the banks, whose paper was received, were paying specie, either at the time of the contract or at the time of the payments, or any of them?

4th. To what persons the supplemental stock, being for the difference between the rates of the first and second parts of said loan, was issued?

5th. Whether the parties receiving the supplemental stock accepted it in full satisfaction of their claim, and whether any objection was made upon the ground that the loan of the 31st August, 1814, was advanced to the government in depreciated bank paper?

6th. Please set out, in words and figures, the exact form of the certificates issued for the original loan, and of any which may subsequently have been substituted for them; the form of the certificates for the second loan, and of those for the supplemental stock.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, FRED. P. STANTON, Chairman Judiciary Committee, H. R.

Hon. JAMES GUTHRIE, Secretary of the Treasury.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

July 19, 1854.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, making certain specific inquiries in relation to the claim of the assignees of Jacob Barker, arising out of the ten-million loan of 1814.

In view of these inquiries, I must beg leave to state, that all the original correspondence and records of the office of Secretary of the Treasury, previous to the burning of the Treasury building in 1833, were then destroyed, with the exception, as I understand, of one volume of the records of letters addressed by the Secretary to certain banks and public offices in 1826 and 1827, which happened to have been previously carried to another office for a special purpose, and was thus saved. That fire is believed to have commenced in one of the rooms of the building then occupied by the Secretary's office, and none of the papers and archives of that office were saved from destruction, with the exception above stated. It is accordingly out of my power to furnish any information directly from the correspondence or records of my office, on the subject of your inquiries.

I will, however, give with pleasure such information as is within my command in relation to your inquiries, in detail:

1. In reply to the inquiry, "were any other contracts made for any part of the $25,000,000 authorized by act of 24th March, 1814, except those of 2d May, 1814, for ten millions, and of the 31st August, of the same year, for six millions. If any other contracts were made, please state the terms,"-I beg leave to refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of this loan, published in Gales and Seaton's State Papers, Finance, vol. 2, page 845, and subsequent pages; to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances, of 8th December, 1815, stating the precise terms on which the loan in question had been negotiated, published in Gales and Seaton's State Papers, Finance, vol. 3, page 7; to the report of

the Committee of Claims of the Senate, of the 25th January, 1821, on this claim, published in Gales and Seaton's State Papers, Claims, page 771; and to the report of the Committee of Claims of the Senate, of the 11th February, 1822, on this claim, published in the last named volume of State Papers, page 824.

2. In answer to your second inquiry, "what persons, according to the books of the treasury, were the contract holders of the stock in the ten-million loan of 2d May, 1814, at the time the second loan, to wit: that of the 31st August, 1814, was made," I must state that the books of the treasury do not show the names of the contract holders referred to.

The course of such transactions at that period appears to have been, that the proposals for loans were decided by the Secretary of the Treasury, who instructed the Commissioners of Loans in the respective States from which the accepted offers came, and where the stock was to be held, to issue the certificates of stock for the proper amounts to the parties entitled to the same, upon the usual evidence that the amount called for by the proposals had been deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, in such bank or banks as had been designated for that purpose. The books of the Commissioners of Loans in the several States, alone, contained the names of the stockholders at any given time. The amounts of the outstanding certificates were reported at the close of the transfer books for each quarter, in order that the necessary remittance for the payment of interest thereon might be duly made; but the individual changes of the holders of the stock were not reported to this department, except where stock was required to be transferred from the Loan Office books of one State to the Loan Office books of another State. This could only be done by reporting the name of the stockholder, and the amount of his stock to be so transferred, to enable this department to issue its warrant directing such transfer, upon which the one Loan Office was credited and the other debited with the sum so transferred, and the sums remitted for the payment of interest at these offices changed accordingly.

When the late Bank of the United States went into operation, the duties of Commissioners of Loans in the several States were turned over to that bank pursuant to the terms of its charter, and the Loan Office books and correspondence went into the custody of that bank and its branches in the several States. When its charter expired in 1836, its officers, who had custody of the Loan Office books and papers, were directed to send them to the Register of the Treasury. A large number of the stock-books which had belonged to the several Loan Offices were received, as I understand, by that officer, but none of the correspondence or orders given by the Secretary in regard to the issue of stock, and the sequence and relations of the books from the larger Loan Offices are found to be so imperfect that it is impossible to report the names of the stockholders of any particular loan at any specified time from them.

The only portion of the loans negotiated during the late war with Great Britain, of which the names of the stockholders and the amounts. held by them respectively at any specified time appear on the books of the treasury, is that for which the certificates were issued by the

Register of the Treasury, on which the interest was payable here. This comprises the stock awarded to parties in this District, principally, if not exclusively. I understand that the stock-books of the Register's office were saved when the Treasury buiding was destroyed, but the correspondence and most of the other papers in regard to the issue of such stock were lost.

Upon this state of facts it is not in my power to inform you who were the contract holders of the stock in question, at the specific period stated by you.

3. In regard to your third inquiry-" Upon what precise terms the second loan, or any subsequent loan for part of said $25,000,000 was made; whether the contractors agreed to pay in money, or in bank paper, or in credits; whether the banks whose paper was received were paying specie, either at the time of the contract or at the time of the payments, or any of them,"-I am unable, for the reason before stated, to furnish further information than is contained in the published documents herein before referred to.

