PART II.

AGENTS OF LOYALISTS--PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION--RESULTS.

Of course all hope of obtaining relief under the stipulations of the treaty was abandoned by the Loyalists, who "now applied to the Government which they had ruined themselves to serve, and many of them, who had hitherto been 'refugees' in different parts of America, went to England to state and recover payment for their losses. They organized an agency, and appointed a Committee composed of one delegate or agent from each of the thirteen States, to enlighten the British public, and adopt measures of proceeding in securing the attention and action of the British Ministry in their behalf. In a tract printed by order of these agents (which now lies before us, entitled The Case and Claim of American Loyalists impartially Stated and Considered, published in 1783), it is maintained that 'it is an established rule, that all sacrifices made by individuals for the benefit and accommodation of others shall be equally sustained by all those who partake of it,' and numerous cases are cited from Puffendorf, Burlamaqui and Vattel, to show that the 'sacrifices' of the Loyalists were embraced in this principle. As a further ground of claim, it is stated that in case of territory alienated or ceded away by one sovereign power to another, the rule is still applicable; for that in the treaties of international law it is held, 'The State ought to indemnify the subject for the loss he has sustained beyond his proportion.' And in the course pursued at the close of the civil war in Spain, when the States of Holland obtained their independence, under the Treaty of Utrecht, and at various other periods, proved that the rights of persons similarly situated had been respected and held inviolate. The conclusion arrived at from the precedents in history, and diplomacy, and in the statute-books of the realm, is, that as the Loyalists were as 'perfectly subjects of the British State as any man in London or Middlesex, they were entitled to the same protection and relief.' The claimants had been 'called by their sovereign, when surrounded by tumult and rebellion, to defend the supreme rights of the nation, and to assist in suppressing a rebellion which aimed at their destruction. They have received from the highest authority the most solemn assurances of protection, and even reward, for their meritorious services;' and that 'His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament having thought it necessary, as the price of peace, or to the interest and safety of the empire, or from some other motive of public convenience, to ratify the Independence of America, without securing any restitution whatever to the Loyalists, they conceive that the nation is bound, as well by the fundamental laws of society as by the invariable and external principles of natural justice, to make them compensation.'"

Though the treaty of peace left the Loyalists to the mercy--rather to the resentment (as the result proved)--of the American States, and as such received the censure of the House of Commons, British justice and honour recognized the claims of the Loyalists to compensation for their losses, as well as to gratitude for their fidelity to the unity of the empire. The King, at the opening of the session of Parliament, said: "I have ordered inquiry to be made into the application of the sum to be voted in support of the American sufferers; and I trust you will agree with me, that a due and generous attention ought to be shown to those who have relinquished their properties or professions from motives of loyalty to me, or attachment to the mother country." Accordingly, a Bill was introduced and passed without opposition in June, 1783, entitled "An Act Appointing Commissioners to Inquire into the Losses and Services of all such Persons who have Suffered in their Rights, Properties, and Professions, during the late Unhappy Dissensions in America, in consequence of their Loyalty to his Majesty and Attachment to the British Government."

The Commissioners named were John Wilmot, M.P., Daniel Parker Coke, M.P., Esquires, Col. Robert Kingston, Col. Thomas Dundas, and John Marsh, Esquire, who, after preliminary preparations, began their inquiry in the first week of October, and proceeded, with short intermissions, through the following winter and spring. The time for presenting claims was first limited by the Act to the 20th of March, 1784; but the time was extended by the renewal of the Act, from time to time, until 1789, when the Commissioners presented their twelfth and last report, and Parliament finally disposed of the whole matter in 1790, seven years after its commencement.

The Commissioners, according to their first report, divided the Loyalists into six classes, as follows: 1. Those who had rendered service to Great Britain. 2. Those who had borne arms for Great Britain. 3. Uniform Loyalists. 4. Loyal English subjects resident in Great Britain. 5. Loyalists who had taken oaths to the American States, but afterwards joined the British. 6. Loyalists who had borne arms for the American States, but afterwards joined the British navy or army. The reason for this classification is not very apparent; for all showed alike who were able to establish their losses, without reference to differences of merit, or the time or circumstances of their adhering to the Crown.

Every applicant was required to furnish proof of his loyalty, and of every species of loss for which he claimed compensation; in addition to which each claimant was put upon his oath as to his alleged losses; and if in any case perjury or fraud were believed to have been practised, the claimant was at once cut off from his whole claim. The rigid rules which the Commissioners laid down and enforced in regard to claimants, examining each claimant and the witnesses in his behalf separately and apart, caused much dissatisfaction, and gave the proceeding more the character of an Inquisition than of Inquiry. It seemed to place the claimants almost in the position of criminals on whom rested the burden of proof to establish their own innocence and character, rather than in that of Loyalists who had faithfully served their King and country, and lost their homes and possessions in doing so. Very many, probably the large majority of claimants, could not possibly prove the exact value of each species of loss which they had sustained years before, in houses, goods, stocks of cattle, fields with their crops and produce, woods with their timber, etc., etc. In such a proceeding the most unscrupulous would be likely to fare the best, and the most scrupulous and conscientious the worst; and it is alleged that many false losses were allowed to persons who had suffered no loss, while many other sufferers received no compensation, because they had not the means of bringing witnesses from America to prove their losses, in addition to their own testimony.

The chairman of the Commission admits the delay and difficulty caused by the mode of proceeding adopted by the Commissioners. He says: "The investigation of the property of each claimant, and of the value of each article of that property, real and personal, could not but be attended with a good deal of time as well as much caution and difficulty, each claim in fact branching out into so many articles, or rather distinct causes, in which the Commissioners were obliged to execute the office of both judge and jury, or rather of arbitrators between the nation on one side, and the individual on the other, whose whole patrimony as well as character depended on their verdict."

The Act passed in 1783, authorizing the inquiry, being limited to two years, expired in July, 1785, but was renewed with some additions, one of which was a clause to empower the Commissioners to appoint proper persons to repair to America "to inquire into such circumstances as they might think material for better ascertaining the several claims which had been or should be presented to them under this or the former Act of Parliament." The Commissioners appointed John Anstey, Esq., a barrister-at-law, as agent to the United States, "to obtain information as to the confiscation, sale, and value of landed estates, and the total loss of the property of the claimants," respecting which he procured much valuable and authentic information and testimony. They sent Colonel Thomas Dundas and Mr. Jeremy Pemberton, two members of the Board, to visit Nova Scotia and Canada, "to inquire into the claims of such persons as could not without great inconvenience go over to Great Britain."

Before the 25th of March, 1784, the latest period allowed by the first Act for presenting claims, the number of claimants was 2,063, and the property alleged by them to have been lost, according to their schedules, amounted to £7,046,278, besides debts to the amount of £2,354,135. The sum was very large, but the losses were undoubtedly very great. The Commissioners made their first report in July, 1784; and after having detailed their assiduous proceeding in the fulfilment of their trust, and care in examining and deciding on individual cases, reported on the part of the cases submitted, and awarded £201,750 for £534,705 claimed, reducing the amount by more than half the amount claimed.

The second report of the Commissioners was made in December of the same year, and states that 128 additional cases had been examined and disposed of, the amount claimed being £693,257, and the amount allowed was £150,935--less than one-fourth the amount claimed.

One hundred and twenty-two (122) cases were examined into and disposed of in May and July, 1785, according to the third and fourth reports--the amount claimed being £898,196, and the amount allowed being £253,613--less than one-third of the amount claimed.

In April, 1786, the fifth report of the Commissioners was presented, announcing that 142 other claims had been considered and decided, the claims amounting to £733,311, on which the Commissioners allowed £250,506--a little more than one-third of the amount claimed.

The Commissioners proceeded in the same manner with their investigations, and with about the same results, in 1786 and 1787.

On the 5th of April, 1788, the Commissioners reported that they had examined into and declared upon 1,680 claims, and had allowed the sum of £1,887,548 for their payment.

Under all the circumstances, it appears scarcely possible that the Commissioners could have proceeded with more despatch than they did. But the delay caused much dissatisfaction among the Loyalists, whose agents petitioned both King and Parliament on the delay, or on the course pursued by the Commissioners, or on some subject connected with the claims of the Loyalists. Essays and tracts were published; letters and communications appeared in the newspapers on the subject; in 1786, the agents of the Loyalists presented a petition to Parliament, which contained among other things the following touching words: "It is impossible to describe the poignant distress under which many of these persons now labour, and which must daily increase should the justice of Parliament be delayed until all the claims are liquidated and reported; * * ten years have elapsed since many of them have been deprived of their fortunes, and with their helpless families reduced from independent affluence to poverty and want; some of them now languishing in British jails; others indebted to their creditors, who have lent them money barely to support their existence, and who, unless speedily relieved, must sink more than the value of their claims when received, and be in a worse condition than if they had never made them; others have already sunk under the pressure and severity of their misfortunes; and others must, in all probability, soon meet the same melancholy fate, should the justice due them be longer postponed. But, on the contrary, should provision be now made for payment of those whose claims have been settled and reported, it will not only relieve them from their distress, but give credit to others whose claims remain to be considered, and enable all of them to provide for their wretched families, and become again useful members of society."

