had previously been an officer in the Navy of the United States. The same remark will apply with equal force to her present commander, Captain Grinnolds. Upon the subject of the fact lastly stated by you, of the improvement in the equipment of this vessel at one of our wharves, I have to observe, that on the arrival here of these vessels I had them examined, and an inventory of their armament, equipments, &c., taken, and before their departure I shall cause a re-survey to be made, with a view to ascertain whether they have undergone, in any respect, any alterations prohibited by the laws of the United States. I cannot agree with you, however, that a mere alteration of her copper, rendered necessary, perhaps, by some damages which, I understand, were sustained in the bottom of the vessel, can be considered as an improvement "in her equipment." And as for the merchandise which you "most solemnly lay claim to," in behalf of those whom you term the lawful owners, which, you assert, "there is no doubt of being stolen, or what, by way of softening the expression, are called prize-goods," I can only say that I neither officially nor individually have any claim to it whatsoever. It is only deposited in the public stores for safe-keeping to guard against injury, as in other cases, which might result to the revenue of the United States; and that I see no reason from anything you have advanced to change the opinion expressed in my last upon the subject. I know of no decisions, such as you speak of, in the Federal courts, adjudging prize-goods to be "stolen property, and ordering it to be restored to the rightful owners." If there be any such decisions, they go only to show that it is by such authority only, and not by any that I possess, that the articles in question can be detained or restored. Having thus, sir, gone through the different topics presented by you for my consideration, I shall conclude by assuring you it did not require anything you have [115] pointed out to me to remind me *of any duty which the circumstances of this case have rendered or may render it incumbent on me to perform. SIR: I have received the letter which, in answer to mine of the 12th instant, you did me the honor to address to me yesterday. Without denying any of the facts, on the strength of which I requested your interposition to prevent two armed vessels, now in this port, commanded and principally manned by citizens of the United States, from sallying forth to renew their depredations upon the commerce of Spain, you state that you do not see sufficient grounds for stopping those vessels, or the merchandise landed from them, and now on deposit in the public store-house in this place. I do not mean to enter, on the present occasion, into a minute discussion of the several reasons you assign for the line of conduct which you think proper to pursue in this case, because I think it sufficient for me to transmit copies of my correspondence with you to my government, through the channel of the minister plenipotentiary of His Catholic Majesty in this country. Still, you will permit me to advert to that part of your argument, purporting that it is not so clearly proved that Chaytor's views, on leaving Baltimore with the armed vessel under his command, was to cruise against the subjects of Spain under a commission from the pretended government of the river Plate; upon which I will remark, that it is no longer necessary to form conjectures about the probable intentions of men, when facts and overt acts have already fully developed their evil purposes. Thus, whether James Chaytor, in going out of Baltimore with the armed vessels still under his command, had hostile views against the subjects of Spain, a nation in amity with this country, is sufficiently solved by the hostilities which he has already committed, and still intends to commit, in the same vessel, against the said subjects. I must also be allowed to notice that part of your argument, "that whatever may be the antiquated notions prevailing upon the subject in the old governments of Europe, there is little doubt in this country about the question, whether a citizen of the United States has a right to expatriate himself and enter the service of a foreign power not at war with his native country." In this you certainly appear to me to have set up a mere speculative opinion, in opposition to a positive law, namely, the stipulations in the fourteenth article of the treaty with Spain, by which the United States have solemnly pledged themselves not to permit their citizens to accept com missions from any prince or state at war with Spain, for the purpose of cruising against her subjects, and to punish as pirates such of their said citizens as shall act contrary to that stipulation. With regard to the schooner Atrevida, formerly the Romp, which vessel, you say, "furnishes a strong argument against me," because, although tried for piracy, she was not actually condemned, I cannot avoid remarking, that since the time when she escaped merited condemnation, and her commander and crew condign punishment, she has been out cruising with the armament and commission she took out from this country, (it is pretty well ascertained that she has never been at Buenos Ayres,) and that in every respect she is evidently a pirate, under the true meaning and intent of the said fourteenth article of the treaty with Spain, and that her said commander and crew are actually engaged in piratical pursuits, in which course it behooves the constituted authorities of this country to stop them, when within their jurisdiction and completely in their power. Nor can I forbear to observe, before I dismiss the subject, that the self-styled government of the United Provinces of the River Plate will gain very little "in their struggle for independence" by commissioning such a gang of greedy freebooters, the scum of this and other countries, who, caring little for the fate of that deluded people, excite, by their voracious appetite for plunder, the indignation not only of the people of Spain, but of the honest and good of all other nations. I will now conclude, sir, by repeating my solicitations and assertions contained in my letters of the 10th and 12th instant, and by solemnly protesting, in the name of my sovereign, against permitting a number of citizens, now within their jurisdiction, and under their control, to go out to cruise against the commerce of Spain, and to renew their hostilities against her subjects; and I do also protest against delivering back to them certain articles of merchandise described by you in general terms in your letter of the 11th instant; which articles of merchandise are obviously taken from Spanish subjects, contrary to law, and especially contrary to the fourteenth article of said treaty with Spain, and which, from the tenor of the sixth and ninth articles of the same treaty, ought to be retained in behalf of the lawful owners. I am, &c., (Signed) ANTONIO ARGOTE VILLALOBOS. [116] *[Inclosure 7 in No. 19.] Mr. Mallory to Don Antonio Villalobos. COLLECTOR'S OFFICE, Norfolk, April 15, 1817. SIR: I have been honored with your letter of to-day, in answer to mine of yesterday, and am perfectly pleased that our correspondence has issued in a determination on your part to transmit copies of it to your government, through its minister in this country. I have nothing further to add on my part but the assurances of the respect with which I am, &c., (Signed) CHARLES K. MALLORY. No. 20. Mr. Rush to Don Luis de Onis. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: By the direction of the President, I have the honor to ask whether you have received instructions from your government to conclude a treaty for the adjustment of all differences existing between the two nations, according to the expectation stated in your note to this Department of the 21st of February. If you have, I shall be happy to meet you for that purpose. If you have not, it is deemed improper to entertain discussions of the kind invited by your late notes. This Government, well acquainted with, and faithful to its obligations, and respectful to the opinion of an impartial world, will continue to pursue a course in relation to the civil war between Spain and the Spanish provinces in America, imposed by the existing laws, and prescribed by a just regard to the rights and honor of the United States. I have, &c., RICHARD RUSH. No. 21. Don Luis de Onis to Mr. Rush. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, April 23, 1817. SIR: I have received your letter of yesterday's date, in which you are pleased to inform me, by order of the President, that if I have received the instructions which I expected, to conclude a treaty for the arrangement of all the differences pending between the two nations, you are authorized to enter into that negotiation with me; but if not, you consider it improper to entertain discussions on the subjects treated of in my last notes. In reply to these points, I have to inform you, with respect to the first, that my conjectures being confirmed that my instructions. have been intercepted by the pirates which infest the seas, whereby their arrival is so much delayed, I have dispatched my secretary, Don Luis Noeli, in order that, by informing His Majesty of this unexpected event, he may cause them to be renewed to me. As to what relates to the second point, I refer to what I stated to you in my letter of the 21st of February, that I would entirely conform to the wishes of the President, to wait the discussion of those points until the arrival of the instructions. In the same note you have been pleased to add, in reply to the dif ferent notes which I have addressed to you on the subject of the armament of privateers in this country for the purpose of cruising against the subjects of the King, my master, that this government, faithful to its obligations, and respectful to the opinion of the impartial world, will continue to pursue a course in relation to the civil war between Spain and the Spanish provinces in America imposed by the existing laws, and prescribed by a just regard to the rights and honor of the United States. As all my notes have been directed to this single object, and as I have, in conformity to your intimations, given correspondent orders to His Majesty's consuls, to require of the tribunals the execution of those same laws, there is nothing left for me to do but to transmit to His, Majesty this new assurance of the President, and to continue, on my part, to inform this Government of everything which may contribute to maintain unalterable the relations of friendship which exist between the two nations, until the arrival of the instructions which I have requested, and further to strengthen them by a treaty which may put an end to all pending discussions. I have, &c., (Signed) H. Ex. 282, vol. iii-13 LUIS DE ONIS. No. 22. Don Luis de Onis to Mr. Rush. [Translation.] PHILADELPHIA, July 9, 1817. SIR: I am under the necessity of calling your attention, and that of the President, to what has occurred at Baltimore, in relation to the two privateers or pirates which have lately entered the bay of Chesapeake, and now are within the proper limits of the State of Maryland, [117] the one commanded by Captain *Taylor, and the other by Captain Stafford. It is notorious that these privateers, manned and armed in the ports of the Union, sailed on a cruise against the Spanish commerce, and have returned to the waters of Maryland with a part of the plunder and booty they have taken from