The resolutions were adopted unanimously, and so entered on record. The Committee of Invitation was appointed, to consist of 24 members, on suggestion of Mr. STEVENSON.

IN SENATE-THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1824. Mr. BARBOUR, from the committee appointed to perform that duty, reported that they had waited on General LAFAYETTE, with the invitation of the Senate, and that he had informed them he would wait on the Senate this day at one o'clock.

At one o'clock, General LAFAYETTE entered the Chamber of the Senate, accompanied by the Committee of that body. On entering the bar, Mr. BARBOUR, chairman of the committee, announced the presence of the General, in the following words: "We introduce General LAFAYETTE to the Senate of the United States;" whereupon, the President of the Senate and the Senators rose from their seats, and the General, advancing towards the Chair of the Senate, was invited by the President to take a seat, prepared for him on the right of

the Chair.

Soon after the General was seated,

[DEC. 9-10, 1824.

der which you have placed our country. But the relations in which you have ever stood to the United States, interesting and important as they have been, do not constitute the only motive of the respect and admiration which this House entertains for you. Your consistency of character, your uniform devotion to regulated liberty, in all the vicissitudes of a long and arduous life, also com mand its highest admiration. During all the recent convulsions of Europe, amidst, as after, the dispersion of every political storm, the people of the United States have ever beheld you true to your old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating with your well-known voice, the votaries of Liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of that blood which, here, you so freely and nobly spilt in the same holy cause.

"The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that Providence would allow the Patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase of population. General, your present visit to the United States is the realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity! Every where you must have been struck with the great changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us. Even this very city, bearing a venerated name, alike endear

Mr. BARBOUR moved that the Senate adjourn. Mr. LLOYD, of Mass. concurred in the wish for the Senate to adjourn, to afford the members an opportunity of paying their individual respects to Gen. LAFAYETTE, The Senate then adjourned, and the Senators, individually, beginning with the President of the Senate, ten dered him their respects, which were cordially and feeled to you and to us, has since emerged from the forest ingly reciprocated.

which then covered its site. In one respect, you behold us unaltered, and that is in the sentiment of continued devotion to liberty, and of ardent affection and profound gratitude to your departed friend, the Father of his Country, and to your illustrious associates in the fi ld and in the Cabinet, for the multiplied blessings which surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you, which

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.-Dec. 10, 1824. Mr. CONDICT, of New Jersey, moved that a messenger be sent to the Senate of the United States, inviting that body to attend in the Chamber of Representatives, at one o'clock, to day, on the reception of General LA-I now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished

FAYETTE.

It was objected to the adoption of this motion, that the Senate had, yesterday, adjourned over to Monday. The question, however, was taken, and the motion pass-tinent, to their latest posterity." ed in the affirmative-ayes 90, noes 69.

by more than ten millions of people, will be transmitted, with unabated vigor, down the tide of time, through the countless millions who are destined to inhabit this con

Seats were accordingly ordered for the members of the Senate, who shortly after entered, and took the places assigned them.

At one o'clock, according to previous arrangement, General LAFAYETTE appeared, attended by the Committee of twenty-four members of the House of Representatives, and was introduced to the House by Mr. MITCHELL, chairman of the committee.

On the General's entry, the members and persons admitted on the floor of the House, rose, and remained standing, uncovered.

Mr. SPEAKER then rose, and, in behalf of the House, addressed the Nation's Guest, in the following eloquent strain, adorned by those graces of oratory for which he is distinguished:

To which address, General LAFAYETTE replied, in a tone in which energy of character and sensibility of feeling were most interestingly blended, to the following effect:

"Mr. Speaker, and

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: "While the People of the United States and their honorable Representatives in Congress have deigned to make choice of me, one of the American veterans, to signify in his person their esteem for our joint services, and their attachment to the principles for which we have had the honor to fight and bleed, I am proud and happy to share those extraordinary favors with my dear Revolutionary companions. Yet, it would be, on my part, uncandid and ungrateful not to acknowledge my personal share in those testimonies of kindness, as they excite in my breast emotions which no adequate words could express.

