Opinion of the Court. before set forth, this respondent submits that he is not subject to the process of mandamus in the premises, and he, therefore, prays that he may be discharged from the said rule, with his proper costs in this behalf sustained." To this answer White demurred, assigning, in the demurrer, the following reasons for the insufficiency of the answer: "1. It does not deny that the relator, S. V. White, is assignee of the moieties of the awards in controversy. 2. The President did not have any supervisory power under the act of June 18, 1878, except in the two cases named in the fifth section thereof, known as the La Abra and the Weil cases." On the hearing of the demurrer, the judgment above mentioned was entered. The opinion of the General Term is reported in 5 Mackey, 428. We are of the opinion that the demurrer to the answer should have been overruled; that the answer showed sufficient cause for a refusal to issue the writ; and that the petition should have been dismissed. The answer sets forth that the Secretary of State "finds it impossible, as the matter now stands, to recognize the claims and pretensions of the said White to the moieties of the said awards, without ignoring the conflicting claims and pretensions of a certain Richard H. Porter, between whom and the said White litigation in respect to the said award is now and for a long time has been pending;" and that he has "always been and is now willing to pay whatever sum or sums may be due on the said moieties, out of moneys received, under the said treaty, from the Republic of Mexico, on an order and acquittance signed by all the rival claimants of the said moieties," which he "submits is as much as could be done by him without embroiling the United States in a litigation in which it has no interest whatever." This is adequate ground for a refusal on the part of the Secretary of State to pay the money in question to White. The answer alleges, that the claims and pretensions of Porter to the moieties of the awards conflict with the claims and pretensions of White to the same. This is a sufficient averment that the claims of Porter are of the same character and extent with those of Opinion of the Court. White. The answer also avers, that litigation in respect to such awards was then pending between White and Porter. This allegation necessarily implies that the litigation was in respect to the conflicting claims of the two parties to the moieties of the awards, inasmuch as the petition states that White is the assignee of one-half of each of the awards. The Secretary of State, in view of such litigation, was not bound to decide between such conflicting claims, after he had notice of them, and that they were in litigation, and when his decision might, perhaps, be a different one from what that of the court would be in the litigation. The writ of mandamus is a remedy to compel the performance of a duty required by law, where the party seeking relief has no other legal remedy and the duty sought to be enforced is clear and indisputable. Knox County v. Aspinwall, 24 How. 377, 383. Both requisites must concur in every case. It is urged, that the answer to the petition, so far as it refers to the conflicting claims of White and Porter, as a ground for not recognizing the claim of White, is insufficient as a pleading. But no such ground is taken in the demurrer to the answer; and, independently of this. we think that the answer was sufficient. We express no opinion as to the validity of the second ground of defence set up in the answer, that the Secretary of State is not invested with authority over the moneys in question independently of the President, and that it is the opinion of the President that the public interests forbid the making of payments to White, in the condition of things set forth in the answer. The decree of the General Term is reversed, and the case is remanded to the court below, with a direction to dismiss the petition for the writ. Counsel for Parties. UNITED STATES ex rel. ANGARICA v. BAYARD. ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. No. 1241. Argued January 5, 1888. - Decided April 30, 1888. On a petition for a writ of mandamus to the Secretary of State to compel him to pay to the petitioner the interest or income derived from the investment of a sum of money received by a predecessor of his, in office, as part of an award made by the Spanish-American Claims Commission, which sum of money had been eventually paid to the petitioner: Held, that the Secretary was not liable to pay such interest or income, because (1) The award was to be paid by the Spanish government to the government of the United States. (2) It was paid by the Spanish government to the Secretary of State of the United States, representing the government of the United States. (3) The money withheld was withheld by the United States, and the petitioner's claim, based on the withholding, was a claim against the United States. (4) The case fell within the well-settled principle that interest is not allowed on claims against the United States, unless the government has stipulated to pay interest, or it is given by express statutory provision. (5) No claim for the allowance of interest could be predicated on the language of any notification, or circular or letter which issued from the Department of State, during the administration of a predecessor of the Secretary; no binding contract for the payment of interest was thereby created; and the present Secretary was at liberty to act on his own judgment, irrespective of anything contained in any such notification, circular or letter. THIS was a petition for a mandamus. The writ was refused, and the relator sued out this writ of error. The case is stated in the opinion. Mr. Edward K. Jones for plaintiff in error. Mr. F. R. Coudert was with him on the brief. Mr. Assistant Attorney General Maury for defendant in error. Opinion of the Court. MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court. In this case, Lutzarda Angarica de la Rua, executrix of the estate of Joaquin Garcia de Angarica, deceased, presented a petition to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, praying for a writ of mandamus to be issued to Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State of the United States, to pay the petitioner the amount of the interest or income derived from a certain investment of money. The case was heard in the first instance by the general term of that court, which rendered a judgment, on the 7th of December, 1885, dismissing the petition, with costs, on the ground that mandamus was not the remedy applicable to the case stated in the petition. 