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

And, As Well In This As In Stating The Facts,

Have Aimed At As Much Brevity As Appeared To Them To Consist With

Perspicuity. If They Shall Be Found In Any Instances Obscure, A

Reference To The Claim And Proofs Will Probably Elucidate Them. When

The Claim Is Provided For By Existing Laws, The Opinion Of The

Commissioners Refers The Claimant To The Mode Pointed Out By Such Law.

 

 

"Demands Of Different Natures By The Same Person Are Placed Under The

Head Which Comprises The Greater Demand. The Claim And Vouchers Being

In Such Cases Usually Contained In The Same Paper Or Annexed Together,

It Was Necessary So To Place Them In The Report That There Might Be No

Confusion In The References.

 

 

"To Produce Facility In The Review Of These Proceedings, The Documents

Referred To Are All Herewith Delivered, And Are In Bundles, Marked

Agreeably To The Heads Under Which They Are Classed.

 

 

"_Claims For Militia Pay._

 

 

[In The Report A Number Of Cases Are Here Inserted.]

 

 

"By An Act Passed The 27Th Of April, 1784, Entitled _An Act For The

Settlement Of The Pay Of The Levies And Militia For Their Services In

The Late War, And For Other Purposes Therein Mentioned_, The Mode In

Which The Rolls And Abstracts For Pay And Subsistence Are To Be Made

Out And Settled Is Particularly Pointed Out, And Competent Powers And

Directions For The Liquidation Of Those Accounts Are Thereby Given To

The Treasurer And Auditor."

 

 

"By The 14Th Section Of An Act Passed The 21St Of April, 1787,

Entitled _An Act For The Relief Of Persons Who Paid Money Into The

Treasury, &C_., The Aforesaid Act Of The 27Th Of April, 1784, Is

Repealed. The Commissioners Consider This Repeal As An Exclusion Of

All Further Claims For Pay And Subsistence Of The Militia And Levies.

They Are Constrained To Adopt This Opinion, Not Only From The Obvious

Intention Of The Act, But Because, By The Absolute Repeal Of The Act

Of The 27Th Of April, 1784, There Remains No Prescribed Mode Of

Authenticating These Demands; That Any Rules Which The Discretion Of

The Commissioners Should Lead Them To Adopt Would Have Been Unknown To

The Claimants, Who Could Therefore Have Had No Opportunity Of Adapting

Their Demands To Such Rules; And Because, If The Legislature Shall Be

Disposed To Direct Compensations For Such Services, It Will, In The

Opinion Of The Commissioners, Be Most Properly Effected By A Revival

Of The Said Act Of The 27Th Of April, 1784, With Such Further

Provisions And Checks As May Be Thought Necessary; Or By Some Other

General Statute, To Be Passed For Those Purposes, And Which May Give

Equal Opportunities To The Claimants, And Place The Liquidation And

Settlement Of Such Demands In The Hands Of The Ordinary Officers Of

The State.

Chapter XVI Pg 311

 "_Claims For Services, Supplies, And Losses, Which, If Admissible, Can

Be Made Against The United States Only._

 

 

[In The Report Details Follow, And The Commissioners Remark]--

 

 

"The Foregoing Claims And Accounts The Commissioners Conceive To Be

Proper Against The United States Only. This Is, In Their Opinion,

Sufficiently Evident In Most Of The Cases From A Bare Statement Of The

Demands. Some Few Appear To Require A More Special Report. The

Resolutions Of Congress Of The 7Th Of May, 1787, And 24Th Of June,

1788, Relative To The Settlement Of Accounts Between The United States

And Individual States, Will Show The Extent Of The Powers Of The

Continental Commissioners, And Will Serve To Explain The Opinions In

Such Of The Preceding Cases As May Appear To Require Farther

Illustration."

 

 

 "_Claims For Payment Of State Agents' Certificates_.

 

 

"By The 25Th Section Of The Act Passed The 5Th Of May, 1786, Entitled

_An Act For The Payment Of Certain Sums Of Money, And For Other

Purposes Therein Mentioned_, All Persons Holding Or Possessing

Certificates Of Udny Hay Or Any Of His Assistants, Or Of Jacob Cuyler,

Morgan Lewis, Or Andrew Bostwick, Were Required To Present Them, In

The Manner Therein Prescribed, To The Treasurer, Before The 1St Of

September, 1786; And Those Who Failed Therein Are Thereby Declared _To

Be Barred And For Ever Precluded_ From Any Compensation, Of Which The

Treasurer Was Directed To Give Public Notice By Advertisement, Which

Was Accordingly Done.

 

 

"By Another Act, Passed The 31St Of March, 1787, The Time For

Presenting The Certificates Of Udny Hay And His Assistants Was

Extended Until The First Of May Then Next, Which Time Has Not Been

Further Extended By Any Law Of This State: So That All Certificates Of

Those Denominations Which Were Not Presented Within The Times And In

The Manner Specified In Those Laws, Are Expressly Barred And For Ever

Precluded From Compensation.

 

 

"The Commissioners Have Therefore, For The Reasons Contained In The

Observations Prefixed To This Report, Conceived That A Reference To

The Aforesaid Acts Was The Most Proper Discharge Of Their Duty With

Respect To All Claims Of Compensation For Such Certificates.

