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34th Congress, } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. C Report 
 1st Ses>ion. ) \ No. 31. 
 
 
 HEIRS OF OFFICERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 
 
 [To accompany bill H. R. No. 154.] 
 
 April 4, 1856. 
 
 Mr. Broom, from the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, made the 
 
 following 
 
 *a 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 The Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, to whom were referred the 
 petitions of divers persons, praying for the full benefit of sundry reso- 
 lutions of the Continental Congress for the relief of the officers of the 
 Continental army, their ividows and orphan children, and House bill 
 No. 154, to provide for the settlement thereof , have had the same 
 under consideration, and present the following report: 
 
 That they have carefully examined the memorials, and given the 
 subject all the consideration which its importance demands. The inci- 
 dents of the Revolution, the great results of that struggle for liberty, 
 and the happiness conferred by its accomplishment upon millions of 
 freemen, would occupy volumes. The history of the period shows, 
 that at the commencement of the contest in 1776 the population of the 
 country was exceedingly sparse, and government so poor that many of 
 the officers were obliged to arm and equip their own companies, and 
 instances were frequent where their entire fortunes were devoted to the 
 cause of their country. The Continental bills,, in which their monthly 
 stipends were paid, had so depreciated that at the close of the year 
 1780 they were almost valueless. The money which they actually 
 received was wholly inadequate for their own wants, while their fami- 
 lies at home were often destitute. Under these circumstances, the 
 commander-in-chief frequently presented to Congress the situation of 
 the army, and urged the necessity of having some permanent provision 
 Hbi' such officers as would remain in the service to the end of the war. 
 In one of his letters, addressed to Congress on the 20th of August, 
 1780, he says: "On the whole, if something satisfactory be not 
 done, the army (already so reduced in officers by daily resignations as 
 not to leave a sufficiency to do the common duties of it,) must either 
 cease to exist at the end of the campaign, or it will exhibit an example 
 of more virtue, fortitude, self-denial, and perseverance than has ever yet 
 been paralleled in the history of human enthusiasm. The dissolution of 
 the army is an event which cannot be regarded with indifference. It 
 would bring accumulated distress upon us ; it would throw the people 
 of America into a general consternation ; it would discredit our cause 
 
1 s* 
 
 -3 
 
 F - . 
 
 HEIRS OF OFFICERS OF 
 
 throughout the world ; it would shock our allies. To think of 
 replacing the officers with others is visionary. The loss of the veteran 
 soldiers could not he repaired." In compliance with General Wash- 
 ington s recommendation, Congress, on the 21st day of October 1780 
 passed a resolution, m the following words : "Besolved, That the 
 officers who shall continue in the service to the end of the war shall be 
 entitled to half-pay for life, to commence from the time of their reduc- 
 tion. J 
 
 This resolution may well he said to have formed a contract between 
 the government and the officers at a time when both were free to make 
 it, and its happy effect upon the army was soon seen and felt In a 
 letter from General Washington to Congress, in 1783, he says: 
 
 lliat in the critical and perilous moment when the last-mentioned 
 communication was made, there was the utmost danger that a disso- 
 lution of the army would have taken place, unless measures, similar 
 to those recommended, had been adopted, will not admit of doubt 
 that the adoption of the resolution, granting half pay for life, has 
 been attended with all the happy consequences which I foretold, let 
 the astonishing contrast between the state of the armv at this instant 
 and at the former period determine ;" and in the same letter he ur«-es 
 with eloquent appeals, that justice and good faith require that Con- 
 gress should make provision for - the payment of all just demands of 
 the army. J 
 
 m When the promise of half pay for life was made, the war had been 
 m progress for five years, and it was uncertain how long it would con- 
 tinue ; it might last for ten or twenty years, but the certainty of a 
 competency to the officers after the contest should cease, although it 
 afforded no immediate relief, cheered them on, and enabled them at 
 length, at the risk ot their lives, with the aid of their brave associates, 
 and under the favor of Heaven, to perform the contract on their part 
 and achieve the liberty and independence of the country. The war 
 closed m 1783 and, owing to the inability of Congress to pay the 
 army, it was furloughed first for six months, and then indefinitely ■ 
 and in this way, as your committee are informed, the army of the Rev- 
 olution was disbanded About that period, some dissatisfaction 
 having arisen at the half-pay system, a proposition was made to com- 
 mute the half pay for life for five years' full pay; and, on the petition of 
 
