SENATE.] act. Surviving Officers of the Revolution. [JAN. 28, 1828 It has The depreciation of the commutation certificates | ed by the government for justifiable ends, might be re has been referred to solely for the purpose of enforcing moved, at the option of the government, only in the cases which policy and justice might demand. the equity of a claim originating in a contract, never satisfied by the act of commutation, but from which you perfect right to permit it to operate upon the officers I have endea are legally absolved by the acts of limitation. Until the their widows, or their heirs-and neither might, in strict soldiers can plead a similar contract, and the equitableness, have a legal ground of complaint. considerations which the officers have urged, they can vored, said Mr. V. B. to show that equity requires, and The claims of the widows, stood, in have no right to place their claims on an equal footing. policy does not forbid the allowance proposed for the But he shoul Still less, Sir, said Mr. V. B. can it be said that this bill surviving officers. Their numbe will afford a pretext for reviving the dormant claims of his opinion, on a different foundation. the public creditors. Their case is widely different from not be willing, for one, to oppose them. While the must be small; not half as great, in all probability, a that of either the officers or the soldiers. pay of the Army was fixed and stationary, its actual value that of surviving officers; say one hundred at the outside was reduced by the depreciation of currency, which they Give them a gratuity of one or two thousand dollars each But the suppliers of and if necessary, deduct it from the sum you would other were compelled to receive at par. the Army the great mass of public creditors, regulated wise give to the surviving officers. They, he was wei their contracts by the fluctuations in which they expect assured, would not utter a complaint. On the contrary The suppose ed to be paid, and the prices demanded bore an exact the value of what they received, would be doubly en hanced by the cause of the deduction. proportion to its depreciation in market. claims of the heirs could not be presented to your atten tion with equal force. Of the two thousand four hun dred and eighty officers of the revolution, two thousand two hundred and fifty are no more. Their temporal interests whatever they were, have been distributed, in some cases, among successive generations. To ascertain and distribute the respective shares, to which the heirs woul be entitled, of the small amount now proposed to be given, if not wholly impracticable, would invoe an expense that would consume the means of your bounty and without being productive of substantial benefit, your resources would be exhausted. But, said he, these are considerations of an inferior character, founded on expediency only. Your refusal to grant to the heirs, may be placed on the highest ground of principle. Whatever you now do in favor of the offer, must be volunta ry, proceeding from your liberality and gratitude. All other obligations have been cut off by time. All your endowments springing from such motives, being for the reward of personal services, may with propriety be con fined to those by whom those services were rendered. This, said he, is not a new principle in your legislation. It lies at the foundation of the act of 1818, providing, not for the heirs, but certain portions of the revolutionary officers and soldiers, by the operation of which, millions have in his opinion been beneficially applied. It was called indeed a pension act, but with no more propriety, according to the established principles of the Govern ment, than the bill upon your table. It has been urged, too, as an objection, that provision had not been made for the officers who did not serve to the close of the war, and for the militia. It was sufficient to say that with them the government had entered into no such engagement. The surviving officers of the revolution, who had been called from service before the end of the war, generally by public considerations, would not, he was persuaded, repine at the success of their brethren in arms, or make it the basis of unfounded complaint. It has been stated by the venerable and worthy Senator before me, sGen. S. SMITH,] that this bill will not embrace his case, for the reasons he has given. Who would have more cause to complain than he, if, indeed, any cause could be found in the measure proposed? Of his conduct and services in two wars, it would be superfluous to speak. They are familiar to us all; and he wished he could add, had been as well appreciated by the Union as by the State whose interests he had promoted in peace, and whose safety he had defended in war. The solicitude which he had manifested for the friends of his youth, and his companions in danger, must have awakened the sensibilities of those who witnessed it; while his zealous, though disinterested support of the bill upon your table, constituted a convincing proof that it would be viewed by others, who might be excluded from its provisions, with equal satisfaction. The last, and, to his mind, the strongest objection against the passage of this bill, was its making no provision for the widows and children of deceased officers, who were entitled to half-pay. By whom, Sir, said Mr. V. B. has this objection been adduced By the parties them selves? No, Sir; by those who have had no conference with the parties. Do they advocate the claims of the heirs and widows because they have heretofore been