House of Representatives.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

Message from the Senate.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Forney, their Secretary, announced to the House that the Senate insist upon their amendments disagreed to by the House of Representatives to the bill of the House, No. 240, to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for funding the floating debt of the United States, and disagree to the amendments of the House to the eighteenth amendment of the Senate, and ask a committee of conference upon the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon;  and that they had appointed Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Carlile to be such committee upon the part of the Senate.

Mr. Stevens.  I move that the bill just returned be taken from The Speaker's table, and that the request of the Senate be agreed to.

The motion was agreed to.

The SPEAKER subsequently appointed Mr. Stevens, Mr. Horton, and Mr. Sedgwick as such committee on the part of the House.

Issue of United States Notes.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Etheridge, its Clerk, announced that the House had agreed to certain amendments of the Senate to the bill of the House (No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for funding the floating debt of the United States, insisted on by the Senate, and insisted upon its amendments to other amendments of the Senate to the said bill, disagreed to by the Senate, and had agreed to the conference asked by the Senate upon the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and has appointed Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, Mr. V.B. Horton, of Ohio, and Mr. Charles B. Sedgwick, of New York, managers at the same on its part.

House of Representatives

Mr. Stevens, from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Treasury note bill, made the following report:

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments to the bill (H. R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for funding the floating debt of the United States, having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend, and do recommend to their respective Houses, as follows:

That the Senate recede from their second, fourth, and fifth amendments.

That the House of Representatives recede from its disagreement to the ninth and fourteenth amendments of the Senate.

That the House of Representatives recede from their amendment to the Senate's tenth amendment.

That the Senate recede from so much of their tenth amendment as proposes to insert words in lieu of the words stricken out, and that the House agree to the said amendment as so modified.

That the House of Representatives recede from its disagreement to the Senate's nineteenth amendment, and agree to the same with the following amendments:  after the word "goods," in the second line, strike out the words "the proceeds of the sale of the public lands and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States, as the property of rebels," and insert the words "shall be paid in coin and;"  and after the word "taxes," in the first section of the bill, line twenty-one, insert "internal;"  and after the word "duties," in the same line, strike out the word "imports;"  and after the word "States," in the twenty-third line, insert "except duties on imports;"  and in line thirty, after the word "interest," insert the words "and duties on imports.''

W.P. Fessenden,
John Sherman,
John S. Carlile,
Managers on the part of the Senate.
Thaddeus Stevens,
V.B. Horton,
C.B. Sedgwick,
Managers on the part of the House.

Mr. Stevens.  Mr. Speaker, perhaps it would be as well for me to say a few words in explanation of the action of the committee of conference, in order that the members of the House may vote on it understandingly.

The first amendment from which the Senate receded relates to the $50,000,000 of notes in lieu of the demand Treasury notes, bearing seven and three tenths interest, authorized to be issued by the act of July, and made a legal tender.  The House disagreed to that amendment of the Senate, and the Senate, in the report of the committee, recede from that amendment.

The next amendment of the Senate of importance which the Senate recede from refers to the payment of interest in coin.  The amendment of the Senate was so amended as to except from the operation of the legal tender clause the payment of duties on imports.  Its effect will be to provide that these Treasury notes shall not be a legal tender in the payment of those duties on imports, but that such duties must be paid in gold and silver.

The next one is in regard to the provisions making the bonds issued redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from date.  The House non-concurred in that amendment, but it now is recommended that the House should recede from its disagreement so as to let the amendment stand, so that the bonds may be paid in five years, but that they shall be absolutely paid in twenty years.

The Senate struck out that portion of the House bill for the payment of five years bonds at the rate of seven per cent. per annum, and inserted a provision making them payable in two years.  The Senate have receded from some part of what they inserted, and the House have agreed to that remaining part which struck out the five years bonds, payable in seven per cent., and provided for five years bonds, payable in six per cent.

Another amendment of the committee makes the bill conform to what had been previously agreed to.

