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19th Congress.]

No. 304.

[1st Session.

CORRESPONDENCE ON THE COURSE PURSUED BY COMMODORE DAVID PORTER, IN COMMAND OF THE SQUADRON FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF PIRACY IN THE WEST INDIES, AND MATTERS INCIDENTAL THERETO.

COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 21, 1826.

Navy Department, March 15, 1826.

Sir:

In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 16th of December, 1825, the Secretary of the Navy has the honor to send a printed volume,* containing the proceedings of the late court of inquiry, and court-martial, in the case of Commodore Porter, together with copies of sundry papers which, with the papers accompanying the reports from this Department to the President of the United States, dated 1st of December, 1823, and 1824, are supposed to be "the documents and correspondence connected with the case," which are called for by the latter part of said resolution. I am, very respectfully, &c.,

SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

The honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

New Castle, October 26, 1824.

To the President of the United States:

Understanding that erroneous impressions have been made on your mind as regards my return from the West Indies in June last, and the removal of the squadron thence, and having been charged by the honorable the Secretary of the Navy, Samuel L. Southard, Esq., in his letter to me of the 21st October, with having left my station in the West Indies without permission, and without apprising the Department of my intention, I take the liberty of enclosing to you a copy of my reply to the charge, together with a copy of my communication of the 28th of May last, expressive of my intention of removing the principal part of the force under my command to the north, and of the causes which compelled me to do so.

I trust that you will believe that my only object in doing this is to defend myself from a serious charge brought against me at this late period, to justify conduct toward me on the part of the Secretary, unexampled, I believe, in the annals of our navy, and I hope such as will never be repeated, I have had the honor to serve under your immediate command in a situation of some danger, one which required extraordinary exertions, and exposed me to extraordinary hardships. You know, also, something respecting my former services, and are well acquainted with my history for the last nine years. My exertions in the West Indies, in the suppression of piracy, have called forth an eulogium from you, which I

*This printed volume was communicated to the Senate the 26th of December, 1826. See preceding, No. 270.

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rank among the proudest testimonials of my public services. I do not enumerate them, for if they are not known they are not worth enumerating; but I safely and confidently appeal to you, whether under any circumstances of danger, exposure, or privation, you ever knew or ever heard of my shrinking from duty? If you answer in the negative, is it not reasonable to believe that some cause more powerful than mere personal exposure, or personal inconvenience, should have induced me to ask the poor boon that has been denied to me after two years' arduous and active service? Mortification after mortification have been heaped on me, and I go to the duties, which under other circumstances would have been most pleasing to me, with a heavy heart, and with the strongest and most anxious apprehensions for the future. In answer to my application to be relieved, the Secretary informed me that it shall be done when it is convenient to the Department. My convenience, my comfort, my feelings, nay, my life, are therefore entirely held at his mercy. To whom, then, can I appeal but to you? You have witnessed and applauded my conduct, and you alone have it in your power to prevent further outrage to me. I appeal, therefore, with a confidence that the feelings of an officer, which, as you know, are dear to him, may not be suffered to receive further injury in me. In enclosing this letter I beg leave to observe that I have no desire to retire from active service. I wish to be employed wherever my services are most useful to my country, and, in the performance of them, all I ask is the courtesy due to an officer who has done nothing to forfeit the respect of the head of the Department to which he belongs, and who is willing that his conduct shall be subjected to the strictest scrutiny.

I have the honor to be, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Note.—This letter, purporting to have been written at New Castle, was not received by the President until several weeks after its date. It was referred to the Secretary of the Navy, that the papers relating to the matters mentioned in it might be collected, with a statement showing their order, operation, &c. They were collected, and, with the memorandum now accompanying the letter, placed in the President's hands, and after examination were sent to the Department to be filed. They were in the hands of the judge advocate, to be offered to the court should they be asked for by Commodore Porter, or rendered necessary by the course of the evidence. They were among the papers referred to in the proceedings of the court on the first and second days of August.

To the President of the United States, Washington City:

Sir: I have read the communication from Commodore Porter to yourself, dated New Castle, October 26, 1824, which you were pleased to hand me, and I perceive that it is an urgent appeal to your justice to rescue him from mortification, want of courtesy and conduct towards him, on my part, unexampled in the annals of the navy. As such, I beg leave, respectfully, to suggest to you that it demands your personal attention.

You have already been made acquainted with every leading fact connected with the intercourse between Commodore Porter and the Department, since I came into it. No step of importance has been taken without your approbation, and in several instances your direction. It would be well, however, that you should review the whole, in order that you may form a deliberate judgment upon the case, as your guide in what shall hereafter occur. For this purpose I enclose all the letters received from him, and copies and extracts of all the orders sent to him, which can, I believe, furnish any aid in making up your opinion.

The determination heretofore taken, that Commodore Porter should be recalled, at a time when no injury would be done to the public, will certainly be executed, unless, on such review, you should disapprove it.

If it should be found that I have, in anything, lacked courtesy towards so distinguished an officer, or done him any injustice, my regret would be severe. I should find no consolation in the power I have the right to exercise, if an unwise use of it has wronged any one, especially Commodore Porter.

The object of placing a squadron in the West Indies could only be accomplished by a steady and persevering application of our force. The law, public interest, and public opinion, all require this.

The original instructions, numbered 1 and 2, accompany this letter. I am not aware that they have been altered. Occasional directions, as to the application of a part of the force, have been given, but these have been his general guide.

On the 24th day of June last he arrived in Washington. Some hours after his arrival, and in the evening of the same day, Lieut. Legaré presented to me his letter of the 28th of May last, marked A, which Commodore Porter had passed on his way to this place.

The next morning I left Washington on a visit of five or six days to my family, and did not see him nor make any communication to him until my return, when he was prepared to visit the springs. To this visit I afterwards assented.

On the day after his arrival he wrote a letter to the Department, marked B, which is worthy of particular notice, as containing his account of the causes of his return, and his view of the health of Thompson's Island at that time.

On the 29th of June last copies of the several letters which had been sent to the station, and among the rest those of the 31st of May, 1824, were furnished to him.

On the 19th of July last was sent the letter numbered 5, and on the 9th of August that numbered 6, conveying to him the necessity, in the opinion of the Department, of sending back the force which he had withdrawn.

I left Washington on the 3d of August, 1824, and certainly did not expect, as he had arrived in June, that he would be here on my return in September. Late in September, however, on my reaching New York, he was there, attending, probably, to preparations of the vessels under his command.

At that place I informed him of my intention to place the Constellation under his command; but made no arrangement when, or how she was to join the squadron, or that he should remain to go out in her.

About the 11th or 12th of October I stated to him that an order would probably be given for his

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immediate departure in the John Adams, then in the Delaware, to which he very properly replied that he should promptly obey any order which he received from the Department.

On the 14th of October I gave the order of that date, numbered 7, which I believe was not delivered until the 18th or 19th, to which, on the 20th, I received his answer of the 19th, marked E. To that answer your particular attention is requested, both from its character, and because both it and my orders to him are omitted in the communication from New Castle, in which he makes his complaint, and by which he purports to present a view of the injuries he has received.

You will excuse the trouble I give in directing your attention to certain portions of this letter.

He states that he "has sought in vain," in my instructions of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 19th for the motive of my unexpected order for him to proceed as speedily as possible to his station in the John Adams instead of the Constellation, as was expected and arranged.

From the foregoing statements I cannot very well imagine how the order could have been unexpected, and I confess I was not aware when I gave it that it was necessary for me to submit to Commodore Porter "my motive" for giving it. I had thought it sufficient for me, as your representative, to give the order, and that it was his duty, without questioning its propriety, to obey it.

I had before that time, also, communicated to him some scraps of newspapers, conveying information of piracies. The public prints were full of complaints on the subject; inquiries were constantly made where the commanding officer was, and why our force did not repress those evils. His own character and that of the government were endangered by his delay. All this, it is presumed, he knew; and if he did not, it was enough that his station was there; it was his duty to be on it.

Why he says that it was arranged that he should go in the Constellation and not in the John Adams I know not, nor when, or where such an arrangement was made. All that I had said verbally was, that the Constellation should join the squadron as soon as she could be prepared; but he had received no permission to remain until she was prepared. And, although I believe he did order officers to her, here, in the United States, in violation of one regulation, (see page 20, and section the 1st of "Rules, Regulations and Instructions for the Naval Service of the United States,") and did direct as to repairs, stores, &c., in violation of other regulations, (see said rules, page 12, section the 2d, and page 14, section the 11th;) yet should this prove to be so, as the Department and Commissioners were quite willing, if not competent, to discharge their respective duties, it was not necessary that he should remain to perform them, nor could his interference with them, without rebuke, create an arrangement by which he was to proceed to his station in that ship, rather than in any other.

As to what is said of exposure to insult of the pendant of an American commodore by being hoisted on board a sloop-of-war, his arguments on that subject, and his aversion to being instrumental in the exposure, it is proper to admit that I have been profited by arguments somewhat in the style of his present letter; but it is also to be remarked that, so far as I am informed, when Commodore Porter sought earnestly the command of this squadron, no larger vessel belonged to it, nor was any promised or proposed. But he then understood perfectly the nature of the service, of the vessels, and of the appropriation, and that if a larger vessel were added, it must be taken from the general appropriation, not from that for the suppression of piracy. It is proper to add that the very orders on which he comments state that the Constellation would be sent to him "as speedily as possible." As to the honor of an "American commodore's pendant," the only question was whether he should wait here for the larger ship and neglect the interests of the service, or go to the service and have the ship sent to him as soon as repairs and crew would permit.

The nature, expense, responsibility, &c., &c., of the service are, it is hoped, perfectly known and duly appreciated, but it was not known that the command had ceased to be pleasant, or another commander would have been substituted.

I am not aware of the reasons which induce the belief that the "generous confidence" of the Department, which "encouraged to active and faithful performance of duty," had been withdrawn, nor do I know what "orders implying want of confidence were almost daily handed to him." I enclose all that were given within several months preceding this letter, which can, I think, by possibility, be construed to have any effect on this point; they are numbered 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16; and, although I will not deny that I thought and felt that Commodore Porter had more than once unnecessarily assumed the duties of the Department, yet I was cautious not to wound his feelings by anything like rebuke; the orders, particularly that numbered 3, will show rather a wish to free myself from imputation of neglect than to condemn him. In this, perhaps, I erred, and to this are, perhaps, in some measure, to be attributed the manner and the matter of his subsequent course.

His complaint of want of instructions, respecting South American cruisers, is not very well founded. He could not have had better instructions than the general ones, which are given to all our cruisers; a copy of which accompanies this, numbered 2.

The Department could not possibly give specific instructions, for specific cases, which were to be anticipated. And there was one principle, which he ought not to have forgotten, that an officer has no right to go beyond his instructions, in seizing vessels belonging to any nation. On this point, I refer to my letter of the 21st of October last, numbered 17, and also to that numbered 20.

I do not doubt that Commodore Porter's health was not good; but I do doubt the propriety of an officer leaving his station without urgent necessity, and without notice to the Department. It does not seem very candid, to urge the notice given by his letter of the 28th of May, 1824, marked A, and which reached this place after he did. Leaving a station, without notice, is a violation of the rules and regulations (see page 15, section the 28th); and it would not, in this instance, have passed unrebuked, but for other considerations. The impropriety will appear strongly, from the fact that several communications were sent to him, after he left the station; and about the day of his arrival, I denied that he was about to return, to those who inquired on the subject. There were others, however, better informed than the Secretary.

He thinks "he owes it to himself and his family, if not to his country, to avoid that climate." It would certainly be matter of regret that he should fail in what he owes to either; but it seems to be the tenure of the office he holds, to go where the interest of the public requires. Officers of equal rank have cruised for years upon that station; and inferior officers were then daily cruising there under his orders.

Notwithstanding the manner of his return, and other matters, I did not give an earlier order for him to resume his duties, because his health had been bad; but as that difficulty was removed sometime before the order of the 14th of October, and there was no danger from the climate after the middle of October,

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as he himself assured the Department (see his letter, marked D), no good reason for longer delay could be imagined. Besides, the complaints of increasing piracy were renewed by the public prints, merchants and public agents, and he had been apprised of it by communications from the Department, and it did not correspond with my notions of duty to disregard the complaints, and allow a greater chance for the depredations to pass unpunished, in order that the "pendant of an American commodore" might be hoisted for a few weeks "onboard the Constellation rather than the John Adams." All alarm on the score of health did seem to me too visionary to be the foundation of any movement in the naval service.

From what expressions in my order of the 14th of October, or any other, Commodore Porter derived the idea, that I considered Thompson's Island as his station, and that he was to remain stationary there, or to lead in person every expedition fitted out from it, cannot readily be guessed. The order merely directs him to proceed to his station, but does not name or define it. Its limits were very extensive, many parts of it very healthy, but the city of Washington was not within it. Nor do I perceive whence is derived the idea that that order implies an unwillingness in him to go. It is in the same style as his original orders, as his orders on his return last year, and as the orders to all other officers. His error was in undertaking to judge when his presence on the station was necessary; that was the business of another, and he had no right to question the judgment which might be formed upon it. It may be that he derived his impression from previous orders, which stated the necessity of the vessels being on the station, and communicated acts of piracy, and complaints against the squadron. It would have been better had those induced an earlier return.

The style in which a change of duty is asked, in the letter of the 19th of October, 1834, marked E, following as it does the crimination in the early part of that letter, is worthy of your observation.

On the receipt of Commodore Porter's letter, it was felt to be impossible, consistently with the respect which the Department owed to itself, to pass it without notice. The proper remedy might have been, either to accept his resignation of the command, and place him on furlough, or arrest and try him. But I believed it necessary that an officer of rank should be on the station, that no other could immediately go there and the public interest might be endangered, and that he ought to be compelled to obey an order, which, upon review, I could not find to be objectionable.

I, therefore, gave the order of the 21st of October, 1824, numbered 18, and soon after wrote to another officer to prepare for that service, determining to recall Commodore Porter, as soon as it could be done consistently with the public interest. That determination is still unchanged.

On receiving the order of the 21st of October, he wrote the letter dated the 22d, marked E, a copy of which he has enclosed to you, as his defence against a charge brought by me against himself; having omitted to apprise you of any of the preceding facts, or even to furnish you with a copy of the order to which his letter was an answer.

As you have now the order, I should be pleased that you would compare it with what purports to be the answer. I offer a very few remarks upon it.

First. There was a necessity for the return of the squadron in 1823, on account of the number of officers sick and dead. His report, on his arrival in June, 1824, (see his letter marked B,) is, that the island promised to be healthy this year, &c. The circumstances were by no means similar, if his reports be correct.

Second. The permission of August 19th, 1823, numbered 19, was given by my predecessor.

Third. The extract from the orders of the 1st of February, 1823, is nothing more, in substance, than is given to every commanding officer, and is a direction to great care and caution; but it gives no authority to leave a station at the discretion of the officer. It grants no more than is possessed by every officer when necessity presses him.

Fourth. The opinion that all the force ought to be on the station had been communicated by the letters numbered 5 and 6. Commodore Porter did, also, know that the Executive was dissatisfied with his return.

Fifth. But, if his return was proper, there ought to have been some limit to his stay. He left his station early in June; the order to return, of which he complains, was given the 14th of October, after at least four months' absence.

Sixth. It is somewhat singular that Commodore Porter should complain that it was not intimated to him, nor suspected by him, that the removal of the vessels and his own stay here did not meet the approbation of the government. He must have forgotten what related to his interview with yourself; the orders for the return of the schooners and the John Adams, and the frequent communications of complaints on the subject of piracy. And as to his declaration that, if the idea had occurred to him that he was not acting in full accordance with its views, he would have instantly left Washington, on his return, I have only to subjoin the fact that he wrote the letter of the 19th of October in answer to an order to return to his station, after he had been four months absent from it.

My remark, respecting his impression that Washington was within the limits of his station, was, perhaps, unnecessary; but it arose from a part of his letter of the 19th of October, from the length of his stay here, from the offence given by the order to leave it, from orders given by him, here, for change of service of officers, and for repairs, &c., &c.,—orders never given by officers in the United States, and when not on their station.

In his letter of the 28th of May, marked A, communicated to you, in which he attributes the removal of the vessels to the north to a deficiency of surgeons, it is only necessary to refer to my letter of the 31st of May, 1824, numbered 3, to letters numbered 21 and 22; and to add that the order, at the close of No. 3, was indispensably necessary, from the rapid and constant changes permitted in the officers of the squadron.

It is, perhaps, proper that I should, at this time, lay before you a letter from Commodore Porter, of the 5th of June last, marked F, respecting the case of Lieut. Kennon, with the facts of which you are perfectly acquainted. Also, a letter of the 11th of August, and one of the 20th of October, 1824, marked G, and H, respecting acting appointments, with the remark that there are in the squadron, at this moment, I believe, above forty officers, with acting appointments, not one of whose names can I find recorded in the Department.

I also submit to you a letter to Commodore Porter, numbered 16, and one from that officer, marked I, respecting the appointment of Lieut. Aulick to do the duties of captain of the squadron, with the remark that, in the letter of the 3d of November, 1823, marked J, Commodore Porter asks for a master commandant, as necessary for this service. Captain Finch was appointed, to it, and, after his return, there was an

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abundance of officers of that grade, fully competent to the duties. Under these circumstances, I did not think it proper to confirm an order, or direction, to Lieut. Aulick, given without my permission, to repair from New York to this place to assume those duties.

I also enclose for your perusal, letters marked K, L, M, N, O.

After you shall have examined these papers, I shall receive your direction, either to recall Commodore Porter, as I had heretofore determined, or take such other course as you may consider proper. With the highest respect, I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant.

Navy Department, December 20, 1822.

Sir:

You are hereby appointed to the command of the vessels-of-war of the United States on the West India station, and of those to be purchased and equipped for the suppression of piracy. You will proceed with all possible diligence and expedition, under the direction of the Navy Commissioners, to procure by purchase, and equip the vessels authorized by the Department to be procured for that purpose.

When you are prepared to proceed on service, report to the Department, in order that further instructions may be furnished to you. During the continuance of your command, you are authorized to hoist a broad pendant, and you will be entitled to the pay and emoluments of an officer commanding a squadron of vessels on separate service.

You will apply to the Navy Commissioners for such orders as may be necessary from their office to facilitate the execution of your instructions. I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Capt. David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies.

Navy Department, April 10, 1823.

Sir:

Thomas Randall, Esq., special agent for the government, proceeds in the U. S. brig Enterprise, Lieutenant Commandant John Gallagher, to Porto Rico; and should he, as he will in all probability, have occasion to transmit dispatches to the United States, you will send them by one of the small vessels under your command, retaining the brig Enterprise, as more efficient for the protection of our commerce in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies.

Extract of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, dated May 26, 1823, to Captain David Porter, commanding United States naval forces, West Indies, Thompson's Island.

In all future negotiations by drafts or bills upon the Department, you will, when practicable, direct your purser to draw the bill and submit it for your approval. All difficulties will, by this course, be avoided, and no further charges made against you by the books of the Treasury. It is the course also pointed out by the regulations for the service in relation to transactions of that nature. It would even be desirable that the accounts for the articles purchased might also accompany the bill or draft, that the transaction might be closed at once by a final settlement.

Navy Department, July 14, 1823.

Sir:

Your letter of the 18th ult. was duly received, and, agreeably to your suggestion, permission is granted to the vessels attached to the squadron under your command to take out gold from the United States; but you will, however, issue the most positive injunction to the commanders, respectively, not to enter any port in which the yellow fever prevails, so as to endanger the lives of the officers and men. I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Squadron, West Indies, &c.

Navy Department, July 14, 1823.

Sir:

In the first vessel of the squadron under your command that you shall order to Washington, be pleased to send John Cunningham, one of the marines attached to the expedition against the pirates, as I have given an assurance to his aged mother that he shall be discharged from the service of the United States.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore D. Porter, commanding, &c.

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Navy Department, July 24, 1823.

Sir:

I deferred replying to your communication, respecting the disposition of the wrecked property that you deemed it your duty to take into custody, until I could have an opportunity of submitting the matter to the consideration of the President of the United States, who was, at the time your letter was received, absent on a visit to Virginia.

There can be no doubt, from the representations you have made, that the wreck was fraudulent, and that method adopted to supersede, as was supposed, the necessity of proceedings in a court of admiralty, to try the question of prize. There is no statute of the United States regulating the disposition of property wrecked on our territory; but the common law contemplates all wrecks as the property of the sovereign. The proper course will, therefore, be to send the whole of the property to St. Augustine and have it placed in the custody of the marshal, carefully preserving all the papers and writings found with the same, which you will transmit to the attorney of the United States for East Florida, with a request that he will institute proceedings against the property in the superior court of East Florida, on behalf of the United States, founded on the right of the United States to the said property as wreck, and give notice to all parties interested to appear and interpose their respective claims. I am, very respectively, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies.

Navy Department, July 26, 1823.

Sir:

The President of the United States has under consideration the subject, mentioned in some of your letters, of South American privateers, and their prizes, touching at Thompson's Island; and so soon as he shall decide in relation to the same, the result will be communicated to you. I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies, &c.

Navy Department, August 7, 1823.

Sir: In my letter to you of the 26th ult., it was stated that the subject of private armed vessels entering the ports of the United States was under consideration, and, since that time, the conduct to be observed by the United States towards the public and private armed vessels of belligerents, and their prizes, has been determined, and you will find the rules that have been adopted embodied in the enclosed circular, addressed by the Treasury Department to the respective collectors of the customs, and which I now transmit to you for your information and the government of the naval force under your command.

You will not permit any clause of the enclosed circular to contravene my instructions to you of the 24th of July last, in relation to the disposition of the property believed to have been fraudulently wrecked at Key Vacas.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

Circular.

Treasury Department, July 30, 1823.

Sir: As it is probable that in the progress of the war, which now exists between France and Spain, the public and private armed vessels of one, and perhaps of both belligerents, may, by stress of weather, pursuit of enemies, or some other urgent necessity, be forced to enter the ports and harbors of the United States, it becomes the duty of the government to prescribe the manner in which they shall be treated whilst they remain within its jurisdiction.

As there exists, upon this subject, no legislative enactment, the question must be decided by the conventional engagements which the United States have contracted with the belligerent parties.