importunate for relief? No, Sir; from the first agitation of this question, in 1810, to the present moment, he was authorized, he believed, to say, that not a single petition had been presented in their behalf. Sir, said Mr. V. B., we resist the claims of the living by exorcising the spirits of the dead. The gentleman from Georgia declares that he will not vote for the bill, because the heirs and widows are not included, and that he would not vote for it, if they were. It has been asked by the Senator from South Carolina, whether a positive debt, a vested interest, does not descend to the heir, and whether a government, any more than an individual, is discharged by the death of its creditor? The objection thus presented is plausible in appearance, but he was persuaded, easily surmounted. He had already, in his opinion, given a satisfactory answer. Whatever might have been the original character of the claim, it could no longer be regarded as legally binding on the government. It was barred by the statute of limitations-a measure sometimes harsh, but not the less founded in policy and justice. This shield, interpos What, according to these principles, are the grounds upon which pensions have been granted? They were, exclusively, disability produced by known wounds re ceived in the public service, and half pay for a limited time, to the widow and infant children of those who had fallen in action. Since the date of our independence, these only have been the legal and appropriate causes for being placed on the list of pensioners. The annual allowance to a limited number of the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army, by the act of 1818, was found. ed on no such consideration, otherwise the widows and orphans of the deceased officers and soldiers would have been as much entitled to your bounty as they can be now. They did not receive it; and the only justifiable reason which could then have been given, was the one which may now be assigned. You had a right to make your donation personal. You had a right to enlarge or coll tract the circle of your beneficence, according to your own views of the state of your treasury, the exigencies of society, and the claims of humanity. Among the most powerful motives for its adoption, was a desire to res cue the country from the reproach of seeing those to whom it was indebted for its liberties, thrown, in the evening of their days, amidst the prosperity they had been instrumental in producing, upon the cold charities of an unfeeling world. It was to prevent the vivid and heartrending picture of Roman ingratitude, which, though the invention of modern days, has so long interested the world, from being only descriptive of real life in the streets of this proud capital. [SENATE. neighbors-for them he could say, with confidence, that, having some share in the national funds, and contribut ing no inconsiderable part of their amount, they would willingly pour them out, like water, in a cause so righteous. With them, a million more or less of public debt, compared with the preservation of the public faith, would be as nothing. He gloried in the consciousness that he was a representative of a people influenced by such elevated sentiments. Every day, said he, makes the rem nant of this band of worthies more dear to the American people. When that period arrives-which a majority of the Senate may expect to see-when the last of the officers of the revolutionary army shall be called from time to eternity, it will be the cause of keen regret, and self reproach, if, upon a review of the past, it shall appear that any thing was omitted that ought to have been done, to smooth their passage to the tomb. Mr. V. B. said he would say nothing as to the amount. Full justice had already been done to that subject. The general object was to make up, in part, the loss sustained by the officers, out of the profits made by the government, by the successful result of its compromise with them. Let us, therefore, said he, pass the bill upon your table. Let this body have the credit of originating it. Let no marrow or weak views impede our course. No matter where those honorable and patriotic men are from; whether from the North or the South, the East or the West; whether from the old States or the new. In every State where the blessings of a free government are enjoyed, there they had a name, if not a local habitation, that could not fail to work its way to the hearts of their fellow citizens. It was true, he said, that by the list sub. matted, it did not appear that any of the officers resided in seven of the new States, and he was not sorry for it. If Le were not deceived in the character as well of the peo-acteristic shrewdness and pertinency, asked-did Genple of those States, as of their representatives on that eral Washington, whilst at the head of Government, ever for, they would rejoice that an opportunity was thus recommend this subject to the notice of Congress? The pros resented to evince their devotion to the cause of the re- worthy Senator well knew what the answer inust be, and velation, and their gratitude for the services of those who the train of reflections it would give rise to. General fought our battles in that day, without even a suspicion Washington did not-but why? Before and after the of a selfish or local object. This will be the more grati- war, he spared no pains to make the States sensible of fying to them, because it was not their good fortune, as what was due to the officers on this very point. His letStates, to be in a situation to take part in