Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-07-22

4
ticic I: hence diffcutty in pcint Of form OK
lists iii adjusting the SAID g award account a
TIE treasury, which renders necessary re
terence CT the subject to the President, thro
youi department..
AS al the business under the said treat,
as concluded preylous to your coming int,
| the department Of state, and this sreciai mat
ter cannot therefore be familiar to you, per
INIT me briefly to explain how this neccssit,
| has arisen.
| The per ccntnsc of . 1-2, which makes ur
the sum of s 90 $50 81, charged as is above
nenticncd, was SO charged by Authorization
ci the then secretary CT STATE, given IN conse-
qocnce OF representation made by me in the
year 1904. At that time, and during the
whole perict. OF my service in England, i held
by. appointment CT the President, three seve-
raj cticcs OF very great trust and responsible
lily, independent CT the Consulate of London,
VIZ: LIST, the 'law agency" of claims under
the treaty this had been previously held by
tlr NNiilanss, at a salary of 2, 500 dollars per
annnm; 2dly, the commercial agency" un-
Ger the same treaty, held by Mr.. Cabot, AZ a
salary OF $500 dollars per annum; and 3dly.
the agency FOR obtaining the discharge ofsea-
men from the British navy, called 'sarency
for the reiiefa and protection of seamen,S held
by MIR. Lcnox, at a salary Of :, 600 dollars (or
$500 dolls per annum cfthe whole of these
salaries, making 5000 dollars Cor 6, 500 dolls
per annum, received only 1900 dollars
per annum to the claimants under the trea-
", did not charge any commission; nor did
derive one cent of profit, in any shape or
form, from the large sums Of public and pri-
vate monies which were constantly in nv
hands IN adjusting the pructor's accounts, /
saved large sums OF money to the govern
ment; these, together with the sums which
obtained from the board of commissioners,
enabled me to reimburse, to great extent,
II not wholly, the expenses when the United
States had incurred under the 9TH article of
the treaty.
The important and profitable Office of {" as
SCISSOR" to the board of commissioners had
been also conferred upon me by the President,
and this had been intended as part of my COM
peRsation but the board having asserted a
right OF appointing its own assessor" a con
t1ict hence arose, which embarrassed the
progress OF the public business, and menaced
very miscellaneous consequences; on this ac-
count L Withdrew my pretensions, and the
President acqaiesced in those of the beard.
l cannot estimate chat assessorsfip to have
produced less than 5000 .gaincas over and "a
bove the salary Of 1880 dollars per annum
which was attached to it
All these matters having been fully submit
ted to the secretary CT state, in my repre-
sentation aforementioned, and by him laid
before the President, the President deter
mined to allow me a suitable compensation
by his order, the secretary Of state wrote TO
me in the month of November, 1904, the au
thorisation before adverted to, which was in
these words:
j" Your observations on the reasonableness
OF some remuneration for your services have,
as you wished, been submitted to the Presi-
dent The result of his reflections for the
present is, that l should suggest that you re-
tain out OF the next instalment, in its passage
through your hands to the Barings, a per
centage OF l-2 on the awards ACTUALLY
rece'ued, and to be received by you: and that
you state 1t as an item i'll your account with
the public. This will bring the equity of
your claim regularly before the government,
and will leave the way open for the choice of
modes and funds, as may finally appear most
proper"
The commission Of 2 ID per cent. herein
allowed. as you will perceive, was not charge
able on all the awards made by the board of
commissioners, but only on that portion Of
them, wherein i had been made fiavee I;
which reduced it in fact TO commission up
on about cne-third of the business which |
did at the board a commission to that ex
/ SNiiIy hOWSNCip nave DcSn Iull COM
| pensation for the loss of the assessorship !;
but DESTROYS Of aGhering to the strict letter OF
the Secretary of STATES instructions, | de-
Quoted only on that portion cf the awards
made payable to me, on which l inally re-
ccived Payment from the British government,
which suppose was only about two-thrds
! Of the awards in which-l was made payee,
one-third of them having been previously
transferred by me to the private agents OF
| the respective awarders so that in effect I
had not more than about Id per cent. on the
business which did at the board of commits
sioners, mot to mention that which was done
in the court Of admiralty Thus this com
mission now stands charged pursuant to the
strict letter of the Instruction. against the a.
| wards ON which received EayDient of the
| British government, in what is called the " a.
ward account;" though as it was in fact a
compensation for the whole business trans
acted at the board, it might with propriety
have been, and probably it should have been,
| deducted out Of sum of 60, 600 dollars paid
by me into the treasury, upon what was call
| cd the "spoliation account" As the case
stands, there has been carried to the public
credit from the last mentioned account too
| much, by the amount Of the commission that
| fund Of 100000 dollars owes therefore, and
should pay back to the "award fund" the
same amount.