8.

LEWIS ANDERSON.

DECEMBER 22, 1830.

Mr. WHITTLESEY, from the Committee of Claims, made the following

REPORT:

The Committee of Claims, to which was referred the petition of Lewis Anderson, report:

That this claim was referred to this committee at the last session of Congress, and a correspondence was had between the committee and Mr Hagner respecting it. He asks to be remunerated for the loss of a horse in the Seminole campaign, on the 23d of January, 1818, which was taken from his team (which he had entered in the service of the United States) by waggon-master Leigh, and from which, in a skirmish with the Indians, said Leigh was shot. The Indians took the horse, and the petitioner has stated in his affidavit that he had received no compensation for the loss of said horse. It appears from Mr. Hagner's letter, of the date of December, 1829, which is referred to and made a part of this report, that Willis Anderson had a team in the service at the time; and that it appeared from a note on the back of the papers relating to Willis Anderson's claim in his office, that Lewis Anderson was the driver. Mr. Hagner suggested that it should be explained why Lewis Anderson should claim pay for this horse, when the hire of the team had been paid to Willis Anderson; and in order to give the petitioner an opportunity to make this explanation, if it was within his power, was the reason why a report in the case was not made at the last session. The deposition of Robert Bedingfield has been taken on this point, and submitted to the committee. He states that he sold the horse that was afterwards taken by the Indians to Lewis Anderson; that it was generally understood, Willis Anderson and Lewis Anderson were interested in the team; and he thinks the team was entered in his name from the circumstance that he was the eldest of the two. Mr. Hagner states that he found, on recurring to the public documents, that the skirmish mentioned in the petition was reported at the time. The horse is proved to have been worth one hundred and thirty-five dollars. It is stated by Mr. Hagner, that it appears from the papers in his office that no horse in the team was appraised over one hundred and thirty dollars, and that Willis Anderson received pay for the team to the 30th of January. The committee report a bill for the petitioner's relief, from a conviction that the loss of the horse is fully established by the evidence, and that the objection suggested by Mr. Hagner is removed by the testimony of Mr. Bedingfield, as far as the nature of the case will admit; but they will deduct a rateable proportion for the hire of this horse from the 23d to the 30th of January, and for his forage.

2d Session.

ALABAMA.

MEMORIAL

Of Sundry Holders of Certificates of Purchase, and Relinquishers of Public Lands.

DECEMBER 23, 1830.

Printed by order of the House of Representatives.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:

Your petitioners, citizens of the State of Alabama, respectfully represent, that they are holders of certificates of purchase, and relinquishers of public lands originally sold under $14 per acre, upon which further credit has been taken, or which have been relinquished under the several laws of the United States passed for the relief of purchasers of public lands.

Your petitioners further beg leave respectfully to represent, that the law passed on the 31st day of March, 1830, entitled "An act for the relief of purchasers of public lands, and for the suppression of fraudulent practices at the public sales of the lands of the United States." does not afford to them either an adequate or proportionate relief. Your petitioners are far from indulging in invidious feelings at the good fortune of the holders of high priced lands, who are presented with a patent upon surrendering their certificates, and paying the fees of office; neither did they experience other than pleasing sensations when informed of the pre-emption rights granted to settlers on public lands: they cannot, however, but view with surprise and regret, the fact of their forming an isolated class, apparently excluded from the favors of Government. If the object of Congress was to raise a certain amount from land debtors, it seems but just to your petitioners that it should have been drawn in rateable proportions from all. It appears, however, that the heaviest contributions have been levied upon the holders of low priced lands, generally consisting of the poorer classes of society.

Your petitioners are impressed with a belief that higher considerations influenced your honorable body than a mere question of revenue, and that the laws of the last session were passed under the conviction of their affording general and ample relief. Your petitioners humbly suggest to your honorable body that they do not receive the relief required by them, or anticipated by the framers of the law. The provision giving scrip for payments made on land the cost of which does not exceed $2 50 per aere, has

not operated as beneficially as was expected by its advocates. The present value of that land arises more from the quantity cleared, and the buildings erected on it, than from the goodness of the soil. Your petitioners respectfully and earnestly request of your honorable body the passage of a law entitling holders of certificates of further credit to a patent upon their paying such sum, in addition to the sum already paid, as will together make $125 per acre; and, where $1 25 per acre has been already paid, entitling them to a patent upon the surrender of their certificate; and also permitting relinquishers of public land to re-enter the lands relinquished by them, upon the payment of $1 25 per acre. Your petitioners hope your honorable body will not consider this request unreasonable, when they reflect that by the bill entitled "An act to grant pre-emption rights to settlers on the public lands," those settlers are allowed to select from the lands possessed or cultivated by them a quarter section, upon paying to the United States the minimum price. Your petitioners consider it a fair presumption that those settlers occupy the most fertile tracts of the different countries in which they are located. They consider it equally plain that the lands which sold for upwards of $14 per acre must be the most valuable in the districts in which they are situated, and, as a natural consequence, that the lands held by your petitioners must be the poorest in those districts. Under these circumstances, your petitioners are at a loss to discover the justness of that legislative reasoning which exacts from them a sum per acre greater than that required for the best public lands to be offered for sale during the continuance of the pre-emption law. And, as in duty bound, they will ever pray, &c.

A TABLE exhibiting the prices which have been paid by the purchasers of public lands, for those which sold under the credit system for prices not exceeding $14 per acre, and have reverted for non-payment of the residue.

It is proposed to pay, in addition to the amount heretofore paid, for land which sold at $4, on which has been paid $1 00,

25 cts. per acre.

JOHN BALTHROPE.

DECEMBER 20, 1830.

Read, and concurred in by the House of Representatives.

Mr. DRAYTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the petition of John Balthrope, made the following

REPORT:

The Committee on Military Affairs, upon the petition of John Balthrope, which has been referred to them, report:.

That the petitioner represents himself to be the author of an improved axle-tree, and of an improved gun-carriage, which, for all practical purposes, are superior to those which are in use, either in the United States or in Europe: he, therefore, prays that his improvements may be adopted in our service; and, in consideration of the advantages to be derived from them, that Congress will grant to him such pecuniary reward as they may deem him reasonably entitled to.

The improvements abovementioned were explained to, and attentively examined by, the committee, who are of opinion that the gun-carriages are preferable, in many respects, to those which are in our service; and that, in the axle-trees now used for field artillery, the petitioner has discovered material defects, which he has remedied by various ingenious improvements, combining superior lightness and strength with greater utility and economy. As conclusive of this fact, the evidence of several officers in the ordnance department was adduced. It also appeared that they had received from Mr. Balthrope several of his axle-trees, and, after subjecting them to the severest tests, had spoken of them in high terms of approbation.

Although the committee readily and cheerfully acknowledge the merit and the usefulness of the petitioner's improvements, yet do they not feel themselves at liberty to recommend any other reward for them than that which will be afforded by the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, That the petitioner is entitled to, and ought to receive from the Ordnance Department, a full price for the axle-trees which he has made and delivered to them; and that, whenever the Government stands in need of further supplies, he ought to be employed in the manufacture of them, and be liberally compensated for his skill and labor.