Mr. WILLIAMS. I do not know what view would have been taken of that claim when presented to Congress. It might have been an swered that these men had earned this money; that it was in the hands of the QuarterMGen, if he was the proper officer to hold it; and Congress might have referred them to that officer and required them to demand and obtain the money from him, if they could. But, sir, I do not consider that that objection is at all material. The fact is that the Government violated this contract. The government threw these men out of employment for one year. They were compelled to discharge their skilled workmen; they were compelled to abandon all the preparations and arrangements which they had made for the procurement of material; and then, after labor had risen to 2 or 3 times what it cost in 1861, and after materials had risen 2 or 3 times higher than they would cost in 1861, these men, at the request of the government, and under this sort of compulsion which the Government imposed upon them by withholding $30,000, resumed this labor and completed the job; and now they simply ask that the Government shall pay them what that labor was reasonably worth, because they say if the Government had not wantonly and ar bitrarily interposed and prevented them from performing this contract they would have perfczrmed it according to the letter of the contract in 1861, and would have been contented with the payment provided for in the centract. Now, sir, it would be manifest injustice for the Government to compel these men to do this labor when labor cost 2 or 3 times as much and materials cost 2 or 3 times as much as they did when they had the contract und could have performed it. Manifest injusticc, l say, will e done if the Government shall now say to these men, “You shall have no more for the work than the original contract price." The committee have not allowed these men as much as they would be entitled to estimating the rices as they ranged at that time; but they may 0 an estimate giving them a part, and not a very large proportion, as I think, of the additional expense that was imposed upon them by the violation of this contract on the part of the Government' and if these parties were to go into a court of law, if that were practicable, and sue the Government, I can see no reason why they would not be entitled to recover what their labor and materials were reasonably worth when the work was done under this request on the part of the Government.