Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840

Chapter I: Message from President Jackson of the United States

Since the last session of the Congress the validity of our claims upon France, as arranged by the treaty of 1831, has been recognised by both branches of the Legislature, and the money has been voted for their satisfaction, but I regret to be obliged to inform you that payment has not yet been made.

A short summary of the most important incidents in this lengthy controversy will show how far the motives, by which attempts are made to justify this delay, are absolutely indefensible.

When I took office I found the United States applying in vain to the justice of France for the satisfaction of claims the validity of which has never been doubted, and has now been admitted by France herself in the most solemn manner. The long-standing nature of these claims, their entire justice, and the aggravating circumstances from which they sprang, are too well known to the American people for a further description of them to be necessary. It is enough to say that for a period of ten years and more, with the exception of a few intervals, our commerce has been the object of constant aggression on the part of France, which usually took the form of condemning ships and cargo in virtue of arbitrary decrees, contravening both international law and the stipulations of the treaties, while ships were burnt on the high seas, and seizures and confiscations took place under special Imperial rescripts in the harbours of other nations then in French occupation or under French control.