Wednesday, January 31.
Officers of the Revolution.
Mr. Nelson, from the committee appointed on the twenty-fourth instant, made a report on the several petitions of the surviving officers of the late Revolutionary Army; which was read, and referred to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The report is as follows:
That, by a resolution of Congress of the 15th of May, 1778, all military officers who then were, or should thereafter be, in the service of the United States, and who should continue in service during the war, and not hold any office of profit under the United States, or any of them, should, after the conclusion of the war, be entitled to receive, annually, for the term of seven years, if they should live so long, one-half of the then pay of such officers: provided that no general officer of the cavalry, artillery or infantry, should be entitled to receive more than the one-half part of the pay of a colonel of such corps, respectively; and, provided that the said resolution should not extend to any officer in the service of the United States, unless he should have taken an oath of Allegiance, and should actually reside within some one of the United States.
That, by a resolution of Congress of the 11th of August, 1779, it was resolved that the half-pay provided by the aforesaid resolution of the 15th of May, 1778, should be extended to continue for life.
That, by a resolution of Congress of the 21st of October, 1780, it was provided that the officers who should continue in the service to the end of the war should be entitled to half-pay during life, to commence from the time of their reduction.
That, by a resolution of Congress of the 17th day of January, 1781, all officers in the hospital department, and medical staff, thereinafter mentioned, who should continue in service until the end of the war, or be reduced before that time as supernumeraries, should be entitled to receive during life, in lieu of half-pay, the following allowances, viz: The director of the hospital, equal to the half-pay of a lieutenant-colonel; chief physician and surgeons of the army and hospital, and hospital physicians and surgeons, purveyor, apothecary, and regimental surgeons, each equal to the half-pay of a captain.
That, by a resolution of Congress of the 22d day of March, 1783, it was provided that such officers as were then in service, and should continue therein until the end of the war, should be entitled to receive the amount of five years' full pay in money, or securities on interest at six per centum per annum, as Congress should find most convenient, instead of the half-pay promised for life by the resolution of the 21st day of October, 1780; the said securities being such as should be given to the other creditors of the United States: provided it should be at the option of the lines of the respective States and not of officers individually in those lines, to accept or refuse the same; and provided, also, that their election should be signified to Congress, through the Commander-in-Chief, from the lines under his immediate command, within two months, and through the commanding officer of the Southern Army, from those under his command, within six months from the date of the resolution.
That the same commutation should extend to the corps not belonging to the lines of any particular State, and who were entitled to half-pay as aforesaid: the acceptance or refusal to be determined by the corps, and to be signified in the same manner, and within the same time, as above mentioned; that all officers belonging to the hospital department, who are entitled to half-pay by the resolution of the 17th of January, 1781, might collectively agree to accept or refuse the aforesaid commutation, signifying the same through the Commander-in-Chief, within six months; that such officers as had retired at different periods entitled to half-pay for life, might, collectively, in each State of which they are inhabitants, accept or refuse the same; their acceptance or refusal to be signified by agents authorized for that purpose, within six months; that with respect to such retiring officers, the commutation, if accepted by them, should be in lieu of whatever might be then due to them since the time of their retiring from service, as well as what might thereafter become due; and that as soon as their acceptance should be signified, the Superintendent of Finance should be, and he was thereby, authorized to take measures for the settlement of their accounts accordingly, and to issue to them certificates bearing interest at six per cent.; that all officers entitled to half-pay for life, not included in the preceding resolution, might, also, collectively, agree to accept or refuse the aforesaid commutation, signifying the same within six months from the passage of said resolution. The petitioners state, and the fact is of too general notoriety to be disputed, that although they confidently expected, at the time they were compelled from imperious necessity to accept the sum in gross in lieu of half-pay for life, that it would be paid to them in reality, and not by a fresh promise without any sufficient guarantee for its due performance, yet they were compelled to receive certificates, which, for want of any specific provision for the payment of them, or the interest accruing on them, were immediately depreciated to five for one, and, by degrees, to ten for one, in exchange for money. They therefore pray that half-pay for life, to commence from the time of the reduction of the Army, may be granted to them, according to the solemn stipulations entered into with them by Congress, by the resolutions before referred to; deducting therefrom the five years' full pay received by them in depreciated paper, by way of commutation.
It is well known to your committee, and to the whole nation, that the far greater part of the officers were compelled by hard necessity to dispose of their commutation certificates at prices infinitely below their nominal amount; that this did not proceed from want of patriotism, of which they had beforehand given proofs most unequivocal, or of want of confidence in their Government; but that, after having spent the vigor of their manhood in the service of their country, they returned to the walks of civil life, (many of them maimed, and scarcely able to halt along,) ignorant of what was passing or likely to pass in the councils of their country; the griping hand of poverty bore hard upon them; and, unacquainted as they necessarily were with civil affairs, they fell an easy prey to the wiles of the artful and insidious speculator, who was lying in wait to fatten upon their hard earnings. Under circumstances like these, it would have been strange indeed, if they had kept their certificates in their pockets. No, the thing was impracticable; go they must, for whatever they would bring, and be the consequences whatever they might.
Upon the whole, the committee are of opinion that the contract entered into by Congress with the officers of the late Revolutionary Army, for giving them half-pay for life, has not been substantially complied with by the Government. They, therefore, recommend the following resolution:
Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioners is reasonable, and ought to be granted.