From the nature of the case, such claims, being unliquidated, do not readily pass from hand to hand, but remain in the original custody, as has become apparent in ample experience. Precisely the same reflection was cast upon the claims against Spain, Denmark, and Naples,--and, indeed, it is cast upon long outstanding claims generally, until it has become a commonplace of sarcasm. The records of successive Commissions which have liquidated foreign claims afford its best refutation. In every case these Commissions required proof of property; but the evidence disclosed that the original sufferers, or their legal representatives, including heirs, executors, assignees of bankrupts, persons having a lien for advances, or underwriters, possessing in law and equity the same right as the original sufferers, were actual possessors of the larger part. There is no reason to suppose that it would be otherwise with the claims for French spoliations. On the contrary, it is believed that they remain substantially unchanged, except by legal inheritance. The great speculator has been Death; for there are few of these claims that have not passed through his hands. Such a transfer cannot draw the title into doubt, especially when we consider the character of the petitioners whose names are spread on the journals of Congress. It is well known that in many families these claims still exist as heirlooms, transmitted by ancestral care in full confidence that sooner or later they will be recognized by the Government. III.--PRESENT CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY NO REASON AGAINST PAYMENT OF JUST DEBTS. It is sometimes suggested, that, even assuming the meritorious character of these claims, yet, in the present condition of the country, they ought to be postponed. Looking at the practical consequences of this suggestion, it will be found, that, though plausible in _form_, it is fatal in _substance_. Any postponement must inevitably throw these claims into direct competition with those now accumulating on account of losses during the Rebellion, having in their favor the swelling sympathies of our time. It is not unjust to human nature, if the Committee say that the distant in time, like the distant in space, is too often out of mind. If the earlier claims are just, they should not be exposed to the hazards of any such competition, when feeling will be stronger than reason. From the probability of future claims, whose shadows already commence, the argument is strengthened for the immediate satisfaction of those now existing, especially when we consider their character and origin.