Treaty, in any manner which may be desired, and by which they shall not be understood previously to admit that the construction of that Article, claimed by France, is well founded; and also to renew the separate negociation for American Claims, embracing at the same time, all just claims which French subjects may have upon the Government of The United States. The change which has lately taken place in His Majesty's Department of Foreign Affairs, encourages the hope that this important subject will be candidly reconsidered; that the obstacles which have arrested the progress of the Negociation may be removed; and that the subjects of contestation between the two Governments may be ultimately adjusted, upon such principles as may perpetuate the good understanding and harmony which have so long subsisted between The United States and France. Should I, however, be disappointed in the result of this application, it is to be seriously apprehended, that, as The United States have not hitherto seen, in the course of the discussion, any just claim of France, arising from the 8th Article of the Louisiana Treaty, so, in the persevering refusal of the French Government to discuss and adjust the well founded claims of Citizens of The United States to indemnity for wrongs, unless in connection with one which they are satisfied is unfounded, The United States will ultimately perceive only a determination to deny justice to the Claimants. Permit me, respectfully, to request, that, at as early a day as your convenience will allow, your Excellency will favour me with an answer to this Letter. I embrace with pleasure this occasion to offer, &c. His Excellency Baron de Damas. JAMES BROWN. PROCEEDINGS of the State of South Carolina, in The United States, respecting the importation or ingress of Persons of Colour. MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR. Executive Department, Columbia, Nov. 25, 1824, To the Honourable the President and Members of the Senate. FELLOW-CITIZENS, I HAVE the honour to transmit to you a Correspondence between the President and Secretary of State of The United States, and Mr. Canning, British Minister near The United States-with the opinion of Mr. Wirt, Attorney-General of The United States, upon the constitutionality of the third Section of an Act passed in South-Carolina, entitled, "An Act for the better regulation and government of free negroes and of colour, and for other purposes." persons I deem this subject worthy of your serious attention. My continued indisposition prevents me from presenting such views as other wise would have done. The reflection, however, which I have given the matter, brings my mind to the conclusion, that South-Carolina, has the right to interdict the entrance of such Persons into her Ports, whose organization of mind, habits, and associations, render them peculiarly calculated to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the State, in the same manner as she can prohibit those afflicted with infectious disease, to touch her Shores. The law of self-preservation derives its authority from a higher source than any municipal or international law-and it should be the first policy of Government to prevent, if possible, such encroachments as eventually would lead to the injury and destruction of all that the Citizen holds most dear. This necessity of self-preservation is alone to be determined by the power to be preserved; it therefore rests with those whose rights are to be affected, to judge how long such laws shall exist, as were enacted for the peace and security of the community. Your Fellow-Citizen, SIR, JOHN L. WILSON. The Secretary of State to the Governor of South-Carolina. Department of State, Washington, July 6, 1824. By the direction of the President of The United States, I have the honour of enclosing Copies of several successive Representations received at this Department from the Representatives of the British Government here, relating to the operation of an Act of the Legislature of South-Carolina; a Copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General of The United States, upon the Act, is likewise enclosed; and I have it in charge to express the hope of the President, that the inconvenience complained of will be remedied by the Legislature of the State of South-Carolina itself. I am, with great respect, &c. SIR, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Mr. Stratford Canning to the Secretary of State. Washington, Feb. 15, 1823. It is my duty to bring under your notice an Act lately passed by the Legislature of the State of South-Carolina, which cannot remain in force without exposing the Vessels of His Majesty's Subjects, entering the Ports of that State in prosecution of their lawful commerce, more especially such as are engaged in the colonial trade, to the treatment of the most grievous and extraordinary description. The accompanying Transcript of the third Section of the Act to which I refer, will make you acquainted with the particular nature of the grievance attendant on the enforcement of the Law in question. I am confident that a mere perusal of the Enactment will suffice to engage your interference for the purpose of securing His Majesty's Subjects, when trading with this Country, from the effects of its execution. One Vessel under the British Flag has already experienced a most reprehensible act of authority under the operation of this Law; and if I abstain for the present from laying before you the particulars of the transaction, it is only in the persuasion, that ample redress has, by this time, been obtained on the spot, at the requisition of His Majesty's Conul at Charleston, and that the interference of the General Govern ment, in compliance with the representation which I have now the honour to address to you, will be so effectual as to prevent the recurrence of any such outrage in future. I beg, Sir, that you will accept, &c. STRATFORD CANNING. (Enclosure.)