The New York Herald Newspaper, December 20, 1850, Page 6

MOST EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENT, PETITION or WILLIAM A. SEELY, ASKING THE INTERPOSITION OF THE UNITED STATES TO ENABLE HIM ‘TO OBTAIN HIS CLAIMS UPON TUR GOVERNMENT OF HOLLAND, RESPECTING THE OY THE PRINCRSS OY ORANGS. JEWELS Janvany 10, 1860; Rerernen ro tue Commirrer on Fovasce—Berrrensen 30, 1850; Discharcen, ano Onpereo 10 BE Printen, To the Honorable the Senate and House of Repre- sentatrvcs of the United States of America in Con- ess assembled : ‘he petition of William A. Seely, a citizen of the ‘United States, residing in the city of New York, respectfully shows: Thet, on the night of the 25th to the 26th of September, 1829, the palace in the city of Brussels—the residence of the then Prince and Princess of Creme an feloniously invaded by one Constant Polari, (or Carrara,) and the imperial insignia, jewels, and personal ornaments of the princess, consisting of about 2,091 carats of diamonds, and about 13,462 pieces ot a very rare and peculiar description, being ‘court jewels,” were stolen from the palace, amounting in value, as proved before the police mugistrates of the ay of New York, by the Che- valier Huygins, the then envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Netherlands near the United States, and also by the estimate of his government, to several hundred thousand dollars, and, as he represented to your petitioner, to about one million ‘ That among the many articles (117) taken by the felon, were two large and brillant diadems ot the princess; a portrait, set in brilliants, of the Emperor Paul, of Russia, and the 5) Maria; @ goid bracelet, with the portrait of her brother, the present Emperor Nicholas, engraved upon an amethyst; two bracelets, with the initials of the then King Wilham the First, of Holland, and father of , Bee husband, the then Prince of Orange, of the queen, bis mother, and their family, in tur- quoise, set with hair; portraits, painted in their youth, of the Grand Dukes A'exander, Constan- tine, Nicholas, and Michael, the brothers of the princess; end a turquoise and gold talisman brace- Te. to which the princess was stated by the minis- ter to attach a special importance far beyond its intrinsic value. The palace, at the time of the larceny, was un- occupied, except in the basement, for domestics— the prince end igincess then being at thei: summer residence. The discovery of the theft, on the morning after its perpetration, aroused 3 v intense excitement, not only with the King and his family, but with the ministry and court—calling out all the eflorts of the government to devise means for the detection of the felon, for retrieving the property from bis possession, and for intercept- ing us clandestine asportation without the king- dom; and the King, in council with his mini resolved immediately to invoke, for the rea! meprt of the property, should it be placed beyond hue jurisdiction, the friendly aid and assistance of those foreign governments which were then im re- tations of amity with his own, by an appeal to their love of justice, and to international cour- tesies, for such good offices as, in the national as well as highly personal and delicate relation to an imperial proncess of the house of Russia and of the Netherlands, the felony wes so forcibly calculated to obtain To efiect this, instructio among others, to their en near this govern- ment, the Chevalier Huygins, by that of the Neth- erlands, in compliance with which, on the 19th of Noveinber, 1529, in @ communication to the De- partment of State, now on its files, he announced to this government the circumstances attending the theft, soliciting its aid and eupport to recover the stolen articles, and to arrest the guilty perpe- trators of the felony—a matter which your peti- toner would here respectfully beg leave to suggest, except in courtesy, was wholly extraneous to strictly executive functions; one which, in an or- dinary case, would have been fairly within the municipal and criminal jurisdiction of the tribu- nals of our country, and to which, for such pur- poses, those tribunals were ebundantly competent. In that communication from the minisier of the Netherlands, he put specially under the notice of the government, as worthy of its international con- sideration and relations, that “* Amoag the stolen articles were many to which the most interesting recollections were attached, and of which the loss, for that reason, was doubly paiofal, bat on the sight of which it would be easy to recognise the ewnership of her imperial and royal highners; that he consequently beggea that such orders should be given as, should the property be pre- sented at the custom houses, or be Siscovered by the collectors, they might be instantly seized and taken in charge.” ™ To this conimunicatioa the Department of State, on the 24th of the same month, informed the minis- ter of the Netherlands that it hed, in compliance with his request, addressed a letter to the Secre- tery of the Treasury, requesting him to give, through his department, such instructions as he might deem most likely to accomplish the desired ebjecis, and assuring the miaister of the Nether- jands that, in the event of the poery being brought into the United States, all further a ance within the competency of this government, which might conduce to their recovery, would be promptly and cheerfally afforded. By another communication, of the Ist December, 1829, the Secretary expressed great pleasure in communi- cating to the minister of the Netherlands copies of the answer given to the application to the Secre- tary of the Treasury, and of the instructions which that department had, at thi mage of the case, promptly iseued, in complience with it, to the col- jectors of the customs in the po:ts of the United States From the time of the perpetration of the felony until the Sth of November following, all efforts to trace the felon or the property having proved abor- tive, both within and without the kingdom, the government of the Netherlands, by proclamation, oflered a reward of 50,000 florins for the recovery, and gave, es annexed, the detailed description of the property; and they also, through their consul in the citv of New York, shortly after proclaimed the reward tn that city. On the 2&h day of July, 1831, the Chevalier were despatched, Huygios called at the offices of your petitioner, with officially attested copies of his correspondence with the government of the United States, and, in placing them in your petitioner's possession, ex- preesed his desire to retain your petitioner as the counse! of his government, of his Fing, and of the Prince and Princess of Orange, at the same time aseuring your oner that, in the professional agency he would be called to undertake, the mi- nistry of the Netherlands had already been assured by the government of the United States of its fullest support in the attainment of his views; and, while calling your toners attention to the fact that the correspondence banded him had referred only to the stolen property, he stated that, although the whole value in possession, concealed, or under the ou f , amounted perhaps to a million ® bad transpired subsequently tothe of the felony, and since these commu- nications With this government, which had made the mere valve of the articles in question but of a then secondary consideration; that, independently of the delicately personal aad highly international character of the property of the princess, and of her desire to reobtain them, it had become impera- tively necessary that elacid ations and proofs of