By the 8th article of the treaty between the United States and Spain, it is provided that the public and private vessels of Spain, when forced by stress of weather, pursuit of enemies, or any other urgent necessity, to seek shelter or harbor, may enter into any of the rivers, bays, roads, or ports belonging to the United States, and shall be received with all humanity, and enjoy all favor, protection and help, and be permitted to refresh and provide themselves, at reasonable rates, with provisions and all things needful for the subsistence of their persons or reparation of their ships and prosecution of their voyage; and they shall be no ways hindered from departing from the said ports or roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hindrance.

With France, the United States have no treaty stipulations upon the subject. The obligations of neutrality, however, impose upon them the observance of the same course of conduct toward both belligerents, unless Spain has a right by treaty to exclusive privileges. A reference to the provisions of the 8th article of the treaty above recited, proves that no exclusive privileges have been granted to her. It becomes, then, the duty of the United States to treat the public and private armed vessels of both parties in the same manner.

Assuming the provisions of the article referred to as the rule by which the conduct of the United States is to be regulated, I am instructed by the President to direct:

1st. That the public and private armed vessels of France and Spain, with their prizes, may, under

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the circumstances described in the said article, enter the ports, harbors, and waters of the United States, and repair any damages which they may have sustained; but no increase of arms or munitions of war, or of the number of men on board, can be lawfully made.

2d. That such prizes cannot be condemned or sold, within the jurisdiction of the United States, and consequently cannot be admitted to entry at the custom houses, nor permitted to enter into the general consumption.

3d. That they may, at any time, depart from the United States without let or hindrance.

4th. That when prize vessels have been wrecked, or so disabled as not to be rendered seaworthy, their cargoes may be reshipped in any other vessel which shall enjoy an exemption from capture not enjoyed by such prize vessels. For example: if France, in the progress of the war, shall conform to the rule that free vessels make free goods, the cargoes of vessels captured by either belligerent, when reshipped in neutral vessels, will enjoy an exemption from capture which the prize vessels did not enjoy.

5th. During the time that prize vessels may remain in the ports of the United States, they shall be subject to such inspection and such superintendence by the custom house officers as may be necessary to prevent smuggling of any kind.

The same rules are to be observed in relation to the public and private armed vessels of Spain, and of the independent governments established in Spanish America, and their prizes, when brought within the jurisdiction of the United States.

I remain, with respect, your obedient servant.

----- ------, Collector of the Customs.

Navy Department, August 19, 1823.

Sir:

Your letter of the 1st inst., relative to the transportation of specie from Vera Cruz to Cadiz, has been submitted to the President; and it would afford both him and myself great pleasure to comply with your request, could it be done consistently with the honor of the American flag, and the relation in which we stand to the belligerents.

Your letter is not explicit as to whom the money belongs. I take it for granted, however, it is Spanish property, and from the amount most likely belonging to the Spanish government. In either case it is deemed inadmissible to employ our public armed vessels for its transportation; under no circumstances could it be permitted to send a vessel direct from Vera Cruz to Cadiz. Should I be under a misapprehension as to the ownership of the property, and upon further explanation your request can with propriety be complied with, I can assure you it will give me great satisfaction to promote your interest in this respect.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies, &c.

Navy Department, December 22, 1823.

Sir:

You will as speedily as possible, with all the vessels under your command, resume your station at Thompson's Island, and continue your exertions to repress piracy and protect our commerce.

It is the intention of the Department to increase the force under your command, as soon as it can be effected. To this end the frigate Congress will, after her arrival in the United States, be ordered to join you, and in the course of the spring one or more sloops-of-war will be added to those already with you. The officers engaged in the survey of the coast of Florida will report to you, and you will communicate their proceedings to this Department.

You will keep, as constantly as you can, one of your vessels in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, cruising between that port and Punto Lezardo, to protect our commerce in that quarter. As soon as possible send the Hornet or one of the large schooners to cruise on the coast of Africa, touching at Cape Mesurado, ministering to the wants of the African agency, and thence returning to the usual track of the slave ships. Let the cruise of the vessel be such as will comport, as far as possible, with the health and comfort of the officers and men. Upon its return you will report the proceedings to this Department, and send another vessel upon the same service.

Our national vessels ought not, and must not, be used for purposes of commercial adventure. You may receive on board specie and the articles permitted by the act "for the better government of the navy," belonging exclusively to our own citizens, and carry them from one port or place to another, when it does not, in any degree, interfere with your other duties, or violate the laws of the country where you are. You may also bring to the United States specie belonging to our own citizens; but you are in no case to permit anything in the shape or character of public advertisements to be used for the purpose of giving information that you will carry them. So many complaints have been publicly made on this subject, that you will carefully abstain from everything which can give rise to unfriendly comments; and that the government may know the extent to which the commercial interests of our citizens are benefited by the assistance afforded by our public vessels on this point, and be prepared to answer any complaints on the subject which may be made by individuals or governments, you will from time to time make reports to this Department of all the specie and other articles you may carry,—the places to and from which you carry them, and the circumstances, terms, and conditions under which you do it.

You will communicate as often as possible to this Department; but you will prevent communications from all officers and men under your command to our public prints respecting the movements of the vessel, and of any of your transactions. The propriety of such publications must be left to this Department, and it will take care to afford to the public full knowledge of all facts which the interests of the nation will permit to be known. You will be the channel of all communications from the officers and men under your command, and will see that every communication from any of them to yourself is received through the commanding officer of the person making it. In cases of complaint and grievance,

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in which the superior officer is unwilling to be the channel of communication, you will receive it directly from the person complaining; but it is hoped that this will seldom be the case, as the duty of the superior officer requires him to forward all which are necessary and proper.

Rigid discipline, enforced in a mild and gentlemanly manner, is essential to maintain the reputation of the navy, and must not for one moment be neglected. Public opinion seems strongly to incline to the belief that such discipline is not sufficiently preserved; great care must be used to overcome this impression.

On proper occasions you will enjoin it on all grades of officers that they are not to speak reproachfully of each other, or disrespectfully of their superiors, or retail anecdotes which do no credit to the individual members of the profession nor to the character of the service, and are never on any occasion to comment on each other in the public prints, but that each is to maintain in himself and encourage in others the most marked respect, the most decorous language, and the strictest correctness of conduct. A thousand acts may disgrace the individual officer and injure the reputation of the navy, which yet cannot well be made the cause of courts-martial and punishment. By a course of rigid discipline, and attention to language and conduct in the officers, it is hoped that there will be less call for public trials, which have heretofore been so numerous, and lessened the warm attachment of the nation to the navy. It has happened on several occasions, with those who have preceded you in command, that a number of the officers have been arrested and sent home to await the return of the squadron, which has created great expense and inconvenience to individuals in the service. It is hop d that you will be able to preserve a proper discipline without a resort to this expedient, which should only be used when no doubt of its necessity remains.

You will make no acting appointments of any description, except in cases of absolute necessity, and then with the understanding that the appointment ceases with the necessity which created it.

Great anxiety is felt that the most rigorous attention should be paid to the situation and improvement of the midshipmen; they are to be objects of your unceasing care, both as to their conduct and improvement in their profession. Of the most common difficulties into which they fall, you are perfectly aware, and they need not be mentioned to you; but there is one which I fear is generally unknown to the commanding officers, and which is said to be common: I mean the habit of borrowing from each other money and articles of dress of all kinds. This is a habit which produces improvidence and uncleanliness, and ought to be repressed. It is also especially necessary that commanding officers guard against the exercise of their feelings of partiality and preference in the treatment of inferiors. Every officer is entitled to and must enjoy all the rights and privileges of his rank and station. Whenever they are denied to one and permitted to another, or preferences are shown, unkind feelings and insubordination are immediately engendered and lasting injury done to the service. You need not, I am sure, be urged to an attention to this matter.

It will probably be in your power, while protecting the commercial, to add something to the agricultural interests of the nation, by procuring information respecting valuable animals, seeds, and plants, and importing such as you conveniently can, without inattention to your more appropriate duties, and without expense to the government.

I enclose, for your information and direction, copies of the acts of Congress relating to piracy and the slave trade, together with the general instructions on those points given to the commanders of our cruising vessels. Previously to sailing, transmit a complete muster roll of all persons attached to the vessels under your command, mentioning, among other things, of what States the officers, both commissioned and warranted, are residents or citizens.

Accompanying this, for your information and a guide in your instructions, are copies of the orders given by this Department to some of the commanders who were directed to cruise on the coast of Africa.

Wishing you good health, a prosperous and honorable cruise, I am, with great respect,

(Signed)' SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

P. S.—The United States schooner Porpoise, Lieutenant Commandant Ramage, is under your command.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Force,

West Indies, Gulf of Mexico and Coast of Africa. Present.

Navy Department, January 12, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you a copy of a letter from Doctor Christie to Commodore Rodgers, and request your attention to its contents.

After you shall have made yourself fully acquainted with the situation of the persons on the island, if you shall be of opinion that their safety requires it, you will send them to the United States.

I remain, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

Navy Department, January 14, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you a letter received from John Mullen, one of the crew of the United States ship Hornet; you will please to direct an inquiry into his case, and if you shall be satisfied that he is a British subject, let him be discharged, if he be not in debt to the United States.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Enclosed is an extract from a letter dated at Alvarado, in November last, submitted for your information.

Commodore David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

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Navy Department, January 15, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed letter, from C. C. Cambreleng, Esq., and to request your immediate attention to the same.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Captain David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

Navy Department, February 1, 1824.

Sir:

Upon the subject of your letter, dated the 24th ultimo, respecting the cruise contemplated for the United States schooner Grampus, I would observe that the orders to Lieutenant Sloat are proper, except that the aid furnished on the coast of Africa must be to the agent of the government for recaptured Africans, not to the agent of the American Colonization Society. The government has not yet recognized that society as proper to receive such aid, but the result will probably be the same.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron, Norfolk, Virginia.

Navy Department, February 19, 1824.

Sir:

Your communications on the subject of blockade have been received, and laid before the President, and he has instructed me to inform you that it is his wish that you should not attempt to break any blockade sustained by force; but when you are prevented from entering a blockaded place, immediately make report thereof, with the circumstances attending it, to this Department.

I am also instructed to urge upon you the cultivation of the best personal and national feeling in your intercourse with all the officers of other nations with whom you may meet, and enjoin the same upon those under your command.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. W. I. Squadron, Norfolk.

Navy Department, February 21, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose, for your information, copy of a letter from Mr. Thomas H. Perkins, jr, of Boston, in relation to measures supposed to have been taken to procure a schooner to be employed for piratical purposes.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Force, West Indies, &c.

Navy Department, March 19, 1824.

Sir: It has been represented to this Department that some hostile feelings have been manifested by the Indians in Florida towards the commissioners engaged in running certain lines under the authority of the government, and that the occasional appearance of an armed vessel on the western coast of Florida, particularly in Tampa Bay and its neighborhood, would be serviceable in repressing those feelings, and keeping the Indians quiet.

It has also been represented that many depredations are committed on the live oak, cedar and other timber of Florida, and that much of it is carried away and sold in the West India islands, and elsewhere. It is very important that these depredations should be prevented. On the 23d of February, 1822, a law was passed authorizing the President of the United States to employ the land and naval forces to prevent the felling, cutting, and other destruction of timber, or the carrying away of what was already cut, and to take measures to prevent the destruction of the public timber in that Territory. It is believed that, by sending frequently one or more of the vessels under your command along the western coast of Florida, both objects may be accomplished, and it is the wish of the President that it be may done.

I take this occasion to remind you that I am very anxious that all commanding officers should make frequent and particular reports to the Department of the conduct and merits of the officers under their command.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. W. I. Squadron, &c., Thompson's Island.

Navy Department, April 23, 1824.

Sir:

I have received a letter from the presidents of the Union and New York Insurance Companies, at New York, stating that, "by an arrival at Philadelphia, information is received that the schooner Pacification, Hilliard, master, bound from Jacmel, in the Island of Hayti, to New York, had been cap-

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tured by a Colombian armed schooner, and was afterwards fallen in with by the United States steam galliot Sea Gull, commanded by Lieutenant Voorhees, who took possession of and ordered her for Key West." They also state that insurance on this vessel and cargo to a considerable amount had been effected at their respective offices, and they are therefore desirous, for the benefit of all interested, that the property should be brought to its port of original destination.

If there be not in the case some facts which would render a compliance with their request inexpedient or improper, it would be best to gratify their wish.

I am, very, &c., your obedient servant,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, &c.

Navy Department, May 24, 1824.

Sir:

Your letter of the 3d instant has been received, advising that a bill of exchange, drawn by Purser Thornton upon this Department for $5,000, had been returned protested. This circumstance is to be regretted, both as it respects the injury done to the credit of navy bills, and the damages incurred in the present instance. The refusal to pay this draft when offered was occasioned entirely by the want of funds, in consequence of the delay in the passage of the annual appropriation bill by Congress, and an occurrence of the kind will not again take place.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, &c.

Navy Department, May 31, 1824.

Sir:

Your letter of the 4th of May has been received. The Decoy will be prepared to return to you as speedily as possible. No provision has been made for the repairs of the Grayhound; and it is probable that she will be laid up or sold. When any vessels are ordered home for repairs, they must be reported to the Department, that orders may be issued for the purpose.

The amount of force at this time on the station is less than was intended; but the delay in passing the appropriation law has rendered it impossible to send you either the Hornet or Porpoise. They will both be dispatched now, as soon as they can be prepared. This delay is the more to be regretted, as the Hornet must either encounter the rainy season, or not go to the coast of Africa, as was originally designed.

You have now under your command the John Adams, Hornet, Spark, Porpoise, Shark, Sea Gull, Decoy, and seven small schooners, in all fourteen vessels, exclusive of the barges. I did intend to send a larger vessel than either of them, but the amount of the appropriation, and the time it was made, will probably put it out of my power. It shall still, however, be done if it can be accomplished.

I regret the state of your medical aid. You have now eleven medical officers attached to the station; and within ten months past there have been under your command no less than five surgeons, and seventeen surgeons' mates, many of them acting as surgeons, and fitted for the office. With such numbers your medical assistance ought not to have been so reduced as you state it to be at present. Neither these, nor other officers, must be permitted to leave the station for light excuses. If they are, it will be impossible for the Department to keep the station supplied. All that can be done, with the numbers for which provision is made by law, will be done. In the meantime those with you must be retained, unless absolute necessity compels them to leave you.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies,

Gulf of Mexico, and Coast of Africa, Thompson's Island.

Navy Department, July 8, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith, copies of letters addressed to you from this Department, but which you have not received, bearing dates on the 19th February, and 16th March, (enclosing copy of a letter from James Beatty,) 19th March, and 23d March, (enclosing copy of a letter from Lieutenant F. H. Gregory,) to which I respectfully request your attention.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, per Chas. Hay.

Captain David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, &c.

Navy Department, August 16, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose for your information a copy of a communication from Col. George M. Brooke, of the U. S. army, to the Secretary of War, respecting some timber seized by the former, and supposed to have been cut from the public lands in Florida. I refer you to my letter, under date of the 19th March last, for instructions on this subject. I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, per Chas. Hay.

Captain David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, &c. Present.

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Navy Department, September 8, 1824.

Sir:

I am instructed to inform you that the commanding officer at New York has been directed to send fifty men, if that number has been entered for the general service, immediately to Philadelphia, to serve on board the U. S. ship John Adams. The recruiting officer, at Baltimore has been authorized to enter twenty-five additional men, and send them as early as practicable to Philadelphia for the same ship. These, it is supposed, will be nearly enough to make up her complement, but, if not, the deficiency will be supplied in a few days.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, per John Boyle.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, Chester, Penn.

Navy Department, October 9, 1824.

Sir:

Surgeon Walter W. New having reported to you, in obedience to his order of the 11th June last, you are hereby authorized to grant him leave of absence for five months, if, in your opinion, the situation of the service will permit his absence for that length of time.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Squadron, W. I. and Gulf of Mexico, &c.

Navy Department, October 14, 1824.

Sir: It is deemed expedient by the Executive that you proceed as speedily as possible to your station in the John Adams, that by your presence there the most efficient protection may be afforded to our commerce, and you may be ready to meet any contingencies which occur. The Constellation will be fitted for sea, and sent to you as speedily as possible.

I enclose, by order of the President, an extract from a letter lately received from the Island of Cuba. You will consider it confidential, and to be used for your information so far as you may find it useful.

With the Constellation, directions will be sent for you to proceed to the Island of Hayti, there to accomplish certain objects which will be particularly explained to you, and instructions given.

I enclose a circular letter on the subject of acting appointments, to which I urge your particular attention. No subject has been found to create greater difficulties than acting appointments, and permission to officers to perform duties above the grade in which they are known to the Department.

I also enclose certain directions for the survey of Pensacola, Tampa Bay, Key West, and the Dry Tortugas. I have also directed to report to you, for the purpose of aiding in this survey, Master Commandant ----- -----, Lieutenant J. W. Sherburne, Midshipmen Lewis M. Goldsborough and Joseph Bowman. Should you deem the services of any other officers necessary for this purpose, you will inform me of it. You will direct a vessel to be used for this purpose. The Florida will be retained for a few weeks to make a survey of the Charleston harbor, after which she will be ordered to proceed forthwith to join your command.

I am, respectfully,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, October 14, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you an extract from one of the public prints, to apprise you of the fact that Midshipmen Robert Ritchie, George F. Weaver, and Wm. Green are stated to have sailed from New York in the United States schooner Beagle, the two first as lieutenants, and the last as sailingmaster. I presume this must have been done without your knowledge, as I am aware of no authority which could have been given to these midshipmen to sail from the United States in those capacities.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore D. Porter. Present.

Circular.

Navy Department, October 14, 1824.

Sir:

It has become necessary to enforce rigorously the following directions, to which your particular attention is requested:

No person is to be appointed acting midshipman, or permitted to act as such on board of any of our public vessels, without the express authority and permission of the Secretary of the Navy.

No acting appointments of any other kind are to be made without such permission, except in cases of absolute necessity, and then with the understanding that they cease with the necessity that caused them, and always, as matter of course, when the officers are detached from the vessel or service in which they received them; and when any commander on a foreign station shall be under the necessity of mak-

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ing any acting appointments, he is to give the earliest possible information of the same to the Secretary of the Navy, with his reasons for making such appointments.

No officer acting under an appointment, not expressly sanctioned by the Department, shall wear the uniform of a higher grade than that by which he is known to the Department, nor shall any midshipman or sailing-master, acting as lieutenant, receive the pay of lieutenant commanding, except under the circumstances provided for in the 13th article, under the head of appointments, in the general regulations of the service,

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, Washington.

Navy Department, October 15, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose copy of a resolution of Congress. The surveys and examinations under it, so far as they relate to Thompson's Island, the Dry Tortugas, Tampa Bay, and Pensacola, are confided to your care, superintendence a d direction. The surveys of the two former places, already made, are supposed to be sufficient. Several officers have been directed to report to you to aid in this duty, and you will assign for it such vessel under your command as you think most proper. ---- ----- of the corps of engineers, will accompany you to aid in that portion of the service which relates to the defences of the place examined. Having other duties to attend to, it will be best that the vessels to be engaged proceed there immediately, to be followed by you as soon as you can make the necessary and proper arrangements with your squadron. You will make report on the subject at as early a day as possible. Your examination and report will be directed to the following points, viz:

The depth of water upon the bar at the lowest and highest spring tides, and at common tides.

Whether the depth of water upon the bar is affected by any, and what winds, to what extent, and in what manner.

The strength of current on the bar, and to a safe anchorage within it.

Width of channel upon the bar, width of the bar, and nature of the bottom; with what wind large vessels can cross the bar, bound inwards and outwards.

The prevailing winds at different seasons of the year.

Whether the passage across the bar can be commanded by batteries upon the shore.

Whether vessels can anchor without, and near the bar, under the protection of batteries to be erected on the shore.

From what positions, and by what extent and nature of force, can the entrance of the harbor be defended against an enemy.

The extent of safe anchorage for vessels of the largest size which can cross the bar.

The convenience of such anchorage for receiving supplies from the shore.

Facilities for obtaining good fresh water.

What supplies of provisions and stores for a fleet could be obtained from the surrounding country, and to what extent, at short notice.

Whether the harbor has good positions for a dock or navy yard.

How near to the present shore of such position does a channel run, of the same depth as the water on the bar, at highest spring tides.

Has it good fresh water in its vicinity, and in what quantities.

General health of the position, and quality of the soil.

Facilities of wharfing to the channel.

Whether the worm is destructive in the harbor.

From what quarter the navy or dock yard could be most readily attacked.

The best means of defence.

To what extent a militia force could be depended upon to resist a sudden attack.

You will specify the points which are determined from personal observation, and those upon which your information is derived from other and what sources.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

P. S.—It has been ascertained, since the foregoing was written, that an officer of the corps of engineers cannot be detailed to assist in the survey; you will therefore proceed in the execution of this duty in the best manner you can with the force at your disposal.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, October 18, 1824.

Sir:

I have examined the regulations and reflected on the subject of Lieutenant Aulick being ordered to discharge the duties of captain of the squadron, and I cannot view it in any other light than a direct violation of the regulations. This being so, I cannot give the orders.

There are several masters commandant not employed, any of whom I should be glad to order to yon for the purpose, if it be your wish to have an officer of that grade to discharge the duty.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. Present.

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Navy Department, October 18, 1824.

Sir:

Enclosed herewith you will receive a copy of a communication from Andrew Armstrong, United States agent at Port au Prince, to the Secretary of State, respecting the capture of the ship Onis, of New York, by the Colombian privateer Independentia.

I am very, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. Present.

Navy Department, October 19, 1824.

Sir:

The enclosed papers are submitted for your perusal, and, if you think it necessary, you can make extracts from them; after which, be pleased to return them to the Department. I am, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, United States Navy. Present.

Circular.

Navy Department, October 19, 1824.

Sir:

Herewith you will receive a quantity of blank forms, of the following description, viz: Monthly return of the officers and crew; of persons discharged; of desertions; and of deaths on board each vessel attached to the squadron under your command.

You will be particular in directing that every commander be furnished with a supply, and requiring that they be carefully and correctly filled up, and regularly forwarded, through you, to this Department. They are always to be filled up for the term of a calendar month, and are to commence from the month next ensuing the departure of a vessel from the United States on a cruise. Whenever it so happens that no deaths, desertions, or discharges take place during a whole month, the fact may be communicated by letter. It is not only desirable, but indispensably necessary, that the Department should be constantly advised of the situation of every vessel in service; therefore, a strict compliance with this, as well as all other circulars, will be exacted.

