LIST OF PAPERS. Mr. Davis to Mr. Fish, January 5, 1877, transmitting- Report of Mr. John Davis, clerk of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims Page. Extract from "The Treaty of Washington," concluded May 8, 1871 Decision and award made by the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva Mr. Davis to Mr. Fish. WASHINGTON, January 5, 1877. SIR: The Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims adjourned on the 29th of December last, having examined and decided all claims submitted to them, in accordance with the several acts prescribing their jurisdiction. I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the business of the court, to which I have added several of their opinions in the more important cases in which an opinion was delivered, and in some cases I have inserted a synopsis of the argument of counsel. In most of the claims the court simply entered judgment for a certain amount, not announcing the manner in which they arrived at their de cision. Some of these cases I have reported, as they appear to be of interest, and have given what, in my opinion, was the ruling of the court upon the questions of law arising in them. The statements of the principles decided in these cases are my own, and for them I alone am responsible. They are reached after a careful comparison of the amounts claimed, the amounts awarded, and the decisions of the court in other and similar cases. I have little doubt that they are substantially correct; still they are in no sense an official expression of the opinion of the court. In a court organized as this has been, and required to determine so large a number of cases in a comparatively short time, duties have necessarily been imposed upon me which in courts generally do not fall upon the clerk. If I have been successful in the performance of these duties, and in my efforts to facilitate the speedy disposal of the cases before the court, a large proportion of the credit is due to my assistants. I would especially call to your attention the valuable services rendered me by Mr. J. Scott Laughton, Mr. J. C. Poor, Mr. Thornton Carusi, and Mr. Arthur O'Conor. They have been untiring in their industry, and their faithful performance of the services required of them is worthy of high praise. To Mr. R. W. C. Mitchell, the short-hand reporter of the court, I am also indebted for extended notes of the arguments of counsel and the. oral opinions of the court, which he has kindly furnished me, and for assistance rendered by him in various other ways. In conclusion, I beg to express to you my thanks for the uniform kindness and consideration you have shown me at all times since I had the honor to be placed under your direction. I have, &c., JOHN DAVIS, Clerk and Disbursing Agent. REPORT OF MR. JOHN DAVIS, CLERK OF THE COURT OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALABAMA CLAIMS. Hon. HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State: The sum awarded by the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva to the United States as indemnity for losses sustained by the depredations of certain so-called insurgent cruisers was, in accordance with an act approved March 3, 1873, paid into the Treasury of the United States, and an amount equal to that paid in was invested in 5 per cent. registered bonds of the United States, to be held subject to the future disposition of Congress. To distribute the money so invested, the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims was created by an act approved June 23, 1874. (Section 11, chapter 459 of the Laws of the Forty-third Congress.) The President, on the 24th of June, 1874, nominated Hezekiah G. Wells, of Michigan, as presiding judge; Martin Ryerson, of New Jersey; Kenneth Rayner, of Mississippi; William A. Porter, of Pennsyl vania, and Caleb Baldwin, of Iowa, as judges, and John Davis, of Massachusetts, as clerk of the court, and these nominations were confirmed by the Senate. In the winter of 1874-75 Judge Ryerson resigned, and soon after died. Harvey Jewell, of Massachusetts, was appointed to fill the vacancy on the 26th February, 1875. On Friday, the 15th of December, 1876, Judge Baldwin died. No appointment was made to fill this vacancy in the court. On the 22d July, 1874, the President designated and appointed John A. J. Creswell, a counsellor at law admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, to appear before the court as counsel on behalf of the United States and to represent the interests of the Government in the court, subject to the supervision and control of the AttorneyGeneral. Alexander Sharp, marshal of the United States for the District of Columbia, has discharged the duties of marshal of this court, as provided in the act creating it. R. W. C. Mitchell has acted as the short-hand reporter of the court since its organization. In accordance with law, the judges met and organized the court at Washington on the 22d day of July, 1874, and since that time have held all their sittings in that city. On the 24th of July they made certain "needful rules and regulations, regulating the form and mode of procedure" before them, and "for carrying into full and complete effect the provisions" of the act, (as provided in section 3 thereof,) which rules and regulations, together with a notice of their next session, were duly published. The court then adjourned, to enable claimants to prepare their cases for trial. A house was rented for the use of the court, no accommodation being found in any Government building, and during the summer the clerk adapted the building to the purposes of a court-house, prepared the |