alone, that is, to those who had been actually in the receipt of a pension; and of pensioners, to those only who should die after its passage, not to those who had died before. If the party have died before the date of that act, or, if he had never received a pension, the arrears (if there be no law directing their distribution) must go, under the common law, to his or her representatives."

[Secretary of the Interior, March 5, 1850. To the same purpose are the decisions of May 24, 1845, February 3, 1834, and the cases of Ann Smith and Benjamin Wheeler:

"One put on the pension list by a special act of Congress died before the passage of the act; his children are entitled."

[Opinion of Attorney General, May 25, 1840. "The moneys payable under the third section of the act of July 5, 1832, like those payable under the second section of the same act, are to be paid to the legal representatives, who cannot be required to show that there is either heir or creditor in existence."

[Opinion of Attorney General, October 24, 1836. "The assent of the heirs is not requisite to the payment of money under this act to the legal representatives."

[Secretary of War, March 5, 1836. "The case stated in your letter of the 26th January is as follows:

แ

"During the late war with England, an individual was killed on board of a private armed vessel of the United States, in an action with a British ship. His widow did not apply for a pension. She married again; but the second husband, during her life, did

not prefer the claim. After her death, he demanded the pension from the date of the first husband's death to the time of the second marriage. The woman had no children.'

"On this case you inquire-1st, Whether a pension shall be paid? and, if so, 2d, Who is the proper person to receive it?

"The opinion of the Attorney General dated the 9th of June, 1825, and transmitted on that day to the Secretary of the Navy, settles the first of these questions in the affirmative.

"Your second question must be solved by applying to the present case the rules of law in regard to the right of the husband in the property of his wife, in force in the State where the parties resided at the time of his wife's death. By the law of England, the husband, if he survives his wife, is entitled to administer on her estate, and to recover all debts due to her at the time of marriage, and all her other outstanding choses in action, for his own use, subject only to his liability for debts contracted by her whilst a femme sole, to the extent of the assets received by him. This is the general rule in the American States; though in Maryland, and perhaps in some other States, the husband has been relieved from the necessity of taking out letters of administration.'

[Opinion of Attorney General, April 5, 1835.

"To entitle a woman, as the widow of an officer, seaman, or marine, to the pension given by the law, she must have remained in a state of widowhood. The party serving must die leaving a widow; and it is “such widow”—that is, the widow left by the decedent, and the widow of the decedent-who is entitled.

Mrs. Timberlake, having remarried, can therefore claim no benefit under the act.

"Where the decedent has left a widow and children, and the former has married before the passage of the act, the children, within the equity of the law, and by a liberal construction of its provisions, are entitled to its benefits. I am accordingly of opinion that the children of Purser Timberlake are entitled to the half pay granted by the first section of the act, from the death of their father, to cease on their death, or on their attaining the age of twenty-one years."

[Opinion of Attorney General, April 7, 1837. "I have the honor to inform you, that, as Mrs. Murray died before the passage of the act under which the claim is made, I am of opinion no right to any of the benefits granted by that law was vested in her, to be passed to her representative. In similar, cases arising under the general pension law of the fourth of July, 1836, I had occasion to adopt this principle; and, though many considerations may well be urged in favor of extending the law so as to reach these cases, yet it is only to Congress that they can properly be addressed."

[Opinion of Attorney General, April 11, 1837.

"I have the honor to inform you, that if (as I understand is the fact) the steward serving on board a ship-of-war is borne on the ship's books as one of the crew, and is amenable to martial law, I think he must be regarded as a seaman, within the pension laws, so as to entitle his widow to a pension. In the particulars stated, such a case is entirely distinguishable from that of the hospital steward to which you refer."

Opinion of Attorney General, November 18, 1837.

"So soon as this law passed, the pensioner became entitled, in my opinion, to his arrearages of pension, as fully as he was to the pension itself; and although he died without having received what was due to him, still the money does not belong to the Navy Pension Fund, but must be paid over to his legal representatives."

[Opinion of Attorney General, March 23, 1839.

SECTION 2. The pension due a defaulter to the Government cannot be withheld from him, neither can overpayment to a pensioner be retained out of his pension.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to prevent defalcations on the part of the disbursing agents of the Government, and for other purposes," approved the twenty-fifth of January, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, shall not be construed to authorize the pension of any pensioner of the United States to be withheld.

[Approved, May 20, 1836.

"Since the passage of this act, money withheld under the act of January 25, 1828, (which provides, 'That no money hereafter appropriated to any person, for his compensation, who is in arrears to the United States, shall be paid him, until such person shall have accounted for, and paid into the Treasury, all sums for which he shall be liable,') ought to be refunded to the pensioner."

[Opinion of Attorney General, June 27, 1836. "Where a pensioner has been allowed more than his services entitled him to, no portion of the money thus

improperly paid him can be retained on a readjustment of his pension."

[Opinion of Attorney General, July 6, 1836.

"Except where the overpayment has been obtained by fraud, the allowance of a higher pension than the party's services entitled him to ought to be regarded as overpayment by mistake, constituting a debt from the pensioner to the United States, and consequently, under the equity of the act of May 20, 1836, not to be retained out of the pension properly due him." [Secretary of War, March 13, 1837.

SECTION 3. In cases of special acts of Congress granting pensions to individuals, the pension commences with date of the act.

"An act of Congress places a person on the pension list at $80 per annum, 'to be paid as other pensioners;' the pension commences from the date of the act."

[Secretary of War, case of George Rush, Va.

SECTION 4. The unallowed claim for a pension is not barred by lapse of time; but when on the list, and failing to claim payment for six years, a pensioner can obtain payment only by special act of Congress.

"The fourth section of the act of March 3, 1845, making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government, (which provides 'that no accounts which have been adjusted by the accounting officers of the Treasury shall be reopened without authority of law, nor shall the accounting officers of the Treasury act upon any account which shall not be presented within six years from the date when the claim first existed, unless the person having the claim was an infant, feme covert or lunatic, and those within six years after the removal of the disability: Provided, That this section shall not apply to cases where special