4 Mackey, 310. The petitioner has brought a writ of error in the name of the United States, on her relation, to reverse that judgment. The following are the material facts of the case: On the 12th of February, 1871, an agreement was concluded between the United States and Spain, for the settlement of certain claims of citizens of the United States, 17 Stat. 839, of which a copy is set forth in the margin.1 "Memorandum of an arbitration for the settlement of the claims of citizens of the United States, or of their heirs, against the government of Spain for wrongs and injuries committed against their persons and property, or against the persons and property of citizens of whom the said heirs are the legal representatives, by the authorities of Spain, in the Island of Cuba, or within the maritime jurisdiction thereof, since the commencement of the present insurrection. "1. It is agreed that all such claims shall be submitted to arbitrators, one to be appointed by the Secretary of State of the United States, another by the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain at Washington, and these two to name an umpire who shall decide all questions upon which they shall be unable to agree; and in case the place of either arbitrator or of the umpire shall from any cause become vacant, such vacancy shall be filled forthwith in the manner herein provided for the original appointment. "2. The arbitrators and umpire so named shall meet at Washington within one month from the date of their appointment, and shall, before proceeding to business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially hear and determine, to the best of their judgment, and according to public law and the treaties in force between the two countries Opinion of the Court. Pursuant to the agreement, the arbitrators and the umpire were appointed, and a commission thus composed, generally and these present stipulations, all such claims as shall, in conformity with this agreement, be laid before them on the part of the government of the United States; and such declaration shall be entered upon the record of their proceedings. 3. Each government may name an advocate to appear before the arbitrators or the umpire, to represent the interests of the parties respectively. 4. The arbitrators shall have full power, subject to these stipulations, and it shall be their duty, before proceeding with the hearing and decision of any case, to make and publish convenient rules prescribing the time and manner of the presentation of claims and of the proof thereof; and any disagreement with reference to the said rules of proceeding shall be decided by the umpire. It is understood that a reasonable period shall be allowed for the presentation of the proofs; that all claims, and the testimony in favor of them, shall be presented only through the government of the United States; that the award made in each case shall be in writing, and, if indemnity be given, the sum to be paid shall be expressed in the gold coin of the United States. 5. The arbitrators shall have jurisdiction of all claims presented to them by the government of the United States for injuries done to citizens of the United States by the authorities of Spain, in Cuba, since the first day of October, 1868. Adjudications of the tribunals in Cuba concerning citizens of the United States, made in the absence of the parties interested, or in violation of international law or of the guarantees and forms provided for in the treaty of October 27, 1795, between the United States and Spain, may be reviewed by the arbitrators, who shall make such award in any such case as they shall deem just. No judgment of a Spanish tribunal, disallowing the affirmation of a party that he is a citizen of the United States, shall prevent the arbitrators from hearing a reclamation presented in behalf of said party by the United States Government; nevertheless, in any case heard by the arbitrators, the Spanish Government may traverse the allegation of American citizenship, and thereupon competent and sufficient proof thereof will be required. The commission having recognized the quality of American citizens in the claimants, they will acquire the rights accorded to them by the present stipulations as such citizens. And it is further agreed that the arbitrators shall not have jurisdiction of any reclamation made in behalf of a native-born Spanish subject, naturalized in the United States, if it shall appear that the same subject-matter having been adjudicated by a competent tribunal in Cuba, and the claimant, having appeared therein, either in person or by his duly appointed attorney, and being required by the laws of Spain to make a declaration of his nationality, failed to declare that he was a citizen of the United States: in such case, and for the purposes of this arbitration, it shall be deemed and taken that the claimant, by his own default, had renounced his allegiance to the United |