Mr. REILEY made a prayer in the following language:

Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. As taught by Thy Son Jesus Christ, we recognize the filial relation in which we stand to-day; and approach Thee as children approaching their parent; and yet, at the same time, we recognize the fact that Thou art the Infinite God, the Governor of Worlds, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. We appear before Thee to let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy servants, who have here met together as directed by the people, to ascertain and to give to them for their suffrages proper persons to take the positions and perform the duties of President and Vice President of the United States. We thank Thy holy name for this Convention, for the healthy indication it gives of the fact that we still have a government. Notwithstanding our nationality has been assailed, even in the home of its professed friends; notwithstanding plans of treason have been concocted with great ingenuity, and long matured; notwithstanding the noble fabric built by our fathers, under Thy guidance, has been assailed by armed bands, exceedingly numerous, well equipped, and well marshaled, we praise Thy name that, after three years of turmoil, of war, of bloodshed, and of commotion, there is still the fact before us, unanswerable, that we have a government. We praise Thy name that, notwithstanding the sympathies of the world, of the other nations of the earth, have been for the most part against us- the sympathies at least of those high in power-we still demonstrate to them the fact that we have a government. We thank Thee that it holds its sessions in the State of Maryland, upon whose original soil stands the capital of the United States, but which, a short period ago, seemed so near the vortex of secession. We praise Thy name that this Convention holds its session in the city of Baltimore, from whose breezes, but a short time ago, early in the present struggle, the banner of our common country was exiled. We thank Thee that that banner floats in triumph over our State and over our city; and we thank Thee that the Convention which, composed of the representatives of the people, is to indicate the next President and Vice-President of the United States, holds its session here. We pray Thee to grant to these Thy servants wisdom, that they may conduct their plans all in the fear of God, and for the promotion of the best purposes. May they select the right men to take the responsible positions that are now so interesting to us; and grant when they have selected the men as candidates for those positions, that the people may come up and roll in an overwhelming majority that shall forever settle the question that the authority of the United States Government is the supreme law of the land. We pray Thee to let thy blessing rest upon the President of the United States, upon the members of his Cabinet, and upon our Congressmen, and upon all who are in authority. Wilt thou give to them the wisdom that they now eminently need; and we pray Thee to let Thy blessing rest upon our country, once so highly favored, but now so war-stirred, whose soil is now so blood-stained. Oh, do Thou lift this curtain of darkness on which we behold the angry traces of Thy wrath, and may the sun of peace early shine forth upon a united and happy nation. We pray Thee to bless our soldiers in the field and sailors on the ocean, and give them great success in their enterprises. May victory perch upon their banner, and may we, as a nation, come forth from this war purified, and testify in a sense such as we have never testified before to the nations of the earth in favor of human freedom. Grant, we beseech Thee, that when we shall pass through this ordeal, it shall be, while the fires of the furnace have not left their smell upon our garments, they have melted off the chain of the last slave. All of which we ask in Christ's name. Amen.

ORGANIZATION.

The CHAIRMAN.-What is the further pleasure of the Convention with regard to the earliest possible permanent organization? Divers committees, I find, were appointed at the last Convention, the proceedings of which I have before me. I think the next business which was transacted four years ago, was the calling of the States for the purpose of selecting a Committee to report officers for the Convention. Is it the will of the meeting that the States should be now called for that purpose?

Mr. SIMON CAMERON, of Pennsylvania.-I move that the list of the States be called, and that some member of the delegation from each State furnish the Secretary with a list of its delegates.

The motion, being seconded, was put and carried.

The CHAIRMAN.-In what order shall the list be called?

Mr. CAMERON.-The Secretary has a printed list of the States, and he had better call them according to his roll. When the States are called, some delegate from each State can furnish the Secretary with a list of the names of the delegates from his State.

The CHAIRMAN.-The Secretary will please proceed to call the list in the order mentioned.

The SECRETARY.-The first State on the list is Maine.

Mr. Lor M. MORRILL, of Maine.—I beg to suggest that there is a misapprehension in regard to the motion just adopted. I think, perhaps, it will be impracticable to carry it into execution.

The CHAIRMAN.-It is not in order to discuss it now. It has already been adopted.

Mr. Lor M. MORRILL, of Maine.-I rise to obviate the difficulty by a motion which I shall submit, if the Chair will entertain it. I move to reconsider the vote by which the list of delegates was directed to be called for, with a view of submitting a motion to raise a Committee to receive the credentials and report a list of delegates.

The CHAIRMAN.-That motion is in order.

Mr. SIMON CAMERON, of Pennsylvania.-With great deference to the gentleman from Maine, I think he could not have understood my motion correctly, or he would not object to it. My motion was that the roll of States should be called over, and that, as each State was called, some gentleman of the delegation should present such a list of delegates as has been made out by the delegation. After that, of course, a Committee will be formed from all the States for the purpose of investigating

those rolls, seeing if there are any contested seats, and deciding between the contestants; or, if there be none contested, the list will come back in full. That will save a great deal of time, and there can be no difficulty in carrying it out. I trust there will be no reconsideration.

Mr. L. M. MORRILL, of Maine. I perceive that between the gentleman from Pennsylvania and myself there is no difference as to the object to be attained. But, in a body where the delegates are unknown, where, possibly, some of the seats are contested, it seems to me utterly impracticable, at this time, to present a list of the delegates from the several States; and my purpose is, if this vote shall be reconsidered, to propose that the roll of States be called, and that each delegation be requested to propose one name from its delegation, to constitute a Committee on Credentials, to whom the credentials of the delegates from the several States shall be referred.

