Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/216

 ZIO Cases ruled and adjudged in the l793. vice bythe Supreme Executive Council of Pemr/jlvrmia. Who haps thofe, who became fupernumerary, or reduced, in confe- quence of the Refolve of Cong:-¢ of the ailt of O&ab¢·r, 1 780, or fuch as had retired, with the confent of the Commander in Chief, after notice of the provilionary articles of peace, of the 30th of Nwmrbrr, 1 782. And it is at leafi douhjid, whether the half pay of thefe oilicers was to commence before the coneluli- on of the war; for, thofe who continued to undergo the fa- . tigues and hardfhips of a camp, and to endanger their lives _in battle, until the termination of the war, feemed to have a preater claim 011 their country, than thofe who retired from t.l1e ervice ; and of this opinion was the Congr4'r, which appears in their Refolve on General ]l!ax·welI’.r cafe, on the 8th of Au- gryf, 1780. The words in the Refolve, regarding reduced ofli- cers, of the ziii of Oehber, 1780, are, that they ** are to be allowed half pay for life ;” but no mention is made of the time when it was to begin, nor did the C¤ngr¢ make any pro- · vilion for the payment of it, prior to the conclulion of the war. Be this as it may, it is certain, that no oflicers of the army in _ the line of the State, were entitled to half pay, by any Aél or Refolvc of the Ajfwréfy, excepting fuch as {hould ferve ’till the md gf the war, and that thofe in their navy were entitled to it from the time of their dylulnrge. 'I`he navy oliicers could not be placed on afbsiing with the oflicers of the army of the State, if the latter got five years full pay in lieu of what was to become due to them, for half pay from the end of the war, and the former got only live years full pay, in the lieu of what was to become due to them, but alfo of feveral years of arrears then pail, for the payment of which they had a legiflative fecurity. Be· lides, the oliicers of the army had large bounties in lands, not only from the State, but alfo from the United State: ; but the oiiicers of the State Navy had none. Could this have been the intention of the Legillature ? I {hould think not, becaufe of tl1e great inequality it would create, not only between their ollicers i11 the Land-Service, and Sea-Service, contrary to their exprtfr declaration, but alfo between the latter themfelves ; for, ‘ by accepting the commutation, the 0llC would lofe more than another, in proportion to the times they were refpeétively difcharged. This would be fo unrcafonable and unjult, that unlefs they had exprefsly and manifellly thus declared, Iam in- clined to entertain a contrary fentiment. Their delign rather appears to have been, to place their Navy-oliicers 011 a footing with the mofl: favored of their Land-olliccrs, becaufe they ex- prefsly allowed them half pay, from tl1e time of their awbarge; but to the others, only from the end of the war. It is a pity this affair has been left fo embarrailed ; but the bell conclude:}
 * /V`-! the retiring oflicers of the army were, I do not well know ; per-

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