32D CONG.....3D SESS.

moved a considerable part of the obstacles which grew out of the claim to the protectorate; but there were other difficulties remaining. Costa Rica and Nicaragua were still at variance. Nicaragua refused, in any way, to recognize the independent existence of the Mosquito Indians. She refused to renounce her territorial rights to San Juan. In the mean time the preliminary surveys had been instituted, and it was found that the canal would

Special Session-Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.

for the Senate to bestow on the subject; but the main objects were few and simple. The first was this: out of the very large tract of country lying east of Nicaragua covered by the claim of the Mosquito Indians, to retain a moderate reservation for the temporary use of the Mosquito Indians. They were all to be collected here; they were to be withdrawn from every other point which they may have occupied. In the center of

SENATE.

It was found that probably in some places it would go into the bed of the river and in other places it would go on the right bank of the river; and Costa Rica claimed that her rightful boundary came up to the right bank of the river. Then how could we get along with a charter that was given upon the principle of the exclusive sovereignty of Nicaragua? It was impossible that foreign capitalists, who do not enter into these matters with the critical skill of diplomatists, would risk their capital in a country like Central America, where domestic feuds and border wars are the order of the day, to build an enormously expensive canal which would cost perhaps $100,000,000, over disputed territory, where the soil was liable to be wrested from them at any moment by a contesting Power. It was necessary that something further should be done to adjust all these controverted questions.

Who should do it? The mediation of the United States and Great Britain had over and over again been invoked by both States. In the treaty of the 19th of April, 1850, to which I have so often to allude, there was an express stipulation, that if any differences existed between the States or the Government in reference to the canal, or any question of right of property connected with it, the high contracting parties would exert their good offices to reconcile those differences, so that while it was absolutely necessary that the work of adjustment should be attempted, it seemed impossible that anybody else than the two friendly Powers could undertake it. Accordingly they felt it their duty to undertake it, and in the month, I think it was, of July, 1851, a conference was held here, in Washington, between the Secretary of State and the British Minister on one side, and the envoys of Costa Rica and Nicaragua on the other; but without any favorable result. About that time Nicaragua had entered into a partial confederacy with Honduras and San Salvador, to strengthen herself against Costa Rica. She had merged her separate political sovereignty in this federation. She had no longer the power, if she had the desire, to treat separately upon this subject. An interval of eight or ten months accordingly followed.

At length it was thought by the two Governments that a further delay was out of the question; that it was already amounting to an indefinite postponement of all energetic proceedings towards the construction of the canal; and it was absolutely necessary that something decisive should be done. Accordingly, in the month of April, 1852, the Secretary of State and the British Minister, acting under the instructions of their Governments respectively, came together and held conferences on this subject; and, after mature deliberation, they agreed to the propositions commonly called the propositions of the 30th of April, 1852, which were to be offered to the two Governments. They were only advisory. They could be nothing else. They were recommendations of two friendly Powers, having no interest at variance with that of either party; regarding them both with the most friendly eye; and anxiously seeking the best method by which all these difficulties could be reconciled, and an effectual impulse given to the execution of the great work. They were only propositions. They were not a convention. They were the basis of a convention that was to be submitted to the two Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. After having been arranged with great deliberation here, they were sent by separate commissioners to the capitals of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They were accepted by Costa Rica: they were rejected by Nicaragua. Now, sir, let us for a moment consider what these propositions were.

I shall not take up the time of the Senate by going into a very great detail. It would be hard Lo be understood without a map of the country, and without more time than it would be convenient

ment of Bluefields, the foundation of which runs back into the seventeenth century, if I am not mistaken. They were all to be brought together on this reservation, and all the rest of this large territory east and south of it was to be ceded in full Sovereignty to Nicaragua. This cession included the much-desired port of San Juan. The great bone of contention, if Î may so call it, was to be given up to Nicaragua by these propositions; and in consideration of the large cession of territory, and of getting rid of the disagreeable controversy, it was proposed-proposed only, all this was a proposition-that Nicaragua, as a pecuniary indemnity to the Mosquito nation, should pay the net proceeds of an ad valorem duty of ten per cent. upon articles imported into San Juan, for three years. How much that would amount to I cannot undertake to say, but I do not suppose it would amount in the whole to more than fifty or sixty thousand dollars. That was the entire pecuniary consideration which was to be paid for the surrender of the sovereignty of San Juan, and for the cession of the rest of the country lying west and southwest of the reservation to which I have alluded.