the most conclusive character, as to an actual commis- rion ofa felony, as well as ali details attending ita yerpetration, should be had, and be so authentiea- ted es to leave no rational doubt on the public mind, even with the most skeptical, that it had traly not enly been committed by the individual dben about to be arrested, but that the property ia his possession was ideatically that of which the felon h. spore vecd hunself at the time when the felon) been alleged to have been committed, ind at the palace of Lacken A year and ten months had then transpired be- tween the perpetration of the felony and the arrival > of the culprit in the Uasted States. Loring all that period, @ most impenetrable myctery—owing to the adroit manner in which the telon had concealed hie purporee—had hung around it. All the energies of the government of the Netherlands, and the efforts of others, prompted by the grea: induce. ment of the profiered reward of 50,000 florins, had proved utterly upavailing for the attainment of a single fact by which either the felon or any part of the property teken, could till then be traced. Daring this period, too, the —— revolution had been approaching ite crisis. he popular feelings and prejudices of the then Belgian portion of the king- dom of the Netherlands, was hostile to the royal family. The remissness of the prince in his pecu- niary engegements (in that region,) was notorious. From causes now unnecessory to be explained, a general incredulity had begun to prevail there that arobbery could at ail have occurred, so great in magnitude, and of articles 80 peculiarly susceptible of identification, and that yet, after the lapse of so much time, no portion of the rty, or proof of a single iveident attend: tl By emp of a felony, or trace of its author, had heen elicited by the very extended and untiring efforts which had Taserest Gm, veoplehe a had directed th ion irected the public eye to the prince—to his known pecuniary elmbar: by yo oy ~) —_. A had be. gun vail, and eventually to become impressed on the public mind, implicating on as having him- eel ay the jewels to his private purposes, and wi aga fact the al Toh Pipe Xp] P= the allegation, and made in relation | and unfounded a calumny. charge, the minister alluded .o and station of the parties in whose service your | to it, as a mere ruse, intended to veil and withhold from the public comment the pretended peculation of the prince. With charges so grave was he openly assailed, in the angry tamults of the revolutionary strugglen, that, inpocent a8 he truly was, many w but believe them true; end this, to such an extent, that the detection of the robber and the elucidation of the felony had, at that time, become to bes 2 royal fo mily and court of the Netherlands an object of tbe most intense sy magety and solicitude. The prince had served with great reputation as a mih- tary man, and for many years, and, innoceat as he was, during this long iatermiasion, had been de ly humiliated by the reflection that nothing could be detected by which to extricate him from 80 foul ‘The necessity and the justice of extricating him, at the period of your petitioner’s retainer, had come, from euch considerations, then about to be put confidentially before, and again further urged upon, the government of the United States, an ad- ditional motive for its offices; and, as itthus may be well conceived, it could but enlist the sym- pathies of this government in furtherance of such elucidations, as wellasia the pursuit of the pre- vious object of restoring to the princeas the proper- ty which, in September, 1829, had been the sole object then urged upon this government by the minister of the Netherlands for the exercise of its international functions. Enough sheuld, in justice, be here briefly stated of those incidents which had 80 effectually served to shroud the felony in mystery, during the ob- verted | prince | petitioner was to be retained; he feelingly ad oe calumnies with wich his been assailed, pnaung 1D inexplicable mystery in which ene. depredation had been involved, tothe anxieties of his king and court to relieve the heir-apparent to their throne from such unfounded tations by the arrest of the felon, and the imperative neceesity for a pu plic trial puvishment of the felon at the Hague— the immense wealth of the monarch he represeat- ed, his alleged high sense of honor, the Mberality with which requite such services; that he was even surnamed *Guilliaume le Juste;’ that he must ask your petitioner to devote his uadi- vided eflorts, exclusive of other agencies, however profitable, to the furtherance and attainment of the objects he had in view; that he was warranted, as weil by the nature of the facts as by their relation to the high parties he represented, in assur- ing to your peutioner, not only @ liberal remu- neration for his services, but a more than ample indemnity for all the sacrifices fhe asked in the oe h ms stati titioner was re- 'y such representations, your petitior luctaatly induced to set Side a professional estab- lishment eesentially practical, the result of twenty yearsof previous hen worth, as the minister of the Netherlands weil knew, from eight to twelve thousand dollars per annum—to enter upon the pursuit of the duties thus entrusted to him, with @ zeal, devotion, and energy which the minister has a ioe erent be ft ais progressively, end step by step, during th cise of the mission of the minkter in this coun- seurity that had, thus far, hung over it. | The Palace of Lacken is celebrated for its pecu- ‘ liar beauty ; and was so, too, for the exceediag splendor of 1's furniture, which had been prinei- | pally presented to the princess by the imperial court of Russia. The general facility of access in Europe to such buildings, during absence of the ordinary occupants, is known; and it is not improbable that the felon may ia this wa ve ob teimed a view of it. The jewels purloined by him, had been kept in a piece of the furniture of palace, im external form and appearance much after the fashion of the ordwary writing desk in use in the Uauted States, of which the door falls down to form the writtmg table, and to give access to its paper and writing materials behind it This door, when closed, was faced on its outer front by a large plate of looking glass; on which the use to which | the upper poruon was applied was indicated, in plain gilt lettering, by the words ‘* Catsse des Dia- | mants.”* The felon, probably, thus having seen the indi- cation of the contents of the article in questioa, on the night for perpetrating the felony, with the as- sistance of a small ladder, peeve over the rear wall of the square on which the palace is situated, and which alone was not guarded by sentinels, into the garden in its rear; thence up to and on the terrace stoop opening from the palace to the rear garden. The door was not fastened. Through it, he went directly for the jewels to the place, on the same floor; at but a very short dis- tance, broke the front plate of glass, possessed him- self of them, and returned through the gar- den to and over the wall, by the aid of the same ladder, with the ‘property in his possession, and threw the ladder into a ditch near by. He, on the same night, no doubt immediately, and unob- served, went out of the city of Bruasela a mile or two, and there buried the entire property, in the same state in which he had obtained it, returning directly, on the same night, to his ordinary resi- dence ‘in Brussels, and to his work as a mechanic on the following morning, as if nothing unusual with him had transpired. During the intermission