The daily union., 1846-08-26

upon the court 10 infer that he never owed the mon
ey, because, by recurrence TO his past history, he
hnds that he was able to pay il in the year 1903 and
In loJ6-and yet did not pay il Such plea would
be laughed out Of court in any between private
individuals. But IL may be contended by those who
do not understand the true character Of this govern
ment IN is dealings with citizens, that the
government is not to be compared to a private
Individual and that the presumption is that the gov
ernmeDt always pays Just debt when II can do so.
Just the reverse is the fact. There is no govern
ment on earth that has treated its own citizen cred
ltors with more injustice than To illustrate
the manner in which il has meted out justice to
American claimants whose money 1t had bartered
away with other governments, hold in my hand
an account current charging the United States with
the amount Of American claims which il has bar
tered away, or released to France and Spain alone,
and crediung the United States with every dollar Of
those claims, which il has even returned to the
American citizens who owned them. Here Mr.. G.
read the items Of the account
thus appears that the government has released TO
France and Spain, claims OF American citizens,
amounting TO s43 900, for which it received the
whole consideration, and having collected this
TO It's own satisfaction, has paid 10 the Of
the claims the Of %, $50 0O0 thus, in effect
tanning the enormous sum Of s34, SOS, ,000-to in
demnty itself for the expense Of collection under the
name Of "saipags." What should we think Of a
guardian or trustee who should collect forty y-three
dollars for his ward esstui que trust, and then
charge him thirty Ave dollars for the expense and
trouble Of collecting il under the of salpogs?
The lawyer who could establish usage TO justify
the charge Of such commissions would merit from
his brethren Of the profession a statue Of gold.
l say, therefore, that this government has not
heretofore treated its American creditors with the
same justice which is ordinarily measured out by
one cizen to another in their private dealings; and
recurring again TO the Presidents urgument) that
would much sooner infer that a claim against a pri-
h. haA
able to pay, and had not done it, than | would in
fer, the President has DONE that these claims for
French spOliatons unjust because the govern
ment had twice, or ''seyera times" in period Of
forty years, been able 10 pay them, and yet had moi
paid.
live recur to the history Of this government in
1903, when the President says Mr.. Jefferson 'ad-
yerted the large surplus then in the treasury, and
its probable accumulation" we shall find from Mr..
Gallatin's report for that year that the government
actually owed funded debt Of $50 647 ,663 81 -
and that in his estimate then made for the expenses
Of 1909, he alarms Congress on account Of the de-
heiency Of the treasury, by showing them balance,
clearing surplus Gf only three millions Of dollars for
dsfraying all the expenses for forhcatons, military
stores, Increase of the army and navy, otherwise
incident 10 a state Of actual war, or OF preparations
for war;" then confidently anticipated. Every one
now knows that Mr.. Jeferson's boast in his mes
sage Of 1908 ofa great surplus in the treasury,
made for the purpose of making great show Of our
power Of resistance to England, (not long after the
attack the Chesapeake frigate,) and not for the
purpose OF deceving his own countrymen, who, in
deed, could not easily be deceived on ruch a sub
ject.
The truth is as have on a former occasion said
to the Senate, there was period from 1900 to 1880
at which this government could possibly have paid
these claims without great inconvenience, and with
out postponing the Just claims Of others to equal
amount And when at length the government be-
l ~ Al. IL.
them, which Is now resumed by the President as
ground for his yeto-that they had become stale.
But the inability TO pay without inconvenience
was not the only reason for delaying the payment.
The goyernment-as | have on former occasion
shown-kept the evidence which the justice OF
the claims now rests concealed in the archives OF
the Department of State until 1926 and them when
that evidence was dragged before the world by a
resolution Of the Senate, 1t availed itself of the lapse
of time occasioned by lis own wrong, to cry down
the claims antiquated and stale.
The President refers TO the opinions Of those who
were contemporaneous with the events which gave
rise to these claims. That is unfortunate reference
for him.
| say this reference was peculiarly unfortunate for
the President, because it appears from the published
debates IN Congress for the year 1902, when those
who were contemporaneous with the events which
gave rise to these claims, those who were the chief
actors in the political scenes Of that day, did ac.
knowledge the justice of the claims; but while
they admitted that postponed the consideration Of
them, partly because the treasury not in con-
dltlon to pay them without inconvenience, and
partly because only portion of the claims had then
been laid before Congress, 30 that correct juig-
ment could be formed either of the amount or Of the
true character of those which were outstanding 1t
Is true that doubt was expressed whether France
would have paid the claims in they had not
been released, but that doubt was founded entirely
on the fact that Great Britain had failed to redeem
ha~1 r. a -.
Jays treaty, which we know she shortly after paid
in full. France, after this, paid all other claims
on her. Yet during the whole debate, no one ap-
pears to have expressed the slightest doubt that
these claims had been released to France by our
government; and it was pressed in the debate "that
these claims were the more Just, the government
Of the United States had received an ample remune
ration for any demands which it might satisfy, in
the abandonment on the part Of the French govern
ment of our previous guarantee of the French West
India possessions" The controversy terminated in
the postponement of the claims to take up the order
of the day for the repeal of the internal taxes,
popular measure to which the democratic party, then
recently seated in power, stood pledged before the
country. [NoTE: The record Of this debate, as pub
llshed at the time, taken from the National Inte-
gencer, will be found in the appendix, marked B.
Sir, the President will find, on further examine
tlon that all those who were contemporaneous with
the events which gave rise to these claims, and had
the best means of information on the subject have
uniformly acknowledged their justice. | have here
tofore referred the Senate to the expressed opinion
IN favor OF the claimants of John Marshall late chief
justice of the United States one of the first minis
ters who was sent to France to negotiate for the
payment of these claims-of Timothy Pickering,
the Secretary of State, who wrote the instructions
and conducted the correspondence which led to the
convention Of 1S0O-of James Madison, the Secreta-
ry OF State at the very time Of the ratification of that
convenon-of Napoleon Bonapare, the first con-
sui OF the French republic, who signed that conven-
ton IN behalf of the French republic; and, indeed,
of all the ministers who were in any way Concerned
in the negotiation, both for the French and Ameri
can governments. If the President had looked into
the overwhelming mass of evidence of the opinions
of those who were contemporaneous with the events
which gave rise to these claims, think he would
have found it impossible to doubt whether they
regarded the claims as obligatory upon the govern
ment, or as constituting an equitable demand upon
the treasury" Yet one ofthe grounds taken by him
in this veto message is thus expressed:
at is scarcely probable the claim had been regarded
as obligatory upon the government constituting an equi
table demand the treasury that those who were
with the eveuts which gave rise 10 n should not