AMERICAN SEAMEN. Letter from the Secretary of State, transmitting, from the Superintendent of Statistics, an abstract of the returns of American seamen registered in the several ports of entry of the United States during the year ending September 30, 1856. A statement exhibiting the number of American seamen registered in the United States during the last seventeen years, respectively, from October 1, 1839, to October 1, 1856, distinguishing the native from the naturalized. A resolution of the Senate of August 30, 1856, calling for information respecting the amount necessary to pay the allowances proposed to be made by the bill for the settlement of claims of officers of the Revolution, and the widows and orphans of those who died in service. DECEMBER 4, 1856.-Read, ordered to lie on the table and be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: On the 30th day of August last the Senate passed a resolution in the following words, viz: "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be directed to report to the Senate, at the commencement of the next session of Congress, as accurately as practicable, the amount that will be required to pay the allowances proposed to be made by the bill passed by the House of Representatives at the last session, entitled "An act to provide for the settlement of the claims of the officers of the revolutionary army, and of the widows and orphan children of those who died in the service.' Agreeably to the direction contained in said resolution, I now have the honor to transmit to the Senate herewith a report of the Commissioner of Pensions, dated the 15th of October last, and accompanying statement, made out as "accurately as practicable," containing the information desired. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. J. D. BRIGHT, President of the Senate. PENSION OFFICE, October 15, 1856. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of a resolution of the Senate of August 30, 1856, relative to a report "as accurately as practicable" of the amount which would be required to pay the allow ances proposed to be made by the bill passed by the House of Representatives at the last session, providing for the settlement of the claims of the officers of the revolutionary army, &c., by you referred to me for the report directed. In reply, I beg leave to submit the following: The bill referred to provides, in substance, for the payment to each officer, or, in case of his death, to his widow, children, and grandchildren, of the half-pay for life, to which he was entitled under the several resolutions of Congress, mentioned in the bill, from the time he became entitled to the same up to the time of his death, if before March 3, 1826, and up to that date, if his death occurred thereafter; deducting therefrom the amount which may have been received by said officer as commutation under the resolution of March 22, 1783 and excepting such as have since received half-pay under private acts. (See sections 1, 2, 3, 9, and 11.) It also provides for extending to surgeons' mates the benefit of the resolution of January 17, 1781, thus giving to them half-pay for life, the same as it was given to the parties named therein by that resolution. (See section 5.) Also, for the payment to the widows and children of all officers, whether of the continental line or of volunteer corps, who died in service at any time during the revolutionary war, of the half-pay for seven years granted to widows and children of officers in the continental line only by the resolution of August 24, 1780. (See section 4.) With regard to all these different provisions, I would remark, generally, that there are not in the possession of this or any other office here, so far as I can ascertain, sufficient data for a certain and accurate calculation of the amounts which would be required by them. Any calculations must, therefore, in a great degree, be hypothetical. As to the provision first mentioned, the data necessary for an accurate calculation are, the number of officers by whom, or whose representatives, within the degrees specified, claims would be made under the bill; the amount of the half-pay to each per year; and the number of years for which it would extend. The amount of yearly half-pay for each rank of officers is fixed and known. The principal difficulties in the calculation, therefore, are with regard to the number of claims, and the time for which they should be computed. From the most accurate information which can be obtained from any records in this office, the number of officers who received commutation under the resolutions mentioned in the bill, exclusive of those who have since received half-pay for life under private acts, is 2,163. This is less than the number of officers assumed in the report of the committee of the House accompanying the bill; but it is taken for the purpose of the present calculations, because of at least this number there is no doubt. The amount of yearly half-pay to all these officers, according to the original resolutions granting the same, would be $508,625. In the report of the committee, it is estimated that claims would not be established under the bill on account of more than one-half of the whole number of officers, an allowance of one-half being made for officers who died within the ten years covered by the commutation already received, and for those who died without issue, or without any now within the degrees mentioned; and also for claims which on other |