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REPORT ON AMERICAN CLAIMANTS PETITION *.-Ordered, by the House of

Commons, to be printed, 25 March 1812.

The COMMITTEE to whom the Peti tion of the several Persons whose names are thereto subscribed, on behalf of themselves and others,

whose Claims have been adjudged good by the Commissioners appointed by the Act of Parliament passed in the 43d year of His Majesty's reign, intituled, An Aст for appointing Commissioners for distributing

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the Money stipulated

• to be paid by The United States ' of America, under the Convention made between His Majesty ' and the said United States, among the Persons having Claims to • Compensation out of such Money, was referred; Have, pursuant to the Order of The House, examined the matter of the said Petition; and have agreed upon the following REPORT:

It appears to Your Committee, that an extensive Commerce, in British manufactures and other articles, was carried on between America and Great Britain before the war of 1776 with America: and in the course of such commerce a very large creditas given to America, so that at the time when hostilities commenced, a Debt, amounting to several millions, was due from the Citizens of America, to the British Merchants, and considerable sums to others His Majesty's subjects, and that during the continuance of the war, it was scarcely possible to recover any part of such debt.

That by the 4th Article of the Treaty of Peace between His Majesty and the United States of America, signed at Paris 3d September, 1783, it was provided, "that Creditors on either side should meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts theretofore contracted."

other laws which had been made prior to the Treaty of Peace, and during the war, and which ought to have been repealed in conformity to the Treaty, remained still in existence; and by the instructions

given by Judges to Juries, and the practice of American Courts, the plea of

"British Debt" was held in those Courts to be a good plea, and decisive against the claimants.

That by these means the recovery of debts to a very great amount was prevented; and in consequence consequence thereof many and urgent representations were made by the British Creditors, to His Majesty's Government, complaining of the existence of legal impediments in America, which, by preventing the recovery of debts in that Country to British Subjects, rendered altogether ineffectual the provision contained in the 4th Article of the Treaty of Peace. That the case of the British Creditors occupied a very considerable portion of the time and attention of Lord Grenville, after he became Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and his Lordship appears to have been convinced that such representations were perfectly well founded. And the redress of these grievances being an object of primary importance with the Government in negociating the Treaty of Amity, Com. merce, and Navigation concluded between His Majesty and the United States of America in the year 1794, it was by the 6th Article of that Treaty agreed, that in all cases where full compensation for the losses and damages sustained by British Subjects by the operation of lawful impediments to the recovery of their debts subsequent to the Peace could not be obtained by the Creditors in the ordinary course of justice, the United States would make full and complete compensation for the same to the said Creditors; and that for the purpose of ascertaining the amount thereof, five Commissioners should be appointed, of whom three were to constitute a Board, with full power; and all deci

That in breach of this Article of the Treaty, certain laws were made in the different States of America, immediately ❘sions were to be made by the majority of That another Article (the 7th) was in-side and the Fifth Commissioner should

subsequent to the Peace, for the direct purpose, as it appeared to one of the Witnesses, of defeating that Article; and

* See the Petition in Vol. 21, p. 281.

the Commissioners present, and their Award to be final and conclusive. And the United States undertook to cause the sums awarded to be paid in specie to the Creditors without deduction.

troduced into the said Treaty, in favour of the Citizens of the United States, whereby it was in like manner agreed, that in all cases where adequate compensation for the losses and damages sustained by American Citizens, by irregular or illegal captures or condemnations of their vessels and other property during the course of the war in which his Majesty was then engaged, could not be obtained in the ordinary course of justice, the British Government would make full and complete compensation to such American Citizens; and that for the purpose of ascertaining the amount thereof, Commissioners should be appointed in like manner, and with the like powers in all respects as the Commissioners under the 6th Article.

That this Treaty was negociated by Lord Grenville in person, and that a system of reciprocity was in his Lordship's view, and, as his Lordship believed, in that of the American Minister, meant to be established by the said 6th Article, containing stipulations in favour of his Majesty's subjects, and the 7th Article, containing stipulations in favour of the subjects of the United States.

That a Board of Commissioners, duly appointed under the 6th Article of the said Treaty, met accordingly at Philadelphia in May 1797, and Claims were brought in before them to the amount of 5,638,6291. sterling. That, after certain progress had been made in deciding on principles necessary to regulate the decision of the Commissioners on the Claims made before them, and after a controversy which arose, and continued for a long time, the American Commissioners adopted the practice first (in the course of the year 1799) of withdrawing themselves from the Board, when they found the opinion of a majority of the Board against their opinions, the American Commissioners alleging, that the stipulation of the 6th Article did not require them to give effect, by their presence, to proceedings which they said they deemed injurious to the just rights of the United States, and which they also stated they believed it to be their duty to resist in such cases, by all the means to which the Treaty enabled them (as they stated) to resort.

