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the war, either by the captors or by the master or crew of the William C. Nye,' or by any of the persons met by them on board the Shenandoah' who had belonged to the crews of vessels previously captured.

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This seems to Her Majesty's Government to be very strong negative evidence that the termination of the war was not, in fact, known at the time when and in the seas where this capture took place. But, whether that be so or not, these documents certainly did not put Her Majesty's Government in possession of any evidence showing, or tending to show, that the crime of piracy had been committed.

There remains only Mr. Seward's third statement, that 'any parties who could give the necessary testimony for the conviction of the pirates were not only within British jurisdiction, but virtually within the custody of agents of Her Majesty's Government.' As Mr. Seward has not explained to what persons he here refers, I can only say that the existence of persons able to give such testimony was not then known or indicated to Her Majesty's Government; and if it was then known to the Minister or any other agent of the United States in this country, it was not communicated by them to Her Majesty's Government. If Mr.Seward means that some of the persons forming the crew of the Shenandoah' could themselves have given available evidence for this purpose, it is hardly necessary to observe that no such evidence was offered or known to be available; and that it is not consistent with our usual method of administering justice to endeavour to extract from persons suspected, even on probable grounds of crime, admissions capable of being used against themselves.

Her Majesty's Government have no further comments to offer upon this despatch, except to repeat what they have formerly stated, that if the agents of the United States in this country, or any other persons, were in possession of evidence on which a charge of piracy against the officers and crew of the Shenandoah' could have been supported before a magistrate, it was competent for them to have themselves preferred such a charge, and to have obtained a conviction thereon in due course of law.

You will read and give a copy of this despatch to Mr. Seward. I am, &c.

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APPENDIX.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND PORTUGAL, RELATIVE TO CLAIMS OF PORTUGUESE SUBJECTS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.-1816-1851.

No. 1.-The Portuguese Minister at Washington to the United States Secretary of State.

Washington, December 20, 1816. Sir,-A faithful copy has been taken, at my request, of a paper delivered to the Hon. St. George Tucker, District Judge of the United States for the District of Virginia, on the demand thereof by him of Thomas Nelson, Collector of the Port of New York. This paper purports to be instructions given by Thomas Taylor, of Baltimore, under the authority of the persons who have assumed the powers of Government in Buenos Ayres, to the ship "Romp,' Captain Fisk, to act as a privateer against the subjects of Spain. That respectable monarchy being in direct intercourse with the United States, and having near them their own proper Representative, no occasion would exist for my official interference (notwithstanding the old and recent ties that unite the two royal families) if Mr. Taylor had not directed Captain Fisk in the same instructions, to act in the like manner against the subjects of my Sovereign, in case His Majesty be at war with the above self-styled Government of Buenos Ayres.

Mr. Taylor, of Baltimore, is an American citizen; the ship 'Romp' was an American ship, no doubt only fictitiously alienated, since the captain continued the same, and the bulk of the crew remained composed of American citizens. The privateer, it is true, did not attack any Portuguese vessel, but he was directed to do so conditionally by order and under the signature of an American citizen, who dares in his instructions to assign seven ports of the United States for the privateer to bring in his prizes, and named in each of them the agents who will take care of them.

It is certainly my duty not to wait silently and tamely for the perpetration of such an act; inasmuch as exertions of the same or similar nature continue to be made in the same place, by the same set of individuals, as it appears by the following facts, which are the result of my special inquiries, and I have the honour to present for your consideration.

The 18th of the last month (November), the frigate 'Clifton,' Captain Davey, armed with 32 guns of various calibres, and a

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crew of 200 men, sailed from Baltimore for Buenos Ayres. This ship laid anchor below that port, where it has remained for about a fortnight or more, waiting for the American ship 'Independence of the South,' armed with 16 guns, and for the ships Romp,' Tuckahoe,' 'Montezuma,' and Spanker,' and two others newly constructed, which were fitting with great activity and which had not yet got names. All were to sail together to cruise in the Eastern and Western Seas of South America, under the insurgent colours of Buenos Ayres. No doubt can be entertained of their instructions being the same as those of Captain Fisk, and that they will act hostilely against Portuguese ships. Besides private information, on which I can rely, the mere fact of assuming such colours is, in the present state of things, equal to a direct proof.

