mmittee.
Bills for the payment of these claims were presented from time to
time. In 1870 Senator Sumner reported favorably to the Senate a
bill for the purpose from the committee on foreign relations. It
was opposed by Senator Thurman and myself and again laid aside.
On the 14th of December, 1882, the bill was again pressed, the
debate which ensued clearly showing that the United States pressed
these claims against France to the verge of war.

The whole case is this: Certain depredations were committed by
the French government and by the citizens of France, upon the
citizens of the United States, previous to the beginning of the
present century. The government of the United States did all it
could to secure payment and compensation to its citizens for these
depredations. The French government denied the validity of the
claims, holding, on the other hand, that the government of the
United States had violated the treaties made with it under
circumstances of sacred obligation, that its citizens therefore
were justified in doing what they had done in seizing upon American
vessels, and taking from them goods called contraband of war, and
in committing these depredations. It uniformly justified and
maintained the action of its cruisers in doing these things. In
other words, our claims were repudiated by France, their payment
being refused, and, as we could not force their payment, we simply
abandoned them. Recently they have been referred to the court of
claims, without regard to the lapse of time, and large sums of
money are now being paid by the United States for the depredations
committed by the French nearly one hundred years ago, to descendants,
three generations removed, of merchants and ship owners, who, with
all their losses, enjoyed the most profitable commerce in the
history of our mercantile marine. Their payment is, perhaps, the
most striking evidence of the improvidence of Congress in dealing
with antiquated claims against the government.

The first year of Buchanan's administration, 1857, will always be
noted as one of great political excitement, of sudden changes and
unexpected results. At its beginning the Democratic party was in
complete possession of all branches of the government. The House
of Representatives, elected in the fall of 1856, had a strong
Democratic majority. The Senate was composed of 37 Democrats, 20
Republicans and 4 Americans. The Supreme Court was composed of 5
Democrats f