Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-02-21
Paying Southern Claims.

be can to guard the National Treas
ury from being plundered by class
Of Sontherners who suffered during
the war. From his remarks on one
Of these bills in the Senate. on the
9TH inst, the reader will get some in.
formation as to the nature of these
claims. We quote from the Globe
Mr.. Carpenter. Mr.. President, if
| ever had any hope of resisting
these claims!l surrender it now. If
the Senator from Michigan, who has
so long been the champion Of hat
| think il sound doctrine on this sub
ject, who has SO long resisted the al
lowance of these claims, whose posi-
ton, and influence and character as
lawyer give him so much weight in
this body, and deservedly 80, can
find anything in this case TO except
it from the general principle
which is to be adhered to, he certain
ly has an amount of ingenuity that
be has not even yet displayed to the
Senate.
Now what are the facts of this
case that make it so peculiar" This
woman was resident in the State
of Mississippi, which was in insurrec-
ton throughout, from one end of the
state to the other. She was possess
ed of cotton. If our armies had gone
to Mississippi and had taken that
cotton by force and sold it and paid
the money over to the Treasury,
that would be precisely such q case
as the Senator from West Virginia
presented here on the part of the
Quakers of Louden county, which
the Senator from Michigan and my
self voted against. But the case
does not end there. This woman's
title to compensation, as | under
stand the distinction, and the only
one in fact between the two cases, is
that the rebels captured this proper
ty from her and took it into their
custody, and then we captured it
from them as legitimate prize of
war, after they had taken it from
her. If there is any difference be-
tween the two cases in matter of prin-
ciple, certainly the case of the Quak-
ers is "a great deal stronger than the
case Of this woman. l voted against
that, and shall vote against this a
great deal more cheerfully than 1t
did against that. The case, as is
seems to me, is infinitely stronger
against this claimant than it was
against them.
The misfortune of this whole bust
ness is that every single case will be
peculiar" and every single case
can be.distinguished in some shade
of fact from every other. One is
presented by a Quaker, one is pre-
sented by an old man who is in dis
tress, one is presented by an infant
who has nOthing to live upon, one
by widow, and So on. If we are
to lose sight of fundamental princi
pies we can always find excuses
enough and reasons enough to pass
all these claims; and if this claim is
TO be passed, as far as | am CONCERN
ed, | am in favor of a general amnes-
ty, general bill to indemnify every
body south of Mason and Dixon's
line for every thing they had suffered
from 1861 10 1865, and that will end
the whole business, reach the same
result, and save all the debate and
time spent in Congress
Mr.. President, the more you reflect
upon this question the more it is
manifest that there is no dividing
line here. We are to stand upon
the rights Of the Government engag-
ed in public war against these
states, or we must pay all these
claims. A rebel is citizen he lives
within the legal dominion of the
United States and when he is in
court, as the Senator from Kentucky
says, he is entitled to the safeguards
which the Constitution throws
around the traitor on trial in feder-
al tribunal. But that is not this case :;
that is not the case that existed in
this country from 1861 TO 1865. Re-
belion had swollen beyond the
power of the civil arm to control it
Your marshals and constables and
sheriffs were silent and powerless !;
your civil law was set at naught !;
your Constitution was at end, so
far as that country was concerned.
You did not go down there to en-
force civil administration; you went
there exercising the war power of
the Government; you went there TO
prosecute and make war against a
public enemy. Now, it is proposed
to turn around and indemnify the
losses you made to say to any state
hereafter that may rebel 1--WE send
to-day the Secretary of War to burn
and ravage and lay waste but do
not be to much excited about this,
next yearIwe will send the Secretary
of the Treasury to make it all bios
som again like garden"