that great strug-ters have been read. He urged them by all the consigle, out of which grew this mighty empire, and all the derations that belonged to the subject, to act efficiently blessings of civil and religious liberty, that we now so pre- for their relief. He failed. After he came into the gov eminently enjoy. He had not a doubt that all that re-ernment, the officers themselves evinced no disposition mained for them to do, they would do well. If evidence to revive their claims, and it certainly would not have be. of the fact were wanting, he had only to allude to the come him to be the first to bring them forward. It is not small but patriotic State of Illinois, which alone had in- difficult to conceive why the officers were, at that day, cted her representatives on that floor, upon the sub- willing to avoid all applications for pecuniary aid. New ject under consideration, in a spirit reflecting upon her- prospects opened-they were probably not exempt from self the highest credit, and affording the most flattering those feelings of ambition and hope of preferment, which sage of her future greatness. actuate mankind. They have out-lived them, and they Mr. V. B. said, that he was distressed by the conscious-humbly ask for justice. But, Sir, what was the language ress that he had already trespassed too much upon the And indulgence of the Senate. In any other case he #uld have considered it reprehensible to have done so. He would therefore (although there were yet many considerations which he intended to have urged,) draw his observations to a close. There was, however, one point" on which he felt too much solicitude to suffer it to ass unnoticed. If by any one he had been understood casting aught of censure or reproach upon the old Congress, he desired to correct so erroneous an impresvon. He could not indeed have done so consistently with his own long cherished opinions. On the contrary, e did not believe that the world ever witnessed, or ever will witness a body of men more patriotic or engitened. He would not believe that it was in their nature to be indifferent to the just claims of the revolution. yarmy. The question with them was not what they ud, but what they could do. The embarrassments der which they labored from want of power, and the backwardness of the States, who themselves were struggling against the exhausting effects of a cruel, bloody and protracted war, were known to all. As little he wish to cast reproach upon the counsels of the tion. Every thing could not be done at once. Much bad been done under the present Constitution, to satisfy Le claims of justice, and vindicate the character of the public. It is our good fortune that something still reSins for us to do. Fear not, that in doing it, you will go beyond the wishes of your constituents-your feelags lag behind them. Speaking for his immediate constents-and he had not the presumption to suppose that they were more just or public spirited than their One word more, and he had done. The Senator from Maine, [Mr. CHANDLER,] who, although he had lost his father in the struggle, had felt it to be his duty (and there was no man, he believed, who more implicitly followed his sense of duty,) to oppose the bill, had, with his char of the Father of his Country, when the subject was an open one? In his circular of June, 1783, to the Govern ors of the States, he said :—“The provision of half pay "for life, as promised by the resolution of Congress, was "a reasonable compensation offered at a time when Con'gress had nothing else to give to the officers for servi ces then to be performed; it was the price of their blood and your independence, and as a debt of honor, it can never be cancelled until it be fairly discharged." One question, said Mr. V. B., and I have done. Jas it been fairly discharged? Mr. PARRIS was disposed, he said, to withdraw his amendment, with the understanding that he should have an opportunity to renew it. While up, he would remark that it was true that the soldiers had, to a great extent, been paid; but there are many who have not been paid, and who never will be paid, unless they are paid now, side by side with their officers. It is the officers alone who have kept the claims of the soldiers alive. The soldiers cannot meet in conventions, issue circulars, frame memorials, and get up all the necessary machinery for acting on the public sympathy. If they do not succeed with the officers, their claims are lost. He withdrew his motion, but should renew it when the question had been taken on the bill as reported. The question then recurred on filling the blank with $1,100,000. Mr. RUGGLES could not vote, he said, to fill the blank with that sum merely for the officers. He thought. also, that those officers who, on the first alarm of war, left the plough for the ranks, were as well entitled to remuneration as the officers who served to the end of the war. Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, was, he said, one of those officers who entered the army at an early period, and resigned before the close of the war. He had, therefore, no claim, and never had advanced any. None who left the army before the close of the war can have any claim. In the year 1778, General WASHINGTON addressed Congress on the state of the army, which was near dissolution. In 1779, many of the officers resigned; and to prevent more from resigning, the act of 1780 was passed. No one, then, who resigned before the close of the war, can be entitled to any benefit from the provisions of that act. After some remarks from Messrs. HARRISON and WOODBURY Mr. RUGGLES, in reply to Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, said, that many meritorious officers, who had resigned before the close of the war, were as much entitled to remuneration for their services, as any who had served to the close of the war. He would cite the case of an of ficer whom he knew: He was a soldier at the battle of Bunker's Hill; and, for his gallantry, received a commission as a Lieutenant. He was for some time engaged, with great credit to himself, in the severest enterprises of the war. He then resigned from ill health. This man fought before the war was legalized; he fought, in its earliest struggles, with a halter about his neck. Surely, upon every principle of justice, he was as much entitled to remuneration as those who entered after him, and continued to the close of the war. This man recently died, and left a helpless family. If his children were not provided for, he would vote for no provision. : Mr. CHAMBERS said he could not consent to give a silent vote, after the declaration of the honorable gentleman from Maine, [Mr. PARRIS,] that he should hereafter offer.the amendment which he had just withdrawn and after the remarks of the honorable gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. RUGGLES,] that he could not vote for filling the blank with any sum until a provision was inserted in the bill for the other officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary Army. The only difficulty, Mr. C. had long believed, which would be opposed to the recovery of this claim, was the one now presented by the proposed course. He did not believe that the good sense of the American people, or the justice of Congress, could ever permit a direct rejec tion of this claim. He was only apprehensive, therefore, of the indirect mode of attack, which had heretofore prov ed fatal. For a long series of years these claimants have addressed themselves to the liberality, to the generosity and to the charity of the Government. They had associated themselves in this appeal with other officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, and had surrounded their case with all the material, and had connected with it all the considerations which could operate upon the sympathies and sensibilities of a noble and generous a tion. They had told over the well known story of the hardships and sufferings of a Revolutionary war, the scars, the wounds, the hunger and nakedness and poverty-the courage and constancy of those who fought and bled in that mighty struggle which resulted in securing to us the means of enjoying every civil and political bless ing. They appealed in vain. Year after year has rolled away, and age, disease, and death, have thinned their numbers to a little remnant, who now hover over the grave, most of them in indigence and want. They have now made a last effort to engage the notice of the Government not by an appeal to its charity or its generosity; not as mendicants asking its bounty; not as pensioners, sir. Let me say to the honorable member from Maine, [Mr. PARRIS,] who has introduced this term, that the wealth of this nation is too little to place these men in that character. Exhaust the annual revenue of the nation in filling their coffers and multiplying their luxuries, and yet, sir, the present generation must ever remain pensioners to the veterans of the Revolution, whose [JAN. 28, 1828 toil and blood are the source whence this revenue is de rived. No, sir, said Mr. C. it is not as objects of charity that these men now come. They present you a copy o your contract; they tell you it has been violated to thei pecuniary loss; that the obligation of the Governmen has not been redeemed, and they give a statement of fact from which they say the principles of acknowledged law authorise them to demand satisfaction at your hands They refer to the page and letter of your own records and to the undisputed history of the day, as making out a case which calls for the decision-the judicial decision of this tribunal. Does any honorable member on this floor dispute the facts, or deny the application of the principles of law and equity to those facts? This would be a fair and legitimate ground of discussion. If the terms of the contract are not as set forth, if the rules which should govern that contract are not as they are stated to be, let this be urged as a reason why this debt should not be paid. But a very different course is suggested. Other claims, resting on other grounds, and properly to bẹ governed by other considerations, are referred to, and we are told that this debt ought not to be paid until those other claims are ascertained and adjusted. The Government, like an individual, ought to be controlled by the great moral principles which enter into all pecuniary transactions. Good faith and the observance of contracts are demanded from a Government to the same extent as from an individual. Let, then, the case be supposed, that an individual is applied to for the discharge of a fair debt will any honorable man feel himself justified in turning an honest creditor from his door, with no other reason than that he is indebted to sundry other indivi duals, in large amounts, and he must ascertain the na ture and extent of his engagements, before he can pay the claim which is presented to him? and if the creditor could also urge his pressing necessities, his indigence, his age and decrepitude, would it not be still less excusable to repulse him with such an evasive rep'y? And if when impelled by the extremity of his