S. Res. 119. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Stephen Johnston and others; S. Res. 120. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of David D. Mitchell; S. Res. 121. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Thomas Hicks, executor of Isaac Hicks; and, S. Res. 122. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Alexander D. Anderson, administrator of John Anderson; in which I am directed to ask the concurrence of this house. A message in writing was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Nicolay, his private secretary; which was handed in at the Speaker's table. The Speaker, by unanimous consent, laid before the House the following message, received yesterday from the President of the United States, viz: To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit for the consideration of Congress, and with a view to the adoption of such measures in relation to the subject of it as may be deemed expedient, a copy of a note of the 8th instant, addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister resident of the Hanseatic. republics accredited to this government, concerning an international agricultural exhibition, to be held next summer in the city of Hamburg. WASHINGTON, January 9, 1863. The same having been read, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and printed. The Speaker, also, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a letter from the Attorney General in answer to a resolution of the House of the 8th instant, on the subject of the enforcement in the District of Columbia of the law for the confiscation of the property of rebels; which was referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia, and ordered to be printed. Mr. Clements presented the credentials of Jennings Pigott as a member elect to the House from the second congressional district of North Carolina. On motion of Mr. Dawes, Ordered, That the said credentials be referred to the Committee. of Elections, and printed. Mr. Dawes presented the protest of Charles H. Foster and others, against the admission of Jennings Pigott as a member of this house from the State of North Carolina; which was referred to the Committee of Elections, and ordered to be printed. Mr. Francis W. Kellogg, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill (H. R. 679) granting lands to the State of Michigan for the construc tion of a wagon road for postal and military purposes; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands, and ordered to be printed. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Hickey, their chief clerk: Mr. Speaker: The Senate have passed a joint resolution of this house of the following title, viz: H. Res. 133. Joint resolution to provide for the immediate payment of the army and navy of the United States; without amendment. Mr. Granger, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee had examined and found truly enrolled a joint resolution of the following title, viz: H. Res. 133. Joint resolution to provide for the immediate payment of the army and navy of the United States. When The Speaker signed the same. On motion of Mr. Stevens, 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. Campbell reported that the committee having had under consideration the special order, viz: H. R. 659. A bill to provide ways and means for the support of government, had come to no resolution thereon. On motion of Mr. Stevens, Resolved, That all debate in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union on the said bill (H. R. 659) shall cease in two hours and thirty minutes after its consideration is resumed, and the committee shall then proceed to vote on such amendments as may be pending or offered to the same, and shall then report to the House with such amendments as may have been agreed to. Mr. Stevens moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the consideration of the series of resolutions heretofore submitted by him was, yesterday, postponed until the second Tuesday in February next. Pending which, On motion of Mr. Stevens, at 4 o'clock and 25 minutes p. m., the House adjourned. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1863. The following petitions and memorial were laid upon the Clerk's table, under the rule: By Mr. Van Horn: The petition of citizens of New York, for the passage of a uniform bankrupt law; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Segar: The petition of J. H. Caldwell, for compensation for property taken by the United States; which was referred to the Committee of Claims. By Mr. Olin: The petition of the heirs of George Reab, for compensation on account of services in the revolutionary war; which was referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. By Mr. Edwards: The petition of Stephen K. Baldwin, for the extension of a patent; which was referred to the Committee on Patents. By Mr. Albert S. White: The memorial of the executive committee of the Baltimore City Union Convention, Maryland, praying Congress to pass an act to compensate the State of Maryland for the inconveniences and losses sustained by the extinction of slavery; which was referred to the select committee on emancipation. The Speaker, by unanimous consent, laid before the House the following message received yesterday from the President of the United States, viz: To the House of Representatives: The Secretary of State has submitted to me a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, which has been delivered to him, and which is in the following words: "Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to communicate to this House, if not, in his judgment, incompatible with the public interest, why our minister in New Granada has not presented his credentials to the actual government of that country; also, the reasons for which Señor Murillo is not recognized by the United States as the diplomatic representative of the Mosquera government of that country; also, what negotiations have been had, if any, with General Herran, as the representative of Ospina's government in New Granada, since it went into existence." On the 12th day of December, 1846, a treaty of amity, peace, and concord was concluded between the United States of America and the republic of New Granada, which is still in force. On the 7th day of December, 1847, General Pedro Alcantára Herran, who had been duly accredited, was received here as the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of that