190 



provision as to gold contracts is not satisfac- 

 tory to the people, if it is found to be defective 

 in any way, the section does not estop Con- 

 gress at its next session, or at any future time, 

 from passing a law that will change it, and 

 make it conform to the necessities and circum- 

 stances of the country." 



Mr. Norton, of Minnesota, said: "My ob- 

 jection to this proposition is, that it looks to 

 and inevitably brings about a permanency of 

 the public debt. What is the interest of the 

 Government in regard to the public debt ? It 

 is that it should be in the control of the Gov- 

 ernment. The Government, acting for and 

 representing the people, should have the debt 

 in their control, and when they were able to 

 pay it they should be permitted to do it. The 

 interest of the bondholders is, that it should 

 be in their control, and that the Government 

 should not pay any of it until they are willing 

 to receive it, and in the mean time the people 

 bear the burdens in the shape of taxation. 



" Then this proposition brings to an actual 

 issue, as I think, the interest of the people 

 who pay the taxes, and the interest of the men 

 who hold the public debt and pay compara- 

 tively none of the taxes ; and because I see in 

 it a question between the men who hold the 

 debt and the people who pay the taxes, and 

 because I believe that Congress should look to 

 the interests of the people quite as much as to 

 the interests of the bondholders, I believe the 

 residue of this session of Congress cannot be 

 more profitably spent than in discussing this 

 very measure. It would be far better for the 

 interests of the country that all the appropria- 

 tion bills should fail than that this proposition 

 should pass. The Senator from Oregon talked 

 about this Congress pledging the faith of the 

 nation, and that nothing of repudiation should 

 'be heard of. Sir, when this Congress pledges 

 the faith of the nation to pay the five-twenties 

 in coin, they repudiate the interests of the 

 people, and impose upon them burdens that 

 they ought not to be required to bear." 



The result was announced, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Cameron, Cat- 

 tell, Chandler, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, 

 Dixon, Drake ; Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Freling- 

 huysen, Hams, Howard, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, 

 Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Patterson of New Hamp- 

 shire, Ramsey .Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, 

 Van Winkle, Warner, Willey, and Williams 81. 



NATS Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Cole, Davis, 

 Doolittle, Fowler, Hendricks, Kellogg, McCreery. 

 McDonald, Morton, Norton, Osborn, Patterson of 

 Tennessee. Robertson, Ross, Sawyer, Spencer, 

 Sprague, Thayer, Tipton, Vickers, Wade, and W byte 



ABSENT Messrs. Grimes, Harlan, Henderson, 

 Howe, Pomeroy, Pool, Rice, Saulsbury, Welch, 

 Wilson, and Yates 11. 



So the report was concurred in. 

 In the House the report was concurred in 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnell, Delos R. 

 Ashley, James M. Ashley, Axtell, Bailey, Barnes, 

 l*arnum, Beaman, Benjamin. Benton, Bingham, 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Blair, Boutwell, Bowen, Boyden, Brooks, Broomall, 

 Buckley, Cake, Callis, Chapter, Churchill, Reader W. 



field, Gove, Griswold, Halsey, Haughey, Heaton, 

 Higby. Hill, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Richard D. Hub- 

 bard, Hulburd, Jenckes, Alexander H. Jones, Judd, 

 Julian, Kellogg, Kelsey, Ketcham, Laflin, Lash, 

 George V. Lawrence, Lincoln, Logan, Lynch, Mai- 

 lory, Marvin, Maynard, McCarthy, McKee, Mercur, 

 Miller, Moore, Moorhead, Morrell, Mullins, Myers, 

 Newsham, Norris, O'Neill, Paine, Perham, Peters, 

 Pierce, Pile, Plants, Poland, Price, Prince, Raum, 

 Robertson, Robinson, Roots, Sawyer, Schenck, Sco- 

 field, Shellabarger, Smith, Starkweather, Stevens, 

 Stewart, Stover, Sypher, Taber, Taylor, Trowbridge, 

 Twichell, Upson.jBurfc Van Horn, Van Wyck, Ward, 

 Cadwalader C. Wasbburn, William B. Washburn, 

 Welker, Whittemore, James F. Wilson, Woodbridge, 

 and the Speaker 118. 



NAYS Messrs. Adams, Archer, Baker, Beatty, 

 Beck, Boyer, Bromwell, Burr, Roderick R. Butler, 

 Gary, Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Deweese, Dockery, Don- 

 nelly, Eldrid^e, Farnsworth, Getz, Golladay, Goss, 

 Haight, Harding, Hawkins, Holman, Hopkins, Hun- 

 ter, Ingersoll, Johnson, Thomas L. Jones, Kerr, 

 Knott, William Lawrence, Marshall McCormick, 

 McCullough, Mungen, Niblack, Orth, Pruyn, Ran- 

 dall, Ross, Shanks, Sitgreaves, Stone, Thomas, Tift, 

 Lawrence S. Trimble, Van Aernam, Van Auken, 

 Van Trump, Henry D. Washburn, William Williams, 

 Stephen. F. Wilson, Wood, Woodward, and Young 

 57. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Banks, 

 Blackburn, Elaine, Boles, Buckland, Benjamin F. 

 Butler, Colfax, Covode, Delano, Driggs, Edwards, 

 Eggleston, Ela, Fox. French, Glossbrenner, Gravely, 

 Grover, Hamilton, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. 

 Hubbard, Humphrey, Kelley, Kitchen, Koontz, Loan, 

 Loughridge, Morrissey, Newcomb, Nicholson, Nunn, 

 Pettis.Phelps, Pike, Polsley, Selye, Spalding, Stokes, 

 Taffe, John Trimble, Robert T. Van Horn, Vidal, 

 ElihuB.Washburne, Thomas Williams, JohnT. Wil- 

 son, and Windom 48. 



On March 3d, the Speaker resigned his seat, 

 and Theodore M. Pomeroy, of New York, was 

 elected to fill the vacancy as Speaker. 



The following joint resolution was also 

 passed by both Houses, and sent to the Presi- 

 dent on February 6th, and became of force 

 without his signature : 



Resolved "by the Senate and Home of Representatives 

 of the United States of America in Congress^ assembled, 

 That the persons now holding civil offices in the pro- 

 visional governments of Virginia and Texas, who 

 cannot take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the 

 act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, 

 and for other purposes," approved July 2, 1862, shall, 

 on the passage of this resolution, be removed there- 

 from ; and it shall be the duty of the district com- 

 manders to fill the vacancies so created by the ap- 

 pointment of persons who can take said oath : Pro- 

 vided, That the provisions of this resolution shall not 

 apply to persons who, by reason of the removal of 

 their disabilities as provided in the fourteenth amend- 

 ment to the Constitution, shall have qualified for any 

 office in pursuance of the act entitled " An act pre- 

 scribing an oath of office by persons from whom legal 

 disabilities shall have been removed," approved July 

 11, 1868: And provided further, That this resolution 

 shall not take effect until thirty days from and after 

 its passage : And it is further provided, That this 

 resolution shall be, and is hereby, extended to and 

 made applicable to the State of Mississippi. 



The session closed at noon on March 4th. 



