ment, and to see in it a strong evidence of profound wisdom; but whilst your memorialists applaud the wisdom of the measure, they must dissent from the principle of sacrificing private interests for the public good, without indemnifying the sufferers; because it violates the plainest dictates of common justice, as well as the spirit and the letter of the constitution.

The government of France, up to the date of the "renunciation of indemnities mutually due or claimed," always considered the recognition of these claims as due to her honor, and attached them as a charge upon her national character. The United States has, in like manner, and in many solemn acts, declared the claims to be fair and just; and upon this ground, as her duty dictated, volunteered her agency for the recovery from France. Your memorialists are thus placed in a new and unexampled situation: they had been taught to consider as reciprocal obligations the duties of allegiance and protection, which, as citizens, they had a right to look for and expect when their property was violently wrested from them by authority of the French government; they find their own government exercising its power and authority to prevent their obtaining indemnity. Your memorialists believe that the United States did receive a full and entire satisfaction and equivalent for their claims, and they therefore pray that your honorable body will take their case into consideration, and make provision for the payment thereof, or restore to them their claims and their remedy against France. And, as in duty bound, your memorialists will ever pray.

SENATE.

A. R.

2d. Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before the Senate copies of the several instructions to the Ministers of the United States to the Government of France, and of the correspondence between the said Ministers and Government, having reference to the spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States anterior to the 30th of September, 1800; or so much thereof as can be communicated without prejudice to the public interest: also, how far, if at all, the claims of indemnity from the government of France, for the spoliations aforesaid, was affected by the convention entered into between the United States and France, on the said 30th of September, 1800.

Passed the 5th of March, 1824.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, 20th May, 1826.

3d. The Secretary of State, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824, which was referred to this department, requesting the President "to cause to be laid before the Senate, copies of the several instructions to the Ministers of the United States to the Government of France, and of the correspondence between said Ministers and Government, having reference to the spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States, anterior to the 30th September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also, how far, if at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France, for the spoliations aforesaid, was affected by the convention entered into between the United States and France, on the 30th September, 1800;" has the honor to report to the President copies of so much of the instructions and correspondence in question as is supposed to be embraced in the call of the Senate; to which are added, copies of other papers and documents, to a very great extent, which are believed to be within the intention, if not comprehended in the terms of the resolution of the Senate. By reference to former messages to Congress, and to the public documents, the publication of which had been authorized, from time to time by Government, it will be perceived that many of the papers now reported, have been already communicated to Congress, or spread before the public, through the medium of the press; but it has been thought, nevertheless, expedient to submit them in their present collected form, that a full and connected view might be presented at the same time. There may be even yet remaining in the archives of the department, others having a bearing on the subject, which has escaped our diligence and researches.

My predecessor was unable to command, from the other important duties which he had to perform, sufficient time to have this collection completed, during his continuance in office, after the passage of the resolution of the Senate. The same

cause, not less sensibly felt by his successor, has delayed this report until the present period and he feels himself required to state, that, without material injury to the public service, he was, himself unable to examine the many volumés containing the very extensive correspondence, from which the copies and extracts now submitted have been taken, or even attentively to peruse the whole of those copies and extracts which has been just finished. The desire to present them to the Senate, in conformity to the anxious wish of the claimants, before the close of the present session, renders these explanations necessary, and it is hoped that they may prove satisfactory. The closing paragraph of the resolution of the Senate enjoins another duty, which, from the ambiguous manner in which it is expressed, the Secretary feels some difficulty in clearly comprehending. The Senate resolved that the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before the Senate copies," &c. and conclude by requesting to cause also to be laid before them "how far, if at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the spoliations aforesaid, was affected by the convention entered into between the United States and France on the said 30th of September, 1800.”

The Secretary can hardly suppose it to have been the intention of the resolution to require the expression of an argumentative opinion as to the degree of responsi bility to the American sufferers from French spoliations, which the convention of 1800 extinguished, on the part of France, or devolved on the United States, the Senate itself being most competent to decide that question. Under this impression, he hopes that he will have sufficiently conformed to the purpose of the Senate, by a brief statement, prepared in a hurried moment, of what he understands to be the question.