This was not all. The reservation itself was not intended to be perpetual. On the contrary, it was expressly provided, in a separate article, that the terms of the settlement should not preclude Nicaragua from making any private agreement she might please with the Mosquito Indians for what we should call the extinguishment of their title. She was to be at liberty at any time to make a private arrangement with the Mosquito Indians for the final extinguishment of the title, and consequently the absorption of the reservation into the Nicaraguan State-the Indians to be incorporated with the citizens of that State, of course; which would be no hardship, because by far the largest part of the population of Nicaragua is composed of the native race and their descendants.

These were the propositions as far as concerns the Mosquito protectorate and San Juan, and all that part of the controversy. Nicaragua being so highly favored on that side, it was thought no more than reasonable that Costa Rica, the other party, should be somewhat favored on her side, not however by giving her all that was asked, because she claimed to go up the San Juan river through its whole extent from the lake to the ocean. That was not admitted in the propositions. She also claimed that she had an equal right with Nicaragua in the port of San Juan. That could not be admitted, because the exclusive sovereignty was proposed to be given to Nicaragua; but it was proposed that Costa Rica should go to the Colorado, a branch that strikes off from the San Juan to the right, and, giving the large delta between the Colorado and the San Juan to Nicaragua, that Costa Rica should follow up the right bank of the Colorado, then the right bank of the San Juan to the lake, and then that the southern shore of the lake should be the boundary, with the privilege of navigating the lake; and then the river La Flor to the Pacific. I admit that this was a favorable boundary to Costa Rica, though it did not, as I have said, give her all that she thought she was entitled to; and Nicaragua had been greatly favored on the other side. How, in a boundary contest between two Powers of about equal strength, can you ever come to a settlement on any other basis than that of compromise and mutual concession? The United States and England have done it over and over again. We claimed our boundary on the northeast as running up far beyond the river St. John-for we have our San Juan too-we claimed that we went far beyond that river on the northeastern boundary of Maine. England said that the boundary line began at Mars' Hill, far south of the St. John. The controversy lasted fifty years; and finally we were obliged to settle it by each party giving up something of its extreme pretension.

So it was on the coast of the Pacific. There we claimed up to 54° 40'. The British said, on the other hand, that the line ought to follow the Columbia river down to the Pacific. The two countries were brought almost to the point of collision on this question, but at last it was thought on all sides that the only practicable and honorable mode of settling the question was to adopt a middle term, tude which was the boundary east of the Rocky Mountains-as the line of demarkation to the sea. If great Powers like England and the United States, the leading Powers of the commercial and maritime world, find it necessary to settle their border controversies by these mutual sacrifices, can Nicaragua, can Costa Rica expect to adjust theirs on any better principle? However, as I said, the terms of the settlement proposed were accepted by Costa Rica, but Nicaragua did not think it expedient for her to adopt them.

While these matters were passing, a very singular event occurred in San Juan, of which I believe I can best give an account to the Senate by reading an extract from a dispatch of our consular agent, Mr. Boone, who arrived at San Juan on the 3d of June last. He writes the following, under date of the 5th of June, 1852:

"I find the government of the place in the hands of a corporation, or organization, formed principally of American citizens. It consists of a inayor and a city council. They have a constitution which recognizes the trial by jury, and is altogether formed, as far as it goes, upon liberal principles. They have a well organized police, judges and aldermen, all elected annually by the people. There is likewise a captain of the port and a health officer. All articles of commerce are admitted free of duty."*

*

"In March last, Mr. Green, the British consul and agent of the Mosquito king, president of the then council at Greytown, upon the request being made by some of the principal inhabitants, issued a proclamation or order for a convention of the people of the town to meet and frame a new constitution. The convention was held and the present constitution was adopted, under which all the before-mentioned officers have been elected."