between the perpetration and the discovery of the felony in New York, on the evening of the 28th July, 1831, nothing had transpired as to the conduct of the felon implicating him, nor until the facts were in part disclosed by one a Roumage, on that day, as hereafter stated. The property had, until about two months pre- viously, been permitted to remain in the state in which the felon had buried it. No part of it had either been kegs about him, or converted to his use. He thus had entirely avoided all suspicion, and, as has been seen, had eluded all the efiorts made to detect him, or discover the least trace of the property. It was during this condition of the felony, the wholly unfounded impressions as to the prince had taken root. When the public mind had thus settled down, end become quieted, the felon adroitly conclude: that he could then safely escape with the yon d trom Europe to the United States. He accor ingly sent fora lewd woman, whom he asserted to be, and who possibly was, his wife, and for their child, then about six years of age; dug up the jewels, rndely and unskilfally forced them from their settings, injured the value of some, i himeelf in their dissevered state of about two-fifths —four hundred thousand dollars in value—mainly of such selections as he thought least susceptible of identity, as well as most unlikely to attract — cion if found upon him; reinterred the residue, with the sett portralts, dimes und other articles , ely to betray him; informed the woman most lik who was to accompany him wa he yn ot 4 pit i red them: PieGaoore i istierets;"and, "with the jewese which he had thus again possessed himself, con cealed in a hollow walking stick, a hollow um- brella stick, and a hollow toy for his child, and on the person, and in the apparel of the woman, he passed out of Belgium on foot, through I'rance, where he disposed of about $8,000 in value from among the smaller jewels, and of most ordinary sales, for their personal expenses and 3 tO the United State, and arrived at Havre, where, with the residue, and funds thus raised, he took jensage for New York, arriyed about the 20th of uly, 1831, and landed, wi@ the jewels, eluding the vigilance of the officers of the customs at that port. He engeged board and apartments ina very re- spectable French boarding house in the city, at which Roumage also resiled. Roumage was a Frenchman—a man of education and gentlemanly bearing, possessed of an astute and penetrating mind, but of no moral rectitude. He soon ingrata- ated himself into the favor and confidence of the women, and by his artifices and cunning soon be- miled her into an acknowledgment that her pusband had purloined the jewels of the Princess of Orange, and then had them, or at least a large portion. of them in his ssion. le alac, through her, induced tae felon to give him some specimens—falsely, ia order to obtain them, sug- Sage to hit t ¢ knew where he proba- ly could eflect their sale. With these specimens, shortly before obtained, on the same da’ w your petitioner was retained, Roumage had w: on the Chevalier Huygins, displayed them to him, alleged that he had acquired information as to the robbery, and hed brought these with him as the evidence of it; that he, Rou: » Would be ex- posed to great personal hazard from the felon, should he become aware who had betrayed him; that, if the minister of the Netherlaads would officially engoge, in w1tng, to pay Roumage the 50,000 florins, concealing the knowledge from pn ag that he had disclosed these facts, he would take euch measures as should, insofar as practicable, place the minister in ssion of in- formation to enable him to accomplish his purposes. The engagement for the 50,000 florins being at once made in writing, and delivered to Roumage, the minister of the Netherlands tmmediately after, on the same evening, retained your petitioaer, as be‘ore stated. i In the first conference of our petitioner with the minister, in reply to a relation of the disclosures a> to promised assistance, the expediency of aa inter- view with the person from whom the information minister that he had been placed, for the reasons stated, under the most emphatic ipjunctions of seeresy, and he could not, therefore; comply with whet, in this, your petittoner asked of him, either by an interview with the informer, or by informa tion as to hie name. Your petitioner, at once re- plied, thet he could relieve the embassy from restraint in that respect; that he himself could the informer, end he would mer Was & most dangerous man, aad no doubt had already deceived and betrayed the embassy ; that a like eecrecy, without question, had already been imposed by him upon the collector of the port, with the double object and futile hope of secret! assuring to himeell, as informer there, the fourth part in value of the jewels, in addition to the like ae engagement with the embassy for the 50,000 fori * Your petitioner then etated to the minister of the Netherlands that the name of the informer John Roumage, and that he would scarce- e to refuse compliance vith whatever your ner jon gee in justice ire of him; that your recently, is counsel, obtained quittal from a grave and serious criminal charge of erson, for which he had been indicted and put on trial for his life At this time, your petitioner had been upwards of twenty years engaged in the purauit of his profes- sion, and Wee at that time at least as extensively and pers yd employed as any of his compeers. The consul of the Netherlands at New York, who had referred the minister of the Netherlands to 1ee, titioner, well knew this; and that a business ife, thus veeupied, had given to your petitioner a peculiar and very general local information, espe- cially among all Europeans and foreigners resident there, and which no other possessed. In then and thortly after urging the case on the care and attention of your petitioner, besides mak- ing known to your petitioner the appeal of his government to that. of the United States, and its promises of ite fullest aid and assistance, and placing the official evidences of itin the hands of your petitioner, in order to impress more vividly on which had been made to him, and with refereace | was stated to have been obtained, was suggested | by your petitioner, and met by the repiy from the | name, from the foreign population of the city, | do 80, most es | | pecially to caution the embassy that his infor- | try, to represent to his king and govern- ment—duties which, during three years and eight months subsequent to jar petitioner’s re- tamer, utterly broke up and destroyed, now more than eighteen years since, that professional estab- lishment, lea’ it to be regained as it os and for which, it will surprise your honorable ly to learn, your petitioner to this day has never been enabled to obtain from his clients one farthing of compensation or indemnity of any kind. 7 Your petitioner, in his anxiety and desire toavoid the extension ef this memorial, or unduly to tres- ss on the deliberations of Congress, will abstain weed embodying in it a circumstantial detail of the multifarious anxieties, arduous labors, great per- sonal and pecuniary hazards, complicat negotia- tions, and legal controversies, involving abstruse and grog) questions of local and national law, in whic the case involved him, from his retainer up to the time of the departure of the minister, in the beginning of February, 1832, on his return from his mission to his own government. The manifest injustice to which your petitioner had already (it will be seen) been soljecsed by ie clients, on the 10th of September, 1833, had im- posed upon your petitioner the necessity of then recounting, in writing, to the minister who hi cunpioyed tine: those services up to that period, in- sofar as they had occurred under his own imme- diate view and observation while in this country, and which had, by that minister, as he represented, been fully disclosed to his king and government. Exhibit at page 165 is that letter, and exhibit at page 190 is that minieter’s reply. Your petitioner would respectfully urge upon your honorable body a perusal of them, because they afford the most unquestionable evidence of a deliberate “ insemul computassunt” between your petitioner and the minister; as an expressly authorized agent, uo ad hoc, of the oh eo of the Netherlands, for the ve} ore ‘services of your petitioner during the limite portion of his own ministry, and up to the beginning of the month of February, 1882. 