The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, transmitting a statement of the contracts and purchases made by the Commissioners of the Navy during the year 1830; which letter and statement were laid on the table.

The Speaker laid before the House a report from the Secretary of the Navy, upon the subject of live oak in Florida, and the accounts of the agents and superintendents of live oak forests, prepared in obedience to the order of the House of the 16th of December last; which report was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Engrossed bills of the following titles, viz:

No. 507. An act to authorize the construction of three schooners for the naval service of the United States;

No. 541. An act for the relief of Percis Lovely; were severally read the third time, and passed.

Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate in the said bills.

Bills from the Senate of the following titles, viz:

No. 41. An act concerning the town and village commons in Missouri, as amended;

No. 51. An act to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for paying to the States of Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama, three per cent. of the nett proceeds arising from the sale of the public lands within the same;" were severally read the third time, and passed.

Ordered, That the Clerk acquaint the Senate therewith, and request their concurrence in the amendment to the first mentioned bill.

On motion of Mr. Verplanck,

Ordered, That the consideration of the unfinished business of yesterday, and the several special orders for this day, be postponed until to-morrow.

And the House then resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; and, after some time spent therein, the Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Evans, of Maine, reported that the committee had, according to order, had the state of the Union generally under consideration, particularly the bill (No. 538) making appropriations for revolutionary and invalid pensioners, and the bill (No. 528) making appropriations for the support of Government for the year 1831; which bills he was directed to report to the House, with amendments to each. And then the House adjourned until to-morrow, 12 o'clock meridian.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1831.

By leave asked and obtained,

Mr. Mitchell presented a memorial of Howes Goldsborough, of the State of Maryland, complaining that his rights in certain property in the city of Washington have been violated and destroyed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and praying relief from Congress; which memorial was referred to the Committee on Internal Improvements.

On motion of Mr. Wickliffe,

Ordered, That the petition of James B. Requa, of the Territory of Michigan, presented February 22, 1830, be referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Campbell P. White presented a petition of Simeon Griswold, of the State of New York, praying for a pension; which petition was referred to the Committee on Military Pensions.

Mr. Irwin, of Pennsylvania, presented resolutions adopted at a public meeting of the citizens of the county of Fayette, in the State of Pennsylvania, expressive of their opinion of the propriety, on the part of Congress, of making appropriations for the repair of the Cumberland road, and for a subscription of stock in the western section of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal; which resolutions were referred to the Committee on Internal Improvements.

Mr. Buchanan, from the managers appointed to conduct the impeachment before the Senate of James H. Peck, Judge of the district court of the United States for the district of Missouri, reported that the testimony in the case had been closed, and that the Senate had postponed further proceedings on the said impeachment until to morrow.

Mr. Bell, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, (No. 59,) entitled "An act to enable the President to extinguish Indian title within the State of Indiana," reported the same without amendment.

Ordered, That the said bill be committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

Mr. Whittlesey, from the Committee of Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Martin D. Follet; which was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. Whittlesey, from the same committee, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Madame le Compte de Piernas; which was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. McCoy, from the Committee of Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Jumonville de Villiers; which was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. Young, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Henry Fried; which was read, and laid on the table.

Ordered, That the Committee on Revolutionary Claims be discharged from the further consideration of the petition of Rebecca Spencer, and that it lie on the table.

Mr. Beekman, from the Committee of Elections, to which the subject was referred on the 3d instant, reported a bill (No. 555) regulating the manner of taking evidence in cases of contested elections of members of the House of Representatives; which bill was read the first and second time, and committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. Ordered, That the Committee on Indian Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of the cases of Antoine Barrague, Josiah Jenkins, John Deck, Ransom Moore, and Squire Allen, and that they lie on the table.

Mr. McIntire, from the Committee of Claims, made a report on the petition of Godfroy and Beaugraud, accompanied by a bill (No. 556) for their relief; which bill was read the first and second time, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow.

Ordered, That the Committee of Ways and Means be discharged from the consideration of so much of a communication from the Quartermaster General to that committee as relates to a provision for "a cistern for the purpose of collecting and preserving water for the use of the troops at fortress Monroe," and that the same be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Sterigere, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of Theophilus Collins; which was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. Wingate, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made an unfavorable report on the petition of William Dewees and others; which was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. Sterigere, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, (No. 47,) entitled "An act to amend the "act to quiet the titles of certain purchasers of lands between the lines of Ludlow and Roberts, in the State of Ohio,' approved May 26, 1830," reported the same with amendments.

The House resumed the consideration of the resolution moved by Mr. Haynes yesterday, proposing an inquiry into the expediency of reducing the duty on brown sugar;

And after further debate thereon, by unanimous consent,

The House proceeded to the consideration of the report of the Committee on Public Expenditures, made on the 7th instant, in relation to a uniform rule for computing the mileage of members of Congress.

A motion was made by Mr. Chilton, that the said report be recommitted to the Committee on Public Expenditures, with instructions to report to this House a bill containing the following provisions, viz:

First. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Senate, and the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives, previous to issuing certificates to the members of their respective Houses for the amounts to which said members may be entitled for mileage to and from the seat of the General Government, to obtain from each member so applying for a certificate a statement, according to the best of his knowledge, of the distance from the Capitol in the city of Washington to the residence of said member, computed upon the nearest route which may be conveniently travelled, and is necessarily and most usually travelled from the one to the other point; which said statement shall be signed by the member making the same.

