case with respect to officers who served to the end of the war, for all officers, as well as privates, under the numerous general acts prior to the act of 1790, were entitled to pensions for wounds received in the service according to their degree of disability, and no special legislation was therefore necessary, except to revive the act of October 21, 1780, and require the recipient of its benefits to refund the amount of commutation awarded him by the provisions of the act of March 22, 1783.

Many officers and privates, per special acts from 1790 to 1800, and subsequently, were placed on the pension-rolls, but it will be observed at once that officers who served to the end of the war, were not, by the spirit of the law, really pensioned, but restored to their half-pay by refunding their commutation. This was done because the degree of disability of the officer would not, under the existing invalid pension laws of the day, entitle him to an annual rate of pension equal to his half-pay. He therefore petitioned to be restored to his half-pay by refunding his commutation, because this was more beneficial to him than would have been the pension to which he would have been entitled under existing laws.

It, of course, is admitted that to invalids alone the acts of 1790 restored the half-pay, but it must be seen that the invalid officer had pension laws in his favor, and sometimes sums of money granted him, while the other officers had nothing to lean upon for the least aid. The invalid officer, therefore, while pension laws existed in his favor, had no more right to a restoration of his half-pay than another who had not been wounded in the service. All the officers and privates were seriously disabled in the service, and were disqualified from returning to the pursuit of peaceful occupations after the hardships of an eight years' war, with any of the advantage and success which they previously enjoyed.

In the spring of 1808 the subject of the revival of the half-pay acts of the old Congress was earnestly agitated. Circulars were sent through the country, bearing the signatures of distinguished Revolutionary officers, which formed the basis of a general petition to Congress in 1810, from which the following is gathered: "By a resolution of Congress, passed the 11th of August, 1779, it was or

dained, 'That the half-pay provided by the resolution of the 15th May, 1778, be extended to continue for life;' and on the 22d March, 1783, it was resolved, 'That such officers as are now in service, and shall continue therein to the end of the war, shall be entitled to receive the amount of five years' full pay in money or securities on interest at six per cent. per annum, as Congress shall find most convenient, instead of the half-pay promised for life.'

"The circumstances under which the proposal of commutation originated and was partially acceded to, the desperate state of public credit, and the imperious necessity which compelled many of the holders of certificates of public debt to part with them at a price far below their nominal value, are too well known to require a recapitulation.

"That the benevolent intentions of the Congress of 1779 have not been realized, that many meritorious officers bowed down with infirmities and advanced in years are now struggling with adversity, are facts so notorious as of late to attract the public attention.

"So equitable is the claim on the honor and faith of Government to make good the original promise; so great the zeal latterly displayed in Congress on this interesting subject, and so ample are the means of full remuneration, that it has been deemed proper by a number of Revolutionary officers, to call the attention of their brethren in the several States, and to suggest the expediency of a memorial on the subject being prepared in each State, circle, or district, during the recess of Congress, to be presented to the Senate and House of Representatives as soon as circumstances will permit after their next meeting."

This language bears the signatures of no less distinguished officers than Colonel Stephen Bayard, Colonel Isaac Craig, and Surgeon William Magaw, of the Pennsylvania Line, and Captain Adamson Tannehill, of Maryland, and speaks forth a true history of the times not to be misunderstood.

There has not been a session of Congress in the history of the Government under the New Constitution, at which the subject of the restoration of the half-pay acts of the old Congress has not been brought up in some shape or other; and at the first session of the

thirty-fourth Congress, the following bill in substance, for the restoration of the half-pay for life, passed the House of Representatives, but was lost in the Senate at the second session:

"An Act to provide for the Settlement of the Claims of the Officers of the Revolutionary Army, and of the Widows and Orphan. Children of those who died in the Service.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the officers of the army of the Revolution, who were entitled to half-pay for life under the resolutions of Congress of the 3d and 21st of October, 1780, the 17th of January, 1781, the 8th of May, 1781, and the 8th of March, 1785, shall be entitled to receive the same, although such officer may have received, in lieu thereof, the commutation of full pay for five years, under the resolution of Congress of the 22d of March, 1783.