—Third Section of an Act passed in the State of SouthCarolina, entitled, "An Act for the better regulation and government of free negroes and persons of colour, and for other purposes.” And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any Vessel shall come into any Port or Harbour of this State, from any other State or Foreign Port, having on board any free negroes, or persons of colour, as cooks, stewards, mariners, or any other employment on board said Vessel, such free negroes or persons of colour shall be liable to be seized and confined in gaol, until said Vessel shall clear out and depart from this State; and that when said Vessel is ready to sail, the Captain of said Vessel shall be bound to carry away the said free negro or person of colour, and pay the expenses of his detention; and in case of his neglect or refusal so to do, he shall be liable to be indicted, and on conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not less than 1000 Dollars, and imprisoned not less than two months; and such free negroes or persons of colour shall be deemed and taken as absolute slaves, and sold in conformity to the provisions of the Act passed on the 20th day of December, 1820, aforesaid. SIR, Mr. Addington to the Secretary of State. Washington, April 9, 1824. It will be in your recollection that His Majesty's Envoy in this Country, and myself, have both had occasion, within the last twelve months, to address representations to you on the subject of a law eùacted in the State of South-Carolina in December, 1822, prohibiting, under severe penalties, the entrance into that State of free persons of colour. Against this Law His Majesty's Minister protested generally as being in manifest contravention of Treaties existing between Great Britain and The United States; and its effects were more particularly pointed out by me in August last, as having operated practically in a manner highly prejudicial to the commerce, and oppressive to the Subjects, of Great Britain. To His Majesty's Envoy, Sir, you gave a written, and to me a verbal, assurance that every effort should be made on the part of the Executive Government to remedy the grievances complained of, and prevent a recurrence of them. I lament to say, that those efforts, in whatever way applied, have hitherto not been attended with the good effects which might have been expected to result from them. The evil still continues in undiminished vigour, and it becomes my duty, in pursuance of instructions which I have recently received from His Majesty's Secretary of State, to bring the subject once more under your serious consideration, and to demand redress and reparation for injuries inflicted on a Subject of His Majesty who has had the misfortune to fall under the oppressive weight of the Statute in question. The complainant, Mr. Petrie, of Liverpool, as will more particularly appear by his own Letter, addressed to the President of His Majesty's Board of Trade, of which I have the honour herewith to enclose a Copy, having occasion in prosecution of his commercial pursuits, to touch at the Port of Charleston, in a Vessel called the Marmion, in the month of December of last year, had scarcely entered that Port, when one of his crew, a man of colour, was seized by the police officers, and forcibly carried off to gaol, where he remained incarcerated during the stay of the complainant at Charleston. Three others of his crew, whom he had placed on board a Packet, for the purpose of having them conveyed, via New-York, to England, were also apprehended on board that Vessel, in the same forcible manner, and imprisoned. All the remonstrances of Mr. Petrie against this violent and unjustifiable act, whether made personally, or through His Majesty's Consul at Charleston, were of no avail. During his stay at Charleston, the men remained in prison, and the fees attending their ultimate release, together with the loss of their services, put the complainant to a considerable expence. I feel persuaded, Sir, that the bare recital of the outrage above recorded will suffice, without any further commentary on my part, to induce you, agreeably to the assurances already given by you, to use every effort in your power, not only to procure for Mr. Petrie, that redress to which he seems to be so justly entitled, but to induce the Authorities of South-Carolina to repeal the obnoxious Law, or at least so to modify it, as that it shall no longer operate to the detriment of Nations trading to The United States, on the faith of Conventions, of which it is a direct and unqualified violation. I have the honour to be, &c. H. U. ADDINGTON. Mr. Petrie to the President of His Majesty's Board of Trade. SIR, Liverpool, Jan. 20, 1824. PERHAPS my Communications should have come through another channel, or His Majesty's Ministers may already be informed on the subject; but the certain knowledge of many of the Subjects of this Country suffering under a very grievous Law in The United States of America, in the particular State of South-Carolina, merely from the circumstance of their being coloured, has induced me to trouble you with my Correspondence, conceiving that no Country shall ever be permitted to treat any of the Subjects of Great Britain so hostilely, without the interference of Government. The Law is rigorously prosecuted, prohibiting all coloured persons, sailors, or others, from coming to that State, under the penalties of being imprisoned, corporally punished, and made slaves of. Being an Officer in His Majesty's Navy, I have known the value of our seamen, and could not help remonstrating against this most oppressive Law last month when I was in Charleston, where I carried part of a crew, four in number, of those unfortunate people, in the Ship Marmion from this Port; but my remonstrances were of little or no avail, nor could the British Consul, after repeated application to him by every master in that Port, belonging to British Vessels, obtain any alteration, or qualification, of the Law. The Marmion was not well moored at the wharf, before the Officers, who were appointed to put this Law in execution, came on board, and forcibly carried one of the four of these men to gaol, where he remained during my stay in Charleston; the three others I had previously conveyed on board of a Packet on the eve of sailing to New-York, where they were likely to obtain a passage more readily to England; but on board this Vessel they were apprehended, by men who seemed anxious only to get their fees, and thrown into prison, depriving them of the opportunity to comply with the Law, which they would have done in a few hours. The release of these unfortunate men from gaol, fees, and loss of their services, put me to considerable expence. You will, no doubt, Sir, be better able to judge of the justice of such Laws, enacted against a great portion of the Subjects of this Country, especially of seamen out of this Port, than I can; better knowing the commercial relationship between the two Countries. The Right Hon. W. Huskisson. SIR, I am, Sir, &c. PETER PETRIE. Mr. Wirt to the Secretary of State. of The United States, May 8, 1824. THE third Section of the Legislative Act of South-Carolina, entitled, "An Act for the better regulation and government of free negroes and persons of colour, and for other purposes," which you submit for my opinion, is in the following words: "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any Vessel shall come into any Port or Harbour of this State, from any other State or Foreign Port, having on board any free negroes or pers sons of colour, as cooks, stewards, mariners, or in any other employ |