 

 

"_Claims For Grain Impressed For The Use Of The Army By Virtue Of

Warrants Issued By His Excellency The Governor, Pursuant To An Act

Passed 23D June, 1780_.

Chapter XVI Pg 312

"The Law Authorizing These Impresses Declares The Articles Impressed

To Be For The _Use And Service Of The Army_, And That The Owner Shall

Be Entitled To Receive From The Public Officer Authorized To Pay The

Same The Current Price For The Articles Impressed, But Does Not Say By

Whom That Public Officer Is To Be Appointed. The Commissioners Have,

However, No Doubt But These Were Proper Claims Against The United

States, And Would Have Been Allowed By The Continental Commissioner If

Exhibited In Proper Season; Therefore, And For The Reasons Contained

In The Second Preliminary Observation, The Commissioners Are Of The

Opinion That These Claimants Cannot Of Right Demand Payment Of This

State.

 

 

"The Claims Of Van Rensselaer And Dumond, The Commissioners Are Of

Opinion Are Reasonable; That, Having Been Employed Under The Governor,

The Claimants Could Have No Demand Against The United States, And That

The Charges Are Proper Against This State.

 

 

"_Claims For Services In Assisting H.I. Van Rensselaer And Egbert

Dumond In Making The Said Impresses_.

 

 

"The Commissioners Consider The Reasons Just Before Stated In Favour

Of The Claims Of Van Rensselaer And Dumond To Apply To The Eleven

Preceding, And That They Are Therefore Proper Charges Against This

State.

 

 

"_Claims For Payment Of Debts Due From Persons Whose Property Hath

Been Forfeited Or Sequestered_.

 

 

"The Several Foregoing Demands Against Forfeited Estates Arose After

The 9Th Day Of July, 1776, And Are Expressly Precluded By The 42D

Section Of An Act Passed The 12Th Of May, 1784, Entitled _An Act For

The Speedy Sale Of The Confiscated And Forfeited Estates Within This

State, And For Other Purposes Therein Mentioned_.

 

 

"The Next Twenty-Five Claims Are For Satisfaction Of Debts Out Of The

Proceeds Of Property Sequestered. The Estates Of The Several Debtors

Have Become Forfeited, But In Some Instances No Property Hath Come To

The Hands Of The Commissioners Of Forfeitures; And In Others, The

Property Which Has Come To Their Hands Hath Been Insufficient For The

Discharge Of Debts Which Have Been Certified.

 

 

"The Succeeding Twenty-Six Claims Are To Have Debts Satisfied Out Of

The Proceeds Of Property Sequestered, Though There Had Been No

Conviction Of Adherence Or Other Forfeiture Of The Estate Of The

Debtors.

Chapter XVI Pg 313

"The Commissioners Are Of Opinion That A Law Should Be Passed

Authorizing The Treasurer To Pay Demands Against Forfeited Estates, In

All Cases Where There Still Remains In His Hands A Surplus From The

Proceeds Of Such Estates, Notwithstanding The Limitation Contained In

The Act Of 12Th May, 1784. But The Commissioners Would Recommend That

Some Mode Different From That Prescribed In The Said Act Be Directed

For The Ascertaining The Amount Of Those Demands. The Several

Claimants And Such Others As Have Neglected To Avail Themselves Of The

Benefit Of The Said Act, May, In The Opinion Of The Commissioners, Be

With Propriety Holden To Strict Legal Proof Of Their Respective

Demands, In Due Course Of Law, In Some Court Of Record, Where The

Interest Of The State May Be Defended By Some Officer To Be For That

Purpose Appointed.

 

 

"The Commissioners Are Further Of Opinion, That Where There Has Been A

Sequestration Of Any Part Of The Property Of A Person _Whose Estate

Hath Become Forfeited_, The Avails Of The Property So Sequestered, As

Far As The Same _Can Be Distinguished_, Should Be Subject To The

Payment Of His Debts, In Like Manner As May Be Provided With Respect

To Other Demands Against Forfeited Estates; But It Would Not, In The

Opinion Of The Commissioners, Be At This Time Advisable To Assume The

Payment Of The Debts Of Persons Whose Property Hath Been Sequestered,

And Where There Hath Been No Other Forfeiture Or Confiscation.

 

 

"_Claims Relative To Sequestration, And Property Taken By Orders Of

The Convention_.

 

 

"These Persons Were Voluntarily Within The British Lines, And Their

Property Was Therefore Liable To Sequestration Under The Acts Of The

Convention. They Produce A Certificate Of Their Attachment To The

American Cause, Signed By Some Respectable Characters. But Being

Within The Resolutions Of The Convention, The Commissioners Cannot

Advise A Recompense.

 

 

  "Gerard Bancker, _Treasurer_.

  "Peter T. Curtenius, _State Auditor_.

  "Aaron Burr, _Attorney-General_."

 

 

On The 19Th Of January, 1791, Colonel Burr Was Appointed A Senator Of

The United States, In The Place Of General Schuyler, Whose Term Of

Service Would Expire On The 4Th Of March Following. Until About This

Period He Was But Little Known As A Partisan Politician. After The

Organization Of The Federal Government Under The New Constitution, He

Appears To Have Felt A Great Interest In Its Operations. In The French

Revolution Also, His Feelings Were Embarked; And He Was Among The

Number Of Those Who Condemned The Cold And Repulsive Neutrality Which

Characterized The Administration Of That Day.

Chapter XVI Pg 314