Mr. WOODBRIDGE. Iam ratherinclined to think that by the letter of this bond, as a legal question, the Illinois Central Railroad Company would not be able to recover for transportation of troops and property of the government under any circumstances whatever. Certainl in time of peace nobody would set up such acaim. The aim lequestion is whether in time of war the lega relations between the parties and the Government are changed by reason of the war. Strictly speaking, the are not. But a great Government like ours, a ody that cannot be sued, a body whose duty it is to protect the interest of the citizen must look at such matters through the light O equity rather than through that of stern and harsh law. Now, sir, the Government has never lost anything by giving these lands to the State of Illinois. It has doubled the price ofevery alter nate section of land on the line of the road; and the road itself has developed that State almost from its northern to its soutgreerant boundary and brought there untold wealth, which, without it, would never have been car ried to that State. So that in equity the government, even in time of peace, would lose nothing ifshe treated the Illinois Central railroad, notwithstanding this contract, as she treats other roads which have had no land grants. Sir, things have very much changed since that grant was made. Who supposed that we were ever going to have such a war as has nfilicted us during the last 4 or 5 years? when this contract was made no such condition of things could have been anticipated or provided against; but the time came when the whole material of thatrond was for month after month, as I am informed, demanded by the Government for the transportation of its troops and "When. The road) always furnished whatever the Government demanded, and always performed its duty faithfully, honestly, with celerity, and to the satisfaction of the Goverment. Now, suppose the Government had been obliged to take possession of the road for 6 months and use it for nothing but military purposes, and byso doing had destroyed or greatly impaired the value, not only of the road but of the rollin stock, would the Gentfrom Illinois, [film Wasuauaxad though he is the guardian and the “ watch dog” of the Treasury and I admire him for his valor in standing up here and facing down almost every appropriation under such a condition of things say that the Illinois Central railroad should lose all this depreciation of their rolling stock and of theirroad, and that the Government should have the use of the entire property for months and months without any consideration? I am sure the gentlemans sense of equity would prevent his taking a position of that kind and to an extent that condition of things has existed, and for years their property was used for the purposes of the Government. Troops were transported to the southern portion O Illinois with all the supplies and munitions of war. The Government had the benefit of this; and shall the Government now, because it has a bond that by its strict letter would operate unjustly upon the company, avail itself of all the obligations of that bond and say to these people you shall not have these equitable rights, which it is our duty as a Government to secure to you 3 It seems to me that it is not right for us to take that view of the case, and, more especially, as this matter has gone to the proper dept and been canvassed there, and payments have been made. More especially is it improper for us to say now that the AttyGen shall commence a suit against the railroad company for the recovery of the amount that has been paid by the Dept because it was against the strict letter of the law under which the grant was made by the Government. New, I believe in doing justice. No man ever yet suffered, in my judgment, in reputation or in profit, in the long run, who stood up and did precisely what he thought was right. I believe it was right that this company should receive the very moderate compensation which they have received, and I believe it would be wrong for us because we have the power to undertake to exercise that power to the injury of the company.