36TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. (REP. C. C. 2d Session. No. 268. { NATHANIEL P. CAUSIN, ADMINISTRATOR OF JOHN H. STONE. DECEMBER 18, 1860.-Reported from the Court of Claims, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, and ordered to be printed. The COURT OF CLAIMS submitted the following REPORT. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: The Court of Claims respectfully presents the following documents as the report in the case of NATHANIEL P. CAUSIN, ADMINISTRATOR OF JOHN H. STONE, vs. THE UNITED STATES. 1. The petition of the claimant. 2. Claimant's letters of administration. 3. Claimant's evidence, transmitted to the House of Representatives. 4. Claimant's brief. 5. United States solicitor's brief. 6. Opinion of the court adverse to the claim. By order of the Court of Claims. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court, at Washington, this 17th day of December, [L. S.] A. D. 1860. SAM'L H. HUNTINGTON, To the Court of Claims: Your petitioner, Nathaniel Pope Causin, respectfully shows that he is the administrator (see certificate herewith filed) and one of the heirs-at-law of John H. Stone, deceased; that said Stone was, in January, 1776, appointed a captain, and in December following a colonel in the Maryland line of the continental army; that, as a colonel in said army, he participated in the battle at Germantown, and received in that action two severe wounds, which compelled him to resign his said commission in the army on the 1st of August, 1779, and rendered him incapable of getting a livelihood from that time until the date of his death, which took place on the 5th day of October, 1804. By reason whereof, and by virtue of two resolutions of Congress, one dated August 26, 1776, and the other dated third day of June, 1784, the said Stone became entitled to receive thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per month, from the 1st of August, 1779, until the 5th October, 1804, with interest thereon, at six per cent. per annum, from the time the several payments became due until the same were made; but that, nevertheless, no part thereof was paid until the act of January 18, 1855, (10 Stat, p. 843,) was passed, when the said monthly pay only was paid, because the accounting officers of the treasury construed the said act of 1855 as not appropriating money for the payment of the interest due under the said resolution of 1784. (See account herewith filed.) Your petitioner, therefore, prays that a judgment may be rendered for the interest thereon due under the said resolution. Your petitioner states that he, as the legal representative of the said deceased, is the sole owner of the demand herein presented. BLAIR, for Petitioner. N. P. Causin, the petitioner above named, being duly sworn, on his oath states that he verily believes the facts in the above petition are true. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 9th day of April, 1860. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WASHINGTON COUNTY, District of Columbia, to wit: To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know ye, that on the 23d day of January, in the year of our Lord 1855, letters of administration of all and singular the goods, chattels, and credits, which were of Colonel John H. Stone, late of Maryland, deceased, was, by the orphans' court of Washington county aforesaid, granted and committed unto Nathaniel P. Causin, of the county and District aforesaid, the said Nathaniel P. Causin having first entered into bond, with approved securities, for the faithful performance of the duties thereof. Witness, William F. Purcell, esq., judge of the orphans' court of Washington county, in the District of Columbia, this 7th day of April, anno Domini 1860. [L. S.] Test: ED. N. ROACH, IN THE COURT OF CLAIMS. N. P. CAUSIN, ADMINISTRATOR, v8. THE UNITED STATES. The claimant offers in evidence the papers certified by the Register of the Treasury, under date of April 9, 1860, and is ready for trial. M. BLAIR, for Claimant. No. 116693.] Papers from the Treasury Department. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, First Auditor's Office, January 26, 1855. I hereby certify that I have examined and adjusted an account between the United States and the legal representatives of Colonel John H. Stone, deceased, and find that the sum of eleven thousand three hundred and thirty-one dollars and sixteen cents is due from the United States to them for the half pay of a colonel in the continental line of the army of the United States, from the first day of August, 1779, to the 5th day of October, 1804-viz: twenty-five years, two months, and five days, at $37 50 per month, $11,331 16-as certified by the Third Auditor, and admitted and certified by the Second Comptroller of the Treasury, under date of January 26, 1855; which sum is payable out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, as provided in "An act for the relief of the legal representatives of Colonel John H. Stone," approved January 18, 1855, as appears from the statement and vouchers herewith transmitted for the decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury thereon. $11,331 16. T. L. SMITH, First