half pay for life of a captain, and that the said Register grant a certificate for the amount thereof accordingly.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Comptroller of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, required to adjust the account of Francis Suzor Debevere, a surgeon's mate in the service of the United States, during the late war, and who remained in captivity to the end thereof; and that the Register of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, required to grant a certificate for the amount which shall be found due for the services of the said Francis Suzor Debevere. That the said Comptroller adjust the account of Robert King, as a lieutenant, deranged, upon the principles of the act of the late Congress, passed the twenty-fourth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and that the said Register grant a certificate accordingly. That the Comptroller adjust the account of Lemuel Sherman, as a sailing master of a galley on Lake Champlain, and as such taken prisoner; and that the said Register grant a certificate accordingly.

*

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That there be granted to Nicholas Ferdinand Westfall, who left the British service and joined the army of the United States, during the late war, one hundred acres of unappropriated land in the western territory of the United States, free of all charges, and also the sum of three hundred and thirty-six dollars, out of any money appropriated to the contingent charges of government.

[ 11. ]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 2, page 299.]

CHAP. 136. An act to continue in force the act, entitled "An act to provide for mitigating or remitting penalties," &c., and to make further provision for the payment of pensions to invalids.

Pensions to be paid for one year from the fourth of March last.

APPROVED, MAY 8, 1792.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the yearly pensions which have been, or may be allowed by, or in pursuance of, any act or law of the United States, to persons who were wounded and disabled in the public service, shall, for the space of one year from the fourth day of March last, be paid out of the treasury of the United States, under such regulations as the President of the United States may direct.

See resolution of that date-ante.

[ 12.]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 2, page 354.]

CHAP. 162. An act to regulate the claims to invalid pensions.

Former act inadequate. 1. The sections of the act mentioned repealed, and claims to pensions regulated: Evidence relative to invalids to be on oath: The evidence must prove disability to have been the effect of known wounds, &c., and must be the affidavit of the commanding officer, &c.: Every claimant must be examined on oath: Each claimant to produce evidence of the time of his leaving the service: Claimant to produce evidence of continuance of disability: Each claimant to show cause why he did not previously apply: No evidence to be admitted in relation to examined and rejected claims. 2. The district judge to transmit a list of claims and the evidence to the Secretary of War: The Secretary of War to make a statement to Congress. 3. Persons not on the pension list prior to the 23d of March, 1792, not entitled to a pension without complying with the provisions of this act; except, &c.: Measures to be taken by the Secretary of War and Attorney General to obtain an adjudication of the Supreme Court on the validity of rights claimed. 4. No claim to a pension allowed under this act unless presented within two years.

APPROVED, FEBRUARY 28, 1793.

Whereas the act passed at the last session of Congress, entitled "An act to provide for the settlement of the claims of widows and orphans barred by the limitations heretofore established, and to regulate the claims to invalid pensions,"* is found by experience inadequate to prevent the admission of improper claims to invalid pensions, and not to contain a sufficient facility for the allowance of such as may be well founded: Therefore,

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second, third, and fourth sections of the said act, be repealed, and that, in future, all claims to such pensions shall be regulated in the manner following, to wit:

First: All evidence relative to invalids shall be taken upon oath or affirmation, before the judge of the district in which such invalids reside, or before any three persons specially authorized by commission from the said judge.

Secondly: The evidence relative to any claimant must prove decisive disability to have been the effect of known wounds, received while in the actual line of his duty, in the service of the United States, during the late war. That this evidence must be the affidavits of the commanding officer or surgeon of the ship, regiment, corps, or company, in which such claimant served, or two other credible witnesses, to the same effect, setting forth the time and place of such known wound.

Thirdly: Every claimant shall be examined upon oath or affirmation, by two physicians or surgeons, to be authorized by commission from the said judge, who shall report, in writing, their opinion, upon oath or affirmation, of the nature of the said disability, and in what degree it prevents the claimant from obtaining his livelihood by labor.

Fourthly: Every claimant shall produce evidence of the time

* Ante act of March 23, 1792, chap. 112.

of his leaving the service of the United States. He must also produce evidence of three reputable freeholders of the city, town, or county, in which he usually resided, for the two years immediately after he left the service, as aforesaid, of the existence of his disability during that period; and ascertaining, of their own. knowledge, the mode of life, employment, labor, or means of support, of the claimant.

Fifthly: And the said claimant must produce the evidence of two credible witnesses, of the continuance of his disability, from the expiration of the said two years to the time of his application.

Sixthly: Each claimant must show a good and sufficient cause why he did not apply for a pension, to the person or persons authorized to examine his claim, on or before the eleventh of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, the time limited for applications of this nature.

