JOINT RESOLUTIONS. 979

charter of said institutions and banks to be paid
to the State, in augmentation of The Free School
Fund as is provided for in Section three, Chapter
one hundred and forty-four of the Act of January
Session, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and in
case of refusal on the part of said banking institu-
tions to pay such sum as is due and unpaid, the
said Comptroller is hereby directed to resort to
such course as he may deem most expedient to en-
force the payment of the same.

No. 5. Report of the Committee on Federal Relations.

The committees pursuant to the order of the General Assembly have had in consideration the Executive communication which transmitted to the General Assembly, the official notification, from the Senate of the United States, that they have rejected the Senator elected from this State, Philip Francis Thomas. The cause assigned by the Senate is that Mr. Thomas had given aid and comfort to the rebellion, and was not entitled to take the oath of office. This oath of office is a denial of having given such aid and comfort, the Act of Congress entitles and requires each Senator to take it, Mr. Thomas was certainly entitled to take it, if he could. He protested that he could take it in sincerity and truth : he offered to take it and the Senate would not allow him. The only specific act found by their Committee of Investigation was in giving one hundred dollars to a son going South during the war. The proof was clear that he gave it, not to induce his son to go, but because he could not prevent it after earn- est and anxious effort to prevent it. On such grounds a majority of the Senate have undertaken to put aside and nullify the election of a State.

Report of committee.