In addition to the above-mentioned forms, I transmit a number of a different description, exhibiting a general view of the whole squadron under your command.

Should the quantity now sent not be sufficient for all the vessels of your squadron, you will be pleased to advise the Department of the same, and also give early information when a further supply is wanted, that you may be furnished in season therewith. It is presumed that you have enough, at present, for six months.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, October 20, 1824.

Sir:

Your letter of this day's date has been received; the act of Congress therein referred to was inadvertently omitted in the hurry of making up the last package for you, and is enclosed herewith.

A communication will be addressed to you in the course of the day, respecting the appointment of a master commandant for the surveying service, under your command.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron, &c. Present.

Navy Department, October 20, 1824.

Sir:

The commanding officer of the United States ship John Adams has applied to the recruiting officer at Baltimore for twelve men, in addition to those already entered; if this number should be required to make up the complement of that ship, they can be transferred from other service on your application to the Department.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, October 21, 1824.

Sir:

In reply to that part of your letter dated the 20th inst., which related to the name of the master commandant, left blank in my orders to you of the 14th inst., I would observe that the blank was left on

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account of your intimation that the officer in command of the vessel designated for the surveying service would be sufficient, as he possessed the requisite qualifications.

The charts necessary to aid you in the accomplishment of the surveys, committed to your direction, will be in readiness to-morrow; and you will please to send for them to the office of the commissioners, in which they are now in possession.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding United States West India Squadron. Present.

Navy Department, October 21, 1824.

Sir:

Until your letters of the 14th and 19th were received, I supposed that an answer had been sent to your inquiries respecting the cruisers sailing under the flags and authority of the governments in South America, which are said to have trespassed upon our commerce.

The subject was promptly laid before the President, his instructions received, and an answer prepared; the omission to send it was accidental. Until it was received, however, the previous instructions were your proper guide.

It is the will of the President that you do not molest vessels belonging to those governments, and bearing their flags, except such as are piratical, if any such there are.

The injuries which we have suffered from vessels of the description you mention have already been made a subject of discussion between us and their respective governments, and it is hoped that speedy reparation will be made and the evil terminated. The object of communicating the instances of capture was to apprise you fully of the character and extent of the evil, so far as known to the Department, that you might do what you could to guard our vessels against it, and procure and furnish such information as might be within your reach upon the subject. I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, October 21, 1824.

Sir:

You letter dated the 19th instant has created surprise. Looking to the good of the service, every attention has been shown to you which your station required, and which could be dictated by a just estimation of your public service.

The command which was given to you, at your earnest request, on the 1st of February, 1823, was a highly important one, and your conduct, in discharge of its duties, satisfactory to the President. The interval since you left that station has been interesting, as it is understood that piracy has revived, and is making extensive ravages on our commerce. Communications have been made to you to apprise you fully of this fact. The presence there of an officer of rank and experience is, of course, necessary. The size of the vessel in which he sails is matter of small moment, and must depend upon circumstances. You are aware of the intention to send the Constellation to that station as soon as she can conveniently be prepared.

Your return to this place without permission, or apprising the Department of a necessity for it, was unexpected; but no complaint has heretofore been made of your remaining here, because it was believed that your health was not perfectly good, and your shoulder lame and painful. But this obstacle has been removed; and had you earlier apprised the Department that you considered this place within the limits of your station, that the command had ceased to be pleasant to you, and that you were apprehensive of the climate, you would have been relieved, and a successor appointed. But having failed to give this information, and the presence of a commander on the station being now indispensable, you will proceed to it.

When it is convenient to the Department, your wish to be relieved shall be gratified. Upon a reperusal of your orders you will find that no intimation is given that Thompson's Island alone is to be considered as the station, and that you are to remain stationary there, nor that you are to lead in person every expedition fitted out from it.

I purposely abstain from comment upon certain matters in your letter. You will hereafter hear from the Department on the subject.

I am, very, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Navy Department, March 24, 1825.

Sir:

Midshipman Rowan, of the West India squadron, has applied for leave of absence to visit his friends in Ohio. I have suspended a decision on his request until I can be informed whether you will require his testimony in the investigation which you have called for. Your early attention to this is requested.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, United States Navy, Washington.

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Navy Department, March 25, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, and to inform you that I am aware of no objection, on the part of the Department, to your going to Norfolk and returning at the time specified.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, per C. Hay.

Captain D. Porter, United States Navy, Washington.

Navy Department, April 20, 1825.

Sir:

Enclosed you will receive a copy of the precept which has been issued for a court to make the inquiry, instituted by the Executive, into your conduct at Foxardo. You will perceive that the same court is also directed to make the inquiry which has been granted at your own request.

In your letter of the 13th instant, which has been received, it created some surprise to find the declaration that the "positive injunction," in the letter from the Department of the 27th December, 1824, to "proceed without unnecessary delay to this place," deprived you of the opportunity, without taking on yourself great responsibility, of obtaining, by personal application, the written testimony necessary in the case.

By referring to that letter, you will find that you are expressly charged to "bring with you those officers whose testimony is necessary, particularly Lieutenant Platt, and such written evidence as you may suppose useful" for the "full investigation," which it was declared the importance of the transaction demanded.

No change has taken place in the views of the Executive, either as to the necessity or character of the investigation, and any delay which has occurred in proceeding with it must he attributed to other causes.

In relation to that part of your letter in which you say, "the affair at Foxardo was the occasion of my recall; the affair of Foxardo was the occasion of my being displaced from my command; it is that affair which now keeps me suspended from the exercise of my official functions," it is proper to remark, that although that affair was the immediate cause of your recall, yet you are not ignorant that it was the purpose of the Department to recall you from that command for other reasons, as soon as it was found convenient to substitute a competent officer in your place, a purpose only prevented by this transaction, which intervened previously to its execution.

No other notice of the style and manner of your letter is deemed necessary, at this time, than to remind you of the relation which subsists between you and the Department,

I am, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient servant,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, U. S. Navy. Present.

Navy Department, April 26, 1825.

Sir:

I enclose for your information several papers which have been presented to the Department in the form of complaint, respecting certain proceedings at Thompson's Island.

The Department has not the means of furnishing a satisfactory answer, and requests your early attention to the matter.

The papers sent are the originals, which you will please to return with such statement as you can make on the subject.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, U. S. Navy. Present.

Navy Department, May 28, 1825.

Sir:

The court of inquiry lately assembled at the Navy yard, Washington, has closed its examination into the matters submitted to it, and made report to the Department.

I am instructed by the Executive to inform you that it has been found necessary that further proceedings should be had in relation to the transactions at Foxardo, and that in the course of a few days charges will be preferred, you will be arrested, and a court-martial summoned for your trial.

I am, very respectfully,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Captain David Porter, U. S. Navy. Present.

Navy Department, June 13, 1825.

Sir:

Your letter transmitting a pamphlet respecting the proceedings of the court of inquiry, and the transactions at Foxardo, &c., was received, and the copy, endorsed for the President, immediately delivered to him.

It is cause of surprise that you should have considered it proper, while your case and the report of

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the court of inquiry were still under the consideration of the Executive, to make a publication relating thereto, and especially a publication in so many respects deficient and inaccurate.

I am, very respectfully,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, United States Navy. Present.

Navy Department, June 22, 1825.

Sir:

I enclose to you the charges and specifications upon which you will be tried before a court-martial, which will be convened on the seventh day of July next, at the Navy yard, Washington, and of which Captain James Barron has been appointed the president. At the time and place mentioned you will report yourself to the court for trial upon said charges. In the meantime you will be under no restraint in preparing for your defence. On the receipt of this letter, you will consider yourself under arrest. It is not deemed necessary to call upon you to surrender your sword, nor to assign limits to you.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Capt. David Porter, United States Navy. Present.

Navy Department, August 17, 1825.

Sir:

I enclose, for your information, a copy of the proceedings of the court-martial, during the five last days in which it was engaged in the trial of the charges against you. You will perceive in them the finding and sentence of the court, with the approval annexed.

I have also to inform you that the proceedings of the court of inquiry, and those of the court-martial, will be published without delay, by direction of the Executive.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Capt. David Porter, United States Navy. Present.

Navy Department, August 20, 1825.

Sir:

Your letter of the seventeenth instant, requesting "leave of absence during the term of suspension prescribed by the court," has been received. It is not considered necessary that officers under suspension, by sentence of a court-martial, should apply for or obtain leave of absence to visit any part of the United States during the time of suspension. If your object is to leave the United States, the Department has no objection to your doing so. This permission is in no way to operate upon or affect the sentence of the court.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Capt. David Porter, United States Navy. Present.

Navy Department, August 23, 1825.

The Secretary of the Navy acknowledges the receipt of a note from Commodore Porter, of yesterday's date, requesting that he would "authorize Mr. Force to give publicity, in his journal, to the opinion of the court of inquiry as to the employment of the West India squadron during his command."

No objection is perceived to Mr. Force's publishing the whole report and finding of the court of inquiry, whenever Commodore Porter shall think proper. A communication to this effect has been made to Mr. Force.

Navy Department, April 29, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that a court of inquiry, consisting of Captains Isaac Chauncey, president, William M. Crane, and George C. Read, members, has been ordered to convene at the Navy yard in Washington, on Monday, the 2d day of May next, for the purpose of examining into the conduct of Captain D. Porter, in relation to the occurrences which took place at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rico, in the month of November last.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Hon. Henry Clay, Secretary of State.

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Mr. Clay to Mr. Salmon.

Department of State, Washington, April 29, 1825.

Don. Hilario de Rivas y Salmon, Philadelphia:

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that a court of inquiry has been ordered, and will assemble at the Navy yard, in Washington city, on Monday, the 2d of the next month, for the purpose of examining into the conduct of Captain D. Porter, of the United States navy, in relation to the occurrences which took place at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rico, in the month of November last. Any evidence pertinent to the case, which you may think proper to adduce before that court, will be respectfully received and considered. The court will, probably, remain in session several days.

I avail myself of the occasion to renew assurances of my high consideration.

(Signed) H. CLAY.

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Secretary of the Navy, and informs him that he has just received from Mr. Salmon, the Spanish chargé d'affaires, a communication of some papers for the court of inquiry, in the case of Captain Porter, which he will transmit to the Secretary of the Navy as soon as a translation of them, now in progress, shall be completed.

Department of State, Washington, May 5, 1825.

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Secretary of the Navy, and he transmits to him, herewith, a note from Mr. Salmon, Spanish chargé d'affaires, which has just been received at the Department of State, accompanied by two documents, in relation to the incursion of Captain Porter into the Island of Porto Rico, and the affairs at Foxardo, which occurred last November, together with translations of the same.

The propriety of laying these papers before the court of inquiry into the conduct of that officer, in regard to these transactions, is submitted to the consideration of the Secretary of the Navy.

Department of State, May 6, 1825.

Mr. Southard is requested to cause the original papers to be returned, when there shall be no further use for them.

[Translation.]

Mr. Salmon to Mr. Clay.

Legation of Spain, Philadelphia, May 2, 1825.

To the honorable Henry Clay, Secretary of State for the United States:

Sir:

I yesterday received your note, with which I was honored, announcing to me that a court of inquiry would be instituted to-day to investigate the conduct of Captain D. Porter in relation to the affairs of Foxardo, in the month of November last, and requesting of me any documents or testimony which you would have the goodness to submit to that court.

I have the honor, herewith, to transmit an extract of a communication made to me by the Captain General of Puerto Rico, under date of the 23d of November, upon this subject, and a gazette of the government subsequently received, in which you will find an article on the present affairs.

These are the only documents which I am able to furnish at this time. The proceedings and the gazette alluded to in the communication of the captain general were neglected, by some difficulty or accident; these might have been important in elucidating the conduct of Captain Porter.

I presume the gazette, mentioned in the communication, may be the same as that from which a translation was made for the newspapers of this city, about the middle of last November. These papers, at the same time, published letters from a clerk in the house of Cabot, Bailey & Co., and from some citizens of the United States, who, it appears, were principally concerned in this unpleasant matter.

The relations of these citizens, if true, as I incline to think they are, tend to criminate Capt. Porter more deeply than those published in the government gazette of Puerto Rico. There have existed cases, as I have been informed, where Colombian privateers (whose commanders and crew had assumed the uniform and flag of the United States, of which they were native citizens) have entered Spanish ports, unsuspected by the local authorities. But supposing this never to have happened, was it strange that the subaltern authorities of Puerto Rico, at a time of war with some neighboring governments, and when the island was exposed to an invasion, should have detained a few foreigners, for an hour or two, who were justly liable to suspicion from their having neither passports nor papers, nor any uniform to distinguish them from enemies? This short and just detention appears to have been the sole ground of complaint by Captain Porter against the authorities of Foxardo, and which was judged sufficient cause for violating the Spanish territory and threatening a small, peaceable and defenceless village with vindictive menace. It has not yet appeared that Captain Porter, or his agents, had received any injury from the Spanish authorities at Foxardo, but, on the contrary, they were shown the greatest attention.

These agents, far from respecting the laws, and the orders of the local authorities, derided them, and provoked their resentment, with the most insulting insolence. "The town," (Foxardo,) says the relation of the clerk, in the house of Cabot & Co., which was published in the Boston Palladium, "lay about two miles from the beach, but we found the harbormaster there, and having explained to him our business, and the reason why the officers came in citizens' dresses, we took our road to the town; we were immediately called back, and ordered to remain on the beach until the captain of the port should come down, which would be in the course of the day. I told him my business was too urgent, and I could not wait, but I would call on the captain when I got to town. This would not answer, and we pursued our course without further ceremony."

But, independently of the publications in the papers of this country and of Puerto Rico, and notwithstanding the neglect of the proceedings in the trial instituted in that island, in relation to the affair

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at Foxardo, it would seem to me that the communication from the captain general, which I enclose to you, is of itself sufficient to prove that Captain Porter had but a very slight pretext for committing so great an outrage in the dominions of his Catholic Majesty, and why did he do it? To protect the property of a foreigner, and not a citizen of the United States. But, supposing the motive to have been the most urgent, and the complaint of Captain Porter to have been just, how will it be possible for governments to maintain peace and a friendly understanding with each other, if their officers, who should present examples of moderation to the rest of the citizens, are to become judges in their own cause, and of themselves to retaliate for wrongs, which prerogative belongs to the nation and the government?

I will refrain from making further observation on this unpleasant subject. The promptitude with which the President ordered the return of Captain Porter, and the investigation of his conduct by a respectable court, is decisive evidence of his love of justice, his respect for the law of nations, and his desire to cultivate the friendship subsisting between the governments of the United States and Spain. I am assured that his Catholic Majesty will receive satisfaction proportioned to the offence.

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you, sir, my respects, and the assurances of my distinguished consideration.

(Signed) HILARIO DE Y SALMON.

Translation of the copy of a paper received at the Department of State, on the 6th May, 1825, in a letter from Don Hilario de Rivas y Salmon, chargé d'affaires from Spain, dated 2d May.

To his excellency the Secretary of the Despatch of State, I thus represent:

I transmit to your excellency the proceedings in the inquiry relative to the shameful aggression of Commodore Porter, commanding United States squadron, on the peaceable town of Foxardo, the 14th instant, together with all letters and papers concerning it, that with this information of the unwarrantable contempt of the flag and arms of his Majesty, you may communicate it to his royal person. By these you will perceive that on the 26th of October, the U. S. schooner Beagle entered Foxardo, when the captain of the port demanded papers, to assure him that this vessel-of-war was in reality of a friendly nation. This was done as a precaution against any deception from the many insurgent privateers cruising in these waters, and exercising great acts of violence and rapacity; suspicion was excited by the smallness of the vessel, her crew and armament, because citizens of the United States generally constitute the crews of the dissident privateers, and by the recent information in the royal order of the 31st May, that the dissident armament would be increased by fourteen vessels from North America. This schooner had on board, Mr. George Beajon, clerk in the commercial house of Cabot & Co., at St. Thomas, whose object was to search the place, where goods stolen from that house were supposed to be concealed. You will see that as soon as they gave assurance of their being Americans, they were allowed to proceed in their object, as will appear from the letter from the alcalde of the town, and from that which the captain of the port addressed to the principal commandant of marine. The former enclosed to me a list of the goods stolen, and a notice of the reward offered for the discovery. You will also be informed by the dispatch of the same alcalde, of the 14th instant, of the outrageous insult of Commodore Porter to that town, into which he marched with 150 armed men, spiked the artillery used in defence of the port, and demanded satisfaction of the said authority, in the most insulting and degrading manner that can be conceived of, and having obtained it he retired, although I do not know the terms in which it was couched.

This unprecEdented affair, contrary to the laws of honor, unbecoming a high minded officer, opposed to the law of nations, contemptuous of the sovereignty of monarchs and their inviolable rights, and to have been expected only from highwaymen, resulted in favor of the aggressor from the cowardice of the alcalde, the want of a local commander or of troops, and from the surprise of the neighborhood. It is very certain that, at the voice of alarm and union, the inhabitants of the surrounding country would have assembled to oppose the invaders, and they would have paid severely for their rash attempt. As soon as I had received notice of this aggression, fearful that this example might be injurious for the future unless promptly and energetically opposed, I ordered a company of militia to be raised for the defence of that point most distant from population. I appointed the commandant of battalion, Don Juan Nepomercene, as the military commander of the district, and Lieutenant Don F. M. Penatel as commander and driller of the company. I issued an order to all the departments that no armed vessels of any nation should be permitted to enter under any pretext, and that they should be opposed if they employed force; and I caused the relation of the outrage committed by Commodore Porter to be inserted in the Gazette of to-day. This inflated commander supposes a grievance of which he submits no complaint to this government; and pretends that to have been American property which belonged to a Danish subject, the demand of which should have been presented to the chief authority of this island; with an armed force he required satisfaction of the person whom he supposed to be the offender; he violated the state of peace in which we exist; he prostituted the force committed to him by his government; he attacked by surprise a friendly and inoffensive town, and became the admirer of his own exploit; for his safety he spiked the artillery, pulled down the royal flag, and with gross threats and vulgar expressions he thought to intimidate the officers of Foxardo by menacing fire and desolation to their innocent but spirited district. With such a contemptible triumph he escaped from the punishment which he feared would fall on his devoted head were he to remain longer on land.

I have directed the commandant of department to make an abstract for the information of H. M., and at the same time have suspended the alcalde for his pusillanimity, and the commander of the garrison for his unfitness for office, and because till this moment he has not communicated to me anything in regard to this event.

I transmit the foregoing to your excellency, that it may be submitted to his Majesty.

Puerto Rico, November 23, 1824.

(Signed) MIGUEL DE LA TORRE.

To the Consul General of his Majesty in the United States.

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[Extracted from the government Gazette of Porto Rico, January 12, 1845. (sic)]

Quixotic and ungallant adventure of an American commodore, and false imputations refuted.

In the Baltimore papers of the 4th of December last, we have read an article on the affair of Foxardo, related in our number of the 23d of November. It is the most insulting and calumnious production that ever issued from an indecorous and degraded pen against a civilized people. This is the return made by certain American journals for the generous, polite and frank reception which citizens of the United States have ever received from us.

The temerity of Commodore D. Porter's conduct on our unsettled shores, that of the officer under his orders, whose letter we shall notice, and that of the editor who made the publication, authorizes us in saying that our most hostile enemies have never shown themselves more infuriated; and that the commodore, the officer and the editor have conducted themselves in the most shameful and vulgar manner, inasmuch as they imagined grievances and invited difficulties, for the sole purpose of seeking an occasion for uttering their billingsgate and committing acts of the vilest and most disgraceful character.

The following is the caption of an article, which was printed in large letters: "Insult and imprisonment of an American naval officer revenged, and Spanish insolence properly chastised."

In our 279th number, of November 23, we published the history of this affair, which statement we now confirm, for it is substantiated by authentic documents, and we defy the most astute American to oppose them with proof, and which we can adduce, of the guilt of Commodore Porter. We believe, therefore, the imprisonment or insult of an American naval officer to have been planned to create an occasion for satisfying the vengeance that consumes the commodore, in relation to Puerto Rico and the Spaniards. But this act was committed in so indecorous a manner that he has excited public odium and contempt; it was indeed an act which could only have been committed by one belonging to the canaille of society, and who had been educated with neglect.

The commodore thus becomes a knight errant, who couches his lance and buckles on his shield to avenge wrongs that neither affect nor concern him, and pretends, like a second Amadis de Gaul, that at the voice of his Dorothea all laws and rights must be suppressed.

The schooner Beagle was engaged at St. Thomas to convey a clerk of the house of Cabot to Foxardo, instead of cruising for pirates, for which she was fitted out. The object in conveying this clerk to Foxardo was, it is said, to claim some merchandise that had been stolen from this Danish commercial house, and which they suspected to have been transported to that place. A suspicion of this kind had so little foundation, that to the present moment the least insinuation has not been made by that government to the chief authority of this island, which has always decided its claims justly and with honor to the nation. She was freighted, we have said, for she was employed by a foreign individual, and in a matter where the United States could have had no interest.

In this service of transportation so important, the commander refuses to use himself and his vessel. Nothing more natural than that he should defer his departure until the vessel had gone. If the American officer at his arrival had presented himself with proper respect to the authorities at Foxardo, and had made known to them his commission and object, the suspicion which was excited would have been dispelled. This was naturally produced at seeing a vessel-of-war in the service of an individual, of a different nation from himself, when her aspect and object contradicted it. This induced the suspicion that she was carrying on a contraband commerce, so usual with those in whose service she was at that time. To this is reduced what the editor of the Baltimore paper calls imprisonment and insult, when the officer was dismissed as soon as he had satisfied what was required by his duty and the laws.

It would seem that the American gentlemen to whom we refer expect that at their name every knee should bow, and every one confess that their mistress is the most lovely in the world, without inquiring if she be deformed, lame, ugly, peevish, or ill-disposed. To this alone does he aspire, who calls insolence the exercise of a right in the delegates of the government, in discharging their duty, to ascertain the true character of the person visiting the town. As to revenged and chastised, it has already been seen by the history of the event, and will be shown by what is yet to be said, that the result of that affair was about as satisfactory as the attack of the Knight of La Mancha on the sheep, who achieved universal pity and laughter.

