proceeding of the Executive not warranted by the law, and did refuse to confirm the appointment of Colonel Gadsden; that the President submitted the appointment anew, with an elaborate argument, to justify his execution of the law; that after a careful examination, and an able report from a committee, the Senate did, by an increased majority, reiterate their dissent from the opinion of the Executive, and did again reject the appointment of Colonel Gadsden; that this decision of the Senate was made with no view to party opinions or personal influences, but with the express acknowledgment in the report of their committee of the distinguished merits of Colonel Gadsden, ånd on the ground that neither the law nor justice admitted of his appointment and the consequent dismissal of both officers, who then held the commissions of adjutant general, and who, the Senate thought, had also rendered some service during the war to support their strict legal claim; that the President, therefore, took no further action in the matter, but during the rest of his administration reported the office vacant, (as see the army registers after that time;) that at the reduction Colonel Butler was appointed to a regiment, which he declined, and left the military service, and accepted a civil appointment under the government, as surveyor general of Florida; that at the same time this memorialist was sent back to his lineal commission in an inferior grade in the artillery, where he remained in service, endeavoring to procure from the administration the recognition of his rights according to the law and the decision of the Senate, and to be recognised as adjutant general; in which endeavor he was not successful till the incoming of the next administration, when, by the concurrence and prompt action of the President and the Senate, he was at once (being two days only after the inauguration) placed in the office of adjutant general, without, as he believes, a dissenting voice in the army; but no date of commission being expressed in his nomination, (overlooking therein the rule in all military promotions and appointments,) he took date from the confirmation by the Senate, thereby losing his military rank and pay during the time his commission was suspended, and the office declared vacant by the former President. That this absence of date in his new commission, or even the issuing of a new commission at all, was in part the result of haste and inadvertence, may be inferred from a subsequent proceeding in the Senate, February 6, 1827, when Colonel Bissell being likewise renominated for appointment, the Senate resolved, by a vote of 37 to 2, that he was entitled to his back date; and reasserting, in the report of their Committee on Military Affairs, the principle of their former decisions in 1822, to wit: "that the Senate maintained that he had never been out of the army.'

It is to procure relief from the injustice and injury which the memorialist suffered in the premises, that he now makes this application; and, on this showing, he respectfully submits that he was the sole person entitled, on the resignation of Colonel Butler, to the office of adjutant general, as maintained by the Senate, and finally acquiesced in by the President; that this decision must now be admitted to be correct; that it ought to cover the whole case and the whole time; and that his claim was valid while it was suspended and in debate.

In regard to army promotions, the rule is invariable; and this memorialist knows no instance, during the long period in which he has held the office of adjutant general-the office through which all army commissions are issued-where the benefit of the rule (there is now no ex

ception) has been denied to any officer. And this rule is, that in all cases of promotion, however long the commission may be withheld by ignorance of the vacancy, by disputed claims, by failure of the Executive to send in the list, by delay of the Senate to act on it, or by other accident, yet when the commission is conferred, it relates back to the vacancy, and dates from the time when the promotion was due to the officer. The rank and commission of every officer now in the army, who has received a promotion from his first commission, is now held under this rule.

The case presented in the memorial is stronger than the right to promotion. It is the case of a commission actually held, as maintained by the Senate; the exercise of which was temporarily suspended by the Executive and then restored.

This memorialist, therefore, prays to be allowed the pay belonging to his rank and commission during the time it was unjustly held from him; and with this memorial he submits certain documents, as evidence of the facts hereinstated, and a brief argument, if any argument shall appear necessary, to the committee who are to consider and report on the case. Respectfully submitted.

ROGER JONES, Adjutant General United States Army. WASHINGTON, December 27, 1848.

1st Session.

No. 12.

IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

JANUARY 16, 1850.

Submitted, and ordered to be printed.

