Also, a petition of citizens of Racine, in the Territory of Wisconsin, praying an appropriation for the construction of a road from that place to Madison, the seat of government of said Territory;

Also, a petition of citizens of Racine, in said Territory, for a road from that place to Beloit.

Ordered, That said petitions be referred to the Committee on Roads. and Canals.

Also, a petition of citizens of Racine, in Wisconsin Territory, praying for an appropriation for the completion of the harbor at said town: which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

Also, a petition of George E. Graves, of the Territory of Wisconsin, for losses sustained by him in carrying the United States mail, in consequence of neglect of agents of the Post Office Department: which was referred to the Committee of Claims.

On motion of Mr. George W. Jones, (by leave,) the House proceeded to the consideration of the following resolution, presented by Mr. Jones yesterday; which was read and agreed to, viz:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report to this House the quantity, invoice value or cost, amount of duties actually paid, the rate of duty, and the equivalent ad valorem duty per centum of all articles both free and dutiable, imported into the United States during the year ending the 30th June, 1845.

The Speaker laid before the House sundry communications, viz:

I. A letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a report from the Register of the Treasury, in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 19th ultimo, showing the amount expended annually for the printing of the two Houses of Congress from the first to the last Congress inclusive: which letter and report were referred to the Select Committee upon the subject of Printing.

II. A communication from the Clerk of the House of Representatives; which was read, as follows, viz:

OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REpresentatives U. S.,

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

January 21, 1846.

SIR: On the 13th instant, the House passed a resolution in the following words:

"Resolved, That the Clerk of this House be, and he hereby is, directed to distribute the extra copies of Lieutenant Frémont's reports, ordered to be printed by the last House, amongst the members of the present House."

The document which the undersigned was thus directed to distribute to the members of this House was ordered to be printed and distributed by a resolution of the last House of Representatives, adopted on the 25th day of February, 1845, in the following words:

"Resolved, That the Clerk of this House be, and he is hereby, directed to receive, in the recess of Congress, the reports of Lieutenant (now brevet Captain) Fremont's expedition of 1843 and 1844 to Oregon and North California, as the same shall be published, from the War Department; and that ten thousand extra copies thereof be printed, together with the lithographed maps and drawings accompanying the same, for the use of the members of the present Congress; and also the report of the same officer, of his expedition to the Rocky mountains in the year 1842, be reprinted, with the report of the last expedition, without the appendix of astronomical and meteorological observations."

In view of the contradiction in terms contained in the foregoing resolutions, the undersigned entertained doubts as to the effect of the resolution passed by the last House. It became a question in his mind whether that resolution did not vest a right of property in the document ordered

by that resolution to be distributed, in the members of that Congress, of which those persons alone could divest themselves. And the Clerk having then in his possession an order of a member of the last Congress, dated March 7, 1845, to deliver "all public documents or books" due to him as a member of the 28th Congress, to a gentleman in this city, deemed it proper, on the day of the adoption of the resolution of the 13th instant by the present House, to address a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, setting out the facts, and respectfully requesting his opinion whether the Clerk could deliver the copies of Frémont's report, still undelivered, to the members of this House, without subjecting himself to a legal prosecution by members of the last House, for thus disposing of books which they claimed as their property. And also whether, by the passage of the resolution of the 25th of February, 1845, the property of the books ordered vested in the members of the House which passed the resolution.

The Attorney General has not replied in writing, or officially, to the letter of the undersigned; but, at a personal interview with that officer, he declined giving an opinion, and advised the undersigned to bring all the facts before the House, through the Speaker.

The undersigned respectfully states that no question has ever heretofore been made, within his knowledge, as to the private and personal right of a member to such books and documents as the House have by resolution ordered to be distributed amongst the members; and there are many cases on the files of the office, where executors, administrators, and assignees have applied for, and received, the books and documents of their testators, intestates, or assignors; and there are now in the possession of the undersigned, as Clerk of this House, hundreds of volumes of books belonging to members of former Congresses, which he has ever held to be as sacredly their private property, as he would the value in money of those same books deposited with him in trust.

There is no question that the members of the last House of Representatives, who are not members of this House, consider themselves entitled each to his proportion of the ten thousand copies of Fremont's report, ordered by the resolution of the last House; and many of those members have sent to their successors in the present House orders upon the Clerk to deliver the copies to which they are entitled, to those successors, for distribution among their common constituents. Since the adoption by the House of the resolution of the 13th instant, the undersigned has received letters from several members of the last House of Representatives, who are not members of this House, protesting against the delivery of the copies of Fremont's report, claimed by them, to any person other than themselves, except by their order. Those letters are communicated herewith, together with a letter from a highly respectable member of this House, protesting generally, "in behalf of those who are absent, to my taking any step whatever to deprive them of Frémont's journal, to which they are entitled by virtue of a solemn, a legal, and valid act of the last House of Representatives."

Under these circumstances, the undersigned feels that he is placed in a most unpleasant dilemma. While he may subject himself, on the one hand, to legal prosecution, by complying with the order of the 13th instant, he is aware that he may, on the other hand, incur blame and censure by failing to do so.

He knows, however, that in appealing, through you, to the House of Representatives to relieve him, in some way, from the embarrassment in which he is placed, he appeals to a body composed of individuals not one of whom would require him to do an act which would have the remotest tendency to involve him in personal difficulty.

He therefore most respectfully but earnestly prays that the House may take such order in the premises as will relieve him from the unpleasant situation in which the conflicting resolutions of the last and the present sessions, above referred to, have placed him.

With the disposition to carry out, promptly and faithfully, every order of the House of Reppresentatives of which he may be made the instrument, he subscribes himself,

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. B. FRENCH,

Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United States.

Hon. JOHN W. DAVIS, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. James Thompson moved the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Clerk forthwith distribute the report of Frémont's expedition, according to the order of the House of 13th January instant. The said resolution was read.

And, after debate,

Mr. Schenck moved to amend the same by striking out all after the. word "Resolved," and inserting the following: "that five thousand extra copies of Captain Frémont's report be printed for the use of the members of this House, and that the resolution of the 13th January instant, passed by this House in relation to said reports, be rescinded."

And, after further debate,

A motion was made by Mr. Morris, that the whole subject be laid upon the table: which motion was disagreed to.

The previous question was moved by Mr. Sawtelle, and seconded; and the main question was ordered and put, to wit: Will the House agree to the said amendment?

And decided in the negative,

Yeas,
Nays,

· 76 106

The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are

Mr. John A. Rockwell

John Runk
Joseph Russell
Robert C. Schenck
Alexander D. Sims
Albert Smith
Caleb B. Smith
Alexander H. Stephens
Henry St. John
John Strohm

William P. Thomasson
Benjamin Thompson
Allen G. Thurman
John W. Tibbatts
Daniel R. Tilden
Robert Toombs
Andrew Trumbo
Joseph Vance
John Wentworth
William W. Wick
Hezekiah Williams
Robert C. Winthrop
William Wright
Bryan R. Young
Jacob S. Yost.

Mr. James C. Dobbin
Joseph E. Edsall
Samuel S. Ellsworth
Jacob Erdman
Edwin H. Ewing
Orlando B. Ficklin
William S. Garvin
Meredith P. Gentry
Charles Goodyear
Samuel Gordon
James Graham

Martin Grover
John H. Harmanson
Thomas J. Henley

The question was then put, Will the House agree to the said resolution as offered by Mr. James Thompson?

And decided in the affirmative,

The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are

Mr. Reuben Chapman
Lucien B. Chase
Howell Cobb
Jacob Collamer
Edmund S. Dargan
Garrett Davis
Columbus Delano
James Dixon
Robert P. Dunlap'
John H. Ewing
Hannibal Hamlin
Thomas J. Henley
Henry W. Hilliard
Joseph P. Hoge
Elias B. Holmes
George S. Houston
Edmund W. Hubard
Charles Hudson
Orville Hungerford
Washington Hunt
James B. Hunt
Robert M. T. Hunter
Joseph R. Ingersoll

And so it was

Resolved, That the Clerk forthwith distribute the report of Frémont's expedition according to the order of the House of the 13th instant.

[And the Clerk forthwith caused the said report of Captain Frémont to be distributed to members of the present House, so far as they had been received by him.]

The rules being suspended for the purpose, Mr. Sawtelle offered a resolution; which was modified and read, as follows:

Resolved, That a committee of five members be appointed, with power to send for persons or papers, to inquire whether any member or members of the twenty-eighth Congress, or any other Congress, have sold or otherwise disposed of Frémont's report, or other books, printed, purchased, or distributed by order of Congress, for valuable consideration; and whether any orders have been drawn upon the Clerk for the delivery of said books; and that said committee report to this House the name of said person or persons engaged in said transactions, and all the facts thereof.

A motion was made by Mr. William W. Campbell, to amend the said resolution by adding thereto the following:

And that they examine into, and report to this House, what order ought to be taken in relation to books and documents other than Frémont's report, now in possession of the Clerk of this House, and referred to in his communication of this day; and also to report for the consideration of the House some rule or order regulating the disposition of documents and books which may hereafter be published by order of this House.

The said amendment was read.

And, after debate,

Mr. Leake moved the previous question; which was seconded: and the main question was ordered and put, viz: Will the House agree to the said amendment?

And decided in the affirmative.

The question was then put, Will the House agree to the said resolution as amended?

And decided in the affirmative.