The PRESIDENT protempore. The Chair has received and been renested to present to the Senate the petition o Mrs. Elizabeth Mr. Smith, of NewLondon, Connecticut, the widow of Richard H. Smith, late a lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. artillery, who was lost on board the steamer SanFranciseo, on the 24th of December, 1853, bound from NewYork to California with his regiment. The petitioner prays that compensation may be may e to her or the property which was lost on the steamer and which was nearly all they had in the world. This petition will be referred, if there is no objection, to the ComClaims. It is so referred. Mr. SHERMAN presented a petition of citizens of Ohio who served as soldiers in the armies of the U.S., praying for an equalization of bounties; which was referred to the ComMilAffrs . Mr. HOWE presented a petition of citizens of Manitowoc, hVisconsin, praying for an approriation for the improvement of the harbor at the mouth of the anitowoc river; which was referred to the ComCommerce. Mr. HOWE. I also present the memorial of A. C. Sheldon and a large number of other citizens of the State of Wisconsin. praying that that rtion of our people of African descent resi Hgut in the late insurgent States who were born on our soil; who have toiled without recompense that the nation might row in wealth; who have willingly fought an labored in the Federal armies that the republic might live and “receive no detriment; who, during the late struggle for the preservation of our Union, were ever found faithful and loyal, while treason seemed to be or was the normal condition of many of the whites in the insurgent States; and who, by the chances of war, have been raised to the condition of free men, shall henceforth be classed as citizens of the U.S.; that the general rights and franchises belonging to citizens of the U.S. he henceforth extended to them; that the Government of the U.S. protect them in the exercise of those rights and franchises; that the recognition of said rights and franchises by the several late insurgent States, and also the reco ition of the equality of the freedmen before the law with the citizens thereof, be a condition recedentto the readmission of said States to the full privileges of loyal States of the Union; that the Government retain the organization known as the Freedmen s Bureau over the late slave States of the Union, and increase its authority and efficiency; and that a system of free education be devised and at into operation in the insur gent States for the benefit of the children of all classes of the people thereof. I move the ref erence of this memorial to the JtComReconstruction. The motion was agreed to. Mr. BROWN presented the memorial of A. L. H. Crenshaw, praying for compensation for property alleged to have been taken and destroyed by the U.S. authorities in the State of Missouri, while he was a prisoner of war on suspicion of being a rebel spy; which was referred to the ComClaims. Mr. WILLIAMS presented resolutions of the Legislature of Oregon, in favor of the city of Portland, in that State, being included in the port of entry at the mouth of Columbia river, so that vessels enterin at Astoria may nnloa at Portland, and that ended warehouses may be established at the latter place; which were ordered to lie on the table, and be printed. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.