Ordered, That John Ericsson have leave to withdraw his petition and papers. Mr. Mangum submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to. Resolved, That the standing and select committees for the present special session of the Senate, be constituted and appointed as follows, viz: On Foreign Relations.-Mr. Benton, Mr. Cass, Mr. Webster, Mr. Foote, Mr. Mangum. On Finance.-Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Webster. - On Commerce. Mr. Hamlin, Mr. Soulé, Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts, Mr. Fizpatrick, Mr. Smith. On Manufactures-Mr. Sebastian, Mr. Butler, Mr. Jones. On Public Lands.-Mr. Felch, Mr. Borland, Mr. Shields. On Agriculture.-Mr. Sturgeon, Mr. Turney, Mr. Walker. On Military Affairs.-Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, Mr. Benton, Mr. Bell, Mr. Borland, Mr. Dawson. On the Militia.-Mr. Houston, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Dodge, of Wisconsin. On Naval Affairs. Mr. Yulee, Mr. Mason, Mr. Badger, Mr. Bright, Mr. Miller. On Private Land Claims.-Mr. Downs, Mr. Whitcomb, Mr. Dickinson. On Indian Affairs.-Mr. Atchison, Mr. Sebastian, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Rusk, Mr. Bell. Of Claims.-Mr. Whitcomb, Mr. Norris, Mr. Jones. On Revolutionary Claims.-Mr. Walker, Mr. Norris, Mr. Dodge, of Iowa. On the Judiciary.-Mr. Butler, Mr. Downs, Mr. Berrien, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Dayton. On the Post Office and Post Roads.-Mr. Rusk, Mr. Sturgeon, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Soulé, Mr. Corwin. On Roads and Canals.-Mr. Bright, Mr. Atchison, Mr. Foote. On Pensions.-Mr. Dodge, of Wisconsin, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Hunter. On the District of Columbia.--Mr. Mason, Mr. Yulee, Mr. Shields. On Retrenchment.-Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Houston, Mr. Felch. On Public Buildings.-Mr. Hunter, Mr. Yulee. (L To Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate.Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, Mr. Walker, Mr. Pearce. On Printing.-Mr. Borland, Mr. Hamlin. On Engrossed Bills.-Mr. Jones, Mr. Sebastian. On the Library.-Mr. Pearce, Mr. Mason, Mr. Davis, of Mississippi. On Enrolled Bills.-Mr. Rusk. Select Committee on the eligibility of the honorable James Shields as a Senator.-Mr. Benton, Mr. Felch, Mr. Webster, Mr. Mason, Mr. Pearce. Mr. Pearce, being on his motion, excused from serving on the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate, Ordered, That Mr. Smith be appointed in his stead. Mr. Smith, being on his motion, excused from serving on the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate, Ordered, That a member be appointed by the Vice President to fill the vacancy; and Mr. Pearce was appointed. On motion by Mr. Underwood, Ordered, That Williams & Griffith have leave to withdraw their petition and papers. On motion, The Senate adjourned. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1849. The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution, submitted by Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, the 7th instant, in relation to the appointment of a regent of the Smithsonian Institution; and On the question to agree thereto, It was determined in the affirmative, { On motion by Mr. Benton, S Yeas... 32 7 The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators present, Those who voted in the affirmative are, Messrs. Atchison, Badger, Baldwin, Berrien, Chase, Clarke, Cooper, Corwin, Davis, of Massachusetts, Davis, of Mississippi, Dawson, Dayton, Downs, Fitzpatrick, Greene, Hale, Houston, Jones, Mangum, Mason, Miller, Morton, Pearce, Phelps, Seward, Shields, Smith, Spruance, Sturgeon, Underwood, Upham, Wales. Those who voted in the negative are, Messrs. Benton, Dickinson, Hamlin, Hunter, Norris, Rusk, Tur Whereupon, The Vice President appointed the honorable James Alfred Pearce to be a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the expiration of his term as a Senator the third instant. Mr. Walker submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to: Resolved, That the select committee to inquire into the eligibility of the honorable James Shields to a seat in the Senate of the United States as a member thereof, be authorized to send for persons and papers, and to call to their aid a person authorized to administer oaths, and to take the testimony of such persons as the committee may deem proper, and to procure the proper authentication of any papers or records which the committee may at any time have before it relating to the subject-matter under its consideration. Mr. Walker presented a copy of the record of naturalization in the case of the honorable James Shields; which was referred to the said select committee. Mr. Walker submitted the following resolution for consideration: Resolved, That until otherwise ordered, the Secretary of the Senate pay to John Skirving, for his services in ventilating the Senate chamber during the sessions, an allowance not exceeding the pay of a messenger, together with one dollar a day for an assistant. The Senate, by unanimous consent, proceeded to consider the said resolution, and disagreed thereto. On motion by Mr. Felch, Ordered, That the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have leave to withdraw their memorial for compensation for property relinquished by their missionaries and teachers on the removal of the Cherokee Indians from the State of Georgia under the treaty of 1835. On motion by Mr. Corwin, Ordered, That James D. Cobb have leave to withdraw his petition and papers. On motion by Mr. Badger, The Senate adjourned. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1849. The Vice President laid before the Senate a letter from the honorable Reverdy Johnson, resigning his seat in the Senate of the United States as one of the Senators from the State of Maryland; which was read. On motion by Mr. Pearce, and by unanimous consent, Resolved, That the Vice President be requested to inform the Executive of the State of Maryland that the honorable Reverdy Johnson has this day resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. On motion by Mr. Borland, Ordered, That a member be added to the Committee on Printing, and that the appointment be made by the Vice President; and Mr. Smith was appointed. On motion by Mr. Webster, Ordered, That when the Senate adjourn it be to Monday next; and, On motion, The Senate adjourned. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1849. Mr. Webster submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested, if not in his judgment incompatible with the public interest, to transmit to the Senate any instructions which may have been given to the minister of the United States in London, offering a farther extension of reciprocity and equality, in the laws of navigation; and especially such instructions, if any, as contemplate the opening of the coasting trade of the United States to the ships and vessels of other nations. The Senate proceeded, by unanimous consent, to consider the resolution; and the resolution was agreed to. On motion by Mr. Mason, Ordered, That Ann Chase have leave to withdraw her petition and papers. Mr. Jones, being on his motion, excused from serving on the Committee of Claims; On motion by Mr. Bright, Ordered, That a member be appointed by the Vice President to fill the vacancy; and Mr. Turney was appointed. On motion by Mr. Underwood, Ordered, That Samuel Walker and Francis G. Beatty have leave to withdraw their petitions and papers. After the consideration of executive business, On motion by Mr. Webster, The Senate adjourned. TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1849. Mr. Mason submitted the following report: The select committee to whom was referred the certificate of elec tion of the honorable James Shields to a seat in this body, with instructions to inquire into the eligibility of the said James Shields to such seat, report That having given due notice to the said James Shields, he appeared before them, and they took the subject into consideration. They further report, that the said certificate of election declares that the said James Shields was chosen a Senator of the United States by the Legislature of the State of Illinois on the thirteenth day of January last; that it further appears, and is admitted by the said James Shields, that he is an alien by birth, and the only proof before the committee of the naturalization of the said James Shields in the United States is contained in the copy of a certificate of naturalization in the circuit court of Effingham county, in the said State of Illinois, which is annexed to and made part of this report; by which certificate it appears that the said James Shields was admitted by said court a citizen of the United States on the 21st day of October, 1849. The committee therefore report the following resolution: Resolved, That the election of James Shields to be a Senator of the United States was void, he not having been a citizen of the United States the term of years required as a qualification to be a Senator of the United States. Exparte, James Shields. This day personally appeared in open court James Shields, and made and filed the following declaration: James Shields being duly sworn in open court, declares on oath that he was born in the county of Tyrone, in the kingdom of Ireland, on the seventeenth day of May, about the year eighteen hundred and ten; that he emigrated to the United States of America while a minor, and continued to reside within the United States three years next preceding his arriving at the age of twenty one years, and has continued to reside therein since to the present time; he is now upwards of twenty-one years of age, and has resided upwards of five years within the State of Illinois aforesaid, one of the United States; that it is his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to the Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland; and he further declares that for three years next preceding the present application, it has been his bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States. JAMES SHIELDS. Subscribed and sworn to in open court this twenty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and forty. WILLIAM H. BLAKELY, This day personally appeared in open court James Shields, a free white person, upwards of twenty-one years of age, and applied to be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, and who, being duly sworn, declares on oath, in open court, that he will support the constitution of the United States, and doth absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty whatsoever, and particularly of the Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, whereof he was born a subject; and the court being satisfied that he has fully complied with the requirements of the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, and that he has resided within the United States upwards of five years and within the State of Illinois upwards of one year next preceding this ap plication, and that during the whole of the time of his residence in the United States he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same; it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said James. Shields be admitted a citizen of the United States, and that he is hereby admitted as such. I, John S. Kelly, clerk of the circuit court in and for said county, certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the record of naturali |