consequence of the invasion of Florida by the troops of the United States in 1812; which was referred to the Committee on Claims.

Mr. Wilson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a joint resolution (S. 49) to repeal the joint resolution approved June 15, 1860, for the relief of William H. De Groot; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent, and referred to the Committee on Claims.

Mr. Clark submitted the following resolution for consideration: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform the Senate, if not incompatible with the public service, what number of men are stationed at Forts Moultrie and Sumpter, respectively; whether, in his opinion, the number is sufficient to hold the forts against any apprehended attacks or domestic violence; whether any additional men have been ordered to either of said forts, or any steps have been taken to put them into a condition to resist any attack that may be made upon them; in whose possession and custody, and under what guard, the arsenal at Charleston, South Carolina, is; what arms and other property is there kept, or has been there within the last three months, and, if removed, what has been done with it; and if such arsenal, arms, and property are under the custody and control of persons other than officers of the United States, by what authority they hold the possession and custody of such arsenal, arms, and property, why they are not put in possession of officers of the United States, and whether, in any instances, the persons in possession of such arsenal, arms, and property have refused to comply with requisitions for arms or ammunition when properly made. And, further, what instructions have been given to the officers in command of said forts and arsenal in case of a demand for their surrender by or to any person or authorities, or an attack upon them. Also, that the President be requested to furnish the Senate with copies of all such instructions and of all orders in relation to said forts or arsenal within the last three months, and of all correspondence with the Lieutenant General, or any other officer of the United States Army or Navy, relative to the security of said forts and arsenal, and to the necessity of supplying additional force for their protection.

Mr. Fitch, from the Committee on Printing, to whom was referred a resolution to print extra copies of the President's annual message and documents, reported the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent and agreed to:

Resolved, That there be printed for the use of the Senate, in addition to the usual number, fifteen thousand copies of the annual message of the President of the United States, with the reports of the heads of departments and chiefs of bureaus communicated therewith, omitting the statistical matter accompanying said reports.

Resolved further, That there be printed in addition, for the use of the heads of departments, one thousand eight hundred copies of the annual message of the President and accompanying documents, with the statistics and maps, viz: Two hundred copies for the use of the Interior Department, and one thousand copies for distribution to public libraries in the several States and Territories, to be distributed by the Secretary as the American State Papers now are distributed by him;

two hundred copies for the use of the State Department; two hundred copies for the use of the War Department; one hundred copies for the use of the Navy Department; and one hundred copies for the use of the Treasury Department. Also, two thousand additional copies of the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the use of his office; one thousand copies of the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for the use of his office; five hundred copies of the report of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, for the use of that office; five hundred copies of the report of the officers in charge of the government hospital for the insane, for the use of said officers; five hundred copies of the reports of the officers in charge of the Penitentiary for the District of Columbia, for their use. And, in order that the views of the Secretary of the Interior upon the various subjects treated of in these reports may be the more fully understood,

Be it further resolved, That so much of his annual report be printed therewith as relates to the same subject; and one thousand copies of the report and documents from the Postmaster General, five hundred copies of which shall be for the use of that department.

On motion by Mr. Kennedy,

The Senate resumed, as in committee of the whole, the consideration of the bill (S. 377) to authorize the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to extend the Washington branch of their road to the Potomac river, and across the same by an extension of the present structure known as the Long Bridge, for the purpose of connecting with the Virginia railroads at that point; and,

On motion by Mr. Kennedy,

Ordered, That the further consideration of the bill be postponed to and made the special order of the day for Wednesday next, at one o'clock.

On motion by Mr. Green,

Ordered, That Wednesday and Thursday of next week be set apart for the consideration of territorial business.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Forney, its Clerk:

Mr. President: The Speaker of the House of Representatives having signed the following enrolled bills, I am directed to bring them to the Senate for the signature of its President:

S. 82. An act to amend the fourth section of the act for the admission of Oregon into the Union, so as to extend the time for selecting salt springs and contiguous lands, in Oregon.

H. R. 863. An act to authorize the issue of treasury notes and for other purposes.

The Vice-President signed the two enrolled bills (S. 82 and H. R. 863) last mentioned, and they were delivered to the committee to be presented to the President of the United States.

The Senate resumed, as in committee of the whole, the consideration of the bill (S. 112) further to carry out the provisions of the fifteenth section of the treaty between the United States and Mexico, concluded on the 2d day of February, 1848; and,

Mr. Hale having withdrawn his amendment, and an amendment being proposed by Mr. Polk,

Pending debate,

The President announced that the hour of one o'clock having arrived, it was the duty of the Chair to call up the unfinished business of the Senate at its last adjournment, which was the resolution of Mr. Powell to refer so much of the President's annual message, as relates to existing causes of trouble in the country, to a select committee of thirteen members; and that it was also the duty of the Chair to call up the bill (S. 230) declaratory of the acts for carrying into effect the ninth article of the treaty between the United States and Spain, which had been made the special order of the day for to-day at one o'clock. The Senate resumed the consideration of the bill (S. 230) last mentioned; and,

On motion by Mr. Iverson,

Ordered, That the further consideration of the bill be postponed to and made the special order of the day for Wednesday, the 9th day of January next, at one o'clock.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the resolution of Mr. Powell; and,

After debate, and the consideration of executive business,
The Senate adjourned.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1860.

Mr. Saulsbury reported from the committee that they yesterday presented to the President of the United States the following enrolled bills:

S. 82. An act to amend the fourth section of the act for the admission of Oregon into the Union, so as to extend the time for selecting salt springs and contiguous lands, in Oregon.