The second article of the convention of 1800, was in the following words: "The Ministers Plenipotentiary of the two parties not being able to agree at present respecting the treaty of alliance of 6th of February, 1778, the treaty of amity and commerce of the same date, and the convention of the 14th November, 1788, nor upon the indemnities mutually due or claimed, the parties will negotiate farther on these subjects at a convenient time, and,until they may have agreed upon these points, the said treaties and convention shall have no operation, and the relations of the two countries shall be regulated as follows."

When that convention was laid before the Senate, it gave its consent and advice that it should be ratified, provided that the second article be expunged, and that the following article be added or inserted: "It is agreed that the present convention shall be in force for the term of eight years from the time of the exchange of the ratification." And it was accordingly so ratified by the President of the United States, on the 18th day of February, 1801. On the 31st of July, of the same year. it was ratified by Bonaparte, first consul of the French Republic, who incorporated in the instrument of his ratification, the following clause, as a part of it: "The Government of the United States, having added to its ratification that the conven tion should be in force for the space of eight years, and having omitted the second article, the Government of the French Republic consent to accept, ratify, and confirm the above convention, with the addition, importing that the convention shall be in force for the space of eight years, and with the retrenchment of the second article: Provided that, by this retrenchment, the two States renounce the respective pretensions which are the object of the said article.".

The French ratification being thus conditional, was, nevertheless, exchanged against that of the United States at Paris, on the same 31st of July. The Presi ent of the United States, considering it necessary again to submit the convention, this state, to the Senate on the 19th day of December, 1801, it was resolved by the Senate, that they considered the said convention as fully ratified, and returned it to the President for the usual promulgation. It was accordingly promulgated, and thereafter regarded as a valid and binding compact. The two contracting parties thus agreed, by the retrenchment of the second article, mutually to renounce the respective pretensions which were the object of that article. The pretensions of the United States, to which allusion is thus made, arose out of the spoliations under color of French authority, in contravention to law and existing treaties. Those of France sprung from the treaty of alliance of the 6th February, 1778, the treaty of amity and commerce of the same date, and the convention of the 14th of November, 1788. Whatever obligations or indemnities, from these sources, either praty had a right to demand, were respectively waived and abandoned; and the consideration which induced one party to renounce his pretensions, was that of renunciation by the other party of his pretensions.-What was the value of the obligations and indemnities

so reciprocally renounced, can only be matter of speculation. The amount of the indemnities due to citizens of the United States was very large; and on the other hand, the obligation was great (to specify no other French pretensions) under which the United States were placed in the eleventh article of the treaty of alliance of 6th February, 1778, by which they were bound forever, to guaranty from that time, the then possessions of the crown of France in America, as well as those which it might acquire by the future treaty of peace with Great-Britian-all these possessions having been, it is believed, conquered at, or not long after, the exchange of the ratifications of the convention of September, 1800, by the arms of Great Britain from France.

The fifth article of the amendments to the Constitution, provides, "Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." If the indemnities to which citizens of the United States were entitled for French spoliations, prior to the 30th September, 1800, have been appropriated to absolve the United States from the fulfilment of an obligation which they had contracted, or from the payment of indemnities which they were bound to make to France, the Senate is most competent to determine how far such an appropriation is a public use of private property within the spirit of the Constitution, and whether equitable considerations do not require some compensation to be made to the claimants. The Senate is also best able to estimate the probability which existed, of an ultimate recovery from France of the amount due for those indemnities, if they had not been renounced; in making which estimate, it will, no doubt, give just weight to the painful consideration, that repeated and urgent appeals have been, in vain, made to the justice of France, for satisfaction of flagrant wrongs committed upon property of other citizens of the United States, subsequent to the period of 30th September, 1800. All which is respectfully submitted.

H. CLAY.

As the depredations complained of, grew out of the war between the two great rival powers, England and France, it will be necessary to show the relations subsisting at the commencement of the war between those powers each to the other, and each to the United States. This shall be the subject of my next number. A CLAIMANT.