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the proper accounting officer of the Treasury, when applied to for that purpose by any one who by this act is entitled to receive, or his or her guardian, to ascertain what is due to such officer, from the time he became entitled to the said half-pay until his death, if that occurred before the 3d day of March, 1826; but if he died after that time, then up to the 3d day of March, 1826.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, when the amount due to an officer has been ascertained, as aforesaid, to pay the same, as hereinafter directed, after deducting therefrom the amount received for commutation, under the resolution of the 22d of March, 1783.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the benefit of the resolution of the 24th of August, 1780, shall be extended to the widows and orphan children of all officers who died in the service at any period during the war of the Revolution, whether such officers belonged to the Continental Line, or to any volunteer corps called into service under the authority of any State, but no payment shall be made under this clause, except to the widows and orphan children of such deceased officers.

"SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That Surgeons' Mates shall be entitled to the benefit of the resolution of the 17th of January, 1781, and receive the same pay as hospital physicians and surgeons.

"SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, under the direction, and with the approbation of the President of the United States, to prescribe such rules of evidence as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, according to its true intent and meaning.

"SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all payments made by authority of this act shall be without interest.

"SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in every case the said accounting officer, before he shall order any claim to be paid, shall require satisfactory proof that the person or persons, in whose name the same may be presented, is or are the bona fide owner or owners thereof, and that the claim has not been sold, transferred, pledged, or mortgaged, or any part thereof, to any person or persons, whomsoever; and all sales, transfers, mortgages, or pledges of any such claims are hereby declared void, and of no effect whatever.

"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not extend to the case of any officer, or his representatives, who have received half-pay for life under any special act of Congress.

"SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That all persons who apply and receive the benefit of this act, shall receive the same in full satisfaction of all claims under any of the resolutions of Congress hereinbefore recited, and for all losses alleged to have been sustained by depreciation in the value of the certificates received as commutation under the resolution of Congress of the 22d of March, 1783.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That all claims which shall be allowed under the 1st and 5th 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, children, or grand-children-the issue of any deceased child taking among them the share of their deceased parent-and to no other persons.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue

and be of force for the term of ten years, and no longer, and all claims not presented, with the evidence, for their adjudication within that time shall be forever barred."

On reference to the preceding list of Continental officers who died in service, and who continued in service to the end of the war, the names of those officers whose heirs are entitled to the benefits of the preceding bill will be seen; and should the bill pass Congress and become a law, they, or any other persons interested for them, may determine their claim, on reference to the rank of the officer, and to the pay-table of the Continental army, given in a preceding page.

The acts of the Continental Congress to which the 1st, 4th, and 5th Sections of this bill refer are given in this work; and in order to understand the 2d Section, it will be necessary to quote an act of Congress approved May 15, 1828, which is as follows:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each of the surviving officers of the army of the Revolution, in the Continental Line, who was entitled to half-pay by the resolve of October 21, 1780, be authorized to receive, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount of his full pay in said line, according to his rank in the line, to begin on the 3d day of March, 1826, and to continue during his natural life: Provided, That under this act no officer shall be entitled to receive a larger sum than the full pay of a captain in said line."

Attorney-general Wirt, in his opinion under date of the 12th of February, 1825, fixes the close of the Revolutionary war at the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace, April 23, 1783; but in the adjustment of commutation claims under act March 22, 1783, originating in the act of October 21, 1780, the war is considered as having closed with the final disbanding of the troops, November 3, 1783, and consequently the five years' full pay referred to in the act of March 22, 1783, commenced November 4, 1783. Five years' full pay being equal to ten years' half-pay, the officers by their commutation certificates received their ten years' half-pay from Nov.