Now, this Government is carried on under the name of the Mosquito king; and Mr. Boone represents that there is a decided preponderance of the British influence in the Government. The officers, by the way, I am informed, are all American; but I doubt not that Mr. Boone correctly states the fact that they are decidedly under British influence. I suppose this is pretty natural, considering the previous history of affairs there; because this small municipality naturally relies upon the name of the Mosquito protectorate as a security for the present against the invasion of the State of Nicaragua, until they shall be sufficiently strong to protect themselves.

With respect to the manner in which affairs are managed by this new municipal government I would speak with some reserve. I do not like at this distance to give a decided opinion founded upon ex parte information; but I must say that this new government, though founded on a principle with which, in the United States, we must have all our sympathies enlisted-that of popular election-would seem to be carrying on their affairs very badly. They have lately, by an act of violence for which no doubt some provocation was given, gone across the river and pulled down the buildings of the transit company; and I have also received information of some transactions towards certain French settlers established there, which, if they are truly represented, will involve the municipal authorities of this new corporation in a heavy responsibility to the French empire. As I said before, these may be unfounded reports, and it would be wrong to form a decided opinion upon ex parte information. I hope, as the new constitution is organized upon popular principle, that it will by a wise administration do credit to such an origin. Such was the state of things in that quarter when I went into the Department of State, last November. It was out of my power for some time, for causes beyond my control, to give any impulse to the negotiations in reference to Central America. In the month of January, we received the information that a change of ministry had taken place in England, and that a new Government had been formed under the Earl of Aberdeen, as prime minister. In a fortnight or three weeks I received from the British minister here a communication which showed that one of the first objects to which the new ministry had directed its attention, with the view of bringing about some practical terms of

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and it was not the understanding of the contracting parties that they should be affected one way or the other by the stipulations of the treaty of 19th of April, 1850.

I understand the facts in reference to the recent establishment of the colony to be these: These islands were among those which were seized, given up, and seized again, while the state of things lasted which I described in a former part of my remarks, and finally the English of late years have considered that the title "de facto and de jure," (1 quote the words of a dispatch of Lord Palmerston,) was in them. As to the validity of the claim, I have not a word to say. I am only stating the pretensions of England; and I suppose it is admitted that at the time the treaty was negotiated, those dependencies were not, any more than Belize itself, understood by the negotiators to be included in the stipulations of the treaty. Two or three years ago, as I understand, the inhabitants of the islands, not being very numerous, sent a messenger to the superintendent of the Belize, and informed him that they were without any regular government, and that they wished one to be established. He told them, very reasonably, that her Britannic Majesty could not afford to govern them for nothing; and that they must see how much they could raise by voluntary taxation to defray the expenses of the Government. They held a meeting and agreed that they would tax themselves £200 a year. They sent word of the result to the superintendent of the Belize, who told them that for that he thought he could get them a regular government. In consequence of that, the order of last July was issued establishing the colony of the Bay Islands. Such is the account I have received of the origin of this colonial organization, not however, I ought to add, from any official

source.

If these facts are as I have stated, I think it may be said that there is no violation of the stipulation of the treaty in organizing that colony. At the same time, I must candidly say, that I think it is an ill-advised step. I have no doubt it has been hastily taken on the suggestion of the colonial authorities, and that it has been passed inadvertently through the Foreign Office at London, without a sufficient consideration of the circumstances of the case. I think that the organization, the avowed organization into a colony of islands belonging geograpically-whatever may be the case politically-to Central America, and within sight of the Honduras coast, is, considering the just susceptibility of the American mind on this subject, which is not greater than would exist in England on a similar subject and in a parallel state of affairs, a very ill-advised and indiscreet step. I have no doubt the consent of the Home Government has been surprised into it, by the officious zeal of the colonial authorities, and I entertain a strong expectation that when, through the dispassionate representation of this Government it shall be brought to the consideration of the British minister, it will be retraced. I hope it will. I think it will be as it was in the case of the Sandwich Islands in 1843. You know that at that time the United States first agreed to recognize the independence of those islands. A communication was made by me to that effect to the British Minister for Foreign Affairs in London. He agreed that his Government would recognize their independence, and use its best influence to induce France to do the same. The next news that came was that Lord George Paulet, who commanded the British squadron in the Pacific, had seized the islands, had struck the Hawaiian flag, and hoisted the flag of England. The first thing done by the British Government was to disavow the rash and unauthorized act. It was the same thing with the seizure of Tigre Island by Mr. Chatfield, in 1848; and although the case is different, these islands having for a long time been in the unqualified, though contested, possession of Great Britian, I do think, under all the circumstances of the case, that on a calm and dispassionate representation from this Government, this hasty step will be retraced. With respect to the transactions at Truxillo, we have nothing but newspaper information on the subject, and even that informs us that there has been no bombardment, no cannonading of the place, as at first reported; but Sir George Seymour, the commander of the British squadron in NEW SERIES.-No. 19.

