[100] _House Reports_, 21 Cong. 1 sess. III. No. 348, p. 77. [101] Cf. _House Doc._, 16 Cong. 1 sess. III. No. 42, p. 11: "The Grand Jury found true bills against the owners of the vessels, masters, and a supercargo--all of whom are discharged; why or wherefore I cannot say, except that it could not be for want of proof against them." [102] E.g., in July, 1818, one informer "will have to leave that part of the country to save his life": _Ibid._, 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 100, p. 9. [103] Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury, to Hon. W.H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury: _Ibid._, 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 107, p. 5. [104] The slaves on the "Constitution" were not condemned, for the technical reason that she was not captured by a commissioned officer of the United States navy. [105] These proceedings are very obscure, and little was said about them. The Spanish claimants were, it was alleged with much probability, but representatives of Americans. The claim was paid under the provisions of the Treaty of Florida, and included slaves whom the court afterward declared forfeited. [106] An act to relieve him was finally passed, Feb. 8, 1827, nine years after the capture. See _Statutes at Large_, VI. 357. [107] It is difficult to get at the exact facts in this complicated case. The above statement is, I think, much milder than the real facts would warrant, if thoroughly known. Cf. _House Reports_, 19 Cong. 1 sess. II. No. 231; 21 Cong. 1 sess. III. No. 348, pp. 62-3, etc.; 24 Cong. 1 sess. I. No. 209; _Amer. State Papers, Naval_, II. No. 308. [108] The first method, represented by the Act of 1818, was favored by the South, the Senate, and the Democrats; the second method, represented by the Act of 1819, by the North, the House, and by the as yet undeveloped but growing Whig party.