Two years later, in 1788, a tract was published by a Loyalist, entitled "The Claim of the American Loyalists Reviewed and Maintained upon Incontrovertible Principles of Law and Justice." The writer of that tract thus forcibly states the situation of the Loyalists: "It is well known that this delay of justice has produced the most melancholy and shocking events. A number of sufferers have been driven into insanity and become their own destroyers, leaving behind them their helpless widows and orphans to subsist upon the cold charity of strangers. Others have been sent to cultivate the wilderness for their subsistence, without having the means, and compelled through want to throw themselves on the mercy of the American States, and the charity of former friends, to support the life which might have been made comfortable by the money long since due by the British Government; and many others with their families are barely subsisting upon a temporary allowance from Government, a mere pittance when compared with the sum due them."

Shortly after the publication of the pamphlet containing these statements, the Commissioners submitted their eleventh report, April, 1788, and Mr. Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, yielded the following month to the pressing entreaties of the claimants to allow their grievances to be discussed in Parliament. "Twelve years had elapsed since the property of most of them had been alienated under the Confiscation Acts, and five since their title to recompense had been recognized by the law under which their claims had been presented and disposed of."

We will give an abridged account of the proceedings in Parliament and by the Commissioners in their own words:

"The business came on in the House of Commons on the 6th of June, 1788, which Mr. Pitt opened in a very handsome and eloquent speech respecting the merits of the American Loyalists, and which, he did not doubt, would meet with the unanimous acknowledgment of the House; and he trusted, therefore, there would be no difference of opinion as to the principle, though there might be as to the mode of compensation and the distribution which he thought it his duty to propose.

"The first principle he laid down was, that however strong their claims might be on the generosity of the nation, the compensation could not be considered as a matter of right and strict justice; in the mode, therefore, he had pursued, he had marked the principle in the various quotas of compensation he should propose to be made to the various classes of the American Loyalists.

"He considered the three first classes of them, stated by the Commissioners in their reports as the most meritorious, and who were likewise the most numerous, viz.:

"1st. Loyalists who had rendered services to Great Britain. Number, 204.

"2nd. Loyalists who had borne arms in the service of Great Britain--481.

"3rd. Zealous and uniform Loyalists--626.

"Total number of these three classes--1,311.

"The number of the remaining classes were much fewer, viz.:

"4th. Loyal British subjects resident in Great Britain--20.

"5th. Who took the oath to the Americans, but afterwards joined the British--27.

"6th. Who bore arms for the Americans, but afterwards joined the British--23.

"7th. Ditto, losses under the Prohibitory Act--3.

"8th. Loyal British proprietors--2.

"9th. Subject or settled inhabitants of the United States--25.

"10th. Claims disallowed and withdrawn--313.

"11th. Loyal British subjects who appear to have relief by the Treaty of Peace, but state the impossibility of procuring it--4.

"Mr. Pitt proposed to pay classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, whose liquidated losses did not amount to more than £10,000 each, the full amount of their losses; and if they should exceed the sum of £10,000, to deduct the sum of ten per cent. from excess only of £10,000, provided such losses did not exceed £35,000; and if they exceeded £35,000, then fifteen per cent. from the excess of £10,000, and not above £50,000; and if they exceeded £50,000, then to deduct twenty per cent. from the excess of £10,000; and which principle, he informed the Committee, he meant to follow in every other class.

"With regard to the 4th and 8th classes, viz., of loyal British subjects and loyal British proprietors resident in Great Britain during the war, he did not mean to propose any deduction from the losses under £10,000; but from the losses which amounted from £10,000 to £50,000 he proposed a deduction of twenty per cent. should be made; and a further deduction from those losses amounting to above £50,000, and a still further deduction of seventy per cent. from those from £50,000 to £200,000; and so on in proportion.