Extremely vain and satisfied of his preamble, the editor proceeds to publish a letter written by an officer of the frigate John Adams, under command of Commodore Porter, dated at the Isle of Passage, the 10th of November, which we will remark upon.

"I doubt not," says the letter, "that you will have heard of Commodore Porter having taken a Spanish town in Puerto Rico."

A mighty sensation must have been produced, among those who have never visited our island, at the report of a town being captured. One would suppose that it was at least a town of the second or third size; but it never would be dreamed of that the town in question was but a hamlet, containing 74 houses covered with tile, and 84 bojios. This is the town of Foxardo, which Commodore Porter desired to capture, but into which he dared not enter, notwithstanding his arrogant presumption.

"The circumstances," it continues," are briefly these: The governor imprisoned the captain of one of the small schooners, and suffered him to be grossly insulted."

To magnify the importance of the post supposed to have been taken by the commodore, and its means of defence by this distich,

"The more the honor which the vanquished hear,

The greater glory does the hero share,"

it would have been first necessary to supply a magistrate of superior command; and although our commodore did happen to address a letter to the alcalde de campo, yet the officer who is writing should have metamorphosed him into a governor, by taking advantage of a poetic license in the composition of his farce. In like manner, an American officer is represented to have been grossly insulted, because the captain of a vessel in commission of a St. James mercantile house was detained until he presented papers attesting his authority and person.

"As soon," the letter continues, "as the commodore knew of it, he was there with two schooners'

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boats and a part of the crew of the frigate; he captured two batteries, spiked the cannon, and marched to the town, (Foxardo,) about two miles in the interior. He there found the Spaniards prepared to give battle; he drew up his force within pistol shot of the enemy, and sent a deputation to the governor and captain of the port, who were the two principal offenders, requiring them to come and make atonement, or he would, in case of a refusal, burn their town. They chose the first alternative, and in presence of all our officers asked pardon of the insulted officers, manifested great contrition, and promised to pay respect to all American officers who might in future visit the port."

The two batteries said to have been taken were two bare intrenchments, in which there was not a single man; for as no attack from North Americans was expected, they had been deserted for the defence of the port, and every person in the vicinity continued at his occupation, and did not resort to defend these entrenchments, as usual on the least alarm. As soon as armed men were seen to debark, the people assembled, and the small number collected declared themselves ready for fight.

Very little should be expected from the contrition of those called the offenders, and from their promise to respect American officers who should hereafter visit the place, as they have always done when the officers have been recognized; because these offenders, so called, were instantly cashiered by the government, which, although it requires them to be polite and attentive, does not wish them to be quite so complaisant. American officers, as well as all others at peace with us, may be assured of that friendly reception which the good education of the Spaniards gives them a right to expect of us, if they observe what is due by them; but they shall also be convinced that, for the least violation against the honor of the nation and respect for authorities, their presumptuous arrogance shall be checked.

"The commodore," concludes the letter, "then marched to the town, merely to show that it was at his mercy, and afterwards returned to his boats and left the place. There was not the least disorder; not a man left the ranks whilst on shore, where they continued more than three hours. Self-defence required that the cannons should be spiked, and this is all they have to complain of. They had been informed of our intention to visit them [false]. The population of this town is about two thousand souls. The country is quiet. Before we had left the place, a force three times greater than ours had assembled, with a field piece; and in presence of these, and within pistol shot of their forces, our commodore made them humble themselves."

[It should be the two.]

The author of this letter is a most consummate liar. It is false that Porter entered the town; and although he received an invitation, in return to his, to approach the few men who had assembled, he excused himself and retired.

We had always supposed that honor and truth were inherent virtues in those who devote their lives for the defence of the state; but the event authorizes the assertion that these obligations were apparently forgotten by the aggressors of Foxardo.

This tissue of falsehood gives two proofs in our favor. The first is, that Mr. Porter is represented, even by his officers, as capable of being an incendiary, since revenge would have urged him to it had he not been restrained by fear: the second, that they are persuaded of the reception that awaits them if they shall again dare to violate our territory, and if they shall return to assume the character of, as they are called by Charles X, self-ministers of justice.

The spiking of the cannons is said to be the only ground of our complaint; these and others are now prepared to receive all who shall attempt an aggression on our soil. The offence was given to all nations, because the law of nations was violated. We view the conduct of Porter, particularly in relation to the government, as if he were irritated with any of us individually, and for revenge had entered by the yard-gate, and had violated the first of our servant maids. Such had been his conduct, and so contemptible has been his pretended satisfaction.

It is not becoming, at this time, to forget that moderation which we have always observed, and which was distinguishable in the first Foxardo article; but we ought to retort in some degree on the Baltimore editor and others of like character.

Navy Department, July 8, 1825.

Sir: I am directed by the President of the United States to inform you that a court-martial is now sitting at the Navy yard in this place, for the trial of Captain David Porter, upon charges preferred against him, one of which is founded upon his conduct in landing in a forcible manner at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rico, in the month of November last.

In apprising the representative of the Spanish government of the fact, I suggest to you the propriety of informing him that the documents heretofore forwarded by him to be laid before the court of inquiry were rejected by the court as incompetent evidence, and not properly authenticated.

This notice should have been given at an earlier day, but was accidentally omitted. I have the honor to be, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Hon. Henry Clay, Secretary of State.

Mr. Brent to Mr. Salmon.

Department of State, Washington, July 8, 1825.

Hon Hilario de Rivas y Salmon, chargé d'affaires from Spain:

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that notice has just been received at this office, from the Secretary of the Navy, that a court-martial is now sitting, at the Navy yard in this city, for the trial of Captain David Porter upon charges preferred against him, one of which is founded upon his conduct in landing in a forcible manner at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rico, in the month of November last.

In the absence of the Secretary, and by direction of the President of the United States, I have the

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honor further to state, that any evidence pertinent to the case, which you may think proper to furnish, will be respectfully received and considered; but in apprising you of this circumstance, I beg leave to suggest that the documents heretofore forwarded by you, to be laid before the late court of enquiry into the conduct of the same officer, were rejected by the court as incompetent evidence, and not properly authenticated.

With great consideration, I am, sir, your obedient and very humble servant,

(Signed) DANIEL BRENT.

[Translation.]

Don Hilario de Rivas y Salmon to Mr. Brent.

Legation of Spain, Philadelphia, July 10, 1825.

Sir:

In answer to your note of the 8th, which I have just received, I have the honor to say, that the documents which I formerly sent, relative to the conduct of Commodore Porter in Foxardo, which were rejected by the court of inquiry, as you inform me, are the only ones which have come to my hands as yet. If, during the session of the court-martial which is now sitting, I shall receive others, which I may think proper to present to the aforenamed court, I shall have the honor of transmitting them to you for that purpose.

I repeat to you, sir, my respects and the assurance of my consideration.

(Signed) HILARIO DE RIVAS Y SALMON.

Navy Department, July 18, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to request that you will furnish this Department with a copy of so much of Mr. Nelson's last letter as relates to the complaint preferred by the government of Spain, respecting the conduct of Captain David Porter in landing forcibly, in November last, at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rica.

With great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and humble servant,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Hon. Henry Clay, Secretary of State.

Department of State, Washington, July 18, 1825.

Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy:

Sir:

I have the honor, agreeably to the request in your letter to the Secretary of State, of this date, to send you an extract, enclosed, from the only dispatch of Mr. Nelson, minister plenipotentiary of the United States in Spain, which has been received at this Department in relation to the complaint of the government of Spain respecting the conduct of Captain David Porter in landing forcibly, in November last, at Foxardo, in the Island of Porto Rico, and to add that this extract comprehends all that the said dispatch contains upon the subject.

I am, with the highest respect, sir, your obedient and very humble servant,

(Signed) DANIEL BRENT.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Nelson, minister plenipotentiary of the United States in Spain, to the Secretary of State of the United States, dated—

Madrid, April 6, 1825.

I had an interview with the secretary of state on the subjects of interest between the two governments, not embraced in his note last received. At the close he observed that he should have to address me in relation to the conduct of Commodore Porter.

He observed that his government made a great distinction between the act of Commodore Porter and the American government; that governments friendly towards each other had never any difficulty in arranging matters of this sort.

He alluded to some misconduct of the French in Spain, occurring through the intemperance of their officers; said that as soon as presented to the proper authorities they were remedied by the most prompt accommodation; that he did not entertain a doubt of the same result from the appeal in the instance of the American officers.

He was told that I had no official communication on this subject as yet; but that from the American newspapers, with which I had been furnished, I perceived that Commodore Porter had been recalled, and another officer sent to supply his place in the American squadron.

Navy Department, December 24, 1823.

Sir:

Yours of the 18th instant, reporting your arrival in the frigate Congress, in Lynnhaven Bay, has been received.

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You will deliver the ship to the commandant of the yard, that she may receive such repairs as may be found necessary, and be prepared for sea as speedily as practicable, as it is my intention that she join Captain Porter's command, on the Florida station, for a cruise of six months or more.

I take pleasure in complying with your wishes to retain the command of the ship.

I am, very respectfully, &c., SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Capt. James Biddle, U. S. Ship Congress, Norfolk, Va.

Navy Department, December 30, 1823.

Sir:

Your letter of the 26th instant, in relation to the condition of your ship, and the terms of service of part of the crew, has been received.

I learn with pleasure that no repairs will be necessary for the cruise for which she is intended. It will not continue longer than six months, and of this you may assure the crew, and re-enter all those whose terms of service will expire before that time, who may be disposed to do so.

I am, very respectfully,

SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Captain James Biddle, commanding U. S. Frigate Congress, Norfolk, Va.

Navy Department, December 31, 1823.

Sir:

The United States frigate Congress, under your command, being intended to form part of the squadron placed under the direction of Commodore David Porter, you will immediately, as commander of that ship, report yourself for duty to that officer.

I remain, very respectfully, &c.,

SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Captain James Biddle, commanding U. S. Ship Congress, Norfolk.

Navy Department, January 3, 1824.

Sir:

Upon the subject of your letter of the 28th ultimo, I would remark that I do not know any lieutenant in the service of the name of Byrne. It will be necessary that the officers remain attached to the ship, and that those who are absent on permission return, as the service requires that the Congress sails immediately. As the ship under your command is attached to the West India squadron, under the direction of Commodore David Porter, he will give to you all necessary orders in relation to the contemplated service.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Captain James Biddle, U. S. Ship Congress, Norfolk, Virginia.

Frigate Congress, Norfolk, January 4, 1824.

Sir:

In obedience to your order of the 31st ultimo, I have reported myself to Captain David Porter as my commanding officer.

I learn indirectly from Captain Porter that, upon my arrival in the West Indies, it is his intention to come on board this ship and. live. In that event, my command will be subordinate to that which is usually held by an officer of my grade of commission, and would necessarily be mortifying and unpleasant to me. I enclose an order to me from Master Commandant Wm. B. Finch, who signs as "captain of the squadron." So far, therefore, from my services being required at all after arriving out, my presence would rather occasion embarrassment and difficulty. Capt. Porter informs me that this ship is to remain abroad only until the Independence can arrive out. I respectfully request, therefore, that upon Captain Porter's joining this ship, I may be allowed to remain on shore in Cuba or wheresoever else the ship may be, and to resume my command of this ship upon the arrival out of the Independence. My desire to continue afloat has been much increased since reading the President's message. The arrangement I solicit will be gratifying to me, as relieving me from serving in a situation not suitable to my commission, and it may prevent unpleasant collision. It will not be attended with expense, since I would not desire any allowance to be made to me for personal expenses on shore.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

(Signed) JAMES BIDDLE.

Honorable Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 2, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you the copy of an order from Commodore Porter, which you will be pleased to communicate to the two officers, Lieutenant Wm. Taylor and Purser S. Hambleton, concerned, and who are under your immediate command.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. B. FINCH, Captain of the Squadron.

Captain James Biddle, commanding U. S. Frigate Congress.

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Navy Department, February 19, 1824.

Sir:

Several applications have been made to me, by officers of the Congress, who have leave of absence from Captain Biddle, and have been ordered by you to join other vessels.

There has been some confusion as to these officers, created in part, perhaps, by myself. Some of them had leave of absence before Captain Biddle was ordered to report to you, and others, perhaps, after that time. Captain Biddle, when here, asked me if there would be any objections to those whose services were not wanting in the vessels being absent while she was repairing. I answered that there would not; that it was better they should be absent with their friends, if there was no duty for them. I have had no communication since from Captain Biddle; but he has no doubt properly considered this answer as confirming the permissions already granted, and justifying such as were applied for afterwards, if there are any such. It is my wish, therefore, that the officers who have leave of absence from that vessel be left until she is ready for them. I have another reason. I do not wish transfers to be made in the United States, without the orders of the Department. Several very unpleasant occurrences have lately taken place, arising from that cause. All transfers here ought to be by order of the Department, and elsewhere, immediately communicated to the Department.

I shall write to Captain Biddle, and direct him on this subject, that no further inconvenience may arise to you from his conduct on this point.

There has been some confusion on the subject, but a little time and patience will make matters right. It will probably be necessary, hereafter, to issue a general order on this subject.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

Sir:

Acting, as I am, in strict conformity with the orders I have received from the Navy Department, and having never, in the slightest degree, departed from them, I confidently look to it to defend my character from unjust aspersion, particularly as I am, with others, prohibited from defending myself through the public prints. I am induced to express this hope, in consequence of the article contained in the newspaper which I have the honor to send you, and which is evidently intended to do me some great injury.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Secretary of the Navy.

Navy Department, December 31, 1823.

Sir:

I have received several communications from you by the mail of this morning, and shall attend to them as early as possible.

I have ordered Captain Biddle (the order sent herewith) to report to you for duty, and you will dispatch him in the Congress to the Florida or the Thompson's Island station, with such orders as you may consider necessary, to execute the views of the Department, contained in the instructions heretofore given you. You will send with him all the vessels under your command which are ready, and will permit no delay which is not indispensable.

I have heretofore sent you some account of piracies lately committed, and I herewith enclose two more, and request your particular attention to the letter signed by Mr. Lawrence, and the course pointed out as a mode of effecting the object.

It being indispensable that difficulties, such as have arisen with Lieutenant Kennon and yourself, should be promptly and firmly terminated by this Department, you will remain at Norfolk, in order that an investigation may take place, and you will therefore forward immediately such charges as you may have to make, and which may direct me in the orders which I have to issue.

It is my intention to have an investigation into the conduct of Captain S. Smith at the same time with that into the conduct of Lieut. Kennon. If, therefore, any of the officers of the vessels which you may send with Captain Biddle are necessary in these investigations, you are authorized to detain them at Norfolk, and, if necessary, supply their places with others now at the station, and who can be spared, taking care not to send away any who may be wanting as witnesses in the trial of Captain Smith and Lieutenant Kennon, so far as you are acquainted with them.

Lieutenant Kennon has named the following officers as witnesses necessary for him:

Lieutenant J. Tattnall, Acting Lieutenant T. M. Randolph, Acting Lieutenant F. Buchanan, Purser Samuel Hambleton, Lieutenant William Taylor.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, &c., SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. Squadron, Norfolk.

Navy Department, January 2, 1824.

Sir:

As it is desirable that the investigation of the cases of Captain Smith and Lieutenant Kennon should take place as early as practicable, you will furnish to the Department the names of the persons, in each case, who are capable of giving testimony, and also a statement of the facts into which you wish an inquiry to be made.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Captain David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

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Navy Department, January 3, 1824.

Sir:

You will deliver the enclosed order to Dr. Haslett, detaching him from the squadron under your command. Doctor Tinslar is necessary as a witness in the case for the trial of Lieutenant Kennon. I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter, commanding U. S. West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 4, 1824.

Sir:

I have received your instructions of the 31st, which shall be strictly attended to in every particular.

Acting up to the letter and spirit of your instructions, dated December, 1823, I made, through the medium of Mr. Samuel Hamilton, the following proposals in writing to Lieutenant Kennon, which he rejected, hence there was no other alternative but to bring him to a court-martial.

"Captain Porter has heard, from a mutual friend, that Lieutenant Kennon denies that any unfriendly motives actuated him in the publication which drew forth the remarks in the Georgian.

"If Lieutenant Kennon is willing to declare this in writing, this being the primary cause of all the recent difficulties between them, Captain Porter will be then willing to withdraw his charges against Lieutenant Kennon, and suppress all proceedings in the case.

"Captain Porter cannot receive, now, in explanation of Lieutenant Kennon's views or objects in the first publication, any declaration contained in his defence against the remarks in the Georgian; because he (Captain Porter) never made any objection to those remarks, and ought, therefore, to have been considered as satisfied with them. But new causes for offence have been since given, and he can receive no explanation affecting them which may heretofore have appeared in the public prints.

"Captain Porter, when he arrested Lieutenant Kennon, believed that the United States would wait for the Peacock, and therefore thought there would be time enough to admit of his trial; but he had no sooner arrested Lieutenant Kennon, than Captain Hull went to Washington to get orders to proceed immediately to sea. This unexpected occurrence is the cause why Captain Porter is desirous that the affair should be adjusted before she sails, that Lieutenant Kennon may proceed to his destination."

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

To the Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Navy Department, January 7, 1824.

Sir:

A general court-martial has been ordered to convene at the Navy yard, Gosport, Va., on the 22d inst., for the trial of Lieutenant Beverley Kennon, of the United States navy, and such other persons as shall be arraigned before the said court.

The court will be constituted as follows, viz:

Captains Wm. Bainbridge, president, Thomas Macdonough, Robert T. Spence, John D. Henley; Master Commandants Alex. T. Wadsworth, George C. Read; Lieutenants Lawrence Kearny and Thomas M. Newell, members; and Walter F. Jones, Esq., judge advocate.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Captain David Porter, commanding West India Squadron, Norfolk, Va.

Navy Department, March 29, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you herewith copy of the sentence of the court-martial in the case of Lieutenant Beverly Kennon, with a copy of the letter in which the sentence was enclosed to him.

This trial has occasioned great public excitement and much inconvenience to the service, and it is hoped that all officers will perceive the necessity of avoiding in future whatever will have a tendency to such results.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, W. I. and Gulf of Mexico.

Navy Department, April 23, 1824.

Sir:

An application has been made to this Department for a copy of the proceedings of court-martial, to be used in the further vindication of the conduct and character of Lieutenant Kenyon, which was declined. In consequence of the copy not being granted, a resolution has been offered and adopted in the House of Representatives calling for a copy of the proceedings.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Com. David Porter, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

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Extract of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to Commodore David Porter, Thompson's Island, dated—

Navy Department, May 17, 1824.

Upon a call by resolution, the proceedings of the court-martial which tried Lieutenant Kennon have been sent to Congress, and they will be published in a few days.

Matanzas, June 5, 1824.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th March, enclosing the sentence of the court-martial on Lieutenant Kennon, with a copy of your letter to him of the 16th, authorizing him "to publish the sentence fully acquitting him," and refusing to order my arrest and trial on the charges preferred by Lieutenant Kennon.

I have also to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d of April, notifying me of the resolution adopted in the House of Representatives, calling for a copy of the proceedings of the court-martial in the case of Lieutenant Kennon, the publication of which will be highly satisfactory to me, inasmuch as the whole affair is badly understood by the public, who, on perusing them, cannot fail to discover that the court, by a limitation in the inquiry, rendered it impossible that I could prove the bad feeling which had long existed towards me on the part of Lieutenant Kennon, on which the charge of malice was founded. Documental and oral testimony on this head were both rejected; and, in addition, it was intimated to me, by the presiding officer, towards the closing of the testimony on the part of the prosecution, that my presence in court was not necessary, which prevented my attendance as prosecutor. I beg leave to remark, also, that I did not go a willing witness before the court—I was ordered to attend. My testimony was ample, and being called for by the counsel of Lieutenant Kennon, the court was bound to respect it.

I know of no reason why the court was justified in imputing, by its sentence, perjury to me—for if the sentence "fully" acquitting Lieutenant Kennon is just, I am certainly a perjured man; but, sir, my conscience tells me otherwise. In these respects I cannot conceal that I feel myself aggrieved, but should have refrained from complaint, had not this sentence brought on me the reprimand contained in your letter of the 29th March, which I cannot feel that I merit; for if "great public excitement" has been occasioned, it has been by the persevering hostility of Lieutenant Kennon and his friends, who have availed themselves of the press to produce it, before, pending, and subsequently to the trial, an advantage which I have been deprived of by your general order and my absence from the country. The excitement is neither of my seeking or occasioning, and I cannot think myself answerable for it; the blame must therefore rest on those with whom it originated; and the information and admonition which accompany it, could, with great propriety, be applied to those who have been acting in the double capacity of counselors to Lieutenant Kennon, and public accusers of me, without specifying any other charge against me than my having brought a junior officer to a court-martial, who, by the sentence of the court, was "fully acquitted." This appeal to the tribunal of public opinion was not a measure of mine; and if by it the sentence of the court should be reversed, or further "excitement" should be produced, I hope I shall stand acquitted of any participation in the cause, or of censure for any injuries which may result therefrom to the navy.

I regret, sir, that the public do not understand the merits of the differences between Lieutenant Kennon and myself, and I rejoice that it can be made to understand them without any responsibility on my part. I have quietly borne the vituperation of Lieutenant Kennon and his friends through the public prints, and I have patiently waited the result, knowing that justice would sooner or later be done to me. The publication of the proceedings of the court is all I can desire, and to my fellow-citizens I cheerfully confide my cause, with a full confidence in the justice of their decision.

The intimation that "it is hoped that all officers will perceive the necessity of avoiding, in future, whatever will have a tendency to such results," will certainly receive every respect and attention from me; but I cannot help remarking that courts-martial are at all times inconvenient, and occasion more or less "public excitement;" yet they are a necessary evil, are provided for by the laws for the government of the navy, and are the only proper appeal of those of the navy who believe themselves injured. It is made the duty of every officer to prevent a violation of the laws which regulate them, and this duty I felt myself in the performance of when I arrested and brought to trial Lieutenant Kennon.

By this implied censure the prerogatives of a court-martial are exercised; and by a refusal to try me on the charges exhibited against me by Lieutenant Kennon, (a copy of which I beg you to furnish me,) I am deprived of the opportunity, which he has enjoyed, of repelling them, while a knowledge of his having exhibited them and your refusal has gone before the public, who, ignorant of their nature, may imagine them of the worst character, and may conceive the protection of the Department necessary to screen me from the consequences of an investigation.

What the charges of Lieutenant Kennon are I know not; but be they what they may, I do not shrink from them. There is no part of my official conduct that I would not desire to be laid before the world. I have done nothing to be ashamed of; and if the charges embrace any part of it, I cannot willingly consent that they should go on the files of the office unaccompanied by a refutation. If they originate in private animosity alone, and are unconnected with my public duties, I am willing that they should be disposed of as you may think proper; for after what has been done by Lieutenant Kennon and his friends to injure me, nothing of that nature can occasion me surprise or uneasiness.

I beg you, sir, to make allowance for any warmth of expression which may have escaped me in this letter, as it is my wish to make known my own grievances without offending the feelings of others, and nothing is further from my wish than to reflect on any measure of the Department or of the court-martial; but I cannot silently acquiesce in the propriety of an implied censure for performing what I conceived to be a duty I owed to myself and to the service, or in a sentence which I am persuaded others, as well as myself, will, after the publication of the proceedings, think extraordinary.

Having noticed in your letter to Lieutenant Kennon this expression: "There are matters in the trial and in the defence which are not approved, and which it is not proper to publish," allow me to ask of you to inform me what those matters are. Under such circumstances, whether full approbation has

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been given to the sentence, and whether they are of a nature which, if rejected, should have changed the decision of the court.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Department of State, Washington, May 10, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor of enclosing, herewith, copies of a letter received at this Department from the chargé d'affaires of Great Britain, and of the correspondence which forms the subject of the complaint contained in it, as also of my provisional answer to it, given by direction of the President of the United States.

I have to request the favor of being informed of the result of the inquiry to be instituted, in such manner as to enable me, as soon as may be practicable, to fulfill the promise made in my answer to Mr. Addington.

I am, with great respect, &c., &c., JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Samuel L. Southard, Esq., Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. Addington to Mr. Adams.

Washington, May 4, 1824.

Sir:

In conformity with instructions recently received from England, I have the honor to communicate to you, herewith, copies of a correspondence which has been transmitted by the board of admiralty to his Majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs, relative to an occurrence which took place in the harbor of the Havana, in the month of June last, when the American merchant brig Hiram received some injury in her rigging, in consequence of the refusal of her mate to make room for his Majesty's ship Eden to pass up the harbor.

In making this communication to you, sir, I am commanded to call your attention to the extraordinary conduct pursued towards the first lieutenant of his Majesty's ship Eden, by Lieutenant Gregory, of the United States schooner Grampus, in making a complaint of a public nature an excuse for attempting to provoke a personal quarrel with a British officer.

His Majesty's government have also seen, with much regret, from the correspondence which followed, that an officer so high in the service of the United States as Commodore Porter, should have been induced to sanction a proceeding of so intemperate a character as that pursued by Lieutenant Gregory.

I confine myself, sir, to bringing these circumstances simply, and without comment, to the knowledge of the American Government, as I feel confident that they will view the affair in the same light with his Majesty's minister, and that they will not hesitate to convey to the naval officers in question the expression of their displeasure at the conduct they have pursued on this occasion; and likewise that they will furnish their naval commanders with such instructions as may prevent a recurrence of conduct so little calculated to preserve a good understanding between the officers of the two navies, and so much at variance with that spirit of sincere friendship and good will which animates their respective governments.

I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant

H. U. ADDINGTON.

The honorable John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State.

Captain Lawrence to Commodore Owen, dated—

His Majesty's Ship Eden, Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, December 16, 1823.

Sir:

In compliance with the order contained in your letter of the 28th September, just received by his Majesty's sloop Scout, I have the honor to inform you that, on the 27th of June last, while his Majesty's ship under my command was warping up the harbor of Havana, the American brig Hiram was lying in mid channel, moored with a small warp directly in our way. More than an hour previous to our weighing anchor, the Hiram was hailed and requested to slack her warp, to give the ship room to pass up the harbor; this the mate, who was left in charge of the brig, refused to do, on this as well on the request being several times repeated; the consequence of this refusal was, that the boom irons on the lower yards of this ship (although braced sharp up to avoid it) hooked part of her rigging, to extricate which I was obliged to order some of her ropes to be cut, the pilot reporting that as the wind blew strong and broad on the bow, if the Eden brought up there was not room to let go an anchor, and that she would go on shore. When weighing anchor, I hailed the Hiram myself, and told the person in charge of her that a few fathoms of her warp would be sufficient to slack, but even this he refused to do, and that in a most violent manner. The consequence of the Eden getting foul of the Hiram was, the cutting of her topmast backstays, and a topsail lift; and on the master, some days after, coming on board, and representing the damage the brig had sustained in her rigging, and expressing his regret at the obstinacy of his mate, and also having written me a letter to the same effect, (copy of which I enclose herewith, as also a copy of my answer to it) I ordered such a quantity of rope to be given him as I thought necessary to replace those cut away, which was about fourteen fathoms, not wishing the owners to sustain injury from the misconduct of the mate of the Hiram. The United States schooner Grampus, Lieutenant Gregory, arrived at Havana on the evening of the 27th, and on the following night, between

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the hours of nine and ten, the first lieutenant of his Majesty's ship under my command, brought a letter into my cabin, which he had received from the lieutenant commanding the Grampus, (a copy of which I herewith enclose) and which was brought on board the Eden by the second lieutenant of the same vessel. I immediately sent for the lieutenant, and asked him if Lieutenant Gregory had ordered him on board with it, to which he answered in the affirmative. I then remarked that I was sorry he should have written so extraordinary a letter to my first lieutenant, and that he should either have come himself, or have written to me to ascertain if the statement of the master of the brig was correct, but which I thought it impossible for him to believe. I then stated the conduct of the person in charge of the brig, and asked him how he would have acted under similar circumstances; he replied that he should have acted exactly the same. I then told him I thought Mr. Gregory's letter of such an extraordinary nature that I should merely enclose it to Commodore Porter. He then left my cabin and went below with the officers, to whom he expressed the same opinion, and that I had acted perfectly right, and with great forbearance. He then left the ship, and I neither saw or heard more from the Grampus on the subject.

On the 5th July I wrote to Commodore Porter, and enclosed copies of the letters from Lieutenant Gregory and the master of the Hiram, with my answer, (copies of which I enclose herewith.)

I beg to observe that, if the copy of my answer to the master of the brig was dated the 3d of July, as stated by Commodore Porter, it must have been a mistake of my clerk, and ought to have been the 4th. The two bottles of wine which I gave the master was an act of charity, as he was suffering much from a complaint that required port wine, and which he had not been able to procure at the Havana.

In the above statement I hope I have done away with any unfavorable impression which might have been made by false representations and ungenerous insinuations; for surely it never could be supposed that an officer of my rank could so far forget his duty as to wantonly order the ropes of a defenceless merchant vessel to be cut away (to whatever nation she might belong), unless it was to ensure the safety of one of His Majesty's ships, and more particularly one having so large a quantity of specie on board as was the case in this instance.

I have the honor to be, &c., &c., &c.,

(Signed) JOHN LAWRENCE.

Captain Allen, master of the American brig Hiram, to Captain Lawrence of his B. M.'s ship Eden.

Havana, July 4, 1823.

Sir: In my two several interviews with you, I am perfectly well convinced that the damage done my vessel was owing to an unavoidable accident, and not to any wantonness or outrage on your part, but in some measure to the remissness of my chief officer; and inasmuch as the offer you make me, of replacing the rigging cut, is not a measure that I have any right peremptorily to insist upon, it becomes my duty to acknowledge the procedure as a voluntary courtesy on your part, and at the same time to avow myself perfectly satisfied therewith; inasmuch as it is one of the numerous instances of the good treatment I have always been in the habit of receiving in my intercourse with his Majesty's officers.

With sentiments of respect, I am, &c.,

SYLVESTER ALLEN, Master of the American Brig Hiram.

Captain Lawrence to Mr. Allen of the brig Hiram.

His Majesty's Ship Eden, Havana, July 4, 1823.

Sir:

I have just received yours of this day's date, wherein you appear to be convinced that the cause of the brig's rigging being cut was owing to the obstinacy of your chief officer, not slacking the small warp when repeatedly requested to do so; therefore, under these circumstances, I do not hesitate a moment in sending you rope to replace the injury done to your rigging, and I also send you two bottles of old port wine, and which, as you are going to take medicinally, I hope will have the desired effect.

I am, &c., &c., &c.,

JOHN LAWRENCE.

Mr. Allen, Brig Hiram.

Lieutenant Gregory to the first lieutenant of the British ship-of-war Eden.

United States Schooner Grampus, Havana, June 28, 1823.

Sir:

The captain of the American brig Hiram having informed me that he has been most wantonly abused by you, and the rigging of the vessel cut and injured, when there was no necessity for either, it becomes my duty, as his brother citizen, to resent this outrage. Such acts of wantonness, I can aver, are not the character of British officers; and therefore I mean not to insult them en gros, because you have so far forgotten the duty you owe them. We (the American officers and citizens) entertain no fear of you; we wish to, and will respect you, so far as your deportment deserves it, and no further.

Ignorance and despotism go hand in hand. Duty compels me to leave this port at ten to-morrow morning, until which time you can consider (if necessary) what belongs to an honorable man.

I am, &c.,

F. H. GREGORY, U. S. Navy.

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John Lawrence, Esq., to Commodore Porter.

His Majesty's Ship Eden, Havana, July 5, 1823.

Sir:

I have the honor to enclose you a copy of a letter, from the commander of the United States schooner Grampus to the first lieutenant of his Majesty's ship under my command, which letter was brought on board by a lieutenant, between the hours of nine and ten P. M.

I will not comment on this extraordinary letter, more than its effects might have a tendency to destroy that harmony which, thank God, exists between the officers of the two nations, but leave it to your good judgment to take such steps as you may judge expedient.

Wishing you much health and happiness, I have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN LAWRENCE.

N. B.—I also enclose you the copy of a letter from the master of the brig Hiram, with a copy of my answer thereto.

United States Galliot Sea Gull, Allenton, Thompson's Island, July 25, 1823. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, by H. B. M. brig Bustard, enclosing a copy of a letter from Lieut. Commandant Gregory, of the U. S. schooner Grampus, to the first lieutenant of H. B. M. ship Eden, respecting the cutting of the rigging of the American merchant brig Hiram, and the abuse of the captain by that officer, written in consequence of a complaint made by the American captain, and expressing the sentiments of Lieut. Gregory of the conduct of the first lieutenant of the Eden, which, if the representations made were correct, was, to say the least of it, wanton and unjustifiable.

I have also received, under the same envelope with those letters, copy of a letter from Capt. Sylvester Allen, master of the American brig Hiram, to you, written after his second interview with you on the subject, and dated on the 4th of July, expressing his conviction that the damage done his vessel was owing to unavoidable accident, and not to any wantonness or outrage on your part, but in some measure to the remissness of his chief officer, acknowledging an offer from you of replacing the rigging cut, as a voluntary courtesy on your part, and. at the same time avowing his perfect satisfaction, as it is one of the numerous instances he has always been in the habit of receiving in his intercourse with his Majesty's officers. To this is added what purports to be your answer to Capt. Allen, dated the 3d of July, wherein you acknowledge the receipt of his letter, in which you say he states his conviction that the cause of the brig's rigging being cut was owing to the obstinacy of his chief officer not slacking the small warp when repeatedly requested to do so; therefore, under these circumstances, you do not hesitate a moment in sending the rope to replace the injury done to the rigging, and also two more bottles of old port wine, &c., &c.

It appears satisfactorily from the foregoing that an American brig, while in the Spanish port of Havana, had her rigging cut by the order of an officer of H. B. M. ship Eden; that the captain of the brig complained to the commander of the only American vessel-of-war in port, who, in the moment of exasperation, and under the feelings of indignation that would very naturally be produced by such unwarrantable conduct, and not wishing to make a public affair of a thing which he supposed an individual alone responsible for, did address a letter to an officer of his own rank, and the one whom he considered answerable for the outrage, which was evidently intended to excite him to a personal rencontre. This he thought (as he was on the point of sailing) would be a shorter road to the obtaining of satisfaction than an application to the authorities of the port, who had been disregarded by the British officer, or the commander of the British forces in these seas, whose distance precluded the possibility of his rendering immediate redress.

In the conduct of Lieut. Gregory in addressing the letter to the first lieutenant of the Eden, which is made the subject of complaint, I can see nothing that requires an official interference on my part; there is no insult offered or intended to the British officers or to the British flag, but, to the contrary, expressly disavowed.

I view it, therefore, as a personal affair between Lieut. Gregory and the first lieutenant of the Eden, which, as every man must be left to judge for himself in these matters, they must of course settle in the way that best suits their own feelings; and whatever way it may be settled, I cannot apprehend that it can be productive of any ill-will between the American and British naval officers in those seas, at least it is my sincere wish that it may not; and I shall use every precaution in my power to prevent it.

I cannot but regret that Lieut. Gregory permitted his feelings to master him so far as to induce him to write the letter of which you complain; but let us change places for an instant, and suppose the American brig to have been an English vessel, the officers of the Grampus to have been the offenders, and an appeal had been made by the injured party to the commander of the Eden, the only British vessel in the neutral port of Havana, would you not, let me ask, make use of the readiest means of punishing the aggressor? Lieut. Gregory has done no more.

I am gratified to perceive, by the correspondence, that justice has been done to those who have been injured, to wit, the owners of the American vessel, who were certainly no party in the offensive conduct of the mate, and therefore ought not to have been made to suffer by the destruction of their property; it would have been more gracious, however, if this had not been done in consideration of the acknowledgments contained in the American captain's letter of the 4th of July, six days after the outrage, and after having had two interviews with you, and to which yours dated the 3d of the same month is given as reply.

As justice, however, has been done, and as the American captain has expressed his satisfaction at your proceedings, it does away the necessity of any complaint on my part to the local authorities whose rights you had violated, or to your commanding officer; which would certainly have been made, however painful it might have been to me, but for this (though tardy) adjustment.

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I cannot but observe, from the confusion of dates, the circumstances under which the acknowledgments were obtained from the American captain, the day on which this letter is dated, (the day of our national anniversary,) and certain characteristic expressions in his letter, that there is room for suspicion that the letter was not written by him, and that some management was used in obtaining his signature. That the rigging of his vessel was cut by your crew, and that he did complain of the outrage, is certain. If it was right and proper in you to use this violence, there was no necessity in making atonement for it; and if, actuated by a sense of the wrong you had done, you thought proper to make good the damage, you ought not to complain of Lieut. Gregory for making you sensible of it, and least of all should you, to cover your own injustice, have taken advantage of the American captain's distress or weakness to obtain from him acknowledgments calculated to disgrace himself and throw censure on others.

In conclusion, I beg leave to state that I have received no official communication from Lieut. Gregory on the subject, and that my opinion on the merits of the case is founded from facts contained in your own communications.

I have the honor, &c.,

(Signed) D. PORTER,

Commanding U. S. Naval Forces in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

Commodore Owen to Commodore Porter.

H. B. M. Ship Lancaster, Port Royal Harbor, Jamaica, September 28, 1823.

Sir: Captain Lawrence, of H. B. M. ship Eden, being absent when the Scout arrived, your letter for him, bearing date July 25, has been delivered to me.

With respect to the affair of the American merchant brig, the Hiram, I can give no opinion, as Captain Lawrence has reprehensibly neglected to report to me upon it. It is, however, impossible to conceive that any officer could commit an act of wanton, violent, and unprovoked aggression on an unoffending merchant vessel; and I trust it will appear that nothing has arisen in this case to bear out such an accusation.

If Captain Lawrence has, by intemperance, exposed himself to the rebuke and the insinuations conveyed by your letter, whatever may have been the provocation, it is right that he should give an explanation of his conduct to that department of the government of H. B. Majesty by whose authority he acts. I shall call upon him so to do, and trust he will most fully justify it.

I refer with much regret to the remainder of your letter.

While an officer of your high rank and consideration in the service of your country, condescends to justify the course which, I learn from your letter, was adopted by the commander of the schooner of the United States, the Grampus, not only as applying to a particular case, but as a general measure, it will be in vain that you profess the wish it may not be productive of ill-will between the officers whom we respectively command.

The personal rencontres of hot-headed individuals are seldom the result of reason, nor do they assure at all times the punishment of the aggressor; certainly a reference to that decision, in such difference of feeling as may arise out of the discharge of public duty, can add nothing to the cordiality and confidence of the two services, nor will it conciliate that general good-will which, I had hoped, was making rapid progress, and which I had flattered myself there was, between us, a sincere and mutual disposition to improve. On my part, that disposition yet remains, and trusting it will still be met by corresponding sentiments,

I have the honor, &c.,

(Signed) E. W. C. R. OWEN,

Commodore, commanding-in-chief the Squadron of H. B. M's. Ships and Vessels in the West Indies.

The Secretary of State to Mr. Addington.

Department of State, Washington, May 10, 1824.

Sir: In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 4th inst., enclosing copies of a correspondence relating to a transaction in the harbor of the Havana, in the month of June last, I am directed by the President of the United States to request you would assure your government of the regret and concern with which he has learned that anything should have occurred having a tendency to irritation or estrangement between officers in the service of our respective countries, and inform them that he has directed immediate inquiry to be made with regard to the facts in the case, and to the motives of the officers of the United States for the proceedings which form the subject of complaint against them. Of the result of this inquiry, your government will, as speedily as shall be practicable, be informed.

I pray you, sir, to accept the assurance of my distinguished consideration.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Navy Department, May 31, 1824.

Sir: I enclose to you copy of letters, purporting to have been occasioned by a transaction in the harbor of Havana, in the month of June last. They have been communicated by the charge d'affaires of Great Britain, under instructions from his government "to call the attention of our government to the conduct pursued by Lieutenant Francis H. Gregory, in making a complaint of a public nature an excuse for an attempt to provoke a personal quarrel with a British officer;" and to express regret that you should

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have been induced to sanction a proceeding of so intemperate a character as that pursued by Lieutenant Gregory.

The President has directed me to communicate these papers to you, and to call on you for an early explanation of the motives which influenced you in the course which you pursued. I have, by his direction, also called for an explanation from Lieutenant Gregory. It is at all times desirable, and never more so than at present, that the most amicable feelings should be cultivated between our officers and those of other nations; and it is a cause of deep regret that anything should occur having a tendency to irritation and estrangement between them.

I cannot express to you in terms too strong, the necessity of pursuing the objects of your cruise, and with a strict regard to them only. Should you meet the squadrons or ships of other powers, it is the desire of the President that, claiming what is due to ourselves, you manifest a proper respect for their flags; and, should they be employed in similar service, that you extend towards them a very conciliatory disposition, and a sincere desire to harmonize. It is of the highest importance to preserve peace with foreign powers, and, with that view, that no irritating circumstance should occur between our public ships and those of any power. The conduct of our naval commanders is watched by every nation; and our fellow-citizens look to our navy as the means of supporting our rights against encroachments and injuries from other powers, after the constituted authorities have pronounced that such have been committed. They would lose their confidence in and respect for the navy, if it should, in any mode, provoke such injuries, or be instrumental in producing war. I do not urge the strict observance of this conduct in you, from the apprehension that there is any danger that you will depart from it. It is a course of policy which the President thinks of the highest importance to the best interests of the nation, as well as of the navy, and he has enjoined it on me to make a like communication to all our naval commanders, whatever their grade or force may be, or wherever employed.

To the injunctions heretofore given respecting the transportation of specie, the most strict attention will also be paid. A suspicion that our naval commanders, who have heretofore given such proof of their patriotism and high sense of honor, had lost any portion of those manly sentiments, would sink them in the estimation of their country.

I am, very respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Captain David Porter, commanding U. S. Squadron in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

Navy Department, May 24, 1824.

Sir:

I enclose to you a copy of a letter purporting to have been written by you on the 28th of June, 1823, to the first lieutenant of the British ship-of-war Eden, at Havana, with the correspondence to which it gave rise. They have been communicated by the charge d'affaires of Great Britain, under instructions from his government to call the attention of our government to the conduct pursued by you, in making a complaint of a public nature an excuse for attempting to provoke a personal quarrel with a British officer.

The President of the United States has directed me to call on you for an early explanation of your letter, and the circumstances and motives which occasioned it.

It is at all times cause of regret and concern that anything should occur having a tendency to irritation and estrangement between officers in the service of the two countries, and it is hoped that such an explanation will be given as may be satisfactory to the government, and consistent with the high character you have heretofore sustained in the public service.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

Francis H. Gregory, Esq., Lieutenant U. S. Navy, New York.

New York, June 10, 1824.

Sir:

I have had the honor to receive your letter, and the accompanying documents, relative to the differences which occurred between an English naval officer and myself at Havana, in June, 1823.

My letter, addressed to the first lieutenant of the English sloop-of-war Eden, bears its explanation in the first paragraph; it was intended promptly to resent an insult and outrage offered an American citizen, who had no means of redressing his wrongs but through my intervention, and whose call for satisfaction had previously been contemptuously disregarded. I had then as little disposition to provoke a personal quarrel with a British officer as I had fears of the consequences, when insulting aggressions on his part rendered it not only necessary, but absolutely unavoidable, as I conceived was the case in the instance wherein I am accused. The circumstances which induced me to address the first lieutenant of the Eden were briefly as follows: Shortly after my arrival at Havana, on the 27th June, 1823, Captain Sylvester Allen, of the American merchant brig Hiram, came on board the Grampus for the purpose, and complained that the Eden had warped foul of his vessel, on her way up the harbor, either by design or mismanagement; and without the least forbearance, or using any endeavors to clear her without damage, and although there was no necessity from the apprehension of any accident befalling the ship, they immediately and most wantonly cut all the Hiram's rigging within their reach; that to their respectful entreaties to desist they were answered with abusive and insulting language; and that no redress could be obtained for the injuries and insults thus put upon him. While deliberating upon the course most proper to be pursued upon this information, Captain Winder, of the English brig Cherub, a very respectable man, and well acquainted with me, came on board the Grampus and voluntarily corroborated Capt. Allen's statement, expressed his regret at the wantonness of the Eden's officers, and said that he had been on board the Hiram and surveyed the damages done her, and given it as his opinion that satisfaction was due for the outrages which had been committed, he having witnessed the transaction. Believing

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then, as I now do, that Capt. Lawrence had refused to do justice upon the application of Capt. Allen, and considering it an outrage which ought to be instantly noticed to prevent a recurrence of such treatment to our merchantmen, who are always looking to us and expect protection, and intending to leave the port in a few hours, I had no time for negotiation, nor the least prospect of obtaining satisfaction by pacific measures, I conceived it most proper, under all circumstances, to express myself in the manner my note exhibits, and I addressed it to the first lieutenant of the Eden, because, as a gentleman, he ought to have held himself responsible to Capt. Allen for his abusive language, and because I was upon a level with him, an honor Capt. Allen was not permitted to enjoy.

