Ordered, That the petition of John Carr, prsented on the 18th of January, 1817, be referred to the same committee."

On motion of Mr. Barbour, of Virginia,

Ordered, That the petition of Edmund Brooke, presented on the 10th of December, 1810, he also referred to the same committe. Mr. Orr presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of Bath in the district of Maine, retailers of wines and spirituous liquors, praying that the act imposing duties on licenses to retailers may be repealed.

Mr. Allen of Vermont, presented a petition of Jeremiah Brownell, praying to be discharged from prison, where he is confined, under an execution issued at the suit of the United States.

Mr. Smith of Maryland, presented a petition of Ambrose Vasse, praying to be paid the amount of an award in his favor, under the 6th article of the treaty with Great Britian of 1794, which he has not received, because he did not at the time of making the award, conceive himself entitled to the same.

Mr. Cobb presented a petition of Joshua Clarke, late a paymaster to a regiment of militia in the service of the United States, praying to be exonerated from refunding to the United States, a sum of money placed in his hands, for the payment of the said regiment, and of which he was robbed by a servant.

Mr. Desha presented a petition of John Boyd, praying for the remission of the duties secured by him, to be paid on his distillery, the same having been subsequently destroyed by fire, together with all the spirits distilled under his license.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee of Ways and Means.

On motion, of Mr. Irving of New York.

Ordered, That the petition of the grocers in the city of New York, presented on the 19th December, 1816, be also referred to the same committee.

Mr. Whitman presented a petition of William Taylor and Ezekiel Walker, stating that a cargo with which they had freighted a vessel, was seized and libelled in the year 1811, for a breach of the act prohibiting commercial intercourse with Great Britain and her dependencies, and that said libel hath never been tried, and praying that the same may be dismissed, and that the forfeiture alleged to be incurred, may be remitted.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Mr. Tallmadge presented a petition of Frederick Brown, late a captain in the army of the United States, stating that in consequence of the loss of his papers, which were stolen from a baggage wagon during the late war, he is unable to settle his accounts at the War Department, and praying that an act may be passed, authorizing a settlement, on such terms and evidence as the Secretary of War, may deem proper.

Mr. Palmer presented a similar petition from William S. Foster, a major in the army.

Ordered, That the said petitions, be referred to the committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Palmer presented a petition of Joel Boyington, praying compensation for his house, which was essentially injured while occupied as barracks, for the troops of the United States, during the late war, and that he may be paid, the whole damages ascertained to have been committed, deducting the difference between the ordinary value of the rent for the time it was so occupied, and the amount actually received by him for rent,

Mr. Palmer also presented a petition of John Addoms, praying compensation for damages committed on his farm, by the troops of the United States, during the late war.

som.

Mr. Palmer also presented a similar petition, of Luther Ran

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee of Claims.

Mr. Bloomfield presented a petition of Moses Porter, a brigadier general by brevet, in the army of the United States, and an officer in the revolutionary war, praying for the renewal of a land warrant, granted him, in consideration of his services in the latter capacity.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on Private Land Claims.

On motion of Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky,

Ordered, That the petition of Gabriel Winter, presented on the 28th December, 1815, be referred to the committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Beecher presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of Pickaway county in the state of Ohio, praying for the establishment of a post route.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

The Speaker laid before the House, a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting the annual statements, relative to the internal duties and direct tax, as required by the 33d section of the act of the 22d of July, 1813, which were ordered to lie on the table.

On motion of Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana,

Resolved, That the President of the United States, be requested to lay before the House, such information as he may possess, and which, in his opinion, may be communicated with safety to the public interest, relative to the independence and political condition of the provinces of Spanish America.

Mr. Robertson, and Mr. Bayley, were appointed a committee to present the foregoing resolution to the President of the United States.

On motion of Mr. Seybert,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency, of revising and amending certain acts, concerning the Mint establishment of the United States, and that they have leave to report by bill.

Mr. Seybert, Mr. Baldwin, and Mr. Irving, New York, were appointed a committee pursuant to the said resolution.

The House then proceeded by ballot, to the election of a chaplain to Congress, on their part, and upon an examination, it appeared that the Reverend Burgiss Allison, was duly elected.

Ordered, That the Clerk acquaint the Senate therewith.

The Speaker laid before the House, a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting an account of the receipts and expenditures of the United States, for the year 1815, which were ordered to lie on the table.

On motion of Mr. Comstock,

Ordered, That when the House adjourns, it will adjourn to meet again on Monday next.

And the House adjourned.

MONDAY, December 8, 1817.

Several other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, Jonathan Mason; from Virginia, Archibald Austin and John Floyd; and from Ohio, Peter Hitchcock, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats; the oath to support the constitution of the United States, being first administered to them by the Speaker.

Nathaniel Pope, from the Illinois Territory, and John Scott, from the Territory of Missouri, having also appeared, and produced their credentials, as delegates, to represent the said territories, in the Fifteenth Congress of the United States, the said oath was administered to them by the Speaker, when they took their seats.