Special Session-Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.

the West Indies, an officer of great moderation, who is distinguished for his friendly feelings towards the United States, and at whose instance the British Admiralty have very lately put in the possession of Commodore Perry, commander of the squadron sent out by this Government to Japan, a large number of charts and hydrographic works-everything, in short, to facilitate the expedition-has sent a war steamer to Truxillo to tell the authorities there that they must recall an armed party which they had sent over the frontier to break up the settlements of the English wood-cutters on the river Limas. I do not think anything serious will grow out of these transactions; and I can only say, that if there were a disputed boundary between us and Mexico, and Mexico were to send an armed force to break up a settlement of Americans, and destroy their establishments, I think we should tell them in the plainest terms the English language contains, that the United States did not understand that way of settling boundary controversies.

The Senate will infer, from what I have now said, that I do not apprehend any disturbance of the peaceful relations between this country and Great Britain, in consequence of the state of things in Central America. In the last speech which I had the honor to make in the House of Representatives, now eighteen years ago, I expressed the opinion that there was no danger of a war between the United States and France, with whom our friendly relations were seriously menaced in consequence of the delay of the French Chambers to make an appropriation to carry into effect Mr. Rives's treaty of indemnity. I am not sorry, in raising my voice for the first time as a member of the Senate, that it is for the purpose of expressing similar sentiments in reference to Great Britain.

It is not because either in this case or in that I am indifferent to the interests or the honor of my country. Far otherwise, sir; it is because I do not think they are in danger. I agree with the distinguished Senator from Illinois [Mr. DOUGLAS] that England does not love us. In the relations of countries which are governed by Constitutions, by Parliaments, and by Congresses, there is no room for love or for hate, or for any sentimental influence; enlightened regard to the public interest is the only rule of action. It is only under absolute governments-under a monarch who, like Louis XIV., can say "I am the State"-that there is room for love and for hate. Between us

and England, and the rest of the constitutional Powers of Europe, there is room only for the influence of the dictates of an enlightened regard to the public weal. But this I will say, that I am persuaded at this time that with all parties in England a mutually beneficial, peaceful intercourse with the United States is considered a cardinal principle of the policy of the Government; and I think that on our side toward England, and toward Europe, we ought to consider a mutually beneficial, peaceful intercourse as a cardinal principle of our policy.

I cordially sympathize with the distinguished Senator from Illinois, in the glowing views that he entertains of the future growth and glory of our country. I wish I could persuade him that this glorious future of America is not inconsistent with an equally auspicious future for the friendly Powers of Europe. I wish I could persuade him that that part of the world is not exclusively the region of tombs and monuments that he so graphically described, but that in every country in Europe, more in some than in others, but visibly in all, there is progress; that liberal ideas are at work; that popular institutions and influences are steadily forming themselves; that the melioration of the laboring classes is going on; that education and social comforts are making their way there. It is true, I beg the gentleman to believe me, it is true; and nothing will promote this favorable state of things more than the kindly sympathy and a salutary example on the part of this country. And I will also say that there is no country in Europe that I have ever visited, whatever temporary causes of irritation may have existed with this government or that government-there is not a country of Europe where the name and character of an American citizen is not a direct passport to every good office that a stranger can desire, and nowhere more than in England.