The next amendment of the Senate is as follows:

Sec. 5.  And be it further enacted, That all duties on imported goods, the proceeds of the sale of the public lands, and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States as the property of rebels, shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied as follows:  First. To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.  Second. To the purchase or payment of one per cent. of the entire debt of the United States, to be made within each fiscal year after the 1st day of July, 1862, which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the interest of which shall, in like manner, be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt as the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time direct.  Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

The House disagreed to that, but the committee of conference recommend that it be agreed to with an amendment, by which the pledge of the public lands is stricken out, and the duties on imported goods payable in coin substituted as a pledge for the payment of interest on the bonds that are issued.

Section four of the bill as it was amended by the Senate and the House, and then returned to the Senate, was as follows:

Sec. 4.  And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may receive from any person or persons, or any corporation, United States notes or coin on deposit for not less than thirty days in sums of not less than $100, with any of the Assistant Treasurers or designated depositaries of the United States authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive them, who shall issue therefor certificates of deposit, made in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, and said certificates of deposit shall bear interest at the rate which the Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, prescribe, not exceeding six per cent. per annum;  and any amount of United States notes or coin so deposited may be withdrawn from deposit at any time after ten days' notice, on the return of said certificates:  Provided, That the interest on all such deposits shall cease and determine at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury:  And provided further, That the aggregate of such deposits shall at no time exceed the amount of $25,000,000.

The amendments of the House are in italics.  The House receded from that part which allowed a deposit in coin, and from that amendment which allowed the deposit to be withdrawn in a certain time, &c.

Those are all of the material alterations made by the committee of conference.

Mr. Hooper.  Is the provision in relation to the deposit of coin stricken out ?

Mr. Stevens.  We did not think that coin was equal to Treasury notes, and hence struck it out. [Laughter.]

Mr. Wickliffe.  Let me say a few words.  I suppose the report of the committee of conference cannot be amended, but that we must take it as a whole ?

The Speaker.  The report of the committee is not divisible.

Mr. Wickliffe.  So I thought.  I understand, by the amendment of the committee of conference, that the Government will refuse to take its own paper for duties upon foreign merchandise imported into this country, and demand specie --gold and silver-- instead of Treasury notes.  That is enough for me to vote against the whole report of the committee.  There are some amendments I would be glad to vote for;  but I cannot vote for the report with that amendment in it.

I did not understand the gentleman's explanation on another point.  There was an amendment of the Senate by which it was provided that the proceeds of the public lands, and of confiscated rebel property, &c., were pledged for the payment of the interest upon the public debt.  Do I understand that the whole of that clause is disagreed to ?

Railroads in Missouri.

A message was received from the Senate, by Mr. Forney, its Secretary, notifying the House that that body had passed House joint resolution No. 37, in relation to certain railroads in the State of Missouri, with sundry amendments, in which he was directed to ask the concurrence of the House.

Mr. Wickliffe.  I understand that the amendment of the House on that subject has been stricken out, or rather that the committee of conference excepts the proceeds of the sale of the public lands from being pledged for the payment of the interest on the public debt.  I wish the gentleman would answer.

Mr. Stevens.  The committee of conference have substituted duties on imports and pledged them for the same purpose.  And in regard to those duties, the committee did not think it right to require them to be paid in Treasury notes, and they have permitted them to be paid in coin. (Laughter.]

Mr. Wickliffe.  Then, sir, we have an extraordinary exhibition in this report.  We have proclaimed to the world our readiness and willingness to issue a paper currency, which we have declared to be equal to gold and silver in canceling every kind of indebtedness between individual citizens.  I did not vote for that clause, because I did not believe the Constitution justifies or authorizes it.  I am in hope that my opinion and the opinion of those entitled to more weight will be disproved.  But that was hard enough for me to take.  I do not recollect exactly whether my vote is recorded upon the Journal or not.  At all events, the House, by a large majority, decided that they had the right, under the necessities of the case, to make and issue a paper currency for canceling all sorts of indebtedness, past, present, and to come.  While everybody else is forced to take that currency, the committee of conference would have us provide that the Government itself should not take it for the payment of duties on imports, but should require gold and silver.  We had better go into the market and buy gold and silver at twenty per cent. premium, rather than proclaim to the world, while we issue these notes, and compel the mercantile and laboring classes to take them, yet the Government will not take them itself in payment of duties on imports.  Why select duties on imports ?  Why not also compel gold and silver to be paid for excise duties ?

