Great Britain-Deportation of Slaves.

of these unhappy people, under various pleas; and I cannot help thinking that, if the transactions in question had really taken place, as set forth by Mr. Downman, it would have come before me, either through Captain Clavelle or through some other channel, previous to quitting the station, as I continued not only upon the coast, but actually on shore in America, until after the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, and was to the last in the habit of receiving letters on such subjects from all parts of the country, Washington not excepted. The Havana being now upon this station, and it being possible that some of the officers and people who were in the tender may be still on board the frigate, I will, whenever she returns to this anchorage, cause Captain Hamilton to make every inquiry and report to me thereupon; and I shall not fail to transmit it to their Lordships by the earliest opportunity afterwards, at which time I will also return the several papers which have been transmitted to me referring thereto.

I have the honor to be, &c.

GEORGE COCKBURN.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Adams to the Secretary of State, dated

degree of limitation from that conveyed in the words immediately preceding.

His Majesty's Government have always been ready to admit the most liberal construction of the article in question. They have never pretended to resist the claim of the United States to indemnification for slaves or private property belonging to their citizens, which can be proved to have been in places directed to be restored by the Treaty of Ghent, at the date of the exchange of the ratifications, and to have been afterwards removed. But they do, and must ever deny that the United States can have any claim to property not actually in the places which, by the stipulations of the treaty, were to be restored at the time specified therein; because such a claim is utterly inconsistent with the provisions of the treaty, and is equally unsupported by anything which passed in the discussion of that treaty, or even by the original projet of that treaty, as offered by the American negotiators.

That projet, indeed, required that the places should be restored, without carrying away any private property. If it had been, then, intended to provide for the restoration of all private prop erty originally captured in the places, instead of prohibiting its removal, the article would have LONDON, April 15, 1816. positively enjoined the restoration. What had Since this interview with Lord Castlereagh, I been previously removed could not become the have received from him a note respecting the the place to be restored, it could not be carried subject of the prohibition; for not being in slaves carried away from the United States after the ratification of the peace. A copy of it is en- away. Under this projet, therefore, a removal closed. To reply to it at present would be to no mitted, to bar the claim of the United States, previous to the ratification of the treaty was adpurpose. I shall wait for your further instruc-without reference either to the distance to which

tions.

Copy of a letter from Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Adams.
APRIL 10, 1816.

The undersigned has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Adams's note of the 17th of February, claiming, on behalf of the United States, all such slaves belonging to their citizens as had been carried away by the naval commanders of the British forces from places within the United States, subsequently to the peace between the two countries.

the property had been removed, to the actual state of the property, whether on shipboard or on British territory, or to the length of time which had elapsed since its removal.

The undersigned, therefore, considers it impossible to maintain that the insertion of the words "originally captured in the said places, which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty," (words which must be admitted, at least, of a restrictive nature,) can have given to the original proposition of the American Plenipotentiaries a greater latitude than it originally possessed.

The grounds upon which His Majesty's Gov- The undersigned trusts that the Government of ernment felt themselves compelled to withhold the United States will, upon these considerations, their acquiescence in the claim of the United not be disposed further to urge the general claim States, as preferred in Mr. Adams's former note to indemnification which was the subject of Mr. of the 9th of August, have been already fully ex- Adams's former notes. Animated with a sincere plained by Lord Bathurst in his communication disposition to act towards all Powers with the of the 2d of October. It does not, therefore, ap- strictest justice and good faith, His Majesty's pear to the undersigned to be requisite again to Government will be most happy to attend to any discuss at any length the construction of the first representation on the part of the United States article of the Treaty of Ghent. Agreeing en-which may have for its object the restoration or tirely in the arguments urged by Earl Bathurst indemnification for the loss of property of her on this subject, the undersigned can never admit citizens actually removed from places within the that construction of the article to be the true one, territory of the United States subsequent to the which would apply to the restoration of slaves a ratification of the Treaty of Ghent. But, at the different rule from that applicable to private prop- same time, the undersigned cannot consider any erty; or which, admitting that the restoration of property which had been, previous to the ratifiprivate property, slaves inclusive, is to be sub-cation of the treaty, removed on shipboard, as jected to some limitations, applies to it a different property forming a subject of such representation.

State of the Finances.

