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List of all persons who have been appointed to any office in connexion with the Ordnance department, since the 4th day of April last.

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A list of appointments to office in the Engineer department, made since the 4th day of April, 1841.

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Henry R. Hushberger Ridingmaster at the Not known Pennsylvania.

United States mili-
tary academy.

ENGINEER DEPARTMENT,

Washington, March 28, 1842.

List of appoitnments made by the bureau of Topographical Engineers, under the direction of the War Department, since the 4th day of April, 1841, showing the names of the appointees, the State in which they were born, the State in which they resided at the time of their appointment, the service to which appointed, and the compensation allowed to each.

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A report from the Secretary of State, and documents, in relation to the claim of the captain and owners of the Spanish ship Sabina.

APRIL 20, 1842.

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affaica.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I submit to Congress a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by documents relating to an application by the captain and owners of the Spanish ship Sabina, which is recommended to their favorable consideration. JOHN TYLER.

WASHINGTON, April 20, 1842.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, April 15, 1842.

The undersigned, Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President copy of a despatch from Aaron Vail, late chargé d'affaires of the United States at Madrid, dated on the 28th of September last, and of the documents by which it was accompanied, together with an extract from the instructions of the Department to Mr. Vail, on the subject to which they relate.

By these papers it will appear that, in the year 1839, Captain Manuel de San Juan, of the Spanish ship "Sabina," rescued and supported the captain, supercargo, and seventeen officers and men, of the American ship Courier, of New York, which had foundered at sea, and finally landed them safe at the Cape of Good Hope, after maintaining them on board the Sabina for a period of fifty days. The claim of the captain and owners for reimbursement of expenses incurred on the occasion is undoubtedly just, and the peculiar circumstances of disinterestedness and humanity which mark the whole transaction appeal loudly to the justice and the liberality of this Government.

Congress being the only tribunal competent to decide upon and make

suitable provisions for a case of this kind, the documents illustrating it are communicated to the President, for the purpose, if he should think proper, of submitting them to that body.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

List of accompanying papers.

Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Vail, (extract,) July 15, 1840.
Mr. Vail to Mr. Webster, September 28, 1841.
Captain San Juan to Mr. Vail, (with translation.)

Memorial of Don Ignacio Fernandez de Castro to the House of Representatives of the United States of America, (with translation,) September 23, 1841.

Statement of the captain and first and second officers of the Sabina, with the certificate of the supercargo, December 12, 1839.

Isaac Chase, Esq., United States consul at Cape Town, to Alexander Burton, Esq., United States consul at Cadiz, January 10, 1840. Certificate of Alexander Burton, Esq., September 21, 1841.

[Extract.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 15, 1840.

SIR:

In a despatch recently received from Mr. Eaton, he informs the Department that application had been made to him, in behalf of the captain or owners of the Spanish ship Sabina, for remuneration or for the reimbursement of expenses incurred for the maintenance of the crew of the ship Courier, of New York, rescued from shipwreck at sea. No direct application from the parties has yet reached the Department. Still, as the case appeared one possessing strong claims upon the justice of the United States, it has been laid before the President; who, with every desire that such acts of humanity should not go unrewarded, finds himself unable to act in this case, from the want of funds, under the control of the Executive, out of which such claims can be paid.

Should the application be renewed at the legation, you may state the foregoing circumstances in answer, and advise the parties, should they persist in their endeavors to obtain compensation, to take the proper measures to place their application before the Legislature, to whom aloue it appertains to make the necessary provisions for claims of this description. I am, sir, your obedient servant,

AARON VAIL, &c., Madrid.

JOHN FORSYTH.

[No. 38.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
Madrid, September 28, 1841.

SIR: Some time in the year 1839, Captain Manuel de San Juan, of the Spanish ship "Sabina," then on a voyage from Manilla to Cadiz, fell in,

near the straits of Sunda, with the launch of the American ship "Courier," of New York, which had foundered in a gale of wind, and rescued from impending death Captain Wolfe, Mr. Hilliard, (the supercargo,) and seventeen other persons, officers and seamen of said ship, who had been forced to abandon their sinking vessel. During fifty days, until landed at the Cape of Good Hope, these unfortunate people were maintained on board the Sabina, with a disinterestedness and humanity which give Captain San Juan and the owners of his vessel a claim, not only on the justice of the United States, for the reimbursement of the expense thereby incurred, but upon their liberality also, for any acknowledgment it may be in their power to make. By a letter from our consul at Cadiz, dated 3d April, 1840, the case was brought under the notice of the Secretary of State, who, in his answer of the 9th July following, stated that the President, though satisfied that the Spanish captain was entitled to remuneration, was of opinion that there existed no fund out of which it could be paid, and that an application to Congress was the only means by which it could be obtained. In the instructions which I brought out, I was directed, in the event of the case being presented at the legation, to state the circumstances, and advise the parties to take the proper measures to place their claim before the Legislature.

Having acted upon these instructions in consequence, of a written application handed me by an agent of the parties, of which a copy is enclosed, a memorial addressed to the House of Representatives, accompaned by papers authenticated at the consulate at Cadiz, has been placed in my hands, with request that I would put it on the way to its destination. I think I cannot make a more appropriate disposition of it than forwarding it to your Department, and requesting, in its behalf, such countenance as you may think proper to give in aid of the attainment of its object, if, on a review of the circumstances, the President should still be of opinion that the fund for the relief of destitute seamen does not furnish the means of making the desired compensation without specific legislative authority. The friend of the Spanish captain, who handed the papers to me, said that, although pecuniary remuneration would, especially to the owners of the vessel, whose stores had been expended in the maintenance of the shipwrecked mariners, be an object of some importance, he would himself, individually, derive much higher gratification from some acknowledgment of his humane and generous proceeding, addressed officially by the Government of the United States to that of Spain; as he believed that the consequence would be the conferring upon him of the honorary marks of distinction and approbation usually accorded, as at once the reward and encouragement of meritorious deeds. Should it be the pleasure of the President to gratify Captain San Juan in this particular, the legation, on being instructed to that effect, might, independently of whatever remuneration may be granted, address, with that view, a suitable communication to the Spanish Government. I have the honor, sir, to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, A. VAIL.

Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER,

Secretary of State of the United States.

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