ney of Frances S. Debevere, Moses Rawlings, Joseph Pannil, Thomas M'Intire, Timothy Mix, and Abel Turney; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table. The House proceeded to consider the report of the committee to whom was referred the petition of Joshua Barney: Whereupon, Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills to authorize the payment of dollars to captain Barney, for expenses incurred in obtaining his release from captivity, and in returning to the United States; and that Mr. Fitzsimons, Mr. Smith, of Maryland, Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Goodhue, and Mr. Cadwalader, be of the said committee. The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering his report respecting farther compensation to Commissioners of the several loan offices, made pursuant to an order of the House of the thirtieth of January last; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table. Ordered, That Mr. Stone have leave to be absent from the service of this House from Monday next until the end of the session. On motion, Ordered, That the written message of yesterday, from the President of the United States, be referred to Mr. Goodhue, Mr. Madison, Mr. Fitzsimons, Mr. Bourn, Mr. Lawrance, Mr. Vining, and Mr. Smith, of South Carolina. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, their Secretary : Mr. Speaker: The Senate have agreed to the resolution for authorizing Andrew Brown, or any other printer, to collate with and correct by the original rolls, the laws, resolutions, and treaties, of the United States, for the purpose of publishing new editions thereof. And then he withdrew. On motion, Ordered, That the amendments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same," together with the said bill, be committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow. The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanied with a return of the exports of the United States between the month of August, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, and the thirtieth of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table. The House resumed the consideration of the amendments made by the Committee of the Whole House to the bill to establish offices for the purpose of granting lands within the Territories of the United States; and having gone through and agreed to the same, and further amended the said bill at the Clerk's table, A motion was made, and the question being put, to add to the end of the second section the following proviso: Provided always, That any purchaser of lands, when the payment thereof shall be due, may proffer in payment any of the certificates of the funded debt of the United States, at the same rates as the Treasurer shall have allowed for such certificates, respectively, in the last purchase which he shall have made thercof, prior to such pay ment : It was resolved in the affirmative, Aves Noes .34, . 21. The ayes and noes being demanded by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative, are, Fisher Ames, John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, Timothy Bloodworth, George Gale, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, Samuel Griffin, William B. Giles, James Jackson, Richard Bland Lee, John Sevier, Roger Sherman, Ordered, That the said bill, with the amendments, be engrossed, and read the third time to-morrow. The several orders of the day were further postponed until to-morrow. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16. The several petitions of Jacob Garigues, Ludwig Kuhn, by Levi Rubin his attorney, and of Joseph Ball, acting executor of John Ball, deceased, and Isaac Ledyard, were presented to the House and read, praying the liquidation and settlement of claims against the United States. Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. A petition of Tarlton Woodson, was presented to the House and read, praying to be allowed the commutation of half pay, in consideration of services rendered in the Army of the United States, during the late war; and also the payment of a balance due to him on the public books. Also, A petition of Reuben Spencer, praying an addition to his pension as a disabled soldier in the service of the United States, during the late war. Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanying his reports on the petitions of John Chadwick, Nicholas Haugendobler, Nathaniel Alexander, Daniel Merrill for himself and others, Joseph Hugg, John Post, Joshua Orne for himself and others, Lewis Prahl, Stephen Clapp, Josiah Simpson, attorney for Dorcas Frost and others, Nathaniel Porter, Lawrence Allman, James Easton, Samuel Kearsley, William S. Smith, John Keehmle, and John Linn; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr. Madison, from the committee appointed to inquire into the administration of the late Superintendent of Finance, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr. Fitzsimons, from the committee appointed, presented, according to order, a bill to compensate Joshua Barney; which was received, and read the first time. On motion, The said bill was read the second time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow. A petition of Nicholas Ferdinand Westfall was presented to the House and read, praying a gratuity of lands and other advantages, promised by the late Congress to those who should quit the British service, in consideration of his having left that service and joined the American Army, during the late war. Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of State, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. A petition of sundry merchants of the city of Philadelphia was presented to the House and read, stating sundry reasons in opposition to a petition of sundry other merchants of the said city, trading to India and China, praying an increase of the duties on all China and East India goods, imported into the United States from Europe. Ordered, That the said petition do lie on the table. An engrossed bill to establish offices for the purpose of granting lands within the Territories of the United States, was read the third time, and the blanks therein filled up. Resolved, That the said bill do pass, and that the title be, "An act to establish offices for the purpose of granting lands within the Territories of the United States." Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do carry the said bill to the Senate, and desire their concurrence. Mr. Floyd, from the Joint Committee for Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee had examined two enrolled bills, one entitled "An act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union;" the other, entitled "An act to continue in force for a limited time, an act passed at the first session of Congress, entitled 'An act to regulate processes in the courts of the United States." Also, An enrolled resolve "Authorizing Andrew Brown, or any other printer, to collate with, and correct by the original rolls, the laws, resolutions, and treaties, of the United States, for the purpose of publishing new editions thereof;" and had found them to be truly enrolled: Whereupon, Mr. Speaker signed the said enrolled bills and resolve. Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith. The House proceeded to consider the report of the committee to whom was referred the petition of George Gibson; and the first part of the said report, in the words following, to wit: "That the petitioner, George Gibson, is, in justice, entitled to the sum of dollars from the United States, as a commutation for half-pay of a continental Colonel, agreeably to former resolutions of Congress; was, on the question put thereupon, disagreed to by the House." An adjournment being then called for, The several orders of the day were further postponed until to-morrow. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17. Mr. Sedgwick, from the committee appointed, presented, according to order, a bill giving effect to the laws of the United States within the State of Vermont; which was received, and read the first time. On motion, The said bill was read the second time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow. A petition of John Nicholason was presented to the House and read, praying compensation for services rendered to the United States, during the late war, as an Indian interpreter and guide. Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. Mr. Floyd, from the Joint Committee for Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee did this day wait on the President of the United States, and present, for his approbation, two enrolled bills, to wit: one entitled "An act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union ;" the other entitled "An act to continue in force, for a limited time, an act passed at the first session of Congress,' entitled An act to regulate processes in the Courts of the United States;" also, an enrolled resolve "To authorize Andrew Brown, or any other printer, to collate with, and correct by the original rolls, the laws, resolutions, and treaties, of the United States, for the purpose of publishing new editions thereof." On motion, Ordered, That the Committee of the Whole House be discharged from further pro ceeding on the amendments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also, upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same." The House then proceeded to consider the amendments to the said bill: Whereupon, Some were agreed to, others amended and agreed to, and others disagreed to. Ordered, That the farther consideration of the said amendments be postponed until to-morrow. The several orders of the day were further postponed until to-morrow. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18. A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Lear, his Secretary, notifying that the President did, this day, approve and sign an act, entitled "An act to continue in force, for a limited time, an act passed at the first session of Congress, entitled 'An act to regulate processes in the Courts of the United States;" also, an enrolled resolve, to authorize Andrew Brown, or any other printer, to collate with, and correct by the original rolls, the laws, resolutions, and treaties, of the United States, for the purpose of publishing new editions thereof. The said messenger also delivered in a written message from the President, as followeth: United States, February 18th, 1791. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : I have received from the Secretary of State a report on the proceedings of the Governor of the Northwestern Territory, at Kaskaskia, Kahokia, and Prairie, under the resolution of Congress, of August twenty-ninth, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, which, containing matter proper for your consideration, I lay the same before you. GEORGE WASHINGTON. The said written message, and the report therein referred to, were read, and ordered to lie on the table. Ordered, That the Secretary of War be discharged from further proceeding on the petition of Peter Shaffner, referred to him by an order of this House of the eighth instant; and that the petitioner have leave to withdraw his said petition. A petition of Charles M'Clane was presented to the House and read, praying to be placed on the list of pensioners, in consideration of wounds received in the service of the United States, during the late war. Also, A petition of Rosina Jones, widow of Abel Jones, deceased, praying that the allow ance granted to the widows of those who died in the service of the United States, during the late war, may be extended to her. Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, their Secretary: Mr. Speaker: I am directed to inform this House, that the President of the United States did, this day, approve and sign, an act which originated in the Senate, entitled "An act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union." And then he withdrew. The House resumed the consideration of the amendments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same:" Whereupon, The amendment to the sixty-first section, for striking out the words "any Justice of the Peace, or Court of any State, of competent jurisdiction," and also the proviso, and to substitute the word "the," in lieu of the words first stricken out, being read, A motion was made, and the question being put, to amend the said amendment, by striking out the whole of the said sixty-first section, in the words following, to wit: And be it further enacted, That the prosecution for all fines, penalties, and forfeitures, incurred by force of this act, and for all duties payable in virtue thereof, and which shall not be duly paid, shall and may be had before any Justice of the Peace, or Court of any State, of competent jurisdiction, or Court of the United States, of the District in which the cause of action shall arise, with an appeal as in other cases: Provided, That where the cause of action shall exceed in value fifty dollars, the same shall not be cognizable before a Justice of the Peace only: It was resolved in the affirmative. And then the main question being put, "That the House do agree to the said amendment of the Senate, as now amended?" It was resolved in the affirmative, SAyes .... 35, 21. The ayes and noes being demanded by one-fifth of the members present, And then the House having proceeded further in the consideration of the Senate's amendments, an adjournment was called for: Whereupon, The several orders of the day were further postponed uutil to-morrow. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19. A petition of Valentine Wizick was presented to the House and read, praying compensation for military services rendered to the United States, during the late war. Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. A petition of Joseph Tatlow was presented to the House and read, praying compensation for the hire and valuation of a sloop which was impressed from him for the service of the United States, during the late war. Also, A petition of Benjamin Fuller, praying compensation for injuries done to his property by the Army of the United States, during the late war. Also, A petition of Coningham, Nesbitt and Company, and James Crawford, of the city of Philadelphia, praying to be relieved against the payment of second tonnage on certain vessels, the double entry of which was occasioned by the mistake of the Deputy Collector at New Castle. Also, A petition of Frederick W. Starman, and sundry other persons, holding certificates of the registered debt of the United States, which have not been duly transferred to them agreeable to the regulations of the Treasury, praying to be permitted to deliver in the said certificates, and to receive others in their own names for the amount thereof. Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. Ordered, That the committee to whom were referred the petitions of Jacob Winey and Thomas Barclay be discharged from further proceeding thereon; and that the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House. Ordered, That the return of the Secretary of the Treasury of the amount of exports of the United States, for one year, made to this House on Tuesday last, be committed to Mr. Carroll, Mr. Bourn, and Mr. Sedgwick. The House, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the bill for giving effect to the laws of the United States within the State of Vermont; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Boudinot reported that the committee had, according to order, had the said bill under consideration, and made an amendment thereto; which he delivered in at the Clerk's table, where the same was twice read, and agreed to by the House. Ordered, That the said bill, with the amendment, be engrossed, and read the third time on Monday next. |