"He next considered the case of those Loyalists whose losses principally, if not solely, arose from their loss of office or profession, by which they had been deprived of their livelihood, or means of support, both for themselves or families. These persons were distinct from those who had been in trade or other branches of business, or gained their livelihood by their manual labour. Though these losses were not of so substantial a nature as those who lost property real or personal, yet they could not be easily reinstated in the same lucrative professions which they had enjoyed--civil employment, in the law, in the Church, or in physic--and therefore he thought them entitled to a liberal compensation. But as they were not precluded from exercising their industry and talents in this country, he proposed that all those persons who were reported by Commissioners to have lost incomes not exceeding £400 per annum, should receive pensions at the rate of £50 per cent. of such income, and £40 per cent. for every £100 above £400 per annum; where the value did not exceed £1,500 per annum, £30 per cent. for every £100 per annum exceeding £400; thus the percentage would be governed by and diminish in proportion to the increase of the income lost.

"Having expatiated on these various classes of claimants, Mr. Pitt said he meant to propose that the amount of these various sums should be issued in debentures bearing interest at three and a half per cent., which would be nearly equal to a money payment, and that the whole should be paid off by instalments.

"He began, therefore, by moving 'that provision should be made accordingly.'

"This plan met with general approbation and applause from all sides of the House; not only from the friends of the Minister, but from leaders of the Opposition, particularly from Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke; and Mr. Pitt congratulated the House on their concurrence with him in the plan he laid before the Committee.

"Soon after a motion was made for continuing the Act another year, for the purpose principally of enabling the Commissioners to inquire into claims of certain other persons therein specified, who, it was stated, appeared to have been prevented by particular circumstances from preferring their claims before; provided the Commissioners were satisfied, by proof made on oath, with the reasons assigned by those persons for not having before preferred their respective claims; and the Act passed, including these and other purposes.

"As the Commissioners who had gone to Nova Scotia and Canada had by this time returned to England, and Mr. Anstey was daily expected from the United States, there was more than sufficient to employ the Commissioners, independent of the Act for carrying into effect the plan of relief and compensation into execution.

"The Commissioners immediately, viz., in August, 1788, proceeded with the various matters referred to them.

"Colonel Dundas and Mr. Pemberton, having returned from Nova Scotia and Canada, made a separate report of the proceedings to the Board of Treasury and the Secretaries of State; but the Commissioners, before they finished their deliberations, united the proceedings of both Boards in order to give a comprehensive view of the whole.

"Mr. Anstey also having returned from the United States in September, the Commissioners took a general review of the whole of their proceedings from the commencement of the inquiry, and were thus enabled to supply any defects, to correct any mistakes, and to reconsider any points in which, perhaps, too great humanity to the individuals on the one hand, or too great anxiety to reduce claims which appeared exaggerated on the other, might have led them into error.

"Having thus wound up the business in the spring of 1789, they presented their twelfth and last Report on the 15th of May; and likewise, pursuant to the order of the House of Commons of the 10th of June, 1789, presented a statement of them to that House, comprising the whole of their proceedings in one view, specifying what had been granted by Parliament and what still remained for consideration; but as the inquiring into these claims was not completed, and the Minister thought proper to give way once more to strong applications from various persons, who had been still prevented from preferring or prosecuting their claims under the former Acts of Parliament, the Commission was renewed once more, and it was not till the spring of 1790 that the business was finally settled and adjusted by Parliament. In the beginning of April, in consequence of an order of the House of Commons, on the 31st of March, 1790, the Commissioners laid before the House a statement of the claims and losses of the American Loyalists up to the 25th of March, 1790, with the terms already granted, and of what remained for the consideration of Parliament.

"The general result of this was, that the number of claims preferred in England and Nova Scotia was 3,225--

"Of which were examined 3,225 "Disallowed 343 } "Withdrawn 38 } 934 "Not prosecuted 553 }

"The amount of the claims preferred was £10,358,413.

"The amount of the claims examined was £8,216,126.

"The amount allowed in liquidation thereof amounted to £3,033,091.

"Of which had been provided £2,096,326.

"There remained for consideration of Parliament £936,764.

"The amount of pensions paid to 204 Loyalists, on account of losses of office or profession, was £25,785 per annum, besides annual allowances to 588 persons, chiefly widows, orphans, and merchants, who had no means of livelihood, but had lost no real or personal estate except debts due them, and which had not been gone into for reasons before given.

"As many of the Loyalists who had received pensions or allowances are since deceased, the Lords of the Treasury, by his Majesty's direction, have continued some part of those annual payments to their widows.

"Thus had the nation extended an inquiry for seven successive years into the losses of those who, from motives of loyalty to his Majesty and attachment to the British Government, had risked their lives and sacrificed their fortunes in support of the constitutional dependence of the colonies on Great Britain.