republic. On the 30th day of August, 1849, Señor Don Rafael Rivas was received by this government as chargé d'affaires of the same republic. On the 5th day of December, 1851, a consular convention was concluded between that republic and the United States, which treaty was signed on behalf of the republic of Granada by the same Señor Rivas. This treaty is still in force. On the 27th of April, 1852, Señor Don Victoriano de Diego Paredes was received as chargé d'affaires of the republic of New Granada. On the 20th of June, 1855, General Pedro Alcantara Herran was again 'received as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, duly accredited by the republic of New Granada, and he has ever since remained, under the same credentials, as the representative of that republic near the government of the United States. On the 10th of September, 1857, a claims convention was concluded between the United States and the republic of Granada. This convention is still in force, and has in part been executed. In May, 1858, the constitution of the republic was remodelled, and the nation assumed the political title of "The Granadian Confederacy." This fact was formally announced to this government, but without any change in their representative here. Previously to the 4th day of March, 1861, a revolutionary war against the republic of New Granada, which had thus been recognized and treated with by the United States, broke out in New Granada, assuming to set up a new government under the name of the United States of Columbia. This war has had various vicissitudes, sometimes favorable, sometimes adverse, to the revolutionary movements. The revolutionary organization has hitherto been simply a military provisionary power, and no definitive constitution of government has yet been established in New Granada in place of that organized by the constitution of 1858. The minister of the United States to the Granadian Confederacy, who was appointed on the 29th day of May, 1861, was directed, in view of the occupation of the capital by the revolutionary party, and of the uncertainty of the civil war, not to present his credentials to either the government of the Granadian Confederacy or to the provisional military government, but to conduct his affairs informally, as is customary in such cases, and to report the progress of events, and await the instructions of this government. The advices which have been received from him have not hitherto been sufficiently conclusive to determine me to recognize the revolutionary government. General Herran being here, with full authority from the government of New Granada, which had been so long recognized by the United States, I have not received any representative from the revolutionary government, which has not yet been recognized, because such a proceeding would in itself be an act of recognition. Official communications have been had on various incidental and occasional questions with General Herran, as the minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary of the Granadian Confederacy, but in no other character. No definitive measure or proceeding has resulted from these communications, and a communication of them at present would not, in my judgment, be compatible with the public interest. WASHINGTON, January 14, 1863. The same having been read, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and printed. The Speaker, also, by unanimous consent, laid before the House the following communications from the Secretary of the Interior, viz: I. Asking an appropriation for certain Ottawa Indians in Kansas; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, and ordered to be printed. II. Submitting estimates for the Capitol extension and new dome; which was referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed. The Speaker having proceeded, as the regular order of business, to call the committees for reports of a private nature Mr. Fenton, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Hull and Cozzens, and John Naylor and Company, made a report thereon, accompanied by a bill (H. R. 680) for their relief; which bill was read a first and second time, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, made the order of the day for tomorrow, and the bill and report ordered to be printed. On motion of Mr. John B. Steele, Ordered, That the Committee for the District of Columbia be discharged from the further consideration of the petition of Charles A. Pitcher, and that the same be referred to the Committee of Claims. Mr. Buffinton, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the petition of John C. McFerran, of the United States army, made a report thereon, accompanied by a bill (H. R. 681) for his relief; which bill was read a first and second time, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, made the order of the day for tomorrow, and the bill and report ordered to be printed. Mr. Noell, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Frederick A. Holden and others, made a report thereon, accompanied by a bill (H. R. 682) for their relief; 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. Dunn, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill of the House (H. R. 647) for the relief of the administrator of Captain Richard Stevenson, deceased, reported the same without amendment, accompanied by a report in writing. thereon. The House having proceeded to the consideration of the said bill- On motion of Mr. Washburne, the House proceeded to the consideration of the business on the Speaker's table. When Bills and joint resolutions of the Senate of the following titles were severally read a first and second time, viz: S. 427. An act for the relief of Charles Anderson, assignee of John James, of Texas. S. 438. An act for the relief of the owners of the Norwegian bark "Admiral P. Tordenskiold." S. Res. 118. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of R. A. Clements, administrator of James N. Mullican. S. Res 119. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Stephen Johnston and others. S. Res. 120. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of David D. Mitchell. S. Res. 121. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Thomas Hicks, executor of Isaac Hicks. S. Res. 122. Joint resolution to confirm the adverse decision of the Court of Claims in the case of Alexander D. Anderson, adminis trator of John Anderson. Ordered, That the said bills and joint resolutions be referred as follows, viz: |