of claims of
American citizens for spoliations committed by the French prior to the
31st day of July, 1801," which was presented to me on the 6th instant,
with my objections to its becoming a law.

In attempting to give to the bill the careful examination it requires,
difficulties presented themselves in the outset from the remoteness of
the period to which the claims belong, the complicated nature of the
transactions in which they originated, and the protracted negotiations
to which they led between France and the United States.

The short time intervening between the passage of the bill by Congress
and the approaching close of their session, as well as the pressure of
other official duties, have not permitted me to extend my examination of
the subject into its minute details; but in the consideration which I
have been able to give to it I find objections of a grave character to
its provisions.

For the satisfaction of the claims provided for by the bill it is
proposed to appropriate $5,000,000. I can perceive no legal or equitable
ground upon which this large appropriation can rest. A portion of the
claims have been more than half a century before the Government in its
executive or legislative departments, and all of them had their origin
in events which occurred prior to the year 1800. Since 1802 they have
been from time to time before Congress. No greater necessity or
propriety exists for providing for these claims at this time than has
existed for near half a century, during all which period this
questionable measure has never until now received the favorable
consideration of Congress. It is scarcely probable, if the claim had
been regarded as obligatory upon the Government or constituting an
equitable demand upon the Treasury, that those who were contemporaneous
with the events which gave rise to it should not long since have done
justice to the claimants. The Treasury has often been in a condition to
enable the Government to do so without inconvenience if these claims had
been considered just. Mr. Jefferson, who was fully cognizant of the
early dissensions between the Governments of the United States and
France, out of which the claims arose, in his annual message in 1808
adverted to the large surplus then in the Treasury and its "probable
accumulation," and inquired whether it should "lie unproductive in the
public vaults;" and yet these claims, though then before Congress, were
not recognized or paid. Since