Indemnity to the Estate of General Greene. The engagement by John Banks to General PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 1798. Greene and his creditors, that the money which SIR: The account you left me, dated Charlesshould become due to him on the contract should ton, April 7, 1784, signed John Banks, purporting be applied to the payment of the debts for which to be an account current between me and the said General Greene was surety, having been long pre-John Banks, and stating a balance in his favor of vious to the negotiation under which the petitioner $16,119 11, with an assignment on the back of it, claims, it appears to the committee that those who transferring the right to receive the balance to claim under General Greene and said creditors Mr. James Miller, was presented to me in or about have clearly the best right to all moneys which the year 1784, and the balance demanded by the may remain due on said contract account; and said Mr. Miller, or by you as his transferee, to that the United States having indemnified the es- whom I paid such balance as appeared to be due tate of General Greene for the engagements en- from me to Mr. Banks. But the balance so paid tered into by him as aforesaid, all right to this was, to the best of my remembrance, not more money which was in General Greene, on the said than between fifteen and sixteen hundred dollars, creditors, whose debts they have paid. must be owing to several items in the account subsisting between us, which do not appear in the account above described and alluded to. considered as vested in the United States. Indeed, laying aside the consideration of the order by John Banks to apply the contract money to the payment of those debts, the committee conceive that, as the debt which the United States owed to John Banks was not assignable in its original nature, or made so by any subsequent agreement of the United States, they are entitled to retain it in part payment of the debt which has since become due to them from John Banks. Whereupon the committee submit, for the consideration of the House, the following resolution, to wit: Resolved, That the accounting officers of the Treasury cause the sum of $9,768 81, charged to the contract account of John Banks on the 31st day of December, 1783, to be credited to the said John Banks; and that the sum so credited be charged to the accounts of such other person as, in their opinion, shall be justly chargeable therewith; and that they charge the said contract account with all such sums as have been paid by the United States, to indemnify the estate of General Greene for debts by him paid, or secured to be paid, of the said John Banks, or of John Banks & Co. CHARLESTON, April 7, 1784. I, John Banks, by these presents, do make and constitute James Miller my assignee in and to what money and other profit which shall be found due to me upon the result of final adjusting and settlement of the within account between Charles Pettit and me: hereby constituting and appointing the said James Miller in my full right and place of the premises, for now and ever, with power to uplift, discharge, and pursue for the same, transact thereanent, and to do everything I might have done myself before granting this assignation; which assignation I bind and oblige myself, my heirs, and executors, to warrant to the said James Miller, his heirs and executors. from all facts and deeds done and to be done by me or my aforesaids prejudicial thereto. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 7th day of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four. Test: JOHN BANKS. DANIEL MUNROE. Mr. Banks was the contractor for supplying the Southern army with provisions, and as he was to receive payments from the Treasury, in Philadelphia, at stated periods after furnishing accounts of the issues of provisions, he authorized me, by power of attorney, to receive the money for him. On sending forward the accounts, he usually debited me with the amount. I passed the money to his credit when I received it. Hence a difference appeared in our respective accounts, as some deductions were occasionally made at the Treasury from his demands. One of the most material of the items which occasioned the variance arose from a charge made by the Superintendent of Finance for a balance said to be due from Major Burnett, amounting, with interest charged upon it, to $9,768 81. I refused in behalf of Mr. Banks, to admit this as a charge against him as contractor. But it was said that Major Burnett was his partner, and that Mr. Banks and he might settle the matter. I persisted in opposing the charge, as well for the reason above suggested, that Mr. Banks alone was the contractor, as by denying that such balance was due from Major Burnett. But the Superintendent, having the power in his own hands. stopped the money out of the contract accounts, of which I gave early notice to Mr. Banks. The balance claimed from Major Burnett arose from public bills of exchange transmitted from General Greene to me for sale, of which Major Burnett was the bearer; but this transaction was previous to his connexion in business with Mr. Banks, or even an acquaintance with him. The balance arising from the sale of the bills was retained in my hands by permission of General Greene, and credited as so much public money in the account of the then late Quartermaster General's Department, and accounted for accordingly in the settlement of General Greene's accounts as Quartermaster General. So that neither Major Burnett nor Mr. Banks remain chargeable with it by the United States. I am, respectfully, sir, your most obedient servant, CHARLES PETTIT. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 26, 1798. I certify that Henry Hill, Esq., of Philadelphia, Indemnity to the Estate of General Greene. attended at the office of the Auditor of the Treasury, in the Winter of the year 1789-'90, and presented to me his claim against the United States for a balance due on a contract with John Banks, and assigned by him to James Miller, with vouchers. OLIVER WOLCOTT, late Auditor of the Treasury. Mr. James Miller, in his letter of September 11, 1792, to Mr. H. Hill, says, Mr. Pettit convinced him that the balance was only about $9,600. (Errors excepted.) CHARLESTON, April 7, 1784. JOHN BANKS. New Emission Bills. NEW EMISSION BILLS. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report of the 16th of January, 1795, recommended that such [Communicated to the House of Representatives, Feb- of these bills as had been exhibited at the Treas ruary 26, 1798.] Mr. DWIGHT FOSTER, from the Committee of Claims, to whom were referred the petitions of Joseph Ball, William Henderson, W. and F. Constable, Samuel Ward, and Nathaniel Prime; and of Jeremiah Allen, John Marston, Joseph Ward, Daniel Austin, and William Dana, for themselves and others, holders of bills of credit issued pursuant to a resolution of Congress of the 18th of March, 1780, commonly called "new emission bills," made the following report: That a statement of the case of the holders of bills of this description is contained in a report of the accounting officers of the Treasury, made on the 24th day of December, 1795, in pursuance of an act entitled "An act relative to claims against the United States, not barred by any act of limitation, and which have not been already adjusted," in the words following, to wit: "Class 8. The claims of this class are founded on bills of credit commonly called bills of the new emissions, issued on the funds of individual States, pursuant to an act of Congress of the 18th of March, 1780. The following clause of the said act shows in what event the United States were to become answerable for the payment of these bills: that the said new bills issue on the funds of individual States for that purpose established, and be signed by persons appointed by them; and that the faith of the United States be also pledged for the payment of the said bills, in case any State on whose funds they shall be emitted, should, by the events of war, be rendered incapable of redeeming them.' "The interest accruing on them was to have been paid by the United States annually, if called for, in bills of exchange on Europe, and the amount charged to the States, respectively. It does not appear, however, that any such payments were made. "It is understood that the several States concerned have passed laws providing for the redemption of their respective portions of this money, and it is presumable that the far greater part thereof has been redeemed accordingly. The bills for which payment is now claimed are chiefly of those issued by the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. "This species of paper has never been considered as forming any part of the debt of the United States." ury, in pursuance of the act entitled "An act relative to claims against the United States not barred by any act of limitation, and which had not been already adjusted," amounting to the sum of $90,574 should be provided for by taking the principal sum of them, without interest, on loan at five per cent., payable quarter-yearly, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, and payable in thirty years; he remarks "that the resolutions of Congress, and the endorsement upon those bills, engage the absolute promise of the United States for the payment of the interest indefinitely. and their eventual guaranty of the principal, in case any State on whose funds the bills should be emitted, should, by the events of war, be rendered incapable to redeem them; which is, in effect, though not in form, an absolute guaranty of the principal; for the United States are bound to pay the interest perpetually till that is discharged. "Good faith demands that the United States should supply the omissions of the States which issued the bills, by providing, themselves, at least for the interest upon them; but it is not as easy to pronounce on what terms they ought to be provided for. "On their face, and according to the unrevoked resolutions of Congress, they are of specie value equal to their nominal amount, bearing five per cent. interest. "But it is known that they were issued by different States at different inferior values fixed by previous laws. The true nature of the contract, therefore, and the true equity of the case, are, from these circumstances, involved in some question." The proposition of the Secretary on this subject was not adopted by Congress. It is a fact notorious that these bills sunk in the same vortex of depreciation with the old Continental bills, and, while they continued to circulate, were generally of the ratio of forty of the old for one of the new. This unfortunate depreciation, which operated upon all the paper money, notes, and certificates, issued during the war, necessitated the United States to adopt principles relative to them, which cannot apply in cases of ordinary contract; the States, individually, have assumed similar privileges; and, in making provision for the bills in question, in some instances have considered them as a depreciated currency. In the various arrangements which have been made since the establishment of the present Government, relative to the debt of the United States, no provision has ever been made for these bills: they appear, from the face of them, to be evidences of debt against the States individually who had issued them, and could not be provided for by the United States, without raising a charge against those States; and it was reasonably to be presum-ture of the case demanded. ed that the States