als, all banks, like individuals, either directly or indirectly, by various accidents to themselves or their cus tomers, such as robbery, fire, tempests, and wars, are exposed to occasional and severe losses. In fine, the mere credit involved so deeply in the whole paper system as a system, is a circumstance, from the evils of which, granting is benefits in other respects, it is not in the power of buman ingenuity wholly to escape. The vice or danger is inherent in credit itself when so extensive: credit, that the bills will be redeemed, and this credit depending not only on the faithful conduct of the directors and officers of the bank, and the exemption of its property on hand from inevitable casualties, but on the solvency and punctuality of the great mass of its customers, exposed in their persons and fortunes to those thousand accidents by blood and field, from which nothing mortal is secure, and against which governments the most rigid and vigilant, any more than individuals, cannot effectually guard. Governments cannot be administered without giving some credit to debtors, and to collecting, keeping, and disbursing officers. Changing the name of the debtor, or the debtor himself, from an individual to a bank or corporation, does not produce any charm on the nature of the transaction, and does not prevent it from still resting on credit, and being, in some degree, liable to all its dangers and disasters. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 27, 1834. The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th instant, requesting the President of the United States "to communicate to the House (if not in his opinion incompatible with the public interest) any communications or correspondence which may have taken place between our minister at Paris and the French Government, or between the minister from France to this Government and the Secretary of State, on the subject of the refusal of the French Government to make provision for the execution of the treaty concluded between the United States and France, on the 4th July, 1831," has the honor of reporting to the President copies of the papers desired by that resolution. It will be perceived that no authority was given to either of the charges d'affaires who succeeded Mr. Rives to enter into any correspondence with the French Government in regard to the merits of the convention, or in relation to its execution, except to urge the prompt delivery of the papers stipulated for in the sixth article, and to apprize that Government of the arrangement made for receiving payment of the first instaliment. All which is respectfully submitted. JOHN FORSYTH. To the PRESIDENT of the U. States. LIST OF ACCOMPANYING PAPERS. Instructions from the Department of State. dated Feb. 4. 1832. Mr. Livingston to Mr. Rives, Feb. 24, 4, "6 Feb. 8, 1833. Same to same, Daniel Brent, acting secretary to same, Oct. But the consequent embarrassments, though often inevitable, are in a greater degree inseparable from a paper than a metallic system; and it is therefore desirable either to avoid the former, whenever it can be legally effected, and without an exposure to equal inju. ries of a different character, or to restrict it, in the safest forms practicable, to its original and most useful pur poses. It is gratifying to reflect, however, that the credit given by the Government, whether to bank paper or bank agents, has been accompanied by smaller losses in the experience under the system of State banks in this country at their worst periods, and under their severest calamities, than any other kind of credit the Government has ever given in relation to its pecuniary transactions. Hence, unless the States, and the United States, should both deem it proper, gradually, and in the end Same to same, entirely, to dispense with the paper system, (and which event is not anticipated,) the Government cannot escape occasional losses from that quarter, and can never hope to escape all losses from banks as fiscal agents, except by the employment in their place of other and individual agents, who will probably be found less responsible, safe, convenient, and economical. All which is respectfully submitted. LEVI WOODBURY, The Hon. the SPEAKER CORRESPONDENCE WITH FRANCE In relation to the refusal of that Government to make provision for the execution of the treaty between the United States and France. WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 1834. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, together with the papers relating to the refusal of the French Government to make provision for the execution of the treaty between the United States and France, concluded on the 4th July, 1831, requested by their resolution of the 24th instant. ANDREW JACKSON. Same to same, 66 Mar. 13, June 3, 66 June 18, June 24, July 25, Sept. 27, Dec. 11, Mar. 15, 1834. Mr. Forsyth to same, Mr. Niles to the Duc de Broglie, Mr. Harris to the Duc de Broglie, The Count de Rigny to Mr. Livingston, Aug. 8, Sept. 5, Same to Mr. Barton, Mr. Livingston to M. Serurier, Mr. McLane to M. Serurier, dated April 26, 1833. April 27, 66 May 18, May 19, 66 June 3, June 9, June 17, 66 66 66 Aug. 31, 66 WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 1832. SIR: The sixth article of the convention lately concluded between the United States and France provides for the furnishing of evidence by the two Governments, in support of the claims of the citizens or subjects of the parties, respectively, under the same convention. It is the wish of the Presiden', therefore, that you should lose no time in addressing an application to the Government of France for the benefit of the citizens of the United States having such claims, conformably with the provision of the article of the convention referred to. The letter from Mr. John Connell, who is the agent of very many of the claimants on our part, dated the 13th of this month, to this Department, will be found a good guide, as far as it goes, in designating the nature and extent of the evidence required. It is the wish of the President, moreover, that all the documentary evidence, to the same effect, which may be in the archives of the legation or consulate of the United States at Paris, should be carefully selected, and transmitted as soon as may be, with that first above referred to, by some safe and suitable opportunity, to this Department, together with lists of the whole. As some expense must, in all probability, attend the execution of this commission, the President authorizes you to defray such as may be rea Daniel Brent, acting Secretary of State, to Mr. Rives.