Second. That said Secretary and Sergeant shall record said statements, so made and signed, each, in a book to be kept by him for that purpose; and that the Secretary of the Treasury, in publishing his annual statement of the amounts paid to members, shall distinguish between the amount paid for the per diem allowance and the amount for mileage to each member, placing the number of miles charged for opposite the amount allowed.

A motion was made by Mr. Hall to amend the said instructions by striking out from the word "bill" to the end thereof, and inserting the following: "making it the duty of the Secretary of the Senate and the Sergeant-atArms of the House of Representatives, with the aid of the Postmaster General, at the end of every session, to make an estimate, as nearly as possible, of the actual distance (in a direct line) of the residence of each member of the Senate, House of Representatives, and Delegate of a Territory, from the seat of Government; and that the mileage of members of Congress and Delegates be computed, and their accounts for travelling be settled, according to such estimate."

And after debate, the period allotted by the rule for the consideration of reports having expired,

A motion was made by Mr. Hall, that the said rule be suspended; which motion was disagreed to by the House.

A message, in writing, was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Donelson, his private Secretary, and is as follows:

WASHINGTON, January 11, 1831.

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

I transmit to Congress a report of the Secretary of State, with the report to him from the Patent Office which accompanied it, in relation to the concerns of that office, and recommend the whole subject to early and favorable consideration.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Ordered, That the said message and accompanying documents be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanied by a list of all the patents granted by the United States for the encouragement of arts and sciences, alphabetically arranged, containing in consecutive order all patents for inventions and improvements relating to the same subject, designating the names of patentees, with the dates of their patents, together with the acts of Congress relating to patents, and a digest of decisions under the said laws, made in the courts of the United States; prepared in obedience to the order of this House of April 2d, 1830; which letter and list were laid on the table.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill (No. 538) making appropriations for revolutionary and invalid pensioners; and the amendments reported thereto from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, being read, were concurred in by the House.

Ordered, That the said bill be engrossed, and read a third time to-morrow. Mr. Shields, from the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee had examined enrolled bills of the following titles, viz: No. 16. An act for the relief of Aaron Fitzgerald;

No. 24. An act making appropriations for carrying into effect certain Indian treaties;

No. 502. An act to change the time of holding the rule term of the cirQuit court for the district of West Tennessee;

No. 25. An act to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for paying to the State of Illinois three per cent. of the nett proceeds arising from the sale of the public lands within the same;"

And found the same to be truly enrolled: when

The Speaker signed the said bills.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill (No. 528) making appropriations for the support of Government for the year 1831; and the amendments reported thereto from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, yesterday, being read, were in part agreed to by the House, and in part disagreed to.

The following amendment was then again read, viz: insert in said bill, after line 347, (of the printed bill,) the following:

"For surveying the public lands, including the amount of arrearages due for the last year, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars."

A motion was made by Mr. McCoy to amend the said amendment by striking out "one hundred and thirty thousand dollars," and inserting "sixty thousand dollars;" which motion was disagreed to by the House.

The question was then put to agree to the aforesaid amendment to the said bill,

And passed in the affirmative.

The amendments reported from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union being gone through,

A motion was made by Mr. Stanberry further to amend the said bill, by striking out from the following item, viz:

"For the salaries of the Ministers of the United States to Great Britain, France, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, and Colombia, fifty-four thousand dollars,"

The word Russia" and the words "fifty-four thousand dollars," and inserting, in lieu of the latter words, "forty-five thousand dollars," so as to make the said item read,

"For the salaries of the Ministers of the United States to Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Colombia, forty-five thousand dollars;" And thereupon,

The House adjourned until to morrow, 12 o'clock meridian.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1831.

On leave asked and obtained,

Mr. Lewis presented a petition of William Smith, administrator of John Taylor, deceased, late of the State of Alabaina, praying that the relinquishment made by said administrator of a tract of land which had belonged to the estate of said Taylor, but which he had sold in his lifetime to another person, of which sale the administrator was ignorant, may be cancelled; which petition was referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.

Mr. Lewis presented a petition of Benjamin S. Smoot, of the State of Alabama, praying to be compensated for certain services rendered by him in the capacity of Marshal of the State of Alabama; which petition was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Clay, from the Committee on the Public Lands, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, (No 56,) entitled "An act supplementary to the several laws for the sale of the public lands," reported the same without amendment.

Ordered, That the further consideration of the said bill be postponed until Thursday, the 20th instant.

Mr. Trezvant, from the Committee on Military Pensions, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, (No. 46,) entitled "An act for the relief of John Riddle," made, verbally, an adverse report thereon.

Ordered, That the said bill do lie on the table.

Mr. Trezvant, from the same committee, to which was referred the bill from the Senate, (No. 55,) entitled "An act for the relief of William Christy," made, verbally, an adverse report thereon.

Ordered, That the said bill do lie on the table.

Ordered, That the Committee on Military Pensions be discharged from the further consideration of the petitions of Edmund Town and William Clark, and that the said petitions do lie on the table.

Ordered, That the Committee of the Whole House to which is committed the bill (No. 243) supplementary to the act to authorize the President of the United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Fiorida from the State of Georgia, be discharged, and that the said bill be committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.