No. II.

THAT the relations existing between the United States and France, up to the period when the depredations committed by the latter commenced, may be well understood, it may be useful to give a sketch of the treaties, then in operation-and first the treaty of alliance, of February 6, 1778.

Article 1st. In case of war between France and Great Britain, the cause to be

common.

2d. "The essential and direct end of the present defensive alliance is to maintain effectually the liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited of the said United States, as well in matters of government as of commerce."

3d. Each party to act as it may deem most proper to the annoyance of the common enemy.

4th. The parties shall concur in any projected enterprise.

5th. The British possessions in North America, or the Bermudas, if reduced, to belong to the United States.

6th. France relinquishes all claim to the Bermudas, &c.

7th. Islands captured in or near the Gulf of Mexico, to appertain to France.

8th. Neither of the parties to conclude truce or peace without the consent of the other. Arms not to be laid down, until the independence of the United States shall have been secured.

9th. No after claims, whatever may be the event of the war.

10th. Other powers may be invited to make common cause against Great Britain. 11th. "The two parties guaranty mutually from the present time, and forever, against all other powers, to wit: The United States to His Most Christian Majesty, the present possessions of the Crown of France in America, as well as those which it may acquire by the future treaty of peace: And his most Christian Majesty guaranties on his part to the United States, their liberty, sovereignty, and inde

pendence, absolute and unlimited, as well in matters of government as commerce, and also their possessions, and the additions or conquests that their confederation may obtain during the war, from any of the dominions now, or heretofore posssessed by Great Britain in North America, conformable to the 5th and 6th articles above written, the whole of their possession shall be fixed and assured to the said States, at the moment of the cessation of their present war with England."

12th. In order to fix more precisely the sense and application of the preceding article, the contracting parties declare, that in case of a rupture between France and England, the reciprocal guaranty declared in the said article shall have its full force and effect the moment such war shall break out: and if such rupture shall not take place, the mutual obligations of the said guaranty shall not commence until the moment of the cessation of the present war between the United States and England shall have ascertained their possessions."

13th. Ratifications to be exchanged within six months.

Second-The Treaty of Amity and Commerce of the 6th February, 1778. Article 1st. Firm and inviolable peace, &c.

2d. Favors of commerce and navigation granted to other nations to be common to the other party.

3d. 4th and 5th. Duties, rights and benefits to be allowed in the ports of either, as are allowed to the most favored nation.

6th and 7th. Each party to defend the vessels of the other, and to restore them when captured in his jurisdiction.

8th. France to aid the United States to make treaties with the Barbary powers. 9th. Fishing reciprocally prohibited to each party, in places occupied for that purpose by the other, &c.

10th. The United States to respect the rights of France, with respect to fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland, &c. as established by the treaties of Utrecht and Paris.

11th. The citizens of the parties to be exempt from the laws of escheat, &c.

12th. "The merchant ships of either of the parties which shall be making into a port belonging to the enemy of the other ally, and concerning whose voyage, and the species of goods on board her, there shall be just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit as well upon the high seas, as in the ports and havens, not only her passports, but likewise her certificates, expressly showing that her goods are not of the number of those which have been prohibited as contraband."

13th. "If by the exhibiting of the above said certificates, the other party discover there are any of those sorts of goods which are prohibited and declared contraband, and consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemies, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, or to open any chest, coffers, packs, casks, or any other vessel found therein, or to remove the smallest parcels of her goods, whether such ship belongs to the subjects of France, or the inhabitants of the said United States, unless the lading be brought on shore in the presence of the officers of the court of admiralty, and an inventory thereof made; but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange, or alienate the same, in any manner, until after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods, and the court of admiralty shall, by a sentence pronounced, have confiscated thes e same; saving always as well the ship itself as any other goods found therein, which by this treaty are to be esteemed free, neither may they be detained on pretence of their being as it were infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated as lawful prize: but if not the whole cargo, but only part thereof, shall consist of prohibited or contraband goods, and the commander of the ship shall be ready and willing to deliver them to the captor who has discovered them, in such case the captor having received those goods, shall forthwith discharge the ship, and not hinder her by any means freely to prosecute the voyage on which she was bound. But in case the contraband merchandises cannot be received on board the vessel of the captor, then the captor may, nothwithstanding the offer of delivering him the contraband goods, carry the vessel into the nearest port, agreeable to what is above directed."

