Doc. No.
11
36.
JABEZ BOOTHROYD'S
CLAIM.
BALTIMORE, November
13,
1816.
S I R : Without apology, permit m e , as one of the sufferers, to address you on the subject of the St. Domingo claim recently submitted by memo足 rial to the President of the United States. T o the facts already before his Excellency the P r e s i d e n t , I wish to state some others, connected with this subject, which forms a just ground of further claims on the Haytian Government. On the 6th October, 1810, an embargo was laid on all American vessels exclusively, then at Cape H e n r y , which w e r e nine in number. T h r e e days after, another American vessel arrived t h e r e , which was forthwith sub足 j e c t to the same restrictions. Fifty-three days after the embargo had been laid, a special permission w a s obtained for the departure of my ves足 sel o n l y ; all the others w e r e detained until the 3d of J a n u a r y , 1811. T h e owners of those vessels h a v e , most unquestionably, a just claim on the Haytian Government, for the loss sustained in consequence of said e m b a r g o , which, at the moderate estimate of twenty dollars per day for each vessel, amounts to seventeen thousand dollars. T h e inquiry will doubtless suggest itself : W h y was not this claim laid before the P r e s i d e n t when the confiscation of property was complained of and submitted ? T o this I answer, because it could not be supported by documentary evidence, emanating from the Haytian Government, as was the case in relation to the confiscation of our property. W e there足 fore viewed this as the weakest part of our cause, although it is not t h e less just or equivocal in its nature ; we also thought that the adjustment of this matter would follow of course, if the main subject should receive the wished for interference of our Government ; yet, as without a full statement of our wrongs, justice cannot be claimed in our behalf, it has appeared to me proper and necessary that those facts should be stated to our G o v e r n m e n t , in order that they may have a full view of the whole subject. I offer no evidence in support of this statement, but submit it with these remarks : that it is made not from memory only, but from notes taken at the time or immediately subsequent to the events having taken place ; and that the testimony of many persons who w e r e at the cape at the time can be adduced, if deemed necessary. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your humble servant, JABEZ BOOTHROYD. Hon.
JAMES MONROE,
Secretary
of
State.
CLAIM O F THE CHESAPEAKE INSURANCE BALTIMORE.
COMPANY,
O F F I C E OF T H E C H E S A P E A K E INSURANCE C O M P A N Y ,
Baltimore, July 16, 1819. S I R : At the suggestion of the board of directors of the Chesapeake Insurance Company, I ask your permission to submit to your perusal the