istory can be written that does not
assign to the memorialist the credit of the conception_."

The report thereupon proceeds to state the opinion of the committee,
that with all the evidence before them every subsequent Congress
having failed to make an award they must have had some unknown reasons
for the omission, and that the claim, having been so long neglected,
may as well be indefinitely postponed--a surprising mode of reasoning
and manner of disposition of a claim.

The report supposes the neglect was due to the fact that the services
were rendered to the Secret Service Commission and inclines to think
that the two thousand dollars received was considered a sufficient
remuneration for the literary work.

"The committee have not been able to find a precedent for payment of
claims of this character." * * * "But it would destroy much of the
poetry and grandeur of noble deeds were a price demanded for kindred
services, and achievements of this nature huckstered in the market as
commodities of barter." _And that is all a report intended to be
adverse can say against the claim._

One might remark that it is not wholly unprecedented for honorable
gentlemen to receive remuneration from the Government for services
rendered, or even to ask for their traveling expenses. But this looks
somewhat like a sneer.

Was it directed against the noble invalid who had devoted her life and
strength, her great ability, and her private fortune to the service of
her country for years, with such lavish prodigality and such brilliant
success, and had left a fitting award wholly to the determination of
Congress, asking only that it should be made in some way that should
mark the unusual and distinctive nature of the services rendered?

No; surely it must have been directed against the Government agent who
wanted Miss Carroll, for the consideration of $750, to give a receipt
in full for a bill of $5,000 remaining--a bill certified by the
highest authorities to be sufficiently low or altogether _too_ low for
the literary work performed. (No wonder if _such_ huckstering moved
Mr. Cockrell's righteous soul.) His remarks also were exceedingly
applicable to a liberal-minded person who shortly after sent in a bill
recommending that after all these years Congress would kindly allow
Miss Carroll a pension of _$50 a month_ for "the important military
services rendered the country by her during the late civil war." If
any more $50 miseries are p