tion offered by congress, at a time when they had
nothing else to give to the officers of the army, for services then to
be performed. It was the only means to prevent a total dereliction of
the service.--It was a part of their hire.--I may be allowed to say it
was the price of their blood, and of your independence. It is
therefore more than a common debt; it is a debt of honour. It can
never be considered as a pension, or gratuity; nor be cancelled until
it is fairly discharged.

"With regard to a distinction between officers and soldiers, it is
sufficient that the uniform experience of every nation of the world,
combined with your own, proves the utility and propriety of the
discrimination. Rewards in proportion to the aids the public derives
from them, are unquestionably due to all its servants. In some lines,
the soldiers have perhaps generally had as ample a compensation for
their services, by the large bounties which have been paid to them, as
their officers will receive in the proposed commutation; in others, if
besides the donation of lands, the payment of arrearages, of clothing
and wages, (in which articles all the component parts of the army must
be put upon the same footing,) we take into the estimate the bounties
many of the soldiers have received, and the gratuity of one year's
full pay which is promised to all, possibly their situation (every
circumstance duly considered) will not be deemed less eligible than
that of the officers. Should a further reward, however, be judged
equitable, I will venture to assert, no one will enjoy greater
satisfaction than myself, on seeing an exemption from taxes for a
limited time, (which has been petitioned for in some instances,) or
any other adequate immunity or compensation, granted to the brave
defenders of their country's cause. But neither the adoption nor
rejection of this proposition will in any manner affect, much less
militate against, the act of congress, by which they have offered five
years full pay, in lieu of the half pay for life, which had been
before promised to the officers of the army.

"Before I conclude the subject of public justice, I can not omit to
mention the obligations this country is under to that meritorious
class of veteran non-commissioned officers and privates who have been
discharged for inability, in consequence of the resolution of congress
of the 23d April, 1782, on an annual pension for life. Their peculiar
sufferings, their singula