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SPEECH

OF

HON. HENRY L. PIERCE,

OF MASSACHUSETTS,

IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

JUNE 29, 1876.

WASHINGTON.
1876.

SPEECH

OF

HON. HENRY L. PIERCE.

The house having under consideration the bill (H. R. No. 2685) for the distribution of the Geneva award

Mr. PIERCE said:

Mr. SPEAKER: I am disinclined to occupy the time of the House, and I should not do so if the question under consideration was not of grave importance, involving as I believe the honor and good faith of the Government. As I have but a few minutes in which to present my views, I shall not undertake to review or criticise the arguments made by the majority and minority of the Committee on the Judiciary, but confine myself to a brief statement of the circumstances under which the award was made and the principles which should govern its distribution.

The sum of $15,500,000 in gold was awarded by the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva in compensation for all direct damages inflicted by the confederate cruisers known as the Alabama, the Florida, the Shenandoah, and their tenders, the Tuscaloosa, the Tacony, the Clarence, and the Archer. In the case of the Shenandoah it was decided that Great Britain was responsible only for the acts committed by that vessel after her departure from Melbourne on the 18th of February, 1865, and compensation was allowed accordingly. The award in the case of the other two vessels covered their whole career under the confederate flag. So far as related to the damages inflicted by the vessels called the Retribution, the Georgia, the Sumter, the Nashville, the Tallahassee, and the Chickamauga, the tribunal decided that Great Britain had not failed, by any act or omission, to fulfill its duties as defined by the treaty of Washington; and, so far as related to the vessels called the Sallie, the Jefferson Davis, the Music, the Boston, and the V. H. Joy, it was decided that they ought to be excluded from consideration for want of evidence.

The claims made by the United States commissioners for compensation on account of expenses incurred by the Government in the pursuit of these cruisers, the loss in the transfer of the American commercial marine to the British flag, the enhanced payments of insurance, and the prolongation of the war were distinctly and definitely disallowed.

In order to arrive at an equitable compensation for the damages sustained by the inculpated cruisers, the arbitrators disallowed all double claims for the same losses and all claims for gross freights so far as they exceeded net freights. The protocols of the conferences at Geneva show very clearly how the final award was arrived at. The amount of the American claim for ninety-four ships and cargoes destroyed by these cruisers, for whose acts Great Britain was, by the tri

bunal, held responsible, amounted to $14,437,000. These same claims as revised by the British commissioners amounted to $7,074,000. The mean value was then taken, one year's wages were allowed to the crews of fishing-craft and whalers in lieu of prospective catch, 25 per cent. added on the values of vessels, interest was allowed at 6 per cent., and the sum arrived at was $15,409,289.69-and thereupon the round sum of fifteen and a half millions was awarded.

By chapter 459 of the acts of the Forty-third Congress (1874) a court of commissioners was established with power to adjudicate and allow claims for direct damages caused by the inculpated cruisers in those cases in which the claimants had not received full indemnity from the insurance companies for property destroyed; but no claims of insurance companies for destruction of property by the inculpated cruisers were admissible, unless the sums of their losses exceeded the sum of all their premiums or other gains upon or in respect to war risks. This act was the work of a conference committee appointed to harmonize the differences between the two branches of Congress. It covered only those claims about the validity of which there was no dispute. In reply to a question, the chairman of the committee on the part of the House, who reported the bill, said he believed the amount of money it would require to pay the claims provided for by the bill would not exceed three millions. It was also stated by the chairman that, in respect of claims by the insurance companies, by the war-premium men, and by those who lost by cruisers other than those named in the award, the matter was left wholly to future legislation. Unless there had been a distinct understanding that the rights of these claimants should not be prejudiced by this partial provision for distribution, it is evident from an examination of the record that it never could have been adopted.

The court of commissioners appointed under the act of the Fortythird Congress had awarded, up to the 1st of April, the sum of $8,078,033.59. To cover the awards yet to be made under this act it is estimated that $700,000 will be required. Under the act of the present Congress extending the time for claimants, it is estimated that the awards will amount to $300,000. It appears from this that the total of all claims under existing laws will amount in round numbers to about $9,300,000.

The sum received from Great Britain, having been invested in United States 5 per cent. bonds, now amounts to something over $20,000,000 in currency. If we deduct from this the amount already awarded and the estimated amonnt to be awarded, we have the sum of $11,000,000 awaiting distribution.

Now, then, to whom does this money belong? The majority of the committee say that those who had property destroyed on the high seas by the exculpated cruisers (i. e., the cruisers for whose acts Great Britain was not held responsible) shall receive the first consideration; that those who paid enhanced rates of insurance shall next be considered; and that the insurance companies, which paid for property destroyed both by the inculpated and the exculpated cruisers, shall receive their compensation from what there is left, if anything. The following statement shows the claims already filed under these several classes named in the bill:

Statement of amount of claims for losses by the so-called exculpated cruis

Boston.

Chickamauga

Georgia..

ers-from revised list of claims.

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Of this there are claimed by the insurance companies for losses by the

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Leaving the total amount claimed by other parties $1,668,411.51

The claims for war premiums have amounted to $6,328,869.77, namely, three hundred and forty-one claims filed before May 15, 1872, (from revised list,) $6,146,219.71; sixteen claims filed after that date, (Miscellaneous Document No. 270, House of Representatives, first session, Forty-third Congress,) $182,650.06.

The total claims by insurance companies for losses by inculpated cruisers amount to (including four years' interest at 4 per cent.) $5,644,365.12.

It appears, then, that the total claims in each class provided for in the bill submitted by the majority are as follows:

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It appears from this statement that, supposing no additional claims were filed, the amount left after satisfying the first two classes would be about $1,700,000 to meet claims for actual losses on the part of the insurance companies, which were covered by the Geneva award, amounting to $5,644,365.12.

Now, although the finding of the tribunal was for the gross amount of damages inflicted by the inculpated cruisers, the Government is not relieved thereby from its obligations as the receiver in trust to distribute the money in accordance with the principles of law which obtain in every civilized community.

In a recent opinion pronounced by the court of commissioners of Alabama claims, (West vs. United States, No. 91, page 12,) the following language is used:

Do not national courtesy and good faith require of us to suppose that Congress, in creating this court, never intended we should distribute this fund other than for

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