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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --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 aeknowledgmts. 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; these 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
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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 as a reason sufficient. The Eastern Delegates, altho' they wished for unanimity & system in future proceedings relative to our funds & finance 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 and 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. The--day of August being reinstated before a question on the whole paragraph was taken, Mr. Ghoram objected to the word "general" before funds as ambiguous, and it was struck out; not however as improper if referring to all the States, & not to all objects of taxation. Without this word the clause passed unanimously, even Rhode Island concurring in it.
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 and 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 Eastern 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 and 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
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Mr. Wilson. On the motion of Mr. Wilson Monday next was assigned for the consideration of the Resolution in the 2d clause of the Report on the Memorial from the army. He observed that this was necessary to prevent the resolution from being like many others,--vox et preterea nihil.
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