EXHIBIT 6.

The Earl of Aberdeen to the American Minister.

The Undersigned, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had the honor in his Note of the 3rd Ulto. to inform Mr. Everett, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, that he had referred to her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Everett's Note of the 26th of December last, relative to the complaints brought forward by several American Citizens concerning the position in which they are placed in Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand, with respect to the recognition of certain of their Titles to Lands in that Colony, and also to the high rate of Duties which is said to have been levied on American Merchandize, imported into New Zealand before the assertion of Her Majesty's Sovereignty of those Islands.

Having now received an answer from the Colonial Department, the Undersigned has the honour to inform Mr. Everett, with reference to the first head of complaint, that in consequence of certain questions raised by the American Consul at Sidney as to the rights and obligations of Aliens in New Zealand, Instructions were forwarded to the Governor of that Island in the month of March, 1841, upon which occasion that Officer was directed to bear in mind the principle, that where Aliens had acquired Land from the Chiefs, prior to the proclamation of the Queen's Sovereignty there, and that fact was undisputed, the Claims should be acknowledged; but that where a doubt arose whether the Alien made a bona fide purchase of the Land, the settlers should be treated as any British Subject, and his claim disposed of accordingly. To this arrangement Her Majesty's Government have since announced their determination to adhere, on the occasion of a reference being made by the Governor of New Zealand on an application from a Belgian Settler relative to the claims of the Subjects of Foreign Powers to Land.

With respect to the second head of complaint, namely, the alleged imposition of prohibitory Duties of Import on Articles imported before the Queen's Sovereignty was established, the Secretary of State for the Colonies proposes to call for an immediate Report from the Governor of New Zealand on this Subject.

It is to be observed, however, that the Letter of the American Vice Consul at the Bay of Islands, which is enclosed in Mr. Everett's Note, bears date two years ago, and was written in the temporary absence of his Principal, from whom no complaints have been received, and who was actually himself a Member of the Legislative Council, and therefore peculiarly in a condition to watch over American Interests.

Trusting that these explanations will be satisfactory, the Undersigned requests Mr. Everett to accept the assurances of his distinguished consideration.

I find in the list of "claims of Citizens of the United States against foreign Governments," accompanying a report of Secretary Cass, and transmitted to the Senate by President Buchanan January 19, 1859 (See Senate documents, 2d Session 35th Congress), a statement of my claim against Great Britain, a copy of which is herewith enclosed. As said statement-if it has any good foundation for the deduction which it contains-must be based upon facts and data of which I am ignorant, I respectfully ask information upon the following points, so far as the same can be ascertained from the records and files of your Department:

I. When and by whom was a claim made or filed in the Department of State, in my name, against Great Britain for $78,145; and when and by whom was it alleged, prior to Sept. 1858, that my "rights and privileges were sequestered by the British authorities."

(a) On the 4th of November, 1840, I addressed a letter from Coromandel Harbor, where I then was, in New Zealand, to J. H. Williams, Esq., U. S. Consul at New South Wales, giving information of the proceedings and proclamations of the English Government in assuming Sovereignty over the Islands of New Zealand, and expressing my apprehensions as to what the effect thereof might be, as to titles to lands therein, acquired and held by myself and other Citizens of the United States prior to such assumption of authority by Great Britain. And I therein requested him to make the facts known to the United States Government, which he afterwards did by transmitting a copy of my letter to Secretary Forsythe, February 23, 1841.

(b) My said letter could not be understood as stating a claim against the English Government for which I was seeking the intervention of my own Government, for I therein distinctly stated that "they have not taken any of my lands as yet," and therefore no such claim had accrued.

II. When and in what manner did the Government of Great Britain order the Colonial Government of New Zealand "to recognise and confirm all bona fide purchases made * * * by aliens prior to January, 1840; and what "order of 1841" did "confirm to aliens bona fide purchases made by them prior to 1840?" What is the evidence that my bona fide purchases were so confirmed to me as one of such aliens, or that my purchases of lands in New Zealand were not bona fide?

(a) I am aware that Lord Aberdeen in his correspondence with Minister Everett in relation "to the complaints of several American citizens established on the Islands of New Zealand or concerned in Trade in that quarter," stated, February 10, 1844, that the Governor of those Islands "was directed to bear in mind the principle, that where aliens had acquired lands from the chiefs prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty there, and that fact was undisputed, the claims should be acknowledged, but that where a doubt arose whether the alien made a bona fide purchase of the land, the settler should be treated as any British subject, and his claim disposed of accordingly."

Most certainly this could not have been the foundation of the statement of my claim made to the Senate, that my purchases had been confirmed to me (one of the aliens) as "ordered in March, 1841."

III. There is injected into the statement of my claim as presented in September, 1858, the assertion that "The archives of the Government record this claim to have been presented in different guise in 1841, and to have then received the prompt action of the United States, and to have been met by the measures of relief on the part of the British Government noted in the statement here above next preceeding." In what "different guise," and by whom was my claim so presented at any time, and what were the measures of relief so meted out to me?

I also most respectfully ask that in communicating this information, you will be pleased to transmit to me copies of such records or documents (if any) as may sustain the statement made to the Senate and by me controverted as hereinbefore indicated.

Your letter of the 16th of April last, in relation to your claim against the British Government, growing out of the seizure and appropriation of your lands and other property in New Zealand by the British authorities in that Colony during the years 1840 and 1844, has been received.

You desire information in relation to certain statements made in reference to your claim in a communication from the President to the Senate in January, 1859. It would be difficult if not impossible to answer your enquiries categorically at this distance of time from the date of that communication. I may state generally, however, that, upon a very thorough examination of the case recently

made by an officer of the Department charged with such duties, it is found that no claim was directly presented by you, or on your behalf, for indemnity until September, 1858. The general subject of the claims of American citizens to lands in New Zealand became a question of diplomatic negotiation between this Government and that of Great Britain about the time of the acquisition of that territory by the British Government, and it is believed that, in making up the report of this Department to the President, upon which the message in question was based, either through inadvertence or misconception of your letter to Mr. Consul Williams, a copy of which that Gentleman had forwarded to the Government, the officer charged with its preparation supposed that a claim on your behalf was then before the Department.

The investigations since made show that supposition to have been erroneous. No reason is perceived why that statement should in any way work a prejudice to your claim; it does not so operate in the estimation of this Government, and it is not conceived that it will have the effect of lessening the equities of the demand against that of Great Britain.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

JAMES G. BLAINE.

EXHIBIT 9.

SENATE MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT NO. 167, 52d CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION.

MR. DAVIS, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted the following

RESOLUTIONS:

[To accompany Confidential Report No. 1.]

Resolved by the Senate, That after due re-examination of the matters presented in the petition of William Webster, and the evidence brought to their attention in support of his claim for indemnity from the British Government for lands in New Zealand, purchased by him in good faith from native chiefs, and duly con