The undersigned begs to renew to Mr. Adams as my colleagues shall be reassembled, to bring the assurances of his high consideration. the various subjects referred to in your note under their deliberation.

CASTLEREAGH.

I request you will accept the assurance of the

Extract of a letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. high consideration with which I have the honor

Adams, dated

MAY 21, 1816. Should the British Government persevere in its construction of the first article of the late Treaty of Peace, respecting slaves carried off in violation, as we presume, of its obvious import, the President is willing to refer the question to the decision of some friendly Power, which you will propose. A reference is suggested, by provisions in the treaty, applicable to anticipated differences in other instances; indeed, where such differences exist, no better mode can be adopted for settling them in a satisfactory manner. In this instance the interest is too important to be neglected. It is impossible that the opinion of the British Government can be more decided than that of the United States. There is no reason, therefore, why the United States should yield to the opinion of Great Britain, more than that Great Britain should yield to that of the United

States.

to be, &c.

[Communicated to Congress, December 3, 1816, by

the President of the United States in his annual Message, of which the following is an extract.] "For a more enlarged view of the public the Treasury Department previous to the resigfinances, with a view of the measures pursued by nation of the late Secretary, I transmit an extract from the last report of that officer. Congress will perceive in it ample proofs of the solid foundation on which the financial prosperity of the nation rests, and will do justice to the distinguished ability and successful exertions with which the duties of the Department were executed, during a period remarkable for its difficulties and its pe

Extract of a letter from Mr. Adams to Lord Castle- culiar perplexities." reagh, dated

SEPTEMBER 17, 1816. "4th. Slaves carried away from the United States by British officers after the peace."

As the construction given by His Majesty's Government to the first article in the Treaty of Ghent, in reference to the slaves carried away from the United States by British officers, after the ratification of peace, is so directly at variance with the construction which the American Gov

ernment think alone applicable to it, the undersigned has been further instructed to propose that this question should be submitted to the decision of some friendly sovereign. This reference is suggested by provisions in the Treaty of Ghent itself, applicable to the contingency of differences in other instances; and it is conceived that, when such differences exist, no better mode can be adopted for settling them in a satisfactory manner.

Viscount Castlereagh to Mr. Adams.

SEPTEMBER 28, 1816. SIR: I very much regret that the absence from London, at this season of the year, of several of the Prince Regent's Ministers, will preclude me from returning as early an answer to your note of the 17th as I should wish, under the sense I entertain of the great importance of the several objects to which it invites the attention of this Government.

I have myself obtained the permission of the Prince Regent to make a short excursion to Ireland on my private affairs; but I shall certainly return to London by the middle of November, and shall lose no time, as soon after that period

Extract of a report of the late Secretary of the Trea

sury to the President of the United States.

The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the President of the United States the following general sketch of the finances, with reference to the 1st of August, 1816, comprehending

I. A view of the sources of revenue, and the objects of public expenditure;

II. A view of the fiscal measures during 1816. I. A view of the sources of revenue, and the objects of public expenditure.

REVENUE.

The return of peace enabling the Legislature to alleviate the burdens imposed by the necessities of the war, Congress, during the last session, discontinued or reduced the following duties and

taxes:

1. The acts imposing duties upon articles of domestic manufacture were repealed.

2. The act imposing duties on furniture and watches was repealed."

3. The duties imposed on licenses to retailers of foreign merchandise, &c., were reduced.

4. The duties imposed on spirits distilled within the United States were reduced, and the collection modified.

5. The rates of postage were reduced.

6. The direct tax was reduced from $6,000,000 to $3,000,000, and imposed for one year only. 7. The double duties on merchandise imported were discontinued, and a new tariff established. The discontinuance and reduction of the duties

State of the Finances.