SENATE.

Sir, in our views of the glorious future that awaits the Union, we are apt to regard geographical extension as the measure and the index of our country's progress. I do not deny the general correctness of that impression. It is necessary for the formation of the highest type of national character that it should be formed and exhibited upon a grand and extensive scale. It cannot be developed within the bounds of a petty State. Nor do I admit that this idea of geographical extension necessarily carries with it-though it does perhaps by natural association-that of collision with other Powers. But, sir, I think there is no fear, so far as geographical extension is necessary, that we shall in the natural progress of things, have as much of it, and as rapidly as the best interests of the country admit or require. In the mean time, if we wish a real, solid, substantial growth-a growth which will not bring us in collision with foreign Powers-we shall have it in twenty-five years to our heart's content; not by the geographical accession of dead acres; not by the purchase of Cuba, or by the partition of Mexico, but by the simple peaceful increase of our population.

Sir, have you well considered that that mysterious law which was promulgated on the sixth day of the Creation-" Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth"-will, in twenty-five years of peace and union-for it is all wrapped up in thataided by the foreign immigration, give us another America of living men as large as that which we now possess? Yes, sir, as far as living men are concerned, besides replacing the millions which will have passed off the stage, it will give us all that the arm of Omnipotence could give us, if it should call up from the depths of the Pacific, and join to the Union another America as populous as If by any stroke of power or policy you could to-morrow extend your jurisdiction from Hudson's Bay to Cape Horn, and take in every State and every Government, and all their population, it would not give to you a greater amount of population, including your own, than you will have at the end of twenty-five years by the simple law of increase, aided by immigration from abroad.

ours.

I shall not live to see it. My children probably will. The Senator from Illinois, in all human probability, will live to see it, and there is, perhaps, no one more likely than he to impress his views of public policy upon the mind of those growing millions, and to receive from them in return all the honors and trusts which a grateful people can bestow upon those they respect and love. Let me adjure him, then, to follow the generous impulses of his nature, and after giving, like a true patriot, his first affections to his own country, to be willing to comprehend all the other friendly countries of the earth within the scope of a liberal consideration, and above all to cultivate the spirit and arts of peace-of peace.

Sir, it is the opposite spirit of military aggrandizement, the spirit of conquest, that has forged those chains in Europe which the Senator so eloquently deplores. It was this that brought down Asia to the dust in the morning of the world, and has kept her seated in sackcloth and ashes ever since. This blasted Greece; this destroyed Rome. It was not a foreign enemy that laid the ax to the root of Rome's freedom; it was her own proconsuls coming home from the successful wars of Asia, gorged with the gold of conquered provinces. The spirit of military aggrandizement and conquest have done the same for Europe. Will they not do it here if we indulge them? Do not let the Senator think that I suspect he wishes to indulge them; but will they not do it? Will they not give us vast standing armies, overshadowing navies, colossal military establishments, frightful expenditures, contracts, jobs, corruption which it sickens the heart to contemplate? And how can our simple republican institutions, our elective magistracies, our annual or biennial choice of those who are to rule over us, unsupported by hereditary claims or pretorian guards, be carried on under such influences?

Do not mistake me, however, sir. I counsel no pusillanimous doctrine of non-resistance. Heaven forbid! Providence has placed us between the two great world oceans, and we shall always be a maritime Power of the first order. Our commerce already visits every sea, and wherever it floats it

32D CONG.....3D SESS.

must be protected. Our immense inland frontier will always require a considerable army; and it should be kept in the highest state of discipline. The schools at Annapolis and West Point ought to be the foster children of our Republic. Our arsenals and our armories ought to be kept filled with every weapon and munition of war, and every vulnerable point on the coast ought to be fortified. But while we act on the maxim "in peace prepare for war," let us also remember that the best preparation for war is peace. This swells your numbers; this augments your means; this knits the sinews of your strength; this covers you all over with a panoply of might; and then, if war must come, in a just cause, no Power on earthno, sir, not all combined-can send forth an adversary from whose encounter you need shrink.