"GENERAL: The House of Representatives of the United States, impelled alike by its own feelings, and by those of the whole American People, could not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty than that of being "My obligations to the United States, sir, far exceed its organ to present to you cordial congratulations upon any merit I might claim. They date from the time when the occasion of your recent arrival in the United States, I have had the happiness to be adopted as a young solin compliance with the wishes of Congress, and to assure dier, a favored son of America. They have been conyou of the very high satisfaction which your presence tinued to me during almost half a century of constant afaffords on this early theatre of your glory and renown. fection and confidence; and now, sir, thanks to your Although but few of the members who compose this bo- most gratifying invitation, I find myself greeted by a sedy, shared with you in the war of our Revolution, all ries of welcomes, one hour of which would more than have a knowledge, from impartial history, or from faith-compensate for the public exertions and sufferings of a ful tradition, of the perils, the sufferings, and the sacri- whole life. fices, which you voluntarily encountered, and the signal "The approbation of the American People, and their services in America and in Europe, which you perform- Representatives, for my conduct during the vicissitudes ed, for an infant, a distant, and an alien people; and all of the European Revolution, is the highest reward I feel and own the very great extent of the obligations un-I could receive. Well may I stand "firm and erect,"

when, in their names, and by you, Mt. Speaker, I am declared to have, in every instance, been faithful to those American principles of liberty, equality, and true social order, the devotion to which, as it has been from my earliest youth, so it shall continue to be to my latest breath.

"You have been pleased, Mr. Speaker, to allude to the peculiar felicity of my situation, when, after so long an absence, I am called to witness the immense improvements, the admirable communications, the prodigious creations, of which we find an example in this City, whose name itself is a venerated Palladium; in a word, all the grandeur and prosperity of these happy United States, which, at the same time they nobly secure the complete assertion of American Independence, reflect on every part of the world the light of a far superior political civilization.

"What better pledge can be given of a persevering national love of liberty, when those blessings were evidently the result of a virtuous resistance to oppression, and of institutions founded on the rights of man and the Republican principle of self-government? No, Mr. Speaker, posterity has not begun for me-since, in the sons of my companions and friends, I find the same public feelings, and permit me to add, the same feelings in my behalf, which I have had the happiness to experience in their fathers.

"Sir, I have been allowed, forty years ago, before a Committee of a Congress of thirteen States, to express the fond wishes of an American heart. On this day I have the honor, and enjoy the delight, to congratulate the Representatives of the Union, so vastly enlarged, on the realization of those wishes, even beyond every human expectation, and upon the almost infinite prospects we can with certainty anticipate.

"Permit me, Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House of Representatives, to join, to the expression of those sentiments, a tribute of iny lively gratitude, affectionate devotion, and profound respect."

After the GENERAL and the Members had resumed their seats, and a short pause occurred,

Mr. MITCHELL, the organ of the Committee of reception, moved an adjournment.

The motion was agreed to, and the House was adjourned to Monday.

The SPEAKER then descended from the Chair, and most affectionately saluted the General. His example was followed by the Members of the House, individually, and some time was spent in this agreeable manner before the GENERAL retired.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-Dec. 13, 1824 The engrossed bill (lying over from last session) "to authorize the state of Ohio to sell and convey certain tracts of land granted to said state for the use of the people thereof," was read a third time.

Mr. VINTON, of Ohio, rose, and explained the object of this bill, and the considerations which recommended its passage. The grant of these lands, on account of the salt springs upon them, to the state of Ohio, was subject to the condition that the state should not sell them, nor lease them for a longer term than ten years. The object of this reservation was, to prevent a monopoly of this indispensable article of subsistence. Since this grant, however, it had been ascertained that there was in the state an abundance of resources for the manufacture of salt; and springs had been discovered and work. ed, so superior in the quantity and quality of the salt, as entirely to supersede the use of those on the reserved lands. These lands were, consequently, in their present condition, of no value to the state, and the state, therefore, wished to be allowed to dispose of them. The state alone was interested in this question, the United States having neither title to, nor interest in, these lands, having ceded both to the state of Ohio.

[Sen. & H R.

The bill was then PASSED nem. con. and sent to the Senate for concurrence.

An engrossed bill, also of the last session, "authorizing repayment for land erroneously sold by the United States," was read a third time, PASSED, and sent to the Senate for concurrence.

On proceeding to call over the roll of bills reported at the last session, and laid over

Mr. FULLER, of Massachusetts, moved that the House go into committee of the whole on that bill which proposes to authorize the building of ten additional sloops of war. The motion was negatived-ayes 72, noes 79.

The House then went into committee of the whole, Mr. LATHROP in the Chair, on the bill more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes. The bill having been read in part, Mr. BARBOUR, expressing an opinion that its provisions were inadequate to cover all cases necessary to be provided for, and that it would probably require additional provisions, moved that the committee rise and report progress. The committee rose accordingly, and had leave to sit again.

IN SENATE-TUESDAY, DEC. 14, 1824.
On motion of Mr. BARBOUR,

Resolved, That so much of the President's message as relates to Foreign Affairs, be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

[The motion of Mr. BARBOUR, it was understood, comprehended, besides others, that portion of the Message which relates to arrangements for the suppression of piracy and of pirates on the Island of Cuba, &c as well as on the water. The question of reference gave rise to some conversation on the part of Mr. BARBOUR, Mr. HAYNE, and Mr LLOYD, of Mass. which was interesting, as it indicated a strong desire and determination in the Senate to leave no effort unemployed to effectually protect our commerce from piracy in the West Indian seas, and to extirpate the freebooters who now, by the facilities of concealment afforded to them in the Island of Cuba, &c prey on our commerce, and commit such atrocities on those who fall into their hands. In the course of the conversation, Mr. HAYNE and Mr. LLOYD both intimated an intention they had respectively formed, to bring the subject fully before the Senate, by spe cial inquiries.]

Mr. BENTON presented the petition of sundry inhabitants of the state of Missouri, on the subject of a trade and intercourse between that state and the internal Provinces of Mexico.

[This petition recited, that a beneficial trade had been carried on for some years between the inhabitants of the two countries, in which domestic cottons and other articles had been carried out from the United States, and gold, silver, furs, and mules, brought back in return; that the intervening tribes of Indians presented the only obstacle to the successful prosecution of the trade upon a large scale; that the merchandise had to be carried through a tract of country inhabited by differ ent tribes, to enter whose territory, without a licence, was penal under the laws of the United States, and dangerous, unless the consent of the tribes was previously obtained; that some outrages to persons, and repeated depredations on property, had already been committed; and that a total interruption to the commercial and social intercourse, so happily began in that quarter be tween the citizens of the two Republics, might be apprehended, unless the Government of the United States interposed for its protection. The petition, therefore, prayed

1. hat the right of an unmolested passage, for persons and property, upon a designated roue, between the frontiers of Missouri and the internal provinces of Mexico, might be obtained by treaty stipulations from

the Indias referred to.

2. That a military post and an Indian agency might be established on the Arkansas river, at the point of the intersection of that river by the proposed route.]

The petition, upon the motion of Mr. BENTON, was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-SAME DAY.

[DEC. 14-15, 1824.

Mr. WRIGHT, of Ohio, offered the following resolusioners; in 1817, a Treaty was concluded with them at

tion:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire into the propriety of providing, by law, that any judicial or other civil officer of the Government of the United States, who shall hereafter engage in fighting a duel, or in challenging, assisting, or encou raging, any other person so to engage, shall forfeit the office by him so held, and be ever afterwards rendered incapable of holding the like or other office under the Government.

sioners; in 1809, some of their head men were in Washington to make arrangements for going to the West, and had much intercourse with the government; in March, 1816, two Treaties were concluded with them, by Mr. George Graham, then Acting Secretary of War; in September, 1816, a Treaty was concluded with them by Messrs. Jackson, Meriwether, and Franklin, Commisthe Cherokee Agency, by General Jackson; in 1819, another by Mr. Caihoun, Secretary of War, at Washington. In every one of these cases, Mr. F. said, Colonel R. J. Meigs, well known to have been for many years agent of the United States in that nation, was either commissioner or witness to the treaty. That gentleman died on the 28th January, 1823; and during his life this treaty of 1804 was not ratified. But, the winter succeeding his death, in May, 1824, the 'ratification was claimed by the Cherokees, who came here for the pur pose, and it was ratified. This House was, at the last session, invited to make an appropriation for carrying it into effect, but at so late a period of the session, that it Mr. POINSETT, of South Carolina, then moved to was not acted upon. As they would be doubtless exlay the resolution on the table; which motion was nega-pected to make an appropriation to redeem the faith of tived, and the resolution was adopted without a division the United States, pledged by this treaty, it was proper, being called for, though not without a considerable ne- before voting away the sum of $20,000 for this purpose, gative vote. the House should have information of the causes which had for twenty years suspended the ratification of this treaty.

Mr. TUCKER, of Virginia, called for the previous question of consideration, which was put, and the House agreed to consider the resolution.

IN SENATE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15, 1824. The resolution offered yesterday by Mr. BROWN, to appoint a Committee on Roads and Canals, was taken up. Mr. CHANDLER observed, that he was one of those who believed that this was a subject on which Congress had no right to legislate; that he believed it to be unconstitutional, and that, for his part, he was determined to raise his voice, and vote against the resolution.

Mr. RUGGLES said, it would be impossible to proceed regularly without a committee on this subject; that it was the practice of the Senate, and a very necessary one, to have such a committee.

Mr. NOBLE said he was sorry to find the gentleman from Maine opposed to the appointment of a committee on this subject. He thought the gentleman's scruples would have time enough to operate on his mind hereafter. He adverted to the circumstance of the President's calling the attention of Congress to the subject of internal improvements; and observed, in relation to the message, that, though he had not the greatest confidence in every part of it, yet he was very well satisfied with the opinion of the Executive on this important subject. He would vote for the resolution with an eye directed to the promotion of the general prosperity of the country. The question was put and carried-ayes 18.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-SAME DAY. The resolution yesterday offered by Mr. FORSYTH, calling for information relative to the treaty of 1804 with the Cherokee Indians, the causes for the delay in its ratification, &c. was taken up, and the question being on agreeing thereto

Mr. MALLARY, of Vermont, objected to a part of the resolution, which proposes to inquire into "the motives of the ratification of the treaty at the last session," and moved to amend the resolve by striking out that part of it. He had no objection to every fact being obtain d which had a bearing on the case-it was proper they should be called for--but he did not know that it would be relevant or perfectly decorous to ask of the Executive an explanation of the motives for its conduct.

Mr. FORSYTH, not feeling tenacious of the language of the resolution, consented to receive the amendment as a part of his resolution; and, thus amended, The resolve was agreed to, nem. con.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication from the Department of the Treasury, accompanied by a report from the First Comptroller of the Treasury, with enclosures on the subject of the collection of tonnage duties on Canal boats.

Mr. STORRS moved that these papers be referred to the Committee on Commerce, with the following instructions, viz:

"That the communication and accompanying papers be referred to the Committee on Commerce, with instructions to inquire into the expediency of so amending the acts of Congress regulating the commerce of the United States, and imposing duties on tonnage, that they shall not be construed to extend to boats employed exclusively in transportation on the interior canals of the respective states."

Mr. NEWTON, (Chairman of the Committee on Commerce) suggested that it would be better to leave the committee at large, under the assurance, that they would do justice to all parties in the case referred to.

Mr. STORRS explained that the object of his motion was merely to present to the consideration of the committee the expediency of the measure referred to.

Mr. PORSYTH rose, and said, that, upon a call for information of this description from the Executive, there might be a propriety in stating the grounds of it. It would be found, upon examination of the records of the government, here referred to, that, since the date of the Mr. TRACY doubted whether, by adopting the lanTreaty of 1804, with the Cherokees, which was ratified guage of the instruction, it would not be conceding too at the last session of Congress, there had been several much-inasmuch as he did not believe that the laws were treaties concluded and ratified with the same nation of susceptible of being so construed as to include the caIndians. Mr. F. enumerated those treaties as follows:-nal boats, which the instruction seemed to take for In 1805, two treaties were concluded with them, by D. Smith and R. J. Meigs, Commissioners; in January, 1806, another was concluded with them at Washington, by Gen. Dearborn, then Secretary of War; in September, 1807, another treaty was concluded with them, elucidating the preceding, by Mr. Robertson and Mr. Meigs, Commis

granted.

Mr. STORRS said he had taken particular care so to frame his motion as to avoid any such admission, as would be seen by referring to the expression "the acts shall not be construed to extend to boats," &c.

The motion of Mr. STORRS was then agreed to.

Judiciary.-Niagara Sufferers.

On motion of Mr. STORRS, the communication receiv-verted to the introduction of a bill in 1818 to provide ed some days since, from the Governor of New York, on this subject, was referred to the same committee.

Mr. WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, said, that he considered the question presented by this bill to be of nearly as great importance as any that would occur during the present session of Congress; as proposing to revive the Mr. TALBOT made some remarks in reply, when the famous act of March, 1816, which had been the cause of question was taken, and leave being granted to intro-greater drain from the Treasury of the United States duce the bill, he introduced it accordingly, and it received its first reading.

than had ever been made, upon the same principle, from the Treasury of any civilized government on earth; for no government ever had a standing law of the nature of that. The bill now before the House, in effect proposed a renewel of the most impartant section (the 9th) of that law. At this moment, Mr. W. said he felt himself entirely unprepared to go into such an examination of this question as it might require. He, therefore, hoped the House would indulge him, and others similarly situated, with further time for consideration of the subject. His object was not unnecessarily to delay the consideration of the subject; but he thought it important to have before the House, and in possession of every member, the correspondence which took place between Admiral COCHRANE and the Secretary of State relative to the burning of property on the Niagara frontier. There was another document, also, which he wished the House to be in possession of a document originally brought here to carry these claims through the House, but which, since the year 1818, he had never been able to lay his hands upon. When these claims first appeared before the House, the claimants never pretended to rest them upon the ground that the buildings were occupied by the military authority at the time of their destruction.

Sen. & H. of R.]

Niagara Sufferers-Lafayette-Virginia Claims.

[Dec. 20, 1824.

After some further conversation between Messrs. LOWRIE, NOBLE, and CHANDLER, the motion to print the documents was lost, and the letter of the Secretary of War alone was ordered to be printed. Subse

They then maintained that all these burnings took place
on the ground of retaliation by the enemy; and believing
that ground sufficient to sustain their claims, they pro-
duced all the proof of it that they could. But as the
House had refused to allow the claims on that ground,quently,
they have now changed their position, and placed their
claims on a different one. Mr. W. wished, for his part,
to examine fully the pretext upon which a re-enactment
of the pernicious law of 1816 was claimed; and with
these views he wished the committee to rise, in order to
have the papers printed.

On motion of Mr. MACON, the document was referred to the Committee on Pensions, with instructions to inquire into the expediency of printing it.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE.

Mr. HAYNE, from the committee to whom was referred the subject of making provision for Gen. Lafayette,

"A BILL making provision for Gen. Lafayette. "Be it enacted, &c. That the sum of Two Hundred Thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, granted to Major General Lafayette, in compensation for his important services and expenditures during the American Revolution, and that, for this purpose, a stock to that amount be issued in his favor, dated the 4th of July, 1824, bearing an annual interest of six per cent. payable quarter yearly, and redeemable on the 31st December, 1834.

Mr CAMBRELENG, of New York, said, he hoped that no delay would be interposed in bringing this sub-reported the following bill: ject before the House-but that they should be called to act upon it immediately; being persuaded that they were as fully prepared to do so now, as they would be at any future time. He expressed his astonishment that, of all the members of the House, the Chairman of the Commitee of Claims should profess any want of information on this subject-since, from his official situation, as well as the able and conspicuous share he had had in former discussions on this matter, he should have sup. posed him to be better informed of every circumstance relating to it, than any other person. If permitted to proceed, Mr. C. said that he should contend that, on the ground first taken by the claimants, viz. that the injury their property had sustained was inflicted by the enemy as a measure of retaliation, their claim was just, inasmuch as it was in retaliation of injuries first inflicted on the enemy by the express order of this government, through the late Secretary of War, in the burning of the village of Newark. On this ground, the claim was perfectly sustainable; as, also, it would be on the other ground assumed, viz. that the injuries were sustained in consequence of the occupation or use of the property by the United States. If either ground were established, these claims ought to be allowed.

Mr. WILLIAMS renewed his motion that the committee rise: but once more suspended it, at the particular request of Mr. TRACY, who made some explanation in reply to what Mr. W. had said, as to the disappearance of the document he had referred to. No public paper on the subject had been withdrawn, but, on the contrary, all the papers connected with the general subject, had been printed with the report of the committee.

The committee then rose, reported progress, and had leave to sit again; and on motion of Mr. WILLIAMS, the papers referred to whilst in committee of the whole, were ordered to be printed.

IN SENATE-MONDAY, DEC. 20.

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That one complete and entire Township of Land be, and the same is hereby, granted to the said Major General Lafayette, and that the President of the United States be authorized to cause the said Township to be located on any of the Public Lands which remain unsold, and that patents be issued to General Lafayette for the same.”

The bill was twice read, by general consent, and Mr. HAYNE gave notice that he should move its third reading to-morrow.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—SAME DAY.

Mr. A. STEVENSON, of Virginia, rose to ask the attention of the House to a subject which was interesting to Virginia, and merited an early consideration. It related to the unsatisfied claims of that state, for advances of money made by her for the use of the General Government, during the late war. The subject, Mr. S. said, had been presented to Congress by the President, in a very strong message, at the last session; but, owing to cir cumstances unnecessay to mention, had not been acted on. He wished it taken up, and finally disposed of. It was proper, however, that he should state to the House that Virginia would press the payment only of that part of the claim which related to interest actually paid by her on moneys borrowed for the use of the General Government, and disbursed in its service. He stated this fact, to prevent any misunderstanding as to the character of the claim, and the principles which it involved. Of its merits, Mr. S. said, he would not now speak. At a proper time, he would endeavor to shew to the House that the claim asserted by Virginia was founded in justice and authority, and ought to be paid. This, however, be would say, that, whatever the conduct of other States in the Union might have been during the late war, there was not one who had been more steadfast and disinterested in her services than Virginia, or more loyal in the devotion of her resources to the general defence. She Mr. LOWRIE said that, in the year 1820, a report si- now only asked that her claims should be speedily ad milar to the present was made, and ordered to be print- justed upon fair and just principles. This was due as ed, the expense of which was very considerable, and a well to this Government as to Virginia, and with that more useless expense he had never seen. He suggest-view he begged leave to submit the following resolued to the chairman of the Committee of Pensions whether tion: it would not be better to refer it to that committee.

A letter was received from the Secretary of War, transmitting a report, made in obedience to a resolution of the Senate at the last session, of the names of the pensioners at present on the list, the several amounts paid to each, together with the state to which each belongs; also, a list of applicants for pension rejected; a list of the names of the widows and children of the several pensioners, with the amount paid to them, &c.

Mr. NOBLE made a motion that the report and accompanying documents be printed.

Mr. NOBLE said, that the object of the resolution adopted at the last session, was to have merely a list of the names of the pensioners furnished to the Senate; but the object of the present motion was to have the volume, no matter how large, laid on the table of each member, that it might serve as a looking-glass in which to view our follies, but that a list of the names merely could be of no use whatever to the Senate.

"Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the propriety of providing by law for the reimbursement of the amount of interest paid by the State of Virginia upon loans of money negotiated oy her for the use of the General Government, during the late war between Great Britain and the United States."

Mr. HAMILTON, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, suggested that, as this was a purely legal