necessary that a Communication to this effect should be made to them. The mode of making it is submitted to the President.

The want of any Representative of The United States before this Board, has constrained the Commissioners to adopt the course they have thus pursued, with a full knowledge of all the objections that apply to it, not only as they refer to the President, but to the Board itself. We have the honour to be, &c.

HUGH L. WHITE.
WM. KING.

L. W. TAZEWELL.

The Hon. the Secretary of State.

(Inclosure.)-Conversation between Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Adams. Washington, 4th March, 1822.

MR. HAMILTON requested to know from Mr. Adams whether the Parties to the Treaty, and particularly the Government of The United States, did not intend to include Claims arising out of Contracts, within the 5th renunciation of the IXth Article of the Treaty with Spain?

Mr. Adams replied substantially as follows:

During the Negotiation no distinction was ever made by Mr. Onis or myself, between Claims arising out of Contracts or from Torts, or any others which might partake of the character of both. It was understood by me to be the intention of both Parties to the Treaty to provide for all Claims of Citizens of The United States upon the Spanish Government, of which Statements had been made to this Government, and its interposition solicited, whether arising out of Contracts or from Torts.

The course of the Negotiation on this subject was this:-the 5th renunciation of the IXth Article, nearly in its present form, was a part of the Project sent to me by Mr. Onis. A similar provision had first been proposed in my Letter to Mr. Onis, of the 31st of October, 1818. But in the Counter-Project a substitute was offered, which would have confined the renunciation to cases of seizure. Mr. Onis accepted that as a distinct renunciation, but insisted on the restoration of the other, which was acceded to on the part of the American Government-I supposed, to include all Claims within the specified description, without discrimination. JAMES A. HAMILTON.

The Secretary of State to the Florida Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Department of State, Washington, 8th March, 1822. WITH reference to the Letter which I have had the honour of receiving from you, dated the 5th inst, I am directed by the President of The United States to inform you that, in providing for the Claims of the Citizens of The United States upon Spain, by the Treaty of 22d February, 1819, it was not understood or intended, by the Government of The United States, nor, as is believed, by the other Party to the Treaty, that Claims arising from Contracts, as they existed at the time

of the signature of the Treaty, should be excluded from the benefit of the Treaty. The Claims intended to be provided for were those specially enumerated in the renunciations, and embraced all Claims, Statements of which, soliciting the interposition of the Government, had been presented to the Department of State, or to the Minister of The United States in Spain, since the Convention of 1802, and until the date of the signature of the Treaty.

As there is no limitation in the words of this renunciation, with regard to the nature of the transactions in which the Claims originated, whether by Contract or by Tort, so none was intended. They were Claims, of all of which it was believed that the only possible chance of obtaining any satisfaction to the Claimants, consisted in the execution of the Treaty.

Of the absolute obligation of this Government to interpose in behalf of their Fellow-citizens, possessing such Claims, and imploring the aid of their Country to obtain satisfaction for them, no very subtle or punctilious scrutiny had been made. It was the need of the Claimant, and not the legal classification of his Claim, for which the assistance of his Government had been solicited. The delay or denial of justice, which it was desirable to remedy, was the same, whether it was for a wrong committed or a Contract broken. The Claimants had alike been promised that at the Negotiation of the Treaty their Claims would be considered, and endeavours made to provide for them in common with others.

Whether, among the Contracts provided for, there were some upon which the Government of The United States, but for the Treaty, must have eventually abandoned the Claimants to the fate of war, was never a subject of inquiry. Those Claims, it is presumed, were not the less valid against Spain, nor were the prospects of real satisfaction by Spain, in any other manner, believed to be different from the rest. The Government was, indeed, aware that the abstract right to its interposition, of Citizens who had suffered by acts of Foreigners, without any cooperation of their own, was more clear and imperative than that of others, who had voluntarily staked their property upon the good faith of Spain; and, in the course of the Negotiation, a proposal was made to omit the renunciation which included the latter Class of these Claims. It was, however, finally agreed to, with the full understanding that all the Claims should share the same benefit of the provision, be subjected to the same investigation, and be decided upon, not by any subsequent transaction between the Claimant and the Spanish Government, but by the Commissioners, in the manner prescribed by the Treaty, and upon such proof as they should think proper to require, for ascertaining its amount and validity. Of the right to include such Claims in the provisions of the Treaty, in cases wherein the interference of the Govern ment had been solicited by the Claimants themselves, and their Claims had, at their own desire, been made a subject of Negotiation, no doubt

was entertained. It is sanctioned equally by the moral principles applicable to publick Law, and by the frequent practice of other civilized Nations, as well as by more than one example of our own history. If, indeed, no such right existed, and the two Governments were not competent to make and accept such renunciation, it was certainly neither made nor intended. Whatever Claim The United States were not competent to renounce, remains in full force against Spain, as much as if the Treaty had not been concluded. But that a Government negotiating for the Claims, upon another Power, of its Citizens, at their own entreaty, is not competent to compound for them upon terms as favourable as it can, consistently with its duties to the rest of its own Nation, secure, is a doctrine certainly not contemplated at the Negotiation of the Treaty, and now believed to be without warrant, either in the Laws or usages of Nations.