On motion of Mr. Sampson,

Ordered, That the petition of Seth Sprague, presented on the 18th February, 1817, be referred to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

Mr. Crafts presented a petition of John Hadley, praying for a pension.

Mr. Colston presented a petition of John Thompson, praying to be allowed the interest on the balance found due and paid to him, in virtue of an act for his relief, passed in the year 1812.

Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, presented a petition of Robert Smith, on behalf of himself and the other children of Robert Smith, deceased, praying compensation for the services of the said deceased, as sergeant, in the revolutionary army.

Mr. Williams also presented a petition of Charles Smith, praying compensation for his services, as a soldier, in the revolutionary army.

Mr. Campbell presented a petition of John Dougherty, praying for a pension.

The Speaker presented a petition of Francis Marcell, late a soldier in the army, praying to be allowed his bounty, in land, which is withheld, in consequence of an error, in omitting the word "honorable," in his discharge.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims.

On motion of Mr. Silsbee,

Ordered, That the petition of Peter C. Tupper, by William Gray, his attorney, presented on the 8th January, 1817, be referred to the same committee.

On motion of Mr. Ballard Smith,

Ordered, That the petition of John W. Godfrey, presented ou the 9th December, 1816, be also referred to the same committee.

Mr. Shaw presented a petition of John Burghart, praying that provision may be made for the adjustment of the accounts of his son, Adolphus Burghart, who was a lieutenant in the army, and killed in the battle near the Falls of Niagara, in Upper Canada, in which action his baggage, containing his accounts and vouchers, was lost. Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committed on Military Affairs.

Mr. Merrill presented a petition of Rufus Deland, father and heir at law of Alvord Deland, deceased, late a corporal in the army of the United States, praying for a grant of the bounty land to which his son was entitled in virtue of his enlistment, as a soldier, in the year 1812, together with the arrears of pay due at the time of his death, and a reimbursement of the expenses incurred for medicine and attendance on his said son, during a long and protracted illness, of which he died.

Mr. Tarr presented a petition of Jesse Lincoln, praying compensation for work done by him, and at his expense, on the public road, running from Cumberland, in the state of Maryland, to the Ohio.

Mr. Ball presented a petition of William Henderson, praying compensation for houses, and other property, belonging to the petitioner, which were destroyed by the enemy during the late war with Great Britain, in consequence of their being in the occupation of the United States, as depots of military stores, and other public property.

Mr. Ball also presented a petition of William Gordon, praying compensation for a quantity of tobacco, which he deposited in the warehouse of the collector of the customs, for the port of Tappahannock, in Virginia; which warehouse, with the tobacco, was destroyed by the enemy, during the late war, in consequence of its being occupied as a deposit for military stores, by a military officer of the United States.

Mr. Settle presented a petition of Henry Davis, keeper of the jail of Rockingham county, in North Carolina, praying to be allowed his fees, for the taking and keeping, in his jail, of a certain Na thaniel Williams, who was liberated therefrom by an act of Congress,

passed during the last session, directing the discharge of the said Williams, without the payment of costs of suit or jailor's fees.

Mr. Marr presented a petition of William Clements, praying compensation for damages committed on his property, by troops of the United States.

Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, presented a petition of the legislature of the state of Louisiana, praying that such of the citizens and inhabitants of the said state, as suffered loss by the invasion of that state, by the British forces, in the late war, may be indemnified for such losses from the Treasury of the United States.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee of Claims.

Mr. Crafts presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the state of Vermont, praying for the establishment of a post route. Ordered. That the said petition be referred to the committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

On motion of Mr. Spencer,

Ordered, That the petition of Samuel Thompson, presented on the 16th December, 1816, be referred to a Select committee.

Mr. Spencer, Mr. Savage, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Austin, and Mr. Heister, were appointed the said committee.

Mr. Whiteside presented a petition of Mary Graeff, widow of Jacob Graeff, deceased, late a collector of direct taxes and internal duties, in the state of Pennsylvania, praying to be exonerated from the payment of the interest on a sum of money found due to the United States from her said husband, for the reasons stated in her petition.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of Ways and Means.

Mr. William Maclay, presented a petition of sundry manufacturers of iron, in the state of Pennsylvania, praying that additional duties may be imposed on iron, and the manufactures of iron, imported into the United States.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures,

Mr. Herrick presented a petition of John Jones, praying to be permitted to change his location of a tract of land recently purchased of the United States, lying in the state of Ohio, having, through the mistake of persons employed by him to designate the said land, entered a tract different and distant from that which he intended to enter.

Mr. Hendricks presented a petition of James and Samuel Aikman, also praying to be permitted to retain a tract of land purchased of the United States, having, through the mistake of the surveyor, in marking the corners, entered a tract different from that on which they have settled and made valuable improvements.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee. on the Public Lands.