e on Agriculture was then of little importance.
I remained a member of it for a few years, and then gave it
up for some service in which my constituents were more immediately
interested.

In December, 1878, I was put on the Committee on Patents,
and remained upon it for a little while. The Committee had
to deal occasionally with special cases of applications for
extension of patents by statute, which demanded a knowledge
of the patent law, and industry and sound judgment on the
part of the Senator to whom they were committed for report.
But they were not of much public interest or importance.

In December, 1879, I was put on the Committee on the Revision
of the Laws; in December, 1883, on the Joint Committee on
the Library; in December, 1884, on the Committee of the Judiciary,
of which I have been a member ever since; in December, 1888,
on the Committee on Relations with Canada; in December, 1891,
on the Committee on Woman Suffrage; in December, 1895, on
the Committee on Rules.

I was on the Committee on Claims for ten years, from March
9, 1877, to March 4, 1887. It is impossible to establish
by the record the part any man performs, who is a member of
a deliberative body consisting of several persons, in influencing
its decisions, or in establishing the principles on which
they are based. But I believe I may fairly claim, and that
I could cite my associates on the Committee to bear testimony,
that I had a great deal to do, and much more than any other
person, in settling the doctrines upon which the Senate acted
in dealing with the great questions of the claims of individuals
and States and corporate bodies growing out of the War. Upon
the rules then established the Government claims amounting
to hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars were decided.
The victorious Republic dealt justly and generously with the
vanquished and misguided men who had assailed it and sought
its destruction.

The general doctrines by which Congress was governed were
these:

1. No rightful claim accrued to anybody for the destruction
or injury to property by military movements, or operations,
in a country which was the theatre of war.

2. A fair price was to be paid for supplies for the use of
the Army in the field (1) to loyal persons, (2) to disloyal
persons, if it were shown by a certificate of the officer who
took them, or otherwise, that they were taken with the purpose
of paying for them. Inhabitants of States in