That

they afterwards entirely absented themselves, and withheld their attendance; by reason of which no effectual proceedings could be had, it being necessary by the Treaty, that one Commissioner on each VOL. XXII.- (Appendix.)

be present. The British Commissioners and the Fifth Commissioner continued to attend for more than a twelve-month after the withdrawing of the American Commissioners, who had given in a minute, implying, as stated by Mr. Macdonald, that they would not attend without certain radical points were conceded, which, in the opinion of the other Commissioners, being a majority of the Board, would have defeated the object of the Treaty. That in the month of August 1800, Mr. Macdonald, who was the First Commissioner named on the part of his Majesty, returned to Great Britain; and the conduct of the British Commissioners, in the whole of the proceedings under the said Commission, was most highly approved by his Majesty's Government.

That the execution of the said 7th Article was suspended by orders from the British Government in July 1799, immediately upon Government being apprized that the proceedings of the Commissioners at Philadelphia, under the 6th Article, had been interrupted; and that such suspension was continued until after the Convention of 8 January 1802, hereinafter mentioned.

That previously to the signing of the Treaty of Amity in 1794, communications were made from Lord Grenville to Messrs. Nutt and Molleson, who acted as a Committee for the London Creditors, enclosing Questions, in order to collect information of the Claimants, whether they would prefer a fixed sum in lieu of all their claims, or the adoption of measures for opening the Courts of Law in America to British Creditors, with an appeal to some special Court or Commission. These questions, however, were not put as a proposal to which their consent was required, but as a matter for consideration, and on which the King's Government wished to have their sentiments, it being the desire of Lord Grenville to inform himself of the wishes of the Claimants on the subject as fully as possible, before any step was taken.These questions also appear to have been transmitted to the Glasgow Creditors, and a correspondence in consequence took place; whereby it appears that the whole sum which, upon a scale of compromise therein mentioned, the Claimants wished to be negociated for, or to be provided by the British Government, would not probably amount to much more than 2,000,000๙. sterling. (N)

That in or about the month of April or May 1800, subsequent to the interruption of the proceedings of the Commissioners at Philadelphia, Lord Grenville made the following Propositions to the Claimants, which his Lordship thought were stated to them in the same manner as the Questions in 1794; viz.

First: A renewed Commission, in conformity with the Treaty of Amity.

Second: Or, to accept a sum of Money in lieu of the Claims under the 6th Article of the Treaty of Amity.

That various communications, in consequence of these Propositions, took place between the London and Glasgow Committees or Agents of the Claimants and Lord Grenville; in some of which the Claimants expressed their wish for a stipulated sum to be paid to them, finally to put an end to the whole business; and with regard to the amount of the sum (they stated) they were more at a loss from not knowing the exact amount which had been claimed under the 6th Article of the Treaty of 1794, or the manner in which the different claims had been made up with regard to interest, &c.; but, from what they were informed of the amount being about Five Millions, and allowing that some part might be cut off, either from being improperly claimed or not sufficiently ascertained, both of which might be better known to his Majesty's Ministers (as they stated) and deducting such payments as might have been made on their debts before the ratification of the proposed agreement, they were willing, on obtaining the guarantee of the British Government, to accept of Two Millions and an half sterling, rather than those claims should continue as a subject of contention and a source of discontent between the two Countries, or that they should experience the hardships and vexations which they had reason to expect in the prosecution of their debts in that country. That his Majesty's Ministers declined advising his Majesty to guarantee to the Creditors the payment of any sums which the American Government might agree to give in liquidation of their demands.

That in or soon after December 1800, during the negociation which led to the Convention between his Majesty and the United States in January 1802, Mr. Macdonald, at the request of the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, communicated to him, that he conceived a sum between a million and an half and two

millions, would be a fair sum to be demanded from the United States, for the loss which their laws or judicial practicesi in breach of the Treaties had brought upon the Creditors. And afterwards, on 4th May 1801, Mr. Macdonald, in answer to certain verbal enquiries, made a further communication to Mr. Hammond, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that he imagined a fair execution of the Treaty of 1794 would have made good about two millions of the sums claimed.

That other communications were made in the year 1801 to his Majesty's Government by the Claimants, urging his Majesty's Ministers to take measures to procure their just demands, and stating, that if that was not done, their only resource would be to throw themselves, by an application to Parliament, upon the justice of the Nation, for fulfilment of the 4th Article of the Provisional Treaty with America, and of the 6th Article of the Treaty of Amity; or if, for political reasons, the execution of these Articles on the part of America should not be rigorously executed, that compensation should be made to the Claimants by Great Britain.