State of the Finances.

stituting a discredited fund, upon which the cent., have been generally disbursed in payments Treasurer could only occasionally draw. on account of the funded debt, and the compenThe operation of this measure was, undoubt-sation of members of Congress. The effect of edly, severe in many of the collection districts, these measures will be more particularly stated particularly in the States where the banks, pre-hereafter. paring for the resumption of coin payments, had Thus it cannot escape observation that a cause so reduced the issues of their paper as to render unconnected with the late war, and which exists the circulating amount insufficient for the de- without the agency or the authority of the Gov. mand. But it was not in the power of the Trea-ernment, will probably so augment the amount sury to dispense with the general rule. If notes, of the funded and floating debt as to render nuganot circulating at par, had been received in one tory the estimates and calculations which have district, they must have been received in every been made on other occasions in relation to that district; and there existed no mode of discrimina-subject. The restoration of a uniform national ting between notes to be received, and notes to currency can alone terminate this evil. be rejected, either as to the bank, or the place, at 3. The Treasury has been involved in the diffiwhich they were issued. The inevitable conse- cult and delicate task of designating the medium quences must have been that the duties and taxes in which the warrants drawn by the heads of Dewould everywhere be paid in the most deprecia-partments should be respectively paid. ted paper; and that the medium thus received The revenue is collected throughout the Union, could never be employed to discharge the demands but the amount of the collection is very different upon the Treasury, even at the places of receiv- in different places; and it has happened, not uning it. The revenue would accumulate in the frequently, that the demand for payment was the Treasury only to perish there; while the expedi-greatest where the means of payment were the ent, of substituting Treasury notes to meet the public engagements, led to an indefinite augmentation of the national debt.

2. The Treasury has been compelled to augment the amount of national debt, both funded and floating, by issues of Treasury notes to meet the public engagements at places where it could not command the local currency.

least. The rule, which has already been mentioned, was applied, whenever it was practicable, by directing warrants to be paid at the places of rendering the services, or furnishing the supplies, for which they were respectively granted. But if the Treasury possessed no funds at those places the differences of exchange rendered it extremely difficult to locate the payment of the warrants in Throughout the Eastern States the Treasury a manner equitable, impartial, and satisfactory. has hitherto failed to command an amount of the For some months after the war the Treasury was local currency equal to the amount of the local scantily supplied with the local currency of every demands. The banks of those States, fettered by place, except the District of Columbia and the the stipulations of their charters, could not follow city of Baltimore; and, consequently, during that the example of the banks of the other States in period, the warrants which could not be disthe suspension of coin payments; but their issues charged at the seat of the original transaction of notes have been very limited, and the necessi- were paid in the currency of the District or of ties for a circulating medium have been princi- Baltimore. The progressive accumulation of the pally supplied by Treasury notes, and partially revenue opened a wider scope for payments, enby the notes of the Bank of New York. Under abling the Treasury to draw next upon the banks these circumstances the revenue in the Eastern of Philadelphia, and, more recently, upon the section of the Union has been, almost entirely, banks of New York. The public funds in the collected in Treasury notes. Inferior difficulties, banks of the Southern and Western States havfrom similar causes, have occurred in some of ing, also, become generally adequate to the local the Southern States; where, also, the accruing demands, it may now be considered that the acrevenue was less in proportion to the demands tive resources of the Treasury are co-extensive which the arrearages of the war, as well as the with the Union, excepting always the Eastern current expenditures, pressed upon the Treasury. section. The difficult task of locating the payFrom these considerations it is obvious that ment of warrants still, however, continues, and the public credit could only be maintained, and must continue, as long as the differences of exthe public service could only be effected, even change shall operate. It is fiscally impossible to with an ample revenue, with the use of the aux- pay all the demands upon the Treasury at one iliary means afforded to the Treasury, in the au- place, and every holder of a warrant is naturally thority to borrow money and issue Treasury notes. desirous to be paid at the place where the meLittle use, however, has been made of the author-dium is of the highest current value. Under such ity to borrow since the closing of the loan of 1815; but the warrants of the War and the Navy Departments, as well as the dividends payable on the public funded debt, have required a considerable issue of Treasury notes. The Treasury notes bearing interest, and fundable at six per cent. have been generally disbursed in payment for services and supplies; and the Treasury notes, not bearing interest, but fundable at seven per

circumstances it is to be expected that individuals will sometimes feel disappointment and express dissatisfaction; but it has been the constant and anxious endeavor of the Treasury to perform its arduous task, in the exercise of a sound discretion, guided by the requisitions of the departments, by the origin and nature of the debt, and by the state of the public funds.

