HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WEDNESDAY, January 28, 1863.On motion of Mr. BIRD the rules were suspended, and the bill [S. 47] to fix the term of Common Pleas Courts in Allen and other counties was read the second and third time and finally passed.
REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES
Recommending that House bills 35, 49, 51, 55 and 92 (see pages 54, 57 and 85) be laid on the table, were severally concurred in.
RESOLUTIONS OF INQUIRY
Addressed to appropriate committee, were offered, read and severally adopted, to-wit:
By Mr. DONALDSON,as to the propriety of authorizing county clerks to issue, without cost, letters of administration to orphans of soldiers.
By Mr. WOLFE, to inquire under what law the exemption of persons from military duty on account of conscientious scruples was confined to but a portion of the religious sects of the State, and an assessment levied only on 40 per cent, of such persons.
Mr. HARNEY offered a resolution, which was adopted, appointing a committee of seven to visit the State Arsenal, and report the result of their investigation to the people of the State, if expedient.
Mr. JONES offered a resolution, which was rejected, instructing the Committee on Education to report on the propriety of assessing a school tax on colored persons for their exclusive benefit.
page: 99[View Page 99]A MILITARY BOARD.
Mr. COOK offered a resolution instructing the Military Committee to inquire into the expediency of so amending the militia law as to place the military power of the State into the hands of a majority of the following State officers, the Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Attorney general.
Mr. BROWN was in favor of a military board taking out of the Governor's hand the military power. The precedent set by She Republicans or union men of the State of Kentucky in establishing such aboard ought to be followed by the Abolitionists of Indiana. He would permit the Governor to be on the Board, but put enough honest men on to control it. In his own section of the State he had heard grievous complaints as to the mismanagement, the partiality, the incompetency with which the military affairs of the State had been conducted.
Mr. NEWMAN followed, eulogizing Gov. Morton. He was a human being, however, and liable to commit errors. There was no necessity for establishing the board proposed.
Mr. CASON argued to show that the re-solution was out of order. By the Constitution the Governor was invested with, supreme authority in the regard.
Mr. BROWN desired to ask the gentleman from Boone and Hendricks (Mr. Cason.) if the establishment of the Board proposed would in any way prevent the Governor from acting as Commander-in-Chief?
Mr. CASON. Unquestionably that board would control the Governor, and, therefore, he could not act independently, as the Constitution requires.
Mr. MOORMAN said that depriving the Governor of control was the evident effect of the appointment of the Board in Kentucky, and as that was endorsed by the gentleman from Jackson, (Mr. Brown.) it was presumed that he desired the same effect here.
Mr. WOOLLEN offered an amendment that nothing in the resolution shall be construed to indicate a desire on the part of the House to abridge the constitutional rights of the Governor.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Mr. BROWN answered the Constitutional objections urged by the gentleman from Boone and Hendricks, (Mr. Cason,) against the resolution.
Mr. GREGORY, Mr. WOOLLEN, and Mr. HARNEY, continued the discussion.
The resolution was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
The joint resolution (H. R; 16see page 82) in regard to Congressmen from districts under military control was ordered to the third reading.
PAY OF SOLDIERS.
The joint resolution [H. R. 17--see page 32] for increase of pay of privates and noncommissioned officers was read.
Mr. HOLCOMB offered an amendment reducing the any of officers under the rank of Major twenty-five per cent. Major and higher rank pay decreased fifty per cent.
Mr. HIGGINS made an ineffectual motion to table the amendment--yeas 34, nays 56.
Mr. BROWN was in favor of increasing the pay of the private soldier, but was at the same time in favor of decreasing the pay of Major Generals, Brigadier Generals, Colonels, Majors and Captains, many of whom were skulking from the field and loafing about hotels and whisky shops.-- He hoped the day was not far distant when the army would be dispensed with, but until then he would stand for justice to the private soldier.
Mr. CASON offered an amendment to the resolution to raise the pay of non-commissioned officers in proportion to that of privates.
Mr. WOLFE made an ineffectual motion to table the resolution and amendments.
On motion by Mr. HOLCOMB the resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs with instructions to report on Thursday of next week.
JESSE D. BRIGHT.
The joint resolution [H. R. 18] endorsing the expulsion of Jesse D. Bright from the Senate of the United States was read the second time.
On motion by Mr. HANNA it was laid on the table by yeas 52, nays 39.
Pending the roll call--
Mr. BROWN said: I do not vote to lay the resolution on the table because I am an admirer or endorser of Mr. Bright.-- Neither do I so cast my vote as evidence that I endorse the letter that he wrote to Mr. Lincoln. But I so cast my vote because I believe that that partizan Senate expelled him therefrom because he did not indorse the imbecile prosecution upon the part of the present Administration of the present war; because I have good reason to believe that the Abolitionists of that Senate expressed their willingness to retain Mr. Bright if he would recall certain statements and sustain the Administration in its war policy; because I have good reason to believe that his refusal to indorse the war policy of the Administration was the real cause of his expulsion, and not the letter to which that Senate referred.
THE SECOND READING.
House joint resolutions 19 to 25 inclusive (described on pages 85, 93 and 94 of these Reports,) and Senate joint resolutions 1 and 2 (described on pages 44 and 69) were severally read the second time.
