37TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session. REP. C C. SWEENY, RITTENHOUSE, FANT & COMPANY. JANUARY 24, 1862.-Reported from the Court of Claims, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, made the order of the day for to-morrow, and ordered to be printed. The COURT OF CLAIMS made the following REPORT. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: The Court of Claims respectfully presents the following documents as the report in the case of SWEENY, RITTENHOUSE, FANT & CO. vs. THE UNITED STATES. 1. The petition of the claimants. 2. Original documentary evidence in behalf of claimants transmitted to the House of Representatives; a printed copy transmitted to the Senate. 3. Original documentary evidence in behalf of the government transmitted to the House of Representatives; a printed copy transmitted to the Senate. 4. Claimants' brief. 5. United States solicitor's brief. 6. Opinion of the court adverse to the claim. By order of the Court of Claims. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court, at Washington, this 20th day of January, A. D. 1862. [L. S.] SAM'L H. HUNTINGTON, Chief Clerk Court of Claims. IN THE COURT OF CLAIMS. SWEENY, RITTEN HOUSE, FANT & Co. vs. THE UNITED STATES. Petition. Your petitioners, Hugh B. Sweeny, Charles E. Rittenhouse, Hamilton G. Fant, Samuel Fowler, William J. Herron, John L. Dufief, Richard Pettit, Susan Ireland, Hugh B. Sweeny and Ann R. O'Neal, executors of Timothy O'Neal, deceased, residing in the District of Columbia, and doing business in the city of Washington as bankers, under the name and style of Sweeny, Rittenhouse, Fant & Co., would respectfully state to the court that on the 14th day of June, 1858, an act of Congress was passed authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to negotiate a loan upon the part of the United States for the sum of twenty millions of dollars, (see Statutes at Large, vol. 2, p. 365;) that the Secretary of the Treasury, under the authority vested in him by said act of Congress, on the 17th day of December, 1858, by public notice in the newspapers of the city of Washington, invited. proposals for ten millions of dollars of the amount of said loan, being the balance of the sum of twenty millions of dollars authorized to be borrowed by that act, which said proposals for said loan are in the words and figures following, to wit: "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 17, 1858. "Sealed proposals will be received at this department until 12 o'clock noon of Monday, the 24th of January next, for ten millions of stock of the United States, to be issued under the act of 14th of June, 1858. Said stock will be reimbursable in fifteen years from the 1st of January next, and bear interest at five per centum per annum, payable semi-annually on the first days of January and July of each year. No bid will be received below par, and none for any fraction of one thousand dollars. No bid will be considered unless one per centum of the amount is deposited, subject to the order of the Secretary of the Treasury, with a depositary of the United States, whose certificate of the same must accompany the bid. In all cases the bids must be unconditional, and without reference to the bids of others, and must state the premium offered therein. 6 "The sealed proposals should be indorsed on the outside of the envelope Proposals for loan of 1858,' and be addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, D. C. The sums which may be accepted from any bidder will be required to be paid to the depositary of the United States nearest to his residence, or indicated as most convenient by him. Should bids be accepted from parties not residing within the United States, they will be required to deposit the principal and premium with the assistant treasurer at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or New Orleans. Certificates of stock for sums of one thousand dollars each, payable to the successful bidders or bearer, with coupons of semi-annual interest from the 1st of July next, also payable to bearer, attached thereto, will be issued for the amount of the accepted bids upon the certificate of deposit to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States with the depositaries of the United States. The stock will, in all cases, bear interest from the date of such deposit. The interest from that date to the 1st July next will be paid to the successful bidder or his attorney by the depositary where the deposit was made. Successful bidders will be required to deposit the principal and premium of their accepted bids on or before the 15th of March next. The preliminary deposit of one per cent. will be immediately directed to be returned to the unsuccessful bidders. That your petitioners, having examined the terms and conditions of said printed proposals, were induced thereby to tender a bid for a part of the loan thus solicited by the United States, which said proposal was in the words and figures following, to wit: "BANKING HOUSE OF SWEENY, RITTENHOUSE, FANT & Co., "SIR: We propose to take three million dollars ($3,000,000) of the stock of the United States to be issued under the act of 14th June, 1858, at a premium of $2,89% ($102 89.) 00 We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, Hon. HOWELL COBB, Secretary of the Treasury." That said bid was accepted by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 25th of January, 1859, as will appear by reference to a communication of said Secretary, in the words and figures following, to wit: "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 25, 1859. 89 GENTLEMEN: Your offer of $3,000,000 at the premium of 2,8 per cent. is accepted, under the notice of the 17th ultimo, for the loan. Your certificate of preliminary deposit is sent to the Treasurer, and may be included in your deposit of principal and interest to complete the amount. Should you regard it as an advantage to receive with the certificates of stock coupons, with interest from the 1st instant, they will be so issued on your depositing the amount of interest from the 1st instant to the date of the deposit of the principal. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. COBB, Secretary of the Treasury. "Messrs. SWEENY, RITTENHOUSE, FANT & Co., That, under and by virtue of the third section of the act of Congress of June 14, 1858, the Secretary of the Treasury was directed, among other things, to indicate in the notice to be given by him "the amount of the loan, at what period the money shall be paid, if by instalments, and at what places." That, in pursuance of said act, the said Secretary gave notice that "the sums which may be accepted from any bidder will be required to be paid in the depository of the United States nearest to his residence, or indicated as most convenient by him. Should bids be accepted from parties not residing within the United States, they will be required to deposit the principal and premium with the assistant treasurers at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or New Orleans." That your petitioners, being residents of the United States, have the right to deposit the said sum of three millions, so undertaken to be paid by them, "in the depository of the United States nearest to their residence, or indicated as most convenient to them." That, within a few days after their bid was accepted, they gave notice to the Secretary of the Treasury and indicated to him that it was most convenient for them to deposit said sum of three millions of dollars in the depository of the United States in San Francisco, California, which notice was verbally given. That, on the 29th day of January, 1859, your petitioners again notified the Secretary of the Treasury that it suited their convenience to deposit the money at the depository of the United States in San Francisco, California, which notice was in the words and figures following, to wit: "BANKING HOUSE OF SWEENY, RITTENHOUSE, FANT & Co., "Washington, D. C., January 29, 1859. "SIR: It may suit the convenience of the government, as well as our own, were we to deposit at San Francisco, California, a portion of the money for a portion of the recent loan taken by us. "We respectfully ask your authority to deposit the money or a portion of it at that point, should the government require funds there. 66 "We are, with great respect, your obedient servants, Hon. HOWELL COBB, Secretary of the Treasury." That the Secretary of the Treasury refused to give your petitioners the privilege of making the deposit of the said sum, or any part thereof, at the depository of the United States in San Francisco, California, as will appear by the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the words and figures following, to wit: "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 29, 1859. "GENTLEMEN: In reply to your inquiry of this date, I beg to state that the department does not require funds to be deposited with the assistant treasurer at San Francisco on account of the loan and of course cannot give the authority requested in your letter. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, |