Never presented any claim, and have never received any pay; and put my claim in, asking that justice may be done according to common usage in similar cases.

And I further depose and say: That at the time I was engaged by General Dearborn, as herein stated, there was not a man in Vermont (if in America) who could as readily do every kind of work the public service required. And in making the pikes had made about $10 per day and night; that while employed by government on two occasions, making stove pipe and ironing tent poles, I earned, as citizens were paid, from $25 to $30 per day; that up to the 1st of May, 1814, I did the duty of master armorer, master blacksmith, (part of the time,) and officer of ordnance, received and delivered all kinds of ordnance stores, made provision returns for men on extra duty in the shop, kept a check roll of the time they were employed, and certified to the same before they could obtain pay; and I further say

That, engaging as I did in the service of the United States, and leaving my family, property, and business, I lost in the end four or five thousand dollars, and that I have never regained my former standing as to property. I fully confirm Mrs. Silence Canedy's testimony in her affidavit, although a strong case, but I knew the situation of the troops and acquiesced. It will also be seen that when I got a pass, sometimes I was limited to two days to go thirty-two miles and return, which shows the importance of my services,

STATE OF VERMONT,
Rutland county,

} $8.

ELIAS HALL.

Be it remembered that at Rutland, in the county of Rutland, this 2d day of June, 1856, personally appeared before me Elias Hall, of said Rutland, to me personally known, and made oath to the truth of the foregoing affidavit in due form of law.

MARTIN G. EVERTS,
Justice of the Peace.

I further claim that I ought to be paid at the rate of three dollars per day (expenses included) for the time I was compelled to spend after getting to Burlington, for pay for the pikes, and for time and services at Plattsburg with Colonel Brearly about the pikes, and for work and other duties at Thurber bay, with detention at camp, &c., to get pay-13, 14, 15, 16, 17, (18th got to Burlington,) making six days, $18; I paid $5 to be brought half way to Burlington from Champlain.

November 19, 1812.-Horse keeping at Burlington when absent, (at Sawyer's Hotel,) $3.

On presenting the account to Quartermaster Hatch for the pikes he rather objected to paying for the boxes, and I erased on the account, (as seen in No. 1,) but was sued before R. B. Bates, justice of the peace, and on trial was decided to pay for the boxes and cost, amounting to $5 95.

November, 1813.-To cash paid for expenses when ordered to Chataquay Four Corners. (The order supposed to be burned with my buildings September 24, 1843.) I was ordered there with two men; head wind prevented their getting to Plattsburg, twenty-five miles, till the fourth day, when General Hampton got in from his disastrous campaign, $5.

To paid passage back to Burlington for self and two men, $1 each, $3. September 9, 1814.-To expenses from Burlington to Montpelier after arms, (paid seventy-five cents for horse seven miles,) $2 25. September 10.-To $2 paid for passage to Peru bay, and other expenses to Plattsburg, and hack $1 20, $3 20.

I paid $95, cash in hand, for the horse mentioned in my affidavit on the 7th of September; 1814, and was the same horse as is specified in Ludrick Hepburn's deposition, dated January 7, 1833, No. 10. ELIAS HALL.

Be it remembered that at Rutland, in said county, this 2d day of June, 1856, personally appeared Elias Hall, of Rutland, in said county, to me personally known, and made oath to the truth of the foregoing account, and that no part of the same has been paid or in any way discharged. Before me,

Rep. Com. 12-2

MARTIN G. EVERTS,

Justice of the Peace.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

JANUARY 20, 1858.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. BIGGS made the following

REPORT.

[To accompany Bill S. 70.]

The Committee on Private Land Clams, to which was referred the petition of John Dick, praying that a patent may be issued to him for land settled by him under permit granted by the register of the land office at St. Augustine, Florida, have had the same under consideration and adopt and concur in the following report, heretofore made by this committee:

Under the provisions of the act of Congress for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the peninsula of East Florida, approved August 4, 1842, the petitioner filed his notice with the register of the land office at St. Augustine for a "permit" to settle upon one hundred and sixty acres of land south of the line dividing townships numbered nine and ten, and described as follows: Lot No. 10 in section 29, lot No. 1 in section 31, fractional section 30, and the northwest of the northwest quarter of section 32, all of township 10, range 27 south and east, containing in the aggregate 153.20 acres.

On the 16th of April, 1843, the register of the land office issued permit" No. 43 to the petitioner, giving him permission to settle upon the lands solicited, under the conditions of the said act; one of which was, "that no right or donation shall be acquired under this act within two miles of any permanent military post of the United States, established and garrisoned at the time such settlement and residence was commenced."

This permit was cancelled by the General Land Office, on the ground that the land embraced therein had been reserved in 1841 for military purposes.

The petitioner proves to the satisfaction of the committee that prior to his permit being cancelled he had complied with the requisitions of said act, and also proves that his settlement was not within four miles of any military post established and garrisoned at the date of his settlement, or at any time subsequent thereto; that he was compelled to relinquish and abandon his settlement by virtue of such cancellation of his "permit ;" and that since that period he has continued to

reside south of the line specified in the said act of Congress, and ha not received lands under the said act.

The military reservation made by Mr. Van Buren, then President of the United States, embraced the south half of township nine, the whole of township ten, and fractional township eleven south, of ranges twenty-six and twenty-seven, giving a width from east to west of twelve miles, and a length from north to south of fifteen miles.

To ascertain the particulars in reference to such military reservation, the chairman of the committee addressed a letter to the honorable Secretary of War, in answer to which the said Secretary communicated a report from the quartermaster general, of which the following is an extract: "I have the honor to state that the lands claimed by Mr. Dick are believed to be more than two miles from the post at Pilatka. The reserve was made by the President on the 19th of February, 1841; the act for the benefit of which Mr. Dick applies was passed in 1842. * * * The lots or lands claimed are not now used for military purposes, and it is believed they will not be necessary for such purposes at any future time." In the conclusion of said report, in reference to the whole of the said reservation, he says: "It is no longer necessary for any military uses, and I recommend that it be transferred to the Land Department for sale."

In 1850 Congress passed an act giving one hundred and sixty acres of land to Richard H. Barrett within the said reserve, under similar circumstances of this case.

The committee are of opinion that since these lands are now no longer used for military purposes, and the petitioner having continued to reside south of the line specified by said act, thereby aiding to effect the object designed by making donation grants, and has not availed himself of the benefits of said act by settling upon other lands, that Congress ought to grant him the lands upon which such settlement was made by virtue of said "permit" from the register, they therefore report the accompanying bill and recommend its passage.