Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1854-12-04

The London correspondent Of the Evening
Post gives the following account of the progress
made by the Commissioners for the adjustment
Of claims between the United States and Great
Britain
"The claims Of the Texas bondh0lders have re-
Gently been brought again before the commission
ers. Mr.. Reverdy johnson, of Baltimore, came
out to argue case for Mr.. Dawson, OF that city,
and although ii had been once argued by an emf
nent barrister of London, the case was re-opened,
without objection, to hear Mr.. johnson. ] had re-
ceiyed the impression that he had given an opinion
that naturalized citizen of the United States
could claim before the commissioner as British
subject against his adopted country, and said in
my letter to the Evening Post. In this / was mis-
taken. He gave an opinion that the claim repre-
scented by Dawson, Who'll nataralized citizen, was
admissible under the convention but placed it on
different grounds II was distinctly stated by him
before the commission that naturalized citizen
could not claim against his adopted government.
His argument was replied to by General Thomas,
the agent for the United States and the case was
then finally submitted to the commissioners and
the umpire, who was present, for decision. M#
Seventy-six English and fifty-three American
claims have already been heard. In some instances
one of these settled principle under which many
other individual claims have been embraced. For
example, under the claim for the return Of duties
levied contrary to the provisions Of the tapored
ion clause Of the treaty Of July 3, 1915, there are
more than hundred separate claims. Both gov
crnments have claims for violation Of this treaty
1t has been settled by the commissioners, that
pensation is due In these cases, and ii is only a
question of evidence. To obtain this evidence may
require till near the end of the time allotted to
the commission.
In consequence Of the commission sitting In
London, the British claimants have been enabled
TO have their own counsel in each case. BY the
treaty, each government had the right to appoint
an agent to advocate ts interests before the com
mission, or to select counsel for each State. This
has practically been done by the British govern
ment, for although they appointed an agent, yet
in nearly all the important cases he has had au-
thorty to substitute in his place the counsel EN-
ployed by the claimant. Accordingly, the most
cmdent barristers in England have been before the
commission holding briefs prepared by distinguish
ed solicitors Her Majesty has, therefore, had
from Westminster or Doctors Commons fresh
horse every day, while the people Of the United
States have ridden the same one.
The cases of Kennorthy and Shaw have been re-
Gently argued, and it is understood, although the
Judgment has not been formally recorded, that
they will both be rejected. This will probably
settle other cases Of like character These claims
arose out fseizures made at Philadelphia in 1885,
Tor fraudulent invoices OF goods imported from
England. General Thomas resisted these claims
on the ground that these persons were domiciled
citizens of the United States and by the law of ma
tons bound to abide the decision Of its tribunals
that they had enjoyed the advantage Of judicial
investigation and trial by competent court and
jury, and that they we're as much under obligation
to yield obedience to the verdict as those who
were natives to the sol and more over in the trea-
ty Of commerce between the two countries, after
laying down the conditions on which the citizens
of one country should be permitted to reside in
and carry on trade in the other, it was expressly
stipulated that they should be subject to the laws
and statutes of the two countries respectively and
hence he insisted that it never could have been
the design of either government to commit such
cases to this commission. The cases were argued
for her Maesty's government by James s. Mills,
said by his friends to be the best lawyer in Eng
land