I think, sir, that the inevitable effect of the provision of the committee of conference will be to lessen the amount of importations.  You do this, instead of now coming up to the great interests involved, and saying that for the present we will lay aside this question of protection to our domestic manufactures;  we will let the whole burdens of the country be borne and sustained by the people at large, and increase as much as we can our revenues from foreign importations -- for whatever you take off from foreign importations you lay upon the labor, the land, and the property of the country.  These are the reasons which influence me in opposing the recommendation of the committee, and I trust the House will indulge me -- I ask it as a personal favor -- with a vote by yeas and nays upon agreeing with the report.

Mr. Stevens.  Of course, I hope the gentleman's request will be granted.  I want to say that I agree with the gentleman in some things, and one of those things is, that this bill has many uncouth features, dissimilar to each other.  But it is no wonder that it is so, for it had a vast number of progenitors, and it must partake a little of the lineaments of all.  I also agree with the gentleman, that another feature -- I will not say absurd feature, because I believe the House has adopted it -- of this bill is, that after we had made a currency for all, declaring it equal to gold, we made an exception, and declared that it was not equal to gold, and should be a currency only for some;  thereby depreciating, by that very fact, our bonds.

But that is passed.  I am not complaining of what was done before, but only justifying what has been done since.  What has been done is but a corollary of what had previously been done.  We provided that the Secretary of the Treasury, in order to raise gold to pay this interest, should throw into the market the bonds of the United States at whatever they would bring.  That became necessary, and I think erroneously so.  The committee of conference having to take the bill as they found it, so far as both branches of Congress had agreed upon it, looked about to see how they could prevent the sacrifice of these bonds, if possible.  We saw no way but to raise the coin in some other mode than selling our own paper, thereby bringing our currency below par, which we declared was par.  To prevent that further absurdity -- and I appreciate the objection and the feelings of the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. Wickliffe] -- we made the imports payable in coin.  After that, if we have to sell any bonds, we shall have to sell but a very small amount.

Mr. Baker.  I understand that the object of the nineteenth amendment of the Senate, making the duty on all imported goods payable in coin, is to obtain coin with which to pay the interest on our public debt.

Mr. Stevens.  It is so pledged.

Mr. Baker.  We are daily in receipt of duties on imported goods.  Is it the purpose of the Secretary of the Treasury to retain the coin for the time being, until the payment of interest becomes due, which would run from one to six months, in the various sub-Treasuries of the country;  or will he take it into the market and sell it, a thing which he has no authority to do ?

Mr. Stevens.  I cannot say what the Secretary of the Treasury will do.  If I were Secretary of the Treasury I could tell what I would do.  I would issue these bonds payable every month in the year, one after another, so that the interest would fall due every month in the year.  He would then have to retain the coin in the sub-Treasury only for less than a month.  Whether or not the Secretary of the Treasury will do that, I cannot say, for I have had no intercourse with him upon the subject;  but I say it seems to me that would be a wise course to pursue.  I see the difficulty which the gentleman suggests;  and a great burden it would be to have retain the coin as it accumulated for six months;  hence I would make these bonds bear date at twelve different periods, and have the interest fall due at twelve different periods, so that the coin received in each month should pay the interest falling due that month.

Mr. Baker.  That has not been the practice heretofore.

Mr. Stevens.  We are introducing new practices all around;  we are making one currency for the people, and another currency for other purposes.  I call the previous question.

The previous question was seconded;  and the main question ordered to be put.

