University of Virginia Library

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326

SATURDAY, JANY. 25

The Secy. of Congress havg. suggested to a member that the
Contract with the Ct. of France specifying sums Due from the U.
S., altho' extremely generous on the part of the former had been
ratified without any such acknowledgmts. by the latter, that this
was the first instance in which such acknowledgmts. had been
omitted, & that the omission wd. be singularly improper at a time
when we were Soliciting further aids; the[se] observations being
made to Congress, the ratification [was] reconsidered, and the
words "impressed with," &c., inserted.

The rept. on the memorial was resumed. By Mr. Hamilton Mr.
Fitzsimmons & one or two others who had conversed with Mr.
Morris on the change of the last day of Decr. for the—day
of Augst., it was suggested that the change entirely contravened the
measures pursued by his Department; and moved for a reconsideration
of it in order to inquire into the subject. Without going
into Details they urged this a reason sufficient. The Eastern
Delegates, altho' they wished for unanimity & system in future
proceedings relative to our funds & finances were very stiff in retaining
the vote wch. coincided with the steps taken by their Constituents,
of this much complaint was made. Mr. Rutledge on
this occasion, alledging that Congress ought not to be led by general
suggestions derived from the office of finance, joined by Mr.
Gervais, voted agst. the reconsideration. The consequence was, yt.
S. Carola. was divided, & six votes only in favr. of the Reconsideration.
Mr. Hamilton havg. expressed his regret at the negative &
explained more exactly the interference of the change of the
Epoch with the measures & plans of the Office of Finance, wch.
had limited all State advances & settlemts. to Aug: 1780, Mr. Rutledge
acknowledged the sufficiency of the reasons & at his instance
the latter date was reinstated. On this 2d. question Cont.
also voted for Augst..[33]

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327

Congress proceeded to the 3rd. Clause relative to the commutation
of half pay. A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton, to fill
the blank with "six" this was in conformity to tables of Dr.
Price, estimating the officers on the average of good lives. Liberality
in the rate was urged by several as necessary to give satisfaction
& prevent a refusal of the offer. For this motion there
were 6 ayes 5 noes; the Southern States & New York being in
the affirmative the Eastern & N. J. in the negative. Col. Bland
proposed 6½ erroneously supposing the negative of 6 to have proceeded
from its being too low. It was on the contrary rather
doubtful whether the East States wd. concur in any arrangemt. on
this head; so averse were they to what they call pensions. Several
having calculated that the annual amount of half-pay was
between 4 & 500,000 Drs. and the interest of the gross sum funded
at the rate of 6 years, nearly 2/3 of that sum, Congress were
struck with the necessity of proceeding with more caution & for
that purpose committed the report to a Committee of 5—Mr. Osgood,
Mr. Fitzsimmons, Mr. Gervais, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr.
Wilson.[34]