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ticular obligations for the generous courtesy manifested on that occasion by the gentleman from Virginia, a friend of the bill, [Mr. Mason,] upon his right. He had expressed, the other day, when moving the postponement of the bill, his conviction that it had been passed to a third reading without having received all the consideration due to its importance. That conviction had been strengthened by further examination and subsequent reflection. Nothing, however, but a sense of what he conceived to be his duty, as an humble member of that body, could have induced him to arrest its progress then, or now to ask, for a few moments, the indulgence of the House. He should be brief in his remarks, having nothing to say for political effect, or for home consumption; but with the opinions he entertained of the bill, he should do injustice to himself did he permit it to pass sub silentio, feeble and unavailing as his voice might prove. He had hoped that its importance, and the new order of things to be had under it, would have called up some gentleman whose experience and whose reputation might have insured general attention. He had waited to the last moment, and waited in vain, and now, upon its passage, he called upon gentlemen to pause before they proceeded to provide, by presumption, for satisfying claims of any character, from any quarter.

"Mr. P. said he was not insensible of the advantages with which the bill now under consideration came before the House. It came, as he understood,

with the unanimous approbation of a committee entitled to the most entire respect; and it related to services, the very mention of which moved our pride and our gratitude. They were services beyond all praise, and above all price. He spoke of the Revolutionary services generally. But while warm and glowing with the glorious recollections, which a recurrence to that period never fails to awaken; while we cherish with affection and reverence the memory of the brave men of that day, now no more; while we would grant, most cheerfully grant, to their heirs all that is justly due, and which we do extend to those who still survive; our grateful thanks, and our treasure also, he trusted we should not, in the full impulse of generous feeling, disregard what was due from the gentlemen composing this House, as the descendants of such men. What, then, sir, (said Mr. P.) are the objects to be answered by the bill, and what are its provisions? The general object is plainly and briefly stated in the introduction of the committee's report. They say:

"Finding many petitions before them, asking the commutation of five years of half-pay, promised by the resolution of Congress of the 22d of March, 1783, to certain officers of the Revolutionary army, they have been induced, by several considerations, to present to the same a bill, the object of which is to remove these and some other similar claims from the action of the committee, and of Congress, and have them settled at the Treasury Department.'

Mr. P. would not be disposed at any time, much less was he disposed now, when so much was said as to the tendency of power, and of patronage, and of responsibility to the Executive, to cast from us any duties which have been performed, or any responsibilities which have been hitherto vested here, unless the reasons for such transfer shall appear obvious and conclusive. It was more than fifty years since the passage of the resolution referred to by the committee as the foundation of commutation claims. The subject for making suitable provision for the officers of the army of the Revolution, was one of the deepest and intense interest, not only to the officers themselves, but to the country generally, from 1778 down to the passage of the commutation resolve of 1783. Mr. P. apprehended that individuals having substantial claims against the government did not often remain ignorant of the fact, and he was curious to know how it happened that these claims had slumbered during the whole of this period.

Considering the frequency and earnestness with which the subject was urged upon Congress by the Father of his Country, and the anxiety with which it was regarded by the officers themselves, it was not to be presumed that any were so listless as to remain in the dark with regard to their own rights. In his judgment, it was reasonable to suppose that the number of legal and just claims would by this time have been so far diminished, as to leave little

for the action of Congress, or of any other department. Since, however, that which might have been naturally expected to occur, seemed but to have obtained in this particular instance, he knew not that he should have raised any particular objections to sending the claims to the Treasury Department, providing they were to go there relying upon their own merits, and depending for their allowance upon evidence ordinarily required of revolutionary services, and not upon presumptions. If the bill did not embrace the rules that are to be required as fixed principles, and to which he trusted he should be able to satisfy the House there were strong if not insurmountable objections, it would still be exceptionable. He understood that it was not formerly the practice of Congress to allow interest upon these claims, even where they were brought by satisfactory evidence within the provisions of the resolution of 1783; and it struck him that a different practice never should have obtained, except in cases where the claimant furnished sufficient reason for his delay, showing that it was attributable to no fault or negligence on his part. If correct in this view, it would be clearly wrong to sanction the principles generally, as is provided by the third section of the bill.

In speaking of what he considered to be the most objectionable feature of the bill, Mr. P. said he should confine himself chiefly to its operation upon those who were entitled to half-pay

for life, under the resolve of 1780, at the second important change in the arrangement of the army after its establishment, and to some portion of the history of the subsequent action of Congress upon the subject, it might be proper for him to call the attention of the House. By the resolution just referred to, those who were reduced by the arrangement which then took place, as well as those who served to the close of the war, were entitled to halfpay for life. That this provision was made under very peculiar circumstances, was matter of history; and it was well known to all within the reach of his voice, that it was regarded with jealousy and dissatisfaction, both by the soldiers who have behaved with equal valor, and endured equal hardships, and by the citizens generally. They regarded it as anti-republican; they thought it setting up, in the then young republic, invidious distinctions, and establishing, for that generation at least, a privileged and pensioned class, inconsistent with the equal rights for which they had been contending, and at variance with the genius and spirit of such a government as they hoped to see established and maintained.

In March, 1783, a change was made, and what was the moving cause of that change? A memorial from the officers themselves. The preamble of the resolution recites that, "Whereas, the officers of the several lines under the immediate command of his excelleney, General Washington, did by their

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