repeal proposed by the Committee of Claims, and the propriety of giving the direction by them proposed to the kind of claims recommended to be taken from the adjudication of the Commissioner. He maintained the capacity of the House to decide, and the promptitude of the Committee of Claims in acting on claims which have been presented, &c., and opposed the substitute as well as the amendment submitted by Mr. HARRISON, because cases of the kind embraced by the latter had already been comprehended by the construction of the Commissioner, and acted on by him, &c.

Mr. REYNOLDS expressed his regret at being obliged to oppose the substitute and to vote for the course reported by the Committee of Claims; but, though friendly to the law of last session, he could not see thousands of the public money squandered on the claims now provided for, when there were so many cases of suffering of the Revolutionary war unrelieved, and which had been rejected by this House; and because a class of cases included in the decisions of the Commissioner belonged to Congress to decide on, and which could not properly be transferred to any other tribunal, &c.

The question on agreeing to Mr. JOHNSON'S substitute was then decided in the negativeyeas 40, nays 108, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Adgate, Atherton, Avery, Bassett, Betts, Breckenridge, Cannon, Comstock, Creighton, Desha, Fletcher, Gaston, Gold, Glasgow, Harrison, Herbert, Huger, Hungerford, Irving of New York, Jewett, Johnson of Kentucky, Kerr of Virginia, Lewis, Lovett, Lyon, McKee, Mills, Hugh Nelson, Ormsby, Peter, Robertson, Sharpe, Sheffey, Stuart, Tate, Taul, Taylor of New York, Wilkin, Thos. Wilson, and

Wright.

NAYS-Messrs. Adams, Alexander, Archer, Baer, Baker, Barbour, Bateman, Baylies, Bennett, Birdseye, Blount, Boss, Bradbury, Brooks, Burwell, Cady, Caldwell, Calhoun, Champion, Chappell, Cilley, Clark of New York, Clarke of North Carolina, Clayton, Clendennin, Condict, Crawford, Crocheron, Culpeper, Davenport, Dickens, Edwards, Findley, Forney, Forsyth, Hahn, Hale, Hall, Hammond, Hardin, Hawes, Heister, Henderson, Hendricks, Hooks, Hopkinson, Hulbert, Ingham, Jackson, Johnson of Virginia, Kent, King, Langdon, Little, Love, Lyle, Wm. Maclay, Wm. P. Maclay, Marsh, Mason, McCoy, McLean, Miller, Milnor, Moore, Murfree, J. Nelson, T. M. Nel son, Noyes, Pickens, Pickering, Piper, Pitkin, Pleas ants, Powell, Reynolds, Rice, Roane, Root, Ross, Ruggles, Savage, Schenck, Smith of Pennsylvania, Smith of Maryland, Smith of Virginia, Southard, Stearns, Strong, Sturges, Taggart, Telfair, Thomas, Townsend, Tyler, Vose, Wallace, Ward of Massachusetts, Ward of New York, Ward of New Jersey, Wendover, Whiteside, Wilcox, Wilde, Williams, Wm. Wilson, Woodward, and Yancey.

So the substitute was rejected.

Mr. HARDIN never having thought that the 9th section of the law had, strictly construed, extended far enough, and wishing to give it a little more latitude, stated that he should hereafter submit an amendment to accommodate the law to the view he had mentioned.

H OF R.

Mr. WRIGHT, after some prefatory remarks approbatory of the present Commissioner and deprecating the intent to legislate him out of office, proposed an amendment, substantially, to authorize the President of the United States to appoint two additional commissioners to act conjointly with the present officer, in deciding the claims provided for in the act-instead of referring that duty to the Accountant of the War Department, &c., as proposed by the bill.

Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, was in favor of the amendment, on the ground that the bill contemplated referred to the war accountants a mass of business which they cannot possibly attend to in addition to their present duties, and the preference of erecting the tribunal proposed by Mr. Wright, which would be able to decide better and with greater despatch the cases referred to them.

Mr. YANCEY replied to Mr. SMITH respecting the ability of the war accountants to perform the proposed additional duties, which he maintained they were able to do, and that it was more safe to adopt that mode.

Mr. WRIGHT Supported his amendment, and referred to former experience in the Government to prove the superiority of his plan for the administration of the act; that the Executive Departments were already so overburdened with business that a new department had been recommended, and bills were already reported by the Senate to lessen the duties of those departments-and consequently the impropriety of referring to them business of the important character now under consideration.