 fJo^ f ""^ • CerS 1 ° nly ' Con § ress P as sed an act (see law of March 22, 
 1783) i declaring that the officers who were entitled to half pay for life 
 might receive in lieu thereof five years' full pay in money or securities;^ 
 bearing an interest at six per cent,; which commutation was to be ac^B 
 cepted by lines and States, and not as individuals. This law, called 
 tl*e commutation act, was on its face unjust and unequal ; for while an 
 officer of sixty years of age would willingly commute his life annuity 
 for five years full pay in advance, another of thirty might reasonably 
 estimate his life at a much longer period. No one will contend that 
 Congress could annul, vary, or rescind the contract of half pay for a 
 less sum, without the assent of the officers as individuals ; and the 
 committee have been unable to ascertain that a majority of them 
 either by lines or as individuals, ever gave such assent. The effect 
 ot this arrangement was to subject the individual, as to his own par- 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 3 
 
 ticular rights, to the decision of others. If the officer had been left 
 free to make his choice, and, having made it, the government had 
 given him what he freely consented to receive, he may have been con- 
 cluded. But he was not so free. The resolve of Congress, an act of 
 the government, and a law left him no choice but to abide by the de- 
 cision of the lines and corps of the army, or wait, whatever might be 
 ) Iiis wants, till a more fortunate period should enable him to approach 
 that body, not with power to enforce his right, but only to sue for it 
 in the language of solicitation. But if such assent was given, the 
 offer to compromise was not fulfilled by the government ; for when the 
 officers called for their "money" or specie at the treasury, they were 
 turned away with paper certificates, worth in gold and silver, on the 
 day of their date, as the records abundantly show, only one-eighth of 
 their nominal value. For instance, a lieutenant's full pay for five 
 years was by commutation $1,600, and that sum in " money" in those 
 days of severe economy, and when money was worth more than double 
 its present value, would have enabled him to set out in life with rea- 
 sonable hopes of a competency for himself and family ; but when he 
 came to realize that his certificates were worth only $200, less than a 
 year's pay, he could only lament the poverty, and protest against the 
 injustice, of the government in forcing them, as it were, upon him. 
 There was no basis for them upon which to rest, nor any provision 
 made for the payment of the principal and interest, until long after 
 the imperious necessity of the officers compelled them to part with 
 their paper for one-eighth of its nominal value. (See Senate Report 
 of January 3, 1826.) The certificates were, however, many years 
 after the war, finally funded and paid by the United States ; but it 
 may well be said that the commutation law and proceedings under it 
 were a violation of the contract as contained in the resolution of Octo- 
 ber 21, 1780, and that the officers were not bound or concluded 
 thereby, either at law or in equity, beyond the amount received by 
 them under it. 
 
 The claims of these officers have repeatedly been presented to Con- 
 gress, and as often received favorable reports from committees of the 
 highest character for learning and ability. The first report upon 
 these claims was made by Mr. Madison, on the 23d of April, 1783, in 
 which he fully recognises their justice. Again, in 1810, a committee 
 of the House declare, " That the contract entered into by Congress with 
 the officers of the revolutionary army, allowing them half-pay for life, 
 hm not been substantially complied with by our government ;" and they 
 Pi -commend the following resolution : ' ' That the prayer of the petition- 
 ers is reasonable and ought to be granted. ' ' 
 
 No law was, however, passed at that session, and the war of 1812 
 soon followed ; and the subject does not seem to have been considered 
 again until 1818, when Mr. Johnson, from a select committee of the 
 House to whom the subject was referred, made a report in favor of the 
 memorialists. 
 
 On the 10th of December, 1819, another able report in favor of 
 these claims was made in the House of Representatives by Mr. Ser- 
 geant, from the select committee to whom the subject was referred, in 
 which, after reviewing the whole subject, he says: " It seems to your 
 
4 HEIRS OF OFFICERS OF 
 
 committee just and reasonable, and becoming the faith of the nation, 
 to execute the contract originally made, upon the terms proposed by 
 the memorialists ; that is to say, of deducting from the arrears of 
 half-pay, computed from the cessation of hostilities to the present 
 time, the full nominal amount of the commutation certificate, and 
 paying to the surviving officer the balance, and henceforward, during M 
 the remainder of their lives, paying them the half-pay stipulated by ^ 
 the resolve of 1780." 
 