Seventhly: No evidence of any claimant shall be admitted whose claim has been examined and rejected, on or before the aforesaid eleventh of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the judge of the district shall transmit a list of such claims, accompanied by the evidence herein directed, to the Secretary for the Department of War, in order that the same may be compared with the muster rolls, and other documents in his office; and the said Secretary shall make a statement of the cases of the said claimants to Congress, with such circumstances and remarks as may be necessary, in order to enable them to take such order thereon as they may judge proper.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That no person not on the pension list before the twenty-third day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two,* shall be entitled to a pension, who shall not have complied with the rules and regulations herein prescribed, saving, however, to all persons, all and singular their rights founded upon legal adjudications under the act entitled "An act to provide for the settlement of the claims of widows and orphans, barred by the limitations heretofore established, and to regulate the claims to invalid pensions :"+ But it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Attorney General, to take such measures as may be necessary to obtain an adjudication of the supreme court of the United States on the validity of any such rights claimed under the act aforesaid, by the determination of certain persons styling themselves commissioners.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no claim to a pension shall be allowed under this act, which shall not be presented within two years from the passing the same.

* See act 23d March, 1792; ante, chap. 112.

† Ante, chap. 112.

Simeon Thayer to be placed on the pension list and allowed the half pay of a major: Provided, &c.

APPROVED, MARCH 2, 1793.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Simeon Thayer, late a major in the army of the United States, who was disabled at the battle of Monmouth, be placed on the pension list of the United States, and that he be allowed the half pay of a major, from the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one: Provided, he return into the treasury office a sum equivalent to the whole of his commutation of half pay.

[14.]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 2, page 391.]

CHAP. 198. An act allowing lieutenant colonel Tousard an equivalent for his pension

for life.

Three thousand six hundred dollars allowed to lieutenant colonel Tousard in full of pension of three hundred and sixty dollars for life.

APPROVED, APRIL 30, 1794.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be allowed to lieutenant colonel Tousard three thousand six hundred dollars, in full discharge of his [yearly] pension of three hundred and sixty dollars for life.

[15.]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 2, page 434.]

CHAP. 228. An act in addition to the "Act for making further and more effectual provision for the protection of the frontiers of the United States.*

1. Half pay for five years to the widows or orphans of commissioned officers dying in the service from wounds, &c. 2. Arrears of the army not to exceed two months.

APPROVED, JUNE 7, 1794.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any commissioned officer in the troops of the United States shall, while in the service of the United States, die, by reason of wounds received in actual service of the United States, and shall leave a

See act 16th March, 1802, sec. 14 and sec. 15-post.

widow, or if no widow, shall leave a child or children, under age, [of 16 years,] such widow, or if no widow, such child or children, shall be entitled to, and receive, the half of the monthly pay to which the deceased was entitled at the time of his death, for and during the term of five years: And in case of the death or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the said term of five years, the half pay, for the remainder of the term, shall go to the child or children of such deceased officer, while under the age of sixteen years, and, in like manner, the allowance to the child or children of such deceased, where there is no widow, shall be paid no longer than while there is a child or children under the age aforesaid. Provided, that no greater sum shall be allowed, in any case, to the widow, or to the child or children, of any officer, than the full pay of a lieutenant colonel.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the army be in future paid in such manner that the arrears shall at no time exceed two months.

[16.]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 2, page 438.]

CHAP. 233. An act concerning invalids.

The Secretary of War to place upon the list of invalid pensioners all persons who have been returned by the judges under the act mentioned, &c., who are found to come within the provisions of the act: Persons placed on the list to receive the sums specified by the judges: Proviso; commissioned officers placed on the pension list for less than a full pension, to comply with the rule referred to.

APPROVED, JUNE 7, 1794.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the War Department be, and he is hereby, directed to place upon the list of invalid pensioners of the United States, all persons who have been returned as such by the judges of the several districts, under the act of Congress of the twenty-eighth of February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, entitled "An act to regulate the claims to invalid pensions,"* and who, by legal proofs, are by him found to come clearly within' the provisions of the said act, and are reported as having complete evidence of their claims, in the report of the said Secretary, upon that subject, made to Congress the twenty-fifth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four,† and all persons placed, by virtue of this act, on the list of invalid pensioners, shall receive such sums as the returns of the district judges have respectively specified, and be paid in the same manner as invalid pensioners are paid, who have been heretofore placed on the list: Provided, That every commissioned officer who shall, by virtue. † See resolutions of 9th June, 1794--post.

Ante, chap. 162.