The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-07-31

| you think proper, that it may be made public for
| the information of the owner, and those having
friends on board, should they happen to be in ig-
norance In regard to her.
Very respectfully, your obedicnt servant,
Lieut.. U. s. Navy, Assistant Coast Survey.
Prof A. d. BAcHE,
! Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey.
| Memorial.
| 10 the Honorable the President and Members of the
Senate and Speaker and Members Of the House Of
| Representatives. Of the Congress of the United
| States:
| The memorial Of James Hamilton, for himself,
Ind in behalf of Sarah A. Hunt, Anne Bonneycasle,
William S. Wetlnore, assignee of the trustee of the
Bank of the United States, the trustees of said
bank, Isaac McGary, Henry Blood, F. s. Lyon
trustee Of the Bank of the State of Alabama Char les
| McAlster, Augustus Isham, Joseph w. Hubbell
Benjamin Rielley, William NJ. Walker, John A.
McGaw, and others, respectfully showeth:
That on the 9th day Of September, 1850, an act
of Congress approved by the President of the
United States, usually termed the " Boundary
Act" providing for the cesson of certain territory
by the State of Texas to the United States, in
sideration of which session the Government of the
United States became obligated to pay to the State
| of Texas the sum of ten millions Of dollars in Ger
tain stock bearing five per cent. interest.
/ In the same law it ia provided that 'no more
than five millions of said stock shall be issued until
the creditors of the State holding bonds and other
certificates Of stock Of Texas, for trhich duties
importations ,cere specially pledged, shall first file
at the Treasury of the United States releases of
all claims against the United States for or on &C
count of said bonds certificates of stock in such
form shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury. and approved by the President of the
| United States"
| Under the construction placed upon this proviso
by the Secretary of the Treasury, and approved
by the President of the United States, no part of
this fund be paid to the creditors of Texas
until they have all signed their releases.
1t 10 now nearly two years since this act was
passed, and not one farthing of this fund Of five
millions has been paid over. The first or unre
served five millions, Texas has received and APP
piled to pay off such classes of her debt as che
calls domestic, and hereafter to the purposes (as it
is supposedly OF education and internal improve
ment, rescrving the five millions in the Treasury
of the United States for the payment of the rcvo
nue.creditors of her late republic. ;..
| The fact is not to be concealed, that if the
| struction put on the proviso by the Secretary of
the Treasury be correct, the disbursement Of tue
money s wholly impracticabIs; and this obviously
| results from uses of an insuperable character
1t requires a consentaneou5 conformity of OPT Mon
and action in some sixteen hundred persons be-
fore any one can receive his money. One Contu-
macous creditor may thus keep fifteen hundred
and ninety-nine out Of the just payment-of their
claims forever
| Nor are these moral causes alone influential
Those of physical character would be equally OPP
eratvc. In the ordinary course OF nature, amongst
thousand creditors, one might die interstate, and
| before letters OF administration could be taken
out on his estate another creditor might also die
and thus the fund be hung up in perpetuity.
I In TRUTH If it had been designed (as it wac noD
that the debt should neptr be paid, proviso for
that purpose could n OF have been more effectuay
or more admirably devised, if the construction
given it be indeed correct.
With great Difference to the distinguished pub
lie functlonary who placed this constr ucon the
proviso, your memorialists conceive that the in
depreciation ia essentially erroneous The proviso
does not specify that ali the creditors shall release,
but that the creditors shall sign releases of all
claims, which would surely justify the inference
that if any single creditor sign his release
of all his claims, he is entitled 10 his payment II
however, useless to discuss this question, since,
| with the views entertained by the Executive, il
| b. comes absolutely necessary that your honorable
bodies should modify the terms of the proviso.
The ditfic ulties, however, do not end here. The
reign State, has fixed, defined, and declared her
public debt In it's definition che has established
the following standard, viz: to return to each
creditor, with interest, the amount which she
ceived at her treasury the respective securities
which she issued. She has, by Legislative declara-
tion affirmed that she has received. upon portion
Of this stock, the various amounts of one hundred,
seventy, fifty, thirty, twenty five and twenty
\
her willingness, but appropriated the necessary
amount, to pay her creditors these sums with the
interest called for the face of the respective
| thcates they hold, out of the five millions
served in the Treasury of the United States.
Whilst your memorialists deeply regret that
Texas has not, in money and land, provided for
the payment of the whole oebt, they must be per
| mtted to remark, that if the proviso remains ia
its present condition, the difficulties of settlement
| vastly complicated. The Legislature of Texas,
by an act approved 3lat January, 1852, provided
al. ,t,c
| amounts due them, according to the scale estab
lished for the payment of their claims, the
fer of an equivalent amount of stock by the Trea-
| surer of the United States to the order of the
Comptroller of Texas they should be paid at the
treasury at Austin. But many Of those cIedi-
tors-the nominal value OF whose securities have
been essentially reduced-have refused to IN their
releases, and resist this settlement, under the
struction of tho meaning and intent of the pro.
viso by the Secretary of the Treasury, the
five millions are likely to remain in a state OF per-
petual suspension, unlcss relieved by the inerpo-
siton OF Congress. We, therefore, who willin,
TO comply with the above acquisitions, respectfully
pray your honorable bodies that this proviso may
be 80 modified that each creditor may be pcrmttcI
on signing his release, to settle with Texas and
receive his money.
The claims of that class OF creditors, who under
this modification would probably come in and sign
their releases, would amount to about 50 SOC, 900,
their claims having been reduced from about three
millions and q half TO this sum. There would be
left in the Treasury of the United States, with the
accumulation Of interest and premium on the
stock, about three millions and half as security
for about six millions and a halt at par Tor that
class of creditors whose claims the Legislature of
Texas has scaled down to something like aggre-
gate of about two millions Of dollars.
From this statement il ia quite obvious that IL
all the creditors rated at nomnaiy l00 10, and 80
cents, were to come in and sign their releases and
receive their money ut the scaled rate, that those
creditors who refuse now 10 accept the settlement
that Texas tenders, would hold an equal security
and be in good condition they arc at pre- |
sent, if the p-oviso be not modified and VIC all re
main subject to its restriction Bot if number Of
those creditors who rated at less than fifty |
cents in the dollar, also come in and take |
the amount al which they were scaled either from
necessity inclination il quite obvious that the
hold out for a better settlement would be greatly |
augmented by the accommodating interest on the |
fund left in the treasury, and the probable still !
greater rise in the prices of United States stock.
In approaching the difficulty which invests this |
whole enhiect the nnestion reaulNea ltseI infn th