CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



CONNECTICUT. 



:>. .3 



toe on Banking and Currency, introduced a 

 joint resolution relative to the issue of silver 

 coin, \vliirli tin.'illy passed both Houses in the 

 following form : 



A it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, under such limit* and regulations as will best 

 secure a just inn! fair distribution of the same through 

 t'ic country, may issue the silver coin at any time 

 in the Treasury to an amount not exceeding $10.- 

 000,000, in exchange for an equal amount ot legal- 

 tendur notes ; and the notes so received in exchange 

 shall be kept as a special fund, separate and apart 

 from all other money in the Treasury, and be reis- 

 sued only upon the retirement and destruction of a 

 like sum of fractional currency received at the Treas- 

 ury in payment of dues to the United States ; and 

 said fractional currency, when so substituted, shall 

 be destroyed and held as part of the Sinking-Fund, 

 as provided in the act approved April 17, IS'TG. 



SKC. 2. That the trade-dollar shall not hereafter 

 be a legal tender, and the Secretary of the Treasury 

 is hereby authorized to limit, from time to time, the 

 coinage thereof, to such an amount as he may deem 

 sufficient to meet the export demand for the same. 



SEC. 3. That, in addition to the amount of sub- 

 sidiary silver coin authorized by law to be issued in 

 redemption of the fractional currency, it shall bo 

 lawful to manufacture, at the several mints, and is- 

 suOj through the Treasury and its several offices, 

 sudi coin to an amount that, including the amount 

 of subsidiary silver coin, and of fractional currency 

 outstanding, shall, in the aggregate, not exceed, at 

 any time, $50,000,000. 



SKO. 4. That the silver bullion required for the 

 purposes of this act shall be purchased, from time to 

 time, at market rate, by the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, with any money in the Treasury not otherwise 

 appropriated; but no purchase of bullion shall be 

 made under this act when the market rate for the 

 same shall be such as will not admit of the coinage 

 and issue, as herein provided, without loss to the 

 Treasury ; and any gain or seigniorage arising from 

 this coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the 

 Treasury, as provided under existing laws relative to 

 the subsidiary coinage : Provided, That the amount 

 of money at any one time invested in such silver 

 bullion, exclusive of such resulting coin, shall not 

 exceed $200,000. 



The act known as the homestead law was 

 also repealed, so far as it operated on certain 

 of the Southern States, as follows : 



An A CT to repeal section 2,808 of the Revised Statutes of the 

 United States, maklnsr restrictions in the disposition of the 

 public lands in the States of Alabama. Mississippi, Louisi- 

 ana, Arkansas, and Florida, and for other purposes. 

 Be it enacted, etc. } That section 2,803 of the Revised 

 Statutes of the United States, confining the disposal 

 of the public lands in the States of Alabama, Missis- 

 sippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, to the pro- 

 visions of the homestead law. be, and the same is 

 hereby, repealed : Provided, That fie repeal of said 

 section shall not have the effect to impair the right, 

 complete or inchoate, of any homestead settler, and 

 no land occupied by such settler at the time this act 

 shall take effect shall be subject to entry, preemp- 

 tion, or sale : And provided, That the public lands 

 affected by this act shall be offered at public sale, as 

 soon as practicable, from time to time, and according 

 to the provisions of existing law, and shall not bo 

 subject to private entry until they are so offered. 



During this session of Confess, the Secre- 

 tary of War, William W. Belknap, was im- 

 peached by the House, and tried before the 

 Senate and acquitted. (For the details, tee 

 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS in this volume.) 



A large amount of business, unimportant 



generally, and not involving any special politi- 

 cal principle, was transacted, and the ueagion 

 closed on the 15th of August. 



CONNECTICUT. At the election held on 

 October 2, 1875, in this State, the following 

 two amendments to her constitution were sub- 

 mitted to the people for adoption or rejection : 



1. For annual elections on the Tuesday after the 

 first Monday in November in each year, commencing 

 in November. 1876. Sessions ot the (it-ncral As- 

 sembly annually in January. State officers elected 

 biennially. 



2. For conferring power on the General Assembly 

 to restore forfeited electoral privileges. 



Both were adopted by majorities of 39,334 

 and 19,919 respectively, and are now parts of 

 the organic law of the State. The whole num- 

 ber of votes then polled was, on amendment 

 number one, 44,734 yes, 42,034; no, 2,700. 

 On amendment number two it was 42,509 

 yes, 31,214; no, 11,295. 



STATE SEAL OF CONNECTICUT. 



A United States Senator from Connecticut, 

 Orris S. Ferry, of Norwalk, having died on 

 November 21, 1875, Governor Ingersoll ap- 

 pointed James E. English, of New Haven, to 

 occupy the vacant seat until the State Legisla- 

 ture, at its next session, should have chosen a 

 successor. 



JAMES E. ENGLISH was born at New Haven ; 

 received a common education ; and served an 

 apprenticeship in a carpenter's shop, in which 

 pursuit his energy and capacity raised him to 

 the position of master-builder before he had at- 

 tained his majority. From building ho turned 

 his attention to the lumber-trade, in which ho 

 accumulated a fortune. This, together with 

 subsequent additions derived from shrewd in- 

 vestments in real estate, manufacturing, nnd 

 banking institutions, has made him, it is be- 

 lieved, one of the richest capitalists in Con- 

 necticut. His public life began in 1855, when 

 he was elected a member of the House of 

 Representatives in the State General As- 

 sembly. In the next year he served in the 

 Senate, but declined a renomination in 1857. 

 From 1860 to 1864 he represented the State 

 from the Second District as a member of the 