Auditor. The FIRST COMPTROLLER of the Treasury. COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE. I admit and certify the above balance this 27th day of January, 1855. E. WHITTLESEY, Comptroller. The payment by the act is to be made to the legal representatives. ELISHA WHITTLESEY. The REGISTER of the Treasury. COMPTROLLER' OFFICE, January 30, 1855. It satisfactorily appears, from papers filed herewith, that Colonel John H. Stone died without will in Maryland; that letters of administration were not granted on his estate; and that letters of administration have been granted to Nathaniel Pope Causin, in this District of Columbia, as near of kin as any of the survivors in equal degree, and that no one of the same degree is living in Maryland; all of which will more fully appear by the papers filed herewith. The amount found due within should be paid to Nathaniel Pope Causin, the legal representative of Colonel John H. Stone. ELISHA WHITTLESEY, Comptroller. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Register's Office, April 9, 1860. I hereby certify that the foregoing report in favor of the legal representatives of Colonel John H. Stone, deceased, is a true copy of the original on file in this office. F. BIGGER, Register. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 17, 1860. SIR: Your letter of the 16th instant is received, requesting me to direct the accounting officers to allow and pay certain interest claimed by N. P. Causin, esq., administrator of John H. Stone, under the act of January 18, 1855. This claim appears to have been duly settled, according to the terms of the act, and paid upon the requisition of the Secretary of War. Your letter states that payment was received on the 26th of January, 1855. The rule of this department from its establishment has been, that the accounting officers will not be directed to open and revise a settlement at the instance of any claimant, unless new and material facts are established, or authority is given by further legislation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, HOWELL COBB, Secretary of the Treasury. M. BLAIR, Attorney of N. P. Causin, Washington. COURT OF CLAIMS. JOHN H. STONE'S ADMINISTRATOR VS. THE UNITED STATES. Brief of M. Blair, for claimant. I. The special act of January, 1855, (10 Stat., 843,) expressly puts the case within the resolution of June 3, 1784, and therefore the interest allowed by it in all cases to which it applies should have been paid to the petitioners. II. The department has heretofore, and at an early day, observed this obvious requirement of the law in such cases. (See case of Mrs. Hamilton, under special act, 6 Stat., 173) III. Where Congress did not intend to give interest, the special acts relating to such cases provide accordingly. (See act of June 23, 1836, 6 Stat., p. 641-Baird's case.) It may be observed, also, in reference to Baird's case, that though the department was not authorized to pay the interest, in consequence of the prohibition in the act of 1836, that restriction has since been removed, and the interest paid on a decision of this court. The court held that the act of 1836, whilst not providing for or permitting the interest to be paid by the Treasury Department, nevertheless showed that it was due. M. BLAIR, for Petitioner. IN THE COURT OF CLAIMS. JOHN H. STONE'S ADMINISTRATOR vs. THE UNITED STATES. SOLICITOR'S BRIEF. Claim for interest on an invalid pension claim paid under a private act. AVERMENTS IN THE PETITION. 1. That John H. Stone was entitled to an invalid pension for disability incurred during the war of the revolution. 2. That Congress passed an act on the 18th of January, 1855, to pay his legal representatives the amount of said invalid pension claim, which was paid. 3. But that interest thereon was not paid, but is now due, and is now claimed. MATERIAL FACTS AS UNDERSTOOD BY THE SOLICITOR, AS SHOWN IN THE RECORD. First. That on the 18th day of January, 1855, Congress passed an act (10 U. S. L., 843) in these words: "That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required to pay, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the legal representatives of Colonel John H. Stone, the half pay of a colonel in the continental line of the army of the United States; the said half pay to commence on the first day of August, seventeen hundred and seventy-nine, and to terminate on the fifth day of October, eighteen hundred and four, the day of his death. The same being then due and unpaid to the said Colonel John H. Stone in virtue of the resolution of Congress of the twenty-sixth of August, seventeen hundred and seventy-six, which engaged to allow half pay for life to such officers and soldiers as should lose a limb in any engagement, or be so disabled in the service of the United States of America as to render them incapable afterward of getting a livelihood; the said pay to commence from and after the time that their pay as an officer or soldier ceased." Second. The resolution referred to in said act is as follows, (1 Old J., 454, 455 :) "Resolved, That every commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer, and private soldier, who shall lose a limb in any engagement, |