'y the reply of the minister, it will be seen that all and every of the representations of your ag tioner to the minister, in the letter of the 10th of September, 1833, were admitted to be strictly just and true in fact, and were known to be so, at all times subsequent to the interchange of those ex- hibits, not only to the minister, but to his king, the ce, the princess, their ministry, and govern- ment; and your petitioner begs leave to state, while the amount of that account stated has alone been definitely claimed for the services it contem- plated, with the al interest from the period when, in all right justice, it should have been paid, your petitioner has ever since only asked, for the residue of his time, services, and sacrifices under his successor, and before their court, the tapers estimate by He and honorable men, on a frank submission of them, upon the rs and proofs in the case, in the place where the services were rendered, and where the mass of proofs for such an estimate lies. On the evening of the 23th of July, and the same on which the requisite steps had heen taken for the arrest of the telon, it was discovered that the officers of the customs had, in fact, already been to the residence of the culprit, and had, through the indications of Roumage, taken from the felon about the one-half of the — he had brought with him to this — leaving him so on his guard that he wes enal led to evade the attempts subsequently made on that eveing your peti- tioner for his personal arrest; and he escaped to the room of Roumage, in another and distant part p bg city, where he remained with him during night, yet unaware Ronmage been his betraver. r pa On the _moming of the , 20th, before sunrise, of the city to Brooklyn, leaving them there, to re- turn to the city and to apprize the Chevalier Huy- gins where another attempt might be made to eflect the arrest. While Roumage was doing this, the culprit, without the knowledge of Rou- mage, and yet unaware of the disclosures by his wife, took her with him to a wood, near the now Greenwood Cemetery, and there buried ae tion not seized, amounting to perhape $200,000 in vaiue, in an almost inaccessible thicket, and so marked surrounding objects as to enable him or his wife, by angulauon from those objects, to find them, should circumstances render it advisable with either to repossess them. He thea returned to brooklyn and secreted himself, leaving his wife to return to the city of New York and concert with Koumage what he would advise to be done. It was goon after, and on that day, suspected by the felon that Roumage was treacherous; but he did not yet apprehend the disclousures by his wife to Roumege. Through her, Koumage obtained | and gave indications for the arrest to another Frenchman, who had been pursuaded by the eul- | prit end his wife to aid in his concealment, but | who, lor a bribe of $2,000 paid him, agreed, oa the afternoon of the 30th July, to bring the felon, in | the dark of the night, to a plece indicated near the | new South Brooklyn ferry, where oflicers would | be stationed for his arrest. The culprit had, be- fore his arrest, been advised by this man that from the Brooklyn shore he could escape by water round the city of New York to Hoboken, and thus elude the officers of the police, and if, at about nine ofthe evening, he wished to be conducted to | the Brooklyn shore, a boat should be there for that purpose. At the designated hour, this man, and another of his selection, with the felon, er ly come to the shore. On reac’ it, he asked, ia | French, “ Where is the boat Police otiicers, | stationed within about twenty feet from him, aout fifteen m number, were concesled from him by the darkness of the night, but were heard, in rising to effect the arrest, by the noi f their feet. The culprit excleimed to the Frenchman, “ Brigand, thief, you have betrayed me '’ and sprang back up the hill he had just descended towards the shore, seeking to escave With the createst energy. So great had the anxiety of the Chevalier Huy- gins been to assure himeelf against the possibility of the culprit’s eluding an arrest the use of a large share of the jewels, that he had, on the even- ing previous, earvestly entreated your petitioner to be present at the arrest, to guard against euch a comingency—the chevalier himself, on this at- tempt, waititg within sight, doubly te assure his object ; ‘ On the second attempt, and the last, your peti- tioner elone was present, and, to prevent the es- cape, himself pursued the cul with the officers The latter leaving your petitioner to lead them brought y our petitioner into contact with the felon; a struggle ensued of great violence and danger to your petitioner, and such as is explained fully in the appendix of September 10, 1833. The arrest was, a it will thus be seen, effected at the immi nent exposure of the life of your petitioner, who, to the knowledge of the minister and his government, was severely wounded in the conflict. The felon, fter a viol at struggle, was overcome, ironed, and conducted to the city of New York, by the officers | of the police of that city and Brooklyn. On the 20h of July the day previews to this ar rest, the Chevalier Haygins had seen the jewels then in the pussession of the collector. Ia asking of the police of the city of New York the detention of the prisoner, as he did on the night of the arrest, | at about eleven, of Saturday, July 30, the Cheva- | lier Huygins made oath before the police magis- trate as to the general ‘* description of the stolen property, his instructions from bis government, be- fore alluded to; that he had, in obedience to them, before applied to that of the United States for ite aid and assistance in relation to it, and that it had been promised him; that the articles in ques! were of a very rare and peculiar descript were court jewels, and he believed those in tion to be @ part of them.” Enough was thus put before the magistrate to warrant him, in his opinion, in committing and de- taining the prisoner for examination, and in order to give the minister of the Netherlands time to ap- ly at Washington tothe goverament of the United jotes for ite promised aid and assistance. A law of the State of New York, page 20%,) and which had then recently bee passed, in 1880, had provided that the bringing of operty of another, feloniously acquired, into the Rieke of New York, might be punished in the same manner as if the larceny had been committed there. Under this statute the felon w: ited On the morning following t irrest, 4 his communication with the government in ber, 1829, the Chevalier Huygins, in a communi- | | quea- the mind of your petitioner the momentous respon- sibilities tw ST he was juested to take exalted rank of July 31 to the