terity a name immortal for that plunder and robbery alone. Mr. Speaker, I have not had time or leisure, and I have not the opportunity now, to examine in detail the numerous and lengthy documents which the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts has presented. But, if I understand those documents, they disclose these facts: that a certain sum of money-$50,000, or over-was forcibly extorted, by threats and violence, from a Mr. Smith, a banker in New Orleans, originally of Ballston, Saratoga county, in the State of New York-one of those numerous northern men who, in earlier times, had gone to New Orleans to accumulate fortune, with the intent, when that fortune was accumulated, to go back to the land of their birth and there enjoy their otium cum dignitate. No matter what slanders General Butler, for his own purposes, may fix upon these worthy gentlemen from Ballston, there are their relations in the State of New York; there is the home of their fathers; there is the land where they were born, and to which they intended to go. If, under those threats and that extortion, they concealed their gold, they paid but a proper tribute to the rumored character of Major General Butler; and they may be excused for that concealment when they supposed that they were to be plundered of fifty or sixty thousand dollars, the accumulation of a long life of labor. A court of inquiry was then instituted. Instituted by whom? It was no civil court, but a mere military court, the creation of General Butler, at the head of which was an officer of the Army, and at the end of which were two gentlemen of New Orleans, for the time being subjects of General Butler. They found, first, that this was not Government money; it did not belong to Government; it did not come out of the mint of the United States. They found, second, that that money had not been used for the purpose of aiding the confederate States. When they found that, they had discharged their duty so far as to acquit Mr. Smith of treason, of collusion with the confederates, or of robbing the mint of the United States. There are other facts in connection with those papers which the honorable gentleman has submitted; and among them is this leading fact, that the Secretary of War would not take the responsibility, by assuming in any degree whatsoever the control of this money. The Secretary of War looked upon it as money illegally and wrongfully seized, and he would not be held responsible for it in any manner, but chose to leave it all in the possession and control of Major General Butler. Neither the War Department nor the Treasury Department would undertake to indemnify him for the great wrong which he had committed. They left upon him and him alone the responsibility for seizing that money, with all the consequences thereof, he to be subject to all the costs and to all the indemnity. Another fact has come out: though this money was taken in June, 1862, yet, after the long correspondence with Mr. Pierrepont, so remarkable for its courtesy, not even till this day has that money been paid over to the bankers to whom it belongs, Smith & Co. So that for two years and nine months the gold which was taken from Messrs. Smith & Co. in New Orleans, illegally and forcibly taken, has been kept from them, and is now in the forcible possession of Major General Butler. Major General Butler, up to the suit at law in November last, as I disclosed in the affidavit of Mr. Smith read by me; up to that day in last November, notwithstanding this long controversy with Mr. Pierrepont and this long possession of the money, refused to surrender these $50,000 in gold, and these $50,000 in gold are now in possession of Major General Butler. Mr. Speaker, these are the leading facts which the record discloses, and these are the facts which are to go throughout the country. If any statement of mine is in contravention of that record here made, let that correction go forth with that statement, for I intend no misstatement of facts. But here is this additional great fact, well worth the public attention, and which, though not a legal, is a moral fact, to go before the people of this Country: Major General Butler, at the opening of this war, was a criminal lawyer in the manufacturing city of Lowell; with no great renown as a distinguished jurisconsult; with no large practice; with no important cases which have appeared || before the high court of Massachusetts or the Supreme Court here; a lawyer of moderate practice, doubtless with moderate means. He went to New Orleans in command of the army of the United States, his brother being with him, neither being known to have had any accumulation of money. That brother died in New York, after living in New Orleans under the military administration of Major General Butler, leaving in his will a fortune, an immense fortune as stated in the public prints. He left that fortune to his brother, Major General Butler. The two brothers accumulated this large fortune, which the records in the surrogate's court of New York disclose, while one was the military commander of the richest military department of this Government. No other major general in the Army of the United States has any such record of any such fortune. Where is the fortune of Lieutenant General Grant? Who ever accused him of plunder and robbery? What trouble has he with outsiders whatever? What complaints are made against him by members of the Opposition party? There is Major General Sherman, who, with humble possessions, is yet content with those possessions. There is Admiral Farragut, who by his navy opened the way to New Orleans so as to permit General Butler to enter it; he has nothing but his salary to live upon; he has no accumulation of fortune. There is General Thomas, a gallant, noble soldier, who has won victories for us; he has no accumulation of money. Yet here is a major general without a victory, who, with his brother, accumulated, while in possession of New Orleans, a very large fortune.' These may not be legal facts nor legal testimony, but purely record evidence bearing upon the substance and principle of the remarks I made the other day. I might enter into a full examination of the documents which the gentleman from Massachusetts, in this ex parte exhibition, has placed before this House. I might ask whether they have been on file in the Department. Whether they have been on file in the Treasury or War Department, and how long they have been there. There has been a dispute already as to the money, we see, and the paymaster to whom it was paid. I might ask what record has been made of the transaction. Really, sir, the only thing known in regard to this $50,000 in gold is that for two years and nine months loyal people from the North doing business in New Orleans have been deprived of it by Major General Butler. How will the return of this money, this $50,000 in gold, be any compensation for what they have lost? The control and possession of $50,000 in gold for two years and nine months, during which time gold has been up to 285, if now returned at 200, would in itself be no inconsiderable fortune. The possession of $50,000 in gold for these two years and nine months, with the fluctuations that have been constantly going on, is of itself a fortune to the possessor. Sir, if this judgment is rendered in the courts of law, or if General Butler refunds it under the laws of the country in lawful money, worth now about fifty cents on the dollar, that will be legal return, under the judgment of a court, for the money thus taken. The $50,000 in gold is now worth $100,000 in legal tender, and was worth $120,000 not long ago. fer the whole subject to the Committee on Commerce, which has the investigation of no inconsiderable portion of this subject already. I have but little more to say, except to add that controversies of this nature are not to my liking or of my choice. I do not plunge into them. In an excited and warm controversy with the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. ScoFIELD,] who was sharply assailing the people I represent, I felt it my duty to vindicate that people from the allegations which he was making, and in the course of those remarks the name of Major General Butler was brought in. I would have been willing that the subject should have dropped. No revenge, as the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania stated, has prompted me; no spirit or love of revenge. I have no revenge to gratify against Major General Butler. Mr. STEVENS. The gentleman will see that there is a misprint in the Globe. The word "no" is inserted, and should have been left out, as the rest of the context will show. Mr. BROOKS. I will assure the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania that I never act upon this floor under the promptings of a spirit of revenge. If Major General Butler had not, in a seemingly threatening letter, addressed me as he did, I would have answered him through a member of this House, or through any other gentleman except the military gentleman sent to me from his personal staff. I never have acted in a spirit of revenge, and I never intend thus to act as a member of this House. I act in the spirit of public duty. Honorable gentlemen on the other side, especially when the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania lashes them as he did yesterday, require more than ordinary courage to expose facts in connection with the Administration, or even with the subordinates of the Administration, and hence the duty was devolved upon me, in this case, to present certain facts in the history of General Butler, and to bring those facts before the House and before the country. No revenge, no desire or love of revenge, prompted me. What I did was done simply in the discharge of a high public duty. If on an investigation General Butler can vindicate his character in the administration of the departments of the Mississippi and North Carolina and Norfolk, I will have given him an opportunity to redeem his character, which is not pure, before the people of the country. His character is not good in the estimation of the world. The names of Butler and of Haynau are associated together in all European languages, and are one and indivisible. And if I shall have given General Butler an opportunity to vindicate his name and fame before mankind, I have rendered him an especial service, and he ought therefore to thank me. Mr. Speaker, I appealed from the decision of the Chair yesterday under an apprehension that I was not to be permitted to go on with the remarks that I was making, and was to be cut short in those remarks. I now withdraw that appeal. I was loth to make it, and as the House has given me an opportunity of saying what I had to say, I have no further necessity to prosecute that appeal. Mr. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker The SPEAKER. The gentleman from New York withdraws the appeal, and there is no question before the House. Mr. STEVENS. I shall have to renew the appeal. [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, when the gentleman from New York [Mr. BROOKS] arose, I had hoped that he would do one of two things, either admit his error yesterday or speak to the subject which had been discussed and upon which evidence had been taken. Had he done that I might possibly have supposed that what he did yesterday was not prompted, as he said himself, by this letter which he had read here, or, as I say, by revenge, or I might possibly have believed-I will not say I dothat it was done from patriotic motives. [Laughter.] Then I should have had nothing more to say. But instead of addressing himself to the Mr. Speaker, I will not renew my epithets or my adjectives. I leave these facts and this record to go forth to the country, and the country will judge between me and Major General Butler, whether I was right or not in the language I used upon the floor of this House. I am not to be deterred from duty by invective, or rhetoric either. The declamations of honorable gentlemen who are excusing these wrongful extortions and prolonged possession of an honest man's gold, have got to be offset by the facts and the record. I listened with satisfaction to the challenge for a committee and an investigation, thrown out, and I take it as an accepted fact that, in consequence of the letter from Major General Butler, demanding an investigation not only into this gold transaction, but into all his proceedings in the depart-question before the House and to the evidence, ment of the Mississippi, and elsewhere, the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BOUTWELL] will feel it his duty, ay, must feel it his duty, to institute a select committee for a thorough examination of all these facts; or, if he does not do that, at least will by express resolution trans he has spoken of everything else and scarcely touched that. The proportion of his remarks which referred to the subject, compared with the balance, was about like the quantity of bread to the quantity of sack in Falstaff's bill. [Laughter.] The gentleman began by complaining of the conduct of the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Massachusetts in making remarks personal to himself. One who upon this floor had used every epithet of slander which the most foul tongue could utter against a man who was absent in the service of the country; a gentleman who had talked about "gold robber" and "cotton speculator," and of "contraband dealings with the enemies of the country," and had charged all that upon a gentleman who holds the commission and wears the epaulets of his Government; that gentleman has complained that my language was foul, and talked about its being learned in Billingsgate and Cripplegate and Newgate. Sir, with all the gates that the gentleman has gone through and that he refers to, there is one gate which the gentleman will enter which I shall strive to avoid. [Great laughter.] Mr. Speaker, for a gentleman who could hunt through the purlieus of bawdy-houses and seduction, who could take the testimony of prostitutes and the inmates of these vile houses, and who, after the committee associated with him unanimously, he being the only exception, refused to let that evidence see the light, could put that filthy stuff, which ought never to be seen outside of such places, surreptitiously, without the order of this House, as an appendix to a minority report and send it broadcast over the country, to talk to any man about Billingsgate and Cripplegate! And yet that is the condition of the gentleman from New York. I hope you have none of you read this stuff. [Laughter.] I advise all of you never to read it. I have read but a little passage of it. It stinks in the nostrils. But, sir, having said thus much, I perhaps ought to say that possibly I owe an apology to gentlemen upon this side of the House, because when they had, after full notice of what was to come, opened the floodgates of Billingsgate to flood this House and the country, in the heat of debate and of my feelings I may have used intemperate language. I did feel mortified and grieved, but my feelings are very much mollified by the evidence which has this day so amply vindicated the high character of Major General Butler, so far as it was brought in issue before this morning. I admit that that evidence has done great justice and great favor to Major General Butler, for, sir, there is not a candid man, there is not an honest man in this House who will dare to say that that evidence is not a complete and perfect vindication of Major General Butler from all the charges made against him by the gentleman from New York; it not only vindicates him, but shows him to have, in all his acts and in all his correspondence, acted, not only like an honest man and faithful officer, but like a gentleman and a well-educated man. The whole of the correspondence would do credit not only to his heart but to his great ability and his scholarship and his professional learning. And I will say here that, so far as professional learning goes, I was long ago struck with his correspondence with the gentleman who was sent down there by the Government, Mr. Reverdy Johnson. General Butler showed more ability, more knowledge of the law of nations, and was more correct in his positions than that gentleman; and if General Butler's doctrine had prevailed, $800,000 in gold, which was seized by him, would have been kept from supplying the rebel armies, to which it was applied, when turned over, under the advice of the eminent counsel to whom I refer. Is there a word in that correspondence which goes to show that General Butler ever designed to appropriate to himself a dollar of the money of those rebel Smiths?-for they are proved to be rebels, and there is nothing to the contrary but the remark of the gentleman from New York, which, I beg leave to say, is not now evidence in a court of justice. [Laughter.] Is there one single act of his that does not show that he seized it in his official capacity, and had ground for seizing it? He found these rebels there, who had been the agents, the aiders and abettors, of rebels, and when he questioned them about gold, they denied that they had a particle of it; and it was finally found walled up in their place of business so as to keep it concealed from the Government of the Union. Was not that, in itself, sufficient evidence against these men? Contrary to the charge of the gentleman from New York, General Butler immediately reported the matter to the Government. He communicated Now, sir, is it the character and conduct of an through coming ages; and the State of Virginia itself, by its own freemen and its own freedmen, will, within the lives of some now present, raise a monument to his memory upon the very place where his gallows stood. Mr. Speaker, this is also traveling a little out of the record. But, sir, the gentleman says that he has dealt leniently with Major General Butler because he is a fallen man. Leniently! Why, in view of such "leniency," I should like to ask Beelzebub what he considers to be mercy. [Laughter.] Sir, the gentleman need not flatter himself that General Butler is a fallen man, or requires the sympathy of any one. His patriotism, his talents, his acquirements will hold him aloft amid the attacks of all his enemies. He has rendered services and shown a patriotic intention which will make him beloved throughout all this country. A single reverse may sometimes be endured and deplored; but that is not to destroy a man, for all men are liable to such reverses. Sir, I venture to declare this day, notwithstanding the recent defeat of General Butler, that if the question could be put to the loyal people of these United States whom they would select for their next President, a majority of them would vote for General Butler. Now, sir, I do not wish to proceed much further, and perhaps I ought not to have proceeded thus far. But, sir, it seems to me a little strange that such men as the gentleman from Massachusetts should be rebuked by one who, after having slandered, scandalously slandered, one of the great men of the nation, after having uttered language fouler than ever issued from the mouth of the veriest drab that ever wallowed in Billingsgate, must, at the sight of a man in the United States uniform, run to this House, lay hold of the horns of the altar, and beg its protection. [Laughter.] I have said all that I desire to say, and I withdraw the appeal. Mr. INGERSOLL. Mr. Speaker, I renew the appeal. I desire to detain the House only a very few minutes. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. STEVENS,] whom I have long admired for his talents, and esteemed for his patriotism, saw proper yesterday to impugn perhaps my motives, as well as those of the gentlemen who voted with me, because I moved to suspend the rules to allow the gentleman from New York [Mr. BROOKS] to proceed; and the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania took occasion to say that he regretted that the yeas and nays had not been called, in The gentleman says that General Butler has Mr. Speaker, the gentleman refers to the gen- sustaining such a motion, and that the finger of scorn might be pointed at us. I, too, sir, regret that the yeas and nays were not called upon the motion. Whatever I am willing to do by my unrecorded vote, I am ready to place upon the record. My motives in moving a suspension of the rules were, as I conceive, entirely praiseworthy. The gentleman from New York had grossly assailed, if the charges were untrue, a major general of the Army and an eminent citizen of this country. The gentleman who had been assailed desired to be vindicated. The very evidence that has been presented to the House shows that the gates had been closed against him. In one of his letters he asks Mr. Pierrepont, in substance, "What more can I do? I am assailed upon this question from all points; and how can I answer the accusations that are made? I have asked the Secretary of War to print my letter, but that request is denied me. What more can I do?" Sir, by my motion, I desired to open the gate that had debarred General Butler from his own vindication. I wished to permit either the gentleman from New York to sustain the charges, or the friends of General Butler to vindicate his character, so that, if the truth were in favor of General Butler, he might come out of this ordeal brighter and purer, and the gentleman from New York stand convicted as a slanderer and maligner. Those were my motives, and undoubtedly those were the motives of the gentlemen who sustained the motion. Mr. Speaker, I have been an admirer of General Butler. I am an admirer of him to-day; and I am proud as any man upon this floor that he has been so successfully and triumphantly vindicated. I know that his vindication will be read by the country much to his credit and honor. I have admired what he has done at New Orleans, and what he has done elsewhere. I have THE OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS, PUBLISHED BY F. & J. RIVES, WASHINGTON, D. C. THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION. admired him for what he has done for the country. I do not admire him for what he did at the Charleston convention. I will state here, Mr. Speaker, that if any gentleman upon this floor sees proper to assail General Butler for his failure to capture Fort Fisher I will move the requisite resolution, in order to have a free fight; and I am willing to guaranty that Major General Butler will come out as triumphantly in that matter as he has done in this. I grant that the communication addressed by Major General Butler to the gentleman from New York [Mr. BROOKS] smelt of blood. A MEMBER. No, gunpowder. Mr. INGERSOLL. Gunpowder, and perhaps no blood. I should construe that communication into the foundation at least of a challenge. I have great confidence in the personal bravery and courage of Major General Butler. His character had been grossly assailed by the gentleman from New York, and he wanted to hold him to account. So I understood it. Mr. GOOCH. I should like to make a statement to the House, to come in at this place. Mr. INGERSOLL. I yield to the gentleman for that purpose. Mr. GOOCH. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New York asserted to-day, if I recollect correctly, that Major General Butler was a man without fortune; that he was a lawyer in the interior of Massachusetts with a very moderate practice. If I have not quoted him correctly he can put me right. He does not correct me, and I presume therefore that my statement is correct. Mr. BROOKS. I do not hear what the gentleman says. Mr. GOOCH. I understood the gentleman from New York to say that when Major General Butler went into the Army he was a lawyer in the interior of Massachusetts with moderate practice and without fortune. Mr. BROOKS. I said without large fortune, without much fortune. I qualified it with some adjective. I did not say that he was a poor man. Mr.GOOCH. I think the gentleman said that he was a lawyer in the interior of Massachusetts, and of moderate practice. Now, General Butler was a man not of great fortune, like the millionaires of New York, to whom the gentleman has referred in this House, but he was a man of what would be considered in Massachusetts a liberal fortune. He was a lawyer in that State, of high standing and eminence, and had been for years. Mr. ELDRIDGE. Let me ask the gentleman a question. Mr. GOOCH. Wait till I get through. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. Let us hear the question now. Mr. ELDRIDGE. How much was General Butler worth before he went into the Army? Mr. GOOCH. General Butler was a lawyer of high standing and extensive practice not only in Lowell but in Boston and throughout the State of Massachusetts. He had an office in Boston as well as in Lowell, where he resided, within twentyfive miles of Boston. He had one of the largest incomes from his practice of any lawyer in Massachusetts. Yet, sir, he sacrificed cheerfully the lucrative emoluments of his profession and early went into the military service to fight for his country. Mr. COX. With the permission of my friend from Illinois I will make a remark. He has stated to the House that he was an admirer of General Butler, and especially of his military qualities. I have never criticised the military capacity of any general in this House, but from what has occurred here I think there has been an attack on General Grant for having removed General Butler, as well as upon the President of the United States. I want the gentleman from Illinois to call for his inquiry, to know whether that favorite of Illinois, that favorite of the Army, is to be maligned indirectly in this House. [Laughter.] Mr. INGERSOLL. Jam very happy to know that the gentleman from Ohio, and I hope other gentlemen belonging to the same party, have at THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1865. last come to the conclusion that General Grant is a great general, worthy of admiration, and that they are ready to defend him even upon the suspicion that he is assaulted. Mr. COX. Will my friend join me in defending him against attacks, open and secret, of Major General Butler himself? Mr. INGERSOLL. I will be in favor of defending and vindicating him, and of giving him an opportunity of vindicating himself, whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever he is assaulted. Mr. COX. Now I ask my friend from Illinois what General Butler meant in that letter when he said he was removed from office because he would not sacrifice his troops as other generals did? Mr. STEVENS. He did not say that. Mr. COX. Needlessly sacrifice them. Mr. STEVENS. He never said any such thing. Mr. COX. It is in his letter. Mr. BALDWIN, of Massachusetts. I rise to a question of order. I desire to know whether all this discussion is not out of order, and whether there is anything before the House which makes it in order. The SPEAKER. The Chair very much doubts whether it bears upon the question of appeal. The Chair decided yesterday that the debate must be confined to the appeal; but the House took the matter out of his hands by suspending the rules, and the only question is whether that is extended and applied to this debate. Mr. COX. Iain upon the floor, and hold it by the courtesy of the gentleman from Illinois. Mr. BALDWIN, of Massachusetts. That applied to the appeal taken yesterday, but this is a new appeal. The SPEAKER. That is true; but the Chair will, upon this appeal, till withdrawn, allow the same latitude that has been allowed upon the previous appeals, from the fact that no appeal can be taken now while there is one appeal pending, and latitude of debate has been allowed thus far without objection. Mr. COX. I presume my friend from Illinois will allow me a little latitude and longitude. The gentleman from Pennsylvania has denied that such a statement was made by General Butler. I read from his letter datedHeadquarters of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Army of the James, January 8, 1865,"sent with the compliments of Major General Butler to all the Congressmen: "Soldiers of the army of the Potomac !" Mr. INGERSOLL. Will the gentleman allow me to resume the floor? Mr. COX. One paragraph, and then I will sit down. Mr. INGERSOLL. A short one, I hope. Mr. COX. I would not have all that order read here for the world. It would startle the galleries. [Laughter.] Mr. SCHENCK. The gentleman so seldom asks the indulgence of the House that I hope he will be allowed to go on. [Laughter.] Mr. COX. My colleague craved that indulgence all day yesterday, and he ought to be the last one to say anything about it. "I have refused," says General Butler, "to order the useless sacrifice of the lives of such soldiers, and I am relieved from command." Why, what does that mean? Mr. STEVENS. I do not know. [Laughter.] Mr. COX. Is it possible the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania comes here and professes his ignorance of Major General Butler's own rhetoric, after paying him such a handsome compliment as he paid him to-day? Why, the gentleman has even nominated him for the next President. Mr. STEVENS. I suppose it means that he was relieved from the command. [Renewed laughter.] Mr. COX. The gentleman from Pennsylvania is not relieved, however, from his condition. Now I want, since my friend from Illinois, in coming here for the purpose of defending General Butler, has indirectly attacked my friend General Grant NEW SERIES.....No. 26. Mr. INGERSOLL. The gentleman will not assume that I desire to attack General Grant, or that I have done so by any innuendoes. Mr. COX. The gentleman says he did not intend to attack General Grant; but I notice that the attacks made in this House without intention are so frequent and so dangerous that they ought to be stopped. [Laughter.] I never knew a violent attack made here, in reference to which members, attention being called to it, have not got up immediately and disclaimed any intention of making an attack. Mr. INGERSOLL. If the gentleman from Ohio has no further questions, I must resume the floor. Mr. COX. Only one more. I want to explain to this House precisely what General Butler means by not ordering a useless sacrifice of life. I ask if it is not a direct stab at General Grant and the army of the Potomac that honors him? Mr. INGERSOLL. As I understand it, it simply means, in the first place, that he did not assault Fort Fisher, and in the second place, that he had been suspended and was going home. [Great laughter.] Mr. COX. I acknowledge that my friend's explanation is entirely satisfactory. [Laughter.] Mr. INGERSOLL. I was about to remark further, when I was interrupted, that I moved the suspension of the rules for another purpose, and that was that I desired that no personal encounter should ensue between Major General Butler and the Representative from New York, for the reason that I desired to save to the country a great general and to the Congress of the United States a great legislator. [Laughter.] I now withdraw the appeal. NIAGARA SHIP CANAL. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I now demand the regular order of business. The SPEAKER. The regular order of business is the consideration of the bill in relation to a ship canal around the falls of Niagara. Mr. SPALDING obtained the floor. Mr. LITTLEJOHN. I ask the gentleman from Ohio to yield to me to offer the substitute for the bill of which I gave notice, and which has been printed. Mr. SPALDING. I yield for that purpose. Mr. LITTLEJOHN. I offer the substitute, Mr. ARNOLD. I ask the gentleman to allow me to offer an amendment to the substitute, and to ask that it be printed. Mr. SPALDING. I yield for that purpose, The amendment was received, and ordered to be printed. WASHINGTON AQUEDUCT. The SPEAKER, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a supplementary report of the chief engineer of the Washington aqueduct; which was referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed. Mr. COLE, of California. I desire to enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which the bill reported by me this morning from the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads was recomitted. The motion was entered. And then, on motion of Mr. LITTLEJOHN, (at seven minutes to four o'clock, p. m.,) the House adjourned. IN SENATE. WEDNESDAY, January 25, 1865. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. Dr. BOWMAN. The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. The VICE PRESIDENT presented the memorial of Dr. Rudolph Wieczorek, asking that the public lands shall henceforth not be sold, not conveyed to any person or persons, nor given as an equivalent for services rendered to the United States; that no one in this Republic shall possess land exceeding the amount of six hundred and forty acres; that every citizen, or person who has declared his intention of becoming such, shall be entitled to one hundred and sixty acres of the public domain gratis, and free from all taxes and fees whatever; that any person owning more than one hundred and sixty acres of land in this Republic shall pay on the surplus an annual tax of not less than one per cent.; that any person owning more than six hundred and forty acres of land in this Republic shall give up the remainder to the people, and shall be entitled to a refunding of the original cost, added to a reasonable remuneration for the improvements thereon; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. Mr. TRUMBULL presented the petition of chaplains in the United States Navy, praying for an increase of compensation; which was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs. Mr. WILLEY presented the petition of the heirs of Major Andrew Russell, praying compensation for services rendered by him in the revolutionary war; which was referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. Mr. WILSON presented four petitions of officers in the military service of the United States, praying for an increase of the pay of Army officers; which were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia. Mr. HENDERSON presented resolutions of a meeting of receivers and shippers of American leaf tobacco at Baltimore, Maryland, remonstrating against the proposed tax on leaf tobacco; which were referred to the Committee on Finance. He also presented a memorial of the manufacturers and dealers of tobacco in the city of St. Louis, remonstrating against the proposed tax on leaf tobacco; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. Several SENATORS. The committee on freed men. Mr. HALE. Yes; the select committee on freedmen. Mr. COWAN. I have no objection. I only desire that it shall have careful consideration at the hands of some committee. The VICE PRESIDENT. The memorial will be referred to the select committee indicated, if there be no objection. The Chair hears none. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. Mr. GRIMES, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of Robert B. Riell, lieutenant United States Navy, praying that he may be allowed his proper promotion in the grade of commanders, which has been denied him in consequence of the report of a medical board, asked to be discharged from its further consideration; which was agreed to. Mr. WILSON, from the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom was referred the memorial of William A. Hammond, late Surgeon General of the United States Army, praying that inquiry may be made into all the circumstances connected with his recent trial and dismissal, and that the Senate will suspend action in the matter of confirming his successor in office until such inquiry shall have been made, asked to be discharged from its further consideration; which was agreed to. Mr. TRUMBULL, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 692) in reference to prosecutions for libel in the District of Columbia, reported it without amendment. He also, from the same committee, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 664) for changing the time for holding the circuit courts in the Mr. POMEROY presented the memorial of Abe- Mr. CHANDLER presented a petition of citizens of the State of Michigan praying for a grant of lands to aid in the construction of a railroad from Lac La Belle to the Cliff mine, Keweenaw county, thence to some point on the Montreal river and the western boundary of the upper peninsula of the State of Michigan; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. Mr. JOHNSON presented the petition of the local board of steamboat inspectors of Baltimore, praying for an increase of salary; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. He also presented resolutions of a meeting of receivers and shippers of American leaf tobacco at Baltimore, remonstrating against the proposed tax on leaf tobacco; which were referred to the Committee on Finance. Mr. COWAN. I beg leave to present the petition of a large number of citizens of Pennsylvania, praying that the preamble to the Constitution of the United States may be amended so as to read in substance as follows: "We, the people of the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, and His revealed will as of supreme authority, in order to constitute a Christian Government, and in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the inalienable rights and blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to ourselves, our posterity, and all the inhabitants of the land, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America;" and also that such changes be introduced into the body of the Constitution as may be necessary to give effect to these amendments in the preamble. I ask that the memorial be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. HALE. I think the memorial just presented by the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania ought to be referred to the select committee to which various memorials in regard to the amendment of the Constitution have been referred, instead of to the Judiciary Committee; I do not think it relates peculiarly to that committee; I think it ought to go to the select committee, and I make that motion. Mr. COWAN. What select committee? Mr. HALE. The one of which the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. SUMNER] is chairman. ment. Mr. ANTHONY, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 530) for the relief of George Calvert, reported adversely thereon. BANKRUPT BILL. Mr. FOSTER. The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. No. 424) to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States, have instructed me to report it back with an amendment. This amendment is by way of substitute for the original bill. It proposes to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert a substitute in lieu thereof. ought perhaps to remark that this amendment is by no means a radical change of the original bill. The committee made divers modifications in the original bill, and thought it would be better to report a substitute so that the bills could be printed side by side, instead of having the amendments printed in the text of the original bill. The same committee, to whom were referred memorials from divers citizens of Illinois, from the Board of Trade of Philadelphia, from the Board of Trade of Boston, and from merchants of the city of Boston, on the subject of a bankrupt law, have instructed me to report them back and ask that the committee be discharged from their further consideration. Mr. HALE. I wish to say a word, as I am a member of the committee that has reported this bill. The committee had great difficulty in agreeing to its details. They were not all such as I could assent to; but I said to the committee that I was willing to vote with a majority to report the bill in order that the subject might be presented A resolution (S. R. No. 99) tendering the thanks of Congress to Rear Admiral David D. Porter and to the officers, petty officers, seamen, and marines under his command for their gallantry and good conduct in the recent capture of Fort Fisher; and A bill (S. No. 72) supplementary to an act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," approved July 2, 1862. BILLS INTRoduced. Mr. COWAN asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 410) to enlarge the port of entry and delivery for the district of Philadelphia; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Com merce. SURVEYS OF LAKE HARBORS. Mr. WADE submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to: Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire into the expediency of compiling and publishing, from the reports on file in the Engineer Bureau of the War Department, a series of charts and surveys of the ports and harbors of the great lakes; said compilation to be made after the manner of the coast survey reports. TAXES ON TONNAGE. Mr. FARWELL. I offer the following resolution, and ask for its present consideration: Resolved, That the Committee on Finance consider the expediency of relieving the tonnage of the country from all taxes and dues collected under the Internal Revenue act, and also consider the expediency of a reduction of the dues on chain anchors and canvas. By unanimous consent the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution. Mr. FARWELL. I wish briefly to call the attention of the Senate, and of the Finance Committee particularly, to the subject of this resolution. There are some articles which will not bear taxation. That principle has been admitted and has been acted upon by the Committee on Finance and by the legislation of Congress. It was stated as one reason why the reciprocity treaty should be rescinded, that it prevented the taxation of some leading articles in the country. Why does it prevent the taxation of leading articles? Simply because no adequate protection can be given to them by taxation of foreign articles which come in competition. Now, sir, the tonnage of the country comes particularly under this denomination. The tonnage of the country cannot receive any protection by legislation. It is obliged to compete not only with the tonnage of the British provinces, but it must compete in open market with the tonnage of the world. The only measure of protection that has ever been attempted in this country is to exclude from the coasting trade foreign tonnage. I submit that this is not the least measure of protection unless it is the intention of the Legisla ture to reduce the tonnage of the country to that point which merely leaves enough to do the domestic carrying trade. Whenever the coasting trade pays better than the foreign tonnage, of course all foreign tonnage goes into the coasting trade; all our tonnage employed in the foreign trade goes into the coasting trade until the equilibrium is established. I do not ask for the repeal of the taxes upon the tonnage of the country for the purpose of relieving a class of citizens. There is no class of citizens in this country, or any other, so completely independent of the legislation of the country, so far as their property is concerned, as the owners of tonnage. It is a property appreciated to the Senate, reserving to myself the right (with-everywhere. Every market in the world is open The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will go upon the Calendar, and the committee will be discharged from the consideration of the memorials. BILLS BECOME LAWS. A message from the President of the United States, by Mr. NICOLAY, his Secretary, announced that the President had approved and signed the fallowing bill and joint resolutions: A resolution (S. R. No. 98) to present the thanks of Congress to Brevet Major General Alfred H. Terry and the officers and men under his command; to it; and in every maritime country except this the greatest facilities are offered for the nationalization of tonnage. You can make an English ship of an American bottom almost anywhere in the world; in Nassau, in Halifax, in Australia, or in Liverpool. The English law grants the authority to their consuls to give a national character to a foreign ship, and she may be sailed under the English flag merely with a consular certificate. The English Government, who have always fought, desired, and resolved to be allpowerful upon the sea, have invariably exempted her tonnage from all taxation. To be sure, the light dues have been paid by her tonnage in part, but they have been so assessed that they made no interference with an open and fair competition. All vessels going to England from foreign ports of whatever nationality pay the light dues for the support of the lights upon her coast. We have for years, while supporting our system of lights and buoys along our coast and giving the use and benefits of them free to England, been contributing largely to pay the expenses of her system of lights, which is managed by a corporation. shall drive her ships to sanctuary; then, instead of laying up a vessel for want of men, she can man a thousand such vessels with her seamen. It has been the policy of all enlightened statesmen to try to increase the commercial marine of their country. We have a navy of seven hundred vessels, a navy regarded, I think, as the most efficient for offense and defense of any navy This I have always regarded as bad policy, and that has ever been wielded or controlled by one I think the Governmant should put upon tonnage Power; but what would the use of that navy be arriving from foreign ports, both foreign and do- to Spain or to Austria? Undoubtedly Spain or mestic, (as we must if we put it upon the for- Austria could build a navy in three or four years eign,) a tonnage duty. I think it would not be as strong as ours is; but without the sailors to injurious to the tonnage of the country to place man it, which they have not, and cannot procure, a tax upon it that should even yield as much it would be as harmless for offense and defense revenue to the Government as is now collected and of as little use to them as the spear of Goliath from it, if it can be levied directly from the ton- in the hands of General Tom Thumb. If we exnage arriving in the United States from foreign pect to maintain our supremacy as a naval Power, ports, for that would leave us even competitors which I trust we do, and I trust we shall, we must in the trade. If we pay it, foreigners pay it at foster, we must encourage, we must build up, the the same time. I suggest, too, that this would be commercial marine of the country. When Nacollected with very little or no expense or trouble,poleon found that he was unable or would be unbeing paid at the custom-house upon the entry of the ship, instead of having the assessors all over the country assessing it in half a dozen different ways, as it is now assessed, and a great deal of it never collected in any way. Sir, we have imposed a tax of two dollars a gallon upon whisky. Suppose we had done that and placed no tax on the imported article, what would have been the result? Simply that we should get no tax, that we should make no whisky, that the foreign article would supply the whole demand, and the men who have invested their property in real estate and machinery for the purpose of distilling would be ruined. The same principle will hold in regard to the tonnage of the country. If we tax the tonnage of the country, and it has got to compete with the untaxed tonnage of other countries, the result will be that our tonnage will go, as it is fast going, into the hands of foreigners, where it is not taxed. But the same result will not come to the owner of the tonnage that would come to the owner of the distillery. Why, sir, he can take it anywhere and sell it; he can whitewash it, as the phrase is, and, as a great deal of our tonnage is being done now, put it under foreign flags, and own it and pay no taxes at all upon it, depriving the Government of all the benefits and getting rid of all the burdens. There are gentlemen, and many gentlemen, concerned in this species of property who will never do this, who will not own property covered by the British or any other flag except it is the flag of our own country; and I trust the legislation of Congress will be such that these men shall not be driven entirely from this class of property. It is a favorite class of property. It is a kind of property which gentlemen who have been engaged in owning dislike to abandon. There is a sort of lottery about it: sometimes it pays finely, makes magnificent returns, and again it is a blank, it is a failure. It is a favorite property in this country. But, sir, within the last three years, I think, for we have no data brought up to a recent time; but I think when a data is brought up I shall be found to be correct that one half of all the seagoing tonnage of this country has gone from under our flag. This has not been entirely owing to the legislation of Congress. English pirates have been out preying upon our commerce. This has seemed to create a great hardship, and no doubt it has been to the people owning this sort of property; but upon the whole I am not sure that it has not been fortunate for the country that England has allowed these pirates to go out and prey upon our commerce. I saw it stated but a short time since that the Admiralty of England were compelled to haul up, dismantle, and lay up one of her largest-class frigates requiring something like a thousand men, because they could not ship the men to man her; and to-day England has more men in her commercial marine than any other country in the world. How have we got the fifty thousand sailors that have been enlisted in our Navy within the last three or four years? It is stated by the Secretary of the Navy that sixty-four thousand have been enlisted. It is because the English pirates have driven our flag from the sea, have driven our seamen from the ocean, and consequently they have gone into the Navy of the United States. So it will be with the English when there shall be a war between England and a great naval Power whose cruisers able to maintain his colonial possessions upon this continent against the naval power of Great Britain, he tendered them to this country, remarking to his minister that he would have them go to a Power which was so situated as to be the rival of Great Britain upon the sea, a Power that would be able ultimately to dispute, and successfully dispute, the control of the seas with Great Britain; and I trust that we shall not disappoint the expectations of that great statesman in this respect. Outside of our domestic affairs no statesman has ever had any apprehension of a conflict upon this continent that would be any way troublesome to us upon the land. We have always regarded the conflicts which this country is liable to be engaged in as being strictly conflicts upon the ocean. We have upon one border the Canadas, provinces of England, and upon the other border the ward of France-the two great maritime Powers of Europe. We are more likely to be involved in contests with them than with any other Power. Therefore that contest, if it ever comes between either of those Powers and us, will be entirely upon the ocean; and it behooves us to husband our strength, to encourage the education of seamen, to encourage the employment of American seamen, in order that we may be prepared when the time shall come to enter into these contestsas probably they will come-with the prospect of a happy and successful termination. I doubt very much if members upon this floor have any idea of the taxes that have been laid upon this species of property, which I contend, and which almost every Senator on this floor has contended, ought not to be taxed at all. The great lumber interests of our country were not taxed at all in the internal revenue tax, because the lumber of the British provinces could come in to compete with it, and we had no authority under the reciprocity treaty to lay any impost tax upon that production. In the first place, there is a tax of twenty dollars per ton upon the iron that goes into the construction of a ship. To build a ship of a thousand tons will take eighty tons of iron. There is a tax of $1,600 on the iron. The duck is taxed thirty cents a square yard, and twenty per cent. upon that; and that is $2,600 of a tax on the duck necessary to put on a ship of a thousand tons. Chains paying two and a half cents per ton and anchors two cents, it will take $2,000 to pay the duties on the chains and anchors necessary for such a ship. The tax of sixty dollars per ton on the rigging will take another thousand dollars, making more than seven thousand dollars in gold that is paid upon the leading articles that go into the construction of a ship; whereas in France and England, nothing that goes into the construction of a ship is taxed; every thing goes in free. In England a ship may even go to the bonded warehouse and take out goods in bond which are subject to duty for consumption on board a ship. All our ships every time they fit out at home must take the goods and pay the regular duties for consumption. Then there is a tax of three per cent. upon the cost of constructing the ship, and at the same time an income tax must be paid upon all the earnings of the ship. Then there is a special tonnage tax of ten cents per ton upon all vessels arriving from foreign ports, which there is no complaint of, and also upon coasting vessels. If they make one voyage to the British provinces or to the West Indies, the tax is doubled upon them for the year; whereas a British vessel, running from the provinces to our ports constantly through the year, pays the ten cents but once. For a charter-party, the tax is from one to ten dollars, according to the amount involved in the contract. On every manifest of cargo there is a tax of from one to five dollars. The sale of vessels is taxed fifty cents on every thousand. Then there is an additional tax which it is believed generally was not contemplated to be imposed on these vessels. It is a tax laid upon steamboats and common carriers; but the language is so construed by the Department as to be applicable to all coasting vessels; and that is two and a half per cent. upon the gross earnings of the vessel. If the cost of sailing the vessel, the cost of keeping her in repair, port charges, and other necessary expenses, shall have consumed every cent of the gross earnings, as is very frequently the case, then the owners must be assessed upon their other property or other incomes; they must pay this two and a half per cent.-an extremely hard tax to pay. Most of the coasting vessels are sailed on shares, the captain taking one half for his wages and the wages of his crew. All the other expenses of keeping the vessel in repair and the port charges are to be paid by the owners, and then they are to pay two and a half per cent. upon the gross earnings of the vessel as a tax to the Government, which in many cases is more than all the net earnings, and in the average is taking more than a tenth of all the net earnings of the vessel under this one single tax. Under this state of facts, is it wonderful that our flag is disappearing from the ocean, as disappearing it is, and disappear it will, unless this system of taxation is changed? But if our tonnage can be relieved from these taxes, if tonnage dues can be collected at the custom-house every time a vessel arrives from a foreign port, whether foreign or domestic, then if the receipts shall be enough to give the Government as much revenue as they get now, I hold that it will not be particularly onerous against the tonnage of this country. Why, sir, more than three fourths of all the tonnage employed in our foreign trade duty is foreign. They go into New York or Boston, take their cargoes, go out, and pay no duties, no expense, no tax; whereas an American ship, which is to run the same voyage side by side, is taxed in every direction. Give us even competition; it is all that is asked. Why, sir, the tonnage of this country ran up from 1815, when it was almost nothing, to 1861, to be the second if not the largest in the world, all this time competing against the cheap money of Europe. But it was owing to the superior enterprise, the superior intelligence, of American shipmasters and seamen, who upon an average made their voyages to and from the north of Europe back and forth, for years in succession, in seven days less time than British ships employed in the same trade. This gave them the preference in the market, gave them the advantage in the freight. The saving of expense by the shorter voyages enabled our folks to compete with the cheap money of the old country. But when we have got to compete with these enormous burdens laid upon our tonnage by Congress, together with the cheap money of the old country to operate against us, the result will be as it has been and is being, to drive our tonnage from the ocean. I trust, Mr. President, that the committee will examine this matter carefully, and, if I am right, at an early day introduce a measure of relief. It is a matter that requires the careful consideration of the committee. It is an immense interest, not only in its value in direct money value, but in the position it gives us among the nations of the world, the power and the influence it gives abroad. The resolution was agreed to. HOUSE BILL REFERRED. The joint resolution (H. R. No. 143) to facilitate the adjustment of certain accounts of the American Colonization Society for the support of captured Africans in Liberia, was read twice by its title and referred to the Committee on Finance. MEXICAN AFFAIRS. Mr. ANTHONY. I move to take up a resolution which was reported from the Committee on Printing at the close of the last session but not acted on for the want of time, authorizing the |
