Year: 1879




no Money Questions for the Courts
South Carolina Carpet-Baggers-
The State Solid for the Union.


In q debate in the House last
week on tho question Of paying u
citizen Of Virginia for the use of his
wharf in Alexandria during the war,
number Of speeches having bcen
made, Col. d. Wyatt Aiken spoke
briefly, and he is reported as fol-
lows in the, Congressional Record :


MIR. Chairman, before the vote is
taken on this bill 1 would like to say
q word in reply to what fell from
the lips of the gentleman from
Michigan, [ATr. Congcr.] 1 wish to
say to him that had he waited one
moment he would have had a reply
expressing, [ think, the sentiments
of at least the Southern members on
this side of the Hall. The gentleman
is always too fast.


MIR. Chairman, spoal1ing now for
myself only, I will say that tho
gentleman from Massachusetts + Mr..
Butler] uttered my sentiments ex,
actly. lam opposed to all these So.
called "Southorn war claims" For
an examination Of them 1 refer tho
gentleman from Michigan to the
.Recoy" containing speech made
on this floor during last session by
the gentleman from Indianapolis,
[Mr. Hanna An examination of
that speech will show that one,
tenth Of all these claims presented
here nave come from Republicans,
ana That forty-nine out of four hun
dred Of the claimants are men living
north Of Washington City. Yet
they are all scheluloI under the
title OF '''Southern war claims"


NJ. Chairman, no man who was
true to tho confederacy, whether he
bore arms or not, will ever be found
presenting a claim upon this floor
against the Government for damages
sustained during tho war. There is
something left within tho breast of
Il confederate that tells him he
woul,l Mt least compromise his hon
or if he were to como and ask pay
ment for damages done during that
conflict, after he had ris1el not only
his property but his life III defense
of what he believed to be just and
right.


MIR. Hanna-If so, why was it, ut
the last session, when" we proposed
to amend tic Constitution so as to
bar these claims forever, that sixty,
one Southern Ropr lsen tatives voted
against the adoption Of that amend
mcnta


Mr.. Ailen-rn reply to that will
say tho gentleman must remember
that every claim presented here Us q
Southern war claim comes upon the
prins0 .1ucie evidence that the claims
ISL loyal citizen and, sir, this is
no court before which questions of
that kind can be tried. If it were,
/ venture tho assertion that tho
claimant was loyal at some time or
other to the Confederate States.
Hence [ am opposed to bringing
amy Southern claim to Congress
from the simple fact that we cannot
have both sides of the question
tested.


l am glad to know thore is libor-
ality enough on the other side of
tho House to vote for reimbursement
to elecnosynary, religious or edu-
cational institutions that wore dam
aged in the South during the war.
For one, my independence will not
allow mo to vote even for them. I
think that we should 20 back to
first principles that we should go
to work and rebuild such institu-
tions ourselves. We risked every
thing Of that kind during the war
We have no favors to ask OF those
who whipped us. We have acknowl- |
edged that we were overpowerod,
and we are willing to come back and
do our best for the Union. Sir, I |
do honestly believe that to-day the
Treasury Of the Government Of the
United States would do safer in the
hands of the men who defended the
confederacy than it is in tho hands
of the men who now control it.
Laughter on the Republican side.
I believe that if the Southern States
had been represented here in 1871
and 1872 and 1873 as they are repre-
sented to-day, there would be no
such cry as that $100,0O0,00O had