mechanics and laborers ready to commence the work, but, in consequence of the absence of the engineer who was to superintend the execution of the work, they were unable to commence it until the 22d of January, 1819, when the work was commenced, and prosecuted by the contractors until the spring of 1821, when they were required to stop, and soon after the contemplated improvement was abandoned by the Government. For the damages which the contractors sustained, occasioned by the absence of the engineer from the 1st of December, 1818, until the 22d of January, 1819, and for various other damages occasioned by the delay and final abandonment of the improvement, the sum of $73,747 78 was paid to the contractOrs. It was upon this principle, also, that the law was passed for the reef of Austin and Tailer. (See Rep. House of Representatives No. 694, 1st session 24th Congress.) And in many other cases this principle has been brought to the notice of Congress, and sanctioned, by affording indemnity to individual sufferers. In the case under consideration, the petitioner had invested his capital in procuring materials, and in employing and sustaining laborers and mechanes, with a view of executing his contract according to its provisions, and thereby saving himself from the exactions of the liquidated damages prorided for in the contract, in the event of non performance on his part; and when thus successfully prosecuting the work, he was suddenly arrested in his progress by the Government, upon the suggestion that the interests of the United States would be promoted by suspending the execution of this Contract until the dry dock should have been constructed, and the execution of the contract for the construction of the engine was accordingly suspended; in consequence of which, the petitioner alleges he sustained damages to the amount of $653 77, exclusive of interest since the 14th day of December, 1832, which he prays may be allowed him. In answer to a communication made to Mr. Baldwin, the engineer, he tes to Commodore Rodgers as follows: "I have no doubt that he (Lester) would punctually and faithfully have performed all his covenants and agreements within the time specified, had he been requested, and the public service had required it; and I hope the artment will feel justified in making Mr. Lester some allowance ĉu the ind of his claim, which appears to me both equitable and just.” On the 8th of February, 1834, this petition and the documents accomSpaying it were handed to the engineer, Mr. Baldwin, who, on the same day, returned an auswer, from which the following extract is taken: "I have read Mr. Lester's petition to Congress, with the other papers you banded me this morning, and, in compliance with your request, will make the following statement: All the facts Mr. Lester has given in his petition are substantially correct, and I have no doubt the sum he makes out upon the principles whereon he founds his claim is just; for, when I wrote from Norfolk my letter of January 9th to the Board of Navy Commissioners, a copy of which is with the papers delivered me, I made a calculation from the data then before me, but not now within my reach, which fell a little short of the amount of $700, which was given in his letter of that time. If interest from the date of his last payment (December 14, 1832) to this time, be allowed upon $653 77, the whole will be very nearly $700.” There appears, then, to be no dispute with those most familiar with the transaction out of which this claim has arisen; nor is there a doubt entertained that damage to some amount has been sustained by the petitioner, driving machinery or doing other work; the frame of the engine to of iron, and all the boxes or pillows to be of composition or gun-meta to make and apply the pump for filling the boilers and supplying the gine, &c., together with the necessary tubes, pipes, and other apparat provided the well or other source from which the engine is to be suppl is not more than fifty feet from the engine. 3 That the said Lester will provide the materials, and do all the la of making, fitting up, and preparing the said engine, in the navy yard Charlestown, ready for working and being applied to the operation pumping or moving other machinery, within five months from and af the twenty-fifth day of June last past, with all the several parts of suita dimensions, proportions, and strength, in a good, faithful, substantial, wo manlike manner, to the acceptance and satisfaction of the said Baldw or other engineer for the time being; the said United States to be at expense of preparing the engine foundation, engine-house, setting the b ers, building the chimneys, and providing a well for the use of said gine. 4. And the said Lester hereby covenants and agrees to and with said Commissioners, that in case he shall fail faithfully to perform and ecute his covenants and agreements herein made, and to make, furni and erect the said engine in said yard, in manner aforesaid, and wit the said period of five months, he will forfeit and pay to the said Comm sioners the sum of five hundred dollars; and in case he shall fail and n lect the same for one month after the expiration of said five months, will forfeit and pay, as aforesaid, the further sum of one thousand dolla and that he will, upon the signing of this agreement, give bonds, w good and sufficient security, for the faithful performance of all his co nants, promises, and agreement herein contained; and that no member Congress shall have any interest, or be in anywise concerned, either rectly or indirectly, in any of the issues, profits, or receipts of this contra 5. And the said Baldwin, for and in behalf of the said Commission hereby covenants and agrees to and with the said Lester, to pay him se thousand five hundred dollars for the said steam engine, whenever, a within the five months aforesaid, the said Lester shall have erected a completed the same in manner aforesaid, to the acceptance and satisfact of the said Baldwin, or other engineer for the time being; and that he also from time to time make partial payments of said sum, as the work constructing said engine shall progress, provided said payments shall ne amount in the whole to more than at the rate of three quarters of amount of materials and work furnished and performed at the time of s payments, and one-quarter part to remain and not be paid until the co pletion of said engine, according to the terms of this contract. In witness of all which, the parties have hereto set their hands and se in duplicate, the day and year first above named. L. BALDWIN, Engineer, Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us : EDWARD BATTLES. WASHINGTON, February 8, 1834. SIR: I have read Mr. Lester's petition to Congress, with the other papers you handed to me this morning, and in compliance with your request will make the following statement: All the facts Mr. Lester has given in his petition are substantially correct, and I have no doubt the sum he makes at upon the principles whereon he founds his claim is just; for, when I wrote from Norfolk my letter of January 9 to the Board of Navy Commissioners, a copy of which is with the papers you delivered to me, I made a calculafrom the data then before me, but not now within my reach, which fell a the short of the amount of $700, which was given in his letter at that time. Einterest from the date of his last payment (December 14, 1832,) to this ne, be allowed upon $653 77, the whole will be very nearly $700. I can now recollect no new fact or circumstance to elucidate his claim, sides those contained in his petition and in the copy of my letter of Januy 9. I should, in fact, have paid Mr. Lester almost all the money due on s contract, two or three years before the last payment, had I not found ayself restrained by the strict terms of the agreement, retaining only three four hundred dollars to cover the expense of erecting the engine. When I made a payment of $1,000, on the 2d of November, 1829, (which was the ast before the final settlement, December 14, 1832,) there was due him $2000. A little more than a quarter I had a right to retain, by the agreeent; but I approved the account, in the persuasion that the remaining $1,000 was fully sufficient to secure the Government in the only remaining part of his service, which was the erection of the engines, that could not cost him more than $200 or $300 at most. But even this amount was not paid, or was refused by the navy agent, or had not been allowed him at the Treasury Department, because it exceeded the amount due according to the strict letter of the contract. I then had a new account made up at my fice, to which I added an explanation, showing that the remaining $1,000 was more than amply sufficient to indemnify the Government, should Mr. Lester fail to erect the engine, the only remaining work for him to do under contract. Upon this explanation, payment was promptly made; and when I made the final payment, in December, 1832, I should have allowed interest which he claimed, on what I then considered just and equitable ground, but I was prevented from so doing by what I had understood be the rule in settling accounts in the Navy Department, to allow interest a no case whatever. Indeed, I had often been told this by the Navy Commissioners. I hope the committee will allow the claim; and, to aid Mr. Lester, I shall beerfully attend them, and give the facts herein stated, if an opportunity allowed me while I remain in the city. With great regard, yours, Hon. GEORGE GRENNELL, Jr., L. BALDWIN. House of Representatives. |