otherwise
his report would be adverse. The claimant paid the sum. But for
an accident Mr. Frye never would have known of the fraud, and the
claimant would have believed he bribed an honest member.

I opposed the payment of a large class of claims presented for
institutions of learning or church buildings destroyed by one or
the other army, not so much on account of their disloyal owners,
but because their destruction belonged to the general ravages of
war, never compensated for, as of right, according to the laws and
usages of nations.

Besides making reports on various war claims, I spoke (December
13, 1878) at some length against a bill to reimburse William and
Mary College, Virginia, for property destroyed during the war, in
which I collated the precedents and reviewed the law of nations in
the matter of payment of claims for property destroyed in the
ravages of war by either the friendly or opposing army. I also
frequently participated in the debates on the floor of the House
involving war claims and other important matters.

The necessity for presenting claims for the judgment of Congress
results in the most grievous wrong to honest claimants, and often
results in the payment of fraudulent claims through the persistency
of claimants and the lack of time and adequate means for investigation.
In the absence of judicial investigation according to the usual
forms of procedure it quite frequently happens that fraudulent
claims are made to appear honest, and hence paid. Want of time
causes other, however just, to fail of consideration, thus doing
incalculable injustice. The government of the United States suffers
in its reputation from its innumerable failures to pay, at least
promptly, its honest creditors. Thousands of bills to pay claims
are annually introduced which go to committees and to the calendar,
never to be disposed of for want of time. To remedy this, on April
16, 1878, I proposed in the House an amendment to the Constitution
in these words:

"_Article ----_

"Section 1. Congress shall have no power to appropriate money for
the payment of any claims against the United States, not created
in pursuance of or previously authorized by law, international
treaty, or award, except in payment of a final judgment rendered
thereon by a court or tribunal having competent jurisdiction.

"Section 2. Congress shall establish a court of claims to consist
of five justices, one of whom shall be chief-justi