CONGRESS, , HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. AMOS JONES. FEBRUARY 23, 1855.-Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. Mr. FLAGLER, from the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of Amos Jones, of the State of Connecticut, for relief, report: That the petitioner, whose statements the committee see no good. reason for doubting, performed two months' service in the revolutionary war; is past 90 years of age; has never received either pension or bounty land from the government; is not only infirm, but has been subjected recently to pecuniary loss in the destruction of his dwelling by fire, and is dependent upon his children for support. The question presented in the case is, whether the provisions of the existing pension laws, which require six months' service as the condition on which a pension should be granted to revolutionary soldiers, should be relaxed. In the opinion of the committee it should be done, if at all, by general law, and not by singling out here and there a special case, and an adverse report is therefore submitted. 33d CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session. MARY BENSELL. FEBRUARY 23, 1855.-Laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed. Mr. FLAGLER, from the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of Mary Bensell, asking for a pension in consideration of the revolutionary services of her late husband, George Bensell, report: That the petitioner sets forth that her late husband served in the revolutionary war-first, as adjutant in the Pennsylvania militia, and afterwards as aid-de-camp in the staff of General Lacy, of the regular army. The evidence, however, as to the length of his service in the regular army, (which can alone be computed) is very vague and unsatisfactory, as appears by a letter of the Commissioner of Pensions, and does not show the requisite service to entitle claimant under existing law; neither does the case, in the judgment of the committee, warrant the passage of a law for the relief of the petitioner, which, in fact, would be a special favor granted her, but denied to many others similarly circumstanced and equally meritorious. The committee, therefore, ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the petition, and that it lie upon the table. FRANCIS DAINESE. [To accompany bill H. R. No. 791.] FEBRUARY 26, 1855. Mr. CHANDLER, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the petition of Francis Dainese, late consul at Constantinople, have had the same under consideration and report: That the petitioner sets forth, in his petition, that, while acting as United States consul at Constantinople, owing to the absence, from May 16, 1849, to August 6, 1851, from Pera, the place of business for all foreign representatives, of any other United States office than that of his consulate, or of any other United States officer than himself, he had to attend to, and to contribute largely for the relief of, refugees possessed with American passports, and, having sustained a loss of $851 19 over and above the amount of expenditure received from government, he prays that he may be allowed that amount. That while acting as above stated, and paying, during a period of three years, seven months, and four days, the contingent expenses of the consulate under his charge-for which contingent expenses an appropriation of $500 is annually made by Congress he has received only one portion of the same, viz: $1,225; the remaining $635 having, through mistake, been paid to one George A. Porter, who had not the least right to it; and he prays that he may be allowed these $635. That on the 20th of December, 1852, he drew on the Secretary of State a draft for $3,594 40, for his compensation for judicial services during the time of his incumbency of the consulate at Constantinople, viz: from May 16, 1849, to December 20, 1852, which compensation is due him under the act of Congress approved the 11th of August, 1848-chap. 150, sec. 18, 22, 23; and that payment thereof was declined "only for the want of the necessary appropriation;" and he prays that the necessary appropriation be made for payment of that draft. That while he was discharging quietly, and under the authority of the Department of State, the duties of consul, the temporary managers of the affairs of the United States legation at Constantinople, using its powers, violated his consular office, forcibly |