The following resolution, offered by Mr. Tallmadge, on the 18th instant, was read, considered, and agreed to by the House:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to have prepared, for the use of this House, a statement showing the manner in which every public debt of the United States, from the time of the continental Congress up to the present year, has been contracted; the amount of each, from whom obtained, under what law authorized, the manner and time of payment; and the amount, if any, now due on each, together with the amount of unclaimed dividends, both of principal and interest.

The following resolution, offered by Mr Greeley, on the 18th instant, was read, considered, and agreed to by the House:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be requested to inquire into, and report upon the expediency and feasibility of temporarily employing the whole, or a portion of our national vessels now on the Pacific station, in the transportation, at moderate rates, of American citizens and their effects, from Panama and the Mexican ports on the Pacific, to San Francisco, in California.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the resolution offered by Mr. Slingerland on the 11th instant, to pay John B. Fry, who acted as clerk in the office of the sergeant-at-arms at the last session of Congress, the same amount of extra compensation as was allowed the assistant clerks in the clerk's office.

Mr. Atkinson moved that the said resolution be laid upon the table.

Pending which,

On motion of Mr. Howell Cobb,

The House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; and, after some time spent therein, the Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Richard W. Thompson reported that the committee having, according to order, had the state of the Union generally under consideration, and particularly the annual message of the President of the United States, had come to no reso

lution thereon.

On motion of Mr. Stephens,

The House, at 2 o'clock and 46 minutes, p. m., adjourned until to-morrow, at 12 o'clock, m.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1848.

Another member appeared, and took his seat, viz:
From the State of New York, Robert L. Rose.

Mr. John L. Robinson, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee did this day present to the President of the United States, a bill of the Senate (No. 147) for the relief of the heirs of Jean F. Perry, Josiah Bleakley, Nicholas Jarrott, and Robert Morrison.

Mr. Conger, from the Committee on Printing, offered the following resolutions:

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House cause to be returned to the public printer the copies of the report of Lieutenant Abert,

Lieutenant Cook, and the journal of Captain Johnson, respectively, now in the folding-room, in order that they may not be detached from the document ordered to be printed by this House.

Resolved, That executive document No. 41, as ordered to be printed by the House, being the report of Lieutenant Colonel Emory, Lieutenant Cook, and the journal of Captain Johnson, be bound together in one volume, and that the Committee on Accounts be, and they are hereby, authorized to contract for the binding of the

same.

And, after debate,

Mr. Charles Brown moved to amend the said resolutions, by striking out all after the word resolved, and inserting, in lieu thereof, the following:

"That the report of Lieutenant Emory, with the accompanying maps, be bound in one volume; and that the reports of Lieutenant Abert, of Lieutenant Cook, and Captain Johnson, together with a like number of the last report of Lieutenant Colonel Frémont, with the accompanying maps, ordered by the Senate, be bound together in one volume also; and the Committee of Accounts be, and they are hereby, authorized and instructed to contract for the binding of the same."

And the question being put, the amendment was agreed to.

And the question then recurring on the resolution as amended, it was decided in the affirmative.

So it was

Resolved, That the report of Lieutenant Emory, with the accompanying maps, be bound in one volume; and that the reports of Lieutenant Abert, of Lieutenant Cook, and Captain Johnson, together with a like number of the last report of Lieutenant Colonel Frémont, with the accompanying maps ordered by the Senate, be bound together in one volume also; and that the Committee on Accounts be, and they are hereby, authorized and instructed to contract for the binding for the same."

Mr. Alexander Evans presented the memorial adopted at a meeting of a number of the messengers bearing the votes for President and Vice President of the United States, from the several States to the city of Washington, in relation to the reduction of their mileage; which was read, and laid upon the table.

On motion of Mr. Lumpkin,

Ordered, That leave be granted to withdraw the papers relating to the claim of William Y. Hansell, W. H. Underwood, and the legal representatives of Samuel Rockwell, and that they be referred to the Committee on Claims.

Mr. Featherston gave notice of a motion for leave to introduce a bill for the relief of John P. Montgomery and other soldiers in the late war with Mexico.

Mr. Vinton, from the Committee on Ways and Means, reported a bill (No. 686) making appropriations for certain fortifications of the United States for the year ending the 30th of June, 1850; which bill was read a first and second time, committed to the Com

mittee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Goggin, from the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, reported the following resolution; which was read, consid ered, and agreed to, viz:

Resolved, That the Postmaster General be requested to communicate to this House any report or letter in his possession, from the First Assistant Postmaster General, or any other officer of his department, in regard to a system of reduced postages.