Spanish and Portuguese vessels. For the due conviction of this outrage the necessary orders or warrants were sent, at the request of the consul of his Catholic Majesty in Baltimore, to the marshal of that city, to proceed to the arrest of the aforesaid privateers, and for its execution a gun-boat was granted by the collector of the customs. All this, however, was in vain; the marshal gave no effect to the orders issued for this arrest; and His Majesty's consul seeing that eight days had passed without the marshal taking a single step to fulfill the orders he was charged with, called upon him, and claimed their execution; upon which he replied categorically, "that he was unwilling to proceed to the arrest of the said privateers, because it was not his duty to execute it except they had entered the port of Baltimore; but by no means in the bay, although within the district of the State." The consul lately applied to the district attorney, complaining of this conduct, and he acknowledged that indeed it was very extraordinary; but he took no steps to remedy it, or to enforce the observance of the laws of the United States, in a case of so scandalous an example. These facts speak for themselves, and the mere statement of them is sufficient to make you and the President thoroughly sensible of the monstrous consequences which the irregular conduct of this marshal may lead to. It is perfectly evident that the public treaty between Spain and the United States, and the late act of Congress, sanctioned as a general law for the more strict observance of the neutrality of the same States with foreign powers, are scandalously trampled under foot in Maryland; and that the marshal, by formally disobeying the lawful authority of the State, and that of the General Government of the Union, protected the hostilities and piracies carried on against the trade of a nation in a state of peace and amity with the United States. I cannot, therefore, do less than to remonstrate, in the name of the King, my master, against so manifest a violation of the neutrality of this republic, of its laws, and of the treaty existing between the two powers, and to request that you will be pleased to obtain of the President the most prompt and effectual orders to cause the marshal of Baltimore to do his duty, and all requisite justice to the subjects of His Majesty. It is my duty also to call your attention and that of the President to the conduct of the adventurer Sir Gregor McGregor, who, since he was in arms with the bands of insurgents in the province of Venezuela, has come to these States, and been constantly engaged in enterprises to invade or disturb the tranquillity of his Catholic Majesty's possessions in that part of the world. He lately recruited in Charleston a great number of adventurers, and among them several persons of note, viz, one Rouse, son of a colonel of that name, an inhabitant of that city; one Champion, who was a commissary in the service of the United States in the late war, and store-keeper of ordnance; one Heath, a lawyer of the same place; and many others whose names I pass over. He purchased, under a borrowed name, a brig of considerable burden, which he dispatched with passengers to New Orleans on the 19th of last month; and the following day he went on to Savannah, in the stage, according to common report, to recruit more people. His subsequent proceedings and hostile preparations in the bosom of this Union, against the possessions of the Spanish monarchy, are notorious, and are announced with a scandalous publicity in many papers of these States. I hope, then, that you and the President will apply the energy of your zeal for good order and the observance of the public laws by restraining these excesses and vexations, which compromit the neutrality which the President has proposed to preserve in the dispute subsisting between the King, my master, and some of his provinces in rebellion, and render null, as you may imagine, the security in which the government of his Catholic Majesty rests, in a reliance on the safeguard of the said laws, and on that of the general principles of public good faith, which serve as the basis of the tranquillity and friendly intercourse between the nations and governments of the world. SIR: The viceroy of New Spain informs me, in several dispatches which I have lately received, that frequent cases occur of American vessels, both merchantmen and armed ships, which, in running along the coasts of those parts of the dominions of His Catholic Majesty, enter their bays, roads, and harbors; sometimes for the purpose of exploring the country and examining the state of things there, and at others for that of assisting the rebels with provisions, arms, and warlike stores, and of landing adventurers and other dangerous persons, whose object is to join the insurgents. The viceroy states that the American Colonel Perry had joined the traitor Mina with 500 men; and Savary, the commandant of the mulattoes, with another body, having gone from New Orleans to incorporate their force with that of Mina and Aury at Galveston, a place within the Spanish dominions; that American vessels are continually sailing from New Orleans with supplies of arms, ammunition, and provisions for those banditti; that the American schooner Saeta, from New Orleans, entered the harbor of Tampico under the pretense of stress of weather, but, without any manner of doubt, for the purpose of examining the country; and that the privateer or pirate Jupiter had captured two Spanish vessels off the bar of the Mississippi very near to several American vessels, &c. The viceroy concludes by saying that he cannot possibly think that so many acts of hostility and violation of the laws of nations, and of the existing treaty, |