to dispose of the very great and unanticipated amount of business which had devolved upon them; and a letter was drawn up by them to the American minister, and to her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, recommending. the extension of the commission for four months." In consequence of this representation, Mr. Marcy, Secretary of State, and Mr. Crampton, British minister, concluded at Washington on July 17, 1854, a convention extending the existence of the commission for a period not exceeding four months from the 15th of the following September, should such extension be deemed necessary by the commissioners, or by the umpire, in case of their disagreement. But it was agreed that nothing in the new convention should in anywise alter or extend the time originally fixed for the presentation of the claims.

Adjournment of
Commission.

After June 12, 1854, the commission held sixty-seven sessions more, making in all from the day of its first meeting a hundred and thirty-four sessions. Its last meeting was on January 15, 1855. On that day the commissioners met with the umpire for the consideration of claims remaining undisposed of. This purpose was accomplished by the announcement of the umpire's decision in two cases. Directions were given for the collection of all accounts and expenditures incurred during the sittings of the commission, and for the completion of its records and proceedings. The joint report of the commissioners to each of the two governments was then drawn up and signed, and the business of the commission terminated.

The whole number of claims presented to the American Claims. commission was 115. Of these, some of which embraced numerous items, 75 were against the United States and 40 against Great Britain. Of their gross amount no computation was made, and none is possible from the records, but it reached far into the millions. Of the American claims against Great Britain, 12 were allowed, 27 dismissed, . and 1 withdrawn. In the claims that were allowed, 2 of the awards were by the commissioners and 10 by the umpire. Of the 27 claims that were disallowed, 23 were dismissed by the commissioners and 4 by the umpire. The total amount awarded to American claimants was $329,734.16, or, at the rate of exchange established by the commissioners of $4.84 to the pound sterling, £68,131 74d.

The grounds of dismissal, in the cases in which any were

assigned, were various; but, except in certain cases where the umpire delivered opinions, they were stated in such manner as to disclose nothing of the reasoning. Of the claims that were allowed, two were for customs duties improperly collected, in one case at the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand, in 1840 and 1841, and in the other at Halifax in 1822. In the latter case the vessel, which had put in merely on her way to a market, was required to enter and pay duties, and was thus forced to dispose of her cargo at a loss. Three claims were allowed on account of wrongful seizures of vessels on the charge of being engaged in the slave trade; three for the wrongful seizure of vessels engaged in the fisheries adjacent to the coasts of British North America; and one for the capture of an American vessel by a British ship of war on March 5, 1815, when peace existed by the terms of the Treaty of Ghent at the place where the seizure occurred. The three remaining cases in which awards were made in favor of American claimants were those of the brigs Creole and Enterprise, and the schooner Hermosa. These belonged to a series of cases which at the time of their occurrence produced much excitement in the United States, especially in the South, and threatened serious international complications.

Cases of "Comet" and "Encomium."

In 1831 the American brig Comet, while on a voyage from Alexandria, then in the District of Columbia, to New Orleans, with a cargo of slaves, the property of American citizens, was wrecked on the Bahama banks. The slaves were saved and carried to the island of New Providence, where they were libeled for forfeiture under the British acts prohibiting the slave trade. The libel was dismissed by the court, but the governor on his own authority declared the slaves to be free, and refused to permit the owners to take them from the island. Mr. Van Buren, who was then minister to England, was instructed to lay the case before the British Government, with a strong expression of confidence that the action of the governor would be disavowed. On February 25, 1832, Mr. Van Buren presented the case to Lord Palmerston, and asked that the slaves be ordered to be restored and that a reasonable indemnity be paid for their detention. The case was referred to the law officers for their opinion, but though often urged to do so the British Government failed to reply to Mr. Van Buren's note. In February 1833 the American brig Encomium, while on a

Cases of the "Enter

"Hermosa."

voyage from Charleston to New Orleans, with 45 slaves on board, was wrecked at nearly the same place as the Comet. The slaves were saved and taken to Nassau, where they were liberated by the police magistrate against the protest of the United States consul. On the 2d of August 1834 Mr. Vail, who was then chargé d'affaires of the United States in London, was instructed by Mr. Forsyth, then Secretary of State, to press for an answer to Mr. Van Buren's note in the case of the Comet, and also to call attention to the case of the Encomium. On the 11th of May 1835, no answer in these cases having been received, Mr. Vail renewed prise" and the the subject, and also presented the case of the brig Enterprise, which while on a voyage from Alexandria to Charleston in 1835, with 73 slaves on board, was driven from her course by stress of weather and compelled to put into the port of Hamilton, in Bermuda, for provisions. On her arrival there she was seized by the colonial authorities, but was afterward released. The customs authorities however detained the ship's papers, in order to learn the pleasure of the governor, and in the mean time a writ of habeas corpus, issued by the chief justice, was served on the master, requiring him to produce the slaves, who on disembarking were taken from his custody and set at liberty. Mr. Vail, in bringing the occurrence to the notice of the British Government, said it was the third case "of an American vessel, pursuing a voyage recognized as lawful by the legislation of the United States, and by all the principles of public law, forced, by act of God, to seek, in a British port, a refuge from the tempest, relief from starvation for her crew and passengers, and that aid, protection, and hospitality," which were due to the distressed mariner and the property in his charge, and which were in these cases denied. On November 13, 1835, Lord Palmerston stated that it had been decided to refer the whole subject to the judicial committee of the privy council. In 1836 Mr. Stevenson, who had become the diplomatic representative of the United States in England, twice pressed for a decision, his second note bearing date December 13. On the 7th of February 1837 the Senate of the United States adopted a resolution, which was offered by Mr. Calhoun, asking the President for the correspondence "in relation to the outrage committed on our flag and the rights of our citizens, by the authorities of Bermuda and New Providence, in seizing slaves on board the brigs Encomium