H. R. 863. An act to authorize the issue of treasury notes and for other purposes.

The Vice President laid before the Senate reports from the Court of Claims, made in pursuance of law, adverse to the claim of Samuel Norris; the claim of R. R. Ward and others, assignees of Jacob Barker; the claim of John P. Baldwin; the claim of Richard Irvin, trustee of the president, directors, and company of the Mechanics' Bank of New York; the claim of Jaques Charlant, representative of Peter Charlant; the claim of Charles J. Jenkins and William W. Mann, assignees of John McKinne; the claim of Elias Brevoort and Joab Houghton; the claim of James W. Knaggs, administrator, with the will annexed of Whitmore Knaggs; the claim of Nathaniel P. Causin, administrator of John H. Stone; and the claim of Richard S. Coxe, administrator of Anna Gibson.

Also, reports of the Court of Claims in favor of the claim of Theodore Adams; the claim of Lydia Cruger, executrix of Moses Shepherd; the claim of Selmar Seibert; the claim of Joseph San Rowan and William Armstrong, administrators of James B. Armstong; and the claim of Gilbert Cameron, accompanied by the following bills:

Bill for the relief of Theodore Adams.

Bill for the relief of Lydia Cruger, executrix of Moses Shepherd, deceased.

Bill for the relief of Selmar Seibert.

Bill for the relief of Joseph San Rowan and William Armstrong, administrators of James B. Armstrong, deceased.

Ordered, That said reports and bills be referred to the Committee on Claims.

A message from the President of the United States, by Mr. Glossbrenner, his secretary:

Mr. President: The President of the United States approved and signed, the 17th instant, an act (S. 82) to amend the fourth section of the act for the admission of Oregon into the. Union, so as to extend the time for selecting salt springs and contiguous lands, in Oregon.

Ordered, That the Secretary notify the House of Representatives thereof.

The Vice-President laid before the Senate two copies of the acts of the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington, containing also the memorials and resolutions passed at the seventh regular session, begun and held at Olympia, December 5, 1859.

On motion by Mr. Green,

Ordered, That they be referred to the Committee on Territories.

The Vice-President laid before the Senate the Journal of the Legislative Assembly of Canada for 1860, with the Session Papers and Appendix.

On motion by Mr. Davis,

Ordered, That they be received, and referred to the Committee on the Library.

The Vice-President laid before the Senate a report of the Second Auditor of the Treasury, communicating, in pursuance of law, copies of all accounts received at that office of disbursements of money for the benefit of the Indians, from the 1st July, 1859, to the 30th June, 1860; which was read.

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

Mr. Hamlin presented the petition of Lydia Lord, widow of John Lord, a soldier of the war of 1812, praying a pension; which was referred to the Committee on Pensions.

Mr. Green presented the memorial of George Briggs and Cornelius Vanderbilt, praying that the amount paid by them into the Treasury of the United States, as sureties of David A. Bokee, naval officer at the port of New York, may be refunded; which was referred to the Committee on Claims.

Mr. Davis presented the petition of Theodore J. Eckerson, military store-keeper and paymaster at Benicia Arsenal, California, praying a change in the law fixing his salary; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

Mr. Lane submitted the following resolutions; which were read: Whereas, in the years 1847-48, the Northern States of this Union, by their legislatures, and almost with unanimity, adopted resolutions in favor of what was called the Wilmot proviso, prohibiting slavery in

all the territory acquired from Mexico, and the Southern States soon afterwards passed counter resolutions declaring they would resist that measure at all hazards, and to the last extremity; and whereas, in 1850, certain laws were enacted to settle the controversy between the two sections, called the compromise measures, agreeing that the people of the Territories on entering the Union should decide the question of slavery for themselves; and whereas, at the last presidential election, the people of the Northern States, by the election of a President on the Chicago platform, have reaffirmed their previous position that slavery shall be excluded from all the Territories of the Union, now and hereafter; and whereas a number of the Southern States regarding said decision as destructive of the equality of the States and of their equal rights in the common territory of our common country, as ultimately fatal to their system of society, and the agitation resulting from such a policy as eminently dangerous to their domestic peace and safety, have indicated a purpose to dissolve their political connection with the Northern States, and there is reason to believe that all the Southern States will soon unite in said movement; and whereas, a dissolution of this Union would result in great disasters to both sections, and, if attended with civil war, with horrors, perhaps, exceeding any that history has recorded; and whereas, it is now apparent that the present system of government is not adequate to the exigences of the times, to the changes of opinion and of circumstances, and particularly that the mode prescribed in the present Constitution for amendments thereto is not, from the sectional character of the controversy and the urgency of events, adequate to the occasion; and whereas, in a similar difficulty, our forefathers finding the amendment of the articles of the confederation impracticable, called on the States to act separately to devise another plan of government, and that course was adopted, and crowned with success: Therefore

Resolved, That the several States be requested to send commissioners or delegates to a convention, to consult on the changes which the present times require.

And, whereas, The Southern States, being in a numerical minority, complain of aggressions previous and prospective from the Northern States;

Be it resolved, That the delegates of said Southern States be requested to convene first by themselves, to confer on the conditions necessary for their security and peace, and submit their conclusions either to the delegates of the Northern States separately convened, or to a convention of all the Northern States.

And be it further resolved, That it is contrary and abhorrent to the religion and civilization of our age, and to the spirit of our Constitution, to interfere in any way by force with such steps as any of the States feeling aggrieved may adopt;

And be it further resolved, That the federal government will abstain from the employment of all or any force to prevent or interfere with any State or States which shall determine by itself or themselves on any course for their own prosperity and safety which shall not be aggressive towards the other States; and in any case where there may