 On the 3d of January, 1826, another report was made in the Senate 
 in favor of these claims. Among other things, the committee say: 
 " By virtue of these resolves, (the half-pay resolutions,) a solemn con- 
 tract between the government and the officers was made. It origi- 
 nated and was consummated by the free and unbiassed will of the 
 parties, without surprise or compulsion on either side. It has been 
 most gallantly performed by the officers ; and after a bloody conflict 
 of eight years, and when the liberties and independence of their coun- 
 try were secured, following the example of the celebrated Roman, they 
 retired with cheerfulness to their private citizenship." 
 
 "It seems to the committee, that the performance of a contract on 
 such an occasion, and especially one which has produced such bound- 
 less consequences, ought to be observed on the part of the government 
 with profound sanctity ; and that nothing, therefore, but the free ex- 
 pression of the will of both parties, unaffected by necessitous circum- 
 stances, ought to be allowed to abrogate or rescind it." 
 
 At the same session, (1826,) Mr. Burgess, of Rhode Island, a states- 
 man of great astuteness, made a favorable report ; and the same mem- 
 ber, on the 11th February, 1828, made another able report, though 
 no definite action upon it seems to have been had. After an elaborate 
 view of the subject, the committee remark : " The certificates had no 
 funds whereon to rest, and their market value was not equal to one 
 year's pay. And it appears to your committee too much to say that 
 the delivery of this almost valueless paper was a payment in money 
 according to the sense of the offer, or that these certificates were the 
 securities intended thereby, either according to the common under- 
 standing of the term, or the distinction expressly made in the resolve 
 itself, between securities and certificates. ***** Under 
 these circumstances, your committee, in the choice of alternative, are 
 obliged to say that, in their opinion, the delivery of these certificates, 
 as well on general principles as on those which govern in courts of law 
 or equity, did not annul the rights to half-pay, nor exonerate tiny 
 government from the obligations of the original contract in this 
 regard . ' ' 
 
 In 1852 this subject was again presented to the Senate, on the peti- 
 tion of the heirs of Lieutenant Benjamin Moore, and fully considered 
 by the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, consisting of Messrs. 
 Walker of Wisconsin, James of Rhode Island, Sumner of Massachu- 
 setts, Foot of Vermont, and Chase of Ohio. They gave the subject 
 the most careful and laborious examination, and the result of their 
 labors may be found in Senate Report No. 164, first session thirty- 
 second Congress, and its perusal is commended to those who desire a 
 knowledge of the subject. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 
 
 No definite or final action appears to have been had on said report. 
 
 On the 4th of February, 1854, the subject was again brought for- 
 ward in the Senate by Senator Evans, of South Carolina, who made 
 a very able report, accompanied by a bill (No. 186) which subsequently 
 passed the Senate, but was not acted upon in the House. The Com- 
 mittee on Revolutionary Claims, to whom it was referred, agreed upon 
 a report, a copy of which is herewith presented, but it was not made 
 in the House, as the chairman (Hon. R. W. Peckham) states, "for 
 lack of opportunity." The subject was again brought forward in the 
 Senate, and a report made by Senator Evans — No. 7, 1st session 34th 
 Congress, (present session) — accompanied by bill No. 109. The bill, 
 which the committee present, proposes substantially to carry out the 
 laws of the Continental Congress, by allowing the half pay for life, 
 without interest, from the close of the Revolution, in 1783, to the pe- 
 riod of the officer's death, provided that event took place previous to 
 March 3, 1826 ; but if after that time, then up to that day, deducting 
 the full amount of the commutation certificates. The bill makes the 
 amount which may be found due under it, in case of the officer's death, 
 payable to the widow and children of the officer equally ; and if no 
 widow, then to his child, children, or grandchildren, the issue of any 
 deceased child taking among them the share of their deceased pa- 
 rents. The bill proposes to deduct from the half pay to which any 
 officer or his descendants are entitled the amount which has been re- 
 ceived by way of commutation under a general or special act of Con- 
 . .,-ess, and to pay the balance without interest. It also provides for 
 those who were killed or died in the service. All those officers who 
 died previous to 1793 will not derive any benefit under this bill, and 
 its value to others will depend upon the time they lived after that pe- 
 riod, and the rank they held in the army. The whole number of con- 
 tinental officers entitled to half pay, according to an estimate of Sen- 
 ator Evans, is about 2 300 
 