and Enterprise, engaged in the coasting trade, but which were forced by shipwreck and stress of weather into the ports of those islands." To this resolution the President replied on the 13th of the same mouth, transmitting the correspondence.1 In 1840 the Senate adopted a resolution declaring that, where a vessel on the high seas, in time of peace, engaged in a lawful voyage, was forced by stress of weather or other unavoidable circumstance into the port of a friendly power, the country to which she belonged lost "none of the rights appertaining to her on the high seas, either over the vessel or the personal relations of those on board."

On the 19th of October 1840 the American schooner Hermosa, bound from Richmond, Virginia, to New Orleans, with a cargo of 38 slaves belonging to a citizen of the United States, was wrecked on the key of Abaco. Wreckers came alongside and took off the master and crew and the slaves, and against the wishes of the master, who desired to go to a port in the United States, proceeded to Nassau, where certain magistrates in uniform, who represented themselves as officers acting under the orders of the civil and military authorities, and who were accompanied by armed soldiery, came out to the vessel, and taking forcible possession of the slaves transported them in boats to the shore, where after some judicial proceedings they were set free, against the remonstrance of the master of the Hermosa and of the American consul.

The excitement created by these incidents Case of the "Creole." culminated in the case of the brig Creole, which sailed from Hampton Roads for New Orleans on the 27th of October 1841, having on board 135 slaves. On the night of the 7th of November a portion of the slaves revolted, wounded the master, chief mate, and two of the crew, and murdered one of the passengers, and having secured possession of the vessel ordered the mate, under pain of death, to steer for Nassau, where the brig arrived on the 9th of November. At first the governor, on the request of the United States consul, sent a file of soldiers on board for the purpose of preventing the escape of the slaves and securing the murderers. But soon afterward he summoned the consul to attend him, and in the presence of the council, who were then in session, announced that they had come to the conclusion (1) that the courts of law had no juris

IS. Ex. Doc. 174, 24 Cong. 2 sess.

diction over the alleged offenses; (2) that, as an information had been lodged before him charging that a murder had been committed on the vessel on the high seas, it was expedient that the charge should be investigated, and that any persons found to be implicated should be detained at Nassau to await the instructions of the British Government; and (3) that, so soon as the examination should be completed all persons on board the vessel not implicated in the alleged offenses must be released from further restraint. An examination was begun on the 9th of November, but on the 10th it was postponed till the 12th, when without any explanation it was abruptly terminated. On the morning of that day the consul received information that an attempt would be made to liberate the slaves by force. The Americans in port had determined to furnish the necessary aid to send the Creole and negroes to New Orleans, and the officers and crews of two other American vessels had united with her officers, men, and passengers for that purpose; but, in the presence of a great concourse on shore, a large number of colored persons armed with bludgeons went out in boats to the brig and anchored near by, and some of the clubs were passed on to the slaves. At this conjuncture the attorney-general, accompanied by other colonial officers, went on board. The slaves identified as implicated in the mutiny were sent ashore, and the rest being called on deck were told by the attorney-general that they were free and at liberty to go wherever they pleased. Assisted by the magistrates, they were transported to the shore and conducted to the superintendent of police, by whom their names were registered. They were thus forcibly taken from the custody of the master and liberated.

In the cases of the Comet and Encomium, which respectively occurred in 1831 and February 1833, Great Britain in the latter part of President Van Buren's administration paid an indemnity of $116,179.62. But in the cases of the Enterprise, Hermosa, and Creole, which occurred after August 1, 1834, when the act of Parliament of August 28, 1833,2 for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies took effect, the British Government refused to acknowledge any liability on the ground that the slaves on entering British jurisdiction became free. The United States, on the other hand, maintained that if a vessel

'H. Ex. Doc. 242, 27 Cong. 2 sess.; Act of Feb. 18, 1843, 5 Stats. at L. 601.

23 and 4 William IV. ch. 73.