Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1834-06-27

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tens of millions of doIlarsn On the motion of
That Senator, resolution was sometime ngo
adopted by the Senate, calling upon the Board of
commissioners, appointed TO ndjudicntc the claims
under the Treaty for. list of all the claims
which have been presented to them together with
the amount of principal and interest claimed by
the memorialists in each casc" &c. In compli-
ance with this call, the Commissioners report list
OF the claims, with their respective amounts of prin-
cipa and interest, arranged into three dislinc,
classes:
!. "Ci.ims recognized as within
the Treaty" Principal $i7065 GIT
Interest 2I57l92O- Al $40 S37
D. "caims rejected by the
Board" Principal 6is 25o
Interest 1.OOl DBL GIG S37
3. "Clans suspended Principal So 272s25
Interest 1901 ,i6S--s.57 1893
Total amount 4 csims presented. Principsi
and Interest, cal sat 1877
Upon these materials the honorable Senator goes
10 work with his calculations. Taking out, in tire
pieniiide OF his iberaliiy, the rejected claims and
supposing the whole of the suspended claims 10 he
ultimately allowed, he makes "he amount claimed
ny memoriasfs, admitted and accepted TO exceed
my millions, aud then adds, "if make the most
liberal deductions, and cut down the amount one
ball. still II will he five times the amount proyiJed
ny The Treaty, and our merchants will receive but
twenty per cen-7on fifth part of their Just due! %
NOW, we neg leave to present, per contra, our cal
cua,ions on the saine data.--In the first place il
VIII he perceived thar the claimed amount of GGv
mions Is composed, IN the greater part of Interest:
the interest being about thirty millions the principa
ohy twenty. The whole of this interest is first to
oe oeuuctcd IL may be confidently affirmed, tba,
Tie most visionary and greedy of the claimants ne
yer dreamed OF obiainingih interest on his claim ne-
Their the nature of the cniins themselves leing for
wnns Is technically called foris, las conra-dstin-
gushcd from contracts, nor the precedent of any
similar International transaction stifyinp sucb ex
pcctation. bunging attempt is made Inv MIR.
Sprngue, by referring Er. Rves' observations on
hc Ecaunarcas claim, including interest as well
nj cl,axx sI., - -
OF what was Justly due by France for seizures can,
lures, &C. OF American property, was likewise in
Guided interest as well principal Bun the Benu
iarchais ciaim was case of contract, and the inter-
est included Iii II was claimed expressly i'm virtue
OF contract; whereas the American cnims provided
Tor ny The Treaty, belong, as already remarked To
class of liabilities which the LAWYERS denom;noto
.oTs ana 10 which different principles are npplica-
nie. IL is evident from Mr.. Rves' despatcro Of IA,h
june 81, as well as that of Stl, july 81 that Ills
opinion ot the probable adequacy of the five mil
Mons loi doiiars) secured by the Treaty to pny tho
JUST claims OF our citizens founded on the esri-
mate OF Mr. Gantif, which he sets forth at large il,
the despatch of 9Th July; and that estimate on lis
lace plainly contemplates The original amount ofin
!ures without interest as the measure of our claims
IL IS farther manifest from Mr.. Rives' despatch of
~otn February, 1880, and from Mr.. Van Rlren,s re-
ply OF the 20l April, 1880 that neither he nor the
government considered interest as practical or
available claim "
From the grand total of fifty millions, then, cx-
| n lR
deducted, in the first place. The Miriy millions of in
terest, leaving the amount of principal claimed
fDenty millions. But there can be no doubt tbnt tI;s
amount, admitting for The present the validity, IN
Pon 81 principle, of oil the claims which enter into
II, is greatly exaggerated. The merchants we nm
derstanJ, III stating the amount of their respecve
ciaims, have estimated them Ivy standard W ich
cannot be sustained, as applicable to an ininter-
natiobal transaction of this sort Instead of heinz
governed by the just and obvious criterion of the
,nvotce, or the original price of their shipments
lwith perhaps the addition of freighrA they have
claimed enormous profits upon those shipments by
assuming, as the standard of compensation the en-
iianced value, actual speculative, in the markets
| OF Europe, which, in many nsiances is known To
have exceeded the cost four or five times Rut
surely, IN transaction beset with so many difficult
Ties, intrinsic or cXtrnsic as this the goyerpn,en MI
cannot he held to insure profits 10 its merchants
Venturing their properly amid extraordinary md
complicated dangers in most disturbed state of the
world Indemnity against nctual loss is all that car
ne larry expected 10y them from their government
Allowing for this and other sources of error and ex
aggerafion IN the amount Of their claims as ser forth
| by the merchants, the deduction of one-bnf from
that amount, adlnticd by MIR. Sprague is far from
nchg' what ne calls IT, ia most liberal deduciion,"
But, taking the deduction which he has accorded i,
atone, with the interest, (which we have shewp
ought 10 he excludcd0 brings down the amount TO
| ten millions.
but there is farther, and equally important de-
uuction 10 he made on account of claims which
VIII be ioholty rejected, in point of principle when
a.
,hey come 10 be examined on their merits 1t would
DC great mistake to suppose that the Claims report
Ell ny The commissioners in the class denominated
claims recognized as within the Treaty." are deci-
ded by them TO he just and valid claims By this
denomination Is meant nothing more, than that the
claims as set forth by the memorials of the caim-
ants, are oil Tue general character and description
contemplated and provided for by the Treaty and
therefore, fall, primn fitcia within its purview Our
extended and mullifarous relations with France
have gwen rise TO various descriptions of cInims
against that country, some of which are not com
prchcned, and were not intended to be com
pretended, by the provisions of the Treaty. of
1851. There are numerous claims for supplies
for example; there is alsoa large class of claims be-
come quite familiar in the proceedings and discus
SONS OF Congress- under tie denomination of "cLns
for spoiidtions previous 1900" The first descrip-
ton OF Claims does not come within the Treaty he
cause It's object and tenor limited to forc;ble
tgrogs or ors, enumerated in the Treaty as sunaw-
| iui seizures, captures, representations, confiscaons
and distractions of vessels and cargoes or other pro
| perry" Neither does the second description of
Claims though for forcible wrongs fall within the
Treaty Of 1881, because they were provided for or
exiingshed, as 10 France, by the Treaties of 1900
ana 1893. Whenever, therefore, the memorial Of
the Claimant lIas set forth claim of either of these
dcscrlpto us such claims have been rejected nj once
| by The Board of Commissioners, upon the showing
0ithe memorialists themselves rs not falng with
IN the Treaty. But where the memorials have
set forth claims founded forcibIe acts of tlie
Kinds enumerated i'm the Treaty, and not prior
To loOO or 1903, all such memorials have been nd
United, PTtm1 titcie, Gas within the Treaty" TO be
hereafter examined and decided upon however nc
Il n In l....-