CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



213 



bnnal had either one of two things to do : it 

 had to make an award either of a gross sum 

 to the United States, or it had to leave the 

 matter precisely there, and leave it to a board 

 of assessors, to be afterward constituted, to 

 find out the amount for which Great Britain 

 should be liable according to the principles de- 

 cided by the tribunal at Geneva. It saw fit to 

 take the first course, to award a sum in gross. 



" Then, I say, going further, that it is pre- 

 cisely on the foundation of these claims thus 

 held by insurance companies, as well as those 

 held by individuals, that the award of fifteen 

 and a half million dollars was made, and I do 

 therefore say that according to my poor sense 

 of what is just, and according to my poor 

 sense of what the honor of this Government 

 requires, we cannot take that money to our- 

 selves, but we are bound to give it to the men 

 who, under the law of the land, at the time the 

 award was made, were legid holders and owners 

 of those claims in respect to which the award 

 was made. 



" That is the way it looks to me ; and al- 

 though I admit that the argument of the chair- 

 man was very ingenious, and I know the effect 

 it has produced upon others and I know my 

 own fallibility as much as any man can do, yet 

 as I must act on my own convictions I feel it 

 impossible for me to do otherwise than as I 

 hare expressed. I cannot by any special plead- 

 ing take away from those people in whom the 

 law vested this right the indemnity which 

 justly belongs to them. 



" One word further, however, I ought to say. 

 This bill goes upon the principle of paying 

 everybody but the insurance companies. Al 

 though the right of an insurance company was 

 just as good as the right of an individual, this 

 bill undertakes to exclude them unless they 

 lost instead of made profit upon their insur- 

 ance business. I say that to introduce such a 

 principle as that is to destroy the doctrine of 

 subrogation in favor of insurers altogether." 



The bill was passed in the Senate by the fol- 

 lowing vote : 



YIAS Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Boreman, Buck- 

 ingham, Carpenter, Chandler, Clayton, Cole, Cor- 

 ln'tt, Edmunds, Ferry of Connecticut, Flanagan, 

 PreliDghOTMn, Gilbert, Hamilton of Texas, Harlan, 

 Hill, Hitchcock, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Ver- 

 mont, Pool, Pratt, Sawyer, Scott, Sherman, Speu- 

 wart, Wilson, Windom, and Wright^SO. 



NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Caafcrly, Cooper, Davis, 

 Ilamlin, Johnston, Ivelly, Machen, Rico, Saulshury, 

 Schurz, Sprague, Stevenson, Stockton, Thurman, 

 Tipton, Trumbull, and Vickers 18. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Blair, Brownlow, Cald- 

 well, Cameron, Conkling, Crazin, Fenton, Ferry of 

 Michigan, Goldthwaite, Hamilton of Maryland, 

 Howe, Lewis, Loeim, Morton, Norwood, Nye, Os- 

 born, Patterson, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ransom, Kob- 

 ertson, Rumner, and West 25. 



In the House the bill was passed yeas 122, 

 nays 56. 



In the Honse, on December 2, 1872, Mr. 

 Blaine, of Maine, offered resolutions relative 



to the Credit Mobilier investigation (see page 

 138 of this volume.) 



The committee subsequently reported, and, 

 on February 25th, the report and resolutions 

 were considered. (For the report, tee PUBLIC 

 DOCUMENTS.) 



The Speaker: "The Clerk will now read 

 the resolutions reported from the select com- 

 mittee of which the gentleman from Vermont 

 (Mr. Poland) is chairman." 



The Clerk read as follows: 



1. Whereat, Mr. Oakes Ames, a Representative in 

 this House from the State of Massachusetts, lias been 

 guilty of selling to members of Congress shares of 

 stock in the Credit Mobilier of America, for prices 

 much below the true value of such stock, with intent 

 thereby to influence the votes and decisions of such 

 members in matters to be brought before Congress 

 for action : therefore 



Kaolved, That Mr. Cakes Ames be, and he is here- 

 by, expelled from his seat as a member of this House. 



2. Whereon, Mr. James Brooks, a Representative in 

 this House from the State of New York, did procure 

 the Credit Mobilier Company to issue and deliver to 

 Charles H. Neilson, for the use and benefit of said 

 Brooks, fifty shares of the stock of said company, at 

 a price much below its real value, well knowing that 

 the same was so issued and delivered with intent to 

 influence the votes and decisions of said Brooks as a 

 member of the House in matters to be brought before 

 Congress for action, and also to influence the action 

 of said Brooks as a Government director in the Union 

 Pacific Railroad Company : therefore 



Betohed, That Mr. James Brooks he, and he is 

 hereby, expelled from his seat as a member of this 

 House. 



Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts : " I desire to 

 move as a substitute for those resolutions the 

 following, in order that all matters may be 

 brought before the Honse." 



The Clerk read as follows : 



Whereat, A select committee of this House has, 

 after investigation, reported to the House testimony 

 which is deemed by them sufficient to show criminal 

 action in one or more members of this House ; and 

 whereas, the testimony shows that similar acts have 

 been done by other persons not now members of this 

 House ; and whereas, it clearly appears, whatever acts 

 were done, or offenses committed by members of this 

 House, or by any civil officer of the United States 

 now in office, or others, were done and committed 

 more than five years ago, within the jurisdiction of 

 the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia: and 

 whereas, in the judgment of this House the House 

 of Representatives has no legal or constitutional 

 right to use its power of expulsion of its members 

 as punishments for crimes done and committed by 

 a member before his election thereto, and that the 



fmnishment of all crimes and offenses against the 

 aws should be after trial by jury and judgment of a 

 court of conmetcnt jurisdiction : therefore 



Eetohed, That in the judgment of the House, as it 

 appears there is probable cause to believe, from the 

 report of the testimony submitted by the select com- 

 mittee of investigation of .the matter of the Credit 

 Mobilier, that grave offenses, punishable by the stat- 

 utes of the United States as well as at common law. 



fore the Clerk of the House be, and is hereby, ordered 

 to cause a copy of the testimony so taken to be for- 

 warded to the District Attorney , the prosecuting offi- 

 cer of the United States for said District, with t)ie 

 recommendation of this House that the some, and 

 other testimony which he may deem material, he 