To ascertain, in the manner stipulated by the Treaty, and in no other, the full amount and validity of these Claims, as existing on the day of the signature of the Treaty, the Commission instituted under the XIth Article of the Treaty was provided. How far Contracts, under the special circumstances mentioned in your Letter, as applying to some of those which have been presented to the Board, were valid Contracts, it is the peculiar province of the Commissioners to decide. The Executive Government had not the means of judging of the validity of any of them, and of their amount it could form no other than a gross estimate. But it is fully believed that the sum stipulated for payment of them, would be adequate to the full satisfaction of every valid Claim embraced by the Treaty, whether the Claim had originated in contract or in wrong. I have, &c. Messrs. White, King, and Tazewell.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

BASIS of the Political Constitution of the Peruvian Republick.-Lima, 16th December, 1822. (Translation.)

ART. I. ALL the Provinces of Peru, united in one single Body, constitute the Peruvian Nation.

II. The Sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation; it is independent of the Spanish Monarchy, and of every other Foreign Dominion, and can never become the patrimony of any Person or Family.

III. The Nation shall be denominated The Peruvian Republick.
IV. Its Government is popular representative.

V. Its Religion is the Catholick, Apostolick, Roman, to the exclusion of the exercise of any other.

VI. To the Nation appertains the formation of its Constitution and Laws, by means of its Representatives.

VII. All the Citizens must assist in the election of their Repre

sentatives, after the manner which shall be established by the Constitution; this being the only function of the National Power which must be fulfilled without the right of delegating it.

VIII. The basis of the Representation shall be the Population.

IX. The Constitution shall provide for:

1. The liberty of the Citizens.

2. The liberty of the Press.

3. Personal security, and that of domicile.

4. The inviolability of property.

5. The secrecy of Correspondence.

6. Equality before the Law, in respect of rewards and punishments. 7. The equal distribution of taxation, in proportion to the means of Individuals, as well as the equal discharge of Publick duties.

8. The Individual right of presenting Petitions and Applications to Congress or Government.

9. The abolition of all confiscations of property.

10. The abolition of all cruel and infamy-descending punishments. 11. The abolition of hereditary Offices and Privileges.

12. The abolition of the Slave Trade.

X. The most essential principle, for the establishment and preservation of liberty, consists in the division of the three principal Functions of the National Authority, commonly called the Three Powers, which shall be as distinct from, and as independent of, each other, as possible.

XI. The Legislative Power shall be essentially distinct, so as not to act against itself.

XII. The initiative of the Laws shall belong solely to the Representatives of the Nation assembled in Congress.

XIII. The Deputies to Congress, as Representatives of the Nation, shall be inviolable in their Persons, and shall not be responsible for their opinions.

XIV. The exercise of the Executive Power shall never be for life, much less hereditary.

XV. The Representatives of the Executive Power, and the Ministers of State, shall be responsible, generally, for the Resolutions adopted by them in common, and each Minister, individually, for the acts peculiar to his Department.

XVI. There shall be a Central Senate, composed of Individuals elected by the Provinces, two for each, agreeably to the mode described in the Constitution. Their principal attributes shall be:

1. To watch over the observance of the Constitution and the Laws, and over the conduct of the Magistrates and Citizens.

2. To elect, and present to the Executive Power, the Officers of the Civil List of the State; and to elect the Ecclesiasticks who are to be named for the Nation.

3. To convoke a Congress Extraordinary, in the cases prescribed by the Constitution.

XVII. The Judicial Power shall be independent. The Judges shall be immoveable and for life. In Criminal Cases, the trial shall be publick, the fact shall be recognized and declared by a Jury, and the Law pronounced by the Judges.

XVIII. The imposition of Contributions, and the mode of apportioning them, shall be settled exclusively by the Congress.

XIX. The Constitution shall recognize the Debt of the State, and the Congress shall establish suitable means for the payment of the interest thereof, and the liquidation of the principal.

XX. There shall be a Publick Armed Force, the amount of which shall be annually fixed by Congress. Its object shall be to maintain the external and internal security of the State, under the direction of the Executive Power.

XXI. Education is necessary to all, and is a debt which Society owes to every one of its Members. Congress will resolve on whatever may be requisite for primary instruction, and for the encouragement of science, literature, and the fine arts.

XXII. Publick Hospitals are an obligation due to Society. Congress will provide for the Institutions of charity and beneficence.

XXIII. To maintain union among the Citizens, to cherish the love of our Country, and to commemorate our most signal efforts for emancipation from the Spanish Dominion, National Festivals shall be instituted, on such days, and in such manner, as Congress shall determine.

XXIV. The Constitution now drawn up shall be submitted for the ratification, or amendment, of a General Congress, consisting of Deputies from the Provinces which are actually free, and from those which may be unoccupied by the Enemy.

Let this be understood, and take the necessary measures for its fulfilment, by causing it to be printed, published, and circulated.

Given in the Chamber of Congress, in Lima, the 16th of December, 1822,-3rd Year of Independence-1st of the Republick. JUAN ANTONIO DE ANDUEZA, President. [Here follow the Signatures of the Deputies.]

CONSTITUTION Politique de la Monarchie Portugaise. Lisbonne, le 23 Septembre, 1822.

(Traduction.)

CONSTITUTION DES CORTES, DE 1822.

DOM JOAO, par la grâce de Dieu, et par la Constitution de la Monarchie, Roi du Royaume Uni de Portugal, du Brésil et des Algarves, au delà et en deça de la Mer, en Afrique, &c. Je fais savoir