Doc. No. 36.
25
States. * You are accordingly requested to give it all the assistance and support that may be in your power. 1 am, with much respect, sir, your very humble and obedient servant, J O H N QUINCY A D A M S . ANDREW
ARMSTONG,
U. S. Commercial
Agent
at
Port-au-Prince.
BALTIMORE, March
12, 1526.
M Y D E A R SIR : My friends, Messrs. Gilmor and Mr. Oliver, have sent me the enclosed statement and papers, with a request that I should ask you to peruse them ; but, as I have no intention to go to Washington, I take the liberty of sending them to you. T h e case is a very simple one. T h e President of H a y t i has appro priated the money of Messrs. Gilmor and Mr. Oliver to the settlement of a claim of the Government of Hayti against the late Duncan Mcintosh w h o had been the agent of those gentlemen. T h e agency of their affairs had been taken out of the hands of Mr. Mcintosh more than two years before his death, and the collection of their money confided to other persons. T h e s e persons applied to the President of Hayti for his assistance in making the collection, and submitted the pa pers to him. H e retained the papers, enforced the payment, and applied t h e funds as above explained. Messrs. Gilmor and Mr. Oliver have been assured, by their corres pondent at H a y t i , that a letter from you to the President of Hayti, giving t h e m the support and countenance of our Government, would procure them a prompt and equitable adjustment of their claim; and they respect fully request you to give them a letter to that effect. T h e y do not imagine that any objection can be made, inasmuch as it seems to be the only means by which they can hope to recover property t h a t has been so long and so unjustly kept from them, and as the Secre tary of State did give such a letter addressed to the President of H a y t i , dated Washington, March 1 3 , 1 8 2 1 , in support of a claim upon that Go vernment. Messrs. Gilmor and Mr. Oliver offer, as an apology for troubling you at a season when you are so much occupied, the great length of time since the affair originated, and their just apprehensions that this fact and the absence or death of some of the persons on whom the settlement of their claim depends may combine to defeat it altogether. May I venture to say that your early attention to this subject will con fer a welcome favor on the above-named gentlemen, and very much oblige your obedient servant and friend, CHRISTOPHER HUGHES. HENRY
CLAY,
Secretary
Esq.,
of Slate,
Washington.
P . S. Mr. Forrest is acquainted with the circumstances of a former application of Mr. Oliver to M r . M o n i o e , and can give information on t h e subject. C H. * See a copy of Mr. Oliver's letter to the Secretary of State, of October 30,1833.