CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



147 



informed that it was slightly inaccurate in this : 

 it says that Captain Page entered the service 

 of tlie Confederate States. That is a mistake. 

 He was too old a man to render any service, 

 being seventy years of age when the war broke 

 out. All he did was to tender his resignation 

 in proper form as an officer of the Navy of the 

 United States ; which resignation was accepted 

 by the Government." 



Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut : " Did he state 

 any grounds in his resignation? " 



Mr. Goode: "The only ground was that his 

 native State of Virginia having adopted an or- 

 dinance of secession, he tendered his resigna- 

 tion as an officer of the United States Navy ; 

 that was his only reason. 



" It appears that at the time of that resigna- 

 tion, which was accepted by the Government 

 of the United States, there was a small pittance 

 of $136.85 standing to the credit of Hugh N. 

 Page on the books of the department. It is 

 not disputed by gentlemen of the minority of 

 the committee that this money was fairly and 

 honorably earned by Captain Page. It is not 

 disputed by anybody that the Government 

 owed it to him at the time of his resignation, 

 and owed it for faithful services rendered dur- 

 ing a long and brilliant c.-ireer. He died with 

 this little pittance standing to his credit. His 

 widow now comes, as his legal representative, 

 and asks the Government to pay to her, as the 

 representative of her late husband, what was 

 legally due to him at the time of his death. 



" Gentlemen say it is a just claim ; gentle- 

 men say the amount is due; gentlemen say it 

 has been fairly and honorably earned; but 

 they are unwilling to pay it because of section 

 3,480 of the Revised Statutes. 



"Now I submit to this Committee of the 

 Whole, that it was never contemplated by the 

 Government of the United States to confiscate 

 for ever a claim like this. I apprehend the 

 Government only intended to suspend, for the 

 time being, the payment of such claims. Why ? 

 It was the period of reconstruction. The 

 States had not yet been fully restored to the 

 Union. Nobody knew then how many such 

 claims might be preferred against the United 

 States, and Congress in its wisdom, in 1867, 

 thought that it would be good policy to sus- 

 pend the payment of these claims until they 

 should think proper to 'order otherwise.' 

 They never intended to confiscate them. The 

 Government never undertook to confiscate the 

 property of any man who went into the rebel- 

 lion. 



"I claim that this is as much a debt due to 

 the estate of Captain Hugh N. Page as if he 

 had held the bonds of the Government at the 

 time he died. It was to his credit upon the 

 books of the department. He had earned it. 

 He had rendered a quid pro quo, and it stood 

 to his credit at the time of his resignation, and 

 stands to his credit to-day on the books of the 

 Treasury Department." 



Mr. Conger, of Michigan: "Mr. Chairman, 



one after another of these old claims comes 

 creeping into this House, stained all over with 

 the record of their disloyalty. When they 

 come they always have their advocates. The 

 reasons given for passing this class of bills are 

 always plausible. If it is a claim on behalf of 

 a college, it is an ' old college ' that has edu- 

 cated great men, and the passage of the bill is 

 demanded, and demanded by the gentleman 

 from Virginia in favor of education. Year 

 after year, day after day, William and Mary 

 College is made the entering-wedge ; and gen- 

 tlemen are rallied to the support of that bill by 

 plausible arguments in favor of education, in 

 favor of antiquity, in favor of 'the first educa- 

 tional institution on the continent.' No matter 

 what the subject may be, there are always 

 plausible, eloquent, sympathetic reasons given 

 for the passage of the bill. Generally there is 

 great force added to the bill because it is a 

 'little' thing. I think I have observed and 

 if I am mistaken in this, the gentleman can 

 correct me I think as a general rule my friend 

 from Virginia gathers all his intellectual forces 

 around a 'little' thing. Because it is small, 

 because it is weak, because it is feeble, he 

 comes to its rescue with a chivalry worthy of 

 himself. 



" Now, what is this case ? What does it 

 present to you, and to me, and to this commit- 

 tee, and to the American people ? Sir, it is 

 the history of an adopted son of this republic 

 placed in command above his fellows, commis- 

 sioned to rule over other citizens in the Navy 

 of the United States. Asa gallant young man, 

 on the broad waters of the lake which bounds 

 my State, he won distinction with hundreds of 

 other men. Was the country ungrateful for 

 his services? Far back in that war of which 

 Lake Erie was the scene, Congress rewarded 

 the valor of this young man, presented him 

 a sword ; encouraged him from that time 

 thenceforth and for ever, while his hand had 

 the power, to wield that splendid gift of his 

 country given him in reward of allegiance, of 

 fidelity, of valor to wield it for the country 

 which thus honored him, which thus glorified 

 him, which thus told the world how the re- 

 public would reward its faithful and devoted 

 sons. Years passed on a half-century of 

 honors, of promotion until this man was ele- 

 vated to the highest rank in the Navy which 

 our laws recognize honored, trusted, loved ; 

 and there came a time when in the madness 

 of the hour, instigated by traitors, by rebels, 

 that State of Virginia tore down the banner 

 of the Union, and proclaimed to her sons 

 that she set up an independent government 

 for herself. Virginia, not the most deserv- 

 ing by far, but the most honored of all the 

 States in the American Union, was the first to 

 lay an unholy hand upon the banner of the 

 Union and strike at its life. And this son of 

 Virginia, for fifty years the honored represent- 

 ative of that State in the Navy of the United 

 States, engaged then in upholding the flag of 