14th. On the contrary, it is agreed, that whatever shall be found to be laden by the subjects and inhabitants of either party on any ship belonging to the enemies of the other, or to their subjects, the whole, although it be not of the sort of prohibited goods, may be confiscated in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy, except such goods and merchandises as were put on board such ship before the decla

ration of war, or even after such declaration, if so be it were done without knowledge of such declaration, so that the goods of the subjects and people of either party, whether they be of the nature of such as are prohibited or otherwise, which as is aforesaid, were put on board any ship belonging to an enemy before the war or after the declaration of the same, without the knowledge of it, shall no ways be liable to confiscation, but shall well and truly be restored without delay to the proprietors demanding the same: but so as that if the said merchandises be contraband, it shall not be any ways lawful to carry them afterwards to any ports belonging to the enemy. The two contracting parties agree that the term of two months being passed, their respective subjects, from whatever part of the world they come, shall not plead the ignorance mentioned in this article."

15th. "And that more effectual care may be taken for the security of the subjects and inhabitants of both parties, that they suffer no injury by the men of war or privateers of the other party, all the commanders of the ships of his most Christian Majesty and of the United States, and all their subjects and inhabitants, shall be forbid doing any injury or damage to the other side; and if they act to the contrary they shall be punished, and shall moreover be bound to make satisfaction for all matter of damage, and the interest thereof, by reparation, under the pain and obligation of their person and goods."

16th. Ships and merchandise rescued from pirates to be restored.

17th. "It shall be lawful for the ships of war of either party, and privateers, freely to carry whithersoever they please, the ships and goods taken from their enemies, without being obliged to pay any duty to the officers of the admiralty or any other judges; nor shall such prizes be arrested or seized when they come to enter the ports of either party, nor shall the searches or other officers of those places search the same, or make examination concerning the lawfulness of such prizes; but they may hoist sail at any time, and depart and carry their prizes to the places expressed in their commissions, which the commanders of such ships of war shall be obliged to show. On the contrary, no shelter or refuge shall be given in their ports to such as shall have made prize of the subjects, people or property of either of the parties; but if such shall come in, being forced by stress of weather, or the danger of the sea, all proper means shall be rigorously used, that they go out and retire from thence as soon as possible."

18th. Relief, &c. to be granted by each party to the shipwrecked vessels of the other.

19th. "In case the subjects and inhabitants of either party, with their shipping, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent necessity for seeking of shelter and harbor, to retreat and enter into any of the rivers, bays, roads, or ports belonging to the other party, they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves, at reasonable rates, with victuals and all things needful for the sustenance of their persons, or reparation of their ships, and conveniency of their voyage, and they shall no ways be detained or hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hindrance."

21st. The citizens and subjects of each party prohibited from taking commissions from a third power to cruise against each other.

22d."1t shall not be lawful for any foreign privateers, not belonging to subjects of the most christian king, nor citizens of the United States who have commissions from any other prince or state in enmity with either nation, to fit their ships in the ports of either the one or the other of the aforesaid parties, to sell what they have taken, or in any other manner whatsoever to exchange their ships, merchandises, or any other lading, neither shall they be allowed even to purchase victuals, except such as shall be necessary for their going to the next port of that prince or state from which they have commissions."

23d. "It shall be lawful for all and singular the subjects of the most Christian King, and the citizens, people and inhabitants of the said United States, to sail with their ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandises laden thereon, from any port to the places of those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with the most Christian King or the United States. It shall likewise be lawful for the subjects and inhabitants aforesaid, to sail with the ships and merchandises aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports and havens of those who are