The Portland daily press., 1878-04-16

officers Of our army, exhibiting the utmost loyalty In
the face fthe enemy. The house was attacked and
captured by the enemy, was somewhat injured BY
Them, and after their disappearance was razed to
the ground by our troops. Dr. Best applied to Con-
gress for relief.
NOW ask you whether this was not case Of
more merit than any that Is presented here? Here
was property not burned by strsggler. but taken
by the United States authorities for beneficial pur-
pose-taken for our own advantage and taken
from patriotic man who showed his valor and loyal
ty on the very field where he lost his property.
Here Is another case. In the town Of Manchester,
Kentucky, in loyal region Of the country, salt
works owned by loyal men. to the value OF e22 900
were destroyed to prevent them from falling into the
hands Of the enemy. There the Government OF tho
United States received q positive advantage. The
property was taken by order Of its officers II there
ever was case in which the Government was liable
on the score OF agency that was the case.
But perhaps you may say that that was not the
case Of institution of learning and therefore is not
parallel to this. Fortunately there Is case d.
recty in pont-the case Of the East Tennessee Uni.
versity, situated at Knoxville, Tennessee. 1t was
not destroyed by any drunken stragglers, but while
In the occupation OF officers It was injured to the
extent Of $18,5 In the second sessio of the
Forty-second Congress report was made In favor OF
granting compensation for that injury. ask the
Clerk to read paragraph from that report.
Mr.. Eden-Who made that report?
Mr.. Reed-I will tell the gentleman In moment
1t was Mr.. Wilson.
The Clerk read as follows;
Senate Report:-Forty-s Congress, second
The committee military affairs to whom was
referred the bill for the eief Of the East Tennessee
University, have bad the same under Consideration
and submit the following report:
appears that the seven university buildings and
tne grounds adjacent thereto came into the occupa-
ton OF the United States military authorities IN good
condition in September 1868, and we're occupied by
them Tor military purposes until juno 49, 1855 that
aarinng this occupation one Of the buidinss was
totally demolished and the others were so materiay
damaged as 10 render them wholly undr for nsa:
that the library, scientific apparatus, mneralogicai
and geological cabinets were DESTROYED: that the
fences, trees, shrubbery &c. were nearly all removed
and burned, and that the grounds were mutiIated
ana greatly injured BY earthworks fort and ride.
The East Tennessee University is believed TO be
particularly deserving of the favorable
OF Congress 1t the only educational institution Of
known loyalty in management and influence Ia any
of the seeding States during the war II "a situated
at Knoxville In the center or East Tennessee, and is
SUR ounded by population known for their LOYALTY
and sacrihces to the cause of the Union.
The committee recommend the payment to the
university OF the sum OF S18,500.
Mr.. Reed-Now here Is a case which certainly
appeals to the sympathy Of Here was an insti-
tutlon OF learning. 1t was ruined while under the
control OF our officers No drunken soldier, in the
frenzy and hurry Of recent conflict wreaked on II his
private vengeance. 1t situated In loyal coun.
try Out Of its halls had gone no officers to swell the
ranks Of s country's foes. From the chairs of its
professors the doctrines Of secession had never been
preached; the surrounding population had never
been tainted by 1t, 1t was in the midst Of peopls
whose loyalty surpassed anything that We in the
North could exhibit Our soldiers rsked their lives:
their soldiers not only riskei their lives but their
affairs and their hearthstones Our soldiers families
slept in their quiet homes; theirs listened with beat
ing hearts to the galop of maraudng bands and the
tramp OF marching armies They experienced in
their homes and families all the horrors Of war; and
yet were steadfast. 1t is not here and now that L
would undertake to speak the eulogum OF those
patriotic men but when the passions OF the present
day have subsided the historian will tell of their de-
votion and sacrifices with a pen as eager as that
with which he has recorded the deeds Of embattled
farmers at Lexington Of the brave men who fought
with Greene in the Caroinas. To this institution,
thus the nursery Of patriotic In the past and tho
future instructor Of the children OF the oysists OF
East Tennessee the rst loyal soldier OF the war re-
fused the very boon that you ask for william and
Mary For one, cannot deem 1t good policy or wise
statesmanshp to give to those who were wrong what
we have wisely refused to those who were right.
