pleasure in bearing testimony to the arduous and able services then rendered by Captain Hetzel, and believe that while the extraordinary responsibilities he assumed greatly facilitated the operations of removing the Indians, they could not have been required of him by the Government, and were, therefore, eminently extra official, for which, it seems, his now destitute family may reasonably claim extra compensation. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, NEW YORK, WINFIELD SCOTT. January 17, 1850. B. Captain Hetzel was long known to me as an intelligent, active and efficient officer. He served under my command, in the Cherokee nation, from the 1st of July, 1836, to the 1st of July, 1837. During this period his duties were highly onerous and responsible. He was chief of the quartermaster's department in that country, and I held him responsible for the faithful performance of the duties of all subordinates in the department. As it was the practice, at this time, of the War Department to allow for extra services, I know of no officer who could claim, with greater justice, compensation for onerous and extra services than can Captain Hetzel. He was faithful to the last degree. In 1846, during the Mexican war, he again became subject to my authority, when he rendered important services in preparing and providing the means of transporting the volunteers to their distant service. After which, he was engaged in procuring supplies and the means of transportation of the troops for Vera Cruz. Being stationed at this place, he contracted a disease which compelled him to leave for his home, but which, as I am informed, before his arrival, carried him to his grave. I trust his claim will receive all the attention and consideration which is justly due to gallant, efficient, and extraordinary services. JOHN G. WOOL, Major General, U. S. A. Claim of Captain A. R. Hetzel, assistant quartermaster, United States army. This claim was made in an account rendered by my husband in the third quarter of 1838, in the following item, viz: "Per centage on disbursements, on account of the appropriation for preventing and suppressing Indian hostilities,' from the 4th of July, 1836, to the 30th September, 1838, $519,549.78, at 21 per cent. $12,988 74." The following explanation of this charge is in my husband's own handwriting: "The amount charged as per centage is not retained, but the undersigned cannot but consider it as a just and equitable claim against the Gov ernment, in consequence of the unusual and extraordinary responsibilities he assumed while on duty as principal quartermaster in the Cherokee nation. The funds placed in his hands, amounting to nearly $700,000, owing to the system of accountability he established, were disbursed in such a manner that the Government lost nothing by the defalcation of agents, whom it became necessary to employ from time to time, in furnishing supplies, providing transportation, &c., at the various posts in the Cherokee nation. His duties were arduous in the extreme, as the several commanding officers, under whose orders he was acting, can testify; and as the money expended, upon which he claims a per centum, was out of an appropriation distinct from the regular army appropriation, he considers it, to say the least, equitable, and that it ought to be allowed. "A. R. HETZEL, Captain and Assistant Quartermaster.” 1st Session. No. 9. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 23, 1851. Mr. DAWSON made the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. No. 84.] The Committee on Military Affairs to whom was referred the memorial of Roger Jones, have had the same under consideration: And have concluded to adopt the report made thereon at the last and preceding sessions of Congress. They also report the bill which has been twice passed by the Senate. The committee have carefully examined all the evidence in this case, and are of opinion that Adjutant-General Jones is entitled, both in law and equity, to the relief he asks for, his claim being fully sustained by former and repeated decisions of the Senate; and the committee report a bill accordingly, believing it the only mode now practicable by which justice long deferred can be rendered to a meritorious officer, whose life has beendevoted to the public service; and in consideration of the undeniable justice of the claim, and the previous decisions in the Senate, upon the fullest examination the committee recommend that the bill receive its third reading and be passed. MEMORIAL OF ROGER JONES. To the Senate of the United States: The memorial of Roger Jones respectfully showeth: That Colonel Robert Butler and this memorialist were the adjutant-generals of the army. at the reduction by law in 1821, which law provided, among other reductions, that there should be only one adjutant-general; that the President considered himself authorized, under this law, to dismiss both Colonel Butler and this memorialist from their commissions as adjutant-generals, and to appoint General Atkinson to be retained adjutant-general under the law that on Atkinson's