Hon. PAUL HAMILTON, _Secretary of the Navy_.
The Message and documents were read, and referred to the Committee of
Foreign Relations.
TUESDAY, January 26.
_Treasury Notes._
On motion of Mr. CHEVES, the House resolved itself into a Committee
of the Whole on the bill reported by the Committee of Ways and Means
authorizing the issuing of Treasury notes for the service of the year
1812.
[The bill authorizes the President of the United States to
cause to be issued Treasury notes to the amount of five
millions of dollars, and also, if he shall deem it expedient,
to issue a further amount, not exceeding five millions of
dollars, provided the amount issued under the latter provision
shall be deemed and held to be in part of the loan of sixteen
millions of dollars authorized by the bill passed this day. The
notes to bear interest at the rate of five and two-fifths per
cent. per annum, to be redeemed one year after the day on which
they are respectively issued.]
The bill having been read through by sections, and no objection having
been made thereto, the committee rose and reported it.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading without
division; and then the House adjourned.
FRIDAY, January 29.
A new member, to wit, from New York, THOMAS P. GROSVENOR, elected to
supply the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Robert Le Roy
Livingston, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took
his seat.
_Grant to Daniel Boone._
Mr. HEMPSTEAD, from the committee to whom were referred the petition
of Daniel Boone, and the resolutions of the Legislature of Kentucky in
his behalf, made a report; which was read twice, and committed to a
Committee of the Whole on Monday next.
_Territory of Missouri._
Mr. MCKEE, from the select committee which was directed to inquire into
the propriety of amending the act for the government of the Missouri
Territory, reported against any amendment. The report is as follows:
That they have had the subject to them referred under their
consideration, and have examined the act above recited. The
principal difficulty suggested to the committee, occurring in
the execution of the law, appears to relate to the election
of a delegate to represent the interest of the Territory in
the Congress of the United States. By the first clause of
the 6th section of the act it is provided "that the House of
Representatives shall be composed of members elected every
second year, by the people of the said Territory, to serve for
two years." By the 13th section of the said act it is also
provided "that the citizens of the said Territory entitled
to vote for Representatives to the General Assembly thereof,
shall, at the time of electing their Representatives to the
said General Assembly, also elect one delegate from the said
Territory to the Congress of the United States." It also
appears that an election was held in pursuance of the act
on the second Monday of November last, when a delegate was
elected. It appears that doubts have been entertained whether
the delegate thus elected can legally hold his seat after the
3d day of March next, and an alteration of the law has been
suggested as necessary to obviate the difficulty. It seems to
the committee that the first clause of the 6th section, and the
13th section of the act, taken together, leaves no room for
doubt, but evidently fixes the period for which the delegate
may hold his seat at two years from the second Monday of
November last; and it follows, as a necessary consequence, that
the delegate elected in pursuance of the law, and for the term
of two years, cannot be deprived of his right to a seat by any
subsequent law.
It also appears to the committee that the Territorial
Legislature are furnished, by the 7th section of the act, with
competent power to change the time of holding elections so as
to obviate any difficulty that may occur in the subsequent
elections of a delegate.
The committee, therefore, recommend the following resolution:
_Resolved_, That the act entitled "An act providing for the
government of the Territory of Missouri," requires no amendment.
_By Benjamin Howard, Governor of the Territory of Louisiana,
Commander-in-Chief of the Militia thereof, and Superintendent
of Indian Affairs, in and over the same_: