Army with his associates, as one of them, with this brand of forgery and embezzlement upon him, and yet only forfeits his pay and rank. Mr. GANSON. I would inquire of the gentleman what he expects to accomplish, beyond allowing us to read the papers. Mr. DAWES. I intend to get this matter printed, so that we can see what peculiar reason there was for the War Department attaching such a penalty for such a crime. The proceedings of the court-martial presented to me were accompanied by the proceedings of a court-martial upon a poor soldier who, being drunk, happened to insult an officer, and he was sent for five years to the Dry Tortugas; and yet nobody in the War Department ever thought that too heavy a penalty upon the poor soldier. But when a horse inspector, or something of that kind, plunders the United States by vouchers forged by him, or by others used by him, and knowing them to be forged, he is only worthy, in the opinion of the War Department, of six months' suspension of pay and rank, at the expiration of which period he goes back whitewashed into the Army. Mr. COX. I desire to say to the gentleman from Massachusetts that, when I made objection to printing this document, I did not know that it related to the case referred to by the gentleman the other day. I will not object to printing the document, although the bundle appears to be large. The case calls for publicity, and the only way of correcting these enormous outrages is to expose them to the people. If this case be as is stated by the gentleman from Massachusetts, it ought to be spread before the country broadcast, in order to correct by public opinion the action of the War Department. Mr. GANSON. I would suggest to the gentleman that the best way would be to call the head of the Department upon the floor, and interrogate him as to what has been done. Mr. COX. I do not want him to be called into this House. That remark is entirely out of this case. Mr. DAWES. When the case is printed I desire to have it go before the country, that they may pass judgment upon the remarkable state of things which the record discloses. Mr. JULIAN, from the Committee on Public Lands, reported back bill of the House No. 730, to provide for the subdivision and sale of the gold and silver lands of the United States, and others containing valuable minerals, for the coining of the products of such lands, and for other purposes. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I wish to have the bill read. It is a bill upon a very important subject, which I have not been able to examine, and one in which I take a great deal of interest. Mr. JULIAN. The bill is not reported for action now. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. Then I will not insist on the reading. The SPEAKER. The time consumed by the reading would not come out of the time of the gentleman from Indiana, but it would come out of the morning hour, and the morning hour would expire before the conclusion of the gentleman's hour. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. If the gentleman from Indiana does not desire to consider the bill now, of course I will not take up the time of the House by having it read. Mr. JULIAN. Mr. Speaker, the policy of the Government in dealing with the vast mineral resources of the nation is a subject of the highest moment to the people, and invokes the early and earnest attention of Congress. No one can overstate its magnitude, considered in relation to the actual facts of our condition to-day. In seasons of prosperity and peace our country can endure much mal-administration and very serious financial mistakes; but these are not to be hazarded in this crisis of her history. We are compassed about with perils and pressing necessities, and must husband both our wisdom and our resources, if we hope to save the Republic. The measure I have had the honor to report from the Committee on Public Lands proposes a radical and entire change in the present policy of the Government respecting its lands containing the precious metals. It provides for vesting the fee in individual proprietors by public and private sale, instead of retaining the title in the Government and treating their occupants as tenants at will. It contemplates their survey and subdivis The SPEAKER. Perhaps it is just to the De-ion into small tracts, and fixes a minimum price partment that the concluding report of the Judge Advocate General should be read. The Clerk read, as follows: It is recommended that the findings and sentence be disapproved. J. HOLT, Judge Advocate General. Mr. BROOKS. I suggest that the whole document ought to be read if any part of it is read. The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman demand the reading of it? Mr. BROOKS. I do not. The SPEAKER. The gentleman has a right to demand the reading of the entire document on the motion to print. Mr. DAWES. I have the official record here, signed by E. D.Townsend, in which the only thing set aside is the sentence. The verdict of "guilty" stands recorded to-day. I should like to have a letter which my friend from Pennsylvania before me [Mr. THAYER] has, from the judge advocate who conducted the trial, read at the desk, if any part of the record is read. I call the previous question on the motion to print. The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered; and under the operation thereof the motion to print was agreed to. Mr. DAWES moved to reconsider the vote by which the communication was ordered to be printed; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. The latter motion was agreed to. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. A message from the Senate by Mr. FORNEY, its Secretary, informed the House that the Senate, in the absence of the Vice President, had elected Hon. DANIEL CLARK, of New Hampshire, President pro tempore of the Senate. SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. Mr. JULIAN. I call for the regular order of business. The SPEAKER. The regular order of business during the morning hour, which now commences, is the call of committees for reports, commencing with the Committee on Public Lands. upon them, graded according to size, locality, and mineral value. It prohibits combinations among bidders at the public sales, and the purchase of any lands by foreigners, except those who shall have declared their intention to become citizens. It provides that actual discoverers and workers of mining localities shall have the right to purchase them at the minimum price, and thus relieve themselves from the disadvantage of competing with rich capitalists. It limits the quantity of mineral land which any single purchaser may buy to forty acres. It requires that the gold and silver extracted shall be coined in the mints of the United States, empowers the President to lay off the mining regions into suitable coining districts, and compels miners to have their gold and silver coined in the districts in which they are found. It further provides that every purchaser shall first take the oath of loyalty to the United States prescribed by law, and that the net proceeds of the sales of these lands shall be dedicated and applied to the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds of the United States. This is a brief outline of the main features of the bill; and I propose, in entering upon its discussion, to refer to some preliminary considerations which fairly open the way. is That the present condition of our currency an unsound one, is a proposition which no man will dispute. That the only safe basis for a financial medium of exchange is coin, may be affirmed as equally true. It is needless to deny this fact or dispute about its philosophy. The civilized world has so adjudged. The question may fairly be accepted as a settled one, that gold and silver constitute the true medium of exchange and the permanent standard of value. No financial polley therefore can be trusted which does not contemplate a return to specie payments as soon as practicable. This is the opinion of Mr. McCuljoch, the able Comptroller of our national banks. "it should be