— Extract. WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 1832. The claimants under the convention with France await with great anxiety the production by the French Government of the documents which you have officially applied for; and the zeal with which you attend to that subject, so important to them at the present juncture, is proportionably appreciated. I have instructed our agent for claims and consul at Paris to exert himself in forwarding the same object, and have assured him that he would find you ready to afford him all the assistance in your power, and to sustain him in the performance of my instructions by your official weight and influence. Mr. Livingston to Mr. Niles, Charge d'Affaires of the United States at Paris. DEPARTMENT of State, WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 1833. SIR: The Secretary of the Treasury, in conformity with the provision of a law of the last session of Congress, yesterday drew a bill upon the Minister of State and Finance of the French Government for the first instalment and the interest thereupon, and for the interest upon the remaining instalments, which interest is stipulated to be paid by that Government to this in twelve months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the late convention between the United States and his Majesty the King of the French. The bill is drawn in favor of Samuel Jaudon, cashier of the Bank of the United States, or order, and will go accompanied to the assignee thereof, in France, by a full power from the President, authorizing and empowering him, upon the due payment of the same, to give the necessary receipt and acquittance to the French Government, according to the provision of the convention referred to. You will take an early opportunity, therefore, to ap. prize the French Government of this arrangement. I am, sir, respectfully, Your obedient servant, EDW. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Livingston to Mr. Levett Harris, Charge d'Affaires of the United States at Paris.-Extract. WASHINGTON, March 13, 1833. Mr. Niles being instructed to deliver over to you the books and archives of the legation, including the correspondence between this Department and the late Minister of the United States at Paris, as well as with himself, little or nothing more need be said to you upon the present occasion, except barely to refer you to those archives and that correspondence, for making you acquainted with the state of the business of the legation, and to recommend to your special care and attention the interesting concern which was given in charge to Mr. Rives, and has since been intrusted to Mr. Niles, of urging a prompt delivery of the papers and documents required of the French Government, by stipulation of the sixth article of the late convention between the United States and France, to serve as evidence of the claims of citizens of the United States, under the same convention. Mr. McLane to Mr Livingston.-Extract. WASHINGTON, June 3, 1833. The unexpected and unaccountable failure, on the part of France, seasonably to provide for the payment of the first instalment under the convention of the 4th of July, 1831, due on the 2d of February last, will also require your prompt attention. The causes of this failure are, as yet, unexplained; and the disappointment felt by the United States at this extraordinary delay is greatly increased by the fact, officially communicated by the French minister at Washington, that, down to a date subsequent to the demand by the United States, the Executive department of the French Government had not even applied to the Legislative branch for the necessary appropriation to enable it to fulfil the stipulations of the treaty. A copy of M. Serurier's letter to the acting Secretary of State, upon this subject, and of the answer which the President directed to be made, will accompany these instructions, and will enable you to understand the view which the President entertains of the whole transaction. It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the obligations of the French Government to comply in good faith with the stipulations of the treaty; but it will not escape your observation that, of all the advantages secured by that convention to the Government of France, and to its citizens, they have been in the full enjoyment ever since the date of the exchange of the ratifications. Your will therefore immediately inquire into the causes which have prevented the faithful execution of the convention on the part of the French Government, and make the ministers sensible not only of the disappointment felt by the President, but of the effect which the non-payment of the instalment is calculated to produce in the minds of the Government, and with the people of the United States, towards the Government of France. You will promptly communicate the result of your inquiries to this Department, for the information of the President, and you will insist upon the execution of the treaty without further delay, not only by the payment of the principal and interest, subsequently accruing of the money due on the 2d of February last, but of any | expense or charges of any kind which the United States will necessarily incur by