Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-12-15

cation of the claims under this convention,
and made his report thereon, in pursuance
of the act of the 9Th Of August, 1896 The
sums TO which the claimants are respec-
lively entitled, will be paid on demand at
the Treasury.
The act of the 9th Of August, 1646, to
establish warehousing system, has been
in operation more than year, anc has
proved to be an impostant auxiliary to the
Tariff act Of l646, in augmenting the rev.
enue and extending the commerce OF the
country. While it has tended to enlarge
our commerce, it has been beneficial to
our manufactures, by diminishing forced
sales at auction of foreign goods at low
prices to raise the duties to be advanced on
them and by checking fluctuations in the
market. The system, although sanctioned
by the experience Of other countries, was
entirely new in the United States, and is
susceptible of improvement in some of its
provisions The Secretary Of the Treasu-
ry, upon whom was devolyed large discre-
tionary powers in carrying this measure
into effect, has collected and is now collect
ing the practical results Of the system in
other countries where it has long been es
tablished, and will report at an early peri
cd of your session such further regulations,
suggested by the investigation, as may rem
der it still more effective and beneficial.
By the ''Act to provide for the better or
ganization Of the Treasury, and for the col
lection, safe-keeping, and disbursement OF
the Public Reaenae, all banks discontinue
ed as fiscal agents Of the government, and
the paper currency issued by them was no
longer permitted to be received in payment
Of public dues.
The constitutional Treasury, created by
this act, went into operation on the lst OF
January last. Under the system estab-
lshed by it, the public money has been col
lected and disbursed by the direct agency OF
officers of the Government, in gold and
silver, and transfers of large amounts, have
been made from points of collection to
points of disbursement, without loss to the
Treasury, or injury or inconvenience to
the traffic of the country.
While the fiscal operations Of the gov
ernment have been conducted with regu-
larity and care, under this system, it has
had salutary effect in checking and pre-
venting all undue initiation of the paper
currency, issued from the banks which ex-
ist under State chalters. Requiring as it
does all dues to the Government to be paid
in gold and silver, its effect is to restrain
excessive issues of bank paper by the banks,
disproportioned to the specie in their vaults,
for the reason that they are at all timest TO be
called on by the holders of the notes for their
redemption, in order to obtain specie for
the payment OF duties and other public dues.
The banks, therefore, must keep their bu-
siness within prudent limits-and be al
ways in a condition to meet such calls, or
run the hazard Of being compelled to sus-
pend specie payments, and be thereby dis
credited. .-....-
The amount Of specie imported into the
Uuited States during the last fiscal year
was 25, ,l2l, ,2e9 dollars, Of which there was
retained in the country 22,276, ITO dollars.
Had the former financial system prevailed
and the public moneys been placed on de-
posite in bank, nearly the whole of this a.
mount would have gone into their vaults,
not to be thrown into circulation by them,
but to be withheld from the hands Of the
people as currency, and made the basis
of new and enormous issues Of bank paper.
A large proportion Of the specie imported
has been paid into the treasury for public
dues, and after having been to great ex-
tent received at the Mint, has been paid
out to the public creditors, and gone into
circulation as currency among the people.
/. The amount of gold and silver coin in
circulation in the country is larger than at
any former period.
invite the early attention Of Congress
to the present condition of our citizens in
China. Under our treaty with that pow
er, American citizens are withdrawn from
the iurisdiction> whether civil or criminal,
Of the Chinese Government, and placed un-
der that of our public functionaries in that
country. By them alone can our citizens
be tried and punished for the commission of
any crime; by these alone can questions be
decided between them involving the rights
Of persons and property; and by these alone
can contracts be enforced into which they
may have entered with the citizens or SUBJ
jects Of foreign powers. The merchaut
vessels of the United States, lying in the
waters of the FIVE ports Of China, open to
foreign commerce, are under the exclusive
jurisdiction Of officers of their own govern
ment. Until Congress shall establish COM
petent tribunals to try and punish crimes,
and to exercise jurisdiction in civil cases in
China, American citizens there are subject
to no law there whatever. Crimes may
be committed with impunity, and debts may
be contracted without any means to enforce
their payment.
Inconveniences have already resulted
from the omission of Congress to legislate
upon the subject, and still greater are ap-
pretended. The British authorities in
China have already complained that this
government has not provided for the punish
ment of crimes or the enforcement Of con.
tracts against American citizens in that
country, whilst their government has estab.
!shed tribunals by which an American can
recover debts due from British subjects.
Accustomed as the Chinese are to sum-
mary justice, they could not be made to
comprehend why crimin; Is who are citi
zens of the United States, should escape
with impunity, in violation of treaty obli'
cations, whilst the punishment of Chi
nese, who had committed any crime agains
an American citizen, would be vigorously