partments of the Government whose chief was appointed from political considerations. That is what he urged. Mr. FESSENDEN. How will the chief of this one be appointed? Mr. SIMMONS. The President will appoint him; and if he thinks proper, he will appoint somebody who will not calculate on becoming a Cabinet officer. I know people shake their heads. Senators seem to be determined to regard this measure as one proposing an independent Department, headed by and by with a Cabinet officer. I do not know of any possible reason for apprehending it. The salary of the Commissioner certainly cannot be increased without a vote of Congress. The bill only gives him the common salary of a head of a bureau, and gives him a chief clerk. I do not see any difficulty in it. If Congress has a mind to extravagantly waste the Treasury of the Government in creating new establishments hereafter, it will not be the fault of this bill. You may say "this is an entering wedge; allow this, and it will assume these great proportions before long." But I do not believe that the agriculturists want it to assume those proportions. They say they do not want it to do so. The Seffator from New Hampshire says that if they should come here petitioning, their prayer would be to be let alone. Here is their petition. Mr. HALE. I did not say that. Mr. SIMMONS. It is impersonated here in the National Agricultural Society. Mr. FOSTER. The Senator from Rhode Island certainly would have occasion to be surprised, if any Senator on this floor opposed the agricultural interest; but I have heard nobody oppose that interest, and nobody speak of it, except with respect and a desire to do all for it that we, under the Constitution, could properly do. As it respects the measure reported by him, and the amendment that I propose to it, the difference between them is not so great that the advocate of the one can claim to be friendly to the agricultural interest, and charge that the advocate of the other is its opponent. The difference between the two measures is not very great. I do not claim it to be, myself; but I say it is better, as it seems to me, in taking the first step upon this subject, to create a bureau in the Department of the Interior, rather than to create a separate, independent Department. Mr. COWAN. I should like to ask my friend from Connecticut where he finds the constitutional authority to do anything of the kind contemplated by this bill, and the appropriations that have been made for carrying it out heretofore? From what part of the Constitution does he derive the authority of this Government to do what is contemplated to be done here? Mr. FOSTER. I have not looked into the Constitution on the subject, and I would rather not go into a constitutional argument at the present time upon the question. I might not, if I argued it at great length, succeed in convincing the Senator from Pennsylvania, if he has made up his mind that it is unconstitutional, and I take it my effort would fail, if I should make one, so far as that goes. I do not think the Senate generally have any scruples on the subject of creating a bureau in the Department of the Interior, separate from that of the Patent Office, to promote, so far as either of these bills proposes to promote, the agricultural interests of the country. If there are constitutional difficulties, of course Senators will be governed by them, and not vote for either of these propositions. I confess I do not see any difficulty of that sort. As I do not understand precisely what the Senator's difficulties are, I probably should fail altogether to remove them, if I should attempt it. I was remarking simply, sir, that in taking the first step upon this subject, it is better, as it seems to me, that we create a bureau, rather than create an independent Department. If, after we have created the bureau it seems advisable to make it independent and to make it a Department, as the Senator from Rhode Island suggests, it will be perfectly easy to do it at the coming session, or at any subsequent session of Congress. On the other hand, if we begin by making it a Department, certainly there will be no probability that we shall ever reduce it, for we take no step down in regard to bureaus or Departments of this description. The the teeth of the record of the formation of that Constitution, until $60,000, the interest upon $1,000,000 of the national debt, is appropriated, and for what? To furnish to the people what they can buy at one twentieth of the cost at any seed store in any village in the country. What is worse about it, I understand that one half of these seeds will not grow when they are distributed. That is the universal reputation they have in my country. I do not know how it is with other gentlemen who distribute them. What is the object of it? Why is this interest manifested in this thing by so many people about here? I have had already repeated applications made to me by gentlemen who desire to be at the head of this Department. One in particular, I remember, a young gentleman that I was satisfied had never touched a plow in any way, particularly the handle. He wanted to be at the head of this Department. "Why," said I," what do you know of agriculture?" Said he, "I have written more on that subject, I think, than any man in this country." I found out that he was a newspaper reporter, and that his knowledge of agriculture had been acquired at fairs, where he inspected immense cabbages and large pumpkins, and reported upon them to the newspapers of whom he was correspondent. [Laughter.] I have understood, too, that this agricultural department of the Interior keeps a gentleman abroad at a salary of $3,000 a year, for the purpose of purchasing seeds to distribute among our people. It has been hinted, too, that when the period of his sojourn abroad is about to terminate he falls upon the fag-end of some European seed store, the germs of which seeds have departed and gone to the "tomb of the Capulets,' and he buys them for a song, comes here and charges them to the Government at a high rate, and we distribute them among the people for the Mr. COWAN. I do not propose to oppose strenuously the passage of this bill, because I think the question would more properly arise if we attempted to repeal the appropriation of $60,000 which has been already made for the purpose of carrying out this project. As I look upon the Constitution as containing the measure of our power upon this or any other subject, I, as a general rule, look to it in order to ascertain what we may or what we may not do in the premises. I agree with pretty much everything that has been said by the honorable Senator from New Hampshire. I think that has been the best teaching of the last three hundred or four hundred years at least, that the various departments of industry only desire from the Government to be let alone; that the true governmental function is to protect the people, furnish to them security in their lives, their liberty, and their property, so that every man may have what he earns and may be enabled to keep it after he has got it; and the less Government meddles with it the better. Now, in ascertaining what power we have in regard to these things, I find the Constitution provides that we have power" to promote the progress of science and useful arts." How? "By se-purpose of improving their breeds of domestic curing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." There is the whole of it; and that is why I put the question to the honorable Senator from Connecticut, who is much better read and much more conversant with these subjects than I am, to know whether he had discovered any place else from which