New-York tribune., 1866-12-04
WASHINGTON.


sURRATT-READISG OF THE MESsAGE-soESE IN
THE HOUSE.
TELEGRAPH 7
WASHINGTON Monday Dec. O. IsSs
The attendance in the Senate galleries to witness
the opening of Congress for the Second Session was
large, and embraced all varieties Of dress and make.
up and not few different shades of complexion. On
the floor the usual scenes of cOngratulation and How
do you doing" were witnessed. Mr.. Sumner espe-
| cially, was literally congratulated. Mr.. Howe was
congratulated because of the success OF the political
contest IN Wisconsin, and so of others Immediately
after the Senate had been called TO order and the Gre
dentials Of new members presented, Mr. Sum.
ner called up the bill for universal suffrage in
the District of Columbia but under one Of the rules
Of the Senate il decided that measure of Last
session could be considered during the first six days
of the present session. Mr.. Sherman then offered a
bill to prevent the payment, officers Of the Gov
ernment, OF men whose appointments have been re-
jected by the Senate. He was Immediately followed
by Mr.. Williams, who put in bill to prevent re-
mOvals without the consent of the Senate. Mr.
Chandler then offered resolution calling for nfoma-
tOn about Mexican affairs. All the information he
calls for is given in the Presidents Message. Tha
reading of the Message excited very little attention
There no manifestations OF approval or dlsap-
prova from the floor of the galleries and the audience
began TO disperse that portion Of ii relating
to reconstruction had been read.
At precisely l2 (nOon) to-day Speaker COllaX called
the House TO order For at least an hour pre-
vious TO this time members had commenced
to gather in on the floor and were having a
general greeting, hand.shaking, congratulations
among those members who had been re-
elected and coincidence with those who had been
unfortunate apparently being the order Of the hour.
Old Thad Stevens was among the first who took their
seats and was he is always, the center Of atrac.
ton Washburne Of Illinois, who left here sick at the
end Of the last session, was at his desk, seemingly
busy with some manuscript. Judge Kelley and
Gen. Garfield, two Of the most Radical of Radi.
Gals, conversed together a long while no doubt
concerning the formers Internal Revenue bill.
Schenek and Bingham of Ohio were OmnlpreSent.
Banks came in while prayer was being delivered.
Morrill,, who goes in the Senate after the 4th Oh
March, Boutwell, of Massachusetts,, Julian of Indiana,
and Judge Spaudng of Ohio were all present looking
fresh and ready for vigorous session The seats OF
Conking, Delano, Shellabarger, and Raymond were
vacant those gentlemen not having yet arrived. The
eOrpOrals guard of Johnson men were nearly all
present lie Blond, Niblack and Humphrey rallied
around their leader, Jack Rogers, giving him
consolation on his recent defeat call Of the House
showed l46 members present. Six new members rom
Tennessee and Kentucky we're sworn in, among whom
was the famous warrior Rousseau. MesSrs Wash
burne Of H., Morrill,, and Finck were appointed
committee TO await on the President and Senate and
inform them Of the House being ready for business.
Here business commenced in earnest call of tho
States for bills and resolutions TO DO introduced on
leave brought out Mr.. Eliot OF Mass, who presented
a resolution to repeal the law giving the President
power to grant amnesty to Rebels. On this bill Mr..
Eliot called the previous question. ADemOcrat object
ed and the yeas and nays sspendng the rules were
had, the vote being lis TO 2S in the Affirmative The
resolution then passed by vote of ii TO % This,
when it passes the Senate, will put stop 10 the
further pardoning Of Rebels until they tried and
convicted of the oense The passage Of this resQlu
ton showed the spirit of the House. and is keynote
of what is coming. Eliots success brought Boutwell,
10 his feet who introduced resolution calling the
Secretary of State 10 furnish the House with ali The
correspondence in relation to the efforts TO arrest and
discover John II. Surratt. He also introduced bill
10 provide for the sale of gold by the Secretary
Of the Treasury, which provides that $500 100000
in gold be sold at auction the sales 10 take place
every Monday in lots Of $4,000 each. This went To
the Ways aud Means Committee. And then Judge
Kelley had his bill to create Department OF Internal
Revenue and Stevens his bill regulating removals
from Office, read and referred. Mr.. Latin followed
with resolution of inquiry about public printing,
which is take out OF the hands of the President the
appointment OF public printer ana MI. Schenck
bin TO provide for the meeting of the XLth Congress
on the 5th Of March. By this time it was close TO l
O'Clock, and Mr.. Washburne appeared and stated the
President would send in his message immediately.
This brought Mr. Thad. Stevens to his feet,
who, in his customary satirlcal manner stated
that it was evidently a mistake about the message
being intended for Congress- for here (holdng IN his
hand an extra containing the message) is newspaper
containing the message 80 The President did not lu-
tend 10 Tor Congress, but merely as Contribution I'd
a newspaper" This created great laughter. Mr.
Stevens moved 70 adjourn, which was lost by vote
of SO 10 g. At about o'clock the Presidents secre-
tary appeared with the message. motion to post
pone It's reading till tomorrow was voted down by a
close vote and Mr.. Mcpherson, the Clerk proceeded
70 90 through the form of reading the document. He
had not proceeded far when several pages brought in
the message printed in pamphlet form, aud COM
menced scattering them around among the members.
This created good deal OF noise ana eoniuSlon In
Aba fsalla yh
hacked up to the time of the receiving OF
the message were almost deserted. Members glanced
over their copies. No seemed to take any interest
in the contents of the message, and the reading was
a good deal Of a farce. The number OF fpeope in ths
galleries kept getting smaller, and members were be-
coming restless, when Mr.. Stevens evidently wish
ing 10 save the Clerks lungs, moved to postpone the
further reading until tomorrow. Ihe corpoTsls
guard objected and the Yeas and Nays were called,
the motion being defeated by vote OF o. to 90 80
the reading was continued. The majority OF the
members evidently wishing to drive away
dull care commenced to gather in groups
and talk over matters, but johnson man insisted on
the Speaker preserving silence. Hereupon members
commenced TO retire from the floor so that before the
message was half read not more than quorum was
present The coporals guard OF johnson men sat the
thing out and some minutes before the clock struck
three the clerk read the last sentence The corporas
guard breathed long sigh, and In almost an instant
the floor was empty. Thus was the reading OF MI
JohnsOn's long talked Of message received III ths
House OF Representatives.
II was not until 10 minutes 10 two O'Clock that the
Message was transmitted, previous to which time
telegrams were received here that cOpious extracts
from the Message itself were circulating in other
cities. IL is proper to repeat in this connection that
advance copies Of the Presidents Message and accom-,
nanvng documents were sent hence to the principal
cities by the Washington agent OF the New-fork
Associated Press and that the seals were not OroAes
until full official authority was given to do so, and
this was at an hour when there could be no premsurs
disclosure of their contents against which the mos,
solemn honor was pledged, nor is II known tnat any