declining the appointment, the President appointed Colonel Gadsden; that the Senate considered this whole proceeding of the Executive not warranted by the law, and did refuse to confirm the appointment of Colonel Gadsden; that the President submitted the appointment anew, with an elaborate argument to justify his execution of the law; that Hamilton, print. after a careful examination, and an able report from a committee, the Senate did, by an increased majority, reiterate their dissent from the opinion of the Executive, and did again reject the appointment of Colonel Gadsden; that this decision of the Senate was made with no view to party opinions or personal influences, but with the express acknowledgment in the report of their committee of the distinguished merits of Colonel Gadsden, and on the ground that neither the law nor justice admitted of his appointment and the consequent dismissal of both officers who then held the commissions of adjutant-general, and who, the Senate thought, had also rendered some service during the war to support their strict legal claim; that the President, therefore, took no further action in the matter, but during the rest of his administration reported the office vacant, (as see the army registers after that time;) that at the reduction Colonel Butler was appointed to a regiment, which he declined, and left the military service, and accepted a civil appointment under the government, as surveyor-general of Florida; that at the same time this memorialist was sent back to his lineal commission in an inferior grade in the artillery, where he remained in service, endeavoring to procure from the administration the recognition of his rights according to the law and the decision of the Senate, and to be recognised as adjutantgeneral; in which endeavor he was not successful till the incoming of the next administration, when, by the concurrence and prompt action of the President and the Senate, he was at once (being two days only after the inauguration) placed in the office of adjutant-general, without, as he believes, a dissenting voice in the army; but no date of commission being expressed in his nomination, overlooking therein the rule in all military promotions and appointments,) he took date from the confirmation by the Senate, thereby losing his military rank and pay during the time his commission was suspended, and the office declared vacant by the former President. That this absence of date in his new commission, or even the issuing of a new commission at all, was in part the result of haste and inadvertence, may be inferred from a subsequent proceeding in the Senate, February 6, 1827, when Colonel Bissell being likewise renominated for appointment, the Senate resolved, by a vote of thirty-seven to two, that he was entitled to his back date; and re-asserting, in the report of their Committee on Military Affairs, the principle of their former decision in 1822, to wit: "that the Senate maintained that he had never been out of the army." It is to procure relief from the injustice and injury which the memorialist suffered in the premises, that he now makes this application; and, on this showing, he respectfully submits that he was the sole person entitled, on the resignation of Colonel Butler, to the office of adjutant-general, as maintained by the Senate, and finally acquiesced in by the President; that this decision must now be admitted to be correct; that it ought to cover the whole case and the whole time; and that his claim was valid while it was suspended and in debate. In regard to army promotions, the rule is invariable; and this memorialist knows no instance, during the long period in which he has held the office of adjutant-general-the office through which all army commissions are issued-where the benefit of the rule (there is now no exception) has been denied to any officer. And this rule is, that in all cases of promotion, however long the commission may be withheld by ignorance of the vacancy, by disputed claims, by failure of the Executive to send in the list, by delay of the Senate to act on it, or by other accident, yet when the commission is conferred, it relates back to the vacancy, and dates from the time when the promotion was due to the officer. The rank and commission of every officer now in the army, who has received a promotion from his first commission, is now held under this rule. The case presented in the memorial is stronger than the right to promotion. It is the case of a commission actually held, as maintained by the Senate; the exercise of which was temporarily suspended by the Executive, and then restored. This memorialist, therefore, prays to be allowed the pay belonging to his rank and commission during the time it was unjustly held from him; and with this memorial he submits certain documents, as evidence of the facts herein stated, and a brief argument, if any argument shall appear necessary, to the committee who are to consider and report on the case. Respectfully submitted, ROGER JONES, Adjutant General United States Army. WASHINGTON, December 27, 1848. |