distress, the creditor should assert and the debtor concede the highly meritorious nature of the services charged, the great peril to his life and the certain destruction to his fortunes, which were encountered in the performance, and the great advantage and abundant wealth derived by him from whom was asked but a portion of that price which, by his bond, he had promised to pay, would, Mr. C. again inquired, would any honorable man feel excused for again repeating his refusal to discharge, nay, even to examine the claim, until other transactions were adjusted, involving matters having no connection with it? Would not the moral sense of the community be disgust¦ ed with such conduct, and merited indignation over. whelm its author? : Is not such the case of these officers? They claim the same privilege which is extended to the most humble u dividual in the community-the privilege of demanding justice from the Government. They have submitted, in respectful terms, an argument to sustain their demand. Their memorial has been examined by an intelligent committee, and the exposition by the Chairman appear. ed to him to demonstrate the obligation of the Govern ment to pay their debt. To the arguments thus urged, and to his mind conclusively urged, no member of the Senate had opposed contrary arguments, and in that state of things he did not intend to add one word more on that part of the case. His object was to resist the fatal influ ence of proposed amendments, which the honorable gen. tleman from Maine [Mr. PARRIS] must pardon him for say ing were calculated to destroy all prospect of final success. The gentleman had said, and no doubt with great sincerity, that he was not influenced by a motive to embarrass this bill; but, let the motive be what it may, such is the ef fect. Delay alone is fatal. The few surviving patriots JAN. 29, 1828.] Surviving Officers of the Revolution.—Memorial of E. V. Sparhawk. who now apply for a portion of their debts, are rapidly | disappearing from their country and from the world; they, too, owe a debt which all must pay to nature's law, and which will, ere long, call them to rewards of a higher order. All they can hope for is to smooth the rugged path which separates them from the grave, and which, however short the distance, is beset with thorns which age and infirmity does not enable them to remove withCut your aid. And why should you refuse your aid? The gentlemen from Maine and Ohio, [Mr. PARRIS and Mr. RrGGLES,] deplore a separate legislation for these oficers, as a positive injury to others. Mr. C. said he venerated the character of the Revolutionary soldiers, and was willing to do ample justice to every class of them. No man would go farther in extending the beneficence and the charity of the nation to those persons. But their claims were not now before us. urge [SENATE. He had declined adding one word to the argument of the Chairman of the Committee, on the law and the equity of the claim. Before he concluded, however, he would remark, that the sum conclusively demonstrated to be due to these officers, had gone into the treasury of the nation. The two-seventh parts of their pay, not included in their certificates, if funded, would have been on interest, according to the express terms of the contract. The Treasury, therefore, is by so much the less indebted; and the sum from which it is thus relieved has been applied to other objects, which would otherwise have been paid by other funds. An arithmetical calculation will demonstrate the fact, that the unpaid two-seventh parts of the amount for which certificates should have been issued, and the loss by deferred interest, with interest on those sums to this period, will constitute an aggregate greater than the sum now proposed by the Com. mittee. This sum, therefore, you hold; this sum you have made available to the general purposes of your government; and it is surely not extravagant in these claimants, after a lapse of more than forty years, to ask you to repay to them this forced loan. Mr. C. hoped, for these reasons, that the blank would be filled with the sum recommended by the committee, and that the Senate would steadfastly resist every attempt to superadd amendments to the bill. TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1828. The CHAIR presented the following memorial, accompanied with an affidavit, from E. V. Sparhawk, which was To the Honorable the Senate of the United States: read: The question of separate legislation ought to have been made forty years ago, and more. The separate legisla tion of the old Congress, for the very class of persons row before the House, formed the specific subject of their claims. On matters growing out of the general legislation for the army, they claimed nothing. They had sustained equal loss by depreciated paper, by want of ray, by want of food, by nakedness, and sufferings of various kinds; these they encountered in common with their fellow officers and fellow soldiers: and for these sufferings he should be proud to aid in giving some compensation. Yet let it not escape the attention of the Senate, that these claims were discarded by these men ; wich items formed no part of the account rendered. Their demand rested on specific separate legislation, which no other officers and no soldiers in the army had any common interest in. It is entirely too late, therefore, to The Memorial of the undersigned (accompanied by an objections to separate legislation. Mr. C. said, he was affidavit of the facts) humbly sheweth, that, having been equally surprised to hear from