he could derive this authority. If we take that plain reading, we observe that we are limited to two things: first, if a man writes a book, we have the right to say that he shall have the exclusive right to the copy of it and to the sale of it; second, if a man makes a new invention we have a right to secure to him, for a limited time, the exclusive right to make and vend the object of his discovery; and there it ends. Upon a little further inquiry, I find that in the convention which framed the Constitution there was a proposition made which, if it had been carried, would have conferred upon us the power to do what gentlemen desire now to do by the bills that are before us. I read from Story's Commentaries. Speaking of the clause conferring upon Congress the authority to secure to authors and inventors an exclusive right to their writings and discoveries, he says: "1155. In the first draft of the Constitution, the clause is not to be found; but the subject was referred to a committee, (among other propositions,) whose report was accepted, and gave the clause in the very form in which it now stands in the Constitution. A more extensive proposition 'to establish public institutions, rewards, and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures,' was (as has been before stated) made and silently abandoned." Now, sir, if this is true-and I have no doubt it is there is an end of it. We stand upon the Constitution. We derive from it our authority in the premises, and when it is shown that it was proposed to give us that authority and that it was withdrawn, I cannot see how we are to get clear of it. I have no desire to be factious about this matter, although I am very free to say that I agree with the wisdom of the constitutional prohibition. I have no doubt that this is a mischief, and a mischief which has been gradually accumulating until it has swallowed up half a million of the people's money for nothing. In 1839 an appropriation of $1,000 was slipped into a general appropriation bill for the purpose of gathering agricultural statistics. In 1851 that had risen to $5,000. Then, in connection with the statistics, an officer was appointed to procure seeds and cuttings; and now it has gone on, without, as I say, a particle of warrant under the Constitution, and directly in plants. It reminds me very much of the Irishman, who, desirous to improve the breed of cattle in his country, imported a yoke of oxen. [Laughter.] Mr. President, I think it is a great mistake to suppose that the cry for this Department comes from the farmers. If there is one thing ridiculous in the country among the farmers, it is that Senators of the United States and Representatives in Congress are busied, as a part of their legislative duties, with the distribution of turnip seeds, beet seeds, onion seeds, and all those things among them. Sir, the people we represent have some sense, a good deal of sense, a great deal more than they get credit for; and if we were to adopt the method of some countries, not to embark ourselves in governmental enterprises until we were compelled to do it by the actual pressure of the people, very few schemes which are now mooted here would find favor. I am in favor of confining this Government, its powers, and its functions, as they are confined by the Constitution strictly. I think we should find that wise. I have no doubt the framers of it were wiser than we are by far, and they were not subject to the influences which are now brought to bear upon us to divert us away from the channels in which they intended that the Government should run. I would, therefore, be in favor strongly of a proposition to repeal that section of the appropriation bills which gives $60,000 for this purpose, and that that $60,000 should be applied to something else; if you please, paying the interest on our national debt. And mark me, as was well said by the Senator from New Hampshire, if we attend to that part of it, the farmers will attend to theirs. They do not require this interference of ours in order to enable them to carry on properly the business in which they are engaged. Why, sir, there is hardly a table in the parlor of any farmer's house in the country which has not upon it books upon agriculture, furnishing to the farmer the best information possible upon almost all subjects. There is hardly a little village where he cannot at any time in the spring of the year purchase for himself seeds and cuttings, or anything of that kind. Everywhere, all over the country, so far as I am acquainted, there are nurseries where he can obtain plants, shoots, all the best breeds of domestic plants. If we leave it there under the natural laws which govern in these matters, we do more for them than if we tax them in order to support these pretended schemes for their benefit. I am, therefore, opposed to any expenditure of the public money for purposes of this kind; and as I said before, if there was a proposition now before the Senate to repeal the appropriation I would go for it, and I would trust myself to meet the hearty response and receive the hearty thanks of every real farmer in the country. We hear a great deal about the recent progress of agriculture. We hear about it in France; we hear about it in Great Britain; but we shall never hear about it in this country until the population becomes in excess over the production of the country. Whenever land becomes exceedingly scarce and exceedingly high, then agriculture will assume a new shape and form and adapt itself to the new requirements which will be made upon it. I think that that is the universal law, and that we need never expect to have a very high form of agricultural civilization until the population of the country rises to such an extent as to require a more elaborate system of culture in order to produce sustenance for that population. Mr. FESSENDEN. I wish to say a word or two for the Treasury in reference to this matter; for although the bill of the honorable Senator from Rhode Island does not, as I understand it, propose to take any money out of the Treasury just now, I foresee, if we enter upon this experiment to the extent that he recommends, what I think the inevitable result must be. I wish, however, to say to the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania that, in my judgment, it is rather too late in the day to talk about the constitutionality of this appropriation for seeds, &c. As an original question, I should be rather disposed to agree with him, that there was no power to make these appropriations; but there is such a thing as having a constitutional question settled by legislative construction, to such an extent at least that Senators feel compelled to follow the precedents that have been set, and are perfectly justified in following them, because they cannot be raised always in reference to matters of this description. Now, sir, my objection to the proposition of the Senator from Rhode Island is this: all experience Mr. SIMMONS. It is not my proposition. The committee reported the bill. Mr. FESSENDEN. Very well. I speak merely with reference to the Senator who has charge of it at the present time. All experience has shown how the thing increases. What we have learned from the Senator from Pennsylvania with regard to the progress of expenditures in relation merely to seeds is a striking illustration. I have been a witness of a great part of it. It has grown up from comparatively nothing to a considerably large sum. But experience has shown me that against this particular appropriation it is of no sort of use to contend, if one was disposed to do so. We represent too many farmers here, and have distributed too many seeds for most gentlemen to muster the courage to vote against an appropriation of this description, such as has been made at the present session. But, sir, I am happy to say that I believe, although, in a very great degree, in the expenditure of the money it has been wasted, yet in the returns we have had from some particular things, the country has been richly paid for all the money that has been expended-richly paid over and over again in absolute increase of wealth. There is no doubt of that. That being considered as established, the next question is, how far we are bound to go. Legislative construction, perhaps, has settled what the constitutional power is, but it has not settled the extent to which we ought to go in the exercise of it; and that is a matter of judgment. The argument is simply this: the farmers ask for a Department. I do not believe that the farmers ask for any such thing. I do not believe that there is really one in a hundred of the farmers of this country, who has any idea of any such proposition, ever thought of it in his life, or ever will think of it, or will know anything about it hardly if we establish it. But certain gentlemen of position and wealth and reading, who have made themselves familiar with the subject, perhaps, to a very great degree, choose to represent the farmers, to form agricultural societies and a national agricultural society-I know many of them-and they have great ideas upon this subject, and they claim to represent the opinions of the farmers upon a question of this kind. Upon the question whether we should establish a Department or a bureau, does my friend suppose that it is really a matter that excites the least feeling in the country in the world? My colleague read a letter to me this morning from a good friend of his and mine, in which he undertook to say that the agriculturists would like this Department, would be satisfied with it. That gentleman, whom I highly respect and esteem, is a manufacturer, and a large manufacturer, by business, or has been; and perhaps he may have some land which he cultivates. He understands this matter undoubtedly, and he has an idea that the agriculturists would like it because he likes it, and he thinks it is a good idea. Probably he is a member of the National Agricultural Society. Why, sir, they know nothing about the feeling in the country on the subject. There is no feeling about it throughout the country to any extent. But what I speak of is the inevitable abuse that will grow up under it. This seed appropriation has grown from $1,000, in the course of ten years, to $60,000. My friend from Rhode Island says this will lead to nothing more. The honorable Senator from Indiana [Mr. WRIGHT] offered a proposition as an amendment, but which has been rejected, establishing this Department with four separate bureaus in it. That is his proposition. How long will it take to grow up to that? If we must have this expenditure of money, and I do not see that we must, I think it ought to be taken from under the control of the Patent Office; that it ought not to run through the Patent Office up to the Secretary of the Interior; and I am willing that you should put it in the shape of a bureau in the Department of the Interior, if you please, although I have great fears that if we have a bureau, the next thing we shall have a Department by the same sort of argument. I think the anecdote told in relation to the application of a gentleman to be appointed head of this Department when it shall be established, is a pretty good illustration of what it means; and that is, that certain gentlemen would like places. If you establish a bureau, and I am disposed to vote for it, as it is moved by my friend from Connecticut, and I like his bill much better than the other, the great effect of which, and the only one that Í approve, is, taking it out of the control of the Patent Office and putting it directly under the Secretary of the Interior; that will involve, in the first place, the appointment of a head of a bureau. A head of a bureau is nobody without clerks, and he must have a certain number. Then we shall find that there are new experiments to be tried. We shall have recommendations at once for a little more science here and a little more science there, and that costs money. In the first place, we must have the scientific men, and then we must have money for the experiments. Thus it will go on; it is only a question of time. If we begin with a Department, what is the head of a Department without bureaus and without clerks? Nobody. The thing enlarges; and my word for it, it will not be many years before a similar proposition to that of the honorable Senator from Indiana will be adopted or strongly urged-a Department with bureaus, and, necessarily, clerks; and we shall have a hundred clerks in that Department, too. If this proposition were advisable, in my judgment this is no time for it. I think the farmers of the country will be better satisfied with us if we stop expending money, as far as we can, and take care that we open no new sluices by which the money may be made to run out of their pock ets. The present time, of all times in the world, is the last when we ought to enlarge the organization of the Government by Departments and bureaus and clerks, and everything of that description. The Interior Department is the proper place for this subject. It has relation to the country. It is the home Department. It covers, or ought to cover, all that is necessary with regard to this subject, as well as with regard to the others under their charge. These gentlemen are very much mistaken when they suppose the Secretary of the Interior recommends a Department; because I have looked at his report within a moment, shown me by my honorable friend from Vermont, and he recommends a bureau, in so many words; that is to say, instead of being a mere clerkship under the Patent Office, and under the Interior, it shall assume the form of a bureau directly responsible to the Secretary of the Interior, and under his charge. I think that would be better. I hope it will not cost any more money; but I fear it will. At any rate, that is as far as I desire to go. Mr. SIMMONS. I wish to call the attention of the Senate to one or two facts in regard to this bill that I have reported from the committee. It does not enlarge the number of clerks at all, while the bill preferred by the Senator from Maine does. The argument he has been using here applies with much greater force and truth to the bill he is going to support than the one I propose. The Senator says we are in great danger of having an establishment with four bureaus in it. I want to know how we voted on that. Mr. FESSENDEN. We voted it down; but it does not follow that it will be voted down next year. Mr. SIMMONS. So far as it furnishes any evidence it should remove the apprehensions that seem to exist in his mind, if I am any judge of logical events. The Senator from Pennsylvania I suppose is with me upon this matter: that since this appropriation has been made, it is the duty of the Senate to see to its most economical expenditure, and to keep these folks that go abroad into the street corners from spending this money and wasting it in useless seeds. That is the very object of this proposition to take this matter from under the control of those who send men abroad from political considerations to use up the money that was intended by Congress to be devoted to the use of agriculture. That is our object. I do not see why it is that the Senator from Maine should apprehend these great expenditures. He has been here a great many years, and he will be here a great many more if he stays