4. For the same reason stated in reply to your second inquiry, it is not in my power to give a specific answer to your fourth inquiry: "To what persons the supplemental stock, being the difference between the rates of the first and second parts of said loan, was issued."

5. Under the circumstances set forth in the commencement of this letter, the only answer which can now be given to your fifth inquiry, "whether the parties receiving the supplemental stock, accepted it in full satisfaction of their claim; and whether any objection was made upon the ground that the loan of 31st August, 1814, was advanced to the government in depreciated bank paper," is the general presumption flowing from the fact that the supplemental stock appears by the documents to have been issued by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, and received by the parties-there being no correspondence extant showing whether it was received in full satisfaction, or objections made to receiving it as such.

6. In reply to your sixth inquiry, asking the exact form of the certificates issued for the original loan, and of any which may have been subsequently substituted for them-the forms of certificates of the second loan, and of those of the supplemental stock, I have the honor to submit the accompanying report of the Register, of the 17th instant, containing all the information at my command on these subjects. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES GUTHRIE,

SIR: In reply to your communication, inclosing "the statement of Jacob Barker, relative to the ten-million loan of May 2, 1814," I have the honor to inform you that there is nothing on file in this

department which will throw any additional light on the claim of Mr. Barker.

There is nothing in the records or files of this office to show that at the time this loan was negotiated by D. A. Smith, the District and Baltimore bills, which the government agreed to receive, were depreciated here. I transmit, herewith, a report from the Comptroller, which states that there are no documents in his office to show that the government were aware of any such depreciation. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. THOMAS F. FOSTER,

LEVI WOODBURY,

Secretary of the Treasury.

Chairman Committee on the Judiciary, Ho. of Reps.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Comptroller's Office, January 6, 1835.

SIR: I have the honor to state, in answer to the inquiries contained in the Honorable Mr. Foster's letter to you, of the 30th ultimo, and referred, by you, to me, that there does not appear, in this office, any other information on the subject of Mr. Barker's claim than what is embraced in the pamphlet accompanying the letter. There are no documents on file which go to show that "the government knew that the District and Baltimore bills, which it agreed to receive at par, were depreciated at the time of the loan negotiated by D. A. Smith, on 30th August, 1814." I herewith return to you the letter and pamphlet.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOS. ANDERSON,

Hon. LEVI WOODBURY,

Secretary of the Treasury.

Comptroller.

STATEMENT BY JACOB BARKER, RELATIVE TO THE TEN-MILLION LOAN OF MAY 2, 1814.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 2, 1814. SIR: The terms upon which the loan has been this day concluded are as follows, viz: Eighty-eight dollars in money for each hundred dollars in stock; and the United States engage, if any part of the sum of twenty-five millions of dollars, authorized to be borrowed by the act of the 24th of March, 1814, is borrowed upon terms more favorable to the lenders, the benefit of the same terms shall be extended to the persons who may then hold the stock, or any part of it, issued for the present loan of ten millions.

Your proposal, of the 30th April, for five millions of dollars of the loan, having been at the above rate, or at a rate more favorable than the above to the United States, has been accepted; and you will please to pay, or caused to be paid, on the 25th day of the present

month, into the bank or banks you have named, or into such as you shall name to the Secretary of the Treasury, on the receipt of this letter, twenty-five per cent., or one-fourth part of the sum above stated, pursuant to the notification from this department, of the 4th of April last, and the remaining instalments on the days fixed in the said notification. You will be pleased, also, on or before the 25th of May, to furnish the cashier or cashiers of the bank or banks, where the payments under your proposal are to be made, with the names of persons in whose behalf the proposal has been made, and the sums payable by each.

The commission of one-fourth of one per cent. will be paid from the treasury, after the payment of the first instalment, on the 25th day of the present month.

I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

JACOB BARKER, Esq., New York.

G. W. CAMPBELL.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

February 28, 1820.

SIR: In obedience to a resolution of the Senate, of the 7th instant, referring the petition of Jacob Barker to this department, I have the honor to submit:

1st. A copy of the conditions upon which the loan of the 2d of May, 1814, was obtained.

2d. A copy of the opinion of the Attorney General, relative to the terms of that loan, of which the petitioner complains.

3d. A copy of the circular of the Comptroller of the Treasury, in conformity with that opinion.

And, 4th. Copies of two letters from the Secretary of the Treasury; one to the petitioner, and the other to Samuel Flewelling, esq., relative to the purchase of bills of exchange upon London and Amsterdam; from the payment of a part of which the petitioner prays to be relieved.

It may be proper to state, that no money was raised by loan, under the act authorizing a loan of $25,000,000, subsequent to the 31st of August, 1814, upon terms more favorable to the lenders than the loan of the 2d of May, 1814.

Without determining that the construction given by the Attorney General to the terms of the loan of the 2d May, 1814, was correct, it was an act of justice to the community to make it known as soon as it was formed. So long as the expectation should be entertained that a loan might be negotiated more unfavorable to the government than those which had been previously obtained, the price of the stock, to which the contingency was attached, would be affected by the possibility of its occurring.

From the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury to the petitioner, relative to the bills of exchange which he proposed to sell to the government, it is manifest that that officer considered the transaction wholly unconnected with the loan obtained from the petitioner. The transaction is expressly declared to be founded upon the principles