an insolvent debtor on or before the first day of January last, and who is indebted to the United States for any sum of money then due, which he is unable to pay, unless such person be indebted as the principal in an official bond, or for public money received by him, and not paid over or accounted for according to law, or for any fine, forfeiture, or penalty, incurred by the violation of any law of the United States, may make application in writing, under oath or affirmation, to the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of obtaining a release or discharge of the said debt; which application shall state, as near as may be, the time when the applicant became insolvent, how soon thereafter he made known his insolvency to his creditors, the cause or causes, and the amount of such insolvency; and, also, all the estate, real and personal, which the said applicant owned at the time of his insolvency, and the manner in which such estate has been disposed of; and what estate, if any, he has since owned and still owns. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to transmit to the District Attorney of the United States for the District or Territory within which the said applicant shall reside, a certificate copy of the said application, with such instructions as he may think proper; and it shall be the duty of the said District Attorney to lay the said copy of such application before the Commissioner or Commissioners of insolvency, to be appointed by virtue of this act, and to appear and act before them as counsel in behalf of the United States. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to appoint any number of Commissioners of Insolvency he may think proper, not exceeding three in each Judicial District or Territory of the United States, who, before they enter upon the duties of their appointment, shall severally take an oath or affirmation before one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or before any Judge of a District Court of the United States, that they will faithfully execute the trust committed to them; and it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner or Commissioners to proceed publicly to examine the books, papers, and vouchers of each of the said applicants; and they, or either of them, shall also be authorized to examine each of the said applicants, or any other person or persons, upon oath or affirmation, touching the said applica tion; and it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner or Commissioners, to make a report, in writing, to the said Secretary, of the result of their examination in each case, therein particularly stating, as near as may be, the time when the applicant became insolvent, how soon thereafter he made known his insolvency to his creditors, the cause or causes and the amount of such insolvency; and, also, all the estate, real and personal, which the said applicant owned at the time of his insolvency, and the manner in which such estate has been disposed of; and what estate, if any, he has since owned and still owns. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury, after he shall have received the report of the said Commissioner or Commissioners, shall proceed to examine the circumstances of each case; and if it shall have been proved to his satisfaction that the said debtor is unable to pay the said debt or debts which he owes to the United States; that he has done no act fraudulently to deprive the United States of their legal priority; that he has not been guilty of any fraud, nor made any conveyance of his estate, real or personal, in trust for himself, or with an intent to defraud the United States, or whereby to expect any benefit or advantage to himself or family; then and in that case the said Secretary may compromise with the said debtor, upon such terms and conditions as he may think reasonable and proper, under all the circumstances of the case, and may execute a release to him or her for the amount of the said debt or debts which he or she may owe to the United States; which said release shall contain a recital that the foregoing particulars have been satisfactorily proved to the said Secretary: Provided, however, That the said release shall be rendered null and void, if it shall at any time be ascer tained that the said insolvent debtor hath obtained the same upon false suggestions. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if the said insolvent debtor, or any other person, shall falsely take an oath or affirmation under this act, he or she shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and shall suffer the pains and penalties in that case provided. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That each of the said Commissioners of Insolvency shall receive five dollars per day for each day they shall be actually employed in the performance of their duty under this act; which sum, together with the actual expense incurred for office rent and all other contingencies, provided the same shall not, in the whole, exceed two dollars per day, shall be apportioned among the several applicants by the said Commissioner or Commissioners, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, according to the time occupied in the investigation of each case; and each of the said applicants, immediately after the investigation of his or her case shall be completed, by the Commissioner or Commissioners, and before the report shall be transmitted to the said Secretary, shall pay his or her respective proportions of the same; and it shall be the duty of the said Commissioner or Commissioners to transmit with his or their report, in each case, a statement, under oath or affirmation, to the said Secretary, of the time actually occupied in the investigation thereof, and the amount which they shall have received from the said applicant. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the compensation to be paid to the District Attorney of each District and Territory shall be five dollars for each day he shall be actually employed under the provisions of this act. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to Congress the names of the applicants under this act, and the nature and amount of the debt or debts due from each to the United States; and also the names of those who shall have obtained releases, together with the terms of compromise in each case. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue in force for three years and no longer. [Approved, March 2, 1831.] The following is a copy of the law lately passed by Congress for the further relief of the survivors of the revolutionary army. An Act supplementary to the "Act for the Relief of certain Surviving Officers and Sol diers of the Revolution. [SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That each of the surviving officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, soldiers, and Indian spies, who shall have served in the continental line, or state troops, volunteers, or militia, at one or more terms, a period of two years, during the war of the revolution; and who are not entitled to any benefit under the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution, passed the fifteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, be authorized to receive, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount of his full pay in the said line, according to his rank, but not exceeding in any case, the pay of a captain in the said line; such pay to commence from the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, and shall continue during his natural life; and that any such officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, as aforesaid, who shall have served in the continental line, State troops, volunteers, or militia, a term or terms in the whole less than the above period, but not less than six months, shall be authorized to receive out of any unappropriated money in the Treasury, during his natural life, each according to his term of service, an amount bearing such proportion to the annuity granted to the same rank for the service of two years, as his term of service did to the term aforesaid; to commence from the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no person receiving any annuity or pension under any law of the United States providing for revolutionary officers and soldiers, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, unless he shall first relinquish his further claim to such pension; and in all payments under this act, the amount which may have been received under any other act as aforesaid, since the date at which the payments under this act shall commence, shall first be deducted from such payment. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the pay allowed by this act, shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, be paid to the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, entitled thereto, or his or their authorized attorney, at such places and times as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, and that no foreign officer shall be entitled to said pay, nor shall any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private receive the same, until he furnish the said Secretary satisfactory evidence that he is entitled to the same, in conformity to the provisions of this act; and the pay hereby allowed shall not be in any way transferable or liable to attachment, levy, or seizure, by any legal process whatever, but shall inure wholly to the personal benefit of the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or soldier entitled to the same. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said pay as accrued before the approval of this act, shall be paid to the person entitled to the same as soon as may be, in the manner and under the provisions above mentioned, and the pay which shall accrue thereafter shall be paid semi-annually, in the manner above directed; and in case of the death of any person embraced by the provisions of this act, or of the act to which it is supplementary, during the period intervening between the semi-annual payments directed to be made by said acts, the proportionate amount of pay which shall accrue between the last preceding semi-annual payment and the 'death of such person, shall be paid to his widow, or, if he leave no widow, to his children. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the officers, non-commissioned officers, mariners, or marines, who served for a like term in the naval service, during the revolutionary war, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, in the same manner as is provided for the officers and soldiers of the army of the revolution. [Approved June 7, 1832.] Pension Agents. Jeremiah Mason, Portsmouth, N. H. Joseph Johnson, Charleston, S. C. Elbert Herring, William Gordon, Beverly Chew, New Orleans, La. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Principal Clerk; Bounty-Land Office. Principal Clerk ; salary $1,600 salary $1,400 Officers of the General Staff of the Army. Head Quarters of the Army. Brevet Brig. Gen. Charles Gratiot, Corps of Engineers, Chief Engineer. Lieut. A. Mordecai, Benj. Fowler, Assistant Engineer. † Agents marked thus (†) receive two per cent. on the amount disbursed; the others receive no compensation. Topographical Bureau. Brevet Lt. Col. John J. Abert, Topographical Engineers, Superintendent. Robert Fowler, Clerk. Ordnance Department. Brevet Col. George Bomford, 1st Artillery, Chief of Ordnance. Major Trueman Cross, 7th Infantry, Quarter-Master. Capt. Thomas F. Hunt, 5th Infantry, Assistant Quarter-Master. Brevet Brig. Gen. George Gibson, Commissary General of Subsistence. |