as long as his usefulness lasts as I hope he may-and he will never let this matter run into these extravagant expenditures, I know. He is not of that school. I believe the Senator from Pennsylvania also has a pretty long term, and he will have an opportunity to apply his constitutional objections when an appropriation comes up; but we have made one now, and the Senator from Maine has no hope of recalling it. I read a little while ago from this memorialand I believe it has not been disputed-that some encouragement by the national Government to agriculture was recommended by the first President of the United States as of primary importance to the country. The Senator from Pennsylvania says he has great respect for the wisdom of those men that framed that instrument; and yet Washington came right out of the convention that adopted the Constitution, and he considered it within the power of the Government to do something for agriculture by the national Government. I cannot conceive myself why there should be this great apprehension of this running into a large establishment. The principal object of the committee was to see that the money appropriated for the benefit of agriculture, however small it might be, should be applied to its proper uses, and nothing else. The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. CLARK in the chair.) The question is on the amendment proposed by the Senator from Connecticut. Mr. WRIGHT. I ask that the amendment may be read. The Secretary read the amendment, to strike out all after the enacting clause of the original bill, and to insert the following in lieu thereof: That there shall be created in the Department of the Interior a Bureau of Agriculture and Statistics, the object of which shall be to promote the interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, the chief executive officer of which shall be denominated" Commissioner of Agriculture and Statistics," who shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive an annual compensation of $3,000. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to procure and distribute new and valuable varieties of seeds, grains, and plants, and to pro cure, from the best sources, such information as will be most valuable in relation to the mode of cultivation, renovation, and drainage of the soil; also, concerning the domestic and foreign trade of the United States, their manufactures, internal improvements, banks, and currency, and such other subjects as may be adapted to illustrate the condition and progress of the agriculture, manufactures, trade, population, and other material interests of the country. The said Commissioner shall annually make a report to Congress, prior to the 1st day of January in each year, of the operations of the bureau, and of statistics obtained. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner shall procure a seal, with a suitable device, and copies of books, statements, or records, with the signature of the THE OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS, PUBLISHED BY JOHN C. RIVES, WASHINGTON, D. C. THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION. Commissioner and seal affixed, shall be competent evidence in all cases where the original records would be evidence. The Commissioner shall charge a reasonable compensation, not to exceed the rate of charges established by the Patent Office, for all information or copies furnished, except for legislative purposes or for the Departments of Gov ernment. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed a chief clerk of said bureau, with an annual salary of $2,000, and such additional clerks as may, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, be necessary, not exceeding the number now employed in the agricultural division of the Patent Office, with three additional ones. All the books, records, documents, and other papers and property belonging to the agricultural division of the Patent Office, shall be transferred to said bureau, and all appropriations heretofore made for the benefit of agriculture shall be expended by said bureau. Mr. WRIGHT. I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment. The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 18, nays 18; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Browning, Clark, Collamer, Davis, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foster, Harlan, Henderson, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Morrill, Stark, Willey, Wilson of Missouri, and Wright-18. NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Cowan, Dixon, Foot, Hale, Harris, Kennedy, King, Pomeroy, Powell, Saulsbury, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wilkinson, and Wilson of Massachusetts-18. So the amendment was rejected. The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendments, made as in Committee of the Whole, were concurred in. Mr. FOSTER. I now renew the amendment that was rejected in committee, changing one expression in it where it provides for three additional clerks over and above those now employed. I renew the amendment, with that modification, to strike out the words "with three additional ones," in the fourth section, alluding to clerks, so as to leave the number of clerks the same as those now employed. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut now proposes the same amendment he proposed in committee, with the exception of striking out the words "with three additional ones." Mr. FOSTER. I ask for the yeas and nays on the adoption of that amendment. The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 18, nays 18; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Browning, Clark, Collamer, Davis, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Harlan, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Stark, Wade, Willey, Wilson of Missouri, and Wright-18. NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Cowan, Dixon, Hale, Harris, Henderson, Kennedy, King, Morrill, Pomeroy, Powell, Saulsbury, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, and Wilkinson-18. So the amendment was rejected. The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a third time. It was read the third time. Mr. FESSENDEN. I should like to have the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill. I cannot vote for it in its present state. The yeas and nays were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 25, nays 13; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Davis, Dixon, Foot, Hale, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Kennedy, McDougall, Morrill, Pomeroy, Powell, Saulsbury, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wilson of Missouri-25. NAYS-Messrs. Browning, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foster, Harlan, King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Stark, and Wright-13. So the bill was passed. MEDICAL STOREKEEPERS. Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts. I move to take up the bill (S. No. 304) to authorize the appointment of medical storekeepers. The motion was agreed to; and the bill was read a second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. It authorizes the Secretary of War to add to the medical department of the Army medical storekeepers, not exceeding six in number, who are to have the pay and emoluments of military storekeepers in the quartermaster's department, who are to be skilled apothecaries or druggists, who are to give the bond and security required by existing laws for military storekeepers in the quartermaster's department, and to be SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1862. stationed at such points as the necessities of the Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts. I hope it that NEW SERIES.....No. 127. ary States, or in the districts where the insurrection prevails, the civil authority is so overborne is impossible, by the machinery of that bill, to collect those taxes, and, therefore, this bill is drawn for the purpose of meeting that exigency. Where, by means of this civil insurrection in the several States, the civil authority is so overborne that the act of last summer cannot be put in operation, this bill assumes to charge the direct taxes which were laid by the bill of last summer upon the several lots or parcels of ground within the insurrectionary districts, according to the valuation of those lots of ground as fixed in the last assessment and valuation under the authority of the State previous to January, 1861, which was previous to the breaking out in open rebellion of any of the people in those sections of the country. The second section of this bill provides that the President is to issue his proclamation, and upon his issuing a proclamation, defining the boundaries of the insurrectionary districts within which the civil authority is obstructed, the tax becomes a charge upon the several lots, without any other or further proceeding whatever. I have given considerable reflection to this, and I am satisfied that it is entirely constitutional and within our legitimate power. We are authorized to apportion the direct taxes among the several States. We did so by the bill of last summer. We find in a portion of the States, districts of country where it is impossible for our assessors to go about and peacefully assess this property, value it, and make their returns. We have a right, therefore, to assume the very next best evidence within our reach of the valuation of these lots, and we take the assessment and valuation which was made within those States under the authority of the States before they went into insurrection. This is perfectly legitimate. I wish, however, to propose an amendment to the bill in the form of an additional section. I will state what it is, and I do not suppose anybody will oppose it. The House of Representatives by a majority, in fact almost unanimously, passed a bill sanctioning the appointment of hospital chaplains. We at the same time put a similar provision in a bill passed by us and sent it to the House of Representatives, and we defeated the hospital chaplain bill of the House. Our bill containing a similar provision, which we sent to the House of Representatives, has been before the House for several weeks unacted upon, and the persons who have been appointed chaplains to these hospitals, and who have had a great amount of labor to attend to, have had no pay whatever. Now I propose simply to add to this bill an additional section pretty much like the bills to which I have referred that have received the sanction of both Houses, but have not yet been finally passed, authorizing the President to appoint a chaplain for each permanent hospital, with the compensa-proportions of the tax into the Treasury of the tion properly belonging to chaplains. This amendment does not affect the question of the pay of chaplains at all. I send the amendment to the desk, and I hope it will be adopted. The Secretary read the amendment, which is to insert as an additional section: And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint, if he shall deem it necessary, a chaplain for each permanent hospital, whose pay, with that of chaplains of hospitals heretofore appointed by him, shall be the same as that of regimental chaplains in the volunteer force, and who shall be subject to such rules in relation to leave of absence from duty as are prescribed for commissioned officers of the Army. The amendment was agreed to. The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendment was concurred in. The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, was read the third time, and passed; and its title was amended by adding the words "and for other purposes. TAXES IN INSURRECTIONARY DISTRICTS. Mr. DOOLITTLE. I will not ask the Secre- The bill then provides that, after each of these several lots of land is charged with its specific proportion of this tax, the owners of the lots may have sixty days in which to pay their respective United States. Sixty days after the proclamation Mr. DAVIS. The Senator from Wisconsin is on a very important subject; and I would suggest to him to slip in the term "negro" somewhere in his bill, and I think he will get the attention of the Senate. Mr. DOOLITTLE. I am looking after the direct taxes which rest upon the lands. I do not intend to be diverted from the purpose which I have of collecting the direct taxes out of the lands of the people within the insurrectionary districts, and to collect them out of all the people, loyal and disloyal, although, as it will be observed as I pass on with the provisions of the bill, there are some provisions which have an important bearing on these two classes of individuals within these districts. The bill goes on to provide the manner in which, if these taxes are not paid, the lands are to be sold, and a certificate of the sale is to be given to the highest bidder; but with this further provision: as it is desirable that the Government of the United States should for various reasons become the purchaser of these lands rather than that they should go into the hands of mere speculators who may be following your commissioners to bid off the lands just at the amount of the taxes, it is provided that if the owner does not appear in person before the commissioners on or before the day of sale and request the commissioners to have the land struck off at a mere nominal sum for the taxes, the commissioners shall have the land struck off to the United States at two thirds of their appraised value, unless some person shall bid more than two thirds of the assessed value of the lands; and if any person does so bid, the lands shall be struck off to him, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury. It is provided that at any time within sixty days after this sale takes place, the owner of any lot of ground so sold may appear in his or her own proper person before the commissioners, and if a citizen, upon taking an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and paying the amount of the tax with interest from the date of the proclamation of the President mentioned in the second section of the act, together with the expenses of the sale and the subsequent proceedings, he or she may redeem the lands from the sale by the commissioners. If the owner is a minor or a person of unsound mind or under any legal disability, he or his guardian or trustee may have two years within which to redeem the land from the sale; and this covers a class of persons who are supposed in the law not to be capable of taking care of themselves. Then, there is this further provision, which, in my judgment, is a very important one, that at any time within one year after the sale by the commissioners, any person being the owner of any lot or parcel of ground at the time of the passage of the act, who will satisfy the commissioners that in consequence of this insurrection he has been unable to raise the money to pay the taxes, and also that he is without fault in bringing that disability upon himself, that is to say, that he has taken no part in this insurrection, may be allowed by the commissioners a still further time within which he may be permitted to redeem his land. Before the commissioners persons who are interested may appear, and the matter may be controverted, and if the amount in controversy exceeds $2,000 in