Memoirs Of Aaron Burr, Volume 1, Matthew L. Davis [book club suggestions .txt] 📗

Footnote Pg 305

 

 

2. In The Ninth Year Of Her Age.

Footnote Pg 306

 

 

3. Nephew Of Colonel Burr

Chapter XVI Pg 307

 

 

 

The Correspondence In The Last Chapter Between Mr. And Mrs. Burr Has

Been Selected And Published That The World May Judge Him As Husband

And Parent, So Far As His Letters Afford A Criterion. As Literary

Productions They Cannot Fail To Interest And Amuse.

 

 

On The 8Th Day Of March, 1790, The Legislature Passed An Act

Appointing Gerard Bancker, Treasurer, Peter Curtenius, Auditor, And

Aaron Burr, Attorney-General, A Board Of Commissioners To Report On

The Subject Of The Various Claims Against The State For Services

Rendered, Or Injuries Sustained, During The War Of The Revolution. The

Task Was One Of Great Delicacy, And Surrounded With Difficulties. On

Colonel Burr Devolved The Duty Of Making That Report. It Was Performed

In A Masterly Manner. When Presented To The House, Notwithstanding Its

Magnitude, Involving Claims Of Every Description To An Immense Amount,

It Met With No Opposition From Any Quarter. On The 5Th Of April, 1792,

The Report Was Ordered To Be Entered At Length On The Journals Of The

Assembly, And Formed The Basis Of All Future Settlements With Public

Creditors On Account Of The War. In It The Various Claimants Are

Classified; Legal And Equitable Principles Are Established, And

Applied To Each Particular Class. The Report Occupies Eighteen Folio

Pages Of The Journals Of The Assembly. An Extract From It Is Made, As

Justly Meriting A Place In This Work.

 

 

The Said Report Is In The Words And Figures Following:----"The

Treasurer, The Auditor, And The Attorney-General, Pursuant To The Act

Entitled _An Act To Receive And State Accounts Against This State_,

Did Forthwith, After The Passing Of The Said Act, Give Such Notice Of

Their Appointment And Duties, And Of The Times And Places For The

Execution Thereof, And Of The Period By The Said Act Limited For

Receiving And Auditing Claims, As Is Directed By The Said Act. And Do

Herewith Transmit To The Legislature Their Report Upon The Accounts

And Claims Against The State, Which Have Been Thereupon Exhibited.

 

 

"The Anxiety Of The Commissioners To Render The Execution Of This

Trust Useful And Acceptable Has Occasioned A Delay Of Some Weeks; If

Their Success In This Attempt Has Been In Any Degree Proportioned To

Their Attention To The Subject, It Will Furnish Their Excuse; Indeed,

When The Legislature Shall Have Seen The Number, The Variety, And

Intricacy Of The Matters Which Have Been Submitted To The

Consideration Of The Commissioners, It Is Hoped That A Further Apology

Will Be Thought Unnecessary.

 

 

"The Commissioners Have Endeavoured To Reduce These Various Demands

Into Classes, In Such Manner As To Present To The Legislature, In One

View, All Which Have Appeared To Depend On Similar Principles.

Chapter XVI Pg 308

Notwithstanding Their Utmost Attention To This Object, They Have Found

It Necessary To Report On A Considerable Number Of Single Cases. As

The Authority Under Which They Have Acted Required Of Them A State Of

Facts, Together With Their Opinion Thereupon, Whenever There Was A

Want Of Uniformity Either In The Facts Submitted Or In The Principles

To Be Applied In The Determination, They Have Thought That Strict

Justice Could Not Be Done To The Merit Of The Claim Without A Separate

Discussion, Though This Has Tended To Lengthen The Report Beyond What

Could Have Been Wished, And To A Degree Which Perhaps May In Some

Instances Be Thought Prolix, Yet The Commissioners Supposed It Of

Moment That Their Investigation Should Be Not Only Satisfactory To

Themselves, But That It Should Be Apparent To The Citizens Upon Whose

Claims They Have Pronounced, That Each Hath Received A Distinct

Attention, And That Demands Substantially Different From Each Other

Have Not Been Inconsiderately Blended. If The Perusal Of The

Proceedings Now Submitted Shall Give An Impression Of This Kind, It

Will, In The Opinion Of The Commissioners, Tend To Produce A More

Cheerful Acquiescence In The Determination Of The Legislature, When

That Determination Shall Reject The Demand, And Prevent A Revival Of

Claims Which Shall Now Be Extinguished. The Commissioners Have Thought

That These Were Desirable Objects, And Have Therefore Been Cautious Of

Generalizing, So As To Destroy Real Distinctions, Or Suppress A Fact

Even Of The Lightest Importance.

