setts, praying the establishment of a uniform hospital and ambulance system; which were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. By Mr. Gooch: The memorial of Mrs. M. L. Stevens, widow of General I. I. Stevens, praying compensation for the services of her late husband; which was referred to the Committee of Claims. The Speaker having proceeded, as the regular order of business, to call the States and Territories for bills on leave, Bills on leave were introduced and severally read a first and second time, and referred as follows, viz: By Mr. Pendleton: A bill (H. R. 214) to provide that the heads of executive departments may occupy seats on the floor of the House of Representatives, to a select committee of seven members. By Mr. Spalding: A bill (H. R. 215) to repeal the fugitive slave law, to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Orth: A bill (H. R. 216) to create and organize a department of the government to be called the Department of Industry, to the Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered, That the last-named bill be printed. By Mr. Blow: A bill (H. R. 217) to confirm certain entries of land in the State of Missouri, to the Committee on Public Lands. By Mr. Wilson: A bill (H. R. 218) to amend the 16th section of an act entitled "An act to define the pay and emoluments of certain officers of the army, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Julian: A bill (H. R. 219) to repeal so much of the acts of Congress approved March 3, 1845, and August 6, 1846, as authorize the transportation of goods imported from foreign countries through the United States to the Canadas, or from the Canadas through the United States to be exported to foreign countries, to the Committee on Commerce. By Mr. Kinney: A bill (H. R. 220) to vacate the present Indian reservations in Utah Territory, and to settle the Indians in the Uinta valley; Also, a bill (H. R. 221) to provide for the appointment of commissioners to ascertain and report to the Secretary of the Interior the losses sustained by the people of the Territory of Utah by Indian depredations; Also, a bill (H. R. 222) to extinguish the Indian title to lands in the Territory of Utah suitable for agricultural and mineral purposes; severally to the Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered, That the said bill (H. R. 222) be printed. All the States and Territories having been called for bills on leave, Mr. Dawes, from the Committee of Elections, to whom were referred the credentials of B. M. Kitchen, claiming to be elected a representative in the 38th Congress from the 7th congressional district in Virginia, and also the memorial of Lewis McKenzie, contesting the right of said Kitchen to a seat as such representative, made a report, accompanied by the following resolutions, viz: Resolved, That Lewis McKenzie is not entitled to a seat in this house as a representative in the 38th Congress from the 7th congressional district in Virginia. Resolved, That B. M. Kitchen is not entitled to a seat in this house as a representative in the 38th Congress from the 7th congressional district in Virginia. Ordered, That the said report and resolutions be laid on the table and printed. Mr. G. Clay Smith, by unanimous consent, submitted the views of a minority of the said committee; which were also laid on the table and ordered to be printed. Mr. Arnold, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 223) to improve the Chicago harbor; which was read a first and second time. Mr. Arnold moved that it be referred to the Committee on Commerce. Mr. James S. Brown moved that it be referred to a select committee of nine members. And the question being first put on the motion of Mr. Arnold, it was decided in the affirmative. So the bill was referred to the Committee on Commerce. The Speaker next proceeded, as the regular order of business, to call the States and Territories for resolutions. When Mr. James S. Brown submitted the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That the thanks of this house are due to those noble women who, as members of sanitary commissions, ladies' aid societies, and christian commissions, have contributed in labor and means to the relief of our soldiers; that this aid has become necessary, not because Congress is unwilling to meet every demand which justice to our brave men in the field may require, either in the way of bounties, pay, or relief, but because we recognize the fact that the resources of the country in money and credit form a material part of our power to crush out the rebellion, and that the mite bestowed by the poor and the bounty contributed by the rich are material aids in the righteous work before us; that this house recognizes its own duty to respond to the patriotic efforts referred to, and to reserve, so far as possible, the public funds and credit for the uses of the war; that, while acknowledging and encouraging these individual efforts, which have (considered as the results of the labor of the fair hands of our ladies alone) brought important sums, and which at the great northwestern fair at Chicago alone produced $75,000, it would be cruel mockery to those noble women for this house to expend millions upon any schemes, however specious, to which public faith is not already pledged, or not demanded by the immediate necessities of this war; and that, in view of the premises, this house pledges its faith alike to the women of the country, to the men who have liberally contributed of their substance, and to our creditors, that it will pursue a course of rigid economy, and, while exercising wise and cautious liberality toward all objects immediately connected with the suppres sion of the rebellion, it will strictly refrain from all schemes, whether of internal improvement or otherwise, to which public faith is not already pledged, and which, not materially affecting the war now before us, may constitute a charge either upon the credit or means of the country. The