the object of all honorable bankers to expedite, as far as possible, rather than to postpone, a return to specie payments," and that "it must never be forgotten that the He says, business of the country rests upon an unsound basis, or rather is without a proper basis, as long as the Government and the banks are not meeting their obligations in coin." Our Government securities may be very current to-day, because they are sustained by popular confidence and the tide of fortune which seems to be sweeping away all obstacles to the triumph of the national cause. But this confidence may not be abiding. What we most of all need is such a policy as will sustain popular confidence, even under military failures and a prolonged war; and such a policy must embody the fundamental principle just stated. But to this end, Mr. Speaker, the quantity of ▸ the precious metals must be increased. The startling disproportion of gold and silver to other values, and to our commercial wants, must in some way be destroyed or greatly reduced. The property of the United States within the last ten years has increased about nine hundred million dollars per year. This increase is estimated to be more than two hundred times greater than the increase of coin during the same period. These are very suggestive and significant facts. The growth of our commerce and the issue of paper money and Government securities still further complicate our financial condition, and demand, as an absolute necessity, an increase of the quantity of gold and silver. If this is not provided for the price of coin will continue to advance, and by its effect upon Government stocks and prices generally must seriously cripple the prosecution of the war, and most injuriously affect the welfare of the whole country. Here is the real problem of our finances, if not also a problem involving the national life. That we are to crush the rebellion, and that speedily, few men can any longer doubt. Every passing day is demonstrating that our military power is amply adequate to the task it has in hand. Of the questions growing out of the war which yet remain to be settled, the grand one, and by far the most difficult of solution, is that of our finances. How can the further inflation of the currency be prevented, and a return to specie payments become possible, without increasing the quantity of specie? Even should the war be ended within the present year, and permanent peace be restored, the question I am presenting must continue a vital one, demanding the early and most earnest consideration of statesmen. Perhaps it will be said that increased taxation can meet the financial difficulty. I agree that it may partially do so. If Congress, in the early stages of the war, had known how to tax, and had possessed the courage to impose such burdens upon the people as the national exigency demanded, our financial condition would have been incalculably better than we now find it. The price of gold would not have gone up as we have seen it. The great mass of the people, who are interested in stable and moderate prices, would not have been compelled to buy the necessaries of life at the enormous and ruinous rates which have resulted from the inflation of the currency, unaccompanied by courageous efforts in the way of taxation to defray the expenses of the war as it progressed. The Government, in the purchase of its vast supplies for our grand armies, would have been able to do so at such reasonable rates as to have saved hundreds of millions of dollars, thus husbanding our resources, maintaining the national credit, and insuring the confidence of the people.. A system of vigorous taxation, inaugurated early in the year 1862, before the derangement of the currency was made manifest, and steadily maintained since that time, would have saved to the country more than million dollars per day, thus averting the frightful national debt which has accumulated, and is rapidly increasing through the failure of timely and adequate taxation. But these legislative mistakes cannot be undone. We We are compelled to deal with the present as the past has made it. Congress, within the last three years, has been learning the science of taxation. Our burdens, while they are by no means crushing, are heavy. Undoubtedly we shall be compelled to increase them in any event of the future; but no rate of taxation which any public man will dare propose, or which the people would endure, will help the country out of its financial crisis. Some policy which will secure to the Government a fresh and liberal supply of the precious metals will be found absolutely necessary. If, therefore, there is anywhere an available source of revenue yet untouched, by which the burdens of the people may be greatly relieved and the nation itself rescued from the great financial Maelstrom which threatens to swallow it up, it becomes our chosen and highest duty to seek that source of revenue, and coin it into the national service. Sir, I believe it requires no divining-rod to find it, and that all we need, in the words of Mr. Ruggles, is to "uncover the mountains of gold and silver garnered up by Providence to meet the cost of saving our nation's life." The auriferous region of the United States on the western portion of the continent extends from thirty-one degrees and thirty minutes north latitude to the forty-ninth parallel, and from one hundred degrees of longitude to the Pacific, embracing portions of Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and covering an area of more than a million square miles. These vast regions are described in official reports as stretching longitudinally and in lateral spurs, crossed and linked together by intervening ridges, connecting the whole system by five principal ranges, dividing the country into an equal number of basins, each being nearly surrounded by mountains and watered by mountain streams and snows, thereby interspersing this immense territory with bodies of agricultural lands equal to the support not only of miners, but of a dense population. These mountains are literally stocked with minerals, gold and silver being interspersed in profusion over this immense surface, and daily brought to light by new discov. eries. According to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, a greater amount of mineral wealth is to be found in the territory of the United States than in all other habitable countries. Before the discovery of the precious metals in California the annual production of gold in all parts of the world did not exceed an average of $18,000,000. The present annual production in California alone is estimated at $70,000,000. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, in his report for 1862, estimated the production of gold in that year, in California and the other western gold-bearing regions, at $100,000,000; and the Secretary of the Interior, in his report of the same year, estimated that if an amount of labor relatively equal to that expended in California had been applied to the gold fields known to exist outside of that State, the production, including that of California, would have exceeded $400,000,000. Taking into account subsequent and quite recent discoveries in our mining regions, and especially in Arizona, I think it safe to say that an annual product of $1,000,000,000 might be realized under a just || policy which would at once invite laborers to our western Territories and reward them by rich reI quote the following facts from the official report just referred to: turns. "The usual size of a mining claim in the quartz region Is one hundred feet on the line of the lode or vein, and one hundred feet on each side, equal to an area of twenty thousand square feet, or say twelve hundred claims to the square mile. Allow that only one hundredth part of the mountain surface is occupied by paying leads or veins, and there will be space for three million six hundred thousand claims. But Governor Evans, of Colorado, estimates the already discovered gold bearing region of that Territory as affording ample room for eight hundred thousand claims, and states that new discoveries are daily increasing with area. glance at the map is sufficient to show that the mineral region of Colorado occupies less than one sixth of the whole extent under consideration; but assume it to be one sixth, and there will be ample extent on this basis for four million eight hundred thousand claims, which, if worked, would give employment to twenty million men." A prime sources of supply. They are exempt, while every other interest is made to groan under the pressure; and yet the Government, slumbering over its grand opportunity, declines to adopt any policy respecting them. It does not sell its mineral lands; it does not lease them; it simply abandons them, while owning them in fee, and solemnly bound, as the trustee of the people and by the Constitution itself, to "make all needful rules and regulations" for their government and the development of their wealth. How long will the people thus sport with their resources and bear with their public servants who are thus recreant to the public good? Mr. Speaker, this signal and very instructive failure of the leasing policy in the mines of Illinois, was preceded by a similar one in the lead mines of Missouri. The Government, as already stated, adopted the policy in 1807, and tried it for more than twenty years in that State. Many leases were taken, and great quantities of lead were dug from the mines, but no rents were paid to the Government-" no, not a dollar; not one cent. I quote the words of Colonel Benton in the Senate of the United States, in the year 1823, after the experiment had been tried in his State fifteen years; and I fortify my argument by his high authority. I shall bring to my aid both his facts and his reasoning in discussing the measure I have submitted. "The spirit of tenancy," said he, "is everywhere the same; it is a spirit adverse to improvements, always leaning toward the injury of the property in possession, and always holding back from the payment of rent. The truth of this principle will be universally admitted, and as an argument against the policy in question is unanswerable, and in itself sufficient to demand a totally different system. Every landlord and tenant, whether of mineral or agricul But assuming that this "let-alone" policy is to be abandoned by the Government, the important question remains as to the disposition of these mineral lands. As a saving financial expedient and a wise national policy, what shall be done with them? This becomes an immediate, practical question. Three several methods of solving it have been advocated, namely, the system of leasing, the imposition of a tax upon the mining products, and the absolute sale of the fee. The two methods first named rest upon substantially the same principle. They both recognize the Uni-tural lands, must admit its force. ted States as the perpetual landlord of these vast possessions, and the people who enter upon them as tenants, either for years or at will. They are both at war with our republican institutions. They are both in direct antagonism with the policy of sale which would utterly divest the title of the Government, and vest it in individual proprietors. It is this latter policy which is submitted in the bill I have reported, and which I propose briefly to argue. The ordinance of 1785, for the disposal of the lands in the "Western Territory" contained the first reservation of mineral land from sale. Some fifteen years later, authority of law was given for leasing such lands. The folly of our rulers at one time went so far as to provide by law for leasing agricultural lands, and I mention this to show how unsafe it is to make the past action of our Government the guide of our steps to-day. In 1807 the power to lease was confined to lead mines. In the Canadian bounty-land act of 1816 lead mines and salt springs were excluded from location. Congress, however, by act of March 3, 1829, conferred authority on the President to expose to sale as other public lands "the several lead mines and contiguous lands in the State of Missouri," under certain specified restrictions; but with this exception the policy of reserving mineral lands from sale, and of leasing lead and copper mines, continued till the year 1846, when Congress, on the 11th day of July, ordered "the reserved lead mines and contiguous lands in the States of Illinois and Arkansas" and the then "Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa" to be exposed to sale under certain conditions, the price being not less than two dollars and a half per acre. In the following year Congress ordered the organization of the Lake Superior district in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and the Chippewa land district in Wisconsin, and provided for the sale of lands containing copper, lead, or other valuable ores, at a minimum price of five dollars per acre. These acts of Congress show how long and patiently the Government acted the part of national landlord over its national tenants, the miners of the Northwest. And the experiment failed utterly. The leasing policy drew into the mining regions a population of vagrants, gamblers, and ruffians, excluding sober and intelligent citizens, and making the establishment of organized civil communities impossible. Their houses were mere hovels and shanties. They resisted the payment of taxes on the products of the mines, and killed the agents of the Government. The settlement and civilization of these mining regions was not only thus prevented, but neither the national Treasury nor the miner was the pecuniary gainer under this policy. The Government at length was forced to adopt the policy of selling the fee, when a new class of men took possession of these regions as the owners of the soil, brought their families with them, laid the foundations of These pregnant facts, Mr. Speaker, are supplied by the Government itself; and yet, weighed down with debt, and threatened with bankruptcy and ruin through the scarcity of gold and silver, it has adopted no policy whatever in dealing with our mineral lands, except the negative one of reserving them from sale. The United States have left them open to our people and to the greed of monopolists from foreign countries for the past sixteen years, during which $1,000,000,000 have been extracted, without a doliar of revenue to the national Treasury. Sir, this is financial profli-social order, expelled the barbarians who had segacy. It is legislative madness. If not repented of, and that speedily, it may end in national suicide. Our system of taxation reaches everywhere, drawing revenue from all quarters, except these cured a temporary occupancy, and thus at once promoted their own welfare, the real prosperity of the country, and the financial interests of the Government. Colonel Benton declared that the fruit of this false system has been "injury to the national prosperity, loss to the national Treasury, and a resource to foreign Powers to supply us with the articles of which God in His providence has given to us more than He has given to them." He argued that to continue this system would be "to perpetuate the relation of landlord and tenant throughout the vast extent of the mineral districts of the Republic, that landlord being the Federal Government, and holding its domains and a body of tenantry within the limits of a sovereign State." He denied such a power to the Federal Government. "I take my stand," said he, "upon the words of the Constitution, and deny to the Federal Government a power to hold lands in any State, except upon grants made, in cases enumerated, and for the purposes specified in the Constitution. The monarchies of Europe have their serfs and vassals, but the genius of the Republic disclaims the tenure and the spirit of vassalage, and calls for freemen, owners of the soil, masters of their own castles, and free from the influence of a foreign sovereign." The effects of this policy he said would be "population retarded, the improvement of the country delayed, large bodies of land held free of taxation, and their elections more or less influenced by the presence of men holding their leases at the will of the Federal Government." He would "deliver up the mines and salines of the Republic to the pursuit of individual industry, to the activity of individual enterprise, to the care of individual interest, guided and sustained by the skill and capital of those who may choose to hold them." He argued that the Government would "find its indemnity in the price which would be paid for them, and in the increased wealth of its citizens, which is, in fact, the wealth of the Government itself. Besides, without a freehold in the soil, the experience of all countries proves that the riches of the mineral kingdom can never be discovered or brought into action. A lessee for years cannot incur the expense of sinking shafts, connecting them by galleries, opening ventilators, constructing hydraulic machines,, and building permanent furnaces. And without these labors, the mineral riches which lie some hundred feet in the bowels of the earth can never be discovered. All this is now proved on the mineral lands of the United States in Missouri. Fifty or sixty mines have been opened, exhausted, and abandoned. Yes, in the space of a few months a mine is exhausted, while in England mines are now worked which were opened two thousand years ago. The reason is obvious: the English miner, having the freehold of the soil, husbands and improves his property, and follows the vein downward even to the distance of two thousand feet. The American lessee can only take what he finds near the surface of the ground. He cannot pierce the rock in pursuit of the descending veins which lead to the great beds of ore below. He can only pick out the eyes of the mine, without touching its body; nor is it possible to tell where nature has deposited her hidden treasures, except by opening the earth to the places where they lie." In concluding his speech, embodying so much both of argument and fact, and so forcibly expressed, Colonel Benton referred to the example of England: "In the early ages her base metals were considered as too precious for the people, and were reserved as Crown property. Her mines were leased out, and the great tin inines of Cornwall brought the imposing sum of one hundred marks per annum, and the rest in proportion. In the reign of Philip and Mary this policy was changed. The mineral kingdom, by an act of Parliament, ceased to be a monopoly in the hands of the Crown. It was delivered up to the skill and capital and industry of individuals, and the result has been that the iron, lead, copper, tin, coal, and salt of England have carried the wealth and power of the British empire to a height to which the mines of Peru and Mexico could never have exalted her. Let us follow her example, not the example of her dark ages, but of that enlightened period which has made of a small island in the sea one of the richest and most powerful empires on the face of the globe." These, Mr. Speaker, are some of the arguments of the great statesman of Missouri, as embodied in a speech delivered in the Senate of the United States forty-two years ago. They did not fail of their purpose; for, though not heeded at the time, they at length found their vindication in the act of Congress of 1829, already referred to, abolishing the system of tenancy in Missouri, and subjecting her mineral lands to sale; and still further in the acts of 1846 and 1847, inaugurating the same reform in the lead and copper regions of Illinios, Michigan, and Wisconsin. To the extent of this legislation the reasoning of Colonel Benton has prevailed in the policy of the Government, and has been fully justified by time. If it be said that the policy of selling the fee of lands containing other minerals than those mentioned has not been tried, I reply that for that very reason there is no fact which can be adduced against it; and I reply further, that the arguments I have employed, showing the principle of tenancy to be a vicious one, apply as legitimately to lands containing gold and silver as to those containing copper and lead; to our great western Territories as well as to regions far less remote. On the other hand, there is one unbroken chain of testimony against the policy of retaining the fee of mineral lands in the Government, and dealing with || their occupants as tenants, whether the lands contain the precious or the useful metals, and whether they lie on this or the other side of the Rocky mountains. On this point fact and argument join hands, and leave that policy totally unsupported. Mr. Speaker, the sale of our mineral lands is demanded by considerations which appeal, with irresistible force, to the common sense of every man who will allow himself to think. In the first place, it will give security to land titles, and thus necessarily invite into the mining regions a population of permanent settlers, and sober, intelligent, wealth-producing people. This has been shown in the case to which I have already referred of the lead mines of Illinois. It must be remembered that population is not always wealth. It should be permanent, industrious, and able to find its support in the rewards of labor and the general prosperity which that labor secures. Under the policy which treats miners as mere tenants at will permanent settlements are impossible. No settler can have any security for the claim he may select. He can have no sure protection against its forfeiture. Since he has no better title to the land he occupies than he has to the whole of the unoccupied country around him, he is perpetually tempted to change his temporary habitation. Having no tie of ownership to bind him to the soil, and no permanent improvements on it, he is at perfect liberty at any moment to "take up his bed and walk." Hence it is that our miners are proverbially nomadic. Their unsettled and roving habits will not allow them to accumulate property for themselves, while they contribute nothing to the permanent growth of the country. What Colonel Benton said of the leasing system in Missouri applies, in all its force, to the superficial mining of these wandering tribes, who have no title to the soil. It is madness to hope for revenue to the Government, or the development of our mineral resources, through the agency of such a population and such a policy; nor is there any possible remedy save in the sale of these lands in fee to acual settlers. The policy for which I plead is urged by kindred and stronger reasons. Under our present system there can be no homes in the mining regions. Where there is no security for land titles, ter. no permanent communities can be established. It has been said, with truth, that the best part The sale of our mineral lands, Mr. Speaker, is to be vindicated by still other considerations. No country can prosper in which land does not become valuable, and increase in value with the increase of population. Our present policy totally overlooks this principle. By denying permanent ownership in the soil, and thus preventing its improvement, it necessarily keeps down its value. While it fails to draw from the mines the wealth which they contain, for reasons already given it cripples enterprise in this and other directions by depriving capital of the best possible security for its investment. Men will not lend their capital to mining projects when the title to the soil is in the Government, and cannot be pledged as security. This non-employment of capital not only retards mining, but keeps idle multitudes of laborers who need employment. Capital, wanting investment somewhere, is sent to New York or to Europe. According to Hittell, to whose valuable and interesting work on the Resources of California the public is greatly indebted, $40,000,000 a year are shipped from that State because there is nothing to give as security. "We offer to pay," || says he, "twice as much interest as anybody else, and our offer would be gladly accepted if there were a certainty that we would pay as we promise; but there is no certainty, no security." Every interest suffers under this false policy. It operates unequally. The farming districts,' says the same authority, "where the inhabitants own the land, pay heavy land taxes, whereas mining claims pay no taxes at all. The result is that the taxation upon the men in the valleys is about three times as heavy as upon those in the mountains. The miners generally have no homes and no fixed property, and cannot be forced to pay taxes. Most of the mining counties are deeply in debt, and many are growing deeper every year. The only way to equalize the taxation is to sell the mineral lands, and compel the miner to pay a tax upon his mine as well as the farmer on his farm.' The justness of these observations will not be questioned; and they will apply to all our mining regions as perfectly as to California. Mr. Speaker, I have already referred, in my opening remarks, to the question of our finances, and to the singular fact that our mines of gold and silver have yielded no revenue to the Government. I urged the absolute financial necessity of some radical change in our present policy. The exposure of our mineral lands to sale would not only inaugurate the true policy with a view to the settlement of these lands, and the development of their resources, but would very speedily be felt in its returns to the Treasury. The sales could not fail to be large. The spirit of enterprise, of adventure, was never more alive among our people than to-day. The demand for labor, caused by the waste of war, can scarcely be appreciated, and is recasting the judgment of the whole country as to the value of foreign laborers. Immigration is accordingly largely on the increase, and is destined to pour in upon us to an extent unexampled in the past. The arrivals at the port of New York alone last year were one hundred and eighty-five thousand two hundred and eight; and there is no fact which does not look to its increase, at least for several years to come. The rapid settlement of our distant Territories within the past few years, partly attributable to the beneficent policy of our homestead law, and the tempting discoveries of their precious metals which have been made, are exceedingly prophetic of their speedy population. The Secretary of the Interior, in his report for the year 1862, estimated that at least five hundred million dollars could be realized by the sale of our mineral lands in oneacre lots, after granting to those now engaged in mining a clear title without cost to the lands they occupy. Should they bring only the half, or even the fourth, of this estimate, it would furnish an argument of no inconsiderable weight in favor of the policy. The people, undoubtedly, would be glad to have their burdens lightened to this extent, and they will demand it of their servants, if not forbidden by the strongest and most conclusive reasons. If peace now prevailed throughout our borders, and the Treasury of the Government were full to overflowing, as we have known it in the past, I would not urge this consideration. I would apply to our mineral lands the great principle embodied in the homestead law, which aims at the settlement and improvement of our public domain as at once the true source of revenue to the Government and of prosperity to the country. I agree to the modification of that principle now, and urge it, because of an absolute public necessity, which demands that this important source of immediate financial relief shall not escape. And now, sir, permit me to refer to some of the objections which are urged to the policy for which I plead. The sale of our mineral lands, it is asserted, will place them in the grasp of speculators, who will hoard them up for their own aggrandizement, and "to the prejudice and deprivation of the many." This objection suggests several replies. In the first place, this horror of land monopoly is shared by men who see no sort of objection to the wholesale monopoly of all our mineral lands by the Government. If monopolies are pernicious, as I admit them to be, they are so in principle. Government monopolies are not less so than others. They have often been as much worse as their greater power of evil would permit. The feudal system of the Old World was land monopoly in its glory and fruition, in the crowning luxuriance of its infernal sway over the people, who toiled as its slaves. The theory which insists upon retaining the fee of our mineral lands in the Government, and treating the miner as a feudatory or serf, is of European origin. It is borrowed from monarchical institutions and ideas, which we profess to have forsaken, but from which we are by no means yet fully divorced. Our institutions are republican, and our ideas should be democratic, not monarchic. Under the feudal or kingly system Government is every thing, the subject nothing. Our American ideas, on the other hand, have respect chiefly to the individual, and regard Government simply as the servant of the people. Sir, I submit that this popular cry against the monopoly of our mineral lands by speculators, does not sound very well in the mouths of those who justify Government monopoly, and have not yet been able to emancipate themselves from the anti-republican ideas against which our revolutionary fathers contended. Let me add, that what I now say furnishes a reply also to the argument often urged that the policy of European nations and of other sovereignties on this continent is against the sale of their mineral lands. Our Government is a republic, and the remotest thing possible from a safe precedent for us would be the example of Governments resting upon feudal ideas, and utterly hostile to the rights of the people. this process will secure a price for the lands as nearly just to the Government and to the purchaser as any that can be devised. I believe it meets the difficulty; and since the vested rights of miners are protected under the fifth section of the bill, no material injustice can result, either to the Government or the purchaser. Mr. Speaker, there are other and minor objections, to which I think I need not refer. They are all met or overcome by the arguments already presented, joined to the palpable folly of further maintaining the present suicidal policy of the Government. Nor shall I stop to discuss the details of the bill I have reported, the leading features of which have already been stated. It has been prepared with much care, and with the assistance of some of the ablest men in the country, whose extensive knowledge of our land system gives peculiar weight to their opinions, and who have given to the subject much thought. The policy which it proposes has also the decided ap characters, including such men as Colonel Benton, Chief Justice Chase, General Frémont, Robert J. Walker, Hugh McCulloch, and Horace Greeley. I may mention also Hon. John Wilson, who so ably presided over our General Land Office years ago, and whose thorough acquaintance with the subject should command great respect for his judgment. I add, further, that the most intelligent men I have met from California and other mining regions, who speak from actual observation and extensive experience in mining, express the same opinion. Undoubtedly, the bill is imperfect. A measure so revolutionary of past ideas and policy, and dealing with interests so vast and peculiar, must of necessity, to some extent, prove an experiment. I believe it will be a grand one. But I ask, Mr. Speaker, why is there more danger from the monopoly of mineral than of agri-proval of many of our most distinguished public cultural lands? The monopoly of the latter has undoubtedly been a great evil, yet the Government, from the beginning, has parted with the fee to purchasers, and is still doing so. It also sells its lands containing lead, iron, copper, salines, and coal; and I believe the opponents of the measure now proposed offer no objection. Why not extend the same principle to other minerals? True, the intrinsic value of gold and silver gives to them a peculiar relation, and as the representative of values and the medium of exchange they perform a function totally unlike that of any of the merely useful metals. But I am unable to see why this should exempt the lands containing them from the general policy of sale. As to foreign capitalists, the bill I have reported forbids their becoming purchasers unless they shall have declared their intention to become naturalized. Undoubtedly these lands will be the subject of monopolies, just as will our coal and other lands. This cannot wholly be prevented by any possible legislation, or any failure to legislate. Land monopoly notoriously prevails now in the great mining regions under our present policy of withholding the fee. Capitalists, both foreign and domestic, enter these regions, and purchase and monopolize the possessory rights of miners, and will do so in spite of any prohibitions. This is a sufficient reply to all that can be said against the monopoly of the fee of mining lands. I believe, however, the evil of such monopoly will be much less than is apprehended. It is not probable that capitalists would become the first purchasers, or that the richest places would fall into their hands. The men who are on the ground, engaged in actual mining, would secure the best investments; for under this bill they are not required to compete with men who could outbid them. If capitalists buy the lands, they cannot afford to let them remain unproductive. If they should secure enough to be fairly named a monopoly, their own interest would prompt them to develop their riches, and this will bring into the mining regions multitudes of laborers who would find remunerative employment, and help develop the wealth of our country. Holding the principle of the measure to be sound, I would launch it, trusting to time and experience to point out its defects and suggest the needed remedies. I sincerely hope the ThirtyEighth Congress will not close its labors without adding this bill to the list of those great measures which have already signalized its legislation. The passage of the bill will powerfully stimulate foreign immigration, and the settlement of the great Pacific States of the future. By drawing into our mining regions a large and constantly swelling stream of settlers, it will demand and necessitate the speedy construction of our great railway thoroughfare to the Pacific, which shall belt the continent with ribs of iron, and prove themselves the grandest of commercial enterprises and the mightiest bonds of national union. In secur ing perfect land titles it will build up permanent settlements, promote a more thorough knowledge of localities, and institute a more profitable system of mining than could otherwise be possible. The establishment of settlements in the mines will lead to the exploration and purchase of the agricultural lands in the valleys, and thus develop their productive power. It will introduce social order, domestic life, fixed habits, free schools, homogeneous communities, and general prosperity, in the place of itinerant and scattered tribes, whose condition could best be defined by the absence of all these blessings. It would cement and consolidate the Union, by intrenching the Government in the hearts and homes of the teeming millions whose habitations are to be set up in the great empire of States now so rapidly springing into life in the distant West. It would rebuke those feudal ideas to which the Government has so long lent its sanction, and recognize the independence and dignity of labor. Holding these views, Mr. Speaker, and embracing them, as I do, with ardor, I have labored with some zeal to awaken among our public men an interest in the subject; and I shall regard it as one of the many grand and providential compensations of this war if the financial crisis which has been its result shall prepare us to enact this great and far-reaching measure, and thus lay the foundations of Christian civilization and genuine democracy in the budding Commonwealths of the Pacific. Another principal objection to the policy of sale is the difficulty of fixing upon a just minimum price. Unquestionably this is a real practical difficulty. A perfectly just minimum is impossible; but the same is true of our lead, copper, iron, and coal lands. It is even true of our agricultural lands, as to which there is very great inequality of value. If our lands containing gold and silver are exposed to sale, all we can do is to approximate, as nearly as we can, to a just and reasonable price. The method of doing this is provided for in the sixth section of the bill. The geologist for each land district for which the bill makes provision, in connection with the register and receiver, is to classify the mineral lands of the district with reference to their value, and the subdivisions necessary to accommodate actual miners, or those who may intend to become such, and report to the surveyor general and the General Land Office, giving the minimum price of each class, the location and extent of each deposit and of each settlement or mining operation, with the reasons for the facts reported. The Commissioner of the General Land Office then, upon these facts and reasons, is to fix the minimum, and his decision is to be final. Perhaps | minutes of his time left. Mr. Speaker, I now move to recommit the bill to the Committee on Public Lands, but I do not ask a vote on that question now. I am willing to yield the remainder of my time. The SPEAKER. The gentleman has seven Mr.JULIAN. I ask that the motion be passed over for the present, informally. Mr. SHANNON. I would ask the gentleman if he means to press this question for consideration. Mr. JULIAN. Not at present. I will yield now to the gentleman from Wisconsin, [Mr. SLOAN.] The SPEAKER. The Chair cannot state what will be the condition of the motion to recommit if passed over informally, or when it will come before the House, as the motion to recommit is not a privileged motion. Mr. SCHENCK. I desire to object to passing over this motion. Mr. JULIAN. To avoid any unpleasant feeling on the subject, I ask that the question be taken on the motion to recommit now. The question was taken, and the motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Public Lands was agreed to. GRANT OF LANDS TO A SHIP-CANAL. Mr. SLOAN, from the Committee on Public Lands, reported back, with sundry amendments, bill of the Senate No. 241, an act granting to the State of Wisconsin a donation of public lands to aid in the construction of a ship-canal at the head of Sturgeon bay, in the county of Door, in said State, to connect the waters of Green bay with Lake Michigan, in said State. Mr. HOLMAN called for the reading of the bill, and it was read at length. Section one provides for granting to the State of Wisconsin one hundred thousand acres of public land, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from any lands lying within sixty miles of the western terminus of said canal, and not including any to which the rights of preemption or homestead have been attached or any heretofore reserved to the United States, or mineral lands. Section two provides that said canal shall be and remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from toll or other charge for the vessels of the Government engaged upon public service, or vessels employed by the Government in the transportation of any property or troops of the United States. Section three provides that if the canal is not commenced within three years, and completed within ten years, the State of Wisconsin shall pay to the United States the amounts received for the sale by the State of any land hereby granted at a rate not less than $1 25 per acre. Section four provides that there shall be kept an accurate account of the amount of sales and net proceeds of the lands hereby granted, and all the expenditures in the construction, repairs, and operating the canal, together with the earnings; the statement of the same to be made annually to the Secretary of the Interior; and after the expense of the canal shall have been reimbursed to the State only such tolls shall be imposed as shall be sufficient to pay the necessary expenses of repairs and operating the canal. Section five provides that before the State shall dispose of any of these lands, the route of the canal shall have been established, and the plot or plots thereof filed in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the canal to be at least one hundred feet wide, with a depth of water of fifteen feet. The question recurred upon the first amendment reported by the Committee on Public Lands. The first amendment was to strike out, in line five of section one, the words " said canal," and insert the following: A harbor on the western shore of Lake Michigan, by the building of a breakwater opposite Sturgeon bay, and a shipcanal from said lake to said bay. The amendment was adopted. The next question was upon the second amend ment. Mr. SLOAN. The object of this amendment is to require that the work shall be commenced in one year instead of three years, and be completed in five years instead of ten years. The amendment was adopted. amendment: The next question was upon the following Add a new section, as follows: SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby, granted to said State shall be disposed of by said State only In the following manner, that is to say, that whenever the Governor of said State shall file with the Commissioner of the General Land Office a certificate subscribed by him and sealed with the official seal of said State, that the sum of $40,000 has been expended upon such work, twenty thousand acres of said land may be sold and a certificate or certificates therefor shall issue to said State, or to any individuals or corporation designated by said State, and for each additional sum of $40,000 expended upon said work and certified as aforesaid twenty thousand acres of land may be sold and a certificate or certificates therefor issue as aforesaid. The amendment was adopted. Mr. SLOAN. I now demand the previous 'question upon the passage of the bill as amended. The SPEAKER. The morning hour has expired. MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT. Sundry messages in writing were received from the President, by Mr. NICOLAY, his Private Secretary. A message informed the House that the President had approved and signed joint resolutions and an act of the following titles: Joint resolution (H. R. No. 91) to terminate the treaty of 1817 regulating the naval force on the lakes; Joint resolution (H. R. No. 142) tendering the thanks of Congress to Major General Philip H. Sheridan and the officers and men under his command; and An act (H. R. No. 644) to extend to certain persons in the employ of the Government the benefits of the Asylum for the Insane in the District of Columbia. EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS. The SPEAKER laid before the House the following message from the President of the United States; which was read, referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed; To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmitt to Congress a copy of a note of the 4th instant, addressed by J. Hume Burnley, Esq., her Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, to the Secretary of State, relative to a sword which it is proposed to present to Captain Henry S. Stellwagen, commanding the United States frigate Constitution, as a mark of gratitude for his services to the British brigantine Mersey. The expediency of sanctioning the acceptance of the gift is submitted to your conEideration. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WASHINGTON, February 8, 1865. The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message from the President of the United States; which was read, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed: To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives: The joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution declaring certain States not entitled to representation in the Electoral College," has been signed by the Executive in deference to the view of Congress, implied in its passage and presentation to him. In his own view, however, the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal; and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. He disclaims all right of the Executive to interfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting electoral votes; and he also disclaims that, by signing said resolution, he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble, or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 8, 1865. FREEDMEN'S BUREAU. Mr. ELIOT. I rise to a privileged question, and call up the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses upon the Senate amendments to the bill of the House (No.51) to create a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs. The report is as follows: The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes or the two Houses on the bill (H. R. No. 51) entitled "An act to establish a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs," having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend to their respective Houses as follows: That the Senate recede from their amendment to the said bill, and the committee agree to the following as a substi Beretofore appropriated to other uses. And this Department shall be under the care of a Commissioner, who shall be appointed by the President, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, with an annual salary of $4,000. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Freedmen and Abandoned Lands shall appoint a chief clerk, with an annual salary of $2,000, who shall act also as disbursing officer, and who in all cases during the neces sary absence of the Commissioner, or when the principal office shall become vacant, shall perform the duties of Com missioner; and also such number of clerks, not exceeding two of each class, as shall be necessary. And the Commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in the act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office and for other purposes," approved July 2, 1862. And the Commissioner and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of $100,000 and the latter in the sum of $10,000, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with sureties to be approved as suflicient by the Attorney General, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party upon any breach of the conditions thereof. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner shall, under the direction of the President, create districts of freedmen and abandoned lands within the rebel States, not to exceed two in each State, so far as the same may be brought under the military power of the United States; and each district shall be under the supervision of an assistant commissioner, with an annual salary of $2,500, under bond as required for the chief clerk, to be appointed by the Pres tdent of the United States, with the advice and consent of ihe Senate, and with authority to appoint local superintendents and clerks, so far as the same may be needed, not, however, more than four in each district, each of whom shall have an annual compensation not exceeding $1,500. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner shall have the general superintendence of all freedmen throughout the several districts, and he shall watch over the execution of all laws, proclamations, and military orders of emancipation, or in any way concerning freedmen; and he shall establish regulations from time to time, and cause the same to be enforced for their needful and judicious treatment, protecting them in the enjoyment of their rights, promoting their welfare, and securing to them and their posterity the blessings of liberty. And every such freedman shall be treated in all respects as a freeman, with all proper remedies in courts of justice, and no power or control shall be exercised with regard to him except in conformity with law. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the assistant commissioners, under the direction of the Commissioner and within their respective districts, shall take possession of all abandoned real estate belonging to disloyal persons, and all real estate to which the United States have title, or of which the United States have possession, and not already appropriated to Government uses, and all property found on and belonging to such estate, and shall rent or lease such real estate or any portions thereof to freedmen, or permit the same to be cultivated, used, or occupied by them on such terms and under such regulations as the assistant commissioner and such freedmen may agree; and if the lands with the property aforesaid shall not be required for the freedmen, then they shall rent or lease the same to other persons on such terms and under such regulations as shall be mutually agreed upon, and no freedman shall be employed on any estate above mentioned otherwise than according to voluntary contract reduced to writing and certified by the assistant commissioner or local superintendent: Provided, That no lease, permission to occupy, or contract, shall be for a longer period than one year, and all papers required or authorized by this act shall remain valid and effectual although no revenue stamp is attached thereto. But nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the due execution of process against the real estate or property above named issued in due course of law from any court of competent jurisdiction; but the possession of such real estate or property by any purchaser thereof at a judicial sale shall be postponed until the termination of any outstanding contract duly made and executed under the provisions of this act. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the assistant commissioners and local superintendents shall, as advisory guardians, aid the freedinen in the adjustment of their wages, or in the application of their labor; that they shall take care that the freedmen do not suffer from ill-treatinent or any failure of contract on the part of others; that they shall do what they can as arbitrators to reconcile and settle any differences in which freedinen may be involved with each other or with other persons; and, in case such dif ferences are carried before any tribunal, civil or military, they shall appear as next friends of the freedmen, so far as to see that the case is fairly stated and heard. And in all such proceedings there shall be no disability or exclusion on account of color. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That leases heretofore made by the supervising special agents of the Treasury Department, under the authority of the General Order, three hundred and thirty-one, of the Secretary of War, dated October 9, 1863, and in accordance with the regulations of the Treasury Department, shall have the same effect as if inade by assistant commissioners under this act; but such lease shall not continue beyond the period of one year from its date; and immediately upon the organization of any district of freedmen and abandoned lands such agents shall cease to execute their functions within such district, and shall deliver over to the assistant commissioner thereof all property and papers held by them as agents. But all expenses necessarily incurred by such agents in any district prior to its organization under this act shall be defrayed by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any moneys in his hands arising from the leases inade by such agents. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner shall apply the proceeds accruing under this act to defray the expenses of this Department, so that the same may become at an early day self-supporting; and any pro ceeds over and above such expenses shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Commissioner cannot otherwise employ any of the freedmen who may come under his care, he shall so far as praeticable make provision for them with humane and suitable persons, at a just compensation for their services. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States is charged with furnishing the military and other support needful to carry this act into effect, and any military officer may be appointed under this act without increase of salary. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress. And the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the Commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required. And it shall be the duty of all officers, civil and military, charged with the execution of any law, proclamation, or military order of emancipation, or in any way concerning freedmen not mustered into or regularly engaged in the military service, to make return to the Commissioner of all their proceedings in execution thereof, under such regulations as shall from time to time be prescribed. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That all assistant commissioners, local superintendents, and clerks, as well as supervising special agents, shall be so far deeined to be in the military service of the United States as to be liable to trial by courts-martial or military commissions, to be ordered by the commanding general of the military department within which they act as such assistant commissioners, local superintendents, clerks, or supervising special agents. And for all offenses amounting to a felony; for any act of embezzlement or willful missappropriation of publie or private property; for any willful act of oppression of any freedman, or of any loyal inhabitant; for any act of taking or receiving, directly or indirectly, any money or thing of value on account of any act done or omitted by them in their official capacity, or for being in any manner interested in any purchase of cotton, tobacco, sugar, or any other article produced upon any lands leased or worked under the provisions of this act, or for any other willful violation of their official duties, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to punishment by fine not exceeding $10 000, or imprisonment at hard labor for a period not exceeding five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the last clause of a joint resolution explanatory of An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of aets inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. THOMAS D. Eliot, WILLIAM D. KELLEY, Managers on the part of the House. CHARLES SUMNER, J. M. HOWARD, Managers on the part of the Senate. Mr. ELIOT. Mr. Speaker, when this report was presented last week, I distinctly stated to the House the character of the provisions of the bill; and it was made to appear at that time that the operative clauses in the bill are the same as those which were passed upon by the House last year, or which were acted upon in the Senate, and all of which have been printed and upon the files of members for several months. I do not propose. at this time, Mr. Speaker, to say anything in defense of the bill; but I am prepared and shall be glad to answer all objections that may be urged against the bill, if any shall be, in the course of any debate upon it. Congress has within a few days done all that we could do to make free all the slaves within the United States. But it will be remembered that, although that freedom was initiated by the President in his proclamation of the 1st of January, 1863, yet, up to this time, there has been no legislative action which has had in view the welfare of that class of men. We have legislated for the Treasury. We have done what we could to provide for the leasing of the abandoned lands, in view of revenue. But thus far nothing has been done in connection with the freedmen or their welfare, except a law passed on the 2d of July, I think, of the last session of Congress. That law, in one of its provisions, put into the care of the Treasury Department this whole business. I desire to refer to a few of the provisions of that law. By that act the agents of the Treasury Department, that is, the special supervising agents, the agents who were appointed under the act, I believe, of March, 1863, to whom was given in charge the taking possession of abandoned lands, and other property, and the leasing of lands for the largest revenue that could be obtained, and the selling of property for the use of the Government; these special agents are empowered to "take charge of and lease the abandoned lands, houses, |