if that be the wish of the Senate.

Mr. SHERMAN. I do not ask it in regard to this; but I say I hope the unfinished business will be disposed of in a short time, so that we can proceed with the special order.

Mr. EDMUNDS. We shall get rid of it very soon, I trust.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The unfinished business of yesterday is before the Senate.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced that the House had disagreed to the amendment of the Senate to 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 river, asked a conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and had appointed Mr. F. A. PIKE of Maine, Mr. IGNATIUS DONNELLY of Minnesota, and Mr. WILLIAM MUNGEN of Ohio, managers at the same on its part.

The message also announced that the House had passed a joint resolution (H. R. No. 329) to amend the fourteenth section of the act approved July 28, 1866, entitled "An act to protect the revenue, and for other purposes."

The message also informed the Senate that Mr. JAMES B. BECK, of Kentucky, had been appointed a manager on the part of the House, at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H. R. No. 818) making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1869, and for other purposes, in the place of Mr. W. S. HOLMAN, of Indiana, excused.

ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED.

The message also announced that the Speaker of the House had signed the following enrolled bills; and they were thereupon sigued by the President pro tempore of the Senate:

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

A bill (H. R. No. 650) to amend act of 3d March, 1865, providing for the construction of certain wagon-roads in Dakota Territory; and

A bill (H. R. No. 1068) to provide for certain claims against the Department of Agri

culture.

IMPROVEMENT OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

The Senate proceeded to consider its amend ment to 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 river, disagreed to by the House of Representatives.

On motion by Mr. RAMSEY, it was

Resolved, That the Senate insist upon its amendment to the said bill disagreed to by the House, and agree to the conference asked by the House of Representatives on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon.

Ordered, That the conferees on the part of the Senate be appointed by the President pro tempore.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore appointed Mr. RAMSEY, Mr. HENDRICKS, and Mr. POME

ROY.

ELECTORAL VOTE OF LATE REBEL STATES.

The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the joint resolu tion (S. R. No. 139) excluding from the Electoral College votes of States lately in rebellion which shall not have been reorganized, the pending question being on the amendment of Mr. CONKLING to the amendment of Mr. DRAKE.

Mr. EDMUNDS. I believe the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. DAVIS] wishes to address the Senate for a short time this morning.

Mr. DAVIS. I believe the pending propo sition is the substitute offered by the Senator from New York.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. That is the pending question.

Mr. DAVIS. It is not my purpose to make many remarks upon the subject, but I would prefer that the vote should be taken upon that proposition before I make any.

Mr. EDMUNDS. If the Senator from Kentucky does not wish to submit his remarks now, I may just as well at this time, although an amendment is pending, (because these amendments are only changes of phraseology after all,) occupy ten or fifteen minutes of the time of the Senate in stating the grounds upon which I think this joint resolution ought to pass; and in doing that I shall endeavor to refrain from going into any political questions that are not necessarily connected with this measure; and I appeal to Senators on all sides of the Chamber, considering the lateness of the session, considering the nature of this joint resolution, to confine themselves in debate, so far as I may in courtesy appeal to them, to the very questions that are presented, and leave platforms and other considerations that appeal to the general political campaign to be discussed upon some bill that will not occupy so much time in its return to us as this may, possibly.

Therefore, Mr. President, confining myself strictly to the real question of the propriety of this joint resolution, I have to say, in the first

tional doubt of our power to pass it; that it comes clearly within the scope of those duties that the Constitution has remitted to us as lawmakers. The Constitution does not prescribe in terms how the votes of a State shall be ascertained to be its votes, but only prescribes that the votes of a State shall be opened and counted in the presence of the two Houses; but it gives to Congress the power to pass all laws that are necessary to carry into proper effect all the functions that are granted to any Department of the Government. Therefore, it seems plain that this is the proper subject of law to ascertain and define a rule of action in a case that may arise, that enters into the laws of all the States that we know of, under constitutions in these respects much like ours, providing by law as to how the people's will shall be ascertained, and providing some board or tribunal, regulated by law, pointing out their duties beforehand, who shall go through with the necessary functions of ascertaining what that will has been. So, I take it, that it is clearly within the scope of our constitutional powers.