That a Convention was signed on 8th January 1802, between his Majesty and the United States of America, whereby the United States engaged to pay, and his Majesty consented to accept, for the use of the persons described in the said 6th Article of the Treaty of 1794, the sum of 600,000l. sterling, in satisfaction and discharge of the Money which the United States might have been liable to pay in pursuance of the provisions of the said 6th Article; which was thereby declared to be cancelled and annulled, except so far as the same might relate to the execution of the 7th Article of the said Treaty. And it was further agreed, that the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the said 7th Article, and whose proceedings are therein and hereinbefore mentioned to have been suspended, in consequence of difficulties having arisen in execution of the 6th Article, should immediately reassemble and proceed in the execution of their duties.

That the said Convention was first communicated by Lord Hawkesbury, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the 14th day of January 1802, to the Committee of London Claimants. And they, by letter dated the 19th of that month, and the Committee of Glasgow

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That the said Convention was concluded by Lord Hawkesbury without the concurrence of the British Claimants, and his Lordship stated, that he could not speak as positively from recollection whether without their privity, but he had no reason to think it was with their privity; and he also said, that when he came into office as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he had a personal communication from Lord Grenville, of all the circumstances of the Negociation as it then stood; that he had likewise one conversation at least with Mr. Pitt upon the subject; that his Lord. ship had likewise several interviews with Mr. Molleson and Mr. Nutt, and he had also access to all the documents at that time in the office-That the result of this information was an opinion formed by his Lordship, that the Claimants had no chance of recovering their dues in the American Courts-That the sum of 600,0001. then offered by the American Government was as large a sum as could be obtained, and that in consequence of the unfavourable change that had taken place in the American Government towards the end of the year 1800 or beginning of the year 1801, by the Federal Administration being changed for that of Mr. Jefferson and his friends, his Lordship was of opinion that if the offer then made had been refused, so favourable an offer was not likely to be renewed. And his Lordship having been asked whether the circumstances alluded to in his Lordship's answer had any object in them of a national nature, or were confined simply to the probability and improbability of the recovery of the demands made by the British Merchants, said, that he conceived the considerations to have been of both descriptions; that at the time when his Lordship accepted the sum of 000,0001. the 7th Article of the Treaty of Amity had been suspended; but the sittings of the Commissioners under the 7th Article of the Treaty of Amity, recommenced soon after by virtue of the 3rd Article of the Convention, and the sum of 1,369,4481. 158. 10d. was paid by his Majesty's Government to American Citizens, in pursuance of awards made by the Commissioners under those Articles, ex

cept only a sum of 25,2841. 148. Id. which had been previously paid in the year 1798.

That in March 1803 the Claimants presented a Memorial to his Majesty's Government, and had an interview with Mr. Addington, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and thereby protested against the proceedings of Government in accepting the said sum of 600,000l.; whereupon Mr. Addington said he considered their case to be a hard one, so much so, that he had no objection to the Claimants applying to Parliament or to his Majesty's Government; but that he meant to give no opinion upon the merits of the case, and that as the losses were not ascertained, he did not conceive that Parliament would then entertain a Petition-To which the Claimants acceded, laying in their claim that such acquiescence should not be considered as barring them from bringing forward their case at a future time. And accordingly the Claimants did not then present any Petition to Parliament.

That an Act of Parliament was passed in April 1803, for the apportioning, dividing and distributing the said sum of 600,000l. amongst the several persons who should be found entitled to receive compensation out of the same ; and Thomas Macdonald, Esquire, Henry Pye Rich, Esquire, and John Guillemard, Esq. were thereby appointed Commissioners, whose adjudications were to be final.

That the Commissioners so appointed were the same persons who had acted as the British Commissioners and the Fifth Commissioner at Philadelphia under the Treaty of 1794. And claims were made by the King's Subjects in general of various descriptions, to the amount of 5,408,7661. 6s. And the Commissioners made adjudications thereon, to the amount in the whole of 1,420,000l. which were not completed until the 19th May 1811.

That such adjudications proceeded on an estimate in every case, from the various materials before the Commissioners, of the loss which they conceived had been sustained by the respective parties, and did not comprehend any losses excepting those which America was bound to compensate under the 6th Article of the Treaty of Amity; besides which, it appeared from the materials before the Board, that the British Creditors had sustained great losses for which the United States were not bound to give compensation under the therance of the 4th Article of the Treaty

6th Article of the Treaty of Amity, in fur- | principal sum in Exchequer Bills previous

of Peace.

That the Commissioners having thus made adjudications in favour of various Claimants, to the amount in the whole of 1,420,000l. have apportioned and divided

amongst those persons the above-men-by order of the Commissioners been cal

tioned sum of 600,000l. together with the further sum of 59,493l. which had been made as interest by investing the said

to its being divided amongst the Claimants; and the difference between the 659,4931. so divided, and the 1,420,000l. so adjudged, together with interest on such difference, from the 1st day of June 1804 (to which day the interest on the sums adjudged, had, culated) constitutes the sum for which the Petitioners make the present application. 25 March 1812.

INDEX

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