Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-12-24
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FRIDAY MORNING, DE EMBER "a 1880.
" Some DAYS ago, Mr.. Atkinson of Isle f WIGHT
moved resolution in the House of Delegates. in
strucing The Committee of Finance, to INQUIRE into
the expectancy of making some Legislative provision
to protect Revolutionary claimants from Fraudulent
specula'o n Dir. Atkinson referred to letter which,
he had SEEM from gentleman engaged in attending
to r"voiu onary claims, to of the heirs of n r.,
voluionary officer in the low country as the inducin
motive to this motion. lie represented that letter
as Offering on the part of the person writing IT, or
causing 1t To b" written. to attend to the cai i'm for
one haii--and stating tho amount of the claim to be
S210-whercas, from an examination watch he him.
self had made, Mr. Atkinson informed the House.
that the claim was in TACT near ten Thousand dollars
PROM this letter, MIR A appeared to draw infcrcn.
COS very nnsavorabe to the honour of the gentleman
IN this city, who (although Mr. A. did not identifv
himJ was understood to be The person alluded to by
him. These differences were. that informant ion as to
the amount OF the claim had been withheld by the
writer IN order that after the heirs had received their
naif OF the $4,000. the person attending to their
claim might pocket the remainder of the @ or
Sioooo--and general 70 exaggcrate the difficulties
OF getting the claim through, in order to ephauce
tho value of the services rendered
Subsequently, Mr.. Atkinson obtained the letter
from the country, and had it referred to tho Com.
mittec
On Wednesday, we happened in the room wbeYa
tue C'mmittee ofBnance sits, and heard tho explain
atoms of the gentleman implicated. The matter
having excited some conversation here and at dis.
tancc, 1T is due to him, hat the tenor of those ex
plantations should be lail before the public.
Previous to that late decision OF the Court Of An
peals, which by authenticating the demands Of the
Supernumerary Officers of the Virginia Line bns ex.
posed the Treasury to payments equal to the whole
revenue o. the Commonwealth in any one vear. md
created no small sensation IN the coun,ry-nlI that
those officers their representatives asked was m.
communication offce gears uH pay ir lea of half pav
for life. The revolutionary oficer alluded TO nv Mr.
Atkinson, was Captain, who died in 1919. Com.
putting from 1871 to h- death in 1aio-his claim nc
Captain entitled to half pay amounted TO $1,000 Tho
sum spoken of in the letter. When the letter abovc
spoken of Was written, august I829) tho Court of
Appeals had not mad, their decision nor WINS il INN
glned. that any such decision was TO be NADER eonso
quen.ly the writer Of the Litter could not bavo bnd If
IN view to withhold information as to the amonnt NJ
claim established by the judgment the Court, when
neither nc nor any other person. possessed such infor
nation.
Tho question was therefore narrowed down 10 This
whether the demand OF ono half for attending To
INC claim, was inordinatn speculation On that
point, tho observations Of the gentleman implicaed
were equally conclusive in his vindication Such
were the ger cra terms for attending to Revolutionary
claims on Congress and the S,atc--lcptimated bv
the practice of the couhtry-nnd chccrfully acceded
TO by individuals Of the highest intelligence haviun
such claims TO prosecute
The explanations Of the gentleman were trum
phantIy conclusive on every point, and we may will,
entire confidence, say they were so est cemed by tho
Committee.
Fhi', by no means throws the slightest censurn
upon the Course Of Mr.. Atkinson. Looking NJ tho
terms OF the letter and their reference TO $1,000 no
tho amount Of the clani-and then finding the cloim
ants under the judgment Of the Court. enti,,ed IN
$4,000 instead Of s2d00-hc was materially enounb
nsled into the unavorablo constructions he pu,pnon
the iscntions of the writer. Tho intermediate de-.
eision OF the Court, putting the claims Of the Super
nuinorary Officers upon new and more favorable
grounds. was overlooked among the circumstances of
tue casc' In truth however, at the date Of the let
ter tho writer neither knew, nor could he possibly
know, that the claim was good for more than $1,000
/ the sum he stated IL To- be. Thinking os Mr. A.
did, Of Inc letter. his course wus spirited and propcr
i " We ask the readers attention To the Now
York Address, which we commence today II ism
v powerful composition