 

 

"In Order To Preserve Uniformity In Their Opinions, The Commissioners

Have Adopted Certain Principles, From Which The Hardship Of Any

Particular Case Hath Not Induced Them To Depart. The Most General And

Important Of These Are,

 

 

"_First_. Where Any Species Of Claims Is Barred By An Act Of The

Legislature, They Have Considered The Act As A Bar To Their

Investigation, Farther Than To Ascertain It To Be Unquestionably

Within The Meaning Of The Law. This Principle Will Be Found To Extend

To All Claims For Pay And Rations Alleged To Be Due For Militia

Service; To Most Of The Demands Against Forfeited Estates; To All

Claims For Property Sequestered, When The Sequestration Was Warranted

By The Resolutions Of The Convention And The Authority Of The

Commissioners; To All Claims Of Payment Of State Agents' Notes, And To

Some Other Particular Cases, Which Will Appear In The Report. In

Support Of This Principle The Commissioners Have Considered, That To

Sanction By Their Opinion The Admission Of Claims Against The Spirit

And Letter Of The Statute Would Be An Impeachment Of The Wisdom Of

Those Laws; Would Be Arrogating An Authority Not Exercised By, Or

Permitted To, Any Court Of Law Or Equity, And Would Open A Door To The

Importunate And Perhaps Least Deserving Class Of Citizens, While

Others, Having Similar Demands, Had Withdrawn Them From A Spirit Of

Submission To The Laws, By Which These Demands Were Precluded. The

Commissioners Have Been Confirmed In The Propriety Of Their Ideas By A

Reflection That, If It Shall For Any Reasons Seem Expedient To The

Legislature To Repeal Or Suspend The Limitation Of These Or Any Of

Those Statutes, The Avenues To Redress Will At Once Be Open Through

The Ordinary Officers Of The State, Without Farther Legislative

Interposition;

Chapter XVI Pg 309

And That The Opportunities Of Recompense Would Then Be

Notorious And Equal; But That The Redress, If Any Should Be Obtained

Through The Medium Of The Commissioners, Would Be Partial In Its

Operation, And To The Exclusion Of Those Who With Equal Merits Had

Acquiesced In The Known Laws.

 

 

"_Second._ In The Cases Of Claims For Services Done And Supplies

Furnished During The War, When The Demand, Though Originating Under

The Authority Of This State, Is Properly Against The United States,

The Opinion Of The Commissioners Is Against The Allowance Of Any

Recompense, Because Those Claims Should More Properly Be Preferred To

Congress; And For That This State Can Have No Credit With The United

States For Payment Or Assumptions After The 1St Day Of October, 1788.

 

 

"And That, Therefore, The Claimants Having Neglected To Exhibit Their

Demands Within The Period During Which This State Could Without Loss

Have Assumed Them, Cannot Complain If They Are Now Referred To The

Proper Tribunal. Payments By The State Were In Such Cases, At All

Times, Of Favour, And Not Of Right.

 

 

"_Third._ All Claims For The Subsistence And Services Of The Levies

And Militia, Or Other Troops, Composing A Part Of The Continental

Army, Or Destined To Join The Army, And Moving To Such Places Of

Destination, Or Under The Command Or Orders Of A Continental Officer,

And All Claims For Supplies And Services Beforehand For Such Troops,

Are Considered As Proper Against The United States Only, And Are

Classed Accordingly; The Commissioners Have Been Led To A More Strict

Attention To This Distinction By The Reasons Just Before Mentioned,

And Are Warranted By The Practice Of The Continental Commissioners For

Settling Accounts, In Declaring That Such Accounts And Demands Were

Proper Against The United States.

 

 

"Principles Of More Limited Operation, And Other Remarks, Will Appear

In Those Parts Of The Report To Which They Apply.

 

 

"Explanatory Of Particular Parts, And Of The General Form Of The

Report, It May Be Proper To Observe,

 

 

"That Where The Claim Or Account Appears, Upon The Face Of It, To Be

Evidently Against The United States Only, Or For Other Reasons

Palpably Inadmissible, The Commissioners Have Thought It Would Have

Been Superfluous To State The Proof, And Have Therefore, In Those

Cases Only, Given Such Abstracts Of The Claim Or Account As Suffice To

Render The Exception Apparent.

 

 

"In Giving Their Opinion, The Commissioners Have Not Detailed All The

Reasons Which Led To It, But Have Given A Summary Of Such As Appeared

To Them Most Conclusive;

Chapter XVI Pg 310