[ebay 52]

29th CONGRESS, 2d Session.

(16921),

3-17

0526

[SENATE.]

[222]

IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

MARCH 3, 1847. Submitted, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. WESTCOTT made the following

REPORT:

[To accompany bill S. No. 194.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the memorial of sundry citizens of West Florida, formerly Spanish subjects, praying for the passage of a law to carry into effect the 9th article of the treaty of 1819 with Spain, relative to spoliations committed by the American troops in 1814 and 1818, in West Florida, report:

That in the years 1812 and 1813, the troops of the United States in- vaded East Florida, and, with the exception of the city of St. Augustine, which they besieged unsuccessfully, took possession (in conjunction with those of the inhabitants of that province, who, under General McIntosh, sought to throw off Spanish authority, and establish an independent gov- ernment,) of the chief portion of the country east and south of the Su- wanee. This invasion, made by troops under the command of officers of the regular-army, and by the militia of Georgia and other States, though it was not at the time publicly avowed, was under the express authority of the Federal Executive; and the justification urged, was, that it was in pursuit of, and to chastise the Seminole Indians, whom the Spanish authorities in East Florida would not or could not restrain from making marauding irruptions from that province into Georgia, and plundering and murdering the frontier citizens of that State. Spain had, by the 5th ar- ticle of the treaty of 1795, expressly stipulated to 'restrain by force the Florida Indians from the commission of such hostilities, which stipula- tions she had neglected to fulfil. Many spoliations were committed by the American troops, and those called "Patriots;" with whom they were operating; and a vast amount of property, belonging to the Spanish in- habitants who resisted the attempted revolution, was plundered or destroy- ed. Doubtless some of the mischief was done by the hostile Indians, without discrimination as to the ownership being in the Spanish inhabi- tants, or the patriots. The conduct of the government of the United States, with respect to this invasion, was the subject of remonstrance and protest on the part of Spain, who demanded indemnity for the injuries to her subjects resulting from it. In 1814 General Jackson, under orders from the government of the United States, invaded the province of West Florida, took possession of

the city of Pensacola, and the Spanish forts in its vicinity, and, in fact,

Ritchie & Heiss, print