The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-02-12
CONGRESS.

On Friday, in the House, Mr.. Fillmore pre-
sen,ed three reports from the Committee OF
WAYS and Means. Several resolutions were
also offered and received by general consent
The most important presented were the follow
ing by Mr. Medill
P,soIpsd. That the President of the United States
he requested to communicate to the House, the inior
nation in his possession upon which the commission
Of inquiry in relation to the public buildings IN 'his
city was Instituted last spring, and the law under
which the same appointed; also, the names ofthe
commissioners copies of all instructions, letters, or
other documents addressed to Them or any OF them,
in relation to their duties, in any way explanatory
az the object for which they appointed; the
time when they severaly entered upon their duties,
and how long they continued in discharge OF the
same the names of all witnesses summoned, invited
or admitted before the commission or elsewhere 10
give testimony iu relation to he objects had IN view,
designating such as were examined, tue expenses III
directly or indirectly in the execution OF SAID COM
MISSION the amount paid to each commissioner, wit,
mes, and other person respectively, and the Juno
from which said expenses were paid
Resolved That the Secretary of the Treasury be
requested to inform the House, whether any person
or have been appointed within the last year
to examine the books or official proceedings OF the
registers or receivers in the land Offices or any OF
them and if so, how many and who were so APP
pointed what were the duties assigned them, ana
when did they severally enter upon the same-how
long they have been are expected to remain N
the discharge of said duties, what is the rate OF their
compensation, from what fund the same has been or
is to be paid and the law under which SAID person
or persons were appointed. And II he or they were
appointed for the purpose OF making speclal lnvesu
cations of alleged defacations or other misconduct
on the part of any register receiver or other ocer
that he communicate to the House all the informa-
ton in the possession of the Department at the time
Of said appointment or appontmenis--showns the
necessity FIR such Investigations and In either case
copies of all Instructions letters or other documents
accompanying or subsequently addressed to the SAID
person or persons whether relating to the examina-
ton aforesaid any other business OF puonc cha-
racter and copies of all letters that have been re-
ceived from said person or persons and now on ME
in the Department.
They were laid over in consequence OF others
wishing to append amendments to them
Mr.. Sallonstall called for the orders of the
day, being resolution offered by him autho-
rizing the Committee on Manufactures to en-
ploy clerk He said in explanation, that though
the House had refused permission to the com
mittee to summon persons before them Tor the
purpose of obtaining information, yet many had
voluntarily appeared before it, and the assistance
Of clerk is wanted to take down the knowledge
communicated. Mr.. Brown, of Tennessee, OPP
posed the resolution. The services Of clerk
were not required for copying informal state
ments. Had the House authorized the Com
mittee to summon persons, he could conceive
the necessity of the assistance of cerk-bul
under the present circumstances, each member
could take notes of the points he deemed impor-
tant Mr.. Randolph followed in reply. Mr.
Turney moved to lay the resolution on the Ia
ble On the motion of Mr.. Randolph, the vote
was taken by ayes and noes-and there was a
te,-SS in the affirmative and SO in tie mega
tive-the Speaker voted in the negative. After
some unmportant proceedings, the vote to lay
on the table was renewed and carried.
The House then resolved itself into COM
mitee Of the whole, MIR. Casey in the Chair,
for he consideration of private bills.
In the Senate the following bills were read a
third time and passed, viz: The bill making APP
preparations for pensions for the year 1912 !; the
bill for the relief and protection of American
seamen in foreign Countries the bill to confirm
certain land claims in the State of Louisiana
and the bill authorizing claimants in the States
of Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louis
lana to institute proceedings to test the validity
Of land titles in those States.