 From which deduct for families which have become extinct, 
 
 those who died previous to 1793, and those unable to make 
 
 out their claims — say one half 1,150 
 
 Leaving the number to be provided for 1,150 
 
 Assuming the half-pay of a captain as the average, at $240 per an- 
 num, and the lives of the officers at twenty years, ten years of which 
 ^ju is covered by the commutation certificates, and it will require, to pay 
 * these men and their representatives within the next ten years, the sum 
 . of $2,760,000, or, in round numbers, three millions. This sum di- 
 vided among 27,000,000, our present population, woul^l require about 
 one cent from each inhabitant to cancel the debt. 
 
 The annual amount which will be disbursed in the settlement of 
 these claims will not exceed the sums which we have expended in 
 payment of revolutionary pensioners. Of the fifty-four thousand 
 admitted to the rolls, only about seven hundred remain, and these are 
 rapidly passing away. It is hardly necessary to go into a minute 
 estimate of the sums which may be drawn from the treasury under 
 this bill; for, if the justice of these claims be admitted, it is refreshing 
 
HEIRS OP OFFICERS OF 
 
 to know that the income of our government for about twenty days 
 will pay them, to say nothing of the millions upon millions hoarded 
 in our national treasury, and withdrawn from general circulation. 
 We have abundant means to discharge these demands ; and if they 
 required the whole money in the treasury, we ought to pay them, and 
 relieve the nation of the solemn obligation which yet rests upon it. 
 
 The widows and children of these officers are scattered throughout 
 the Union, and many of them are living in poverty, while some are 
 supported by charity. And although a long period has elapsed 6ince 
 "these old creditors of the country" were entitled to their money, 
 the delay cannot justly be attributed to them, for they have again 
 and again urged, and will continue to urge, the payment of their 
 just demands. Nor is there any want of record evidence of these 
 claims, for the committee have ascertained that the public archives 
 contain full and perfect returns of the name and grade of every officer 
 embraced by the bill, together with the dates, numbers, and amount 
 of his commutation certificates ; and the records of Congress are 
 replete with evidence that no payment to these men has ever been 
 made. If it be said that these claims are barred by lapse of time, it 
 may be answered that they have repeatedly been urged upon and 
 recognised by Congress as just and due ; and a noble nation never 
 pleads the statute of limitations against its own citizens. 
 
 In the Senate report to which we have alluded, (No. 164.) the 
 committee say : "The men who held the destiny of this nation in 
 their hands have now nearly all passed away, yet there remains on 
 the journals of Congress an unredeemed pledge of the national faith: 
 the resolution of the list of October, 1780, stands unfulfilled on the 
 part of government. The circumstances which prompted the passage 
 of this resolution mark it as a monument of necessity and wisdom. 
 That necessity emanated, not from want of patriotism in the officers, 
 but from stern domestic obligations resting upon many of them to- 
 wards their wives and parents, who were dependent on them for sup- 
 port, whose wants could not be supplied from their small stipends, 
 irregularly paid, and these only in a depreciated currency. That 
 resolution, though it relieved nothing of present necessity, gave confi- 
 dence and hope for the future, and brought more zeal and energy to 
 the defence of the national liberties. To evidence the necessity and 
 wisdom of the measure, the committee refer to the testimony of Gene- 
 ral Washington, in a series of letters written to Congress at different 
 periods from 1778 to 1783, at whose instance the resolution of 1780 ^ 
 was evidently adopted. What its necessity, object, and utility were W 
 will fully appear in that correspondence. The current testimony of 
 Congress, in numerous instances, corroborates all the documentary 
 history of that period, awarding the praise, and gratitude, and solemn 
 faith of the nation, to the soldiers and officers of the revolutionary 
 army. At that time it had nothing else to give, and with self-denial 
 and sacrifice unparalleled in the history of the world, that army, 
 having successfully won by their arms the independence of their 
 country, and for their patient endurance the admiration of the 
 world, surrendered their half-pay annuities, and suffered themselves 
 to be disbanded and discharged with a very small pittance of pay, 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 7 
 
 and that in nearly a worthless medium, and returned to their fami- 
 lies and friends destitute of any adequate means to establish them- 
 selves in civil life. The committee deem it unnecessary to add any- 
 thing to that which has been so well said in the reports and letters 
 quoted, and concur in the sentiment that good faith, justice, and honor 
 demand that we no longer withhold payment from these old creditors of 
 the country." 
 