same having been read, Mr. James S. Brown moved the previous question, and the House refused to second the same. Debate arising thereon, it was laid over under the rule. Mr. Eldridge submitted the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, required to furnish to this house information as to the amount of moneys received up to this time for commutation by drafted men; also what disposition has been made of said moneys. If substitutes have been purchased for drafted men, how many; where and who have been procured as such substitutes; what sum has been paid for each, and whether for white or black, and how much for each. The same having been read, It was laid over one day under the rule. Mr. James S. Brown submitted the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to communicate to this house: 1. The number of regiments of negro troops already enlisted, the time when each regiment was organized, and the number of privates in each regiment. 2. The amount paid for bounties, pay, and equipments of each regiment, and all other sums paid out in connexion with their organization. 3. In what battles negro regiments have been engaged, and what regiments have been so engaged, and how many belonging to such regiments have been killed and how many wounded in such battles, discriminating between the different battles. The same having been read, It was laid over one day under the rule. Mr. Cobb, by unanimous consent, introduced a joint resolution (H. Res. 30) tendering the thanks of Congress to Major General W. T. Sherman; which was read a first and second time. The House having proceeded to its further consideration, The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. Being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time and passed. Mr. Cobb moved that the vote last taken be reconsidered, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to. Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in the said joint resolution. Mr. Higby submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to, viz: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this house all information in the State Department touching the arrest of our consul general to the British North American provinces; and all official communications touching Canadian commerce that have been made by the colonial secretary or other Canadian or British officer since the 1st of November last to our government. Mr. Shannon, by unanimous consent, presented resolutions of the legislature of the State of California relative to Indian affairs; which were referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, and ordered to be printed. Mr. Windom, by unanimous consent, submitted the following preamble and resolution; which were read, considered, and, under the operation of the previous question, agreed to, viz: Whereas James E. Yeatman, president of the western sanitary commission, who has recently visited the plantations and camps of the freedmen along the Mississippi, has, in reporting his observations of the same, made the following statements, namely: Dr. Littlefield, who is the physician of the Infirmary Farms, is located at the Savage Place, where he has established a freedmen's hospital. He appears to take a very deep interest in this people, and is desirous to aid in improving their condition. He reports he has to furnish medicines and attendance to many of those on leased plantations, especially to those on the places leased by one man who had leased five plantations, whose negroes are greatly neglected and poorly provided for. The testimony of quite a number of persons fully corroborated this statement. One of the freedmen, Henson Jackson, working at Wilton's plantation, said that they get corn wherever they can find it on abandoned plantations; that they frequently have to go as far as Tensas bayou; that he has been without bread for days; that four pounds of meat per week is all that is allowed him; that he pays for his flour, and has worked since April without receiving any pay or clothing whatever; that he only receives tickets for actual day's work, to be paid when the crop is sold. Others from the same farm testified to the same thing, and laborers from other plantations gave similar testimony. None received molasses, rice, or beans, and hominy only when they choose to make it themselves. The poor negroes are everywhere greatly depressed at their condition. They all testify that if they were only paid their little wages as they earn them, so that they could purchase clothing, and were furnished with the provisions promised, they could stand it; but to work and get poorly paid, poorly fed, and not doctored when sick, is more than they can endure. Among the thousands whom I questioned none showed the least unwillingness to work. If they could only be paid fair wiges they would be contented and happy. They do not realize that they are free men: Therefore, Resolved, That the Committee on Emancipation be instructed to inquire what, if any, legislation is necessary for the relief and proper management of said freedmen; and that said committee be authorized to report by bill or otherwise. Mr. Jacob B. Blair submitted the following preamble and resolutions, viz: Whereas the present deplorable civil war was inaugurated and is still carried on by a few desperate but daring men who, without any cause whatever, have not only filled the land with widows and orphans and caused almost untold millions of treasure to be spent, but have put in peril the very life of that government which never deprived them of one solitary right, but which was so mild and beneficent it was only known by the blessings it conferred And whereas Jefferson Davis, the chief of rebels, is reported to have said in a speech delivered in Jackson, Mississippi, in December, 1862: "My only wonder is that we consented to live so long a time in association with such miscreants (referring to the people of the north) and have loved a government rotten to the core. Were