"Whatever may be said of this unfortunate war, either to account for, to justify, or to apologize for the conduct of either country, all the world has been unanimous in applauding the virtue and humanity of Great Britain in rewarding the services, and in compensating, with a liberal hand, the losses of those who suffered so much for their firm and faithful adherence to the British Government."

We will conclude these extracts by giving the Commissioners' account of their mode of proceeding and the reasons for it, together with the acknowledgment of the agents of the claimants in a formal address to the King:

"The principle which has directed our mode of conducting the inquiry," say the Commissioners, "has been that of requiring the very best evidence which the nature and circumstances of the case would admit. We have in no instance hitherto thought fit to dispense with the personal appearance and examination of the claimant, conceiving the inquiry would be extremely imperfect and insecure against fraud and misrepresentation if we had not the advantage of cross-examining the party himself, as well as his witnesses; nor have we, for the same reason, allowed much weight to any testimony that has not been delivered on oath before ourselves. We have investigated with great strictness the titles to real property, wherever the necessary documents could be exhibited to us; and where they have not been produced we have required satisfactory evidence of their loss, or of the inability of the claimant to procure them."

The Commissioners conclude their twelfth and last Report in the following words:

"Great as is the length of time which hath been consumed in the prosecution of this inquiry, it may without difficulty be accounted for by a survey of the multiplicity and complicated nature of the objects to which the Acts of Parliament extended our scrutiny; and when to these are added the investigation (delegated to us by your lordships) of the numerous claims for present relief and temporary support (which alone formed a heavy branch of business, demanding daily attention), the several reviews and modifications of pension lists, and the various other extraneous matters which have incidentally devolved upon us, we trust we shall, on due consideration of this extensive scene of employment, at least stand exculpated by your lordships of inactivity and unnecessary delay. We have felt with anxious solicitude the urgency as well as the importance and delicate nature of the trust reposed in us, and to this impression our exertions towards the speedy, faithful, and honourable execution of it have been proportioned. We cannot flatter ourselves that no errors have been committed; but we have this consolation, that the most assiduous endeavours have not been wanting on our part to do justice to the individuals and to the public. Supported by this reflection in our retirement from this arduous and insidious employment, we shall feel no inconsiderable satisfaction in having been instrumental towards the completion of a work which will ever reflect honour on the character of the British nation.

(Signed) "JOHN WILMOT. "ROBERT KINGSTON. "JOHN MARSH.

"Office of American Claims, "Lincoln's Inn Fields, "May 15th, 1789."

A proper sequel to this whole proceeding will be the following Address of the Agents for the American Loyalists, presented to the King by Sir William Pepperell, Bart., and the other agents, being introduced by the Lord of his Majesty's Bedchamber in waiting; which address his Majesty was pleased to receive very graciously, and they all had the honour to kiss his Majesty's hand:

"To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.

"The Humble Address of the Agents for the American Loyalists.

"Most Gracious Sovereign,--

"Your Majesty's ever dutiful and loyal subjects, the agents of the American Loyalists, who have heretofore been the suppliants of your Majesty in behalf of their distressed constituents, now humbly beg leave to approach your Throne, to pour forth the ardent effusions of their grateful hearts for your most gracious and effectual recommendation of their claims to the just and generous consideration of Parliament.

"To have devoted their fortunes and hazarded their lives in defence of the just rights of the Crown and the fundamental principles of the British Constitution, were no more than their duty demanded of them, in common with your Majesty's other subjects; but it was their peculiar fortune to be called to the trial, and it is their boast and their glory to have been found equal to the task.

"They have now the distinguished happiness of seeing their fidelity approved by their Sovereign, and recompensed by Parliament, and their fellow-subjects cheerfully contributing to compensate them for the forfeiture their attachment to Great Britain incited them to incur; thereby adding dignity to their own exalted character among the nations of the world, and holding out to mankind the glorious principles of justice, equity, and benevolence as the firmest basis of empire.

"We should be wanting in justice and gratitude if we did not upon this occasion acknowledge the wisdom and liberality of the provisions proposed by your Majesty's servants, conformable to your Majesty's gracious intentions for the relief and accommodation of the several classes of sufferers to whose cases they apply; and we are convinced it will give comfort to your royal heart to be assured they have been received with the most general satisfaction.