This same question was up four years ago, and it was then fully debated, upon the passage of a resolution similar to this, excluding,

after the votes had been taken in two of the States, the votes of the ten States to which this resolution applies; and in the course of that debate the propriety of legislation in advance was thoroughly laid down, and the propriety of it shown in order to avoid leaving anything to contests and discretions afterward. It was said by the honorable Senator from Illinois [Mr. TRUMBULL] the other day, against this resolution, that it was leaving discretion to somebody; but as he himself then stated, the propriety of passing a law in advance and of regulating the matter by law was to avoid leaving anything to be the subject of contest when the votes should come actually to be

counted in the convention of the two Houses; and I think then he was clearly right. The effect and object of the joint resolution is to remove from the arena of passion and of prejudice questions which would appeal to passion and prejudice when it was known at the time that a particular decision or a particular rule would produce a certain result. Now we de clare the rule before any of us can know upon which political side of the question it is to operate. We do not declare, as I said yester day, who shall vote, or how they shall vote, but we simply declare what we the political communities within the territories embraced in these States which make up the State in a political sense, and declare that those political communities, and no others, are the States mentioned in the Constitution as the ones whose electors shall vote for President.

Mr. TRUMBULL said on the 1st of February, 1865, on this same question :

"It is important to settle at an early day the mode of counting the votes for President and Vice President, which, under the Constitution and laws, are to be opened and canvassed a week from to-day in joint session of the two Houses. It is known probably to every member of the Senate that no rules have ever been adopted for action in that joint convention."

And then he goes on to say, with great propriety, that it is extremely desirable and proper that a rule provided by law should be laid down, and the scope and tenor of his remarks, properly and conclusively, were that that rule was to obviate as far as it is possible for the law to obviate such a thing, any discretion, any flexibility being left to the person or the bodies who were to count those votes. In that he was entirely right, although I regret very much to perceive that he, apparently, has changed his view on that subject now.

At a later point in the debate he stated the propriety of this in so much better and stronger language than I can, that I beg leave to read a little further :

"Now, sir, it is said that the votes of these States will not affect the result. That may be so; we may know outside that it probably is so; but this war may last four years more, I trust in God it will not: I do not believe it will; but suppose it shall run four years longer, and the doctrine contended for here is to obtain, how do you know but that at the next presidential election your President may be selected by these very States in rebellion? Sir, I say to you here what I believe, that if the result of the presidential election depended upon the vote of Louisiana,

care not which way it was cast, if the pretended electoral votes of Louisiana were to choose the next President of the United States after the 4th of March, decided either way, it would produce a revolution in this country, unless you had some provision to settle it by law in advance."

That is precisely what this resolution proposes to do in all these States, to determine declare in advance that none but those comwhich are the political communities, and to munities shall participate in this election.

The honorable Senator from Maryland [Mr. Johnson] said:

'The question, then, Mr. President, is whether Congress have any authority to legislate at all on this subject. I agree with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and my friend from Vermont"

The predecessor of my present colleague, Mr. Collamer

"that the authority exists; and I was somewhat surprised to find that it was disputed by gentlemen of such distinction every way, and particularly in their profession, as the honorable member from Wisconsin and the honorable member from New York."

"I never heard before-I speak it with entire respect to my learned brothers-that it was doubted that it was within the province of Congress to provide for cases of this description. The doubt was, and perhaps that doubt was well founded, whether votes could be excluded by either branch of Congress or by the two when they met in convention. Nobody supposed that the Vice President could exclude them. But I was about to say that I never heard it doubted before that such a contingency, as might well happen, because of the manner in which the constitutional provision was framed, could not be provided for by legislation."

Then he quotes from Chancellor Kent to show that in the opinion of that eminent jurist, it is a proper and fit subject of legislation in advance, as much as it is in the States, to provide for ascertaining who are the persons who have voted and who they have voted for.

Now, I beg leave to read from an authority