But give us these twenty-five years of peace. I do believe that the coming quarter of a century is to be the most important in our whole history, and I do beseech you let us have the twenty-five years, at least, of peace. Let our fertile wastes be filled up with swarming millions; let the tide of immigration continue to flow in from Europe; let the steamer, let the canal, let the railway, especially the great Pacific railway, subdue these mighty distances, and bring this vast extension into a span; let us pay back the ingots of California gold with bars of Atlantic iron; let agriculture clothe our vast wastes with waving plenty; let the industrial and mechanic arts erect their peaceful fortresses at the waterfalls of our rivers; and then in the train of this growing population, let the printing office, the lecture-room, the school-room, and the village church, be scattered over the country; and, sir, in these twenty-five years, we shall exhibit a spectacle of national prosperity, such as the world has never seen on so large a scale, and yet within the reach of a sober, practical contemplation.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I do not intend to prolong this discussion, but I think it due to myself to make a word of comment upon one remark which fell from the eminent Senator from Massachusetts. I understand him to agree with the Senator from Delaware, that his letter in relation to Cuba, in which he laid down the policy of making no pledge in regard to its future condition, was not applicable to Central America; and that therefore those two Senators agree to stand on a common platform upon that point. Sir, I am not willing, by the concurrence of those two Senators, to be put in the position of having made a misapplication of that letter. The main point to which I referred in the letter of the Senator from Massachusetts to the Compte de Sartiges, was this: in it the Senator said that it was not within the competent authority of this Government, under the Constitution, to give any pledge that in all coming time we would never annex any territory, which in the course of events might become desirable, to this Union. If it was not competent, under the Constitution, to give that pledge in reference to the Island of Cuba, where does he find the constitutional authority to give it in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty with reference to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and other Central American States? If there be an absence of constitutional power in the one case, it ought to be binding upon the consciences of men in all other cases. Therefore, until they explain away that constitutional barrier, I cannot permit those two Senators to put themselves in concert and accuse me of having made a misapplication of the letter. That is all I desire to say upon that point.

So far as the Senator's remarks relate to the preservation of peace, I fully and cordially agree with him. If there is any one line of policy more dear to my heart than all others, it is that which shall avoid any just cause of war, and preserve peace in all time to come. If there be a difference of opinion between us, it is upon the point as to which line of policy will best accomplish that object. I believe that the true policy is to make no pledges at present which are to bind our successors in all time to come with reference to a state of facts which now does not exist, but then may require action. I have not said that I wish to annex any portion of Central America to this country. I only protest against the pledge that our successors may not do that which their inter

est, duty, and honor, may require when the time for action comes. With these remarks, I am willing to close the discussion.

Mr. MASON. There will be no question, I

SENATE.

in his power during the vacation of Congress to obtain a vast amount of necessary information to guide the future policy of this country towards Central America. There can be as little doubt that when the information is obtained it will be laid before the Congress of the United States. I have said, therefore, to the honorable Senator from Delaware, who offered the resolution, that we shall have the information for which he calls without a call of the Senate; but if that call must be made, it will be necessary, in my judgment, very much to enlarge it, because it applies only to information as to the dominion in the islands. In order, however, to dispose of the subject, which I do with the approbation of the Senator from Delaware, I move that the resolution lie upon the table.

The motion was agreed to.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

On motion by Mr. MASON, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of Executive business; and after some time spent therein, the doors were reopened, And the Senate adjourned.

TUESDAY, March 22, 1853.

Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. C. M. BUTLER.

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS.

A message was received from the President of the United States in answer to a resolution of the 17th instant, requesting copies of certain propositions to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, relative to the settlement of the territorial controversies between the States and Governments bordering on the river San Juan, transmitting a report from the Secretary of State, and the documents by which it was accompanied; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting additional papers in relation to the allegation of fraud contained in certain public prints with regard to the disbursements by Alexander Ramsey of money appropriated to carry out the stipulations of treaties concluded with the Sioux Indians; which, on the motion of Mr. SEBASTIAN, was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Also, a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting additional papers in relation to the Mexican Boundary Commission; which, on the motion of Mr. WELLER, was referred to the Select Committee on the subject, and ordered to be printed.