 The committee further report House bill No. 154, referred to them, 
 and recommend its passage, with the following amendments, to wit : 
 
 In section 5, 4th line, strike out the words "half-pay of a lieuten- 
 ant of infantry," and insert in lieu thereof the words "same pay as 
 hospital physicians and surgeons." 
 
 In section 9, strike out all after the enacting words, and insert the 
 following: "That this act shall not extend to the case of any officer, 
 or his representatives, who have received either half pay for life, or 
 commutation in lieu thereof, under any special act of Congress." 
 
 In section 11, strike out all after the enacting words, and insert 
 the following : "That all claims which shall be allowed under the 
 first and fifth sections of this act shall be paid to the officer, if alive; 
 and if he be dead, to his widow and children equally; and if there be 
 no widow living, then to his child, chijdren, or grand-children : the 
 issue of any deceased child taking among them the share of their 
 deceased parent, and to no other persons." 
 
 HEIRS OF CONTINENTAL OFFICERS. 
 
 Report to accompany bill for the final settlement of the claims of the 
 officers of the revolutionary army, and of the widows and orphan 
 children of those who were killed or died in the service. 
 
 The Committee on Eevolutionary Claims, to which sundry memorials 
 on the subject have been referred, do by their chairman ask leave to 
 report a bill for the final settlement of the claims of officers of the 
 revolutionary army, and the widows and orphans of those who died in 
 the service. 
 
 In reporting this bill and recommending its passage, your committee 
 respectfully submit the following statement and remarks : 
 
 The provisions of the bill are founded on certain resolutions of the 
 old or continental Congress, and copies of those referred to in the first 
 section of the bill are appended to this report. 
 
 It will be seen that they created a solemn contract between the gov- 
 ernment and those officers who served to the end of the war, to the 
 performance of which the faith of the government and the nation was 
 pledged. 
 
 It is admitted that that pledge has never been fully redeemed, and 
 that most of that class of officers who performed their part of the con- 
 tract have descended to the grave, leaving their widows and children 
 to claim the fulfilment of it on the part of the government. 
 

 8 HEIRS OF OFFICERS OF 
 
 The bill herewith reported proposes to accomplish that object, as far 
 as circumstances will now admit. 
 
 Your committee deem it unnecessary to enter into an explanation of 
 the provisions of the bill, as they are sufficiently explained by the bill 
 itself, in connexion with the resolutions of Congress referred to in it. 
 
 It will be seen that the bill proposes to deduct from the allowance 
 of half-pay (without interest) granted to the parties interested, the full 
 amount of commutation certificates for five years' full-pay issued under 
 the resolution of March 22, 1783, in lieu of the half-pay promised 
 by the resolutions referred to. 
 
 Your committee will not go into a history of the circumstances under 
 which those commutation certificates were forced upon the officers to 
 whom they were issued. 
 
 It is sufficient to say that the officers were induced by their poverty 
 and necessities, and the condition of the finances of the government 
 and county, to accept them ; and that, as is alleged, and your com- 
 mittee believe truly, owing to the same causes, they were com- 
 pelled to part with those certificates at a great depreciation, and the 
 original holders realized only about twelve and a half per cent, of 
 their nominal value. But as they were afterwards paid by the United 
 States at their full amount, it is deemed proper to deduct that amount 
 from the claims for half-pay allowed by the bill. 
 
 The justice of the claims provided for by the bill has been repeatedly 
 recognised in Congress by committees and distinguished members of 
 both houses. 
 
 In April, 1783, Mr. Madison made a report in their favor, in which 
 he fully recognises their justice. 
 
 Again, in 1810, a committee of the House of Representatives "Re- 
 solved, that the contract entered into by Congress -with the officers of 
 the revolutionary army, allowing half-pay for life, has not been sub- 
 stantially complied with by our government." 
 
 Again, in 1818, Mr. Johnson, from a select committee of the House, 
 made a favorable report on these claims. And in December, 1819, 
 another able report in their favor was made by Mr. Sergeant. 
 
 Also, in January, 1826, another favorable report was made in the 
 Senate; and at the same session, and also in February, 1828, Mr. Bur- 
 gess, of the House, made reports in favor of these claims. 
 
