The report on the valuation of land was referred to a grand committee.

A motion was made by Mr. PETERS, seconded by Mrs MADISON, "that a committee be appointed to consider the expediency of making further applications for loans in Europe, and to confer with the superintendent of finance on the subject?" In support of this motion, Mr. PETERS observed that, notwithstanding the uncertainty of success, the risk of appearing unreasonable in our demands on France, and the general objections against indebting the United States to foreign nations, the crisis of our affairs demanded the experiment; that money must, if possible, be procured for the army, and there was ground to expect that the court of France would be influenced by an apprehension that, in case of her failure, and of a pacification, Great Britain might embrace the opportunity of substituting her favors. Mr. MADISON added, that it was expedient to make the trial, because, if it failed, our situation could not be made worse; that it would be prudent in France, and therefore it might be expected of her, to afford the United States such supplies as would enable them to disband their army in tranquillity, lest some internal convulsions might follow external peace, the issue of which ought not to be hazarded; that as the affections and gratitude of this country, as well as its separation from Great Britain, were her objects in the revolution, it would also be incumbent on her to let the army be disbanded under the impression of deriving their rewards through her friendship to their country; since their temper on their dispersion through the several states, and being mingled in the public councils, would much affect the general temper towards France; and that, if the pay of the army could be converted into a consolidated debt bearing interest, the requisitions on the states for the principal might be reduced to requisitions for the interest, and by that means a favorable revolution so far introduced into our finances.

The motion was opposed by Mr. DYER, because it was improper to augment our foreign debts, and would appear extravagant to France. Several others assented to it with reluctance, and several others expressed serious scruples, as honest men, against levying contributions on the friendship or fears of France or others, whilst the unwillingness of the states to invest Congress with permanent funds rendered a repayment so precarious. The motion was agreed to, and the committee chosen—Mr. Gorham, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Izard.

In the evening, according to appointment, the grand committee gave an audience to the deputies of the army, viz.: General M’Dougall and Colonels Ogden and Brooks. the first introduced the subject by acknowledging the attention manifested to the representations of the army by the appointment of so large a committee; his observations turned chiefly on the three chief topics of the memorial, namely, an immediate advance of pay, adequate provision for the residue, and half-pay. On the first, he insisted on the absolute necessity of the measure, to soothe the discontents both of the officers and soldiers; painted their sufferings and services, their successive hopes and disappointments throughout the whole war, in very high-colored expressions; and signified that, if a disappointment were now repeated, the most serious consequences were to be apprehended; that nothing less than the actual distresses of the army would have induced, at this crisis, so solemn an application to their country; but the seeming approach of peace, and the fear of being still more neglected when the necessity of their services should be over, strongly urged the necessity of it. His two colleagues followed him with a recital of various incidents and circumstances tending to evince the actual distresses of the army, the irritable state in which the deputies left them, and the necessity of the consoling influence of an immediate advance of pay. Colonel OGDEN said, he wished not, indeed, to return to the army, if he was to be the messenger of disappointment to them. The deputies were asked, first, what particular steps they supposed would be taken by the army in case no pay could be immediately advanced: to which they answered, that it was impossible to say precisely; that although the sergeants, and some of the most intelligent privates, had been often observed in sequestered consultations, yet it was not known that any premeditated plan had been formed; that there was sufficient reason to dread that at least a mutiny would ensue, and the rather as the temper of the officers, at least those of inferior grades, would with less vigor than heretofore struggle against it. They remarked, on this occasion, that the situation of the officers was rendered extremely delicate, and had been sorely felt, when called upon to punish in soldiers a breach of engagements to the public, which had been preceded by uniform and flagrant breaches by the latter of its engagements to the former. General M’DOUGALL said, that the army were verging to that state, which, we are told, will make a wise man mad; and Colonel BROOKS said, that his apprehensions were drawn from the circumstance that the temper of the army was such that they did not reason Or deliberate coolly on consequences, and, therefore, a disappointment might throw them blindly into extremities. They observed, that the irritations of the army had resulted, in part, from the distinctions made between the civil and military lists, the former regularly receiving their salaries, and the latter as regularly left unpaid. They mentioned, in particular, that the members of the legislatures would never agree to an adjournment without paying themselves fully for their services. In answer to this remark it was observed, that the civil officers, on the average, did not derive from their appointments more than the means of their subsistence; and that the military, although not furnished with their pay properly so called, were in fact furnished with the same necessaries.

On the second point, to wit, "adequate provision for the general arrears due to them," the deputies animadverted with surprise, and even indignation, on the repugnance of the states—some of them at least—to establish a federal revenue for discharging the federal engagements. They supposed that the case, not to say affluence, with which the people at large lived, sufficiently indicated resources far beyond the actual exertions; and that if a proper application of these resources was omitted by the country, and the army thereby exposed to unnecessary sufferings, it must naturally be expected that the patience of the latter would have its limits. As the deputies were sensible that the general disposition of Congress strongly favored this object, they were less diffuse on it. General M’DOUGALL made a remark which may deserve the greater attention, as he stepped from the tenor of his discourse to introduce it, and delivered it with peculiar emphasis. He said that the most intelligent and considerate part of the army were deeply affected at the debility and defects in the federal government, and the unwillingness of the states to cement and invigorate it, as, in case of its dissolution, the benefits expected from the revolution would be greatly impaired; and as, in particular, the contests which might ensue among the states would be sure to embroil the officers which respectively belonged to them.

On the third point, to wit, "half-pay for life," they expressed equal dissatisfaction at the states which opposed it, observing that it formed a part of the wages stipulated to them by Congress, and was but a reasonable provision for the remnant of their lives, which had been freely exposed in the defence of their country, and would be incompatible with a return to occupations and professions for which military habits, of seven years’ standing, unfitted them. They complained that this part of their reward had been industriously and artfully stigmatized in many states with the name of pension, although it was as reasonable that those who had lent their blood and services to the public should receive an annuity thereon, as those wire had lent their money; and that the officers, whom new arrangements had, from time to time, excluded, actually labored under the opprobrium of pensioners, with the additional mortification of not receiving a shilling of the emoluments. They referred, however, to their memorial to show that they were authorized and ready to commute their half-pay for any equivalent and less exceptionable provision.

After the departure of the deputies, the grand committee appointed a sub-committee, consisting of Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Rutledge, to report arrangements, in concert with the superintendent of finance, for their consideration.

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