value, an appeal may be taken from the commissioners to the circuit court of the United States, who are to proceed in this matter as upon other cases arising upon the equity of redemption. This gives to those persons who, in consequence of the insurrection have not been able to pay their taxes within the time prescribed, and who have not been able to redeem their lands within sixty days after the sale has taken place, and who will show that they have been unable to meet it in consequence of the state of the country, and that they themselves are without fault, an additional time of two years within which to redeem their lands from the sale. There is another provision which in my judgment is an important one, that if the owners of these lots of ground which have thus been sold and struck off by the United States, shall abandon them, and the commissioners shall become satisfied that they have abandoned them to join the rebels or to take part in the rebellion against the Government, the commissioners may enter on the lands and take possession of them in the name of the United States, and lease them to such persons as they please. Such leases, however, are to be in such form and with such security as shall, in the judgment of the commissioners, produce the greatest amount of revenue, and are to be subject to the approval of the President, and the commissioners may make temporary rules and regulations in relation to these leases, and also such rules and regulations as may be just and proper to secure proper and reasonable employment and support at wages or upon shares of the crop for such persons and families as may be residing upon these abandoned lands, which rules and regulations are to be subject to the approval of the President, and to be by him transmitted to the next session of Congress for their revision or modification. The next provision of the bill regard as a very important one in its bearings on this whole difficult question as to the disposition of these lands. It is that the board of commissioners under the direction of the President may be authorized, in- || stead of leasing the lands which become vested in the United States as before provided, to cause the same, or any portion thereof, to be subdivided and sold in parcels not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres, or you can make it any other number of acres one hundred and sixty, if that be preferable to any one purchaser at a public sale, after giving due notice thereof as upon the sale of other public lands of the United States, for sixty days, and to issue a certificate therefor. At this sale any loyal citizen of the United States, or any person who shall have served faithfully as an officer, musician, private soldier, or sailor, in the Army, Navy, or marine service of the United States, as a regular or volunteer, for the term of three months, may become the purchaser; and upon such sale any person serving in the Army, Navy, or marine corps may pay the purchase money for the lands, or any part of it, in certificates of indebtedness for his pay or wages, or for any amount which may be due to him for bounty as an officer or soldier. There is a further provision-and I believe this may be somewhat important-that these-persons serving in the Army or Navy or marine corps can pay one fourth of the purchase money for these lands, and take certificates therefor, and be permitted at any time within three years thereafter to pay the remainder. It is one mode of providing for the payment of our soldiers that they can turn in any indebtedness which may be due them from the United States, and thus cancel the debt against the Government; and still further, if they continue to serve in the Army, anything which may become due to them hereafter may also be turned in for the purchase of these lands. The bill also provides-and I should like to call the attention of the Senator from Kentucky to that point-for the application, to a certain extent, of the preemption and homestead principle in favor of the persons residing within these insurrectionary districts who are now without any lands. It provides that any citizen of the United States, being the head of a family, and residing in the State or district where these lands are situated, and not being the owner of any other lands, may, under such rules as may be established by the board of commissioners, have the right to enter upon and acquire the right of preemption in such lands as may be unimproved, and as may be selected by the board of commissioners, under the direction of the President, from time to time, for such purpose. This goes on the assumption that a large amount of these lands, under the operation of this bill, will go to the Government of the United StatesI refer to the lands of leading rebels who are engaged in the present insurrection. This provision of the bill assumes that large amounts of their land may, under its operations, come into and be vested in the Government of the United States, and become like our other public lands. I would open them to sale and preemption to the poor people residing in those districts who have no land, and I would fix them as the friends of the Government and the Constitution forever, by making them landholders and freeholders in the very lands that belong to the rebels who have led this country into this difficult state of affairs. There is also a provision that the proceeds of these sales and these leases shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and that one fourth of the amount of these proceeds, in consideration of the great loss sustained in the States where the insurrection occurred, shall be paid over to the State in which the lands are situated, whenever it shall elect a Governor and Legislature who shall be faithful to the Constitution of the United States, and take an oath to support it. This is to be paid over to those States, to allow the States to distribute it among those of their citizens who have lost property and suffered damages by reason of the insurrection. It provides further that one fourth of all the proceeds which come into the Treasury from the sale and the leasing of these lands, shall be paid over to these States also, if they choose to adopt the policy of colonizing all such persons of African descent within their limits who are now free, and may become free during the insurrection, within those States, who shall desire to emigrate to Hayti, Liberia, or any other tropical State or colony. The other half of the proceeds of the sales and leases is to remain in our Treasury, as a part of the fund towards carrying on this war. The fourteenth section of the bill provides that, in case there is any difficulty in ascertaining the precise assessment and valuation under the authority of the State, the commissioners may make it, or may approximate to it; and that any mistake in the amount of the assessment or valuation shall not, in any respect, affect the title that may be conferred under the act, but shall only be a question of account between the former owner and the Treasury, and that if he has been overcharged, the balance shall be paid to him. I have now, Mr. President, in as brief words as I can, stated this project. I believe it will put some money into the Treasury. I believe it is not subject to any valid objection. I believe that in many of its provisions it may have an important bearing upon the state of things. It in no respect interferes with or conflicts with the various propositions that relate to confiscation; nor does it in any way conflict with the great tax measure of the session. I believe that if this bill could be taken up by the Senate and considered at some proper