Mr. PICKERING thought there was already business enough to occupy the war accountant, and opposed the committing to that person, though a very competent man, the duties of a judge, to decide cases amounting perhaps to a million and a half of dollars, and he would therefore prefer a commission of three persons to be appointed by the President of the United States, without saying anything about the present Commissioner; and moved to amend the amendment so as to suit his views.

be impossible to carry the amendment offered by Mr. DESHA, after stating his belief that it would Mr. WRIGHT, as he was convinced there was a combination to legislate the Commissioner out of office, stated that he should offer an amendment to repeal those sections of the law under which the Commissioner was appointed, etc., and in lieu thereof to authorize the appointment of three new commissioners.

Mr. PICKERING withdrew his motion; and Mr. WRIGHT's motion was lost without a division.

A motion was then made by Mr. DESHA, to strike out all of the said bill after the enacting clause, and to insert as follows:

That the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th sections of the act, entitled "An act to authorize the payment for the property lost, captured, or destroyed by the enemy, while in the military service of the United States, and for other purposes," passed on the 9th day of April, 1816, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

H. of R.

JANUARY, 1817.

the pressure of business, properly attended to by the officers of the War Department, arguing that the effect of such a course would be tantamount to a denial of justice.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, so to be appointed, before they enter upon the duties of their offices, shall each take the following oath, to wit: "I, A. B. do solemnly swear, that I will, well and truly, according to the best of my abilities, discharge the duties of Commissioner under an act of Congress, entitled 'An act to authorize the payment for property lost, captured, or destroyed by the enemy, while in the military service of the United States, and for other purposes; so help me God:" upon which they shall proceed to appoint a clerk; and shall proceed to the execution of the above-recited act, under the rules already prescribed by the President of the United States, for the adjustment of claims to compensation for the corps provided for by the said act, or to establish such further rules as may be deemed necessary for the due execution of the law, under the direction, or by the consent of the President of the United States, having due regard, in the establishment of further regulations, as well to the claims of individual justice, as to the interest of the United States, and if it should be found necessary to establish any other rules or regulations for the due execution of the act, the said commissioners shall cause them to be published for four weeks, successively, in the newspapers in the several States, and Territories in which the laws of the United States are published.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall, in all cases in which the claim to compensation or indemnity shall exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, award a commission to some one or more discreet commissioner, in the vicinity of where the witnesses are stated to reside, accompanied by interrogatories to be propounded to such witnesses, which said commission, when executed, shall be returned, together with the examination to be taken in virtue thereof, by mail, free of postage, to the office of the commissioners.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in all adjudications of the said commissioners upon the claims mentioned in the said recited act, whether such judgment be in favor of, or adverse to the claim of the applicant, the same shall be entered by the clerk in a book to be provided for that purpose; and when such judgment shall be in favor of such claim, shall entitle the claimant, or his legal representative, upon the production of a copy of such judgment, duly certified by the clerk of said commissioners, to payment of the amount thereof, at the Treasury of the United States.

Mr. DESHA Supported the expediency of his amendment as well as the justice of relieving liberally sufferings sustained in the late war, and the impracticability of having the claims, from

named gentleman, from an objection to legislate a person out of office, and because, of two courses, neither of which he liked, he disliked the amend

ment least.

It was opposed by Messrs. YANCEY and HARDIN, from a belief that the Departments were competent to execute the law, and that the mode was preferable for other reasons to the one proposed, which they argued to prove.

Messrs. HULBERT and ALEXANDER, without taking sides on the amendment, respectively made some remarks on the manner of doing business in the War Department and the despatch with which public business was transacted there.

Mr RooT supported the amendment at some length, and proposed to include in the sections proposed to be stricken out, the 10th section of the act, the vague and improper wording of which His motion had led to misconstruction and error. was lost without a division. Mr. DESHA'S amendment was negatived-yeas 69, nays 75.

the end of the third section, the following: A motion was made by Mr. TAUL, to insert, at

Provided, however, That in all cases of claims against the United States, arising under the first and second sections of the act to which this is an amendment, the muster rolls, made out by the proper officer, shall be taken and received as sufficient evidence of the value and loss of the property, for which compensation is claimed, where such muster rolls exhibit evidence of those facts."

The motion was opposed by Mr. YANCEY, and supported by Mr. FLETCHER, and was lost without a division.

