Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1825-10-14

| Volume of State Papers.
e. Message Of the President of The United States
transmitting Ae Correspondence relating to the Claims
me Ca'sens Of The United States upon Ute Go,e,n.
ment Of tie Netherlands. February, 1895.
In the political system of the modern world so lone
as 1t contained no powerful State of Europe war
3vas the great third auditor, by which long standing
ciains between nations were l9uidated AS no power
Oh Importance could finally remain neutral, in time
OF general hostility, there was little opportunity for
claims to be long prosecuted and ultimately settled in
the way oil negotiation, and by the payment OF ndemni.
ues' nd whenever claims were long protracted or
ale revived, 1t was not much from the datory nature
OF negotiations from reasons of state. One of the
hrst important consequences, which resulted from the
rise, on this side of the Atlantic, of powerful nation
aoie from It's natural position to keep out of the Euro
pean vortex exposed as neutral to depredaons from
Tue oeigerenis, and yet not in tie way of having all
accounts wiped out by war, the end of each gene
raton,-llas been the accumulation OF claims AGAINST
the majority OF the powers of Europe, with which we
nave IN various ways come in contact or collision
ith England alone the great quedator war; has clos
60 our accounts; but on almost all the other powers on
France, Spain, Holland Naples Denmark we have
claims for vast amount of property wrested from our
merchants sometimes under illegal DEGREES, often by d.
rect and open violence Fill the late Florida treaty
mad iquIdated our old accounts with Spain the claim On
mat poVerwas the most considerable. But even since
the ratification of that treaty. new claims have crown
out OF new acts OF volence and another account has
oeen opened between and that power which dues not
irDm
perience
The subject of these claims is one as we conceive
OF very considerable Importance the national pros
perIty, and OF great moment TO the national character
we probably speak quite within bounds, when we csti-
mate their fair amount at twenty millions of dollars
us large sum is SO much withheld from the national
capital; so much lost all those important pursuits
commercial, manufacturing, agricultural, in which, if
II could be recovered, it would be invested 1t is true
IT now paid, itwould be paid almost exclusively to mer
hrrf 10,
would instantly be Invested by then, in some of the great
branches OF industry and would be SO much added to
'ne productive capital OF country, which wants
hoth'ng so much as capital Ii cannot therefore, be
arded as matter of little Importance the welfare
oil the nation, that amount Of capital sufficient 70
erect twenty thirty cotton factories of the very first
ORDER is wholly lost to by the injustice of foreign
powers.
Most OF the Claims of nature that have been al
lowed and paid to stronger claimants Ours are with
heid not because they ust but because the deb
Tor powers think shall not order reprsals nor 20 to
war 10 recover them. When the Bourbons were res
tored, among the claims brought forward by Englishmen
and allowed by France there were claims for losses BY
Asslgnats, in the heat oS the revolution and when
rance was governed by the executioner of Louis the
Sixteenth America cannot get payment for the losses
incurred 10y the sequestraon of her vessels whose
goes were sold, and the price deposited in the public
treasury, under government with which every other
government on earth, net excepting England, entered
INTO negotiations as the lawful government of the
ry ana we are refused under the pretenCe that Napo
leon was usurper. Spain, by her General Morales
lays the Spanish main for tg eve hundred miles under
blockade, enforced BY sloop OF war; and proceeds TO
capture neutral vessels pursuing lawful commerce in
those seas. Great Britain instantly announces that she
shall order reprsas if indemnity nc not promptly had;
and Indemnity is stipulated America suffering in the
same way by the same acts must threaten reprisals
tor fear Spain will take at our word and turn loose
all the advenurers of Europe, in the shape Of prva-
Oilr ri,,l
Yate plumber of the bank of Hamburger during the mi
tary occupation of that city then part of the French
empire The free city of liamburghi is wise city;-her
senate have formally joined the Holy Alliance; and the
puudercd treasures of the bank which probably never
travelled beyond the Prince Ecknus private purse
must be refunded by Louis the Eighteenth. The king
OF NAPLES Murat invites ships 70 lis capital con-
hscates them, retains the vessels in his public service;
ana when our merchants ask indemnity, the present
hng OF Naples at the very moment when these vessels
are still IN his possession and bearing the flag of
the two Scllies tells them that Mura was an usurper
that the con6sCaton al act Of his personal nius-
ice, and went to furnish the ohis prousoT and
that the legitimate King cf Naples knows nothing OF
the deed NOW 1t does appear us, that if national no.
uour means anything, it is concerned TO resist such a
contrast as tins, between the manner i'm which our
claims ana tic less urgent of other states are treat
ed. we have accordingly thought il our duty 10 call
the attention of the public in this way to the subject
and we propose briefly TO run over the list of our de-
mands on the principal continental powers against
whom our just right to indemnity still remains to be eff
! fcctually enforced
We shall begin with Naples. In 1909, Murat wa.
| IN possession OF the throne Of Naples. He held it BY
the same right by which every regning family in Fu
rope either III IFS present former head holds U
throne hc right Of the strongest But he held it also
with the acGuescencc of The people, and the consent
foreign states. He exchanged the usual diplomatic
courteses with everyPower but England and England
herself, by order in council of the 26th of April
1909, modifying the blockade system of 1907 had ex
copied Neapotan territories with other parts of Ialv
from the operation Of that system that neutralsmgt nc
longer be prevented from trading with them We
would also add that wheD after the waue of Napoleon
! fortunes, Murat showed willingness 10 desert hi
master. both Austria and England entered into nego
alious with bin, the lawful sovereign of Naples
and promised to recognise him by treaty as such.f Or
The 1st OF July, 1902 the minister for foreign affairs
Naples addressed to MIR. Degen our consul there off
cIal invitation TO all American vessels, having proper
papers and certificates of origin to repair to the Nea
! Politan ports. This accordingly done The YES
sells were nevertheless, sequesered under the Berr
and Milan dccrees their cargoes sold for the benefit
the government and some of the vessels themselves
happening to be finely modelled and well constructed