s limited in the first instance to
two years from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it
should further continue in force till the conclusion of a general and
definitive treaty of commerce, unless terminated by a notice, six months
in advance, of either of the parties to the other. Its operation so far
as it extended has been mutually advantageous, and it still continues in
force by common consent. But it left unadjusted several objects of great
interest to the citizens and subjects of both countries, and
particularly a mass of claims to considerable amount of citizens of the
United States upon the Government of France of indemnity for property
taken or destroyed under circumstances of the most aggravated and
outrageous character. In the long period during which continual and
earnest appeals have been made to the equity and magnanimity of France
in behalf of these claims their justice has not been, as it could not
be, denied. It was hoped that the accession of a new Sovereign to the
throne would have afforded a favorable opportunity for presenting them
to the consideration of his Government. They have been presented and
urged hitherto without effect. The repeated and earnest representations
of our minister at the Court of France remain as yet even without an
answer. Were the demands of nations upon the justice of each other
susceptible of adjudication by the sentence of an impartial tribunal,
those to which I now refer would long since have been settled and
adequate indemnity would have been obtained. There are large amounts of
similar claims upon the Netherlands, Naples and Denmark. For those upon
Spain prior to 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient
forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately
compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves
have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been
recently reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of
them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by
the means within the constitutional power of the Executive, and without
resorting to those means of self-redress which, as well as the time,
circumstances, and occasion which may require them, are within the
exclusive competency of the Legislature.

It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear witness to the
liberal spirit with which the Republic of Colombia has made satisfaction
for well-established cla