Secretary of State, now on ty feoalied bis attention "to the letter ad- reseed to hipdeparrenett OF the eee See fon November, 1829, stating that he had not failed, at that time, to transmit to the govern- if 26th November and | manication found and the individual named ay | his attempt to escape, in spite of a ance against those who were then arrest, he therefore consequently the government of the United States, in order to obtain the entire effect of their promises, which he had so transmitted to his government “He consequently asked of the Secretary of State to obtain from the President, as soon as the identity of the stolen articles should be showa, that they should be placed at the disposition of his Ma- jeety the King of the Netherlands, and in order that the ultimate authorization in that respect might be made out for that purpose.” And fur- ther, that— “Jn the occurrence of a theft which (he alleged) was to be considered as made on the crown of the Netherlands, he solicited, at the same time, autho- rity for placing the individual upon whom the arti- cles eto! ron been ringaes Wg oe Laon 4 the judicial proceedi a st the thieves, the etceerl of the “7 which the felony had been committed, in order that a plenary effect might be eres to that justice which the import- ance of the case required.” i 4 “ That, inasmuch as it was recognized that in thefts of this nature goverrments ever gave their mutual assistance for the recovery of stolen pro- perty and the conviction of the cu! the Chev- alier Huygins ventured to flatter himself that the government of the United States would readily grant this friendly act to his hg goat the King of the Netherlands, and and begged the Secretary of State to lend his good offices to the subject.” Your petitioner begs leave respectfully to e that thas enough had been shown, coupled with the instructions which had been given to the collec- tor of the custome of the of New York by the Treasu tment, in December, 1829, to have protected the embassy of the Netherlands against obstacles, to be wilfully, or from motives of pecu- niary interest, by officers of the custons, thrown in his way, as impediments to the march of mere jus- tice, and in view of so broad and palpable a felony —committed, as this visibly appeared to have been, by a man whose general appearance, habits, con- duct, and character under arrest eo plainly indi- cated the felonious acquisition of a property of so peculiar a description, of such immense value, and of which, it will be seen, the felon would not con- sent to give any rational account; and that hos- tility of action, too, from officers who had received instructions from the government of 1829, as above referred to, and then actually had them fa posses- sion, among the archieves of the custom house; a hostility of action for which there could be but one apology, and that which the Chevalier Huygias has stated to have been, some weeks after, ned by the collector—“ a pretence that he had forgot- ton those instructions.” ss Notwit ding, in the face of such instruc- tiona, as early as the morning of the Mon- day following, and on the first day of Au- gust, after the deposition of the embassy, its evidence of the identity of the property, a sworn statement of its relation to those very in- structions from the Treasury Department to the collector, a capias was issued to the marshal of the district, in the name of the United States, ainst the culprit, a mere common felon, for ,000,of debt, as a penalty for having landed the jewels without entry, endorsed with an order re- quiring bail from such a man in $100,000, and a jeputation from the marshal to the keeper of the criminal prison in which the felon was confined to execute the writ. On the next day, the second of August, the marshal of the district himself, as an additional detention of the prisoner, and topse- vent his asportation, made oath, as evidence of hia guilt, of the facts nntading the seizure, and with view to show they plainly evinced a felonious acquisition of the proyerty—to which, on the same day, and again on the 9th, was superadded the tes- timony of the consul for the port of New York of the Netherlands. On the third of Ai still further to complete the evidence, the Chevalier Huygins, at the desire of your petitioner, reluctant- ly took his lady, who, having attended the marriage festivals of the pripcess, had seen and could attest with knowledge to the jewelry as the property of the Princess e, who, as is seen annexed hereto, gave direct evidence as to the identity of the stolen properties with those seized. The prisoner, on the second, had been brought up himself for examination, and, as is seen in the depositions, after a few indifferent questions, dog- ly refused to answer further. In the face of such conclusive evidence as to the prope: and of the application of the instructions of the Treasury Department to the case, on the 3d of August, the jewels seized by the collector were libelied in form by Mordecai M. Noah, then the vewnr of the airstame _ Lour pe iloner respectfully begs leave to shaw, in illustration of the position under which he sub- mits his claims for the consideration of your heao- rable body, that, from the moment of such mani- festations of the visidly interested and uncontrolla- ble purposes of the collector, and a collision with his principals thus plainly exhibited to a foreign go- vernment, and which collision, it is seen, occurred at the very outset of the Rreccore cgeuey ofyour petitioner, no sate reliance could be placed, and it Will be seen none was, in fact, by the minister of the Netherlands, in that quarter, for the attainment of the mutual purposes of the two governments; nor would, nor could he, in fact, willingly rely on any rendered for his princi through the regularly constituted agents et that of the United States in that collection district, who were, as he had reason to perceive, too plainly controlled by, or under the influence of, the collector. In the views and purposes of the minister of the Netherlands, therefore, whenever your petitioner could not act in the associated views and purposes of both governments, the minister would consent to act only under the direction of his own legal ad- viser and counsel. Nearly the whole professional action, therefore, except in one instance, of the application under the direction of the Treasury Department, reluctantly given and assented to, as mentioned in the commu- nication anvexed of the Chevalier Houygins, of the 5th of November, 1831, and in which your peti- tioner associated himself in action with the District Attorney, yeur petitioner was the leading, and far as 3 aware, nearly the sole professional ad- viser in the city of New York ia the pursuit of the objects, views, and purposes of the goverameat of the Netherlands. An iljustration of the position of your petiti for both governments, will be seen on recurring to the communication of the Chevalier Taygins to the Department of State of the Sth of Novem- ber, annexed hereto, in which the Chevalier Huy- gins then retrospecting upon the acts of the two governments, which in the intermediate period had elapsed, im his view of international etiquette and requirements, would not consent, except with re- pugnance, in the instance alluded to, to implead is sovereign, or the princes of his family, in our courts of justice, which he alleged, by the etiquetie of euch courts, it was beneath their Tignity to do; that by a/l international usages, such matters cou! alone be treated diplomatically, and not through the judicial tribunals of a foreign country; that the stolen property