 [ The bill is ] an act of confiscation , an act such as never before has been carried out in the British Empire , an act such as has few equals in the pages of history . Similar acts have been carried out , once in Nicaragua and Virginia , and in South Carolina and only in times of war or revolution ... In my opinion the bargain was an improvident one , but that does not justify confiscation ... I did not think the new road would pay . But it is a new doctrine that because a bargain did not pay it should be repudiated and one should become a <unk> of bargains and a <unk> of private rights . 
