the Superior Courts established at St. Augustine and Pensacola, in the Territory of Florida, respectively, shall be, and they are hereby authorized and directed to receive and adjust all Claims, arising within their respective jurisdictions, of the Inhabitants of said Territory, or their Representatives, agreeably to the provisions of the 9th (2d *) Article of the Treaty with Spain, by which the said Territory was ceded to the United States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in all cases in which said Judges shall decide in favour of the Claimants, the decisions, with the evidence on which they are founded, shall be, by the said Judges, reported to the Secretary of the Treasury, who, on being satisfied that the same is just and equitable, within the provisions of the said Treaty, shall pay the amount thereof to the person or persons in whose favour the same is adjudged, out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated.

MEMORIAL of the Secretary of State for Exterior and Interior Relations to the Congress of Mexico.

(Extract.)

1st November, 1823.

(Translation.)

IN presenting myself for the purpose of acquainting the Sovereign Congress, which is now engaged in consolidating the publick welfare

States, arising from unlawful seizures at Sea, or within the Ports and territorial Jurisdiction of The United States.

Finally, To all the Claims of Subjects of His Catholick Majesty upon the Government of The United States, in which the interposition of His Catbobek Majesty's Government has been solicited, before the date of this Treaty, and since the date of the Convention of 1802, or which may have been made to the Department of Foreign Affairs of His Majesty, or to his Minister in The United States.

And the High Contracting Parties respectively renounce all Claim to Indemnities for any of the recent events or transactions of their respective Commanders and Officers in the Floridas.

The United States will cause satisfaction to be made for the injuries, if any. which, by process of Law, shall be established to have been suffered by the Spanish Officers, and Individual Spanish Inhabitants, by the late operations of the American Army in Florida.

* ART. II. His Catholick Majesty cedes to The United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the Territories which belong to Him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida. The adjacent Islands dependant on said Provinces, all publick lots and squares, vacant lands, publick edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property, archives and documents which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of said Provinces, are included in this Article. The said archives and documents shall be left in possession of the Commissaries or Officers of The United States duly authorized to receive them.

on the basis of a wise and liberal Constitution, with the state of the Nation, in what relates to the administration of the affairs of the Exterior and Interior, entrusted to my charge, I could have wished at the same time to have offered to your inspection both a satisfactory and an accurate account of them; but my wishes unfortunately cannot in this respect be gratified. Circumstances, known to all, and by all lamented, have placed the Country in a most deplorable condition; and, notwithstanding the efforts of Government, it has been impossible in a few months to remedy those evils which are the result of so many years of desolation and error.

In times of tranquillity and peace, under the influence of a Constitution suited to our habits, the Annual Memorial of my Department should announce the successive improvement made in its various branches; but, under circumstances entirely different, and amidst political difficulties, which are inevitable at the moment when the fundamental basis of the Government and the Publick Administration are about to be established, it can only contain an exposition of the endeavours, more or less successful, which have been made in preparing for such happy results; of the care and foresight which have been applied to this object, and of the plans formed to promote, by all possible means, the national welfare and prosperity.

As soon as the present Government was installed, detailed information, upon the various points of political and economical arrangement, was required from every Province, for the purpose of collecting the data necessary for an exact knowledge of the state of the affairs connected with my Department; few, however, have as yet been received, and those, with some exceptions, are of so general and vague a character, as to have been of little service. In the absence of the desired details, I must limit myself to the information which I have been enabled to collect, in the course of the transactions which have passed through my hands, distinguishing the two principal attributes belonging to my office, and considering them agreeably to the order and distribution prescribed for that purpose.

EXTERIOR RELATIONS.

During the first steps of our political existence, the extent of our Foreign Relations have necessarily been very limited; for, whilst our attention was occupied with domestick dissensions, it was not possible for the Nation to be represented with the requisite dignity and consistency, to render it respectable in the eyes of other Nations.

Our independence has nevertheless been solemnly recognized by The United States; and although our Form of Government was not the one which that Nation might have wished to see generally established on this Continent, and which is being adopted in other parts of America, it has abstained from inquiring into the Constitutions pecu

liar to each State, and has recognized the independence at present enjoyed by those Provinces which were formerly under the Spanish Dominion. It has appointed an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to this Government, (whose arrival, however, has not yet taken place) and its Consuls for this Capital and our principal Ports are already in employment, and to whose appointments the necessary Exequatur has been given. The friendship and good understanding with that Nation continues undisturbed; and in order to avoid any cause for disagreement which might hereafter arise, our Chargé d'Af faires in those States has been directed to invite the mutual agreement of the two Governments, conformably to the Treaty of Washington of 22d February, 1819, to the line of boundary prescribed in the 4th Article of that Treaty *.

* Extract of the Treaty between Spain and The United States, of 22d February, 1819.-ART. III. The Boundary Line between the two Countries West of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine, in the Sea, continuing North, along the Western bank of that River, to the 324 degree of Latitude; thence, by a line due North, to the degree of Latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Natchitoches, or Red River; then, following the course of the Rio Roxo Westward, to the degree of Longitude 100 West from London, and 23 from Washington; then crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due North, to the River Arkansas; thence following the course of the southern Bank of the Arkansas, to its source in Latitude 42 North; and thence, by that parallel of Latitude, to the South Sea, the whole being as laid down in Melish's Map of The United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the 1st of January, 1818. But if the source of the Arkansas River shall be found to fall North or South of Latitude 42, then the Line shall run from the said source due South or North, as the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of Latitude 42, and thence, along the said paralel, to the South Sea; all the Islands in the Sabinc, and the said Red and Arkansas Rivers, throughout the course thus described, to belong to The United States; but the use of the waters, and the navigation of the Sabine to the Sea, and of the said Rivers Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said Bousdary, on their respective Banks, shall be common to the respective Inhabitants of both Nations

The Two High Contracting Parties agree to cede and renounce all their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the Territories described by the said Line; that is to say; The United States hereby cede to His Catholick Majesty, and renounce for ever, all their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the Territories lying West and South of the above described line; and, in like manner, His Catholick Majesty cedes to the said United States, all his rights, claims, and pretensions, to any Territories East and North of the said Line; and for himself, his Heirs, and Successors, renounces all claim to the said Territories for ever.

IV. To fix this Line with more precision, and to place the land-marks which shall designate exactly the limits of both Nations, each of the Contracting Parties shall appoint a Commissioner and a Surveyor, who shall meet, before the termination of one Year from the date of the Ratification of this Treaty, at Natchitoches, on the Red River, and proceed to run and mark the said Line,

The Government of Spain, authorized by the Cortes, sent Commissioners to all the American Provinces, formerly Spanish, which had proclaimed their Liberty, to hear and transmit whatever proposals should be made to them. They had been previously empowered to make provisional Conventions for Commerce. Those destined for our Nation presented themselves at the Castle of San Juan de Ulua, at the commencement of this Year, in the character with which they had been invested by their former Government. The events which occurred in this Country prevented the intended Conferences from being held, but as soon as the present Government was installed, they again solicited to enter into communication with it in order to fulfil the object of their mission.

As they had obtained the necessary permission from the preceding Sovereign Congress, they were permitted to approach into the interior as far as Jalapa, the Most Excellent Señor D. Guadalupe Victoria being commissioned to open the Negociation with them. Their first conference, at which it appeared that Spain was not averse to the recognition of our independence, proving very satisfactory, the General was empowered to enter with that Nation into a Treaty, the basis of which should be the explicit acknowledgment of that Independence, and the surrender of the Fortress of San Juan de Ulua, as an integral part of our Territory: the interests of our brethren of the other Independent States of America, who, engaged in the same glorious contest as ourselves, ought to participate in our destiny, were not forgotten, and it was therefore proposed, amongst other conditions, that all hostilities against them should also cease. As the Commissioners were directed to enter immediately into a Treaty of Commerce, and as it was considered a matter of moment, to come to an amicable settlement of the differences which were frequently excited with the Governor of the Fortress of Ulua, respecting the use and advantage of the Port of Vera Cruz, and to fix a permanent rule for the continuation of the Commercial intercourse which had not been broken off between Spain and the Ports of the Antilles, it was decided that General Victoria should conclude such a Treaty, and he was accordingly furnished with instructions for that purpose.

from the mouth of the Sabine to the Red River, and from the Red River, to the River Arkansas, and to ascertain the Latitude of the source of the said River Arkansas, in conformity to what is above agreed upon and stipulated, and the line of Latitude 42 to the South Sea; they shall make out plans, and keep Journals of their proceedings, and the resuit agreed upon by them shall be considered as part of this Treaty, and shall have the same force as if it were inserted therein. The two Governments will amicably agree respecting the necessary articles to be furnished to those Persons, and also as to their respective Escorts, should such be deemed necessary.

The Spanish Commissioners stated that, before entering into a Negociation of minor importance, the main purpose of their mission being to hear, receive and transmit, any Propositions, with a view to terminate the differences between this Nation and Spain, those which this Government had to offer, in order to attain the leading object, should first be explained. To this it was replied, that they were comprised in the acknowledgment of our Independence, and the surrender of the Castle of Ulua, which unquestionably belongs to our Territory.

The Negociations proceeded slowly, but without altering the good understanding which, from the first, subsisted, until the interruption given to it by the Governor of the Castle of San Juan de Ulua, respecting the dominion over the Island of Sacrificios, gave to them a new aspect.

This Government deeming it its duty to resist those pretensions, the City of Vera Cruz was ultimately fired upon, from which moment all Negociation with the Commissioners was broken off, and recourse had to the hostile measures authorized by War, after every exertion had failed to maintain and ensure Peace with Spain.

With the other Nations of Europe our Relations are much in the same state as they were at the time of the Declaration of our Independence: the great events and the remarkable changes which have taken place in that part of the World are of the highest importance to us. They will undoubtedly attract the particular attention of Congress, and excite the vigilance of Government. It may have reason to apprehend that the Allied Monarchs who have interfered in the internal affairs of Spain, may extend their views to the possessions formerly belonging to that kingdom on this Continent; but the sentiments manifested by England have, in some degree, relieved this suspicion, her Minister having declared in Parliament, that his Government could not consent to any transfer which Spain might make of Countries which were no longer under its controul; whose independence it must ere long recognize," although the period for their formal recognition might be accelerated or delayed, either by exterior circumstances, or by the progress, more or less satisfactory, which might be made by each State towards a regular and settled form of Govern ment."

Shortly after the installation of the present Government, it was in contemplation to send a Diplomatick Agent to Rome, to settle Ecclesiastical Affairs with the Holy See, but it has not been possible so to do; and it has been thought advisable to defer putting this intention into execution, and, for the present, merely to assure His Holiness, through his Minister of State, of the religious sentiments which are entertained by this Nation and its Government.

If political motives, and commerce, place us in connexion with the Nations of Europe, some of which may be considered as our Neigh