was, by the laws of Holland, known only es the property of the Crown of the Nether- lande, and thet, in this, was to be considered dif- ferently from the case of the property of aa ordinary individual of his nation. {twill also appear that the government of the United States, as its charge at the Hague “ alleg- ed to the government ot the Netherlands, had, in the consummation of the purposes in view, aseo- ciated its action to that ‘of the Netherlands, in a menner they had never done before, and had neve: done since.” Such conditions and international considerations attended with personal relations of eo highly impe- rative a character, both os regarded the King of the Netherlands, the princess, and her husband, as the heirapparent to his throne, could alone have af. forded a justification for such an exception—cir- cumstances which called on the government of the United States to bend to the ny re of justice,de- #ympathy with the laws of our country, virewmstaaces could possibly justify,it;and to which attempts to pursue the consummation of desires so anexeeptionable, no other obstacles pre- eented themselves bu; the unjustifiable tenacity of the subordinates of our own government for the acquisition of prove ty, in which the owners’ right, as va 4 contended, had become alienated from t ent only through the misdeeds of a common felon. As a still further justification to your memorialist fer ae his cave to the consideration of your honorable body, he would respectfully beg leave to refer to his application for relief against the unfor- tunate predicament into which buch relations and negetiations had drawn him, to his application to the department of the 25th August, 1847, and to the corresyondence consequent upon it of the depart- meat with the charge of this government to the jegue. In that thi commenioation, the Secretary states a general rule, the government of the United States does not interfere to enforce the con- tracts which our citizens may have made with foreign governments. It etrikes me, (he observes, ) howe ver, that the present is an extreme case, and cannot be viewed altogether in the light of a mere pri centract. “The ct accomplished chiefly through the Ry t. Seely, was the recovery of the jew- ls bel ing to the Princess of Orange, and the extradition of the robber. The government of the Netherlands invoked our aid in ¢ffeeting this pur- pore; and this government, always actuated py the Most hiendly feelings towards his majesty, inter- fered in their behal, in a manner we had never done before, and have never done since. Mr. Seely, who was a re: attorney and coun- taw, in full practice in the cry of New York, had therefore some reason to this government would not view with i the refusal of the Dutch government to pay him a for services performed | Your petitioner would most re that the very special case in which the services of your petititioner were thus required was such as naturally must areaenally oven, no lees between governments than with i viduals, imposing ebli- gations end duties towards third parties, as binding in equity and good conscience in the one as in the other. Lord Palmerston, in illustration of such a@ position, has with every seem- ing of perfect justice, thatin the etiquette of na- haan when Lm pe — ie incurred to a — is OWD ion) with a foreign government, for services rendered to it under the countenance and sanction of his own, the home erament pays, if the foreign does not And such, in the common occurrences of life, of services rendered by one to another wdividual, would be deemed due in deli- cacy and justice by a tmrd, whose association in the acts constituting an indebtedness had blended itself with the influences inducing the credit. The Secretary of State, in his despatch to the charge of this government at the Hague, it will be seen, further stated ‘his sincere hope that the government of his Majesty pig adjust the claim of your petitioner without further difficulty or de- lay; thet there were circumstances attending it which ought not to be exposed to the world by means of ap ion to Congress ” ‘That communicatien, and another that followed of a more imperative character, are hereto annexed, with the application, by your petitioner, to the de- partment on which these communications were ranted, and so made. communications aving ‘been treated with discourtesy, and yet re- meining wholly unnoticed, your petitioner has | been re: 4 by the Sta resent Department of to your honorable Body for such re in the view of Congress, your petitioner may now be entitled to ask, under the incidents of his | position, and of which incidents your memorialist will further proceed to lay the detail before your *Gnr the einth day of August, B havi the sixth day oumage having probably discovered from a4 wile the place of im- terment of the jewels, near Brooklyn, by the felon, on the mee | of the day he had conducted bim to Brooklyn, and aware that both the minister, the collector, avd, in fact, everybody, but the wife, were ignorant of the ge called on the minister, with six pieces of the jewels which had been buried there—one, a large sapphire stone, which, it Was stated by the minister, the Emperor Alexander had given to his sister, the Princess of Orange, and for which he had paid, in Paris, $12,000 ; another, a large diamond, with a notch in it, occasioned the rudeness with which the felon had forced it from its omy a and said to be worth about $17,- 000; another brilliant, of a} form; two lai pearls, of pear shape, which had been taken from ari ornament; and an emerald of a square form. jumage, aware of the efforts which had beea made by William H. Maxwell, Esquire, as the counsel for the prisoner, that William M. Price, bow ha had been also retained (as the minister ap- prehended by the Custom House and nominally) as counsel for the prisoner, that the Custom House intended to insist on a forfeiture, and had also be- come aware i} ie duplicity of the higcepoay bf Roumage to the Chevalier Huygins, fearing de! in his hopes of sharing in the fo: Bitare, sad Eaowing | that the prisoner was now aware of his treachery, — and that, if he should be released from the arrest, | he had threatened his life—now thought it best to | aid the embassy by the accumulation of fs for | the detention of the felon. He accordingly ob- | tained, through the wife, from the buried box, and | placed in the hands of the ministry, those six pieces, requiring a ome acknowledging that they were held in deposit. In accounting to the miais- | ter for the mznner of procuring them, he falsely | alleged, a person had called at his residence who | had diecovered in the possession of another person | some of the jewels, which he thought might have | been given or confided to him by the felon. Rou- | mage arserted that he had claimed and obtained them by threats, and, as he alleged, in order that | they might be delivered to the minister, and that | they should aid in the proofs of identity ; that he had been obliged to ise secrecy to the person from ween had obtained mony tore pin ree nister wou! 80 promise secrecy, he the hope of procuring still moré, through the disclosures of the felon’s wife ; that if the minister should show them at the custom house, the fact that he had them would be discovered, and would prevent bis procuring more. Roumage also required from the minister the re- peg show that he had placed them in his hands, which was given, with an acknowledgment that they were received in deposit; and Roum at the same time showed to the minister aa umbrella of brown silk, with which the felon, at the time of the seizure by the