reason of the failure to pay at the time of the demand. The Duc de Broglie is understood to have expressed some regret, and even astonishment, that the United States should have undertaken to draw a bill of exchange for the amount of the instalment due on the 2d of February last. It is evident, however, that there is no foundation for this complaint, since the bill was not drawn at Washington until after the money was due in France. No inconvenience whatever could have arisen to the French Government if they had been prepared to pay when the United States had a right to demand; and an attempt to excuse its own delinquency, by complaining of the United States for the mode adopted for receiving payment, is an aggravation of the injury previously inflicted upon the interests of the United States. Your situation in the Government at the time of this transaction, and your participation in the councils and arguments leading to it, have already made you familiar not only with the grounds by which the right of the United States to resort to that mode for receiving payment may be clearly sustained, but with the motives which recommended its adoption. This knowledge, therefore, together with the further information you may derive of the President's views, from the letter to M. Serurier, will be sufficient for your present purpose, without a more detailed discussion of the subject. The President, however, will, under no circumstances, permit the right of the United States to draw for the instalment by a bill of exchange, accompained by the authority which was, in this instance, given to the holder of the bill, to be questioned; and he will insist upon the obligation of the French Government to pay not only the loss of interest upon the instalment until the United States shall actually receive it, but also to make indemnity for any loss which the United States may have sustained by the failure on the part of France to fulfil the stipulations of the treaty. When the extent of these losses shall be ascertained, the demand for indemnity will be properly presented, and you will be particularly instructed upon those points on which it may be sustained. In the mean time, it will be sufficient to inform the French Government that the United States will confidently rely upon their sense of justice for such indemnity as the case shall require. [No. 5.] Mr. McLane to Mr. Harris. Washington, June 18, 1833. SIR: A correspondence has recently taken place between this Department and M. Serurier, the minister of France at Washington, relative to the protested draft on the French Government, of which, for reasons hereafter stated, it is proper you should be informed, and a copy is accordingly herewith communicated. Mr. Livingston, who is expected shortly to proceed upon his mission to Paris, is particularly charged to ask such explanations and such indemnity as the nature of the case may authorize and require; and it is the wish of the President that both the general and particular official management of the subject should be left for his arrival. There is some reason to apprehend, however, that M. Serurier may not entirely have comprehended the spirit and import of the letters from this Department, and that any misapprehension upon his part, if communicated to his Government, might probably produce a prejudicial influence upon the negotiation with which Mr. Living. ston is charged. Under these circumstances, and lest Mr. Livingston's departure should from any cause be unexpectedly delayed, it is deemed proper to acquaint you with what has taken place here, and submit to your discreet judg ment, should the subject be mentioned to you by the French Government, to avail yourself of that opportunity to inform the ministers, in casual conversations, that Mr. Livingston is fully instructed upon the whole subject, and to explain the views entertained by this Government; and you may add, also, such assurances of the earnest desire of the President to maintain the friendly relations happily existing between the two nations, as you may deem necessary or proper. You will perceive, particularly from the note of M. Serurier to the Secretary of State, of the 10th instant, that he takes some pains to disclaim, on the part of France, "les arriere pensees," and also to disavow every thing like dissimulation in her acts, as if such motives or conduct had been, in fact, attributed to that Government. Why these observations were made by M. Seru. rier, it is not easy to discover, since it will be obvious to you, from a view of my note of the 3d instant, that such an insinuation was not even remotely hinted at. In fact, the whole tenor of the note is entirely respectful to the Government and ministry of France; and though, as is believed, it unanswerably maintains the right and pro priety of the mode adopted by the United States to re Correspondence with France. ceive payment of the instalment, and refutes the objections taken by the Duc de Broglie to the bill of exchange, these objects are pursued and accomplished with as much decorum as the occasion allowed. The fault was on the part of the French ministry in not being prepared to pay the instalment in any form, and it would be difficult to excuse an attempt to justify that fault by a complaint against this Government for demanding what they were justly entitled to. All this, however, will be properly represented and enforced by Mr. Livingston, under his instructions; and I have only to repeat, that the sole object of this letter is to enable you to prevent any evil or misconstruction until he can arrive and enter upon his duties. I need scarcely admonish you of the great discretion and circumspection necessary to be observed in your conversations upon this subject; but you cannot be too careful to avoid any appearance of shrinking from our ground, while we manifest a proper disposition to maintain it in a manner becoming the dignity