 In addition to this accumulation of opinions in their favor, may be 
 added the fact that a large number of private acts allowing half-pay 
 to certain officers of the class embraced in the bill have been passed 
 by Congress at different periods since the Revolution. 
 
 But your committee beg leave to call the special attention of the 
 House to the action of Congress in relation to claims for half-pay, of 
 certain officers of the Virginia State troops and navy and of the line 
 of that State. 
 
 By the act of Congress of 5th July, 1832, the accounting officers of 
 the Treasury are required to liquidate and pay the accounts of the com- 
 monwealth of Virginia against the United States, for payment to the 
 officers commanding in the Virginia line in the war of the Revolution, 
 on account of half-pay for life promised the officers aforesaid by that 
 commonwealth, &c. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 9 
 
 And the Secretary of the Treasury is required by the same act " to 
 pay to the State of Virginia the amount of the judgments which have 
 been rendered against the said State for and on account of the promises 
 contained in an act passed by the legislature of that State in the 
 month of May, 1779, in favor of the officers or representatives of the 
 officers of the regiments and corps in said act of Congress mentioned, 
 l>eing officers belonging to the State troops or navy of Virginia." 
 
 Your committee refer to the act of 5th July, 1832, at large, for further 
 particulars, with the remark that since Congress has provided for and 
 paid the half-pay claimed not only by officers of the line of Vir- 
 ginia, but of the State troops and navy of that State, founded upon 
 promises made by the State, it seems to be unnecessary to cite any 
 other or stronger precedent in favor of the claims provided for by the 
 ' bill reported by your committee, founded on similar promises made by 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 
 It may be proper for your committee to submit some remarks upon 
 the probable amount of the draught which maybe made on the treasury, 
 by the bill, if it becomes a law. 
 
 In reply to anticipated objections and exaggerated statements on this 
 subject, your committee would respectfully refer to the estimates made 
 by Senator Evans, in his speech in the Senate, upon a similar bill re- 
 ported by him to that body. 
 
 That speech was reported in the " Congressional Globe" of 19th 
 April last, (1854.) 
 
 The honorable senator states that ' ' the highest amount at which 
 the officers of the Revolution have ever been estimated was two thou- 
 sand four hundred and eighty ; but it does not appear from the books 
 of the Treasury Department that more than two thousand two hundred 
 and fifty-six have ever received commutation or half-pay." 
 
 He goes into a calculation to show that the average of the half-pay 
 of all the officers would be two thousand four hundred dollars, after 
 deducting, as the bill proposes, the commutation which has been received 
 by each. And that ' ' the largest amount, supposing that the descend- 
 ants of all of whom we have any record, come in and receive under the 
 bill, will be five million five hundred and twenty thousand dollars." 
 
 He then goes into another calculation to show the number of officers 
 whose widows or descendants may probably claim under the bill, and 
 arrives at the conclusion that their number will not exceed seventeen 
 hundred and twenty-five ; and that if the descendants of every one of 
 that number should apply, their claims upon the treasury would not 
 ^exceed four million one hundred and forty thousand dollars. 
 
 He also makes an estimate founded on the number of pensioners 
 under the act of 15th May, 1828, " that the descendants of not more 
 than twelve hundred and forty-four officers can now make any claim 
 under this bill, and that ' the total amount necessary to be appropri- 
 ated for the entire extinguishment of all the claims likely to come in 
 under the bill is two million nine hundred and sixty thousand six 
 hundred dollars' — a little less than three millions." 
 
 Your committee have not tested the accuracy of the estimate made 
 by Senator Evans, by any calculation of their own ; but, relying with 
 great confidence upon his opinions and judgment in the matter, re- 
 H. Rep. 31 2 
 
10 HEIRS OP OFFICERS OF 
 
 spectfully refer the results above stated to the consideration of the 
 House. 
 
 If it be admitted, however, that the demands of hona-fide claimants 
 under the bill should exceed even the highest estimate above made of 
 the total amount, your committee apprehend that it would not be a 
 sufficient reason for refusing to pay them. 
 
 With a full treasury and an annual revenue of about seventy mil- 
 lions of dollars, there ought not to be any hesitation to pay a debt, 
 the justice of which has been often acknowledged and never denied, 
 and which has been repeatedly, within the last fifty years, asked for 
 in vain, until the present time. 
 