Mr. Baker demanded the yeas and nays upon agreeing to the report.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was put;  and it was decided in the affirmative-- yeas 97, nays 22; as follows:

Yeas-- Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Ashley, Babbitt, Joseph Baily, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Samuel S. Blair, Blake, William G. Brown, Burnham, Chamberlin, Clark, Clements, Cobb, Colfax, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Corning, Crittenden, Cutler, Davis, Dawes, Diven, Duell, Dunlap, Dunn, Eliot, Ely, Fessenden, Franchot, Frank, Grider, Hale, Hull, Harding, Harrison, Hickman, Holman, Horton, Hutchins, Kelley, Lansing, Law, Leary, Lehman, Loomis, McKnight, McPherson, Mallory, Maynard, Mitchell, Moorhead, Nixon, Nugen, Olin, Patton, Pomeroy, Porter, Potter, Price, Alexander H. Rice, Riddle, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, Sargent, Sedgwick, Shanks, Shellabarger, Sherman, Sloan, Smith, John B. Steele, Sevens, Stratton, Benjamin F. Thomas, Train, Trimble, Trowbridge, Upton, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Verree, Vibbard, Wall, Charles W. Walton, E.P. Walton, Ward, Wheeler, Albert S. White, Wilson, Windom, Worcester, and Wright --97.
Nays-- Messrs. Baker, Biddle, Buffinton, Cox, Edwards, English, Haight, Hooper, Johnson, Justin S. Morrill, Odell, Pendleton, Perry, Pike, Robinson, Sheffield, William G. Steele, Van Wyck, Voorhees, Wickliffe, Wood, and Woodruff --22.

So the report of the committee of conference was agreed to.

Mr. Stevens moved to reconsider the vote last taken;  and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

Mr. Fessenden.  I submit the following report from the committee of conference on the Treasury note bill:

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments to the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States, having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend, and do recommend to their respective Houses, as follows:

That the Senate recede from their second, fourth, and fifth amendments.

Those are the amendments, all relating to the same subject, by which the old notes now out were retained instead of issuing new ones to the whole amount of $150,000,000.

That the House of Representatives recede from their disagreement to the ninth and fourteenth amendments of the Senate

Those amendments are of the same character, and directed that the notes should be redeemable at the pleasure of the Government after five years and payable in twenty years.

That the House of Representatives recede from their amendment to the Senate's eighteenth amendment.

The Senate amendment authorized the deposit of these notes in sums of not less than $100 with any of the designated depositories of the United States, for not less than thirty days, for which certificates of deposit were to be issued bearing five per cent. interest;  the interest to cease at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the aggregate of deposits not to exceed $25,000,000.  The House amended the Senate amendment, so as to allow these deposits in notes or coin, and struck out five per cent. interest, and inserted, "at the rate which the Secretary of the Treasury may from time to time prescribe, not exceeding six per cent. per annum."  The House recede from their amendment to our amendment.

That the Senate recede from so much of their tenth amendment as proposes to insert words in lieu of the words stricken out, and that the House agree to the said amendment as so modified.

That amendment was the amendment by which we struck out the provision authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a portion of the bonds at seven per cent. interest, payable in five years, and inserted, "notes or bonds bearing seven and three tenths per cent. interest, payable in two years;"  and the effect of the agreement of the committee is to strike out both provisions.

That the House of Representatives recede from its disagreement to the Senate's nineteenth amendment, and agree to the same with the following amendments:

After the word "goods," in the second line, strike out the words, "the proceeds of the sale of the public lands and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States as the property of rebels," and insert the words "shall be paid in coin and;"  and after the word "taxes," in the first section of the bill, line twenty-one, insert "internal;"  and after the word "duties," in the same line, strike out the word "imports," and after the word "States," in the twenty-third file, insert "except duties on imports;"  and in line thirty, after the word "interest," insert the words "and duties on imports."

The effect of those alterations is simply this: to make the duties on imports payable in coin, and to pledge them specifically for the payment of the interest on the notes and bonds, and for the purpose of raising a fund to redeem the principal, and striking out of the amendment the pledge of the public lands and the proceeds of the property seized as the property of rebels.

The Presiding Officer, (Mr. Anthony in the chair.) The question is on agreeing to the report of the committee of conference.

The report was concurred in.

Subsequently, a message from the House of representatives, by Mr. Morris, Chief Clerk, announced that the House had agreed to the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States.

House of Representatives

A message was received from the Senate by Mr. Forney its Secretary, notifying the House that that body had referred back to the committee of conference the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Treasury note bill.

Mr. Stevens.  I ask the unanimous consent of the House that the House also re-refer the disagreeing votes of the two Houses to the committee of conference heretofore appointed.  I understand that the Senate think there is a provision of the bill which ought to be amended, and hence the action which they have taken on the report of the committee of conference, which the House adopted yesterday.

It was so ordered.

Mr. Stevens.  I ask the gentleman from New York and the House for leave to make a report from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Treasury note bill.

There was no objection.

Mr. Stevens.  The committee of conference report the following additional amendment to the Treasury note bill:

Insert after the word "coin;"

Or any notes payable on demand heretofore authorized to be issued, and by law receivable in payment of public dues, and the coin so paid.

By the amendment of the Senate demand notes were made receivable for duties.  The effect of our action has been to exclude those notes from that use.  This amendment simply inserts them again as receivable for duties the same as gold.  I demand the previous question.

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered to be put;  and under the operation thereof the report of the committee of conference was adopted.

Mr. Stevens moved to reconsider the vote by which the report was adopted;  and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

issue of united states notes.

Mr. Fessenden.  I move to reconsider the vote by which we adopted the report of the committee of conferences on the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States, yesterday.  I do it for the purpose of moving a recommitment of it to correct an error which escaped our notice at the time.

The motion to reconsider was agreed to.

Mr. Fessenden.  I now move that the Senate disagree to the report, and recommit it to the same committee.

The VICE PRESIDENT.  The question now before the Senate is on agreeing to the report;  and under that state of the case the Senator from Maine moves to recommit it to the same committee of conference.

The motion was agreed to.

A message was subsequently received from the House of Representatives announcing that the House agreed to the recommitment of the report of the committee of conference.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Etheridge, its Clerk, announced that the House had agreed to the second report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding th floating debt of the United States.

Mr. Fessenden, from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H.R. No. 240) last mentioned, to whom was recommitted the report of the committee of conference thereon, submitted the following report:

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments to the bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for funding the floating debt of the United States, having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend, and do recommend to their respective Houses, as follows:

That the Senate recede from their second, fourth, and fifth amendments.

That the House of Representatives recede from their disagreement to the ninth and fourteenth amendments of the Senate.

That the House of Representatives recede from their amendment to the Senate's eighteenth amendment, and agree to the same.

That the Senate recede from so much of their tenth amendment as proposes to insert words in lieu of the words stricken out, and that the House agree to the said amendment as so modified.

That the House of Representatives recede from its disagreement to the Senate's nineteenth amendment, and agree to the same with the following amendments: after the word "goods," in the second line, strike out the words, "the proceeds of the sale of the public lands and the proceeds of all property seized and sold under the laws of the United States as the property of rebels," and insert the words, "shall be paid in coin or in notes payable on demand, heretofore authorized to be issued and by law receivable in payment of public dues;  and the coin so paid;"  and after the word "taxes," in the first section of the bill, line twenty-one, insert "internal;"  and after the word "duties," in the same line, strike out the word "imposts;"  and after the word "States," in the twenty-third line, insert "except duties on imports;"  and in line thirty, after the word "interest," insert the words "and duties on imports."

W.P. Fessenden,
John Sherman,
John S. Carlile,
Managers on the part of the Senate.
Thaddeus Stevens,
V.B. Horton,
C.B. Sedgwick,
Managers on the part of the House.

The report was concurred in.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Etheridge, its Clerk, afterwards announced that The Speaker of the House had signed an enrolled bill (H.R. No. 240) to authorize the issue of United States notes and for the redemption or funding thereof and for funding the floating debt of the United States;  and it thereupon received the signature of the Vice President.