The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1824-03-29
&tabteentb e-onareaa.
From Tie National inieiiigeneer.
In STANDARDIZATION o.

uhnnished business of yes,erdav
oelng the bill from the other bouss
making appropriations for the sunno,,
Oh government, for the year 1891. y win
"o several amendments proposed there.
'o' oy the committee on finance of tho
senate, was again taken I'D in cemmi,,,e
OF inc whole, Mr.. Bell in the chair
HE committee on fisance nro,ossa .,
: amend the bill by striking ON, ~. ..,,,.
oil $4,000, appropriated afor the nav.
tnent OF the salaries of the commissioners
aho arbitrator, under the first article Of
.ne treaty OF Client, half the salar2 oi
lhsir secretary, and half the coptipee n,
Expenses OF said commission 20 and 70
insert In lieu thereofthe sum OF. Se5oe
together with the expended balance Of
'he last years appropriation for this pur.
pose. P'-
Mr.. King, of N. Y yesterday moved
10 amend this amendment, .5y including.
IN this item, provision for a epublic
aseh'' 10 take care of the claims be fore
inns commission. The question on Mr..
Kings motion was then put, and decided
IN the affirmative, IS to Is. Adjourned.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MIR. Forsyth, from tho committee on
foreign relations, made the following
report
"On the petitions of Hadrianus Van
Noorden, VIM. and Nathaniel Hooper,
uanei HeDshaw, several merchants and
underwriters OF Salem, several mer.
chants ofGloucester, several merchants
and underwriters of Alexandria, ID. G..
several merchants of Washington, N. C..
Henry Clark and others, of KennebuDk,
and several others, merchants, in Maine.
referred to the committee on foreign re.
la,ions, they report,
That no evidence accompanies either
fthe petitions all ofwhicb, excep, the
FIRST, are literallY the same, having been
prepared by concert among the claimants
to be presented TO congress. To dis
criminate between them is not prac,ica
ole, if it were desirable. The committee
are compelled to present, in general
terms, the nature of these claims, as set
forth by the parties interested, and to
examine, as briefly as possible, grounds
upon which relief is asked from the gov.
ernment of the u. States. The claims
are founded upon sPoiiations committed
by the private and public armed vessels
ofFranee between the years 1898 s. 1900.
The petitioners allege, that the French
government, 20 the date of the ratiGca
ton of treaty Of 1900, always con-
sidered the recognition of their claims as
due TO It's honor and attached them as a
charge upon IT'S nalionai charsGter.
That the government OF the u States.
which has volunteered its agency for the
recovery of them from FraDce, exercised
Ats power and authority 10 prevent the
petitioners from ohtainine indemnify that
The government of the u States received
from France fol- and fair equivalent for
the claims, in the discharge from It's liza
bi!ities under the treaties with France,
and the abrogation of these treaties.
Similar applications, if net by the same
persons, have been frequently made TO
congress, and reports upon them are to
be found in the records of The house of
representatives and of the senate. None
of these applications have been success
Fui. Without attempting even to emu.
Tnerate the failures TO obtain a sanction
20 their statements and to their, claims,
The committee refer the house To de.
tailed report of the various acts of the
government of the u States and OF
France, from 1893 TO 1900 made by a
select committee, on the 22d April. 1902,
20 which applications like the present
were referred. Governed by that re-
port, the committee of foreign relations
are not satisfied that the French govern
mept ever admitted the Justice of the
claims of the petitioners,o or ever intended
10 pay them: that the government of The
". States used every effort, oven TO war
fseli, to rescue the property OF American
merchants from the lawlesS violence
ne France that It's efforts to pro-
cure payment for the spola,ions com
mitled by the French cruisers, were
not discontinued until it was obvious that
'here was no hope of success. That this
government neper received from France
am equivalent for the claims OF Ame.i.
cans upon France. The war of aggres
sion WAS commenced by France, and
every act of the u. States wasa Just re-
taliaiion for previous injury. The trea-
ties with France we're aDDuled by an act
Of congress in 1893, in consequence of
,he utter disregsrd of The sijpuia,ions of
them by that power.
IL short, TO justify their claims upon
The u. States, the petitioners assume that
France was right, and their own govern
rnent wrong. That France was prepared
10 make Just reparaiion for the outra-