and character of the two Govern ments. I do not entirely understand the hesitation on the part of France to communicate the documents according to the treaty; and certainly the inconvenience stated by the Duc de Broglie, as it ought to have been foreseen previously to the treaty, should not now be permitted to interfere with its prompt execution. Nevertheless, no objection is perceived to the arrangement proposed by Mr. Harris; and you are therefore authorized to agree to the restoration to France of those documents, excepting the decrees of the French courts, which there can be no reason for including in such an agreement, after they shall no longer be necessary for the purposes of the commissioners, and for those contemplated by the treaty. It appears to me important that this matter, as well as the demands and explanations arising out of the nonpayment of the instalment and the protested draft, should be confided entirely to your management; and this, not more than the critical state of affairs in Europe, as disclosed by Mr. Harris's letters, and other accounts recently received, would seem imperiously to require your early presence at Paris. Mr. McLane to Mr. Livingston.-Extract. [23d CONG. 2d SESS. You will require no remark from me to enforce the obligations of the French Government under the treaty. It is enough that by it the national faith is pledged, and it will be your duty to let it be clearly understood that this Government will rigorously insist upon the prompt and complete fulfilment of all the stipulations. The hesitation which already has been manifested upon this subject is wholly unwarrantable and unac countable. There is too much reason, however, to apprehend that the ministers themselves have not acted with becoming alacrity; and you are already aware that the spirit of opposition has been manifested, chiefly by the ministerial party. This is the less excusable, because the present King is understood to have been active in promoting the conclusion of the treaty, and is, on that account, under peculiar obligations to ensure the cooperation and support of his own friends. The President expects, therefore, that you will immediately inquire into, and, if possible, ascertain, the real cause of the hesitation and delay which have already taken place: and he directs that you will early demand of the French Government an explicit statement of the views and intentions of the King and his ministers, and also of their future expectations, in order that such measures as the occasion shall, in his judgment, require, may be promptly adopted. [No. 9.] Mr. McLane to Mr. Livingston. September 27, 1833. SIR: In a despatch from this office, addressed to your predecessor on the 18th of June last, was enclosed a copy of the correspondence, prior to that date, between this Department and M. Serurier, the French minister, regarding the non-fulfilment, on the part of France, of the stipulations of the indemnity convention of the 4th of July, 1831. I have now the honor to transmit to you copies of three official notes relating to the same subject, which have since passed between the Secretary of State and the diplomatic representative of his Majesty the King of the French. These documents, in connexion with those previously sent, will, it is believed, put the legation at Paris fully in possession of all that is necessary to a perfect understanding of the present state of this affair at Washington. Confident that you will take an early opportunity, after your arrival at Paris, to make application to the French Government, in obedience to your instructions, for such redress and explanations as may be just and proper on the occasion, much anxiety is felt here to be promptly advised of the progress of your negotiation; and the President entertains a lively hope that a satisfactory arrangement of existing difficulties may yet be made in season to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of the approaching I am, with great respect, Your obedient servant, session. WASHINGTON, July 25, 1833. I am instructed by the President to state that it is his earnest wish that you repair to your post with all possible despatch, and that, on your arrival, you will lose no time in representing to the French Government, in bold and energetic terms, the deep disappointment the President already feels, and the injurious effects which a failure to execute the treaty must unavoidably produce upon the relations between the two countries. I am not satisfied that, in drawing the paper he consented to prepare for the Duc de Broglie, Mr. Harris should have entered into a particular exposition of the negotiations which resulted in the conclusion of the treaty. That convention should be treated as finally and conclusively settling the rights, and fixing the obligations of the parties, and as rendering unnecessary on either side, and on that of France improper, any allusion to the past. three last only the day before the President sent his message to Congress. The President could not adopt your suggestion for recommending the suspension of the act of Congress executing the convention, on the part of the United States, inasmuch as that measure would have weakened the strong ground on which we now stand, and deprived us of the advantage we now possess in having promptly fulfilled our engagements. The true policy is scrupu. lously to fulfil our engagements, and rigidly to exact a similar performance from others. In this spirit your instructions were conceived, and by the same spirit the future policy of this Government will be guided. Should the United States unfortunately be driven to coercive measures to enforce the treaty, it is not probable that they will be of so mild a character as that you have suggested. The President is much gratified at the manner in which you have already entered upon and conducted the important business of your mission; and he does not doubt