441 here for adjudication, and in all cases of acquittal the captors ap- Extract of a letter from John Gavino, consul of the United States, at Gibraltar, dated November 19, 1800, to the Secretary of Sute. "THE Venus of New York, Fairchild, from Naples for Malaga, was immediately liberated." "The Susanna, Spencer, of Charleston, South-Carolina, with a cargo of sugar, from said port to Cadiz, brought from Lisbon, where she had been detained upwards of four months for a breach of blockade, attempting to enter Cadiz after warning by Lamouach privateer, Blair, commander, who next day took her. She, prior to Lamouach's first boarding her, was examined by another English privateer who said nothing of the blockade to Spencer; so that he continued for the port to inquire of the ships of war, having doubts of the veracity of Blair's intimation. She was tried here whilst at Lisbon without even the captain being present: I claimed ship and cargo as consul, and protested the proceedings-She is since arrived here and condemned, ship and cargo, without any further trial, or giving Spencer a hearing, so that he has protested the proceeding, and will appeal. "The other is the Sea Nymph, Philadelphia, M'Kiver, who has also been four months at Lisbon, captured by a letter of marque, the Berrill, captain Toob, from said port of Philadelphia, with coffee, spices, &c. for St. Andero, pretends it to be French property, as that Mr. Tarrascon, the owner, had not resided long enough in the United States to be a citizen thereof; nor Mr. Ferulah the supercargo, who went from Lisbon to England on account of the long detention there—he has his certificate of citizenship along with him as I am informed. She is I have the honour to be, &c." libelled for trial. Extract of a letter from John Gavino, Consul of the United States at Gibraltar, dated Dec. 14, 1800, to the Secretary of State. "THE trial of the Sea Nymph, M'Kiver, came on the 3d instant, when ship and cargo was liberated by a decree of the vice admiralty court; and as damages could not then be ascer tained, they are reserved, but I do not as yet find out if the captors mean to appeal.” Lisbon, June 27, 1800. "SIR,-I am extremely sorry to inform you of the capture of the five following vessels by the British, arrived in this port. "The brig Peacock, David Crafts master, loaded with 100 butts of Sherry wine, bound from Cadiz to London, with clearance for Altona, the vessel and cargo the sole property of Eben VOL. III. 56 ezer Parsons of Boston, captured by the Ruse privateer of Guernsey, Paul Bienvenu master. "The brig King Solomon, James Hewett master, laden with butter, cheese, and iron hoops, bound from Amsterdam to Cadiz. The brig the property of Benjamin Hill of Newport, Rhode-Island; the cargo Hamburgh account, cap ured by the lugger Flying Fish, of Jersey, John Le Rouer master. "The brig Susannah, J. V. Spencer, master, laden with sugar, bound from Charleston, South Carolina, to Cadiz; the brig and cargo the sole property of Blacklock and Bower, and William Milligan, of Charleston; captured by the Ruse privateer of Guernsey, Paul Bienvenu, master, and La Bouch privateer of Gibraltar (owned by Jews in Lisbon.) "The brig Hind, Daniel Ropes, jr. master, laden with sugar, cocoa and fish, bound from Salem to Cadiz; the brig and cargo the sole property of Joseph White and William Orne, of Salem; captured by his Britannick Majesty's frigate Anson, P. C. Durham commander. "The brig Sea Nymph, James M'Kiver master, laden with coffee, pimento, cloves, cotton, dyewood, &c. bound from Philadelphia to St. Sebastians; the brig and cargo the property of Lewis A. Tarascon, of Philadelphia; captured by the armed ship Bauvel, John Toole, master. "The four first captures are made under the idea of Cadiz being a blockaded port; and as the above mentioned privateers have positive instructions from their owners to capture all vessels going to, or coming from Cadiz, and are cruising off that port, I expect this port will soon be filled with neutrals, and among them numbers of our merchantmen. I have written Col. Humphreys to warn our captains at Cadiz, and caution them against coming out of that port for the present. "The last was captured on suspicion of being French property, as the owner's is a French name, and the supercargo on board, Mr. John Augustine Victor Borrouill, also a French name, but having proved to the captors that the property is bona fide American, from the register of the brig and your certificate of citizenship to Mr. Borrouill, they now pretend to detain her on the letter of instruction from the owner to the supercargo, which the captors refuse showing me, saying they will try her under our own laws. These vessels are sent in here under pretence of benefit of convoy to England and Gibraltar; but I understand it is the intention of one of the captors to detain the vessel here and forward the papers on to Gibraltar which of them it is my next will inform you. I have written our consul in London for every Judicial information he can furnish me with, and whether it is the opin jon of sir John Nichols, and sir William Scott, that Cadiz ought to be considered as blockaded, the trade having been carried on unmolested for upwards of twelve months, and his majesty's ships on that station boarding and suffering vessels continually to enter and come out. I have the honour to be, &c." THOMAS BULKLEY. Extract of a letter from Thomas Fitzsimmons, Esq. Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, to the Secretary of the Navy, dated Philadelphia, February 17, 1801. "By the publick prints you will have seen that a great number of American vessels, bound to and from the Spanish ports in Cuba and on the Main, have been captured by British cruisers. The depredations have so multiplied that without a change in their system, or some protection from our own government, the trade to those places must be entirely abandoned, though forming a very considerable branch of our trade, Premiums of insurance to the Havanna have within a few days advanced from ten to thirty per cent. and such is the particular situation of those countries in relation to the British possession, that not one in ten vessels can escape; from New Providence alone, there are above forty privateers who subsist principally by the plunder of the Americans. The practice is, whenever they are met with, to send them into port; if there is found on board any goods, the produce or manufacture of any countries at war with Great Britain, they are condemned, as is bar iron, nails, tin, paints, linseed oil, and any strong linens which are contraband; if the property is found to belong to any persons who are not native Americans, it is either condemned or held under an interlocutory decree, till proofs can be obtained of the citizenship of the owner; and in every instance the detention and expenses are so great as to reduce the property, for which no pretence for condemnation can be made, so much as hardly to leave it worth pursuing; these practices are the more mortifying, as they either themselves ship the goods of which they plunder the Americans, to the countries to which they do not permit us to carry them, or suffer the people of those countries to come to them and purchase them. "The proceedings at Jamaica are even more ruinous than at Providence; when they cannot procure a condemnation there, they invariably appeal from the sentence, and as the Americans can nu otherways obtain security than by putting their property in possession of people there, the whole is swallowed up by commission and charges. "These enormities are become so great that the merchants are preparing lists of the captures, and the circumstances attending them, to be laid before the government; but as any redress through that channel must be distant, they take the liberty of suggesting the propriety of granting them stated convoys for that trade. The passage to and from Havanna is so short, that a few national ships might effectually guard it, except the British should disregard the protection of our flag, which we do not suppose will happen; in any event our merchants may be protected from privateers, and it is from those principally that we suffer. "It is wished that a convoy should sail on the first Monday in every month, from Hampton Road, to which place all the vessels from ports to the eastward of that place might rendezvous. Vessels belonging to native citizens, or loaded with native commodities, need not this protection, but the abatement in the premium in all others will oblige them to take advantage of it. "If the first was provided to sail early in March, there would be several vessels here ready to avail themselves of it; and probably others at New York and Baltimore. As a measure of this kind may involve consequences of national importance, I do not feel myself at liberty to urge it further than that you would be pleased to lay it before the President. I can add with confidence that without some protection of this kind, the merchants of the United States must entirely suspend their trade to those countries, or be ruined in attempting to continue it, although it has been among the most valuable branches of commerce." APPENDIX. DOCUMENTS ON THE SUBJECT OF EAST FLORIDA, ACCOMPANYING PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, JAN. 14, 1813. [In the Appendix to Vol. 1811-15, page xix. the President's Message of Jan. 14, 1813, was given. The following are the Documents accompanying it, ordered by the Senate to be printed.] DOCUMENTS. SIR,-Being elected to the office of director by the freemen of East Florida, who engaged in the revolution, it becomes my duty to address you, and through you, the President of the United States, upon the subject of our situation; after suffering for a long time, under the oppression of a government, corrupt in itself, and free from the control of the parent country, we saw the correspondence between yourself and Mr. Foster, respecting East Florida; your letter refrained from noticing that part of Mr. Foster's communication relating to general Mathews. When general Mathews came forward with instructions of a date, prior to that of the correspondence, we immediately concluded that the United States would receive our country as a component part of their territory, as soon as we should declare our determination to shake off the shackles with which we were overloaded. Under this impression, the whole planting interest declared themselves free, took possession of all the country, and held it until they surrendered it by cession of their commissioners to the United States. None opposed our measures but persons in St. Augustine, under immediate military influence, (and frequently they come out and join us) and some English merchants or agents at Amelia, who became subjects in East Florida, for the purpose of taking advantage of the situation of that island, and by evading or infringing the laws of the United States, to become rich by a trade in Africans, or by smuggling. Firmly confiding in the assurances and declarations of general Mathews, and in the full belief, that we and our country would be taken under the protection of the United States, a temporary form of government was adopted, merely to prevent confusion, and to enable us to make a cession to the United States. This form answered our intention until lately, when it was thought advisable to establish a more detailed one, least the first should not be considered as sufficient to authorize a cession. Yet, sir, not a man among us, but considers this as a thing of a moment, for without the aid of the United States, we must fall, and become a ruined and dispersed people. It was in consequence of the assurances of commissioner Mathews, that our conduct would be sanctioned by his government, that we were induced to take up arms against our tyrants, and to constitute a local authority or government, under which, to cede to the United States all the country around St. Augustine. A copy of the deed of cession, made between general Mathews for the United States, and the commissioners appointed by our constituted authorities, was, we are told, sent on to the President. With surprise and conA VOL. III. |