4. The Treasury has been compelled to increase

State of the Finances.

the number, and extend the range of banks employed as the depositories of the public revenue, with consequences unavoidably inconvenient and injurious.

tion to the collectors of the revenue, which could, by its own virtue, charm gold and silver again' into circulation. The people, individually, did not possess a metallic medium, and could not be As soon as the differences of the current value expected to procure it, throughout the country, of bank notes were introduced, and particularly as well as in the cities, by any exertion unaided when one bank refused to credit as cash a de- by the banks. And the banks, too timid, or too posite of notes of another, the Treasury was interested, declined every overture to a co-operadrawn to a choice of expedients; that is, either tion for reinstating the lawful currency. In this to take the hazard of accumulation of masses of state of things the Treasury, nay, the Legislature, revenue in the hands of the individual collec- remained passive. The power of coercing the tors and receivers, or to recognise, as places of banks was limited to the rejection of their notes deposite, the banks (being, however, banks of un-in the payment of duties and taxes, and to the questioned solidity) established in the districts exclusion of their agency in the custody and diswhich were most affected by the course of the tribution of the revenue; but the exercises of that exchanges. Many powerful reasons led to an power would not generate a coin currency; aladoption of the latter measure; instructions were though it would certainly act oppressively upon issued to the collectors and receivers to act ac- the people, and put at hazard every sum of money cordingly; and the number of banks thus neces- which was due to the Government. Until, theresarily employed by the Treasury from Maine to fore, a substitute was provided for the paper of Louisiana may be stated at ninety-four. the banks, it would have been a measure of useless and impolitic severity towards the community to insist that all contributions to the expenses of the Government should be paid in medium, which, it is repeated, the community did not possess, and could not procure.

To the inconveniences incident to this multiplication of the places of deposite, was added the complexity inevitably arising from the various kinds of paper in circulation as money upon some of which minute calculations were required. Generally speaking the Treasury has with each bank four accounts:

An account of cash, meaning (in the absence of coin) the local currency.

An account of special deposites of bank notes, being notes issued by banks other than the depository.

An account of special deposites of Treasury notes bearing interest.

An account of deposites of small Treasury notes not bearing interest.

The opinion here expressed has been the opinion of all the States, except the Eastern States. In the Southern and Western States the payments in coin had been suspended; and in most of them the notes of the local banks constituted the general circulating medium; for the Treasury note medium circulated, almost exclusively, in the commercial cities. The obvious difference between the situation of the Eastern section, and the other sections of the Union, naturally produced a difference of interests, and of dispositions, Owing to this untoward condition of the ma- upon the question of resuming payments in coin. chinery for the collection, custody, and distribu- The Eastern section urged the measure at all tion of the revenue, to the great extension of the hazards. The other sections, and particularly business of receipts and expenditures, and to sev- the middle section, objected to it; each bank proeral accidental causes, the punctual statement fessing, nevertheless, a willingness to adopt it, and settlement of the Treasurer's accounts have upon a simultaneous and general movement of been found practicable. To expedite and facili- the banks, directed to that object. With respect tate, however, the accomplishment of that object to the Eastern section, a peremptory requisition proceedings have been instituted to withdraw the for a return to payments in coin would have left Treasury notes from the banks, for the purpose of the circulating medium, for the ordinary uses of cancelling them; to ascertain the character of the people, much the same, in quantity and kind, the bank notes upon special deposite, for the whether the distant banks conformed to it or not. purpose of claiming payment, or an effective But, with respect to the other sections, such a recredit from the banks which issued them; and to quisition, if the local banks did not conform to it, induce the banks of the interior to transfer the must have deprived the people of their only Treasurer's balances, from time to time, to the means of paying the public taxes, and of transbanks of the commercial cities on the Atlantic, acting the pecuniary business of life. It was not, for the purpose of a periodical settlement: the then, an insensibility to the pernicious course of success of these proceedings, the operation of the banking which had, of late, been pursued, nor a Bank of the United States, the collection of the disposition to relinquish the cardinal policy of revenue in the lawful currency, and, above all, restoring the lawful national currency, that inthe improvements contemplated by Congress induced this Department, during the year 1815, to the constitution of the Department, are objects of high and urgent importance, demanding constant vigilance and care.

acquiesce in the state of the currency, such as it was found when the present Secretary was appointed, and such as it had been left by Congress,

The successive attempts made by this Depart-after the deliberations of a six months session, but ment to relieve the administration of the finances from its embarrassments have been ineffectual. There was no magic in a mere Treasury instruc

the acquiescence (painful as it was) proceeded entirely from a sense of duty to the Government, and of justice to the community; from a solici!