Mr. Lynde, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made an adverse report upon the petition of the legal representatives of Samuel Beach; which was laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed.

On motion of Mr. Daniel P. King,

Ordered, That the Committee on Revolutionary Claims be discharged from the further consideration of the petition of Catharine O'Neal, and that it be referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions.

On motion of Mr. Truman Smith,

Ordered, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of the memorial of Joshua P. Powers, and that it be referred to the Committee of Claims.

Mr. Farrelly, from the Committee on Patents, reported a bill (No. 687) for the relief of James Harley, accompanied by a report in writing; which bill was read a first and second time, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, made the order of the day for to-morrow, and the bill and report ordered to be printed.

Mr. Palfrey gave notice of a motion for leave to offer an amendment to the 25th rule of the House, by adding the following thereto, viz:

"And, after the expiration of thirty days from the reference of any subject to any committee, it shall be in order for any member or members of said committee to present a report or reports upon said subject in his or their own behalf, whenever said committee shall be called upon for reports: Provided, the majority of said. committee shall have failed to offer a report upon said subject."

On motion of Mr. John A. Rockwell,

Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire as to the expediency of making an appropriation for the improvement of Mystic harbor, in the State of Connecticut, with liberty to report by bill or otherwise.

In pursuance of previous notice, Mr. Collamer obtained leave and introduced a bill (No. 688) for the relief of certain settlers on the 16th section, in township 21 north, range 11 east, Ouachita land district, Louisiana; which bill was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

On motion of Mr. White,

Resolved, That the Committee on Patents inquire into the causes of delay at the Patent office in examining the applications of persons applying for patents, and the reasons why the business of that

department, under the additional examiners, has not been sufficiently efficient to answer the demands of the public.

On motion of Mr. Nathan K. Hall,

Resolved, That the Committee on Ways and Means inquire into the expediency of reporting a bill or joint resolution providing for an annual examination, by a committee of Congress, of all the accounts, vouchers, and warrants paid at the treasury of the United States during the preceding fiscal year, with the view of ascertaining whether such warrants and the expenditures for which they were made were authorized by law, and whether the necessary proof to authorize the allowance of such accounts was furnished to the accounting officers before the drawing of such warrants.

Mr. Greeley offered the following resolution; which was read, and laid on the table one day, under the rule:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, requested to communicate to this House (if such communication be not in his judgment incompatible with the public interest) the considerations of equity or public policy which justify the assessment, by the tariff of 1846, on woolen blankets, flannels, baizes, &c., and on hempen cables, cordage, and several other descriptions of imported manufactures, of rates of duty five to ten per cent. lower than are charged on the principal raw material from which they are respectively fabricated; and if the same be not justified as aforesaid, what action of Congress in relation thereto is deemed by him desirable.

Mr. Gott offered the following preamble and resolution:

Whereas the traffic now prosecuted in this metropolis of the republic in human beings as chattels is contrary to natural justice and to the fundamental principles of our political system, and is notoriously a reproach to our country throughout christendom, and a serious hindrance to the progress of republican liberty among the nations of the earth: therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee for the District of Columbia be instructed to report a bill as soon as practicable prohibiting the slave trade in said district.

Mr. Gott moved the previous question.

Mr. Haralson moved that the resolution be laid upon the table. And the question being put,

It was decided in the negative,

Yeas.... > Nays.

81

85

The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are,

Mr. Green Adams

Daniel M. Barringer
Richard L. T. Beale
Henry Bedinger

Thomas S. Bocock

John M. Botts

Linn Boyd

Nathaniel Boyden
Samuel A. Bridges
William G. Brown

Mr. Charles Brown

Albert G. Brown
Aylett Buckner
Armistead Burt
John G. Chapman
Lucien B. Chase
Franklin Clark
Beverly L. Clark
Howell Cobb

Williamson R. W. Cobb

Mr. William M. Cocke
John W. Crisfield
John H. Crozier
John R. J. Daniel
Richard S. Donnell
Garnett Duncan
George G. Dunn
Alexander Evans

Winfield S. Featherston
Orlando B. Ficklin

The previous question was then seconded.

And on the question being put, Shall the main question be now

It was decided in the affirmative,

S Yeas.
Nays...

The yeas and nays being desired by one fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are,