Bills Of relief in all these cases which have besu
enumerated were passed through the Congress OF the
United States under the influence Of symp athletic
feeling; but all of them vetoed by the President
OF the United States with thorough reluctance but
with far-seeing and comprehensive statesmanship:
and those cases have slept the sleep OF death ever
SINCE The sober second thought Of the Congress
invoked by the President under the Constitution
ratified his wisdom
NOW have another precedent; precedent that
cannot fail to be satisfactory to our friends on the
other side, because it is tainted by no memories of
the war. 1t is act performed by that blessed gen.
Grafton Of statesmen that preceded 1860. When
came to examine this case Of William and Mary
found that the original petition was for payment OF
losses and In the late civil war
Now, the circumstance am going to mention es-
capped the notice Of the author of the eloquent report
which was presented by the committee on education
and labor. 1t appears nowhere in the documents be-
fore the House. although it does appear In the docu
ments before the eomm.ttee.
1t seems that in I776 the buildings connected with
this college were seriously Injured by our revolution
ary foreathers and for seventy years t,e trustees
pesistently urged their claim for compensation upon
the same revolutionary fathers who did the injury
and upon the statesmen who followed them, includ-
ing have no doubt, Washington and Jefferson and
Monroe, the thirty Judges OF Virginia, the twenty
four admirals and other persons who have graduated
from William and Mary. But they were steruly
denied. The statesmen Of that period had TOO much
wisdom to permit this Government to be connected
with any principle SO absurd az would be established
by this bill. Now L submit to you who listen to me
that here is proposition which has met with uni
yersal refusal from all civilized nations since the
world began; which has met with direct refusal from
fha TTt,ffa -.
instance Of this very suppcant by our revolutionary
forsfathers. and by the Democratic statesmen who
preceded the war, and which you are asked under
the influence of concilistory feeling to pass which,
fyou do pass. will establish precedent fraught with
vast and dreadful menace to this country.
But you say this Is no precedent, for there Is no
other case. No; nothing ever establishes q prece-
dent until it is passed, and nobody ever found the
advocate of a measure like this ready to shoulder
the responsibility Of its consequences while he was
urging its passage. But let US see what there Is be-
fore this House on this very subject. You can tell
mems minds better by noticing what they are doing
than by what they are saying. tLaughterl Here is
bill III. r. No. 2S0D to pay the sum Of $4,000 r.,
the trustees Of Stewart College. Clarkesve eotats
Of Tennessee, ''iu full compensation tor property
taken from them for the use Of and used by tho
United States army" Here is bill (H. q. No. ioJ0
" pay sum Oi SzU,olf W 10 SnetDy MEDICAL
ege in Tennessee, for rent OF said college building
during the years 1865 1884, and 1866 and for prop
erty taken from said baildng for the use OF the
United States army" Then here Is bill (H R. No.
242ol to pay Randolph County, in the State OF West
Virginia. the sum Of $4,000 "for damage done the
Courthouse public Jail aud clerks Offices OF said
county during Its occupation and possession by tho
Federal troops during the late war between the
States" And then here is bill (H. R. No. 20SS to
indemnity Prairie County. Arkansas, in "the sum Of
s3oOOO for the occupation use, aud destruction Of
the COURTHOUSE jail and other public buildings be-
longing to Prairie Comfy, Arkansas by the Federal
army during the late war;" Here is a bill (H r. No.
9o2 apprepriating S7s0Oo to aid the State Of Lou
isana in rebuilding the State-house at Baton Rouge
said building having been partially destroyed by fire
while under the control and in the custody Of the
United States military authorities and while being
occupied by Federal troops during the late war boz
tween the United States and the so-called Confed-
crate States of America. And here are half dozen
other bills.
A Member-Read them all.
Mr.. Reed They are for small sums. thav o,e ,or