the gentleman from Ohio, subjected to insult and violence, in the room of the ComMr. R. J the objection he had alluded to. It was in the mittee of Claims of the Senate of the United States, from a knowledge of the Senate, that that gentleman, as Chair. person called Duff Green, an officer of the Senate, on Frian of the Committee of Claims, was frequently called day, the 25th of January, instant; and having been threatpact on claims preferred by individuals who had sus- ened by said Green with further violence, in case your ined injury during the late war, either by violations of Memorialist should "ever write a line about him"-conontract on the part of the government, depredations by sidering that said violence was not, in any manner, provok be enemy, or from various other causes. He would asked by your Memorialist, and that it was committed within he honorable Chairman, if he had ever made it a cause a room devoted to the use of the Senate: Therefore, your Fobjection to either of these claims, that there were nuMemorialist humbly prays that such notice may be taken erous other claims, arising upon the same or somewhat of this matter as may, in the opinion of your honorable milar principles, yet unsettled? He knew such an ob. body, comport with its dignity, and extend protection to ection had never been urged, and could never have been individuals while within the precincts of the Senate. ustained. It was as competent to these individuals as to my others, to have separated their claims; and if one mongst them had presented his case alone to the Senate, r. C. did not perceive how they could have refused it heir notice. The other officers of the army-the soldiers of the army, were not included in the memorial. Those officers alone believing, and he thought correctby, that their case did not resemble the case of officers and soldiers who were not embraced by the resolution of 1783, had asked an examination and decision of the rights those who were included by the terms of that resolu- Mr COBB said it was a very grave subject, and he They had exerted the common privilege of every would move its reference to the Committee on the Judicitizen in asking a decision upon their claims. If fairly ciary; but was understood to have withdrawn the motion. examined and finally rejected, their history and their Mr. MACON said he thought the matter worthy incharacter did not permit any one to doubt of their acqui-quiry; and he should be in favor of laying it on the ta Scence. The memorials of their virtues were too inti- ble. He had known a similar case in the other branch of mately connected with the history of the nation, and the Congress; but did not know how it would be taken up paulits of a grateful people had sounded too loudly their by the Senate. ses, to permit his feeble voice to extend the circle of fame; but he would say, that men who could rethe seductive appeal made to them by the author of Newburg Letters, were not now to be taught obetace to the constituted authorities, or respect for the s of the land. EDWARD VERNON SPARHAWK. Washington City, Jan. 28, 1828. The affidavit accompanying the memorial was read. Mr. MARKS moved to lay the memorial on the table; which motion, on a division, was lost. Mr. WILLIAMS inquired what question was before the Senate. The CHAIR observed, that it was an application laid before the Senate by him, at the request of the Memorialist, and it remained to be disposed of by them. Mr. COBB signified his assent to a motion to lay it on the table. Mr. ROWAN said he would make another motion, which was, to allow the memorialist to withdraw his me morial. It appeared by the affidavit that the affair took place after the adjournment, from which it was plain, that 187 SENATE.] Surviving Officers of the Revolution. it did not come under the jurisdiction of the Senate. Mr. FOOT made a few remarks which were not distinctly heard. He was understood to be in favor of laying the memorial on the table. Mr. BERRIEN made some remarks, which were not distinctly heard, which were, in substance, that this matter was one which the Senate ought to consider not only with regard to what ought to be done in relation to the application of the memorialist, but what was also due by the Senate to itself. He then moved to lay the memorial on the table; which was agreed to. SURVIVING OFFICERS OF THE REVOLUTION. The unfinished business of yesterday, the bill for the relief of the several surviving Officers of the Revolutionary Army, was then taken up. The question being on filling the blank in the bill with 1,200,000 dollars Mr. SMITH, of South Carolina, 1ose and said: He was opposed not only to filling the blank, but was opposed to the passage of the bill under any circumstances, and would ask the indulgence of the Senate whilst he offered some of the reasons upon which he grounded that opposition. Although he was far from entertaining any ungrateful feelings towards the surviving officers of the revolutionary army, yet he could never yield his assent to the assertion that they held exclusive claims, either upon the justice or gratitude of this government. [Mr. HARRISON] felt The gentleman from Ohio such devoted zeal on this occasion, that he had declared he would take the last cent from the treasury to discharge this demand; nay, he would go further, he would give up the Alleghany canal, he would give up the Cumber land road, and would even dispose of his churches to raise a revenue for that purpose, and would worship his God in the open fields, and in the shades of the forest. Mr. S. said, if he