time, and passed, it might put some money into the Treasury. I have called the attention of the Senate to it, and I do not desire myself to occupy any further time. If there is no other business before the Senate, I should like to have the bill considered now, but if that is not desirable, I am willing to have any day fixed for it that may be satisfactory to the body. Mr. HALE. Let it be passed over until tomorrow; I desire now to call up another bill. Mr. DOOLITTLE. I have no objection to its passing over. The attention of the Senate may not have been called to some of the provisions of the bill. I respectfully ask gentlemen's attention to it, and I desire to notify my brethren around me that I shall call it up, and ask the Senate to pass it at an early day. I am now willing to consent that it shall be laid over until to-morrow. The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. ANTHONY in the chair.) The bill will be laid aside. WASHINGTON CITY RAILWAY. A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. ETHERIDGE, its Clerk, announced that the House had insisted upon its amendment to the bill of the Senate (No. 178) to incorporate the Washington and Georgetown Railway Company, disagreed to by the Senate, and had agreed to the committee of conference asked by the Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and had appointed Mr. THADDEUS STEVENS of Pennsylvania, Mr. JAMES M. ASHLEY of Ohio, and Mr. JOHN B. STEELE of New York, managers at the same on its part. ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED. The message further announced that the Speaker following enrolled bills; which thereupon received of the House of Representatives had signed the the signature of the President pro tempore: A bill (C. C. No. 108) for the relief of John Skirving; A bill (H. R. No. 404) to provide for the deficiency in the appropriation for the pay of the two and three years volunteers, and the officers and men actually employed in the western department; A bill (H. R. No. 444) to amend an act entitled "An act to provide increased revenue from_imports, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," approved August 5, 1861; and A bill (H. R. No. 460) to establish a port of entry in the collection district of Beaufort, South Carolina. JURORS IN THE DISTRICT. Mr. HALE. I ask the indulgence of the Senate to take up and pass a bill which was introduced by me some two or three weeks ago, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and has been reported back with a few slight amendments. I move to take up the bill (S. No. 299) providing for the selection of jurors in the several courts in the District of Columbia. The motion was agreed to; and the bill was considered as in Committee of the Whole. Mr. HALE. The amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary are very slight and immaterial; they are merely as to detail. I hope the amendments will be agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendments will be read. The Secretary proceeded to read the amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary. The 1862. THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. first was, after the word "District," in the eleventh That it shall be the duty of the register of Washington The amendment was agreed to. The next amendment was in the second section, which, as the bill was originally introduced, was as follows: That the list of the register of Washington city shall contain the names of four hundred persons, that of the clerk of Georgetown eighty persons, and that of the clerk of the levy court eighty persons, &c. The amendment proposes so to modify the section as to make it read: That the officers aforesaid shall select from the list of the register of Washington the names of four hundred persons, from that of the clerk of Georgetown eighty persons, and from that of the clerk of the levy court forty persons, &c. The amendment was agreed to. The next amendment was to insert in the fifth section, after the word "term," in the twelfth line, the words: But in a capital case where the said panel shall have been exhausted by reason of challenge or otherwise, the court before whom such capital case is pending inay in its discretion order additional names to be drawn; and if all the names in the box shall have been drawn out and no jury found, the court may order the marshal to summon talesmen until a jury shall be found. So as to make the section read: SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said register and clerks, and the clerk of the circuit court, shall, at least ten days before the commencement of each term of the cireuit or of the criminal court, meet at the City Hall, in Washington city, and then and there the clerk of the circuit court shall publicly break the seal of said box and proceed to draw therefrom the names of so many persons as are required; and if the jury about to be drawn is intended for service in the criminal court, the twenty-three persons whose names shall be first drawn shall constitute the grand jury, and the twenty-six persons whose names shall next be drawn shall constitute the petit jury, for that term; but in a capital case where the said panel shall have been exhausted by reason of challenge or otherwise, the court before whom such capital case is pending may in its discretion order additional names to be drawn; and if all the names in the box shall have been drawn out and no jury found, the court may order the marshal to summon talesmen until a jury shall be found. And if a jury be required for the circuit court, the twentysix persons whose names shall first be drawn shall constitute the jury for that term, and the names of the persons drawn as aforesaid shall not be again placed in such box for the period of two years. If any person whose name is so drawn shall have died or removed from the District, or has become otherwise disabled from serving as a juror, the said register and clerks shall draw from the box another name, who shall serve instead; and after the requisite number of jurors shall have been so drawn, the said box shall be again seated and delivered to the clerk of the circuit court as aforesaid. The next amendment was in the eighth section, to strike out the words between brackets, [ ] and insert those in italics in the following clause: SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be competent to act as a juror unless he be a citizen of the Tited States, a resident of the District of Columbia, [twenty-one and under sixty-five years of age, and in full possession of his mental faculties, nor shall any person so act who has ever been] over twenty-one and under sixty-five years of age, a good and lawful man, who has never been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. The amendment was agreed to. Mr. TRUMBULL.. I think there should be a verbal amendment in the fourth section. It now reads" that the names on said lists shall be written on separate and similar pieces of paper," &c. It should read "that the names selected from said lists shall be written," &c. I move to strike out on" and insert "selected from." The amendment was agreed to. Mr. GRIMES. I move to amend the bill by adding the following two sections: And be it further enacted, That hereafter all persons sumBoned to serve on a grand or petit jury in any court of the United States of America, before acting in their case, shall, addition to the oath now required by law to be taken, also by direction of the court, have administered to them an oath in these words: "you do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that you have not taken up arms against the United States of America during the