WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1852
358
that Mr. Ritchie, in his last contract with the Government, was a large loser. If, Sir, he has rendered services or furnished materials to the public for the public benefit, I should think it humiliating on the part of this Senate, or any deliberative body, to deny a just and fair recompense. "The laborer is worthy of his hire." If he has rendered service, is this Government in such a pitiful condition as to ·refuse him a just reward for the labor he has rendered? Is this Government in a condition to exact from its citizens any contribution, either in labor, or otherwise, and not render them a just recompense for it? I think not. I always look to whether the individual has a just demand against the Government, and if he has, I am willing to recompense him. I care not under what circumstances it arises, I never permit myself to be influenced by the fact that an individual m~de a bargain with the Government, when that individual has acted under an oversight, and has been injured to any amount. I am willing to recompense him out of the Treasury; and I do trust that the honorable Senators on the opposite side of the Chamber are not actuated by considerations of a political character in this case, or the recollection · of events which have long since transpired. It is true that for fifty years-it was the first newspaper I ever read-the Richmond Enquirer has been the consistent and faithful opponent of the gentleman on the opposite side of the Chamber. Its editor has been faithful in his vocation; he has been true to his party, true to his principles, and for that I would l'espect him. If Gales & Seaton had a similar claim pre- sented to this Congress-they have been my consistent oppo- nents, and I believe they are always generous and just enough to think that I thought that they were wrong and that I was right--if they were placed in the circumstances of Mr. Ritchie, I would vote for their claim with as much alacrity as for Thomas Ritchie's. I permit no political considerations to influence me in meeting out justice to individuals. I trust I never shall feel such a sordid emotion, and that I will, in my administrative capacity, as far as I am placed here, never cease to recollect that justice is demanded from position. I trust that I would be able, in a case of justice, even to obliterate all recollections of hostility, even if personal to myself. And I trust that gentlemen, while visiting this venerable patriarch-this patriarch of Democracy, if you please-who is a patriot you will all admit, will recollect that he has numbered now more than three score and ten, and is
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