it ever to be proposed again to enter into a union with such a people I could no more consent to do it than to trust myself in a den of thieves." And whereas this same high official in the great synagogue of rebeldom has repeatedly since, in his messages to the rebel congress, utterly repudiated the idea of ever ceasing his wicked designs and returning to his allegiance to the government, whose Constitution and laws he has trampled under foot; and has also declared that no compromise would be entertained by him, or those he represents, that did not secure to the States in rebellion their independence and final separation from the United States. And whereas Alexander H. Stephens, the vice-president of the so-called southern confederacy, is reported to have said in a speech delivered in the month of July, 1863, at Charlotte, North Carolina, "As for reconstruction, such a thing was impossible; such an idea must not be tolerated for an instant. Reconstruction would not end the war, but would produce a more horrible war than that in which we are now engaged The only terms on which we can obtain permanent peace is final and complete separation from the north. Rather than submit to anything short of that, let us all resolve to die like men worthy of freedom." And whereas John Letcher, in one of his messages to the rebel legislature of the State of Virginia, declared: "The alliance between us is dissolved, (meaning between the United States and the southern States,) never, I trust, to be renewed, at any time, under any conceivable state of circumstances." And whereas the Richmond Enquirer, one of the organs and advocates of this imaginary southern confederacy, in its issue of January 9, 1863, says: "Separation is inevitable. War has failed to prevent it. Peace cannot stop it. An armistice with propositions for reconstruction by constitutional amendments of conventions of States would very soon reveal the fact that separation was final; and so far as one generation can speak for its successors, it is eternal." And whereas the Richmond Dispatch of January 10, 1863, another organ of the leaders of this wanton and unprovoked rebellion, said in response to a peace and reunion speech, delivered in New York by the editor of the Express, "That we assure him that the people of the Confederate States would infinitely prefer being the vassals of France or England; nay, they would prefer to be serfs of Russia, to becoming in any manner whatever associated politically or otherwise with the Yankee States." And further, "that President Davis expressed the sentiment of the entire confederacy in his speech the other night, (in Richmond,) when he said 'the people would sooner unite with a nation of hyenas than with the detestable Yankee nation. Anything but that. English colonization, French vassalage, Russian serfdom-all, all are preferable to any association with the Yankees."" And whereas the Richmond S ntinel, still another advocate of this new-fledged confederacy, in its comments on the proceedings of what is known as the Frank Pierce meeting, held at Concord, New Hampshire, on the 4th of July, 1863, says, "Do the New Hampshire democrats suppose for one moment that we could so much as think of a reunion with such a people? Rather tell one to be wedded to a corpse; rather join hands with the fiend from the pit. The blood of many thousands of martyrs is between us. A thousand feelings of horror repel the idea of a renewal of affection." And whereas the Richmond Whig, another mouth-piece of treason and of crime, in its issue of the 10th of January, 1863, speaking of those who are opposed to breaking up the Union bequeathed to them by their fathers, says, "They are by nature menials, and fitted only for merial duties. They are in open and flagrant insurrection against their natural lords and masters, the gentlemen of the south. In the exercise of their assumed privileges they deport themselves with all the extravagant airs, the insolence, the cruelty, the cowardice and love of rapine, which have ever characterized the revolt of slaves. The former leniency of their masters only serves to aggravate the ferocity of their nature. When they are again reduced to subjection, and taught to know their place, we must take care to put such trammels about them that they will never have an opportunity to play their tricks again." It is, therefore, 1. Resolved, That any attempt on the part of the government of the United States to conciliate the leaders of the present rebellion, or compromise the questions involved, would be but an attempt on the one hand to rob the gallows of its own, and on the other to humiliate and bring into utter contempt this government in the estimation of the civilized world. 2. Resolved, That every State which has ever been is still a State in the Union, and that when this rebellion shall have been put down each of the so-called seceding States will have the same rights, privileges, and immu nities under the Constitution as any one of the loyal States, except so far as the holding of African slaves in bondage is affected by the President's proclamation of the 1st of January, 1863, the action of Congress on the subject, or the events of the war. 3. Resolved, That this house utterly repudiate the doctrine advanced by some, that the so-called seceding States have ceased to be States of and in the Union, and have become Territories thereof, or stand in the relation of foreign powers at war therewith. The same having been read, Mr. Jacob B. Blair moved the previous question, and the House refused to second the same. Debate then arising thereon, the preamble and resolutions were laid over under the rule. Mr. William G. Brown submitted the following preamble and resolutions: Whereas our beloved country, our highly cherished institutions, Constitution, and Union of the States, are all imperilled by a causeless and wicked rebellion: Be it, therefore, Resolved, That it is the duty of every loyal citizen to give to the govern |