John Mercer Langston to Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, July 21, 1884

No. 223. Mr. Langston to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Sir: Referring to your dispatch No. 265, dated March 7, 1884, having relation to the mode of settling the claims of American citizens sustaining losses in connection with the insurrectionary events of 22d and 23d days of September, 1883, occurring in this city against this Government, I have the honor to advise you that, after due investigation and consideration, I have presented for settlement the claims named in my note of the 15th instant, addressed to the honorable secretary of state, Air. St. Victor, a copy of which, with copies of its two inclosures, the first being a memorandum of the several claims, in which is given the names of the various parties and the kind and amount of property destroyed, the second being a memorandum of agreement as to the mode, condition, and terms of their settlement, is herewith inclosed.

As showing all the correspondence that has been had by this legation with the Haytien Government on this subject, I have the honor also to transmit, as herewith inclosed, a dispatch, with its translation, addressed to our vice-consul-general, Dr. J. B. Terres, by Mr. St. Victor, during my late absence on the 22d of May last, with a copy of Dr. Terres’s reply thereto on the 23d of the month, and a copy of my own reply thereto on the 28th of June, 1884, from which you will perceive that I do not accede to the proposition of Mr. St. Victor.

It will be perceived on reading the dispatch of Mr. St. Victor that, for the reasons named by him therein, he desired to have this legation consent to fix the 22d of this month as the day beyond which no claims additional to any that might already have been presented against his Government could be submitted. He writes, too, as if he had been in correspondence with me as to the organization of a commission to investigate and settle our claims. Such is not the case. His dispatch is of the character of a circular and was, as I have been informed, sent to the diplomatic and consular representatives generally, especially those whose citizens had through them presented their claims for such consideration by commissions as had been agreed. This was the case with the chargé d’affaires of France and the consuls of England and Germany, who early agreed to and did join in the selection of mixed commissions, as they were termed, to which they consented to submit the investigation and settlement of the claims of their citizens upon the instructions of the secretary of state, Mr. St. Victor, as contained in a document, a copy of which I sent to the Department as an inclosure to my dispatch Ho. 638, dated April 14, 1884. The commission is mixed in the sense that the Haytien Government names a certain number, two or three of its citizens, to serve thereon, and the representative of the Government the claims of whose citizens are to be considered names an equal number of his citizens to serve with them. Then the persons thus chosen meet and proceed with their work. According to this arrangement no definite and proper work in the premises can be expected, and without agreeing upon the manner of presenting, investigating, and determining and settling the claims no satisfactory results can be reached. So far, then, as might be expected from the first, the proceedings result in nothing but the hurried consideration of the claims presented, their reduction by a sort of general cutting down one-third, one-half, or more, as the case may be, with no time or mode of payment determined. I have not consented to any such arrangement but have presented our claims, though their aggregated amount be small—$29,188.37—in the manner shown in my communication to the Haytien Government, copies of which are herewith transmitted.

So far no reply has been made me by the Haytien Government on this subject.

I trust my action may meet your approval, and that I may have your instructions in the premises without delay.

I am, &c.

Memorandum of claims presented by citizens of the United States against the Government of Hayti for property destroyed at Port au Prince September 22 and 23, 1883, in connection with insurrectionary movements and events occurring in said city on said days:

Memorandum of an agreement between the Government of Hayti of the one part, and the United States of America of the other part, for the adjustment of losses suffered by the citizens of the said Government of the United States of America at Port au Prince on the 22d and 23d of September, 1883, resulting from insurrectionary movements and events which occurred in that capital on the two days named.

• It is agreed that all such claims which shall have been presented by the claimants, or in their behalf, to the Government of the United States aforesaid, party to this agreement, or which shall be so presented before the day fixed by this agreement for the meeting of the mixed commission herein provided for, shall be submitted to a mixed commission, to be composed of six commissioners, three of whom shall be selected by the President of the Haytien Republic and three by the minister resident and consul-general of the United States at Port au Prince.
• The commissioners so named shall meet at Port au Prince within one month from the time of their appointment, and shall, before proceeding to business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially and to the best of their judgment, and according to public law and the existing treaties between the United States of America, party of the second part to this agreement, and the Republic of Hayti and these present stipulations, decide all such claims as shall, in conformity with this agreement, be laid before them on the part of the party hereto of the second part; and such declaration shall be entered on the records of their proceedings.
• The Government of the United States may name an agent to appear before the commission to represent the interests of its citizens, claimants as aforesaid.
• The commissioners shall have full power, subject to these stipulations, and it shall be their duty, before proceeding with the hearing and decision of any claim, to make and publish convenient rules prescribing the time and manner of the presentation of claims and the proof thereof, it being understood that a reasonable time shall be allowed for the presentation of proofs; that all claims and the documentary proofs in support of them shall be presented only by the Government of the United States of America in behalf of its citizens, the award made in each case shall be expressed in writing, the sum to be paid shall be expressed in the gold coin of the United States of America, and the amount shall be paid by the Government of Hayti to the Government of the United States of America at the time and in the manner hereinafter stipulated.
• The commissioners shall have jurisdiction of all claims presented to them in behalf of the citizens of the United States of America for actual losses resulting from spoliation or destruction of property, real or personal, connected with or growing out of the insurrectionary troubles and events of the 22d and 23d of September, 1883, at Port au Prince. The citizenship of claimants whose claims are presented shall not be questioned, but the allegation by the Government of the United States of America that the person on whose account a claim may be presented that he or she is a citizen, as the case may be, of such country, shall be accepted and taken by the commissioners as sufficient proof of the nationality of such private claimant.
• The expenses of the commission shall be defrayed by a percentage to be added in each case to the amount awarded. The commissioners shall receive each for his compensation a sum not exceeding ——, and the commissioners may employ a secretary, who shall be acquainted with the English and French languages, at a compensation of the sum of §— per day for every day actually and necessarily given to the business of the commission.
• The Government of the United States of America hereby agrees to accept the awards made in the several cases submitted to the said commission as final and conclusive, and the Government of Hayti agrees to pay within six months from the date of the awards to such Government of the United States, party of the second part to this agreement, the full amount that may be awarded in favor of the citizens of the said Government.