custom house, on the 28th, had carried many of the jewels out of his house, thus eluding, in presence of the re of the customs, a scizure of those jewels—loumage adding, that the officers had beon co cimple as to let the felon carry the umbrella awey without examiniag it. Roumage (alluding to those which had been buried near the Greenwood Cemetery) stated to the minis- ter that he knew there were other jewels con- cealed, but rhat he could not tell precisely where ; that he would endeavor te discover them—the wife of the felon, as he said, knowing where they were concealed From the time of the arrest of the felon, and till about the 23d August, a French officer of police, of the name of Raymond, the only one who familiarly pepe French, had been secretly kept, under the ireetion of your petitioner, in the employ of the mninister, to keep both the wife and Roumage under ict surveillance. As the wife of the felon, she could not be ex- amined against him; and Koumage had, as yet, committed no ofience which could inculpate him, and could better aid the purposes of justice at liberty. Raymond, conceal; his employment from them and the prisoner, proflered his assistance between the wife and the felon, as well as Rou- mege, adroitly obtained such information as he might be enabled to get, and communicated it. And thie had continued till about the 2ist of | August, when, on the morning of that it was discovered Roumege had suddenly disappeared, as | weil as the wife of the felon, and, as it was readily | conceived, upon the fects already obtained, carry- ing with them those jewels which had been inter- red near Brooklyn, and which, as yet, had defied ell cearches made for them, beyond the six pieces scertained. Measures were immediately set on foot to dis- cover the direction in which they had been taken; and, from that time, the res'itution to the Princess of four-fifths of the whole felony, after- wards obtained, it will be séen, depended entirely upon action in regard to them out of the United States. Among the larger portion yet tl us to ba | obtained were those most interesting in family re- lations, and which were most prized-of which the recovery now depended eutirely upon the i the felon, proceeded from the Hague to Brus- | a dimumtered the jewels, Uk a and wince that | thus, through the of your petitioner, rreuce ring'to her the Teatitution of the Ge Fala the exception only of tose which the felon Jet in jeopardy in the possesion’ of the New tim ew ly suggest Sinem house When the information of events so singularly tortunate was returned to New York, the Chevalier Huygins felt himself bouad to ob- serve that, apart from all the pecuniary adv: which thus, andin the perilous arrest of the feloa, your petitioner had secured to his principals, peutioner had also reheved his government from the engagement in writing which he had given to Roumage for the 50,000 florins, and, as was a sum from the puyment of which your petitioner hne saved his chents, irrespective of all other eer- vices, it at least was then due to your petitioner. To this your petitioner replied distincuy, as is set forth in the ietier ot the 10th of September, that he would not receive it as a reward for the delive up of @ criminal to justice, but, if offered to him by the government irrespective of such considerations, and asa couneul fee, he would receive it as such. From the time of the arrest of the felon, and till alter the departure of his wive and great uiterest Was attached by the officers of the customs to the discovery of that portion of the jewels which bed been concealed near Brooklyn. ' But nothing had induced either the wife of Roumage to dis close to them any fact by which to detect them, tll the 5th of September folowing. On the 7th of August, the communication of the minister of the Netherlands to the Department of State of the 3let of July, Reese rk surrender 4 the prisoner, was answere e —, State, that the President did th conceive himself authorized by the covstitution to do so; but the department, at the same time, expreased an opi- nion that both objects might be effected without infringement of the coustitution, and with as much ite | certainty, by the interposition of the authorities, as by an exact comphance with the request of the minister of the Netherlands. ¥ Your petitioner, through the minister of the Netherlands, explained to the Secret of State the fact that, for the protection of the frontier of the State against depre dations, erimes, and escapes to and fro across the Canadian trontier, the legis lature of the State of New York, in reciprocation with the Canadian authorities, had, in 1>22,passed 4 statute,then incorporated in the Revised Statutes, (vol 1, page 164,) enacting that the Goveruor, ia his discretion, might deliver to justice any person who should be charged with having committed, without the jurisdiction of the United States, any crime, except treason, on the requisition of the duly authorized ministers or officers of the gov- ernment within the jurisdiction of which the cme should be charged to have been com upon such evidence of the guilt of the person so com- mitted as would be required had the crime charged been 80 committed within the State of New York. And the minister accordingly, while communica- ting ‘his provision to the department, on the 7th of August, asked of the Secretary of State to take thore statutes into consideration, and officially to support the application to the Governor of the State of New York, as it had been previously asked for from the general government, verona, the depart- ment, by his communication of the 3ist of July. -The Secretary of State accordingly did, on the 9th day of er A and again on the 24th of the © month, ask it. Oa the 20th of August, the Governor of the State of New Youk granted a provisional mandate, and om the 29th day of the serne meath, an absolute man- date, to the shenff of the city end county of New York, commanaing him to deliver the felon ipto the custody of the minister of the Ne- therlands, to the end that the feion might be placed under the jurisdiction of that kingdom, to be dealt with according to its laws. The prisoner, on or about the 23d of August, pro- cured a habeas corpus, returmable on the 2d of Sep- tember following, when, atter fall Cpe eed the mandate of the Governor ot the State of New York for the extradition of the felon, (thus its validity) and the captas and order to hold to in the name of the United States, he waa remanded to custody, and there detained, under the capias. On the same day, the minis‘er of the Netherlands, by a communication of that date, and as by his communication aurexed, of the Sth of No- vember following, had complained ot the coutinued pendency of the action for the penalty the prisoner, #s an impedimnent to the execution ofa mendate, obtained on the joint applicauioa of both governmnents, earaestly urging a retraxit, and com- leining also of the requirement by the custom- Binees of the surrender to them of the six pieces obiained by Scmegs oy ‘fh the wife of tae fe which the minister wished to use as proofs the identity of the whole, and upon which pieces, a8 soon as obtained, yet another libel had been placec by the custom house, immediately on the attainment of them. ‘ ‘ Your petitioner would again subsmait, that it will be seen, on inspection of the letter of the Chevalier Hoygins, of the Sth of November, in how far the consummation of the wishes of both the go- vernment of the Netherlands and the Department of Suite were controlled aad paralized by the-offi- cers of the customs and the ey Oe at itself, which, in