I enclose you a certificate of Lieutenant Ray, who carried my note, by which you will be informed of the truth of that part of the transaction. On Lieutenant Ray's return, with the assurances of Captain Lawrence that the damage done to the Hiram should be immediately repaired, I informed Captain Allen thereof, and gave myself no further concern about the matter, excepting merely to satisfy myself that Captain Lawrence had promptly and faithfully performed his promise. The damages were repaired between the date of my note and the 2d of July, of which I had information previous to my departure from the port on that day. On the 3d of July I arrived at Thompson's Island. After all this the correspondence between Captain Allen and Captain Lawrence takes place under date the 4th, and is of a character unworthy of any honorable man. I was informed of Captain Lawrence's extraordinary attention to Captain Allen, and though I suspected his intentions, I took no measures to counteract them, not believing Captain Allen would act so basely as he has been instigated to do. Commodore Porter's remarks upon those letters are fully warranted by the circumstances under which they were written and presented to him, and I entirely accord in opinion with him, and also do not conceive it necessary for me to notice them further than to remark my belief that such a display of ingenuity must be at the expense of some one's integrity, and that I am not one of those who consider Captain Lawrence's rank as a positive assurance that he could not have been guilty of any aggression or malconduct in this affair. I trust, sir, that you will perceive there was a necessity for my interference in this case, and that you will acquit me of having any designs to interrupt the friendly intercourse with foreign officers, which it is the wish of the government, and the interest of the navy officers particularly, to preserve.

I have never been engaged in a personal contest with any one, and hope that I may never be compelled to make so painful a sacrifice of principles long cherished, by any circumstances that may hereafter transpire in the course of my life. I shall always be found obedient to the orders of my superiors; but I cannot promise ever gracefully to submit to insults either to myself or countrymen. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

FRANCIS H. GREGORY, Lieut. U. S. Navy.

Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy

I, James W. H. Ray, a lieutenant of the United States navy, do hereby certify that while attached to the United States schooner Grampus, commanded by Lieut. Francis H. Gregory, and lying at anchor in the harbor of Havana, on the 28th June, 1823, Captain Sylvester Allen, of the American merchant brig Hiram, came to the Grampus, and, after inquiring for Lieutenant Gregory, stated that the English sloop-of-war Eden, in warping up the harbor the evening previous, had run foul of his vessel, and without having any provocation, or there being any necessity for doing so, wantonly cut and damaged the rigging of his vessel, and otherwise abused them, for which no satisfaction whatever could be obtained. This complaint, made alongside, before most of the officers of the Grampus, was properly reported by me to Lieutenant Gregory immediately afterwards. Early in the evening of the 28th June I was directed by Lieutenant Gregory to carry a sealed note to the first lieutenant of the Eden, which I delivered to him on the quarter-deck of that ship. He immediately went below and read the note by the sentinal's light, at the cabin door. After having perused it he went into the captain's cabin, while I, at the special invitation of some of the officers of the ship, went into the ward-room. After remaining there some little time I repaired to the cabin, at the captain's request. On my entrance he immediately adverted to the note I had delivered to his first lieutenant, which he then had before him, and detailed to me the circumstances of his differences with Captain Allen, in his own way, very differently from the statement given by Capt. Allen, to which I replied, in mere civility, that if his statement was true the course he had pursued was justifiable. But I am free to say, as it differed so much from Captain Allen's account of the matter, and was totally at variance with other proofs which had come within our knowledge, that I could not give full faith to his relation of the circumstances. As to my expressing myself to the officers of the Eden in the manner Captain Lawrence has stated, I positively deny it; the more so as from my knowledge of the circumstances, I thought Lieutenant Gregory acted very properly in resenting the outrageous conduct of the Eden's officers towards one of our countrymen. Captain Lawrence, after commenting upon Lieutenant Gregory's note, and the circumstances of the case, and frequently reverting to his ship's being a man-of-war, and having then on board a very large quantity of specie, finally expressed his regret that any difficulty should have arisen; that he would immediately repair the damage done the Hiram, and intended to make the letter written by Lieutenant Gregory the subject of an official complaint to Commodore Porter. I then left him and returned with his message immediately on board the Grampus, and communicated it to Lieutenant Gregory. I did not, as Captain Lawrence has stated, go down amongst his officers after my interview with him in the cabin of his ship.

We left Havana on the 2d July, for Thompson's Island, and I heard nothing more of these matters until Lieutenant Gregory laid before me several papers on the subject, recently transmitted to him by the honorable Secretary of the Navy. On perusing them I could not but remark that the letter purporting to have been written by Captain Allen to Captain Lawrence fully warrants the suspicions expressed by Commodore Porter respecting it. I have no doubt of its having been dictated by some person, as I am persuaded, from what I observed of Captain Allen, that it is not his language which it bears. Captain Lawrence's charitable care towards Captain Allen, after the receipt of Lieutenant Gregory's note, and his generous condescension in inviting him to his table, laid him under obligations which certainly called for some expression of his gratitude, though they by no means required so great a sacrifice of his honor.

(Signed) J. W. H. RAY, Lieutenant U. S. Navy.

New York, June 6, 1824.

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Washington, June 26, 1824.

Sir:

I have this day received your communication of the 31st May, enclosing certain papers respecting an altercation between Lieutenant Gregory and Captain Lawrence, of the British navy, and am somewhat surprised to find myself charged with having sanctioned Lieutenant Gregory's conduct on that occasion, when, so far from having given my sanction to it, I disapproved of it, and so expressed myself to Lieutenant Gregory. It is certain, however, that I did not, and could not, approve the shameful, wanton and disgraceful conduct of Captain Lawrence, to whom, he having appealed to me, it became my duty to make known my sentiments on the subject, which are contained in my letter to him of the 25th July, 1823, and which now continue the same as they were when that letter was written. Commodore Owen has pledged himself, by his letter to me of the 28th September, to investigate the conduct of Captain Lawrence; and it was his duty to have done so and ascertained the result before any charge was brought against Lieutenant Gregory or myself.

I am aware of the propriety, and believe it always necessary to preserve a good understanding with all foreign officers, and I have uniformly manifested a disposition to harmonize with them since I have held my present command, as has been made manifest on every occasion when I have come in contact with them, and as has been expressed not only in their letters to me, but in the orders of the board of admiralty, recently published by Commodore Owen. The harmony which has existed between myself, the officers under my command, and the officers of the British navy, in our frequent intercourse with them, has been the source of great pleasure to ourselves and some surprise to others, and whatever other charge may be brought against us, the charge from them of a disposition, on our part, to encourage bad feelings, is groundless, as you will perceive by the enclosed copy of a letter to Commodore Owen.

As regards the transportation of specie, I shall be governed, myself, and cause others under my command to be governed, by the orders of the Department, from which there will not be the slightest deviation, whatever they may be. I know not the causes which gave rise to your injunction on this head, but it is a source of great satisfaction to me that my conduct is made an exception from the general apprehension; and I shall esteem it a particular favor, if, hereafter, any suspicions should be entertained of my having "lost any portion of those manly sentiments" adverted to, that I may be early apprised thereof, in order that I may meet them promptly.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Sam'l L. Southard.

Washington, November 22, 1823.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your several communications of the 28th of July and 23d and 28th of September. The cordiality which prevailed between the forces under the direction of Captain McLean and those under Lieutenant Watson gave me sincere pleasure, and I was prepared by the report of Lieutenant Watson to esteem your officer before I had, by a personal acquaintance, become better acquainted with his character. The small services I was enabled to render Captain McLean, his officers and crew, have been too highly estimated by him. I did no more than humanity called for, and no more than might have been expected in one of your ports, had any of our vessels been similarly afflicted.

The expression of the sentiments contained in your letter is highly gratifying to me, and I beg you to be assured that it will at all times afford me the utmost pleasure to have it in my power to extend to any of his Britannic Majesty's officers every hospitality that our small establishment will afford.

With regard to the complaint of Captain Lawrence and his aggression, as commented on in my letter to him, I can only regret that you have so hastily expressed your opinion as to the impossibility of such conduct on his part, because I feel a conviction in my own mind that you will, on investigation, be satisfied that I have said nothing to him which his conduct did not justify; that he did "commit an act of wanton, violent and unprovoked aggression on an unoffending merchant vessel," and that, too, in a Spanish port, and in disregard of the proper authorities.

You misunderstand me, sir, when you suppose me to be an advocate of duelling, and you do not properly appreciate my feelings when you doubt the sincerity of my assurances. I have felt every desire to preserve harmony between those under my command and all foreign officers, and I hope the uniformity of my conduct has proved it; but if it is believed that I will permit violence to be offered by any one to the persons and property of my fellow-citizens, or an insult to our flag, with impunity, too much is expected of me.

I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER,

Commanding U. S. Naval Forces in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

 Commodore E. W. R. C. Owen, Commanding-in-chief the Squadron of his Britannic Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the West Indies.

Oak Hill, August 9, 1824.

Sir: I send you a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, of which I wish you to communicate a copy to Commodore Porter for Lieutenant Gregory, and one to Mr. Adams.

1 address it to the Secretary, that you may communicate in the manner stated.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) JAMES MONROE.

Inform Mr. Adams, that I shall answer his by next mail. Return me a copy of the letter enclosed.

To the Chief Clerk of the Navy Department.

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Navy Department, August 12, 1824.

Sir: I have been instructed by the President of the United States to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter addressed by him to the Secretary of the Navy, and have the honor to request that you will communicate the same to Lieutenant F. H. Gregory.

I am, very, &c.

(Signed) CHARLES HAY.

Capt. David Porter, U. S. West India Squadron, &c. Present.

Oak Hill, August —, 1824.

Sir:

I received from the Department, by the last mail, a copy of the letter from the Secretary of the Navy to Commodore Porter, of the 31st of May last, relating to the transaction which occurred in the port of Havana, between Lieut. Gregory and the commander of the British sloop-of-war Eden. I had before received a copy of the commodore's letter to the Secretary, of the 26th of June, in reply to that to him, with a copy of his letter to Commodore Owen, of the 22d of November, and of Lieut. Gregory's to the Secretary, of the 10th of June, in reply to one to him, and of a report of Lieut. Ray to Commodore Porter, on the same subject.

It appears by these documents that the incident occurred in the port of Havana, and that Lieutenant Gregory interfered, at the instance of Captain Allen, whose brig, the Hiram, a merchant vessel, had been injured by the British sloop-of-war Eden, and whose commander, Capt. Lawrence, had refused to make to the injured party, on his own application, a just reparation. Of the nature of the interference no precise information is given, except what is contained in the report of Lieut. Ray, and Lieut. Gregory's letter to the Secretary, above noticed. Lieut. Ray states that he carried and delivered a sealed letter to the first lieutenant of the Eden from Lieut. Gregory, which, from the other passages contained in the report, I infer to have been one which made the affair between the captain of the Hiram and the British officer personal; Lieut. Gregory resenting the injuries done to the Hiram, and insults offered to Captain Allen, as if rendered to his own ship and to himself.

This interference is supported by Lieut. Gregory's letter to the Secretary, in which he states that he had no prospect of obtaining the satisfaction which had been refused to Capt. Allen by pacific measures; and also by other passages, and indeed by the tone of the whole letter.

Any interference of Lieut. Gregory, or by any commander of one of our public ships, would, it is presumed, be considered by the commander of the British ship, in such a case, as official; and that it was so intended by Lieut. Gregory, is to be inferred from his letter. He speaks of the protection claimed by the commanders of our merchant vessels from our ships-of-war, and due to them, and that this was an instance which required prompt attention. It was as commander of the Grampus that application was made to him by Captain Allen, and it was in that character that he addressed his letter to Captain Lawrence. Had he not been the commander he would not have been there. He could write the letter, therefore, in no other character.

In time of peace, expeditions are equipped for special purposes.

The orders given to their commanders are precise, and intended to preserve peace with the belligerents, on just principles; with other friendly powers they bear no relation. In this instance the great object was the suppression of piracy, which had in view a lawless banditti only. Great care has been observed, in the instructions given to Commodore Porter, to guard, in the execution of his orders, against any collision between him and those under his command, and either of the belligerents, Spain or the new governments. The possibility of such an occurrence with any other friendly power was not even anticipated.

It was concluded that our officers, well acquainted with this duty, would follow strictly their instructions, and not go in any instance beyond them. In every view, therefore, which I have taken of the subject, I have considered the interference of Lieut. Gregory improper. The incident occurring in the port of Havana, he had, on no principle whatever, any right to interfere with any power in his character as commander of a public ship. The government of the island had jurisdiction of the case. To the governor complaint of the injury ought to have been made by the consul, whose duty it was, had redress not been obtained of him, to have reported the whole transaction to his own government, that it might be sought by it through the proper channel of the British government. Had Lieut. Gregory, in a mild and friendly way, disclaiming all official pretension or right to act as naval commander, endeavored to reconcile the parties, and to obtain justice for his injured fellow-citizen, there could have been no objection to it. There would, in that case, have been no compromitment of his government and country. The principle on which Lieut. Gregory interposed has no limitation. If the commander of a public ship can interfere in such a case, or in any case to which his orders do not extend, on the general principle of protecting our commerce according to his own discretion, the most pernicious consequences will necessarily follow from it. The right of peace and war may be taken from his government into his own hands. In expressing thus decidedly my disapprobation of Lieut Gregory's conduct, I do not mean to impute any improper motive for it. I think that he acted from patriotic motives, though, undoubtedly, they were misconceived and misapplied in the instance under consideration.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) JAMES MONROE.

To the Secretary of the Navy.

Department of State, Washington, August 31, 1824.

Sir: Your letter of the 4th of May last, with its enclosures, have been laid before the President of the United States, by whose direction I have the honor of assuring you of the great concern with which he has learnt the occurrence of circumstances tending in any manner to interrupt the good understanding,

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or impair the harmony which it has been, and continues, his earnest desire to see prevailing between the officers of the United States and those of your country, who, in the course of their respective services, may be brought into personal relations with each other.

He concurs entirely in that sentiment of disapprobation, which has been on this occasion expressed by your government, and to which your note has invited particular attention, upon the ill example of making a transaction of a public nature the ground of a provocation to personal conflect in private war.

Of this sentiment of the President, Commodore Porter and Lieut. Gregory have both been apprised. It is in strict conformity with the instructions to all the naval officers of the United States, and it is hoped will serve as a guide to them in all their public relations with the officers of your country hereafter.

With regard to the facts in which the controversy to which your letter refers originated, an aspect somewhat different from that exhibited in the papers which you enclosed has been presented by the communications received from Commodore Porter and Lieutenant Gregory. But as the differences are not deemed absolutely necessary to the single principle upon which the animadversion of both governments has been called forth, it is believed to comport with the views of both to leave them without further investigation.

I pray you, sir, to accept the assurance of my distinguished consideration.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Henry U. Addington, Esq., Chargé d' Affaires from Great Britain.

U. S. Ship Peacock, Hampton Roads, February 13, 1823.

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I am now anchored in these roads with the whole squadron, with the exception of the barges, which will be ready to leave Norfolk in the course of two days, and will proceed direct to Thompson's Island. My course with the squadron will be circuitous, and will be regulated by your instructions of the 4th instant.

Accompanying this is a list of the officers under my command, with the names of the ships to which they belong.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Surra Thompson, Secretary of the Navy, Washington City.

A return of the officers attached to the expedition, under Commodore D. Porter, for the suppression of piracy.

David Porter, commander of the squadron.

Lieutenant Commander John M. Maury, acting as captain to the squadron.

David P. Adams, chaplain.

Peter Wilson, secretary to Commodore Porter.

James G. Boughan, signal officer.

Thomas Barron, clerk.

UNITED STATES SHIP PEACOCK.

Stephen Cassin, Esq., commander.

John A. Carr, midshipman.

Joseph Cassin, lieutenant.

Wm. Rittenhouse, midshipman.

Eli A. F. Vallette, lieutenant.

John E. Bispham, midshipman.

Thomas Crabb, lieutenant.

P. A. Stockton, midshipman.

Corn's K. Stribling, lieutenant.

R. M. Benbridge, midshipman.

Joseph Williston, sailingmaster.

Miles King, jr., midshipman.

John De Bree, purser.

Kinsey Johns, midshipman.

Wm. D. Babbit, surgeon's mate.

James Thayer, boatswain.

John G. Rodgers, midshipman.

Walter Cochran, gunner.

Francis Stone, midshipman.

Thomas Armstrong, carpenter.

Robert Steed, midshipman.

James Childs, sailmaker.

(Signed) JOHN DE BREE, Purser.

United States Ship Peacock, February 13, 1823.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER GRAYHOUND.

John Porter, captain.

Benjamin Follet, passed midshipman.

Sam'l W. Downing, lieutenant.

Cadw'r Ringgold, midshipman.

David G. Farragut, acting lieutenant.

Cha's T. Shoemaker, midshipman.

Wm. Belt, surgeon's mate.

 

UNITED STATES SCHOONER SHARK.

Matthew C. Perry, lieutenant, commander.

Charles H. Starr, midshipman.

Wm. T. Temple, lieutenant.

Samuel F. Hazard, acting midshipman.

Wm. F. Shields, lieutenant.

Amasa Paine, acting midshipman.

Cha's Ellery, acting lieutenant.

Alex'r Gibson, acting midshipman.

Rob't Cunningham, sailingmaster.

Wm. J. Slidell, acting midshipman.

John B. Timberlake, purser.

John M. Breeze, master's mate.

John S. Wiley, surgeon.

Tho's Norman, captain's clerk.

Timothy G. Benham, midshipman.

Ja's B. Wright, boatswain.

Arthur Lewis, midshipman.

John Deacon, carpenter.

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UNITED STATES GALLIOT SEA GULL.

Wm. H. Watson, lieutenant, commander.

C. H. Van Brunt, surgeon's mate.

Hiram Paulding, lieutenant.

Andrew A. Harwood, midshipman.

Ralph Voorhees, lieutenant.

Sam'l W. Stockton, midshipman.

William Inman, lieutenant.

Robert Taylor, midshipman.

Tho's Williamson, hospital surgeon.

Quinton Ratcliffe, cadet midshipman.

Arthur Bainbridge, acting sailingmaster.

John Webb, master's mate.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER JACKAL.

Tho's H. Stevens, lieutenant, commander.

Tho's J. Harris, midshipman.

Josiah Tatnall, lieutenant.

Wm. W. Whetcroft, cadet midshipman.

James Goodrum, lieutenant.

Hamil'n E. V. Robinson, cadet midshipman.

Edmond Byrne, passed midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER FOX.

Wm. H. Cocke, lieutenant, commander.

Mordecai Morgan, surgeon's mate.

Rich'd M. Potter, lieutenant.

John L. Ball, midshipman.

John Kelly, passed midshipman.

John J. Jenkins, cadet midshipman.

Geo. F. Pearson, passed midshipman.

Sam'l B. Cocke, cadet midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER WILD CAT.

Cha's W. Skinner, lieutenant, commander.

Geo. W. Simmes, midshipman.

Fred'k G. Wolbert, lieutenant.

Henry D. Scott, midshipman.

J. W. Sullivan, passed midshipman.

Geo. B. Wilkinson, cadet midshipman.

Wm. H. Gardner, passed midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER BEAGLE.

John T. Newton, lieutenant, commander.

Sam'l Marshall, cadet midshipman.

James E. Legaré, lieutenant.

J. M. Watson, cadet midshipman.

Rob't Ritchie, passed midshipman.

Neil Howison, cadet midshipman.

Geo. W. Sommerville, passed midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER FERRET.

Sam'l Henley, lieutenant, commander.

John Swartwout, midshipman.

John T. Ritchie, lieutenant.

Nath'l W. Duke, midshipman.

Fred'k Engle, passed midshipman.

Edward Hoban, cadet midshipman.

Thomas Dornin, passed midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER TERRIER.

Rob't M. Rose, lieutenant, commander.

Ebenezer Reyner, midshipman.

John A. Wish, lieutenant.

G. C. Ashton, cadet midshipman.

Ephraim D. Whitlock, lieutenant.

Wm. B. Everett, cadet midshipman.

W. W. McKean, passed midshipman.

UNITED STATES SCHOONER WEASEL.

Beverly Kennon, lieutenant, commander.

V. M. Randolph, passed midshipman.

Henry Ward, lieutenant.

Wm. M. Glendy, midshipman.

F. M. Buchanan, passed midshipman.

William Green, midshipman.

BARGES.

Tho's M. Newell, lieutenant.

Wm. P. Pearcy, midshipman.

W. D. Conway, surgeon's mate.

Joseph G. Smith, midshipman.

Joseph Moorhead, acting sailingmaster

F. L. C. Fatio, midshipman.

John H. Smith, acting sailingmaster.

Rob't W. Alden, acting midshipman.

DECOY,

Lawrence Kearney, lieutenant, commander.

Stephen M'Cloud, master's mate.

Wm. E. McKenny, lieutenant.

L. M. Powell, midshipman.

Ja's M. McIntosh, lieutenant.

Hampton Westcott, midshipman.

Wm. T. Rodgers, acting master.

D. L. Randolph, midshipman.

Francis A. Thornton, purser.

John J. Glasson, acting midshipman.

Richard C. Edgar, surgeon.

L. Pennington, acting midshipman.

Benj. R. Tinslar, acting surgeon's mate.

MARINE OFFICERS.

Alfred Grayson, captain.

Stephen W. Rogers, lieutenant

Geo. W. Walker, lieutenant.

William A. Bloodgood, lieutenant.

(Signed) J. M. MAURY, Captain to the Squadron.

United States Ship Peacock, Norfolk, February 12, 1823.

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List of officers who held acting appointments in the West India squadron during the years 1823 and 1824, and whose acting appointments were not given by the Department.

John M. Maury, lieutenant, appointed acting captain.

Mordecai Morgan, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

Wm. Belt, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

Wm. D. Conway, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

Wm. D. Babbet, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

E. L. Dubarry, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

H. W. Bassett, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

B. Ticknor, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

John S. Wiley, surgeon's mate, appointed acting surgeon.

Samuel Anderson, appointed acting surgeon's mate.

Wm. D. Price, appointed acting surgeon's mate.

Gregory Weems, appointed acting surgeon's mate.

C. H. Van Brunt, appointed acting surgeon's mate.

D. G. Farragut, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Charles Ellery, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Henry D. Scott, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Frederick Engle, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

George W. Somerville, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

John Kelly, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Wm. W. McKean, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Franklin Buchanan, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

George F. Pearson, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Wm. H. Gardner, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Edmund Byrne, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Robert Ritchie, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Benjamin Follet, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

John M. Sullivan, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Levin M. Powell, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Wm. T. Rodgers, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

V. M. Randolph, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

James G. Boughan, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Joseph Moorehead, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Wm. P. Piercy, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

John Rudd, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Thomas Dornin, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

T. G. Benham, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Ste. B. Wilson, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

B. S. Grimke, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

A. B. Pinkham, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Joseph Cutts, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Jott S. Paine, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

John A. Carr, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Henry Bruce, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

R. B. Cunningham, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

R. S. Pinckney, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

L. M. Booth, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

Alexander Slidell, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

James K. Vallette, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

James Glynn, midshipman, appointed acting lieutenant.

A Bainbridge, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

John H. Smith, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Wm. M. Rittenhouse, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

John D. Bird, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Peyton T. Henley, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Lewis Seeger, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

L. M. Harby, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Elias C. Taylor, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

John Manning, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Wm. D. Newman, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Wm. Shaw, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Wm. H. Pennock, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

M. S. Scott, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

A. F. Porter, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Jas. T. Homans, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

John H. Little, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Joshua H. Justin, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Chas. E. Hawkins, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

William Green, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Jas. H. Clinton, midshipman, appointed acting sailingmaster.

James M. Watson, appointed acting midshipman.

Kinsey Johns, appointed acting midshipman.

Robert A. Cocke, appointed acting midshipman.

William Covington, appointed acting midshipman.

Robert Benbridge, appointed acting midshipman.

F. G. Beatty, appointed acting midshipman.

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Ben. L. Slye, appointed acting midshipman.

A. Aiken, ordinary seaman, appointed acting midshipman.

Jas. S. Scott, yeoman, appointed acting midshipman.

William E. Hoxie, master's mate, appointed acting sailingmaster.

R. Richardson, master's mate, appointed acting sailingmaster.

Navy Department, December 20, 1822.

Sir:

In reply to your letter of the 16th instant, I have to observe that I have repeatedly had occasion to consider and refuse requests similar to yours, and to explain -what is the established course of the Department with respect to acting appointments. They are authorized only in cases of emergency, and cease as soon as the necessity ceases. The rules and regulations of the service are explicit on this subject, and I have constantly endeavored to impress upon commanders the necessity of rigidly adhering to these rules, and to explain, to the officer receiving the acting appointment, that it would cease as soon as the place could be filled by a regularly commissioned or warrant officer. I cannot, therefore, comply with your request.

I am, respectfully, &c.,

(Signed) SMITH THOMPSON.

Midshipman V. M. Randolph, U. S. Navy, Norfolk, Va.

Sea Gull, Port Rodgers, August 1, 1823.

Sir: Application has been made to me by the American consul, to take one million of dollars from La Vera Cruz to Cadiz, in October; and as we have but few opportunities in this way to make a little for ourselves, may I ask the indulgence of the Department in this respect?

If a direct conveyance cannot be granted, can I send the money to the United States? and can a transhipment take place from thence to Cadiz? This course will obviate all objections as regards the belligerent character of the property, if any exists.

An answer by the return vessel is desirable.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon Secretary of the Navy,

Washington City, November 3, 1823.

Sir:

There are wanting for the West India station the following officers, to wit:

One master commandant to command the Hornet. One master commandant to be stationed on Thompson's Island, and to command the barges. One master commandant to do the duty of captain to the squadron. One lieutenant. Five passed midshipmen. Four surgeons. Nine surgeons' mates.

As the captain to the squadron is at present much wanted to relieve me from the details of duty, which dwell heavily on me, may I ask that his orders to report himself to me may be made out as early as possible? Master Commandant Finch is the officer I should prefer for this duty, and Master Commandant Wilkinson has volunteered for the other service.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 6, 1824.

Sir:

For your information, I have the honor to state that the frigate Congress is at the Navy yard, and will probably be ready for sea in two or three weeks.

The Hornet is undergoing considerable repairs, and will probably be ready in a month.

The Grampus is coppering, and will be ready in about ten days.

The Spark is ready for sea, and waiting for her commander.

The Weasel will be ready in three or four days; is now getting on board her provisions and other supplies.

I have dispatched the Shark, Fox, and Decoy, and shall send off the others as fast as they are got ready.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

To the Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 9, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your instructions of the 3d inst., enclosing orders for Dr. Haslett to join the United States; but as that ship has sailed, I have retained his orders until I could be informed by you whether it is your intention that he should follow her.

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The following list will show the medical men under my command, in the ships and vessels here, with the exception of the Congress, from which ship I have not yet received a return:

The John Adams, Drs. Babbit, Rapalje. The Decoy, Dr. Austin. The Hornet, Dr. Anderson, a supernumerary and passenger; Weems acting. The Shark, Dr. Chase. The Grampus, Dr. Norris.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, Norfolk, January 10, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to state that, in progressing with the repairs of the frigate Congress, it is found that she must be hove out to have her copper mended, as much of it is off, and it is believed that the worms have injured her bottom. She is found, also, to be very rotten under the counter; and under these circumstances, I am of opinion that it would be best for the public interest not to send her out with the temporary repairs she will require, as they cannot be made in less than two or three months, by which time, or soon after, the Independence can be got ready.

I have therefore given it as my opinion, to Captain Warrington, that whatever is done to the Congress, should be with views to more extensive repairs.

It will be necessary, for her preservation, that the copper should be mended before they are commenced.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

To the Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 14, 1824.

Sir: In reply to your several letters respecting piracies, I have the honor to inform you that the Spark and  Weasel, in company, will sail to-morrow or next day, with full information on the subject, to scour the West Indies, from St. Bartholomews to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

I have the honor to be, your very obedient, &c.,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, Norfolk, January 14, 1824.

Sir: Having received from you a copy of the instructions given Lieutenant Commander Perry, and those generally given to commanders, respecting the suppression of the slave trade, and perceiving it to be your intention to place the vessels employed for this purpose under my orders, I must beg of you to know whether the operations on the coast of Africa are to commence immediately, as it will, in all cases, be most advisable to let them commence their cruise there before going to the West Indies. I shall be glad to know your wishes on this subject, as one of the vessels under my command will be ready to execute them by the time I can receive your instructions.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 19, 1824.

Sir: I had the honor to address you, prior to my leaving Washington, on the subject of blockades.

Wishing to support the rights of a neutral, without infringing on those of belligerents, I beg I may be instructed on this head before my departure from this place; and as I am frequently dispatching vessels on service which may bring them in collision with French and Spanish vessels on the coasts of Mexico and the Colombian republic, it is extremely desirable that their commanders should know how to act correctly on the occasion.

The information lately received of a blockading force of French and Spanish vessels having been sent into the Gulf of Mexico, must be my apology for again troubling you.

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon, Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, January 23, 1824.

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that in consequence of further repairs on the  Congress being stopped, and wanting crews for the Grampus and Sea Gull, I have directed those of her crew who had volunteered for a special service for six months to be discharged, as also those whose terms of service

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expire on or before the 30th of March. I have directed also that those who have less than seven months to serve may be paid off, provided they will re-enter for two years without receiving any advance.

These men being a heavy expense to the public, without rendering any service whatever, I have thought this course the most advisable, as there is no doubt that by their re-entry all difficulties for the want of men will cease on this station.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, Norfolk, January 24, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that I shall, in a few days, dispatch the Grampus for the coast of Africa, and thence to the West Indies.

It is probable the Colonization Society may wish to communicate with the colony on the coast, and by informing them of the destination of that vessel the opportunity will be presented.

The following is an extract from Lieutenant Sloat's orders:

"While on the coast you will touch at the American settlement of free colored people; communicate with the agent of the American Colonization Society; ascertain the state and condition of the colony, giving it such aid, assistance and protection as it may stand in need of and be in your power to furnish."

It is my opinion that, with the contemplated addition to my force, I shall be able to send a vessel to the coast of Africa every six weeks, and give complete protection to our commerce in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. You are aware, however, that I have but one sloop-of-war fit for service. I cannot think the Hornet will be ready for sea much before spring.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient humble servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, February 14, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that I shall put to sea with [this] ship and the Sea Gull on the 17th. The Grampus will sail about the same time for the coast of Africa. The Hornet is still in the hands of the officers of the yard, and it is uncertain when she will be ready. Enclosed are Captain Cassin's orders for sailing, which I beg you to cause to be delivered to him.

In my route to Thompson's Island I shall touch at the different islands to windward, to obtain information respecting piratical vessels, if any should be out.

It is extremely desirable that I should be in possession of your instructions respecting blockades, as soon as possible.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

The Hon. Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Steam Galliot Sea Gull, Matanzas, May 4, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that I have sent to New York the store-ship Decoy for stores, and the schooner Grayhound for coppering and repairs.

The reduced state of the force under my command, and want of stores, make it necessary that they should return to the station with all expedition.

Application has been made to me to station a force at St. Thomas, for the protection of our commerce in that quarter, and to keep in check the Porto Rico privateers; but until piracy is completely suppressed in this quarter it will not be in my power to comply with the wishes of those interested, unless an augmentation should be made to my forces. I have directed all vessels on their passage to Thompson's Island to touch at St. Bartholomews and St. Thomas, which will obviate in a great degree the necessity of a stationary force, and give confidence to those engaged in commerce at those places.

I beg leave to observe that the medical department of the squadron under my command never has been in a worse condition. I have no medical aid whatever for any of the small vessels. I have only one acting surgeon's mate to attend those stationed on the island and those in the hospital.

I have a surgeon's mate, acting as surgeon, at this place to attend to the sick which may arrive here; one acting surgeon's mate in the Sea Gull; one surgeon's mate and one acting on board the John Adams; and these, with one mate on board the Spark, make the sum total of medical men on the station.

The sickly season is fast approaching. I shall do all in my power to guard against its effects; but should disease rage this year as much as the last, our situation would be truly deplorable.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, July 20, 1824.

Sir:

I beg leave, for your information, to state that by the arrival at this place yesterday of the schooner Ferret, from Thompson's Island, via Nassau, advices are received to the 2d instant, which

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describe the health of that place to be unusually good. The sick report accompanies this. All the improvements directed by the commander-in-chief, as regards buildings for public purposes and individual comfort, are progressing in the order contemplated, and their completion to the extent intended may very early be realized.

Plants of various kinds have been introduced from Cuba, and are in a thriving condition. The canals have been deepened so as to admit the sea water into the lagoons near the seat of population. Wild grass in that neighborhood has been destroyed, and the beach cleansed of the drift sea-weed which lodges upon it, subject to decomposition; so that all due care seems to be taken to guard against the recurrence of the malady similar to that which visited it last year. The season has been dry, the winds refreshing and variable, and the range of the thermometer from ninety-five to ninety-eight.

Acting Lieutenant Farragut, commanding the Ferret, reports that while at Nassau, about the 10th instant, one of his crew by the name of James Fredenbourg stated himself to be a deserter from H. B. M. ship Pandora, and that, in consequence, he gave him over to Captain Du Maigne, commanding H. B. M. ship Kangaroo. The grounds on which Lieutenant Farragut acted are, that it was repugnant to our regulations to have a foreigner in the service, and as a requital for a similar act of courtesy on the part of Captain Du Maigne, who had not long before returned to the Wild Cat, Lieutenant Legaré, a deserter from one of the West India squadron. As Lieutenant Farragut has been governed in this transaction by a regard to reciprocity, and not constrained thereto by any act of the British officers, I indulge the expectation that you will approve of his proceedings.

Lieutenant Commandant Mcintosh, under date of the 2d inst., gives a detailed report of his cruise in the Terrier along the coast of East Florida, from Cape Sable to Carlos Harbor, in search of a reported smuggling or piratical establishment not known before to us precisely, but which he has discovered to be situated on a key called Punta Rosa, bearing N. by W. 1/2 W. from the northeast end of Langbee Island. The number of inhabitants, Spaniards, are not ascertained with precision, but cannot be many, as there are but five thatched houses on the key, which is under the culture of corn, pumpkins, and melons. They are occupied in fishing, principally, and have licenses from Cuba to trade therewith. They rely upon the protection of our troops at Tampa Bay, regard themselves as belonging to the Territory, and feel secure in their avocation. Lest, however, they might become lawless, Lieutenant Mcintosh removed to Thompson's Island two small carriage guns, which were alleged to have been kept to intimidate the Indians, who had committed some outrages on them.

The place is now so particularly identified, that occasional visits from the revenue cutters will effectually guard against the illicit introduction of goods into Florida.

Lieutenant Sloat, commanding the Grampus, reports under date of the 17th instant, from New York, that between the dates of the 4th and 27th of June, he had visited the ports of Campeachy, Alvarado and Tampico, in accordance with orders; that rumors prevailed of a piratical vessel being near Campeachy, for which he made diligent search, fruitlessly.

The schooner Jackal was at Tampico about the 20th, and the schooner John Adams near Vera Cruz on the 21st instant, so that you will perceive all the protection is afforded in the Bay of Mexico contemplated in your letter of the 20th instant.

Lieutenant Mcintosh, who superseded, Lieutenant Oellers in command at Thompson's Island, writes under date of the 4th of July, that an American brig was stated to have been captured by a piratical boat near Matanzes and carried into Port Escondido; that he had an accurate description of the boat, and had dispatched a barge, together with the Terrier, to effect her rescue. I am encouraged to hope that his efforts may meet with success.

In addition to the protection already afforded to the commerce of Matanzas, you may calculate on the services of the Wild Cat, which sailed on Saturday last, so that this demand on the Department is answered.

The force at present in the Bay of Mexico, it is hoped, will succeed in taking or driving away the marauders, stated by the papers to infest it; it was desirable to guard against the almost simultaneous return of several vessels of the West India squadron to the United States, and the cruises have been arranged with a view to that object, and the keeping at all times of a sufficient force about Cuba and in the Bay of Mexico.

On the 15th of July, the schooner Fox had sailed from Tampico to New Orleans, so that at every practicable point some of our vessels are seen.

I cannot but congratulate you on the general good health enjoyed by the respective crews. Some symptoms of fever have manifested themselves, and some deaths have occurred; this must be expected; exemption from disease cannot be calculated upon, although I am convinced by reports from the respective officers that every regard is paid to health, cleanliness and comfort. With respect, I have the honor to be,

W. B. FINCH, Captain West India Squadron. Honorable Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, August 10, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to enclose you a correspondence between Admiral Sir L. W. Halsted, Knt., commanding her Britannic Majesty's naval forces in the West Indies, and myself, on the subject of a salute; and I take the liberty to suggest that, in order to avoid a repetition of the indignity to which I have been subjected, an order be given that no United States vessel shall salute any British flag officer whatever.

We cannot do it under the existing British naval instructions, as cited by Admiral Halsted, with a knowledge of the fact, without dishonoring our flag. No such rule exists with regard to salutes to British army officers, whatever may be their rank. My salute previously given to the forts at Jamaica, was returned with an equal number of guns.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed)  D. PORTER.

Honorable Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

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To Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halsted, knight, commanding his Britannic Majesty's naval forces in the West Indies, &c.:

Sir:

Having been assured by the officers of this ship, since leaving Jamaica, that the salute to your flag of fifteen guns, fired by my order while there, was only returned by a salute of thirteen guns, I have to request you to inform me if such was the fact, and if so, to ask your reasons for not returning a salute equal to the one fired by me.

The vessel-of-war which bears this will await your answer.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER,

Commanding U. S. Naval Forces in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

U. S. Ship John Adams, April 21, 1824.

His Britannic Majesty's Ship Serapis, in Port Royal Harbor, Jamaica, May 14, 1824. Sir:

I have received your letter of the 21st of April last, in which you are pleased to request that I would inform you whether 13 guns only were fired by the ship which bore my flag, in return for 15 guns which you had ordered to be fired when you were last at Jamaica.

In answer to which, I beg to inform you that thirteen guns only were returned, and that the British naval instructions do not permit a flag officer to return any salute but in the manner pointed out in the same; namely, to all junior flag officers of every nation, two guns less, and to private captains four guns less. Such is the reason why you had only 13 guns in return for the 15 you were pleased to order.

I have the honor to remain, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

(Signed) L. W. HALSTED, Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of his Britannic Majesty's Naval Forces in the West Indies, &c.

To Commodore Porter, commanding the U. S. Naval Forces in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.

Washington, August 11, 1824.

Sir:

Understanding from Captain Finch that you had manifested some dissatisfaction that certain youths, in the squadron under my command, should have been permitted to do the duty and receive the pay of midshipmen, I feel it incumbent on me to make such explanations as are necessary to remove any erroneous impressions on your mind, that this has been done in evasion or violation of any regulation or order issued from the Navy Department. When I took the command of the expedition for the suppression of piracy, there was a scarcity of officers to fill many of the situations in the squadron, which, in fact, was equipped with so much expedition as to prevent the possibility of collecting from distant parts the necessary officers for it, and it became necessary to fill the vacancies by acting appointments which, although understood as intended, were not to take place while the squadron was in the United States, and while there was a prospect of their being filled by the Secretary of the Navy. Among others were acting lieutenants and masters from the passed midshipmen, and surgeons' mates. The acting lieutenants and masters have been continued in their situation by the Department, and the appointment of the surgeons' mates has since been confirmed by you.

It became also necessary to have some youths to do the duty of midshipmen, and as permission had been given to Commodore Stewart to take some boys in his ship on trial, and among the number my son, I, following his example, and compelled by necessity, took on board the vessels of the squadron a few of the most promising and respectable, but gave them no acting appointments, and with the express understanding that my taking them was to give them no claims on the Department, but that if they were found suitable for the service, they were to come in as new applicants, leaving their term of probation to weigh in their favor for as much as the Department might think it worth.

When my command was augmented I increased them, some taken by the express wish of the Secretary of the Navy, and some by that of the President of the United States.

On my own selection I have not taken more than five, and not even those without permission from the Secretary of the Navy, your predecessor. Not one has obtained my permission to embark on board any vessel under my command, to my recollection, since you came into office; and certainly no acting appointment whatever has been made by me in the United States since your general orders of December, 1823, and none of any description whatever out of the United States, except such as was occasioned by unavoidable necessity. As regards midshipmen or persons to do duty as such, I have taken none since, but those who have been ordered to report to me for duty by the Navy Department.

It has been the source of great uneasiness to me that any misunderstanding on this subject should have taken place, but I trust that this explanation will remove from your mind all impression of any wish on my part to frustrate the views of the Department, or take from it any of its patronage. I have been influenced solely by views to the public interest.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, August 11, 1824.

Sir:

Understanding it to be the intention of the government to give me a ship suited to my rank in the service, I have ordered the John Adams to proceed to the West Indies, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico for the protection of our commerce, where her services are much wanted.

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Should a frigate be selected, I beg leave to state that it will be most agreeable to me that there should be no commander appointed to her, as I should wish the particular and personal command to be vested in myself alone.

I also beg leave to observe that a flag or fleet captain to the squadron may be dispensed with if I can be allowed to select an intelligent lieutenant to relieve me from many of the details of the squadron. For the present the services of Captain Finch are necessary to me, but I shall not want him long, and it is his wish to retire from the situation so soon as I can otherwise provide myself.

I shall be glad to be apprised as early as possible of the ship intended for me, that I may give my personal attention to her outfits.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, October 12, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that I have just received very unfavorable accounts of sickness prevailing at Thompson's Island. Three cases of yellow fever, which proved mortal, have been reported, and the sick list contains the names of thirty-one patients, mostly of bilious and intermitting fevers; of this number eleven are convalescent, and seven are reported as very bad cases.

The island is, however, supplied with every comfort in my power to provide for it. There is a good hospital for officers and seamen on the windward side, a floating hospital comfortably fitted up in the harbor, capable of containing the whole population of the island, and an abundant supply of refreshments, hospital stores and medicines.

There are two medical attendants on the island, one of whom, however, is on the sick list; but the arrival of the Hornet must ere this have furnished, if required, an additional number. I know of nothing to ameliorate the condition of those on the island not in the power of the senior officer on the coast of Cuba to furnish; and I do not conceive that any steps are necessary to be taken by me, or any orders beyond what have already been issued for the preservation of health, as from the advanced season of the year, the sickness will undoubtedly subside before they could possibly reach the island. As it will no doubt be satisfactory to you to know how the force under my command is employed at this moment, I enclose you a brief report, with the names of the vessels and their commands.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

List of the vessels of the West India squadron, their commanders, and the service at present employed on.

Constellation, frigate, D. Porter, commander, fitting out in New York, expected to be ready for sea early next month.

John Adams, corvette, Captain A. J. Dallas, ready for sea at Philadelphia, now waiting additional orders; destined from thence to St. Bartholomews, St. Thomas, down the coasts of Porto Rico, St. Domingo and Cuba, to Thompson's Island; thence to the Gulf of Florida, to cruise about Tampico, Alvarado, and La Vera Cruz.

Hornet, sloop-of-war, Captain E. P. Kennedy, to South America, by orders from the Navy Department; from thence by my orders to the north coast of Cuba for the protection of our commerce there.

Spark, brig, Lieutenant Commandant J. T. Newton, in quarantine at New York; repairing under orders to proceed from thence to St. Bartholomews, St. Thomas, down the coasts of Porto Rico, and St. Domingo, and Cuba, to Thompson's Island; thence down the coasts of Yucatan and Campeachy, around the Gulf of Mexico, back to Thompson's Island.

Grampus, schooner, Lieutenant Commandant John D. Sloat, stationed at St. Thomas, for the protection of our commerce between St. Barts and the east end of St. Domingo.

Shark, schooner, Lieutenant Commandant John Gallagher, ordered from New York to St. Bartholomews and St. Thomas; thence down the coasts of Porto Rico, and St. Domingo, and Cuba, to Thompson's Island; thence to the coasts of Yucatan and Campeachy, around the Gulf of Mexico, back to Thompson's Island.