[Motion to print 10,000 additional copies of the report, with the bill annexed, referred to the Committee on Printing. January 21, report in favor of printing, and the report concurred in.】

Mr. BUTLER made the following

REPORT:

[To accompany bill S. No. 23.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred "a bill to provide for the more effectual execution of the third clause of the second section of the fourth article of the constitution of the United States," have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to refer to and adopt the accompanying report heretofore made on the same subject, as the one which they would submit to the Senate on this occasion, to explain the reasons of the original bill.

MAY 3, 1848.

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom were referred certain resolutions of the legislature of Kentucky, "in favor of the passage of a law by Congress to enable citizens of slaveholding States to recover slaves, when escaping into non slaveholding States," have had the same under consideration, and have bestowed upon them that degree of attention and deliberation which resolutions of such grave import should at all times demand from the legislature of the confederacy. The facts and circumstances which occasioned these proceedings are fully set forth in the report of the committee and the action of the government of Kentucky, and are as follows:

Resolutions of the legislature of Kentucky, in favor of the pas age of a law by Congress to enable citizens of slaveholding States to recover slaves when escaping into non-slaveholding States.

REPORT AND RESOLUTIONS of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Committee on Federal Relations, to whom were referred the proceedings of a meeting of the people of the counties of Trimble and Carroll, in relation to a recent abolition mob in the town of Marshall, State of Michigan, have had the same under consideration, and submit the following report:

It appears to the satisfaction of the committee that one Francis Trout. man was employed as agent and attorney in fact for Francis Giltner, of the county of Carroll, to go to the said town of Marshall, in the State of Michigan, to reclaim, take, and bring back to the State of Kentucky certain

fugitive and runaway slaves, the property of said Giltner; that said Troutman proceeded, under the authority thus given him, to said town of Marshall, for the purpose of reclaiming and bringing home to the owner the slaves aforesaid; and whilst endeavoring to arrest said slaves, a mob, composed of free negroes, runaway slaves, and white men, to the number of from two to three hundred, forbade said Troutman, and those who accompanied him for that purpose, to arrest and take into their possession the slaves aforesaid, and by their threats, riotous and disorderly conduct, did prevent said Troutman, and those associated with him for that purpose, from taken into their possession the slaves aforesaid.

Your committee regret that the citizens of the town of Marshall, in the State aforesaid, have thus acted and conducted themselves; and such conduct and such outrages committed upon the rights and citizens of the State of Kentucky, or any other State of this Union, must necessarily result in great mischief, and is well calculated, and must, if persisted in by the citizens of Michigan, or any other of the free States of this Union, terminate in breaking up and destroying the peace and harmony that is desirable, by every good citizen of all the States of this Union, should exist between the several States, and is in violation of the laws of the United States and the constitutional rights of the citizens of the slave States. The affidavit of said Troutman is appended to this report and made part hereof, (marked A.) Wherefore,

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the legislature of the State of Michigan be, and is hereby, respectfully but earnestly requested to give the subject that consideration which its importance demands, and to take such action thereon as in the judgment of said legislature is deemed proper and right, with a view to maintain that peace, amity, and good feeling which ought to exist between the citizens of the States of Michigan and Kentucky, and for the purpose of enabling the citizens of Kentucky to reclaim their runaway and fugitive slaves to the State of Michigan.

Resoived further, That our senators and representatives in Congress be requested to turn their attention to the subject embraced in the foregoing report and resolution, and urge upon the consideration of Congress the importance of passing such laws as will fully enable the citizens of the State of Kentucky and the other slave States to reclaim and obtain their slaves that may run away to the free or non slaveholding States of this Union; that they also declare by said laws the severest penalty for their violation that the constitution of the United States will tolerate.

Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward to the governor of the State of Michigan a copy of the foregoing report and resolutions, with a request that he submit the same to the legislature of his State, for its consideration and action; that he also forward a copy of the same to each of our senators and representatives in Congress.

Approved March 1, 1847.

By the Governor:

LESLIE COMBS,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
ARCHIBALD DIXON,

Speaker of the Senate.

WM. OWSLEY.

G. B. KINKEAD,

Secretary of State.