 Another consideration which may have some weight in a financial 
 point of view, in favor of the bill, is the rapid decrease in the number 
 of revolutionary officers and soldiers, whose pensions to a large amount 
 have been a charge upon the treasury in years past. 
 
 The following facts on that subject, derived in part from the last 
 report of the Commissioner of Pensions, is respectfully submitted: 
 
 The whole number of persons who have been pensioned under the 
 act of 18th March, 1818, is about twenty thousand. 
 
 They are now reduced by death to only one hundred and seventy- 
 five. The whole number pensioned under the act of 15th May, 1828, 
 is believed to be about fifteen hundred. There are now only eighteen 
 on the list under that act. 
 
 The whole number pensioned, under the act of 7th June, 1832, is 
 about thirty-four thousand, of whom only eight hundred and seventy- 
 six remain on the list. 
 
 These are the only general laws under which the officers and soldiers 
 of the Revolution have been pensioned ; and according to the report of 
 the Commissioner of Pensions, there are only one thousand and seventy- 
 five now living, to receive the bounty of their country, not one of 
 whom can be less than ninety years of age. The total amount paid 
 during the year ending September 20, 1854, according to the table B 
 of the Commissioner's report, to these three classes of pensioners, was 
 only $75,445, instead of the millions annually appropriated and paid 
 to them in former years. And your committee would remark, in con- 
 nexion with these facts, that the claims under the bill will not be an 
 annual charge upon the treasury, but, when once paid, are finally and 
 forever disposed of. 
 
 In concluding this report, your committee abstain from making any 
 appeal to the patriotic feelings or natural sympathies of the House; 
 justice rather than sympathy is what the claimants expect, and what 
 they have a right to demand, in regard to these long-neglected claims. 
 But instead of any such appeal, your committee prefer to quote the 
 language of the illustrious Washington in relation to these very 
 claims. In a letter dated at Newburgh, June 18, 1783, he thus ex- 
 presses himself : 
 
 ''That provision (alluding to the half-pay resolution) should be 
 viewed as it really was, a reasonable compensation offered by Congress, 
 at a time when they had nothing else to give to the officers of the army 
 for services then to be performed. It was the only means to prevent 
 a total dereliction of the service ; it was a part of their hire ; I may 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 11 
 
 be allowed to say it was the price of their blood and of your inde- 
 pendence. It is, therefore, more than a common debt ; it is a debt of 
 honor ; it can never be considered as a pension or gratuity, nor can- 
 celled until it is fairly discharged." 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 March, 1855. 
 
 The Committee on Eevolutionary Claims agreed to the substance 
 of the within report, but it was not made to the House at the last 
 session, for the sole reason of a lack of opportunity to do so, after such 
 agreement. In my judgment, the amount appropriated by the bill will 
 be less than supposed by Senator Evans. 
 
 E. W. PECKHAM, 
 Chairman Com. Rev. Claims, last House of Reps. 
 Albany, October 15, 1855. 
 
 Copy of the resolutions referred to in the first section of the b'll. 
 
 RESOLUTION OP OCTOBER 21, 1780. 
 
 Resolved, That • those officers who shall continue in service to the 
 end of the war shall be entitled to half-pay for life, to commence from 
 the time of their reduction. 
 
 RESOLUTION OF JANUARY 17, 1781. 
 
 Resolved, That all officers in the hospital department and medical 
 staff hereinafter mentioned, who shall continue in service to the end 
 of the war, or be reduced before that time, shall be entitled to and re- 
 ceive during life, in lieu of half-pay, the following allowance, viz : 
 The director of the hospital equal to the half-pay of a lieutenant- 
 colonel ; chief physician and surgeon to the army, and hospital phy- 
 sician and surgeon, purveyor, apothecary and regimental surgeons, 
 each equal to the half-pay of a captain. 
 
 RESOLUTION OF MAY 8, 1781. 
 
 W Resolved, (fee, That every chaplain deemed and certified to the 
 Board of War to be a supernumerary, be no longer continued in ser- 
 vice, and be entitled to have their depreciation made good, and to the 
 half-pay of captain for life. 
 
 RESOLUTION OF MARCH 8, 1785. 
 
 Resolved, That officers who retired under the resolve of 31st De- 
 cember, 1781, are equally entitled to half-pay or commutation with 
 those officers who retired under the resolves of 3d and 21st October, 
 1780. 
 
 Upf&C." 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 800 543