"Professions of the unalterable attachment of the Loyalists to your Majesty's person and government we conceive to be unnecessary; they have preserved it under persecution, and gratitude cannot render it less permanent. They do not presume to arrogate to themselves a more fervent loyalty than their fellow-subjects possess; but distinguished as they have been by their sufferings, they deem themselves entitled to the foremost rank among the most zealous supporters of the British Constitution. And while they cease not to offer up their most earnest prayers to the Divine Being to preserve your Majesty and your illustrious family in the peaceful enjoyment of your just rights, and in the exercise of your royal virtues in promoting the happiness of your people, they humbly beseech your Majesty to continue to believe them at all times, and upon all occasions, equally ready, as they have been, to devote their lives and properties to your Majesty's service and the preservation of the British Constitution.

"W. Pepperell, for the Massachusetts Loyalists.

"J. Wentworth, for the New Hampshire Loyalists.

"George Rowe, for the Rhode Island Loyalists.

"Ja. Delancey, for the New York Loyalists.

"David Ogden, for the New Jersey Loyalists.

"Joseph Galloway, for the Pennsylvania and Delaware Loyalists.

"Robert Alexander, for the Maryland Loyalists.

"John R. Grymer, for the Virginia Loyalists.

"Henry Eustace McCulloch, for the North Carolina Loyalists.

"James Simpson, for the South Carolina Loyalists.

"William Knox, for the Georgia Loyalists.

"John Graham, late Lieutenant-Governor of Georgia, and joint agent, for the Georgia Loyalists."

FOOTNOTES:

The English Commissioners, in their twelfth and last report, remark on this subject as follows:

"We thought it our duty to state, in our second report of the 24th December, 1784, that the State of South Carolina had, by an Act of the 24th March, 1784, restored the confiscated property of certain Loyalists, subject to the restrictions therein mentioned; and that in consequence thereof many had withdrawn the claims they had before presented to us. We find, however, that in many instances the parties have not been able to reap that advantage they had expected, and which the Act above-mentioned held out to them. In some instances the property restored has been so wasted and injured as to be of little value; in others, the amercements and charges have been nearly equal to the value of the fee simple of the estates; and in many, where the indents being the species of money received by the State, have been restored to the former proprietors, an inevitable and considerable loss has been sustained by the depreciation. In all these cases we have made minute inquiry into the real benefit that has been derived from such restitution, whether of the property itself, or of the indents in lien of it; and having endeavoured to ascertain, as nearly as the circumstances would admit, the value of what was lost and the value of what was restored, we have considered the difference as the real loss of the party."]

"1. Additional claims liquidated since 1788, to the amount of £224,406

"2. The proprietary claims of Messrs. Pennes £500,000

"3. Do. Do. Trustees under the will of Lord Granville, North Carolina 60,000

"4. The proprietary claims of Robert Lord Fairfax, proprietor of Virginia 60,000

"5. Claims of subjects, settled inhabitants of the United States, many of which were cases of great merit and peculiar hardship 32,462

"6. Claims of persons who appeared to have relief under the Treaty of Peace 14,000

"7. Claims of creditors on ceded lands in Georgia 45,885"]

"The claims for debts due from subjects of the United States, as well from the magnitude of their amount as the peculiar hardship and injustice under which the claimants labour respecting them, form a subject which appears strongly to press for the attention and interposition of Government. The Treaty of Peace having provided that 'Creditors on either side should meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value of their debts in sterling money,' losses of this nature have not been considered as within the inquiry directed by the Act, because we cannot consider any right or property as lost to the party where the Government of the country has expressly provided and stipulated for a remedy by a public treaty. We think it, however, incumbent upon us to represent that the claimants uniformly state to us the insuperable difficulties they find themselves under, as individuals, in seeking the recovery of their debts according to the provision of the treaty, whilst themselves are the objects of prosecution in courts of justice here for debts due to the subjects of the United States. Under such circumstances, the situation of this class of sufferers appears to be singularly distressing--disabled on the one hand by the laws or practice of the several States from recovering the debts due them, yet compellable on the other to pay all demands against them; and though the stipulation in the treaty in their favour has proved of no avail to procure them the redress it holds out in one country, yet they find themselves excluded by it from all claims to relief in the other."]

"It may, perhaps, appear singular that so many claims presented, viz., 448, have been withdrawn; but it may be owing, in the first place, to the circumstance of many of these claimants having recovered possession of their estates, and, in the next place, to the uncertainty, at the commencement of the inquiry, as to the nature of the Commission, and the species of loss which was the object of it, and perhaps to the consciousness of others that they were not able to establish the claims they had presented."]