2d Session. No. 4. JAMES E. STEWART. DECEMBER 22, 1854.-Laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed. Mr. FAULKNER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of James E. Stewart, late a captain in the battalion of Maryland and District of Columbia volunteers, in the war with Mexico, have accordingly had the same under consideration, and submit the following report: It appears, from the evidence, that the memorialist entered the service as captain of company A, in said battalion, on the 30th of May, 1846, at the city of Washington, for the period of twelve months; that upon the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, who was killed in the action at Monterey on the 21st of September, 1846, the memorialist, by virtue of his position as senior officer, became the officer in command of the battalion, and so continued until the 24th November, 1846, when Major R. A. Buchanan, United States army, assumed the command by regular appointment. The memorialist claims the difference between the pay of captain and the pay and emoluments of a lieutenant colonel, from the 21st of September, 1846, the date of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, and the 30th of May, 1847, when the battalion was mustered out of service. How the memorialist can claim pay as a lieutenant colonel for a time when Major Buchanan was regularly in discharge of the duties of the command, the committee cannot conceive. If the memorialist is entitled to any additional allowance whatever, it would only be for the time between the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, on the 21st of September, 1846, and the appointment of Major Buchanan, on the 24th of November, 1846, a period of about two months. The committee are not willing, however, to admit his claim even to that extent, for the reason that they are of opinion that the mere temporary imposition of an additional honor or responsibility upon an officer can give him no claim to extra compensation. The pay is graduated according to the rank of the officer. There was scarcely a regiment in Mexico which was not at one time under the command of a captain, and yet those officers have never set up any claim to compensation beyond their rank. To allow, then, this demand, would be opening the door to an endless batch of claims of the JAMES E. STEWART. DECEMBER 22, 1854.-Laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed. Mr. FAULKNER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of James E. Stewart, late a captain in the battalion of Maryland and District of Columbia volunteers, in the war with Mexico, have accordingly had the same under consideration, and submit the following report: It appears, from the evidence, that the memorialist entered the service as captain of company A, in said battalion, on the 30th of May, 1846, at the city of Washington, for the period of twelve months; that upon the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, who was killed in the action at Monterey on the 21st of September, 1846, the memorialist, by virtue of his position as senior officer, became the officer in command of the battalion, and so continued until the 24th November, 1846, when Major R. A. Buchanan, United States army, assumed the command by regular appointment. The memorialist claims the difference between the pay of captain and the pay and emoluments of a lieutenant colonel, from the 21st of September, 1846, the date of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, and the 30th of May, 1847, when the battalion was mustered out of service. How the memorialist can claim pay as a lieutenant colonel for a time when Major Buchanan was regularly in discharge of the duties of the command, the committee cannot conceive. If the memorialist is entitled to any additional allowance whatever, it would only be for the time between the death of Lieutenant Colonel Watson, on the 21st of September, 1846, and the appointment of Major Buchanan, on the 24th of November, 1846, a period of about two months. The committee are not willing, however, to admit his claim even to that extent, for the reason that they are of opinion that the mere temporary imposition of an additional honor or responsibility upon an officer can give him no claim to extra compensation. The pay is graduated according to the rank of the officer. There was scarcely a regiment in Mexico which was not at one time under the command of a captain, and yet those officers have never set up any claim to compensation beyond their rank. To allow, then, this demand, would be opening the door to an endless batch of claims of the same character, and for the performance temporarily of duties which are coveted as the means of honorable distinction, but have never heretofore been regarded as conferring any additional claim to pay. For these reasons, the committee ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the memorial. 2d Session. No. 5. SUBTERRANEAN TELEGRAPH TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. [To accompany S. bill No. 60.] DECEMBER 27, 1854. Mr. FARLEY, from the Committee on Territories, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Territories, to whom was referred the memorial of Hiram O. Alden and James Eddy, asking for a right of way through the public lands of the United States, for the construction of a subterranean line of telegraph, for the purpose of establishing telegraphic intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific States, and a grant of land on certain conditions in aid of the same; and also Senate bill No. 60, "authorizing the construction of a subterranean line of telegraph from the Mississippi or Missouri rivers to the Pacific ocean," based upon a similar memorial, have had the subject under consideration, and beg leave to make the following report: During the second session of the 32d Congress, the memorial of Messrs. Alden and Eddy was presented and referred in both houses. A favorable bill was reported in the Senate, but not finally acted upon for want of time. At the past session the subject again received a favorable report in the Senate, and a bill carrying out the design of the memorial was passed, and is the same which was referred to your committee. The larger portion of the Senate report of February, 1853, and the whole of that of February, 1854, embracing the views taken of the feasibility of the enterprise, and its importance to the country, from its first introduction into Congress, are hereto appended. The project contemplated in the bill is of transcendent public concern, and possesses the merits of practicability and early completion, if it can have the encouragement of the government. It provides Firstly. That a right of way shall be given through the public lands of the United States for the construction of a subterranean line of telegraph, (of at least two independent conductors,) from the Mississippi or Missouri rivers to the Pacific ocean, at San Francisco, in California. Secondly. That it be constructed by individual enterprise, and at individual expense. Thirdly. That after its completion, in a specified and most permanent manner, the free use thereof, to the extent of eight thousand words per month, shall be tendered to the general government, and the enjoyment of that privilege secured to it in perpetuity, with the reservation to the government of the further prior use to any extent within the |