concerned would make such provision as the justice and equity of the case required. The committee are informed that all the States who issued bills of this description have already made provision for their redemption, either at their nominal amount, or at a certain rate of depreciation, except the State of Rhode Island; and they think it is fairly to be presumed that the States have made as liberal a provision as the na The United States have once made allowances to the several States in settlement of their accounts for the supplies for which those bills were Lost Certificates—Invalid Pensions. cific restrictions, for the renewal of destroyed certificates of certain descriptions. The committee made a report againt the meas issued; should they make any further provision, LOST CERTIFICATES. It was justly stated by them, "that most of the cases where certificates of the public debt are said to have been destroyed, took place before the passing of the said act of the 24th of April, 1794, and probably a great proportion of them before the passing of the said resolution of the 10th of May, 1780; from which circumstance, as well as the nature of the subject, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, at this time, to guard against fraud and imposition, should further provision be made for renewing them." That committee further stated, "that they could not find [Communicated to the House of Representatives, March stronger reasons in favor of keeping in force the 9, 1798.] Mr. DWIGHT FOSTER, from the Committee of Claims, to whom were referred the memorials and petitions of George P. Frost, Charles Jackson, Gassaway Watkins, George Read, Thomas Underwood, Jabez Hall, Grove Pomeroy, Alexander Roxburg, and Philip Bush, made the following report: That these petitioners severally seek to obtain renewals or compensation for loan office certificates, final settlements, and quartermasters' certificates, land warrants, and lottery tickets, which they allege they once possessed, and which are severally stated to be accidentally lost or destroyed. The resolutions of Congress of the 10th of May, and of the 18th of July, 1780, provided for the renewal of loan office certificates destroyed through accident, and prescribed the terms on which such certificates might be renewed. By the act of Congress of the 24th of April, 1794, entitled "An act limiting the time for presenting claims for destroyed certificates of certain descriptions," the provisions in case of loan office certificates were extended to final settlements; and further regulations were made respecting the renewal of certificates of each of those descriptions. By the same law it was expressly enacted, that all claims for the renewal of such certificates should be forever barred and precluded from settlement or allowance, unless the same should be presented at the Treasury on or before the 1st day of June, 1795. No provision appears to have been made, at any time, by the United States, for the renewal of quartermasters' certificates, land warrants, or lottery tickets. A great number of applications, similar to those contained in the petitions now under consideration, have been heretofore made to Congress, both before and since the passage of the act above mentioned. That committee do not find that provision has, in any instance, been made, other than by the general regulations and law above referred to. At the last session of the last Congress, a select committee was appointed for the express purpose of considering and reporting on a motion then made relative to a provision, by law, under spe statutes of limitation, in relation to any class of tion referred to them; they were, therefore, of claims, than to that contemplated in the resoluopinion that the House ought not to agree to the full and deliberate discussion, was agreed to by same." That report was considered, and, after a the House. The committee do not find any reasons which will apply with more force, if so powerfully, in favor of provision being made for quartermasters' certificates, land warrants, and lottery tickets, than for the other kinds of certificates. Precedents have been already thus established by authority, which the committee feel themselves bound to respect. They apprehend the House would not adopt principles in these cases different from those which influenced on former like occasions; and thereupon they respectfully submit, as their opinion, be granted. that the several petitions aforesaid ought not to INVALID PENSIONS. [Communicated to the House of Representatives, March 26, 1798.] Mr. DWIGHT FOSTER, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred a motion in the following words, to wit: "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and if any what, amendments ought to be made in the acts respecting invalid pensioners," having examined the several laws relative to that subject, and taken the same into consideration, submit the following report: As early as the 26th day of August, 1776, Congress adopted resolutions by which commissioned and non-commissioned officers and private soldiers in the army, commanders, commission and warrant officers, marines, and seamen, of any of the vessels of war or armed vessels belonging to the United States, wounded or disabled in the service, were, under the restrictions and limitations expressed in said resolutions, to be placed on the pension list, and provided for at the public expense. At various periods afterwards, in the course of Invalid Pensions. the war, we find Congress making divers provisions and arrangements for the officers and troops of the United States, as well those wounded and disabled as others. Upon the 7th June, 1785, some time after peace had been established and the army disbanded, the subject appears to have been particularly