“A bar to the object of his petition”

On 25 Feb 1792, the U.S. House of Representatives recorded receiving:

A petition of Henry Howell Williams, praying compensation for injuries sustained in his property by the army of the United States, during the late war.

The House forwarded that and other petitions “to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon.”

Alexander Hamilton replied on 22 November with two reports, a long one on several petitions for such compensation and a short one on Williams’s particular request.

In general, Hamilton wrote, during and after the war the Congress had provided good procedures for handling such claims. Not perfect, but good enough that opening the door for special requests now would be “both difficult and dangerous.”

As to Williams’s case:

The Secretary begs leave to add, that it appears by the petitioner’s own shewing, that the State of Massachusetts has considered his case, and granted him a compensation: And that it further appears, from a document, which was produced by the petitioner, that the compensation allowed by the State was meant to be in full.

The State of Massachusetts having decided upon a matter respecting one of its own citizens, having made him a considerable compensation, for the loss which he sustained; that compensation having been made, as in full, and having been accepted by the petitioner, it would be, as far as the information of the Secretary goes, without precedent, in any similar case, to revise the compensation made, on the suggestion of its being inadequate; nor, considering the various incidents of the war, would comparative justice be promoted by doing it.

Though duly sensible of the respectability of the petitioner, and of the extent of the losses, which he originally sustained, the Secretary cannot but regard the considerations, which have been stated, as a bar to the object of his petition.

In sum, Williams was not going to get any money from the new federal government. And as far as I can tell, that was his last attempt at compensation from the Battle of Chelsea Creek seventeen years before.

TOMORROW: What happened to Henry Howell Williams?