terms, instructed U ‘ollector that the mandate of the Governor could not dis- cherge the felon from the action at law insti- tuted in the name of the United States against the prisoner for the penalty, and that the Marshal of the district would, therefore, be expected by. the depertment to retaia the felon uatil he should be legally Lapa yo by authority of the United Stites, or until further instructions should be given from the Treasury Department. ’ Still further to embarrass the attainment of the. objects in view, Mr. Price, as counsel in the cage, having been defeated on the habeas corpus, resorted to an antiquated proceeding, by homine repicat indo, as a dilatory action, through which it Was hoped the purpose of the ministry, for the extradition of the felon, could be still further delayed. It should here, in justice to your petitioner, be stated that a full pardon of the teion (and et which 4 copy is annexed) had, from about the com- meneement of his services, been obtined by your petitioner from the minister of the Netheri tnd which, to the general knowledge of the counse! of the prisoner, of Mr. Price, also, as his counsel, of the officers of the customs, and, aa yon believes, of the cabinet at i d been continually proposed to the felon, on the sole con- dition that he would consent, at the expense of the ass of the Netherlands, to go to the Jague, and there confess and explaia the incidents of the felony; and an engagement on the part of the government of the Netherlands was coupled ith it, to pay the passages of the culprit and his child— who was, in that event, to go with him— beck to the United States, when he had done so, if he wished it. On or about the 4th of September, the prisoner, aware that his wife had gone off with Roumage, and that the minister possessed the six pieces of the jewels above eluded to—they having been buried by himee If, in presence of his wile, with the rest, near Brooklyn~-rightly conjec‘ured Roumage tom action of your petitioner, and the accidental | nowledge by your petitioner of the handwriting | of Rovumage, even beyond the possibility, which | he had attempted, of disguising it; as wellas the re- | stitution tothe government of t e Netherlands of the ment in writing of the Chevalier Huygins to | Rovmage for the 50,000 florins, then in the possess- ion of Koumage, and which the government of the Netherlands justly deemed forfeited by him,for the | treacherous and felonious manner in which he had | peped to escape with that portion of the jewels not | delivered to the embassy, and which had been bu- | ried near Lrooklyn,and for the disinterment also of | the three-fifths or more of the jewels yet buried at | Bruseels, of which the wife of the felon alone knew the lecation, and which in Brussels was efieeted by the agent placed abou: Roumage and the wife by your petitioner for weeke prior te the escape. Roumege hed taken passage, on the eveniag | previous to the discovery of his escape, by the mail stage for Philadelphia, iacautiously inserib- ing in the way-bil! book in the New York stage office, in a disguised hand, “Mr. Roberts and ee ” This discovered, your petitioner immedi- ately despatched Raymond by express te Philadel- phie, where, on his arrival, it was discovered Rou- mege hed atmaty see passage for Liverpool, b: the packet ship Monongahela, ef that port, wit the wile of the felon, his own wife; and had just cleared the oe of the Delaware, having gone on board with a crutch, pretending to be ofilieted with the gout, and with th: umbrella of the felon, before alluded to. Raymond, having immediately reiurned to New York by mt | knew as well as your petitioner that the pretext est merely to conceal in the crutch and um- preila the jewels which Roumage and the wife now intended to run into the port of Liverpool. Already provided with the proofs necessary for the arrest of Roumage and the wife in Liverpool, he was immediately conducted by your petitioner to the packet p Sylvanus Jenkins, of that port, that day eailing for Liverpool, on board of w! he embarked, under an an ee by your peti- by forcing sail the master of the ship ive and land Raymond before the dis embareation by the Moyongahela of her passen- fers in Liverpool, a pecuniaty componsation should be given him for effecting it. The two vessels arrived in St, George's channel | together—the packet of New York landing Kay- | mond in Liverpool! long enough before the disem- | barcation of Keumage and the wife of the felon to | enable Raymond to have he papers oa and endorsed by the poliee of Liverpool and return to | the docks of that city, to await the landing of the [~~ They were sore the ape Beg J jewels; and, mutually accusing each other, the a o we Lead y immediately de- as Sich cite fon of the wife spat felons, to the with the pretence of forte ture, or delay whence Raymond, under the and bis wife had disinterted and gone off with the residue. To assure himself of this fact, he wrote to the collector, asking him to come to the prisom in which he was confined, saying he wished to moke a confession to him of a million (of franes ia valve) of jewels that he hai concealed ina in Brooklyn, which he was desirous of delivering into his possession. The collector, the marshal, the secretary of the embassy of the Netherlands, and your petitioner took the prisoner, in charge of officers, the next day, to the place which wee shown by the prisoner to them, with the marks he had made ou surround objects to find the spot, and the hoe with ich he had buried them. {i was there seem those jewels had disappeared. tr A Seige after that day Woe were pet in Liverpool on the persons of liouma, wile by Raymond, the officer deapasched instructed for that purpose by your petitioner and the minister of the Netherlands. Your petitioner, while relating the incidents of his position, desires that it be seca that nothing wasdone either by your petitioner or the embassy in the progress of the case, to divert ~~ portion of the pre from whatever action the revenue offictrs of e United States had desired to take im relation to it. It will eppear, by an official commumeation ia he I ttment of State, of the 6th of December, he Minister of the Nether= jands, Sonsul at the port of New York was directed by the government of the United States to apply, through the District Atiorney at New York, he did, assisted by the counsel of the govern- meot of the Netherlands, for a remission of the forfeiture of the jewels yet remaining under libel end the eccntrol of the Collector; which was oppored by the Collector, and defeated, for the reason that the position on which the application rested applied t@ stolen property, and such were articles not subject to confiscation under the act of , 1797, and that the court, therefore, could not adjudge a delivery to the Consul and which your petitioner had anticipated, and stated to the Minister of the Netherlands previously would be fatal to it. On the 4th of January, 1832, the Chevalier Hay- cins terminated his missign at this court, and pre- sented his son, R. Banjeman Huygins, as charge (ad interim) of his government. On the 20th of January, 1882, by tion from the charge, on the files ment of State— “The President, having taken the jewel eas> into mature conside , had conc as fa as ceneerned the introduction of the jewels, t: order a nolle prosegwt ot a pardon, as might bs elected by the charge of the government of th: Netherlands.” Lede! gia being in coun the jewels yet remainin, py to debenture: nee of t a communica- of the Depart 34% both poly in’ Cyt praised bonded, sul the Toth, they were. a, "ep by exder of the Date: