Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills to amend the act, entitled "An act to promote the progress of useful arts;" and that Mr. Williamson, Mr. Sedgwick, and Mr. Hillhouse, be the said committee. And then the House adjourned until Monday morning eleven o'clock.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31.

Several other members, to wit: from Vermont, Nathaniel Niles, and Israel Smith; from Maryland, Upton Sheridine; from North Carolina, William Barry Grove; and from South Carolina, Robert Barnwell, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being administered to them by Mr. Speaker, according to law.

The several petitions of James Beers, Leonard Walter, Margaret Flour, Isaac Richards, Jedidiah Brown, William Haburn, John Fox, and Eliphalet Easton, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying compensation for wounds received, injuries sustained, or services rendered, in the Army of the United States, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

A petition of Richard Blackledge was presented to the House and read, praying compensation for a quantity of leather furnished for the service of the United States, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

The House, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the schedule of enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Muhlenberg reported that the committee had, according to order, had the same under consideration, and made some progress therein.

Resolved, That this House will, to-morrow, again resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the said schedule.

A memorial of Joseph Ceracchi, a Roman sculptor, was presented to the House and read, proposing to execute, on a certain design, and on certain terms, a monument to perpetuate American liberty and independence.

Ordered, That the said memorial do lie on the table.

Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills providing the means by which persons charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who flee from justice, shall, on the demand of the Executive authority of the State from which they fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime: also providing the mode by which a person, held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due; and that Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Bourne, of Massachusetts, and Mr. White, be the said committee.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to report a regular and uniform mode of proceeding in cases of contested elections of members of this House; and that Mr. Ames, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Brown, Mr. Fitzsimons, and Mr. Tucker, be the said committee. Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills for making compensation to widows, orphans, and invalids, in certain cases; and that Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, and Mr. Silvester, be the said committee. Ordered, That the Committee of the Whole House be discharged from farther proceeding on the speech of the President of the United States, and that to-morrow be assigned for proceeding to the consideration of the same in the House.

And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1.

Two other members, to wit; from Virginia, Josiah Parker; and from Georgia, Anthony Wayne, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being administered to them by Mr. Speaker, according to law.

A message, in writing, was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Lear, his Secretary, as followeth:

UNITED STATES, October 31st, 1791.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

I send you, herewith, the arrangement which has been made by me, pursuant to the act, entitled, " An act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon spirits distilled within the United States; and for appropriating the same," in respect to the subdivisions of the several districts, created by the said act, into surveys of inspection, the appointment of officers for the same, and the assignment of compensations.

G. WASHINGTON.

The arrangement referred to in the said Message was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Another message, in writing, was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Lear, his Secretary, as followeth:

UNITED STATES, November 1st, 1791.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

I received, yesterday, from the Judge of the district of South Carolina, a letter, enclosing the presentments of the Grand Jury to him, and stating the causes which have prevented the return of the census from that district; copies of which are now laid before you.

G. WASHINGTON.

The papers referred to in the said message were read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr. Muhlenberg, from the committee appointed to prepare and report such standing rules and orders of proceeding as are necessary to be observed in this House, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

On motion,

Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills granting further time for making return of the enumeration of the inhabitants in the district of South Carolina; and that Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, Mr. Boudinot, and Mr. Venable, be the said committee.

The several petitions of Levi Farnsworth, Lucy Bond, widow of the late Colonel William Bond, deceased, and John Torrey, administrator of the late Major Joseph Torrey, deceased, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying the liquidation and payment of claims against the United States, for military services rendered during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

On motion,

Ordered, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report to the House the amount of the subscriptions to the loans proposed by the act making provision for the public debt, as well in the debts of the respective States, as in the domestic debt of the United States, and of the parts which remain unsubscribed, together with such measures as are, in his opinion, expedient to be taken on the subject.

The House, according to the order of the day, proceeded to the consideration of the speech of the President of the United States: Whereupon,

Ordered, That so much of the said speech as relates to the establishment of a militia, and competent magazines, arsenals, and fortifications, be referred to Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Giles, Mr. Ward, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Wayne, and Mr. Steele, with instructions to prepare and bring in a bill or bills making provision for the same.

Ordered, That such other part of the said speech as relates to the trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, be referred to Mr. White, Mr. Laurance, and Mr. Steele, with instruction to prepare and bring in a bill or bills pursuant thereto.

Ordered, That such other part of the said speech as relates to the sale of the vacant lands within the territories of the United States, be referred to Mr. Williamson, Mr.

Boudinot, and Mr. White, with instruction to prepare and bring in a bill or bills pursuant thereto.

Ordered, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report to this House, such information as he may have obtained respecting any difficulties which may have occurred in the execution of the act "repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same;" together with his opinion thereupon.

Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, from the committee appointed, presented, according to order, a bill granting further time for making return of the enumeration of the inhabitants in the District of South Carolina; which was received, and read the first time. On motion,

The said bill was read the second time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow.

The order of the day was postponed until to-morrow.

And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock.

WEDNESDAY, november 2.

A petition of John Torrey, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was presented to the House and read, praying to be reimbursed a sum of money which he has been compelled to pay for wagonage on account of the United States, during the late war.

Also, a petition of Gustavus Conynghame, praying compensation for services rendered in the Navy of the United States, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

The several petitions of Abraham Levy, John Hodge, Oswald Kesselbaugh, John Cooper, and Robert Crooke, administrator of Robert Crooke, junior, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying compensation for wounds received or services rendered in the Army or Navy of the United States, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction

to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

The petitions of Robert Aitkin and Thomas Bradford, of the city of Philadelphia, printers, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying to be employed in the printing service of Congress.

Ordered, That the said petitions do lie on the table.

A petition of Nicholas Ferdinand Westfall was presented to the House and read, praying that the consideration of a report of the Secretary of State on a former claim of the petitioner, may be resumed, and interest allowed him on the amount of the said claim.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills for making compensation to widows, orphans, and invalids, in certain cases.

Mr. Gerry, from the committee to whom was referred the petition of Jeremiah Allen, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The House, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the bill granting further time for making return of the enumeration of the inhabitants in the District of South Carolina; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Muhlenberg reported that the committee had, according to order, had the said bill under consideration, and made several amendments thereto; which he delivered in at the Clerk's table, where the same being read, some were agreed to, and others disagreed to.

Ordered, That the said bill, with the amendments agreed to, be engrossed, and read the third time to-morrow.

Ordered, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report to this House, whether any, and what, alterations in favor of the spirits which shall be distilled from articles of the growth or produce of the United States, or from foreign articles within the same, can, in his opinion, be made in the act for laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States, consistently with its main design, and with the maintenance of the public faith.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, their Secretary:

Mr. Speaker: I am directed to bring to this House a petition which has been presented to, and read in, the Senate, from the distillers of the City of New York, praying for certain alterations in the act, entitled "An act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others

in their stead; and, also, upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appro priating the same. And he delivered in the same, and then withdrew.

Ordered, That the said petition, together with the petition of the distillers of the town of Boston, which lay on the table, be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, for his information.

Mr. Gerry, from the committee to whom was referred the petition of Susannah Fowle, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The order of the day was further postponed until to-morrow.

And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3.

Two other Members, to wit: Richard Bland Lee, and John Page, from Virginia, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being administered to them by Mr. Speaker, according to law.

An engrossed bill granting further time for making return of the enumeration of the inhabitants in the District of South Carolina, was read the third time, and the blanks therein filled up.

Resolved, That the said bill do pass, and that the title be "An act granting further time for making return of the enumeration of the inhabitants in the District of South Carolina."

Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do carry the said bill to the Senate, and desire their concurrence.

The several petitions of Peter Bellew, Sampson Brown, Henry Crane, Thomas Ditson, Thurston Hillard, Hannah Holbrooke, late widow of Alexander Boughen, deceased, William Hart, in behalf of the children of Lieutenant John Bush, deceased, Henry Lebo, Patrick Lemman, John Lether, and Deborah Patrick, widow of the late Captain William Patrick, deceased, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying compensation for wounds received, injuries sustained, or services rendered, in the Army of the United States, during the late war. Also,

Two petitions of John Manley, late a Captain in the Navy of the United States, pray. ing to be allowed compensation for certain arrears of pay, and also his proportion of prize money for sundry captures which he made, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of War, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

On motion,

Ordered, That so much of the message and communication from the President of the United States to both Houses, on the seventeenth of January last, as relates to the bounty lands granted to the late officers and soldiers of the State of Virginia, together with all previous proceedings of Congress, or the Legislature of the State of Virginia, and all papers relative thereto, be referred to the consideration of Mr. Giles, Mr. Clark, and Mr. Livermore, with instruction to examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House.

Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills directing the mode in which the evidences of the debt of the United States, which have been lost or destroyed, shall be renewed, and that Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Giles, and Mr. Dayton, be the said committee.

The petitions of Phineas Ware and Daniel Robbins were presented to the House and read, respectively praying the renewal of certain loan office or final settlement certificates, the property of the petitioners, which were consumed by fire.

Ordered, That the said petitions do lie on the table.

A petition of William Howe, of Shrewsbury, in the State of Massachusetts, was presented to the House and read, praying that, as he became an American citizen at the commencement of the late war with Great Britain, entered into the service of the United States, and has continued to be a citizen thereof since that time, he may be relieved against the operation of certain proceedings of a court of law in Nova Scotia, under the dominion of Great Britain, which has been lately had against him, contrary, as he conceives, to the provisions contained in the fourth article of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of State, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

A petition of Gosuinus Erkelens was presented to the House and read, praying that the report of the Secretary of the Treasury made to the last Session of Congress, in

opposition to a claim exhibited by the petitioner, may be reconsidered, and his said claim allowed.

Also, a petition of Ebenezer Prout, praying to be allowed the balance of his account against the United States, as Clerk to the Assistant Commissary of Prisoners, at Rutiand, during the late war.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

A petition of Abraham Hunt was presented to the House and read, praying to be allowed five years' half pay as a Captain in the first Massachusetts regiment, during the late war.

A motion was made, and the question being put, that the said petition be referred to the Secretary of War,

It passed in the negative.

A petition of David Cook, late a Captain in the third regiment of artillery of the State of Massachusetts, was presented to the House and read, praying that the consideration of the report of the Secretary of War, at the last Session, on the claim of the petitioner, may be resumed, and his said claim allowed.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee appointed to prepare and bring in a bill or bills "for making compensation to widows, orphans, and invalids, in certain cases."

On motion,

Ordered, That the Board of Commissioners for settling of the accounts between the United States and the individual States, be directed to report to this House the progress which they have made in such settlement, and their opinion as to the prospect which the present state of the business affords of its speedy and final completion.

Mr. Ward, from the committee to whom were referred the petitions of Francis Choate and Isaac Choate, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The House, according to the order of the day, again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the schedule of the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Muhlenberg reported that the committee had, according to order, again had the said schedule under consideration, and made a farther progress therein.

Resolved, That this House will, to-morrow, again resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House thereupon.

Ordered, That the report of the Attorney General, concerning such matters relative to the administration of justice under the authority of the United States as require to be remedied; together with certain proposition of amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which were offered on the third of March last, and deferred for consideration to the present Session, be committed to a Committee of the Whole House to

morrow.

And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4.

Another Member, to wit: Egbert Benson, from New York, appeared, produced his credentials, and took his seat in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being administered to him by Mr. Speaker, according to law.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanying his reports on the several petitions of John Younglove, of sundry inhabitants of the counties of Albany and Washington, in the State of New York, and of John Torrey, administrator, &c. of the late Major Joseph Torrey; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The several petitions of Charles M'Cormick, Timothy Mountford, Samuel Seely, and Lodwick Thomas, were presented to the House and read, respectively praying compensation for wounds received, services rendered, or injuries sustained, in the Army or Navy of the United States, during the late war. Also,

A petition of Christian Coone, senior, of Frederick county, in the State of Maryland, praying compensation for three horses, the property of the petitioner, which were impressed, and died in the service of the United States, during the late war. Also,

A petition of Hannah Richardson, late widow of Lieutenant Wadley Noyes, who died in the service of the United States, and of Joseph Richardson and John Osgood, guardians of the children of the said deceased, praying that the allowance granted to the widows and orphans of those who died in the service of the United States, during the late war, may be extended to them.