Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1798.

A petition of sundry freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Roxbury, in the county of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, by their committee specially appointed at a town meeting legally assembled, on Tuesday, the twentieth day of the present month, was presented to the House and read, stating that they have full confidence that the wisdom of Congress will ultimately direct to the adoption of such measures as shall place the means of protection to our commerce more efficaciously and more immediately under their own direction and control, and thereby prevent any inconsiderate individual from possessing the means of producing a convulsion that may shake the repose of the United States, and plunge [t]he citizens in war; and praying that the merchants may not be permitted to arm their vessels by public authority.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

A petition of Jonathan Young, junior, of York, in the State of Massachusetts, a soldier in a company of artillery belonging to the proportion of the said State of the eighty thousand effective militia, ordered to be held in readiness by an act of the last session of Congress, was presented to the House and read, praying to be placed on the list of pensioners, in consideration of the loss of his left hand, which was injured in such a manner, while the said company were exercising their artillery, on the eighteenth of October last, as to occasion an immediate amputation; and, also, that the necessary expense incurred by the amputation and cure of his said hand may be paid out of the Treasury of the United States.

Ordered, That the said petition, together with the petition of Jonathan Haskill, presented the eighteenth of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, be referred to the Committee of Claims.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying a statement of the several existing contracts made for the subsistence of the Army, in pursuance of a resolution of this House of the twenty-eighth instant, which were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The House proceeded to consider the report of the managers appointed to attend a conference with the Senate on the subject-matter of the amendments depending between the two Houses, to the bill, entitled "An act for the relief of the refugees from the British provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia," which lay on the table: Whereupon,

Resolved, That this House doth recede from their disagreement to the ninth, tenth, and eleventh amendments, adhered to by the Senate, to the said bill.

Resolved, That this House doth also recede from their disagreement to so much of the twelfth amendment of the Senate as is contained in the following words: "Provided, That, in considering what compensation ought to be made by virtue of this act, all grants which may have been made by the United States, or individual States, shall be considered, either in whole or in part, as the case may be, a satisfaction to those who may have received the same," on which the Senate have further insisted; and doth agree to the same, with the following amendments, to wit:

After the word "grants," insert "except military grants."

After the word "considered," insert "at the just value thereof, at the time the same were made respectively."

Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith.

Mr. Dwight Foster, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Blair M'Clenachan, presented on the nineteenth of February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Harper, from the Committee of Ways and Means, presented, according to order, a bill making appropriations for the Military Establishment, for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and for other purposes; which was received and read the first time.

On motion,

The said bill was read the second time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next.

Mr. Clopton, from the Joint Committee for Enrolled Bills, reported that the committee had examined an enrolled bill, entitled "An act to continue in force the act, entitled 'An act prohibiting, for a limited time, the exportation of arms and ammunition, and for encouraging the importation thereof," and had found the same to be truly enrolled: Whereupon,

Mr. Speaker signed the said enrolled bill.

Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith.

On a motion made and seconded that the House do come to the following resolution:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House the despatches from the Envoys Extraordinary from the United States to the French Republic, mentioned in his message of the nineteenth instant; or such parts thereof as considerations of public safety and interest, in his opinion, may permit:

Ordered, That the consideration of the said motion be postponed until Monday next.

The several orders of the day were further postponed until Monday next.

And then the House adjourned until Monday morning eleven o'clock.