Washington Mar. 23d 1820
Dear Sir,
I have received a letter from Isaac Riley who
wishes to pay the money to me for the redemption of his
lands in Kelleyvale- I have the amount of his tax and
carts &c and as it is possible that I may not be at home
before the expiration of the times for redemption and the
whole of his land was bid off in your name, (unless some
small part was in our names jointly)- I wish that you
would not take out a deed until I come home, nor have
them entired [entirely] redeemed, but leave the books open to be
regulated as circumstances will warrant- I have writ-
ten to him that I may not be at home before the 28 of April
but that to accommodate him I would write to you the
case, & that I would take the money and pay it over
on my return, which I expect will be about the time
or possibly a few days later-
We have been some days engaged in reviving the
act granting pensions to the old soldiers- there have by account
been very great abuses under the act- the treasury is very
low, and the sum necessary to pay them this year is about
three millions of dollars, and very strong fears are entertained
that it will be necessary to resort to direct taxes to pay them-
I think nothing more will be done at present than to insti-
[tute] a new examination and to strike from the bet all such as
are able to live comfortably without the pension- This it
is expected will lessen the number very considerably- There
are now about seventeen thousand on the roll and about
ten thousand which have not been examined-
A circumstance happened yesterday which has created
a very great sensation here- Commodore Decatur & Comodore [Commodore]
Barron have fought a duel in which they both fell- Decatur was
shot through the body and is since dead- Barron was shot near the
top of the hip and the ball is still in him- it is thought however
that he will recover- Decatur has been the pride of the navy
and has done more to raise it to its present high standing than
any other- he was one of the navy commissioners and his loss
is as much regreted here, as the loss of any other man could be.
Mr. Randolph made a motion in congress this morning, that
congress adjourn until after the funeral, which will take place
tomorrow, and wear [ ] during the remainder of the session
out of respect to his memory- but the motion was opposed, on
account of the manner of his death- and was afterward with-
drawn- Randolph then motioned to adjourn (leaving out the weari-
ing [ ] ) which was decided against the motion by nearly 2 to 1-
We sat from five to six hours each day- but after all do not
make much progress- I think we will adjourn in about 4 weeks.
I wish to be remembered affectionably to Mrs. Scott & your family
and am very cordially yours
Saml C Crafts
Col. Scott