believed this claim was founded in justice and good faith, he would go further than the gentleman from Ohio: he would not only dispose of his churches, but would worship his God in sack-cloth and Yet he ashes before he would withhold a just debt. feared he should not pay that homage in spirit and in truth, were he to withhold that same justice from the widows and orphan children of those revolutionary officers, who have deceased since the passage of that commutation law, whose claims are entitled to the same jus. tice, and to a much deeper sympathy. It has been stated by the Chairman of the Committee [Mr. WOODBURY] which reported this bill, that there To sa were only 250 surviving officers to provide for. tisfy the claims of these survivors, it was necessary to fill the blank with the sum of $1,100,000. At the close of the war, the whole number of officers then surviving, en. titled to half pay, were 2480; deduct from that number 230, will leave 2250; in the ordinary course of mortality, it is fair to suppose, that the average deaths would allow a calculation of 1125 entitled to full pay, in equal degree to the surviving officers, now sought to be provided for. This would require an additional sum of $5,380,434, which, with the $1,100,000, asked for the survivors, would make an aggregate of $ 6,480,434. If either justice or gratitude require the Senate to make provision for the surviving off cers, the same measure of justice and of gratitude, require provision to be made for the widows and children of the deceased officers, whose rights were as well founded, and whose rights were as [JAN. 29, 1828. perfect, up to the times of their respective deaths, as that of the survivors. Mr. S. said, he had yet to learn by what rule of law, It was a settled principle of municipal law, of alor by what rule of gratitude, this discrimination could be made. most the whole civilized world, founded in nature itself, and fully recognized by every State in this Union, to its fullest extent, that in all cases after death, the relations of the deceased, whether his widow or his children, his father or his mother, his brothers or his sisters, or rela tions in any other degree, were by inheritance entitled to the whole of his estate, in whatsoever it might consist; whether in lands, goods, moneys, or debts due, either from private individuals or from governments. fore, this he a debt of obligation, founded on contract, to the survivors, it is equally a debt of obligation, founded officers. And it would be a perversion of one of the on contract, to the legal representatives of the deceased soundest maxims of law, to suppose, that the death of a creditor cancels the debt, or lessens the obligations of the debtor. If there. Mr. President, we have heard it stated, during this debate, by a Senator from Ohio, [Mr. RUGGLES,] that a revolutionary officer of distinguished merit, died in his neighborhood but a few weeks ago, and left a family of Are we, Mr. S. asked, to close our eyes upon the twenty children, two of them twin girls, only four years old. claims of these tender and helpless infants, because their father has been taken from them by the hand of death? who, had he survived but a few weeks longer, would Are we to forget the dead, however meritohave shared in the bounty of the government asked for in this bill. rious their claims, claims founded on the very same law, governed by the same rules of construction, and enhanced by the piteous condition of the objects to whom it must be equally due, if due to any, merely because we behold the living presenting themselves personally before us This would be an exhibition of feeling but little to the credit of the Congress of the United States! The Chairman, [Mr. W.] as Mr S. understood him, had placed the claims of the surviving officers on the principle of annuitants. And fixing the length of time of the half pay at two lives, or 14 years, would demand as an equivalent, full pay for seven years, to constitute a fair conmutation. But he, Mr. S. had made a calcula tion, and it would be found that five years full pay, paid promptly, with its accumulating interest, would amount to more than 14 years' half pay, only paid annually as it became due, with its accumulating interest also. [Here Mr. WooDBURY asked to explain, and said he had been mis understood ] To this Mr. S. replied, he supposed that he must have misunderstood the gentleman from N. II. But laying that argument altogether out of the question, he could nevertheless assume that position without resort ing to the annuity tables of any foreign country. Seven years were computed a life by our laws, and so understood in the calculations of life estates not otherwise pro And 14 years, the term of two legal lives, vided for. was a fair average computation upon which to found the commutation; the half pay for which was not equal to the five years' full pay, calculating the accumulating interest on each. But at the time this commutation was The officers knew nothing about annuity tables, made, there were no calculations of this sort contemplat ed. neither did the government. Congress had in 1781, almost at the close of the war, promised, by a resolution, half pay for life to all such of ficers as should remain in service to the end of the war. This was considered an odious distinction, and became excessively unpopular. It did not suit the genius of this country, and was opposed to the principles of that liberty for which we were then struggling, and was one of the features of the British Government which produced the |