Mr. THOMPSON CAMPBELL, of California.-I think the course suggested by the gentleman from Pennsylvania is the course ordinarily pursued in such conventions, and I see no difficulty in it. When the State of Maine is called, I apprehend the delegation from that State will be prepared to present their credentials. There are no self-constituted delegates in this Convention. They all come by authority, as representatives of the constituencies which have elected them. I apprehend, therefore, there will be no difficulty in carrying out the motion already adopted, and it is the best and speediest course of ascertaining who are the members of this Convention.

The CHAIRMAN put the question on the motion to reconsider, and decided that it was agreed to, and that the question recurred on the original motion of Mr. CAMERON.

Mr. SIMON CAMERON, of Pennsylvania.-Now, Mr. President, I submit another motion. I move that a Committee, composed of one delegate from each State, be appointed, for the purpose of receiving a list of delegates, and deciding who are entitled to be present.

The CHAIRMAN.-Does the gentleman offer that as a substitute for the other motion?

Mr. S. CAMERON, of Pa.-Yes, sir..

Mr. JAMES H. LANE, of Kansas.-Is that to apply only to States where there is no contest?

Mr. S. CAMERON, of Pa.-No; I mean that it shall embrace all.

Mr. GEORGE W. PATTERSON, from N. Y.-I think it is the most simple thing in the world, when a State is called, for the chairman of the delegation from that State to rise in his place and send to the Chair a list of the delegates from that State. I cannot but think that some dele

gate from the State of Maine has a list of all the delegates from that State, and if he has, he can send it to the Chair. [Order.]

The CHAIRMAN.-Allow me to remind the gentleman that the house have not only reconsidered the question to which he is speaking, but are considering another motion which has been substituted for it by the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. G. W. PATTERSON, of N. Y.-I move to amend that motion by inserting in place of it the original motion that was made, that the delegation from each State, as the States are called, furnish to the Chair a list of the members from that State. The State of N. Y., I believe, has about as many delegates as the State of Maine, and the Chairman of our delegation will be able, when the State of N. Y. is called, to present a full list of the delegates from that State. Now, Sir, I move you that, as the States are called, one delegate from each State furnish to the Chair a list of the members from that State.

Mr. S. CAMERON, of Penn.-To save time, I accept the proposition to amend.

Mr. A. BRANDAGEE, of Conn.-I have an objection, for two reasons, to the proposed amendment of the gentleman from N. Y. In the first place, it is not an amendment at all; in the next place it is not germane to the resolution offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania; it is a substitute for it, and therefore not in order. I insist upon the originał motion being put.

Mr. G. W. PATTERSON, of N. Y.-The gentleman from Pennsylvania has withdrawn his motion, and the question now is on mine.

The CHAIRMAN.-The Chair will state the position of the case as he understands it. The House passed the resolution offered by the gentleman from Penna., and then reconsidered it. The effect of the reconsideration was, to leave the motion that was originally passed standing upon its passage. Thereupon the mover of the resolution, nobody objecting, offered a substitute for it. Whether or not the substitute and the original motion were so different that the substitute could not properly be received, as has been suggested, I shall not now undertake to say; but, under the circumstances, I decide that it was properly presented. I have doubts, however, whether, after that has been done, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, or anybody in his place, can offer again the original resolution for which he accepted the substitute as an amendment to it; seeing, in fact, that it is not an amendment but a totally different thing. There is the embarrassment that I am in.

Mr. HENRY J. RAYMOND, of N. Y.-I desire, Mr. Chairman, simply to make a suggestion for the consideration of the Convention which may pos

sibly facilitate business. We are here now simply as a mass meeting. We have appointed a temporary Chairman for the purpose of organizing that mass meeting, and converting it into a convention of delegates. The first thing, therefore, to be done is to decide what States have sent delegates here; the next thing to be decided is what delegates they have sent; and the third thing to be decided is by what authority do those delegates come from those States, and appear here as their representatives. It seems to me that is the natural order in which we are to make ourselves a convention instead of a mass meeting. Now, as I understand it, the motion submitted by the gentleman from Pennsylvania is, that we appoint a Committee on Credentials. Well, sir, in the first place, we have no credentials before this body, and in the next place, we have no delegates officially known to this body, from whom to make up that Committee. The first thing to be done, it strikes me, is to call the list of States belonging to this Union, and, as each State is called, if there is any one here present who can say for that State that she has a delegation here, it is his business to rise and say so, and to present to the Chair the credentials on which that delegation claims seats. If there are contesting delegations from any State, I take it for granted that it is the duty of some one from that State to present the list of both claimants. Then when that has been done, a Committee can be appointed to examine the credentials thus handed in.

Mr. S. CAMERON, of Penn.-Allow me to say to the gentleman from New York, that my original resolution was precisely what he is now advocating, but there were objections to it, and I withdrew it for the purpose of saving time. I offered my first resolution because I thought it was the quickest way of bringing the mass meeting, as the gentleman has called it, into a convention; and I intended to follow it up by offering another resolution, that a Committee on Credentials be appointed, of one from each State represented here, and let. that Committee examine the papers presented under the first resolution, and determine who are entitled to seats. It could all have been settled in a few minutes if my hon. friend from Maine had let it go; the effect of his motion to reconsider has been to waste more time, already than would have been occupied in organizing the Convention.

Mr. H. J. RAYMOND, of N. Y.-I suppose the only difficulty has arisen from the fact that, owing to the somewhat feeble voice of the gentlemen who made these motions, their exact tenor was not fully understood by the whole body of the Convention. If, now, the gentleman from Pennsylvania will renew his motion, I have no doubt, with the explanation he has made, it will be promptly acceded to; if not, I will make it myself.