The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-02-13
War Claims.


Congress can do no better act in the clos
ing days of this session than to propose an
amendment TO the Constitution absolutely
forbidding any future payment of claims
arising out of tho civil war; At the last
session, the House passed an amendment
Of this sort, which Mr.. EDMUNDs, from the
Judiciary Committee " the Senate, re-
ported back few weeks ago in a new dress,
with the following clause as tho condition
on which claimants shall stand
Unless the owner thereof lot any clanl and case
Of any corporation its governing authority and manage.
mcnLwas during all the time of such insure rcbcl
hon oyain fact to the Government the United States
and gave neither aid nor encouragement TO the enemy"
This word loyal" is the pivotal point of
the whole question. 1t has probably led to
more perjury, suhornatOn OF perjury, and
other kindred crimes, than any other word
III the English language. Before the out
break OF the rebellion, there were tens OF
thousands OF devoted Union men all through
the Southern States, and especially in the
mountain range from Maryland to Ala
hama. Other thousands were scattered
through the low country After President
LINcoLN's proclamation calling for troops
and the firing on Fort Sumter, the whole sit
tons the South was solidincd in opinion and
in action. The revolutionary current swept
away all resistance, and the wiscst and best,
who saw nothing but the ruin which cventu-
nlly followed as the outcome OF q strife in
which they had no heart from the beginning,
yielded to the influences around them, aud
became in every legal and political sense
just as disloyal as the furious leaders Of
/.
there could be no real loyalty at the South,
Us 1t is described in tho statute. Men who
hated rebellion, who loved the old flag, and
who despised the arch traitors that pro-
voked the disastrous conflict, were, so TO
speak. compelled by the force of ciicum-
stances to give aid and comfort 10 the enc
mics of the Union. They would not have
been human if they had refused bread and
water to their friends and kindred, and shell
ter to their wounded children.
In the name of loyalty Republican Con-
crosses voted according TO JOHN SHERMAN,
a hundred millions or more for Southern
claims. Their main idea was to build up a
party in the South at the cost of the public
Treasury, TO insure a continuance in power.
They established the Southern Claims Com
mission, which still makes large annual
awards on the ground of pretended loyalty
by the most monstrous false swearing. 1t is
now almost fourteen years since the rebel
lion closed, and the presumption is reason
able that il there ever were any loyal
claims at all. they have long since been
paid. or are barred by moral statute of
limitations.
At all events, the time has come when the
halls Of legislation should not be filled with
these demands, and when the books should
be finally closed. All claims OF this charac-
ter are justly regarded with suspicion, be-
cause the fact is notorious that most OF them
have been gotten up 10y lobbyists, and have
passed into the hands Of jobbers and specu-
lators. who trade on constructive loyalty.
The South has hardly any interest in Them
and all the sagacous men Of that section
are openly hostile 10 their presentation or
payment, because 1t is n disturbing element
which places them in n false position, with
an unjust responsibility TO carry.
Wherever the door is left open for loyal
claimants TO enter, there will be fraud. II
Is an invitation TO perjury, collision, decep-
ton, and rascality in multitude OF forms.
certain TO be seized upon by schcmers who
think it fair To cheat the Treasury and to
swinde the best Government the world ever
saw. Hence the amendment offered 10y 1lr.
EDMUSDs falls short OF the occasion, and
does not bar the admission Of that class Of
claims which public opinion condemns, and
by means OF which more than n hundred
millions has already been stolen, to enrich
patriotic partisans, political claim agents,
and Republican managers who have shouted
themselves hoarse with anathemas against
the South while they were filling their pocl-
OTIS with the proceeds of loyal claims, al
lowed by ccnfederates IN the Treasury, on
the basis Of Addition, Division, and Silence.
The platform Of Mr.. HILL of GeorgIa. who
may be said 10 speak for the best Southern
opinion in this respect, is greatly to be pre-
ferred to that Of Mr.. EDMUNDs. II is concise
and clear to be understood, and is the first
Of four panls, all Of which the Democrats
would do well TO adopt 1t declares;
81 We will not pay war losses loyal or disoyal"
That covers the whole case, and would end
all dispute if accepted It has increased
moral weight, too in coming from South
ern senator. Statesmen who look 10 Il re-
turn OF prosperity and to a cessation Of Sec
tional controversy should strive to get
these subjects Of discord out Of Congress as
one OF the means of promoting useful and
practical legislation.