It is true that these claims were pressed with less constancy and determination at the beginning of the century than at a later day. But there are two sufficient reasons for the change. First, the evidence on which they are founded was less generally known at the beginning than afterward. It was only in 1826, under the administration of John Quincy Adams, by the communication to Congress of the ample materials accumulated in the Archives of State, that the true strength of the case was fully revealed. Here, in one full volume, was the documentary history of the whole double transaction,[112] showing at once the original obligation of France, and the substituted obligation of the United States, reinforced by the associations of our own Revolutionary history. A more sufficient reason for this change is found in the fact, that for some time in the early part of the century our country was still laboring under pressure of the Revolutionary debt. As this pressure was gradually removed, and the national resources became more apparent, these claims were naturally urged with more confidence, until, on the final extinction of that debt, they occupied the attention of the best minds in both Houses of Congress.
No single question in our history has been the subject of such a succession of able reports. Whether counted or weighed, these reports are equally exceptional. They are no less than forty-one in number, twenty-two in the Senate and nineteen in the House. Among the eminent characters whose names they bear are Edward Livingston, John Holmes, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, Caleb Gushing, Charles J. Ingersoll, John M. Clayton, and Rufus Choate. Out of the whole number only three have been adverse,—one in the Senate and two in the House. But the three adverse reports were evasive only, besides being prior to the communication of the decisive evidence on the subject. The thirty-six reports since that communication were all in favor of the claims.[113]
Resolutions in favor of these claims by thirteen States, being the original number which declared independence, have been presented to Congress between the years 1832 and 1858. Some States, not content with one series, have repeated their resolutions, and accompanied them with elaborate arguments. They all tend to the conclusion that it is the duty of Congress, without further delay, to provide for these claims; and Senators and Representatives are earnestly requested to use their best exertions for an Act of Congress to carry this obligation into effect.
Memorials and petitions from the beginning testify to the sleeplessness of these claims. On the 5th of February, 1802, only forty-six days after the promulgation of the Convention of 1800, they began, and they have continued from that early day down to this very session of Congress, making in all four thousand six hundred and two. Of these, nineteen hundred and thirty-one were in the Senate, two thousand six hundred and seventy-one in the House. They are chiefly from original sufferers, their executors, administrators, assigns, widows, and heirs, residing in the large seaports from which the despoiled vessels originally sailed; but there are some from all parts of the country, where, in the vicissitudes of life, the representatives of original sufferers have been carried,—all of which may be seen in the list of these petitioners.[114]
Two several times—once under President Polk, and again under President Pierce—both Houses of Congress concurred in an act for the relief of these claimants; but this tardy justice was arrested by Presidential veto.
In the face of this constant succession of reports, resolutions of State Legislatures, and petitions, constituting not only “continual claim,” but continual recognition of the claim,—the whole crowned by two several Acts of Congress,—it is impossible to infer negligence in the claimants, or, indeed, any assumption of inordinate confidence. They have had good reason to believe that they should be successful. Under such circumstances, the lapse of time, sometimes urged against them, becomes an argument in their favor; for it adds constantly recurring testimony to their merits, besides a new title from the disappointment to which they have been doomed. Claims beginning thus early, and thus sustained, may be ancient, but they cannot be stale.
II.—POSSESSORS OF THE CLAIMS ARE NOT SPECULATORS.
A trivial remark, which is rather slur than objection, may justify a moment’s attention. It is sometimes said that these claims are no longer the property of the original sufferers or their representatives, but that they have passed, like a fancy stock, into the hands of speculators. This remark, if it had foundation in fact, has little in equity. It would be hardly creditable for a government to take advantage of its own procrastination, and refuse just compensation, because the original sufferer had been compelled by unwelcome necessity to discount his claims.
From the nature of the case, such claims, being unliquidated, do not readily pass from hand to hand, but remain in the original custody, as has become apparent in ample experience. Precisely the same reflection was cast upon the claims against Spain, Denmark, and Naples,—and, indeed, it is cast upon long outstanding claims generally, until it has become a commonplace of sarcasm. The records of successive Commissions which have liquidated foreign claims afford its best refutation. In every case these Commissions required proof of property; but the evidence disclosed that the original sufferers, or their legal representatives, including heirs, executors, assignees of bankrupts, persons having a lien for advances, or underwriters, possessing in law and equity the same right as the original sufferers, were actual possessors of the larger part. There is no reason to suppose that it would be otherwise with the claims for French spoliations. On the contrary, it is believed that they remain substantially unchanged, except by legal inheritance.
The great speculator has been Death; for there are few of these claims that have not passed through his hands. Such a transfer cannot draw the title into doubt, especially when we consider the character of the petitioners whose names are spread on the journals of Congress. It is well known that in many families these claims still exist as heirlooms, transmitted by ancestral care in full confidence that sooner or later they will be recognized by the Government.