under the consideration of Congress. Divers resolutions regulating claims to military pensions, and allowing officers to return their commutation, were then adopted. Among others which passed on that day, we find the following, which are selected as designating the principles on which grants of this kind were made, to wit: Resolved, That it be, and it is hereby, recommended to the several States to make provision for officers, soldiers, or seamen who have been disabled in the service of the United States, in the following manner: 1. A complete list shall be made out by such person or persons as each State shall direct, of all the officers, soldiers, or seamen, resident in their respective States, who have served in the Army or Navy of the United States, or in the militia in the service of the United States, and have been disabled in such service, so as to be incapable of military duty, or of obtaining a livelihood by labor. In this list shall be expressed the pay, age, and disability of each invalid; also the regiment, corps. or ship to which he belonged; and a copy of the same shall be transmitted to the office of the Secretary of War, within one year after each State shall pass a law for this purpose; and a like descriptive list of the invalids resident in the respective States shall, from year to year, be annually transmitted to the office of the Secretary of War. 2. No officer, soldier, or seaman shall be considered as an invalid or entitled to pay, unless he can produce a certificate from the commanding officer or surgeon of the regiment, ship, corps, or company in which he served, or from a physician or surgeon of a military hospital, or other good and sufficient testimony, setting forth his disability, and that he was thus disabled while in the service of the United States. 3. That all commissioned officers within the aforesaid description, disabled in the service of the United States, so as to be wholly incapable of military duty, or of obtaining a livelihood, be allowed a yearly pension equal to half of their pay, respectively; and all commissioned officers, as aforesaid, who shall not have been disabled in so great a degree, be allowed a yearly pension, which shall correspond with the degree of their disability compared with that of an officer wholly disabled; that all non-commissioned officers and privates within the aforesaid description, disabled in the service of the United States, so as to be wholly incapable of military or garrison duty, or of obtaining a livelihood by labor, be allowed a sum not exceeding five dollars per month; and all non-commissioned officers and privates, as aforesaid, who shall not have been disabled in so great a degree, be allowed such a sum as shall cor respond with the degree of their disability com. pared with that of a non-commissioned officer or private wholly disabled. 4. That each State appoint one or more persons of suitable abilities to examine all claimants, and to report whether the person producing a certificate setting forth that he is an invalid, be such in fact, and, if such, to what pay he is entitled ; and thereupon the persons appointed to make such inquiry, shall give to the invalid a certificate, specifying to what pay he is entitled, and transmit a copy to the person who may be appointed by the State to receive and record the same. 5. That each State be authorized to pay to the commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, the sum or sums to which they shall be respectively entitled, agreeably to the beforementioned certificates; the said payments to be deducted from the respective quotas of the States for the year on which they shall be made: Provided, That no officer who has accepted his commutation for half-pay shall be entered on the list of invalids, unless he shall have first returned his commutation. Upon the 14th of September, 1786, to remedy inconveniences experienced by some officers applying for pensions, who had sold their commutation certificates, Congress resolved that invalid officers be permitted to return their commutation in other securities of the United States, where they have parted with their own, provided the same shall be of equal amount, and bearing the same interest." Upon the 12th of July, 1787, a further provision was made "that all officers in the line of the late army entitled to pensions in pursuance of the acts of Congress in that behalf made, should, previous to the receipt of such pension, charge the same in the State in which they reside, deposite with the proper officers appointed to disa certificate from the Commissioner of Army Accounts, purporting that no balance was due from the claimants to the United States." The last important regulation made by Congress, under the old Government, relative to the inOn that day Congress resolved, "that each State valid establishment, was on the 11th of June, 1788, should have credit in its general account with the United States for such sums as became due to invalids before the 1st day of January, 1782, and which had been, or should be paid to them by the State; and for such sums as became due to invalids before the said 1st day of January, 1782, inclusive, to the 1st day of January, 1788, and which had been, or should be paid to them by any State, the State should have credit in the existing specie requisitions of Congress; and for sums that might so become due after January. 1788, and be paid by any State, the State should have credit in the specie requisitions of Congress which might thereafter be made." They further resolved, that no person should be entitled to a pension as an invalid, who had not, or should not, before the expiration of six months from that time, make application therefor, and produce the requisite certificates and evidence to entitle him thereto. |