CLERK TO A COMMITTEE.

Mr. JAMES, from the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office, submitted the following

resolution:

Resolved, That the clerk to the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office, be continued during the recess of the Senate, at the usual rate of compensation, to be employed in preparing for the use of said committee an alphabetical index and digest of the reports heretofore made by the several Committees on Patents and the Patent Office.

MEXICAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. Mr. WELLER submitted the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Select Committee on the Mexican Boundary be allowed until the next session of Congress to report upon the various subjects referred to them.

Mr. HUNTER. I have no objection to the committee making a report, but I object to any committee sitting during the recess. I think it would be establishing a bad precedent.

Mr. WELLER. It is not proposed by the resolution that the committee shall sit during the recess. The testimony before it has been closed. It occupies more than five hundred pages, and it is utterly impossible for the committee during this session to examine it so as to be able to make a report. The object of the resolution is to allow the committee to make their report, not to continue their sitting during the recess.

Mr. HUNTER. If the Senator will add a proviso that the committee shall not sit during the recess, I will have no objection to the resolution. Mr. WELLER. As chairman of the committee, propose going home very early next month, and tee in the recess. The resolution simply proposes to allow the committee to report, and I do not think under that authority, they could, if they desired, sit during the recess. However, if my friend from Virginia thinks it necessary, I have no objection to adding the proviso.

Mr. HUNTER. I think they might sit under the authority conferred by the resolution; and [ should therefore like to have the proviso added. I know there will be other applications to continue committees, and I shall oppose them all.

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. COOPER in the chair.) The Senator from California accepts the modification suggested by the Senator from Virginia.

The resolution as modified was agreed to.

PAPERS WITHDRAWN.

On motion by Mr. SUMNER, it was Ordered, That leave be granted to withdraw the papers relating to the claim of the Boston Steamboat Relief Company, B. B. Forbes.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

On motion by Mr. MASON, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of Executive business, and after some time spent therein, the doors were reopened.

THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON FRAUDS, etc.

Mr. BORLAND. I have a report, Mr. President, which I am directed to make from the Select Committee on Frauds, Abuses, &c. Before doing so, however, it will be proper to recur briefly to the circumstances under which the committee have acted.

This committee was originally appointed last summer, but was unable, for want of time, to complete its duties during that session, which adjourned the last of August. During the recent session it was reappointed, and continued its investigations until the close. Finding its duties still unfinished, owing to the mass of testimony they had taken, and which had to be arranged and embodied in a report, permission was asked and obtained to continue their sittings during this special session, in order to prepare and present their report.

The committee consisted of five membersthree Democrats and two Whigs. Of these, the Senatorial terms of the two Whig members (Mr. UNDERWOOD of Kentucky, and Mr. BROOKE of Mississippi) terminated with the Congress on the 4th of this month. It became necessary, therefore, to make up the regular number of the committee to supply these vacancies; and two other Whig members (Mr. MORTON of Florida, and Mr. THOMPSON of Kentucky) were appointed. These gentlemen met the other members of the committee a few days ago-the whole committee consisting of Mr. HOUSTON, chairman, Mr. BorLAND, Mr. WALKER, Mr. MORTON, and Mr. THOMPSON-when the cases which had been examined were submitted, and the substance of the report upon them, as drawn up, was read.

I have deemed this statement proper, and it was understood by the committee that I should make it, in justice especially to the two new members of the committee, who have not, of course, had time or opportunity to examine the testimony in the several cases, and cannot be responsible for the report. They heard the report read, and acquiesced in it only so far as to assent to its being made to the Senate, reserving their right to judge of it when it shall have been printed, and they have had an opportunity to examine the testimony upon which it is based.

It is deemed important by the committee that this report should be printed at the earliest practicable day; important to the public interest. In connection with one part of it, it will be remembered that during the recent session, when the deficiency bill was under consideration, I offered two amendments in relation to the proposed appropriation of $400,000 as a deficiency of former appropriations for the Capitol extension. My amendments suspended the disbursement of the