Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/345

 Protest of R. E. L<r ('amp, C. V.

bill does not propose to restore the property named to its real owners, but to give it, practically, to persons who, however meritorious, have absolutely no title whatever to it.

WHAT THE BILL RECITES.

The recitals in the preamble of the bill are four in number:

ist Recital. That the property proposed to be restored was cap- tured from the people of the Confederate States, non-combatants .ind others, after it had been abandoned by them, and was sold and covered into the Treasury, amounting to $27,000,000. We have no reason to doubt the truth of this proposition.

2. That the chaotic condition of affairs in the South after the sur- render prevented the reclamation at the time of the captured, abandoned property by its real owners, and that it is evident now that such claims can never be presented or sustained at this late day.

The truth of this recital, in any and all of its parts, is open to the most serious question, and, could it be established beyond perad- venture, scarcely offers a basis for giving this money to any class of the citizens of the United States. The one question which, in law or in morals, could in the latter event arise, is whether the captured, abandoned property belongs to the United States, under the law of war, or by escheat to the States in which that property was found in its state of abandonment. This is a question for the courts, not for Congress.

3. That the United States is under no obligation in law or usage to provide for those who fought against them, but recognizes in them now its own citizens, who have become patriotic, and will cheerfully support the government, whether in peace or war.

The allegations of this recital are correct beyond any question, but, in view of them, it does not fail to strike your committee that they offer the strongest reasons why the bill should not pass. Law and usage should not be overturned, and the wholly unconstitutional and improper attitude of granting premiums to citizens for support of the government should not be assumed by the Congress of the United States.