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There is good foundation to believe that nearly the same was the case of the ship Swift,' Captain Huffington, which sailed from Baltimore the 3rd of last August, with the ostensible designation for the Havanna,' armed with 14 guns, and a crew of 140 men, and the ship 'Maria,' Captain Hafford, which left the same port the 25th of the same month, armed, and with a large crew. Both are understood to have displayed at sea Buenos Ayres colours, and most likely with the same instructions as Captain Fisk.

These armaments, Sir, are carried on in the port of Baltimore, in a barefaced way, only such a very thin veil put on them, which has been deemed by some sufficient to screen the culprits from the effect of the actual insufficient laws. It is not only from information I speak, but twice I have lately been to Baltimore and have personally ascertained the progress and nature of this business.

Such facts need no epithets to be qualified, and I have judged superfluous the use of them; they show at first sight their immoral and criminal nature, and their opposition to the laws of nations. I know too perfectly the honourable feelings, both of this Government and of this nation, to harbour the least suspicion that they view these acts in any other light. The fault is entirely in the insufficiency of the existing laws and the many evasions they afford to guilty persons, particularly if assisted by chicanery. Perhaps the past American legislators provided so imperfectly for such occurrences, because they believed them impossible.

But, since they come to happen, nothing but the enactment of new laws, sufficient for the emergency, can justify this nation in the eyes of the civilized world. If the citizens of the United States are not prevented by the laws of their country from becoming in masses acting parties in wars which are not their own, will not that give of course to this nation a piratical, odious character and complexion, unworthy of her, in the eyes of foreign

nations? Her peace and tranquillity would also be endangered, because any Government so injured has a natural right to resent and repay, to the utmost of her power, injuries sustained, so much against the usages of the civilized world. Must, then, the honour and peace of the American people-of 9,000,000 of individuals, the immense majority of whom, to my perfect knowledge, bear an honest, honourable, pacific character-be put in jeopardy by the culpable covetousness of a few men in a seaport or other place who, to acquire fortunes, do not scruple to become pirates ?-privateering being in fact no better, when practised in any other but each man's own country's wars.

I apply therefore to this Government in the present instance, not to raise altercations or to require satisfaction, which the Constitution of the United States has not perhaps enabled them to give; because I know that the supreme Executive of this nation, all powerful when supported by law, is constitutionally inactive when unsupported by it. What I solicit of him is the proposition to Congress of such provisions by law as will prevent such attempts for the future. I am persuaded that my magnanimous Sovereign will receive a more dignified satisfaction, and worthier of his high character, by the enactment of such laws by the United States, which, ensuring the respect due to his flag for the future, would show their regard for His Majesty, than in the punishment of a few obscure offenders (even if attainable), who, disowned as they are by the United States, may, no doubt, if they take any unwarrantable liberty with the property of His Majesty's subjects, meet the fate every honest mind wishes to them, and serve as examples and warning to those who in future may feel piratical dispositions. I rely on the President's wisdom-and the wish I am sure he must feel of putting an end to these shameful practices-that he will take the proper measures to have my just requisition fulfilled.

As, by the powerful reason alleged in the beginning, I confine myself strictly within the limits of my powers and the claims of my Sovereign, I take this occasion of recalling to this Government the friendly and noble conduct of His Majesty during their late contest with Great Britain. Though their adversary was his most constant and effectual ally, who had readily come to assist him to repel a lawless invasion, and they were then fighting together the common enemy, His Majesty forbade his subjects to take any part in the quarrel, and ordered a strict neutrality to be observed, which in no single instance was broken either by his officers or his subjects. The enactment, therefore, by Congress, of such laws, would be but a just requital from them towards a generous, equitable monarch, declaredly in a state of amity with the United States.—I am, &c., JOSEPH CORREA DE SERRA.

The Hon. J. Monroe.

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