Mr. Goldsborough moved to insert in the bill the following section, as the fifth thereof, viz:

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That vessels whose business is confined to bays and rivers, and to ports and places between which no regular and direct mail is carried by water, shall be excepted from the operation of the fourth and fifth sections of the act passed at the last session of Congress, entitled "An act in addition to an act regulating the postoffice establishment."

And the question thereon being taken,
It passed in the negative.

Several other amendments were proposed to the said bill, which being rejected;

The said bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time on Monday next.

The remaining orders were further postponed. And the House adjourned.

MONDAY, March 4, 1816.

Mr. King, of Massachusetts, presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of Kittery, in the State of Massachusetts, praying that a duty may be imposed on plaster of Paris, imported in foreign

bottoms.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Marsh presented a petition of Noah Shaw, merchant of Boston, praying to be exonerated from the payment of the fines and penalties imposed on the importation of British manufactured goods, previous to the late war with Great Britain, and that the proceedings against sundry merchandise, by him imported into the district of Vermont, may

be dismissed.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of Ways and Means.

On motion of Mr. McCoy,

Ordered, That the petition of James, William, and John M'Kerny, presented on the 2d January, 1815, be referred to the committee of Ways and Means.

Mr. Sargeant presented a petition of Andrew Kurtz, praying that a patent may be granted to him for the invention of a new method of manufacturing charcoal of wood, and purifying the pyro

ligneous acid, which he is at present unable to obtain because of his not being a citizen of the United States.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to Mr. Sargeant, Mr. Comstock, and Mr. Bennett.

Mr. Thomas Wilson presented a petition of Samuel Perry, praying compensation for a boat impressed into the naval service and lost while in said service.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of Claims.

Mr. Jennings presented a petition of Adam Gallagher, Samuel Johnson, and William Douglass, trustees of a religious society in Knox county, in the Territory of Indiana, known by the name of Shakers, praying compensation for damages committed on their property by a detachment of Kentucky militia, under the command of general Hopkins.

Mr. Jennings also presented a petition John Small, praying that his title to a tract of land in the Territory of Indiana, may be confirmed.

Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Jennings also presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of the Territory of Indiana, praying that some measures may be adopted for the relief of persons settled on public lands.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the committee of the whole House on the bill relating to settlers on the lands of the United States. On motion of Mr. Johnson of Kentucky,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of changing the present mode of compensation to the members of Congress into a gross sum of money for each session, and to report such other provisions as may

have a tendency to despatch public business, and to compel the punctual attendance of the members of Congress during the session.

Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, Mr. Webster, Mr. Pitkin, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Grosvenor, Mr. Yates, and Mr. McLean, of Ohio, were appointed the said

committee.

Ordered, That the committee on Military Af fairs be discharged from a further consideration of the petition of Noah Lester, and that it be referred to the committee of Claims; also, from a further consideration of the petition of James E. Houston, and that it be referred to the committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims.

Mr. Smith, of Maryland, from the committee appointed on the petition of John M. Forbes, by leave of the House, reported a bill for the relief of John M. Forbes; which was read the first and second time, and ordered to be engrossed and read the third time to-day.

Mr. Darlington, from the committee appointed to present to the President of the United States, the resolution of the 29th ultimo, reported that the committee had performed that service, and that the President answered that the subject of the resolution should be attended to.

The House took up the amendment proposed by the Senate to the bill "to reduce the amount of direct tax upon the United States and the District of Columbia, for the year 1816:" When

A motion was made by Mr. Hanson to postpone indefinitely the said bill and amendment.

And the question thereon being taken,

It was determined in the negative,

The yeas and nays being required by one fifth

of the members present,