Silliman v. United States

APPEALS from the Court of Claims.

The case as set forth in the findings of fact is this:--

In 1863, claimants were partners in trade, doing business in the city of New York, under the firm style of Silliman, Matthews, & Co. At various times they executed with the United States (the latter represented by Major Van Vliet of the quartermaster's department) several charter-parties for barges of which they were owners. The barges were delivered to the quartermaster's department, and remained in service during the periods respectively set forth in the petition. The claimants were paid at the charter rates up to and including the 31st of October, 1863.

On the 2d of June, 1863, the Quartermaster-General, by letter, instructed Quartermaster Van Vliet that all doubledecked barges then in service and used for transporting cattle, horses, &c., should, from and after the 1st of that month, be made to conform to a standard of compensation at rates not to exceed four dollars per ton per month.

The owners of the barges, being notified by Major Van Vliet of the Quartermaster-General's instructions, replied that their barges were only measured as single-deck, and that the rate of four dollars per ton per month would not pay them unless they were allowed to measure the upper deck also, and that rather than accept the reduction they preferred to have their boats discharged.

This reply of the claimants having been communicated to the Quartermaster-General, he directed Major Van Vliet to discharge the barges from service as rapidly as he could procure others upon the terms just stated, and under a new form of charter-party prescribed by the Quartermaster-General.

In reply to this direction Majo Van Vliet, on the 22d of July, 1863, informed the Quartermaster-General that it was impossible to obtain barges at New York at the rates indicated by the latter, taking the registered tonnage as the standard of measurement, which represented only their hold-measurement, and not their actual carrying capacity; and that compensation at the rate of four dollars per ton of actual carrying capacity would exceed that stipulated for in the then existing charter-parties.

From July 22, 1863, till December, 1863, no further correspondence took place in regard to the barges, and they remained in the service as before.

On the 10th of December, 1863, the Quartermaster-General instructed Major Van Vliet that the double-decked barges chartered by the latter must be brought within the price stated in the letter of June 2, 1863, and that no higher rate would be allowed for them from and after Dec. 1, 1863.

This instruction having been communicated by Major Van Vliet to the claimants, the latter, on the 14th of December, having before them the form of the new charter-party which had been proposed by the Quartermaster-General, stated to Major Van Vliet, by letter, that rather than sign the new charter-party they had decided to have their barges returned to them, and that they would not let them for four dollars per ton per month.

On the 28th of December, 1863, the Quartermaster-General issued a circular-letter to several quartermasters, and assistant quartermasters, among whom was Major Van Vliet, stating that no payments would be made for charter-money for services rendered and due after March 31, 1863, under any other form of charter-party than that which had, on the last-named date, been prescribed by the Quartermaster-General.

After the date of the last-mentioned letter, one of the claimants, Silliman, went to Washington and demanded of the Quartermaster-General the return of the barges to the claimants at New York. That officer replied that the government could not spare them; and when Silliman remonstrated with him against their retention by the government, the Quartermaster-General said the government needed the barges and would keep them, and he declined to pay the arrears then due the claimants for their services under the original charter-parties. Thereafter the claimants made repeated calls on Major Van Vliet for arrearages of money, and were informed that he was ordered not to pay them any until they had made new charter-parties.

On the 8th of January, 1864, the claimants addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, complaining of the treatment they had received from officers under him, stating that two of them had gone to Washington and could find no person who would modify the new charter-party so that they might accept the terms that could be agreed upon, and adding the following words:--

'We now complain as follows, viz.:--

'1. That we have requested that our barges be returned to New York and delivered to us as per charter-party, and have been refused.

'2. That we have 'certificates of service' for November and December, 1863, and the quartermaster at New York has orders not to pay until we make new charters, and we refuse to make them as the blank charters dictate, but are willing to make some concession in price if any person can be named here to negotiate.

'3. We desire to sell, if we cannot have our barges or obtain money for their use, as we cannot meet our obligations to our captains and crews without money to do it, and hope you will act favorably for us at an early date.'

On the 5th of March, 1864, the claimants wrote to the Quartermaster-General, proposing to accept the new charter-parties from the first of the month nearest the acceptance of the same, with certain modifications.

These modifications were accepted by the Quartermaster-General on the 19th of March, 1864, with the exception of the date offered for their taking effect, which he required should be on the 1st of April, 1863.

On the 23d of March, 1864, the claimants, by letter to th Quartermaster-General, said as follows:--

'We have been paid to November 1, 1863, and if we have to go back to April 1, 1863, we shall have to stop payment, as we have depended on this money to keep along in our business. . . . We have been told by other parties that they dated new charters from December 1, and we can see no reason that they should be favored above us. . . . We cannot go back to April 1, 1863.'

To this letter the Quartermaster-General replied, on the 11th of April, 1864, that all charter-parties, without exception, executed to take effect Dec. 1, 1863, for vessels in the service April 1, 1863, had been required to take effect from the latter date.

After this letter the claimant, Matthews, went to Washington and had interviews with the Quartermaster-General and other officers in his office, in which he again remonstrated, as had before been done by his partner, Silliman; to which the Quartermaster-General replied that they had laid down the rule and were determined that nothing else should be done until the new charter-parties had been executed; that until that was done they would keep the barges and not pay for them. Said Matthews, during his visit to Washington, finally agreed with Colonel Clary, an officer in the Quartermaster-General's office, to make the new charter-parties, stating that they did so under protest and yielded to necessity, and insisting, after he had agreed to make them, that it was wrong to make new charter-parties.

On the 16th of May, 1864, in pursuance of Matthews' agreement, the new charter-parties were signed by the claimants and an officer of the quartermaster's department.

The compensation therein stipulated to be paid after Oct. 31, 1863, was, from and after that date, from time to time, paid to the claimants for each of the barges, and when each payment was made the claimants, without objection or protest, gave a receipt therefor as 'in full of the above account.'

The claimants, in their petition, assert claims against the United States for certain balances, computed upon the basis of the original charter-parties, after crediting the several sums received from time to time under the last agreements or charter-parties, which they claim to have been executed under compulsion, and not, therefore, binding upon them.

They also sue to recover damages alleged to have resulted from the use of the barges in a negligent and improper manner by the agents of the government, and for injuries done to them while in the government service, not attributable to ordinary wear and tear.

The Court of Claims held claimants bound by the terms of the charter-parties last executed, but allowed a portion of the damages claimed.

Both parties appealed from the judgment.

Mr. Thomas J. Durant and Mr. Charles W. Hornor for Silliman.

The Attorney-General, contra.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, after stating the facts, delivered the opinion of the court.