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Doc. No. 36.
spoliations on bis fellow-citizens by the same authority, to the amount of about $300,000 have been brought to the knowledge of the Government by means of different memorials, and have been urged through public agents on the Haytian Government for redress, but that the appeals h a v e been continually evaded by a preliminary demand for a formal recognition of that Government, which considerations of policy h a v e p r e v e n t e d . Your memorialist indulges the hope that the subsequent history of t h e Haytian G o v e r n m e n t , and the recognition of its independence by F r a n c e , may, in the opinion of Congress, justify such departure from the policy heretofore deemed expedient towards that Government as to remove t h e obstacles that have obstructed all negotiations for redress. Should, h o w ever, your honorable bodies, in your wisdom, think otherwise, your m e morialist trusts that the Haytian Government will not be permitted, on such untenable grounds as heretofore, longer to elude those obligations of justice which attach to recognised nations; and your memorialist, i n full confidence of the disposition of your honorable bodies to extend t o your fellow-citizens effectual protection, most respectfully appeals to you to sustain his claim for redress in such wise as may be most effectual, a n d your memorialist will ever pray, &c. HENRY DAVIES, By his Attornies. JOHN BRICE, HOWEL PRICE.
GEORGETOWN, July
16,
1830.
SIR : During the last session of Congress, a memorial of H e n r y D a vies, a citizen of the United States, but then as now being abroad, was presented to the House of Representatives by his agent and attorney in fact, John Brice, Esq., of Baltimore, praying the interposition of Con gress for the recovery of a claim on the Haytian Government. T h e m e morial was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and, subsequent ly, on the ground that the office of interposal rested more properly with the E x e c u t i v e , the committee w e r e , on their motion, discharged from the farther consideration of the subject, and Col. H o w a r d , of the House of Representatives, advised Mr. Brice that the memorial and report w e r e in your Department, and that he had advised you that Mr. Brice would address you'on the subject. By request of Mr. Brice, I have called several times at the Department on this subject; but, though Mr. Brent retained some recollection of the memorial, it could not be found, and may be lost. I therefore, in behalf of the party, take the liberty to lay before you the particulars of the claim as presented in the memorial, and to appeal through you to the E x e c u tive for such interposition as the case merits. On the 5th of February, 1806, H e n r y Davies shipped, on his own ac count from Baltimore, on board'of the schooner Mary A n n , a vessel of the United States, whereof he was owner and John H a y n e s master, among'other merchandise, 700 barrels of gunpowder, weighing 18,0781/2 pounds, consigned to'John B . Sayre, supercargo, and destined for St. Jago de Cuba, and a market. T h e vessel sailed on her voyage, and, in the prosecution of it, arrived at Cape Francois, March 1 3 , 1 8 0 6 , w h e r e , shortly