that you will use every exertion in your power to effect an appropriation at the earliest period after the meeting of the Chambers. On this subject it will be important to allow the past to offer an admonition for the future, and to guard against similar embarrassments by an appropriation for the instalments which may hereafter become due. It is hoped, therefore, that you will find little difficulty in prevailing upon the King and his ministers to obtain such a law as will authorize the payment of each of the instalments, as they severally fall due, without the necessity of recurring again to the Chambers. This would not only be wise and prudent in itself, but expedient and advantageous for the ministry. It would, moreover, be only a fair concession to us for previous disappointment, and a proper manifestation on the part of the French Government of their desire to avoid the recurrence of difficulty in future. I am, sir, with great respect, Your obedient servant, tate the liquidation of the claims. The common and natural import of the word "communicate" is, to impart to others what is in one's own possession, to give to others as partakers, to bestow, and to confer a joint possession; in either sense the word is sufficiently comprehensive and explicit to require of France to confer upon the United States a joint possession of the records necessary in the execution of their joint convention. To understand this engagement properly, it should be considered no less in reference to the objects of the treaty than to the purpose to which the documents or informations are to be applied. It is an engagement between the Governments that each will communicate to the other the documents in their possession, respectively, for the purpose of being used as evidence in the liquidation of claims guarantied by the treaty. Now in what manner can "documents" or "titles" required for this purpose be communicated? In no other way, it is presumed, than by bestowing the originals, or copies, or imparting their contents in such an official and authentic form as will render them competent evidence for the purpose to which they are to be applied. The joint possession of these documents, to which the United States are entitled, as is implied by the treaty, could not be in any other manner conferred. While France may be free to adopt either of the above modes, as may best suit her convenience, it cannot be pretended, if she adopt the one imposing the greatest labor upon her own officers, that the United States can be bound to pay the expense incurred for her own accommodation." You will not fail to observe, moreover, that this is not an engagement that individuals may procure from the courts of France copies of their records-a right existing independent of the treaty-but that the Government of France will communicate those records to the Government of the United States. The Government of France also has engaged to do this without any condition whatever annexed to her stipulation; but if it has a right to require fees and expenses attending the fulfilment of the engagement, it not only annexes a condition, but one which might prove extremely onerous to the Government having the right of a joint possession of the documents, if not destructive of the objects of the treaty. The right to annex such a condition, moreover, would render the sixth article of the treaty nugatory; inasmuch as, independently of that engagement, either the Government of the United States, or their individual citizens, would have been entitled to apply for copies of judicial records upon paying the fees of office. It is clear, therefore, that the treaty meant to create an unconditional obligation on the part of the French Government to do something more, and on different terms, than she could have been required to do without it. It is believed that there can be no reasonable doubt of the obligation on the part of the French Government to communicate to the United States the records of her The President persuades himself that you will see, in courts free of expense. The change of the word " com- these observations, a clear right to insist upon a communicate," used in the convention, from that of "de- munication of these documents free of expense, and that liver," in Mr. Rives's projet, cannot vary the obligation. you will be able to convince the French ministry that The word "communicate" is not less sign ficant than their interpretation of the sixth article cannot be rethe word "deliver," in regard either to "documents" garded as a literal execution of the treaty, I may add, or "titles," but is more comprehensive and more appro- also, that the records of the courts are not only the most priate in regard to other matters; and it may well be important, but, indeed, the only important documents supposed to have been used in the convention, in pref-proper to facilitate the liquidation of the American erence to the word "deliver," because, by the sixth claims; the other papers to which your letter relates, article, not only documents and titles, but "other inform- being, for the most part, immaterial, and not particuations" necessary to facilitate the liquidation of the larly required, either by the claimants or the commisclaims, were to be imparted; and as to these "other sioners. informations," the word "deliver" would not have been pertinent. The plain engagement of the Government of France, under the sixth article, is to communicate to that of the United States, by the intermediary of the legation, the documents, titles, or other informations, proper to facili It is the desire of the President that you will lose no time in bringing this matter to a close, and, if your renewed exertions should fail in producing a change in the views of the French ministry, that you will, nevertheless, direct the copies to be made, and inform this Department of the sum which will probably be required to pay the |