| Show doings of congress As previously announced the second session session I 1 of the thirty sixth congress 0 convened on the appointed time december ad at twelve seventeen senators and thirty six representatives were absent at rolf call the absent senators were benjamin chestnut clay gwin hammond harlan iverson johnson ark johnson tenn mallory pugh sebastian slidell ten eyck thompson toombs and wilkinson prayer sprayer was offered by the chaplain mr gurley I 1 in the house a prayer was offered up by rev mr stockton appropriate to the political condition conditi on of the country in which he said that the good and wise men from all sections were at fault he implored the divine blessing to quiet all distraction and sectional discords that general brotherly feeling might be restored republicanism perpetuated and the union p preserved reserved mr argrow grow called up a motion made last session to reconsider the vote by which the homestead bill was reported from the committee on agriculture and referred tb to a committee of the whole on the state of the artion union objections were made by mr phelps to having the motion called up at that time as several members were absent mr grow explained that his hig reason for calling a up the motion then was wag that they might 0 have business before the house for the gentl gentleman ennan ernan know there were special orders for the first three or four weeks of this session mr grow yielded to a suggestion cc to postpone the motion for the present that members might proceed to draw for seats the house pursuant to the resolution previous y adopted proceeded to draw for seats ml ali the members retired without the bar and as the biame fiame name of each member was taken from i a box and called by the clerk be came in and m made ade his choice the absentees were gooch and dawes of massachusetts barr van wyck olin and C E cochrane of new york dimmick blair and montgomery Moat gomery of pennsylvania webster of maryland detained by sickness leake and clemens of virginia smith J and Vance of north carolina miles of south carolina crawford of georgia lamar davis barksdale and mcrae of mississippi mallory and sims of kentucky brabson and wright of tennessee wilson and pettit ofIn of indiana dlana Farnswort farnsworth 4 and eel kel lom log logg 0 of illinois hindman of arkansas waldron of michigan regan and hamilton of texas scott of california hooper ol 01 of utah and daily of nebraska the daily hour of meeting was fixed at noon till otherwise ordered after the usual messa mesba messages es between the senate and the house and the appointment of committees io to wait upon the president and inform him that quorums were present and ready to commence bus bas business ineis inels both houses adjourned the proceedings on tuesday have previously been published wednesday the fth in the senate mcpowell Mr Powell of kentucky moved the re ferrence of the President presidents 8 message so far as it related to the political affairs of the country to a special committee mr green introduced a resolution that the committee on judiciary be instructed to inquire into the propriety of providing by law for establishing 0 an arme armed d police force in the border states slave siave and free for the purpose of maintaining general peace between the states and preventing the invasion of states by citizens of another and also for the efficient execution of the fugitive slave law mr latham presented the credentials of mr baker of oregon who after taking the usual oath took his seat on the republican side of the chamber the balance of the day was occupied in making speeches in relation to the general state of affairs hale brown browd lyerson iverson davis wigfall and saulsbury each speaking their sentiments freely and in some instances with great warmth in the house mr sherman from the committee of ways and means reported a tl bill making 0 appropriations for the pensioners also a bill for the support of the west mill mili tary academy which was referred to the committee of the whole on the state of tha tho union the house by 68 against 1114 refused to lay on the table mr grows glows motion to reconsider the vote by which the committee of agricultures agri cultures homestead bill was last session referred to the committee of the whole on the state of the union the previous question was moved under the operation of which the bill was passed by a vote of bf 1312 against 76 mr colfax moved that the post route bill returned from the senate at the former session with amendments be referred to the post office committee he remarked that there had been no such bill passed for the last three years and it was desirous to have action as soon as possible mr mr smith objected saying the government iwas was financially embarras embarrassed sed bed which mr colfax admired to bs be true but said there jzere several reforms proposed in the bill and the postmaster general was anxious to know the disposition of ot congress as to contracts with railroads objections to taking t up the bill and referring rin n it were persisted in and on motion of mr sherman the house went into committee commett eo of the whole on the state of the union and took up the military academy bill an ali amendment was offered by mr curtis pro viding 0 that the study of cadets cabets shall not be extended beyond four bearson ye years arson on which a discussion arose and the amendment was rejected the pension bill was read and with the military academy bill subsequently passed mr sherman offered a series serles of resolutions referring 0 various branches of the presidents message to the appropriate committee when the fire committee arose and the house adjourned |
