(Extract.) George Jackson, Esq., to Mr. Secretary Canning. Washington, December 15, 1824. I HAVE now the honour to inform you of the re-assembling of the Board, pursuant to adjournment, on the 8th instant, and to enclose the Copy of a Letter received three days afterwards from the Secretary of State, transmitting the definitive List, beginning with Maryland, and going South to Louisiana, an abstract of which I have also the honour to subjoin. The Right Hon. George Canning. GEORGE JACKSON. The Hon. J. Q. Adams to the British and American Commissioners. (Extract.) Washington, December 9, 1824. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, agreeably to the Third Article of the St. Petersburgh Convention, and in consequence of the information in your letter of the 13th of September last, that you had fixed upon the average Value of Slaves, a definitive List of the Slaves, and other private property, for which the Citizens of The United States claim indemnification, which List is made up of several distinct abstracts for the respective States and Districts where the losses are stated to have been sustained. The British and American Commissioners. J. QUINCY ADAMS. CLAIMS FOR SLAVES AND PROPERTY, as stated in the Definitive SPEECH of The Lords Commissioners on the Prorogation of the British Parliament, on Wednesday, July 6, 1825. MY LORDS, AND GENTLEMEN, THE business of the Session being now brought to a conclusion, we are commanded by His Majesty to express the great satisfaction which He feels in releasing you from your laborious attendance in Parliament. His Majesty returns you His warmest acknowledgments for the zeal and assiduity with which you have persecuted the inquiries into the State of Ireland, which he recommended to you at the opening of the Session. It is a particular gratification to His Majesty, that the tranquillity and improved condition of that part of The United Kingdom have rendered the extraordinary powers with which you had invested His Majesty no longer necessary for the Public Safety. His Majesty is happy to be able to announce to you, that He receives from all Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this Country, and of their desire to maintain the general Peace. While His Majesty regrets the continuance of the War in the East Indies with the Burmese Government, He trusts that the gallant exertions of the British and Native Forces, employed in Operations in the Enemy's Territory, may lead to a speedy and satisfactory termination of the Contest. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF Commons, We have it in command from His Majesty to thank you for the Supplies which you have granted to Him for the Service of the present Year, and at the same time to express the satisfaction which He derives from the reduction you have found it practicable to make in the burthens of His People. MY LORDS, AND GENTLEMEN, His Majesty has commanded us to assure you, that He is highly sensible of the advantages which must result from the Measures you have adopted, in the course of this Session, for extending the Commerce of His Subjects, by the removal of unnecessary and inconvenient restrictions, and from the beneficial relaxations which you have deemed it expedient to introduce into the Colonial System of this Country. These Measures, His Majesty is persuaded, will evince to His Subjects in those distant Possessions, the solicitude with which Parliament watches over their welfare: they tend to cement and consolidate the Interests of the Colonies with those of the Mother Country; and His Majesty confidently trusts that they will contribute to pro mote that general and increasing Prosperity on which His Majesty had the happiness of congratulating you on the Opening of the present Session, and which, by the Blessing of Providence, continues to pervade every Part of His Kingdom. PAPERS RELATING TO THE BURMESE WAR. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Majesty's Command, 24th February, 1825. No. 1. The Governor-General in Council, in 2. The Governor-General in Council to the Secret Committee of the Court 3. Do.......to do....... do. 4. DECLARATION on the part of the 5. The Governor-General in Council to No. 1.-The Governor-General in Council to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company. (Extract.) Fort William, in Bengal, Nov. 21, 1823. YOUR Honourable Committee is aware that for some years past the Burmese have gradually been encroaching on the South-Eastern frontier of Chittagong, and advancing pretensions to the Jungles frequented by our elephant hunters, though unquestionably situated within the established British boundaries. In pursuance of this system of encroachment and aggression, the Burmese Local Authorities in Arracan set up a claim to the Island of Shapuree, or, as they term it, Shein-ma-bu, situated at the extreme point of the narrow strip of main land forming the Southern portion of the Chittagong District, and separated from it only by a shallow channel, which is continually filling up. The main stream of the Nââf, upwards of two miles in breadth, the acknowledged Boundary of the two States, flows between the Island and the Eastern, or Burmese bank of that river. Early in the present year the Magistrate of Chittagong reported in his Correspondence in the Judicial Department, that a Mug boat, laden with grain, in passing near to the Island of Shapuree, was stopped by a party of Burmese, armed with matchlocks, and the manghee, or steersman, shot dead on the spot. The only cause to which the Magistrate could ascribe this violent proceeding on the part of the Burmese, was the hope entertained by them, that such an act of violence would deter the Company's Ryots from cultivating that Island. Farther enquiry having tended to confirm the Magistrate in the belief that the murder was premeditated, he judged it expedient to detach from the adjoining Thanah of Tek Nââf a guard of Provincials, consisting of a Jemadar and twelve men, to take post on the Island, with the view of preventing further outrage, and, generally, of affording security and protection to the peaceable Inhabitants of that quarter of the District. Having subsequently reported that the Burmese were assembling in considerable numbers on the opposite bank of the Nââf River, with the intention of occupying the Island of Shapuree, or otherwise with hostile designs, the Magistrate was instructed to lose no time in adopting the necessary measures, in concert with the Commanding Officer at Chittagong, either to deter the Burmese from making such an attempt, or to compel them to abandon the Island, should they have forcibly taken possession of it. For a detailed statement of the proceedings of the Magistrate of Chittagong, in the investigation of the murder of the Mug boatman, and of his Correspondence with the Burmese Authorities on that subject, and regarding their claims to the Island of Shapuree, we beg to refer your Honourable Committee to the annexed extracts from our Proceedings in the Judicial Department. On the 26th of May last, the Magistrate reported, that he had not deemed it expedient to strengthen the military post on the Nââf, conceiving it might lead to the Burmese assembling a larger force, and be construed into a declaration of hostilities, observing, that if they were determined to attack the Island, it would require the whole force stationed at Chittagong to oppose them, and thus the Town itself would be exposed to the hazard of an incursion of the Burmese, through the passes in the hills to the Northward and Eastward. In the Correspondence which passed on the occasion between the Magistrate and the Ucherung, or Burmese Officer, at Mungdoo, your Honourable Committee will observe, that the latter asserted the right of the Government of Ava to Shapuree as part of the Province of Arracan, and |