The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-01-08

really not suffering Sir the descendants of the officers
have grown wealthy with the descendants Of the soldiers
and the descendants of the other people of the revolution
by their industry b.; their economy by their frugaty
We all stand to-day people, upon level in
pecunay point OF view than perhaps any other people in
the world. ask again, why pass bill the benefits of
which 90 to people who are worth their thousandsin
instances their mionssayng at the time that
ii is not legal debt but is in the nature of gatuity
resting upon principle of gratitude for what done
say there is authority in my judgment for such
bill |u
An ausion was made the other day by the honorable
chairman of the committee to efforts that would be made
by agents if grandchildren made recipients under this
bill He said that frauds would be committed and claims
would be proved which could not be proven Why,
Mr. President does anybody suppose that this whole struc
ture does upon the efforts OF agents Have they
not been engaged this subject for years. Have not
members of Congress been importuned time and again by
agents for this bill What is the ods operdnd
They write in the first place to the heirs to the persons
be recipients under this BILL and they their claim.
What then They tell them "Wre to your representa-
yes in Congress get all your friends to write TO your
representatives urge upon them the proprey OF voting
this bill You must bring something that looks like pub
lie sentiment to bear Congress- you cannot pass it,
Does not anybody and everybody know that this is the
operation of this and everything else of the kind2 Talk
about agents Why sir their hands in this matter
up to their elbows and TO what extent Some two mill
lion dollars two million five hundred thousand dollars
will be required according to the official report to satisfy
the bill it stands but do you suppose the government
will be absolved this bill it stands2 Does anybody
suppose that after passing this BILL your treasury
main locked against the plans Of the claimants Do you
suppose that grandchildren going to be cut of Nay
more sir take that class of which have been present.
ed, and will be presented to you in ten-old proportion
hereaterthe officers who had Children who sacrificed
the rest did their claims who supported by their
friends and other creditors in their old age; who owed
debts for their own sustenance Do you suppose you VIII
avoid paying that class of clamants2 No. sir let this bill
pass and you will be obliged pay every single claimant
who officer in the revolution under the terms of
the original resolutions and you should do So Let case
be presented here to-day such have stated let ndi-
vduas here and show that they advanced money
year after year to sustain apoor old beneficiary un-
der the original resolution and then ask you why do you
withhold the money from them at the time that you
have passed bill paying it to the children OF another
officer who rich, and they ric1atoo2 Sir can you
withstand that sort of argument Will Congress and the
treasury be relieved from it2 apprehend not; they
ought not to be that neither $20ooooo nor $5oooooo
will adjust this claim.
be pardoned for calling the attention of the SEN
ate to little of its past history in connection with these
revolutionary claims recoect that when a bill was
brought into the Senate and passed. and passed the other
House giving lands to the States for certain eeemosynary
purposes it refused the signature of the President who
said that the power to dispose of the public lands did not
include the power to give them away that it only gave
the power to sell and unless there consideration
received the bill could net become law. The Presidents
objections were sustained. recolect that bill came
here to give bounty land to individuals and there
very strong sentiment the part of some of the same
senators against but the agents went to work They
have become learned in this sort Of business They to
State legislatures They there to get resou-
tons of instructions to tie the hands of the
here and therefore, when the amount is large enough
when the agents and their clients enough
when there is sufficient number of millions to be drawn
from the United States in the shape of gratuityyou
cannot resist it, 1t said the occasion to which
refer that there was authority to grant lands to
the States for those purposes than grant money out of
the treasury and that the clause of the constitution must
be shown which authorizes you to take money out of the
treasury and make it gift to everybody Here stands
bill which makes that very proposition 1t said in the
report of the committee that it is not debt and there
fore they do not allow it to descend to the legal
sentaves that it is gratuity and as gratuy this bill
is to be voted for. @.#rrss
stood among the number who believed in the construc-
ton given to the English language by photographers.
believed that dispose of" the power to gve is
synonymous with it. As high authority Mr. Jefferson
read here during that debate who when President OF
the United States recommended to Congress to endow
university with the public lands saying they had clear
power to do it, but that they had the power thus
use the money in the treasury Of the United States
also take the construction Of the English language in re-
ation to the power the money in the treasury.
find no authority in the constitution of the United States
to take money out of the treasury and it to the child
of the officers of the army of the revolution debt
of gratitude but did, would take the soldiers of the
revoution would take those farmers and those merchants
the revolution who furnished their MEANS the result of
their hard labor to sustain the army would take
the officers. will not say they meritorous, but
will say they equally and nobody expresses de-
sign to pay them Here presented by the senator
from Georgia. of continental money taken out of his fathers
drawer from his papers He took it for service at the
rate of eighty dollars year. but there is disposition
pay that II going leave the constitution Of the
United Sstes the to which look for power to do
act and go abroad upon the great principle of graft
tude would take the descendants of the officers of
the revolution to the exclusion of the soldiers and the
who fed them. aa. r.t Ngsas
AS said did rise for the purpose of celebrating
any propositions which might submit to the Senate; but
simply to state the why shall vote against this
bill with the frmest conviction in the world that my vote
will be utterly useless to prevent its passage But be-
lievng that the positions have taken sound, that
there constitutional authority pass the bill to be-
gin with, which ought to be enough at any time
and placed the of gratitude, that it makes
invidious selection among men, cannot give it my sup
port
| Mr. MASON. Mr.. President have felt myself con-
strained heretofore against the which has
come to us with very strong recommendation from the
honorable senator who presdes at the head OF the Commit
tee on Revolutionary Claims. understand the
comes to the Senate in the form of bill from the House.
substantially the that heretofore recommended by
the honorable from South Carolina If the appro-
praton that proposed by the bill be gratuty confess
of those who always reluctant to be the
comforting gratuites by this government any class
whatsoever They dangerous to the government they
enfeeble and demoraize iii and they debauchng to
the people They teach people to look to the
for bread, for support, and for maintenance
The present case understand is this the continental
Congress- at the urgent instance of the
and for other considerations passed resolution in 1850
agreeing to give to the officers who should to the end
OF the halfpay for life At the close Of the war;
which forth in the report of the honorable
chairman Congress determined to recommend to those Off
that they should agree to take Communication of five
years full pay in lieu of the halfpay for life which
thus contracted and at the time informed them that
their consent should not be given individually but should
be taken from the majority of the officers Of each line
Now said and said with force that the contract TO give
the half-pay for life made with each ndi-
vidua officer who did during the whole war, but
that the communication not left to the individual election
of those officers and therefore that those who did