Count Schimmelman has promised me that no unnecessary further delay shall take place, in obtain ing his Majesty's decision upon the whole matter, and that I shall be at liberty to converse with the other ministers respecting it, (as I had expressed a wish to do,) so soon as they can be furnished with copies of his report to the King. I have the honor to be, with high consideration and respect, your obedient humble servant,

HENRY WHEATON.

A.

[TRANSLATION.] Mr Wheaton to Count Schimmel

mann.

[Confidential and private note.]

July 26, 1828. MONS LE COMPTE: In reflecting upon what your excellency mentioned to me in our last conference but one, I have thought that your excellency would allow me to state, in writing, the points upon which I found my expectations that you would be authorized by his Majesty to enter into a formal negotiation with me upon our old claims.

I desire, then, if it should appear proper to your excellency, that the King should be informed: 1. That I am provided with a full power from the President of the United States, to negotiate concerning, and terminate the matter of the claims which the citizens and subjects of the two nations may have against the respective Governments of each other, together with instructions adapted to all the cases which the negotiation may present.

2. That the President has desired me to express his satisfac

tion with the measures taken by his Majesty at the time of the mission of my predecessor, Mr Erving, in order to restrain the excesses of the Danish privateers as to the future; and, if a complete indemnity for the past, could not then be obtained, it was to be attributed to the circumstances of the times, and to the extraordinary position in which Denmark found herself in consequence of the barbarous and unexpected attack of a power, which also, soon afterwards, became the enemy of the United States. We are confirmed in this supposition, by the contents of an official note, dated May 8th, 1811, written by Mr De Rosenkrantz, your excelleney's predecessor, to Mr Erving, the minister of the United States at this court, in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs states the reasons which had determined his Majesty to postpone the examination of the remaining claims until a more favorable period. The note contains the following passage:

'It cannot be doubted by the undersigned, that, when a general maritime peace shall have restored tranquillity to all Governments, and opened again to navigating nations the sources of their prosperity, the Danish Government will be disposed to take into just consideration the claims which the Government of the United States may think proper to make at that period, in respect to the matters still in controversy.'

This period has long since arrived, and the Government of the United States has never abandoned the hope of finding some fa

vorable occasion of terminating with the Danish Government the

C. [TRANSLATION.]

terrupt the good intelligence which happily subsists between the two countries. The benevolent heart of his Majesty will not fail to do justice to this solicitude of a paternal Government for the interests of its citizens, in a matter in which the welfare of a great number of families is involved.

3. That my instructions prescribe it as a duty to conduct this business with that spirit of moderation which characterizes the Government I have the honor to represent near the Government of his Majesty. In seeking the means of terminating it, we should prefer that of a joint commission, but if the Danish Government should appear to have any repugnance to this manner of proceeding, we might treat en bloc, which would also have the advantage of avoiding all thorny discussions, and of including, in one general compromise, all the objects in litigation. After having laid aside all the doubtful cases, there must remain a pretty large mass of well founded claims, but this manner of proceeding would throw upon the Government of the United States the responsibility of distinguishing between the different cases,and of distributing the sum which his Majesty may deem it equitable to appropriate for this object, among the different claimants.

I have the honor to renew to your excellency the sentiments of my most perfect consideration. HENRY WHEATON. TO H. E. COUNT SCHIMMELMANN, &c.

ton.

Copenhagen, December 29, 1828. SIR: The King, my master, having been informed of the representations made by you, in respect to the claims interposed in favor of citizens of the United States, who allege that, during the late maritime war carried on by Denmark, the attributes of the neutral character of the ships and cargoes to them belonging and brought into the ports of Denmark and Norway, by vessels of war or privateers furnished with letters of marque, have not been duly recognized, has granted his gracious permission that a report may be submitted to him in his Council of State, containing a particular examination of the alleged injuries, and adapted to enable him to form a correct judgment of the validity of the complaints growing out of them. His Majesty manifesting this intention, notwithstanding the principle constantly followed in the Danish monarchy by him and the sovereigns his predecessors, which admits no alteration, reform or annulling, of a sentence pronounced by the official judges legally constituted, (unless in the case of pardons,) no change, and no drawing into question of the rights founded upon these sentences, which having acquired the force of law, exclude all ulterior proceedings and reparation, and secure to his subjects the tranquil possession of their property, and the undisturbed enjoy

ment of all the rights derived from it; I flatter myself that you will recognise a proof still more manifest of the sentiments which animate the King, my master, towards the United States, and the 'inclination which he desires always to follow when the question is to devote attention to what you represent in the name of your Government. That his Majesty may confidently rely upon the consciousness that he has never deviated, nor tolerated or permitted the deviation of his officers from that which the most impartial justice has prescribed, either in publishing, or in causing to be executed, the laws and regulations enacted in respect to neutral commerce, even at a period when he was compelled to sustain a most dreadful contest, in the midst of circumstances the most unfortunate, when the law of nations and treaties seemed to be overthrown, and the neutrality of any power scarcely tolerated upon the continent and the seas of Europe. It would be difficult not to recognise in these principles an incontestable tendency to favor neutral commerce, and the salutary fruits which, particularly, the merchants and navigators of the United States were enabled to gather in the long period of a maritime war during which their vessels traversed the Sound and the Belts.

