Mr. SUMNER. After the very full and accurate statement made by the Senfrom Maine, I should deem anything from me superfluous had it not so happened that my attention was drawn at least 3 years ago to this very question. It is fully 3 years ago that I received a communication from the SecyState similar to the one which the Senfrom Maine has read today, and from that time to the present my attention has been drawn to the necessity of this office. It has Often been the subject of conversation when I have been at the Dept of State. Imade myself, at least 3 years ago, acquainted with what I might call the necessity of such an office there. Senators all recogniZed the necessit of such an office during the war in the War dept; and my friendfrom Michigan, I t ink, voted for it. I thought at the time there was an equal necessity for the office in the State Dept growing out of the new condition of things, carrying with it a class of business for the consideration of that Dept which it had never had before. That brings me to the precise point which has been presented by the Senfrom Illinois, and afterward by the Senfrom Michi n, that this office is not necessary in the Dept of State; and they proceeded to argue that whatever in the way of legal opiuion may be required in the Dept of State should be referred to the AttyGen. It seems to me that my friends, when they press that argument, do pot take into consideration the precise nature of the business which it is proposed to submit to a Solicitor in the State dept. If it were what perhaps may be compendiously called the great business or the great questions of law that may arise in that Dept, I should agree with both of those Senators, that it would be advisable that they should be submitted in the most solemn form possible to the highest law officer of the Gdverument. Probably if such questions should arise in the Dept of State, requiring any legal opinion, the would be so submitted. But, as I understnn it, the necessity which it is proposed to meet now i of entirely a different character. It refers to matters of what I may almost call current business, occurring, if not daily, atleast weekly, on which the Dept must express its opinion. For the mast part, this business grows out of claims, 1st, by our citizens on foreign Governments, and 2ndly, by the subjects of foreign governments on our Government. Now, for instance, to take the 1st class, the claims of our citizens on foreign Governments; we all know that there isalarge class of claims growing out of the depredations of the Ala bama and other cruisers that have sailed out of British ports, amounting to millions of dollars. Before these claims can be presented to the British Government they must be reduced to some form. They should at least undergo some consideration on the part of some. functiona of our Government to the end that we should not put forward mere shadows. Our Government owes it to itself to ascertain that the claims have a certain validity, at least in form. How can that be done? As I understand it, only through some legal officer, some person fami inr with that business, who can attend to it speciall, and in whom the SecyState can rey. It may be said that the SecyState can attend to it himself. How so 2 Absorbed in correspondence of a political character, or of a diplomatic character with foreign Powers, he can have no time to enter into the duties of a solicitor or of an attorney to grind out a claim and reduce it to form in order that it shall be properly presented to a foreign Power. That 18a servrce which ought to be rendered in the Dept, under his eye, bv some person in whom he has ade quate confidence., That is one side of the case claims of our citizens on foreign Governments. Then comes the other side claims of foreign Governments on ours. The relations which I bear to the business of the Senate have made me perfectly familiar with that class of business. It is within my personal knowledge that but few of the Governments of Europe at this moment have not very large claims on our Government, growing out of the recent rebellion. I say nothing of the validity of the claims. Suffice it to say that they are presented. Those claims are entitled at least to a respectful consideration; they should be entertained to a certain extent, so that when our Government passes upon them, they may at least have a reasonable degree of knowledge with reference to them. Tut can the SecyState obtain that reasonable degree of knowledge? For instance, there are claims at this moment presented by the minister of Prussia, and I understand that the subjects of the claims are scattered throuvhout the whole country. Can the SecyState himself, by his own study, qualify imself to deal with those claims? Then there is another set of claims presented. which also comes within my own nowledge personally. by the ministerof the House Towns, and the subjects of those claims are scattered also throughout the whole surface of our country. Must not the SecyState be aided by some professional person in the 1st audit of those claims I I submit clearly that he must necessity of such an officer in aid of the Dept of State. I submit, therefore, that my learned friends, when they would transfer this duty to the AttyGen, do not conceive adequately what it is. They imagine that we propose this officer merely to decide on what I have already called great questions of jurisprudence; but it is no such thing. such questions would natu rally go to the AttyGen; but the business which the otheer it is now proposed to establish must consider, would not, in the ordinar course of things, go to the AttyGen. The Dept of State could not be conducted on that system. It must be handled at home; and to that end, I agree that an officer to be called a Solicitor should be appointed there; who should bein the Dept, always within call and ready to give his counsel and aid and diligence to the SecyState.