e one under consideration. Had General Craft and his command
destroyed the salt works by shelling out the enemy found in their actual
occupancy, the case would not have been different in principle from the
one presented in this bill. What possible difference can it make in
the rights of owners or the obligations of the Government whether the
destruction was in driving the enemy out or in keeping them out of the
possession of the salt works?

This bill does not present a case where private property is taken for
public use in any sense of the Constitution. It was not taken from the
owners, but from the enemy; and it was not then used by the Government,
but destroyed. Its destruction was one of the casualties of war, and,
though not happening in actual conflict, was perhaps as disastrous to
the rebels as would have been a victory in battle.

Owners of property destroyed to prevent the spread of a conflagration,
as a general rule, are not entitled to compensation therefor; and for
reasons equally strong the necessary destruction of property found in
the hands of the public enemy, and constituting a part of their military
supplies, does not entitle the owner to indemnity from the Government
for damages to him in that way.

I fully appreciate the hardship of the case, and would be glad if my
convictions of duty allowed me to join in the proposed relief; but I can
not consent to the doctrine which is found in this bill, as it seems to
me, by which the National Treasury is exposed to all claims for property
injured or destroyed by the armies of the United States in the late
protracted and destructive war in this country.

U.S. GRANT.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate
should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next, to receive
and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the
Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States,
have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation,
declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the
United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol,
in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock
at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to
act as members of that body are hereby required to take notic