A motion was then made, by Mr. HARRISON, to amend the bill by inserting the following sections, to come in after the first section, to wit:

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of said recited act shall be construed to extend have been destroyed by the order of any officer in the to every house or building, which in the late war shall service of the United States, with a view to facilitate the operations of the American Army, or any detachment thereof, or to impede those of the enemy.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the ninth section of the said act shall hereafter be construed to extend to every house or building, whether occupied as a military deposite, or as barracks for soldiers, or as an hospital, which during the late war shall have been destroyed by the enemy in consequence of such occupation, and to all houses or buildings destroyed by the enemy, in consequence of a military resistance from,

or in the neighborhood of the same. Provided always, That no house or building shall be construed a military deposite, within the meaning of this section, or of the act aforesaid, unless it had been hired under the authority of the Government, or which at the time it was destroyed was actually used for that purpose; and provided also, that no house or building shall be considered a barrack within the meaning of this section, on account of its having been in the temporary occupancy of the troops of the United States upon a march, unless in the immediate presence of the enemy.

Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, moved to postpone until to-morrow the further consideration of the bill and amendment, for the purpose of having | the latter printed. And the question being taken thereon, it was also determined in the negative.

The question was then taken to agree to that part of the amendment proposed by Mr. HARRISON, comprised within the first section thereof, marked section two in the amendment; and was determined in the negative.

The question was taken on the second section of the amendment marked section three; and also determined in the negative.

Mr. WILLIAM P. MACLAY moved to amend the bill by inserting after the word "produce," in the fifth line of the third section, the following words: "Provided that no evidence shall be received other than that of citizens or inhabitants of the United States."

After some discussion, in which Mr. YANCEY opposed, and the mover supported the amendment, it was decided in the negative without a division.

Mr. Ross moved a verbal amendment in the clause defining the evidence to be required, with the view of making the provision more clear and definite.

The motion was opposed by Mr. YANCEY, Mr. SHEFFEY, and Mr. WARD of Massachusetts, and advocated by Messrs. Ross, RooT, and DESHA, and finally negatived by a large majority.

H. OF R.

of the United States, as a place of deposite for munitions of war.

Before the question was taken on the amendment, a motion was made (several similar motions having been negatived) to adjourn; and the House adjourned at sunset.

FRIDAY, January 10.

Mr. CLAYTON presented a petition of the Directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, praying for aid of the National Government, in carrying into effect the objects of their association.-Referred to the Committee on Roads and Canals.

Mr. YANCEY, from the Committee of Claims, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, "for the relief of the representatives of Ignace Chalmet Delino, deceased, and of Anthony Cruzat, and P. L. Deverges," reported the same without amendment, and the bill was committed to a Committee of the Whole.

Mr. CHAPPELL, from the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims, reported a bill for the relief of the widow and minor children of Abraham Owen, which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole.

The SPEAKER laid before the House, a letter from Jonathan Jennings, President of the late Convention of the people of Indiana, enclosing a copy of the constitution, as adopted for the government of the State, which were ordered to lie on the table.

The bill from the Senate "to increase the salaries of the register and receiver of public moneys, of the land office at Marietta;" was read twice, and referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

The bill from the Senate "making a further appropriation for the purchase of books, for the Library of Congress, and for other purposes," was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the

Whole.

The motion was opposed by Messrs. YANCEY, FORSYTH, HARDIN, and JOHNSON of Kentucky, and supported by Messrs. CANNON and TAUL, and was disagreed to by a large majority.

Mr. INGHAM then, after some introductory remarks, in which he argued against the immense extent of claims which the construction of the ninth section of the act had embraced, further, he believed, than was contemplated, and on which it was essential the House should express some definite opinion, and adopt some special provision for the government of the future construction, moved to amend the bill by inserting a new section, declaring that the ninth section should not be construed to extend to houses or other buildings occupied by the military forces of the United States, except the same shall have been occupied by the authority of an officer or agent 14th CoN. 2d SESS.-15

ted to a Committee of the Whole.

The bill from the Senate entitled, "An act to authorize a new edition of laws respecting the public lands," was read the third time and passed.

The SPEAKER laid before the House an authenticated copy of the constitution of the State of Indiana, which had been officially transmitted to him.

Mr. CANNON laid on the table the following resolution:

Resolved, That it is inexpedient to reduce the Army of the United States.

On motion of Mr. TELFAIR, a select committee were instructed to inquire at large into the claims of detachments of the militia of Georgia ordered out by the Governor during the years 1793 and 1794, for the defence of its frontiers, in cousequence of a discretionary power communicated by the War Department.