It is already known to you, sir, that the dates and facts which merit the greatest attention have been carefully collected and accompanied with the necesssry illustrations. They will be subjoined to the report, which, as I

have already had the honor to observe, will be submitted to his Majesty upon the matter in question, in order that he may be enabled to pronounce a decision thereon, with a full knowledge of the circumstances of the case. So soon as his Majesty shall think fit to make known to me in what point of view he considers it, or what resolution he has taken, I shall hasten to communicate to you everything relating to it.

At present I have nothing to add, except the assurance of the sentiments of the most sincere. esteem which you so justly inspire, and of the most distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your most humble and obedient servant.

E. H. SCHIMMELMANN. To Mr WHEATON,

Charge d'Affaires of the United States of America.

Mr Wheaton to Mr Clay.

Copenhagen, January 31, 1829. SIR in connexion with the subject of my last despatch, (No 5,) under date of the 31st, of December, I beg leave to state that I had soon afterwards conversations with the different cabinet ministers relating to our remaining claims upon this Government, all of whom manifested a disposition to listen with attention to my representations, except the Minister of Finances, who, I have reason to believe, is totally opposed to any provision being made for the claims.

On the 12th of the present month, I received from the

Minister of Foreign Affairs an official note of that date, a copy of which is enclosed, informing me that H. E., together with the Minister of Justice, had been appointed by the King to negotiate with me on the business. I have since had several conferences with the Danish commissioners, which have not resulted in anything sufficiently definite to be reported to the department. At present, I can only say that they have manifested an invincible repugnance to the project of a mixed commission, and, though not unwilling to negotiate upon the basis of a compromise, have not yet hinted at any sum, which, in my judgment, the Government of the United States, taking into view the condition of the country, and the impossibility of obtaining a full satisfaction, would be willing to receive as a partial indemnity to our injured citizens. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration and respect, sir, your obedient, humble servant,

HENRY WHEATON.

[TRANSLATION.]

not but be an object of solicitude for him, since it is connected with the complaints made in the name of the merchants and seamen of the United States, that their rights had been violated during the maritime war carried on by Denmark, and that this violation had been to them the cause of losses to which they ought not to have been exposed.

The recapitulation of these complaints could not be viewed with indifference by his Majesty, for, even if the number of cases where these complaints can be sustained upon just and good grounds were reduced, it would nevertheless follow that that had happened which the King wished to prevent, and he would have to regret his imperfect accomplishment of a design, formed amidst the din of arms, of securing the commerce of neutrals from being confounded with that of enemies, and of preventing, as far as lay in bis power, those vexatious proceedings to which neutrals were in danger of being exposed at a time when the protection to which they were justly entitled almost generally disregarded and

ton.

Copenhagen, January 12, 1829. SIR: I will no longer delay informing you that the King has fulfilled that which he had graciously permitted me to communicate to you, in his name, by causing a reference to be made to him, in his Privy Council, of whatever might throw more light upon a subject which he had already examined with attention, and which, from its nature, could

was

The King found that, in order to give effect to his intentions, it was his duty to take a determination, which he immediately carried into execution, of promulgating laws framed according to the spirit of the law of nations which set forth, in its full extent, the just protection to which neutrals may have a claim, and modelled upon treaty stipulations based upon principles favorable to them.

In order to carry these laws into effect, the King thought that he could use no other means than that of organizing tribunals and appointing judges who would be governed by the provisions of those laws in the decisions and sentences which they would have to give in cases concerning vessels under neutral flag brought in by Danish ships of war or pri

vateers.

regu

An examination into the lations prescribed by the ordinances with respect to what ought to constitute and guarantee the property or the expedition of the owner of a neutral vessel and cargo, which regulations have been almost generally adopted, has not weakened the King's conviction that these regulations were necessary, and that he ought to sustain them in order to prevent false neutral colors from becoming the safest means of a protecting enemy's commerce and navigation; and that this necessity must be considered as more urgent in consideration of the situation of the Danish States, in whose seas vessels under neutral flag sailed indiscriminately with enemy's vessels, and even frequently within reach of their artillery.

In order, however, sir, to enable you fully to explain the sentences which have given rise to the reclamation, I have been authorized to put you in possession, as official acts, of that which, heretofore, had been but a confidential communication, that is, the register of sentences, such as

they were given, with the grounds on which they were supported by the competent tribunals, since the year 1807, till 1812, in those cases which relate to American vessels brought in and condemned, and the explanations which precede that register, referring to data and dates worthy of attention, and whose principal object is an examination into the principles adopted by the ordinances which prescribe the basis upon which were to be founded all judgments in prize cases; as also to give all further explanations in relation thereto.

His Majesty, however, is desirous of using every means to reduce the losses to which some citizens of the United States may have been subjected, without an intention, on their part, of neglecting those forms which were to protect their navigation and their strictly neutral commercial transactions.

To fulfil this desire, his Majesty has been pleased to appoint me, jointly with Mr de Stemann, Minister of Justice, to consult with you, sir, agreeably to the full powers with which you have been invested by your Government, whether some means could be devised to attain the object above stated, and to put an end to discussions, carried to too great a length, with a power on whose friendship his Majesty places so high a value.

I have the honor to be, with the most distinguished consideration, sir, your humble and obedient

servant.

E. H. SCHIMMELMANN.