They were directed,
however, not to allow any claim where the party injured had
received indemnity from any insurance company, except to the
excess of such claim above the indemnity. They were further
authorized to allow interest at the rate of four per cent.
The Court performed its duty. When its judgments had been
paid there still remained a large balance. The ablest lawyers
in the Senate, in general, pressed the claim of the insurance
companies to the balance of the fund, including Mr. Edmunds,
Judge Davis, Judge Thurman and Mr. Bayard. I took up the
question with a strong leaning for the insurance companies.
I was, of course, impressed by the well-known principle of
law that the underwriter who had paid for property destroyed
by the cause against which he had insured, was entitled to
be substituted to all other rights or remedies which the owner
may have for reimbursement of his loss. I was very much impressed
also in favor of the insurance companies, who were making
what they doubtless believed an honest and just claim, fortified
by many of the best legal opinions in Congress and out of
it, by the character of the attacks made on them, especially
by General Butler.
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