existence of the present insurrection of a portion of the people thereof against them, or advised or encouraged any other person whatever to join said insurrection, and that you have not directly or indirectly given any aid, comfort, or assistance whatever to any person to join or who has joined in such insurrection." And be it further enacted, That any person to whom the oath prescribed in the preceding section shall be administered, who shall swear falsely as to any fact embraced in said oath, shall be held to have committed the crime of perjury, and shall be subject to the pains and penalties declared for the commission of that crime. Mr. HALE. I certainly have not the slightest objection to that amendment, nor to a single provision of it, and I should be in favor of it in a bill by itself; but I must ask my friend not to put it on this bill, for here is a place where we want a reform, and I should like to have it without incumbering it with anything else. I will further state to the Senators who have proposed to introduce this provision in a separate bill, that I have given some considerable attention to it, and, at the request of some friends, I mean to introduce general law regulating juries over the United States, and this would be applicable to that. I am in favor of every section of it; but I should like this little bill for the District, where there is immediate necessity for it, to go through without incumbering it with this amendment. a Mr. TEN EYCK. If I heard the amendment read aright, it seems to me it will have no real effect at all. I have not seen it, and I may not be accurate; but as I understood it, the oath which is required to be administered is, that the party has not taken part in "the present" rebellion. In my idea, the present rebellion will be over in the course of a month or two at the farthest, and then the form of the oath will have no effect. I think, if I am correct in that criticism, the Senator from Iowa will not insist on his proposition. Mr. GRIMES. If that be the case, the oath will certainly work no hardship. Mr. TEN EYCK. I know that; but I think you ought not to incumber the bill with a thing that is not germane. Mr. GRIMES. I will amend my amendment by saying " any rebellion against the people of the United States." The PRESIDING OFFICER. It will be so modified. serves as a juror, an oath that he is true to the Government. It is not exactly in harmony, I think, with this bill to add this provision to it, but I shall make no objection to it particularly. If it is pressed here, I shall not vote against it. I think it will be quite as well, however, to have it in a bill relating to juries generally. Mr. HALE. I want to make another suggestion. I am a little embarrassed, because I am friendly to the amendment, every word of it; but it has been suggested to me that if this amendment be adopted it will be necessary to postpone the action of the bill for some time. Mr. GRIMES. Why so? Mr. HALE. Because if it becomes a law immediately there may be indictments found before it is known. There is a court sitting to-day in the district of New Hampshire; next week there will be a circuit court sitting in the district of Massachusetts; so it may be all over the Union, and there may be indictments found after the passage of this bill before anything is known about it, and every one of those indictments would have to be quashed because the jurors had not taken this oath. It will be necessary to postpone action. Mr. GRIMES. Is there any time when that same state of facts may not exist? For instance, in my State the courts are held in four different places, and twice a year in each place. Mr. HALE. But this bill may go into operation here immediately, and not be subject to any such objection. I think it would be better, though I shall not vote against it, to postpone this amendment to another bill. Mr. GRIMES. If the Senator could show me the slightest argument that I thought had any substantiality in it, I would withdraw the amendment; but it seems to me that it is necessary this provision should be made. That is an admitted fact. I know the state of dubity that always exists in regard to a committee-I do not care what it isdrawing up a bill, preparing it, and then getting it in and getting it through. I think there is apparent such necessity for passing the main bill, that we shall try to get that through, and that will assist in carrying this, and this, on the other hand, will assist in carrying that. I think they will actually strengthen each other. Mr. HALE. Very well. Mr. DAVIS. This will be not only a useful, but a necessary provision in the border States. I have received letters from my own State urging that such a bill should be passed. It is a matter of the utmost importance that persons who are called upon to serve as grand and petit jurors in the circuit and district courts of the United States should be loyal. We want to eviscerate the material for jurors, grand and petit. We want to I do not like to concede the fact, but it is the truth, separate the true men from those who are not true. that we cannot rely as a general rule upon the population of Kentucky, who are of secession Mr. GRIMES. I desire to say to the Senator from New Hampshire that I have not the slightest wish to obstruct his bill; on the contrary, I am anxious that the bill which he is in favor of should pass; but I am satisfied that this amendment which propose will strengthen the bill rather than tend to diminish its strength. I believe, further, that it is such a measure as we should pass. There are facts that have transpired within the knowledge of my colleague and myself to show that such a provision ought to exist, even in some of|| the loyal States. It is a notorious fact that a gen-sympathies, for the execution of the laws of the tleman whom this Government thought it was necessary to incarcerate in one of its State prisons, and to retain there some weeks, has been serving on one of the grand juries in a loyal State. It is certainly necessary in the border States. Mr. HALE. I am in favor of it, if it does not embarrass this bill. Mr. GRIMES. It will apply to all the Federal Mr. TRUMBULL. This matter was before United States. If we are to have any administration of criminal justice in the United States courts in that State, at least, we must endeavor to have this reform, and everything else that will guard the independence and purity of our juries. I believe a measure of this kind would be worth many thousands of armed men to us in the State of Kentucky in enforcing the laws and insuring peace and security to good citizens. If it is not in the very best form, let it be put in a better form; but now is the time; let us have the measure right at once; and if it is not properly worded, let some experienced and able lawyers put it in proper. phrase. We want it in the best form in which it can be presented. Mr. TEN EYCK. I think, perhaps, that I ought to say distinctly that I am in favor of this proposition. I desire to say that now, lest it might be inferred from the technical objection I raised, that I was against the measure. I am for it; I think it is a very important measure; but I think it is always safe to make haste slowly, when you make such radical changes in judicial systems in any respect. I think there ought to be time afforded to the people to know about these changes; the law is, and have time to acquire a knowledge of they should have an opportunity of knowing what it. Now, if you put this amendment on the foot of a little District bill, just at the moment when it is it, and all the United States courts throughout the going through, the country will know nothing of |