The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-03-21

time; that three thousand four, hundred
and thirty-six were reported on favorably
by the committees and that five thou
sand one hundred and eighty-nine were
reported on unfayorably; that OF those
favorably reported on, about fourth,
viz. nine hundred and ten, passed both
houses and were thus finally disposed OF.
So the account stands
! Whole number of claims in ten years IT ,573
| Cases acted upon. observation-disclosures. s,626
| Cases never acted on at all. ............ S,94S
| Favorable decisions by the committees. 3,436
| Unfavorable decisions by the committees $3.50
| Passed by Congress. ................... $40
Leaving Just sixteen thousand six hun
dred and sixty-three cases, good, bad
and Indifferent, to be again pressed upon
the attention of Congress-for be it re-
membered that an adverse decision is
rarely or never final
If to these be added the cases first adj
dressed to the Senate, then the whole
amount would exceed t,oenty thousand for
the specified period, or about two thou
sand per annum, of which just ninety-ons
per annum were finally disposed of-less
than one in twenty Considered in this
single aspect of insufferable delay, it
seems mode OF administering justice too
ridiculous to be seriously treated. But
this is not half the evil. When the deci-
sions are made, they are made in such a
way, that if justice be attained it is pure
ly the effect of accident. The immediate
representative Of the claimant usually pre-
sents his petition, and generally under
stands its merits. tits referred to the Com
mittee on Claims, or to some other com
mittee, and that committee hands the pa
pers to some one member, to examine and
report If he is a man Of business, and
can find time, he does examine it, and
possibly comes to understand it. Now, in
ninety nine cases out of hundred, these
two are the only members who ever read
the evidence or hear it read--who ever
examine or pretend to examine the whole,
or any part of the testimony on which
any claim depends. No other member of
the whole two hundred and thirty feels
the slightest interest in the subject, or
considers himself under any sort of obi
cation to turn from more important and
appropriate duties in order TO give it his
attention. In most cases, the one or two
who do understand it are not permitted to
explain; and if one attempts to do so, he
must be a favorite speaker and the case
VIGOROUSLY important, or he is sure not to
command half-a-dozen listeners-that be-
ing above the average number who listen
to every thing.
| The remark is no more common than
true, that bad claim is as likely to pass
Congress as good one. Indeed, if it
be large claim, experience rather proves
! that il has better chancellor in such
cases parties are more willing and able to
make liberal enlistment of those external
instrumentalities, which, springing from
the intrinsic viciousness of the existing
system, have of late years grown up into
a regular profession.
A man who can make large fortune
out of bad claim may well afford to d.
vide with lobby members. Gentlemen of
intelligence and address may very prop
erly, and often do very proftably, engage
in the prosecution of doubtful claims, upon
the chances of contingent remuneration;
as well they may do, before a tribunal
which, if it have any quality of justice,
has only the poetical attribute of its blind
ness, and whose DEGREES, as capricious as
the judgments of lottery, are only most
likely to favor those who WOO with the
incest skill and the greatest perseverance.
Commissioners, or judges learned in
the law, would decide these matters
Just as uncertainty, and no more so, than
Congress does, if like Congress they were
compelled to decide without understanding
the issue or hearing the evidence.
Something over the one-fourth part of
the time of Congress is given to these ju-
dicial farces, at an annual expense of from
one hundred and fifty to two hundred
thousand dollars sum much more than
sufficient, in ordinary times, to pay all the
accruing claims that ought to be paid.
We have no idea that the sessions would
be largely curtailed by relieving Congress
of this business nor do we mean to ex-
press the opinion that the public interests
would be essentially subserved by their
curtailment. The great questions of ma
tional administration and policy, which are
subjects appropriate TO the attention and
supervision of Congress, afford an ample
field for their labors for perhaps the whole
time for which they are elected. Nor
would they labor less advantageously to
the public, in the absence of the parlia-
mentary contriyances of hour rules, pre-
vious questions, &C., necessary now to