Assuming the obligation of the United States, the question occurs, What sum should be applied by Congress to its liquidation? But before proceeding to this point, the Committee will glance at what is urged sometimes against this obligation, so far at least as they are aware of opposition.
Objections of a preliminary character have been already considered; but there are others belonging properly to this stage of the inquiry.
Curiously, the two main objections most often adduced answer each other flatly. It is sometimes insisted that the claims were invalid, by reason of the abnormal relations between France and the United States anterior to the Convention of 1800, pronounced to be a state of war; and then, again, it is sometimes insisted that these claims were provided for in the subsequent Convention of 1803 for the purchase of Louisiana. But, if the claims were really invalid, as has been argued, it is absurd to suppose that France would have provided for them; and if they were really provided for, it is equally absurd to suppose that they were invalid. The two objections might be dismissed as equally unreasonable; but, since they have been made to play a conspicuous part, especially in Presidential vetoes, the Committee will occupy a brief moment in considering them.
Other objections, founded on the later Convention of 1831, on the Act of Congress annulling the French treaties, on the early efforts of the United States to procure satisfaction from France, and on the alleged desperate character of the claims, will be considered in their order.
I.—WAR DID NOT EXIST BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE.
The anomalous relations between France and the United States anterior to the Convention of 1800 did not constitute a state of war so as to annul all pending claims. The contrary assertion is inconsistent with (1.) the facts of the case, (2.) the declarations of the two parties, and (3.) the nature of the Convention.
Before considering these several topics, it may be remarked, that, had there been a state of war, it would not follow that all prior rights otherwise valid were annulled, so at least as not to be revived at the close of the war. On one important occasion, the contrary has been held by our Government in its negotiations with Great Britain. The provision relative to the fisheries which appears in the Treaty of 1783 was not noticed in the Treaty of Ghent; and yet the United States did not hesitate to insist afterwards, that, though interrupted by the War of 1812, it remained in full force after the termination of the war. Doubtless, claims bearing the open cause of war, and failing to be recognized in the treaty of peace, are annulled; for the treaty is the settlement of pending controversies between the two powers. But the claims in question were not the open cause even of the anomalous relations between the United States and France, and they did not fail to have such recognition in the convention terminating those relations as to exclude all idea that they were annulled by war, or any other antecedent facts. It is not necessary to consider the effect of war, for it is easy to establish that war did not exist.
1. The facts of the case are all inconsistent with war. There was no declaration of war on either side; and, still further, throughout the whole duration of the troubles the tribunals of each country were open to citizens of the other, as in times of peace; so that a citizen of the United States was not an “alien enemy” in the courts of France, nor a Frenchman an “alien enemy” in the courts of the United States. This fact, which was presented by Mr. Clayton in his masterly discussion of the question, is most suggestive, if not conclusive.