Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-03-02

ne the DESCENDANTS OF the Officers of the
Cennnental Army of the Revolution
throughout rhe Unien.
As the recent bill before Congress for the settle
ment OF your claims is supposed, in no slight de-
gree, TO have been defeated in the Senate Of the
United States, oy the belief that these claims we're
amos. exc'aslveiy held by horde Of rapacious
spectators. who had purchased them At a greatde-
preeiAtion, (which impression the undersigned be-
heVes to be entirely unfounded) measures ought at
once 70 DC taken to correct an error which has ex
e1teo an influence so fatal TO your interests.
~ the materials are furnished to the subscriber
" yourselves, las aome one must take the initis-
use,) ne offers to prepare, however irksome the
task, census of the descendants surviving of the
oncers OF the Revolution, who served to the and of
the war. and who, under the provisions Of the re-
cent bill before the Senate, were TO have been the
objects Of its bouuty-specifyiug from what officer
descended, no. related 10 him, to what lins regi-
ment, or staff be was attached, his rank, and when
he died. yE f'
When this information is obtained, the subscri-
Der will prepare lists in conformity, that they may
be verified by the Muster Rolls Of the Continental
Army on file in the War Office at Washington, to
be appended to any memorial you may thiuk pros
per to present TO Congress at its next session.
As the undersigned believes that case was
ever decided in Court Of Chancery in England or
equity than the claims to which be refers, lapart
from the considerations OF national gratitude and
public fAith) he would respectfully suggest the ex-
| pediency OF presenting to Congress such memo
rial founded on the Information be seeks to obtain
| The vote by which the bill was carried in the
House Of Representatives, and the support it has
received in the Senate. where it was lost but oy q
single VOTE ali propitious auspices in favor OF
ultimate success, when the subject is more FUZZY
eucidated and better understood
The very wide and extraordinary range which
the debate took in the Senate, in which some Of
the gentlemen who participated in j; seem to have
felt all the raneor of personal and rabd hate to-
| wards you, would indeed fill US with apprehension
! and dismay, If their vtuperation was not neutrai'
lied in the feeble sophistry in which it was sus
pended and dissolved Fortunately, erroneous
statement is not truth, nor slang and fustan argu.
men; nor is great question of national justice to
| be approached in the narrow spirit in which
county court lawyer would preparehis brief TO sus-
| tain plea under the Statute Of Limitations.
You have been accused Of what is little short OF
fraud, for presenting to ask from Congress the pay
| ment of claims derived from ancestry who have
no stain resting on their escutcheon, and OF dishon
or to their memories, il you accept the benefaction
| of our country.
At a moment most convenient to himself, and
when the response, feeble as il may be of the I'M
|
on, it is his purpose to reply to these gentlemen;
Tor the Senate Chamber offers no immunity to out
rage and injustice. If he cannot emulate their
ability, strikingly illustrated by the eomplacent
self.concet with which they seem to regard their
Iabors. he will endeavor at least to emulate their
large freedom Of discourse.
Ia this be will not transcend the measure OF
Just retaliation but he viii go to the very verge OF
its froutier-toSits very ultima thule. He will 90
| IL and ha
corrugated against himself the verb ste be Tcspon'
/. s,Jle" through Its various modes and lenses.
With sympathy and respect,
Your fellow-citizen,
.s.fe J.HAMILroE, of SC,
The surviving son of the late Major James Hamil'
ton. of the I'd Regiment OF the Pennsylvania
Line, attached to Wayne's Bridge.
Nev River, near BInftOn Beaufort Distriet s.
O., Feb. I'd, 1857.