Porpoise, schooner, Lieutenant Commandant Charles W. Skinner, sailed for the coast of Africa, under orders from the Navy Department.

Sea Gull, steam galliot, Lieutenant Commandant Isaac McKeever, awaiting orders at New York.

Ferret, schooner, Lieutenant Commandant C. H. Bell, on the north coast of Cuba.

Terrier, Lieutenant Commandant Jott S. Paine, on the north coast of Cuba.

Wild Cat, Lieutenant Commandant Legaré, on the north coast of Cuba.

 Weasel, Lieutenant Commandant Boarman, for the protection of our commerce between Tampico and New Orleans.

Beagle, Lieutenant Commandant Charles P. Platt, has sailed for the protection of our commerce between St. Barts and the east end of Cuba.

Decoy, store ship, late Lieutenant Commandant F. B. Gamble, at New York in quarantine; just arrived from Thompson's Island.

Barges Gallinipper, Mosquito, Gnat, Midge, and Diablita, Lieutenant Commandant James M. Mcintosh, commanding at Thompson's Island; occasionally cruising on the north coast of Cuba, and in the old Straits of Bahama.

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Washington, October 14, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to enclose you an extract of a letter from Lieutenant Commandant James M. Mcintosh, the commander of Thompson's Island, with copies of certain documents respecting a colored man named Francis Hale, and to request of you instructions as to the course to be pursued in relation thereto.

I am also to request some instructions to govern my conduct towards the South American privateers, which sometimes come inside the Florida reef in distress, real or pretended, thereby availing themselves of the facilities which offer, to violate our neutrality and infringe our laws.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, October 19, 1824.

Sir:

I have received by the hands of Lieutenant Aulick your letter of yesterday, stating it as your opinion that your appointment of that officer to discharge the duties of captain of the squadron would be a direct violation of the regulations, and offering to order for that purpose one of the master commandants not employed, if it is my wish to have an officer of that grade to discharge the duty.

The force under my command (by a rigid enforcement of the regulations) not entitling me to an officer of the rank of master commandant to discharge the duties of captain of the squadron, and yet, more than any other now employed, requiring an officer to assist me in the details of my duties, it would be, in my opinion, as direct a violation of the regulations to order a master commandant as to order a lieutenant; and as an officer of any grade, incompetent to perform the duties, would be more than useless to me, I beg leave to decline having a captain to the squadron under my command.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) DAVID PORTER.

Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

Washington, October 19, 1824.

Sir:

I have received your instructions of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 19th instant, with the papers accompanying them, and have sought in them in vain for the motive for your unexpected order of the first date, for me to "proceed as speedily as possible to my station" in the John Adams, instead of the Constellation, as was expected and arranged.

I need not remind you of the repeated argument I have urged, that the pendant of an American commodore should not be exposed to insult by being hoisted on board a sloop-of-war, if a vessel of a more respectable character could be obtained, and of the repeated expression of my aversion to be instrumental in so exposing it.

This would alone be a sufficient motive for begging permission to retire from my present command, as the only means of relieving myself from the responsibility, but I have others of a more personal nature, but of equal weight.

The nature of the service I have been engaged in has been of the most arduous nature, subject to great expense, great exposure and fatigue, and imposing upon me great responsibility; the generous confidence which was extended to me at the outset of my command, which encouraged me to an active and faithful performance of the duties assigned to me, appears of late to have been withdrawn, and orders implying the dissatisfaction of the Department, and at every step calling forth explanations, are almost daily handed to me. The various cases alluded to are of a recent date, and unnecessary to enumerate. I have made frequent application to the Department for instructions to guide me in my conduct toward the cruisers of South America, whose depredations on our commerce have been so frequent. New cases are made known to me unaccompanied by any instructions for my government, thereby leaving me to encounter responsibilities which do not belong to my situation or my profession.

I left the West Indies for my health, and my experience teaches me that it is improper to return at so early a period as the one exacted of me by the Department.

I owe it, therefore, to myself and my family, if not to my country, to avoid a climate which has been so fatal to so many under my command, (and has nearly proved so twice to myself) at a season when disease prevails to such an extent as it does at present.

By the expression of your order of the 14th, it would appear that Thompson's Island is considered my station; my instructions inform me that my command extends from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, and that my duties are to protect our commerce throughout this extent and suppress the slave trade. Thompson's Island has heretofore been considered an appendage to my command, not my station, and I have been considered in my place whenever I have been within the limits prescribed to me; to remain stationary at Thompson's Island, to the neglect of the rest of my command, can scarcely be the intention of the Department, and if it were, it can hardly be expected that so great a sacrifice of health and comfort would be made by me, except under greater necessities than at present exist.

We have now at that island and on the coast of Cuba a sloop-of-war, a schooner of twelve guns, two small schooners, and five barges, a force more than necessary to quell all the pirates that ever existed there, if the officers do their duty, and if they do not I shall take care that they shall be brought to punishment.

I feel myself responsible for the employment of the force under my command to the best advantage, for the purposes for which it was equipped, and if any part of my duties are neglected I ask for no lenity from the Department. I cannot, however, in the present state of my command, consent to lead in person every expedition fitted out from it, as is implied that I should by the order alluded to. A general superintendence is all that ought to be expected of me; and had my presence at Thompson's Island been

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considered absolutely necessary, no order would have been wanting to make me go, and no danger from climate would have deterred me from hastening there with all possible expedition. It is implied by the orders within alluded to that this disposition on my part does not exist.

Taking, therefore, a full view of the subject, and considering the circumstance of the compensation of a captain not being adequate to the performance of the duties and the responsibilities of an admiral; duties which I have for a long time performed, and responsibilities which I have for as long a time encountered, I have thought it best for the Department and most to my own satisfaction, to ask permission to retire from my present command, and to ask for other service less inglorious, of less responsibility, less expensive, and subjecting me less to the mortifications and vexations which appear inseparable from the one I now hold.

An early reply is requested, and it will afford me pleasure to make such explanations to my successor, whoever he may be, as will prevent any injury to the service from the step I have taken. I beg that it may not be considered that my request proceeds from any disinclination for active service; to the contrary, I desire it, when I better understand the views of the Department, and when more confidence is manifested in mine.

I have the honor to be, your obedient, humble servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, October 20, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th, enclosing a scrap from a newspaper, to apprise me of the fact that Midshipmen Robert Ritchie, George F. Weaver, and William Green are stated to have sailed from New York in the United States schooner Beagle, the two first as lieutenants and the last as sailingmaster, and remarking that you presume that this must have been without my knowledge, as you know of no authority which could have been given to these midshipmen to sail from the United States in those capacities. Passed Midshipman Ritchie has been doing the duty of lieutenant in the squadron under my command, from the commencement of the expedition against the pirates, and Midshipman Green has also been in one of the small vessels for the same period. Of Midshipman G. F. Weaver I have no knowledge, but I have no doubt Captain Finch can satisfactorily explain the cause of his being there; he was placed on board that vessel during my absence.

As much has been said lately against the practice of giving acting appointments to midshipmen and others, I beg leave to inform you that I have never in any instance given them, except under the most absolute necessity, and never in violation of any known regulation.

When vacancies have occurred in the squadron under my command, and they have been frequent from the reluctance that officers have to exposing themselves in a sickly climate, I have directed the passed midshipmen when there were any, and when none, the oldest and most experienced midshipmen, to do the duty required, but have never given any appointment; thus leaving the Department free to grant or reject the claim for duties performed. They no doubt consider themselves acting lieutenants and masters, but they hold no appointment from me as such.

I cannot prevent the editors of newspapers from giving what title they please to officers, or making what statement they think proper. I can only say that I have never authorized the article or given the midshipmen in question the titles as printed. From the frequency with which I have been addressed by the Department on the subject of acting appointments, I am apprehensive there has been some misunderstanding with regard to me, and have therefore been thus explicit.

For further explanation on this subject, I beg leave to refer you to my letter of the 11th of August last.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Navy Department, October 21, 1824.

Sir:

Your letter of the 19th instant has created surprise. Looking to the good of the service, every attention has been shown to you which your station required, and which could be dictated by a just estimation of your public service.

The command which was given to you at your earnest request, on the 1st February, 1823, was a highly important one, and your conduct in discharge of its duties satisfactory to the President. The interval since you left that station has been interesting, and it is understood piracy has revived, and is making extensive ravages on our commerce. Communications have been made to you to apprise you fully of this fact. The presence there of an officer of rank and experience is of course necessary. The size of the vessel in which he sails is a matter of small moment, and must depend upon circumstances. You are aware of the intention to send the Constellation to that station as soon as she can conveniently be prepared.

Your return to this place without permission, or apprising the Department of a necessity for it, was unexpected; but no complaint has heretofore been made of your remaining here, because we believed that your health was not perfectly good, and your shoulder lame and painful. But this obstacle has been removed, and had you earlier apprised the Department that you considered this place within the limits of your station, that the command had ceased to be pleasant to you, and that you were apprehensive of the climate, you would have been relieved and a successor appointed.

But having failed to give this information, and the presence of a commander on the station being now indispensable, you will proceed to it. When it is convenient to the Department, your wish to be relieved shall be gratified. Upon a reperusal of your orders, you will find that no intimation is given that Thompson's Island alone is to be considered as the station, and that you are to remain stationary there, nor that you are to lead in person every expedition fitted out from it.

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I purposely abstain from comment upon certain matters in your letter. You will hereafter hear from the Department on the subject.

I am, very respectfully, &c., (Signed) SAM'L L. SOUTHARD.

Commodore David Porter. Present.

Washington, October 21, 1824.

Sir:

I have the honor to enclose to you copies of communications from Lieut. Commandant Mcintosh, accompanied by the latest sick reports from Thompson's Island.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, (Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

Allenton, Thompson's Island, August 2, 1824.

Sir:

I addressed you on the 29th ultimo, per the Spanish schooner Maria, via Havana. By the schooner Terrier, which goes over to Havana this evening for medical stores, I again have the pleasure of addressing you, and enclosing the sick report of to-day, by which you will perceive there has been no change in our situation for the better. I still continue to be indisposed, but am in hopes in a few days to be perfectly recovered. Acting Lieut. Pinckney has been so much indisposed that the doctor has granted him a sick ticket, and advises his immediate return to a more northern climate for the restoration of his health; he will consequently leave here by the first opportunity.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) JAS. M. McINTOSH, Lieut. Commandant.

Commodore David Porter, Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Naval Forces in the West Indies, &c., &c.

Allenton, Thompson's Island, September 26, 1824.

Sir:

I enclosed you yesterday, by the Fox, Doctor Ticknor's sick report. She sailed early this morning for Washington. The Ferret went to sea yesterday evening with orders to cruise between Havana and Matanzas. The sailing of the sloop Ocean early to-morrow morning for Norfolk affords me the opportunity of enclosing you this day's sick report. You will no doubt notice with much pleasure how much it is lessened, and it is with much gratification I am enabled to inform you that but two more cases at present remain that are considered dangerous. This happy change in our situation must be attributed to the change of weather which we have experienced for a few days past, and if it continues as favorable for a short time I am in hopes the dreadful disease will be entirely removed. We have heard nothing of the Wild Cat, and I think there is no doubt but that she is lost.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. M. McINTOSH, Lieut. Commanding.

To Commodore David Porter.

Report of the sick at Thompson's Island, September 26, 1824.

Names.

Rank.

Disease.

Remarks.

F. A. Brown

Clerk

Bilious remittent

Francis Joseph

Boy

Affection of bowels

Convalescent.

Wm. Payton

Ordinary seaman.

Intermittent fever

Convalescent.

James Murray

Marine

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

Nath'l Soley

Seaman

Syphilis

But little change.

Miles Austin

Corp'l marines

Bilious remittent.

Convalescent.

Hezekiah Smith

Seaman

Typhoid fever

Convalescent.

Wm. Hoglan

Marine

Bilious remittent

A little better than yesterday.

Evan Gamester

Serg't of marines

do

Convalescent.

Levi Caywood

Carpenter

do

Convalescent.

James Gallagher.

Boy

do

Convalescent.

Thomas Leach

Carpenter

Intermittent fever___

Convalescent.

Adam Loyd

do

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

John Monnett

do

do

Convalescent.

Alex'r Cornot

Marine

Gravel, piles, &c.

Jacob Taylor

Ordinary seaman.

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

Joseph Hammett

Carpenter

do

Apparently a little better.

Ruel Wilber

Blacksmith

Intermittent fever

Convalescent.

John Jones

Ordinary seaman

do

Convalescent.

Henry Rothwell

do

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

Benj. Low

Gardener

Intermittent fever___

Convalescent.

Obed Orr

Carpenter

Bilious remittent

Had a paroxysm of fever this morning.

DIED.

Jacob Haines

James Bryan

Total 22

Respectfully, (Signed) B. TICKNOR, Surgeon.

To James McIntosh, Esq., commanding Thompson's Island.

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Allenton, Thompson's Island, September 29, 1824.

Sir:

The sloop Ocean has been detained in consequence of bad weather, but she is now weighing, and I take advantage of her sailing to forward for your information the sick report of yesterday. The weather for the last twenty-four hours was very unfavorable, in consequence of which the doctor apprehends an increase to his list. We have not a single carpenter fit for duty, and I am fearful we will not for some time, for as soon as they convalesce from yellow fever they are attacked with fevers and agues, and it appears utterly impossible for a man to recruit his health on this island, after having been seriously sick.

I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

(Signed) JAS. M. McINTOSH, Lieut. Commanding.

To Commodore David Porter.

Report of the side at Thompson's Island, September 28, 1824.

Names.

Rank.

Disease.

Remarks.

F. A. Brown

Clerk

Bilious remittent

Francis Joseph

Boy

Debility

Convalescent.

James Murray

Marine

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

Nathaniel Soley

Seaman

Dysentery

Has relapsed in consequence of excess in eating.

Miles Austin

Corp'l marines

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

Hezekiah Smith

Seaman

Typh. fever

Convalescent.

Wm. Hoglen

Marine

Bilious remittent

Not quite as well as yesterday.

Evan Gamester

Sergeant marines

do

Convalescent.

Levi Caywood

Carpenter

do

Convalescent.

Obed Orr

do

do

Had a paroxysm this morning.

Adam Loyd

do

do

Convalescent.

John Monnett

do

do

Convalescent.

Alexander Cornot

Marine

Gravel, piles, &c.

John Jones

Ordinary seaman

Intermittent fever

Convalescent.

Henry Rothwell.

do

do

Worse than yesterday.

Benjamin Low

Gardener

do

Convalescent.

Lewis Shore

Ordinary seaman

do

Convalescent.

Ruel Wilber

Blacksmith

do

Convalescent.

ADMITTED.

Wm. Stout

Corp'l marines

Bilious remittant

George Beard

Seaman

Wound

Of the foot.

Daniel Cleiss

Blacksmith

Intermittent fever

Koin Barrett

Ordinary seaman

do

Henry White

Marine

Fever

Almon Johns

do

Fever

DISCHARGED.

James Gallagher.

DIED.

Joseph Hammett.

Total—24.

Respectfully,

B. TICKNOR, Surgeon.

To James McIntosh, Esq., commanding Thompson's Island.

Washington, October 22, 1824. Sir: I have the honor to enclose instructions for the officer who may have the Constellation in charge, to take to the West Indies.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

The general instructions referred to in the enclosed orders to the commander of the Constellation will be furnished as soon as a copy can be made.

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Washington, October 22, 1824.

Sir:

When the United States frigate Constellation shall he in every respect ready for sea, you will proceed to touch at St. Bartholomew's and St. Thomas for further orders. Should you receive none at either of those places, you will proceed down the south sides of Porto Rico, St. Domingo, and Cuba, around Cape Antonio to Thompson's Island.

The accompanying general instructions will guide you as to the course to be pursued in any case which may occur during your voyage, wherein they can be applied. On your arrival off the reef at Thompson's Island, you will fire a gun, and make a signal for a pilot. I have great confidence in the knowledge and judgment of Mr. Boughan, as regards the pilotage of the ship into the harbor; but, as she is of a class larger than any that have yet been there, and of greater draft of water, I shall wish some person on board to point out the buoys which I intend to have placed—one on the point of the shoal extending from the Dry Rocks, on the lee side of the entrance, through the reef; one on the windward side, near the shoal to leeward of Loo Keys; one on the shoal off Whitehead's Point; and one on the extremity of the shoal which forms the entrance to the inner harbor.

Should any circumstances occur to prevent my arrival at Thompson's Island before the arrival of the Constellation, you will exercise your sound discretion in taking the ship over the reef, trusting nothing to accident or chance when prudence or forethought can guard against evil. Under any circumstances, you will send in one of your boats ahead of the ship, and cause the soundings to be indicated by signal. Should you not receive further instructions, you will anchor about half way between Whitehead's Point and the town, or so as to be well under shelter of the Point, in about six fathoms water. Mr. Boughan is well acquainted with the marks for running in.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, D. PORTER.

The Commander of the U. S. Frigate Constellation.

Washington, October 22, 1824.

Sir:

I have received your letter of yesterday, and shall proceed to sea, in the John Adams, with the least possible delay. The ship will be at New Castle by the time I reach there. I enclose orders for the officer who may take out the Constellation.

There are two points in your letter which, in justice to myself, I am bound to notice. First, the charge of returning to this place without permission, or apprising the Department; and, secondly, considering this place within the limits of my command. To the first, I beg leave to observe that when the malady of 1823, which caused the destruction of so many valuable lives, had gotten to such a height as to render flight from a tropical climate necessary, I ordered the squadron to repair to Norfolk, and this measure met the approbation of the government and of the country at large. Conduct that was approved of in the one instance, I naturally concluded would be approved of under similar circumstances again; and, on the appearance of the yellow fever this year, I gave similar orders, with the hope that, by so doing, I should meet your views, and should not have dared to encounter the responsibility of not ordering the squadron home.

It is true that, some time after I reached the United States, in the fall of 1822, I did receive your written permission of August 10th to return home, and your discretionary instructions of September 30th, but I had stronger reasons than permission or the exercise of my own judgment. I had what I considered positive orders on the subject from the honorable Smith Thompson, who, in his instructions of February 1st, 1823, states as follows: "You will be particularly watchful to preserve the health of the officers and crews under your command, and to guard in every possible manner against the unhealthiness of the climate; not permitting any intercourse with the shore where the yellow fever prevails, except in cases of absolute necessity."

You will perceive I am ordered to guard in every possible manner against the unhealthiness of the climate; not permitting any intercourse with the shore where the yellow fever prevails. The yellow fever prevailed at Matanzas and Havana, and it was reasonable to believe that Thompson's Island would not be exempt from it. Many began to sink under the debilitating effects of the climate, myself among the number; and I conceived I was acting in furtherance of the views of the Department in coming home myself, and ordering the squadron home before disease got to any head in it. By my so doing, many lives have not been lost; but had you even before intimated to me that my doing so had not met the approbation of the government, an idea that never occurred to me, never doubting that I was acting in full accordance with its views, I should have instantly left Washington on my return at all hazards; but this information has been withheld from me until the present moment, which makes me the more sensitive to the charge. I trust, however, this explanation will convince you I have had no disposition to run counter to any wish of the Department or to any rule of service.

To the second charge, I have only to remark that I know of no expression or conduct of mine that could lead to the belief that I entertained the idea that this place was within the limits of my station, and, much less, have I apprised the Department that I so considered it.

My presence here I do conceive is occasionally necessary, that I may thereby become fully acquainted with the views of the government in everything relating to my command; and it is also necessary that the vessels under my command should visit some of our northern establishments, for the purpose of obtaining the necessary repairs, and the time most proper for them to do so is during the hurricane months and sickly season, when our commerce least requires protection, as the crops are not ready for delivery, and when it can be done with least injury to the service, and most benefit to the officers and crews. From the month of July to the month of November, I consider it unsafe for them to remain within the tropics; those who have remained longer or have gone earlier there, have suffered more or less from climate, and it is feared that one has been lost. The French ships in the West Indies have for many years been in the practice of coming to the north during these months, and the British ships either go to England about this time, or to Bermuda or Halifax. All experience teaches me the necessity and propriety of the measure, and having adopted it, it became necessary that I should be with the vessels of the squadron; wherever they are, there my duties lay, and when they are in the United States, there is no place so convenient for me to attend to their wants as at Washington, and it is very certain,

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as I hope you will do me the justice to allow, that they have not been neglected, nor has my time been misspent whenever my health has allowed me to attend to the duties assigned to me. My station, as I have before stated, is from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, and includes, according to my orders, the West Indies, and the vessels surveying on the coast of Florida.

I must now, sir, beg leave to ask of you instructions to guide me in future as regards the disposition of the squadron during the sickly months: whether they are to remain on the station or return to the United States; whether I am to be with the squadron or remain within the tropics; and if they are to return, the precise time of their return.

If it is the determination of the Department that the commanding officer of the squadron shall remain within the limits of the station during the sickly season, I hope it may suit the convenience of the Department to have me relieved from my command by the middle of June next, as no consideration connected with my present duties would induce me willingly to remain after that period.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

New Castle, October 26, 1824.

Sir:

In my letter to you of the 19th October, I omitted to say that I did notify the Department of my intention of removing the squadron to the north, as you will perceive by the enclosed copy of a letter of the 28th May, the original of which was sent to you from Matanzas, and, intending to remove the squadron, it was very natural to infer that I intended removing with it. For the cause of the necessity of removing it, I am not answerable.

I have the honor to be, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

U. S. Ship John Adams, Thompson's Island, January 1, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to enclose you this day's sick report. I am sorry to say that the sick on the island have more than doubled since my arrival, and that several deaths have occurred. Doctors Ticknor and Weems are so low, that I have permitted them to leave the island. I have no hopes that Lieutenant Stallings will recover. From the feeble condition of every person on the island, who has remained during the last sickly season, there is scarcely a possibility that they could survive another.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Report of side at Thompson's Island, January 1, 1825.

Names.

Rank.

Disease.

Remarks.

G. Weems

Surgeon's mate

Intermittent

Severe paroxysm yesterday.

Otho Stallings

Lieutenant

Bilious remittent

No material change.

B. Tickner

Surgeon

Intermittent

Paroxysms continue to return.

P. Friery

Ordinary seaman

Hepatitis

Continues feeble.

J. Calhoun

do

Intermittent

Paroxysms continue to return.

Jacob Taylor

do

Jaundice

Convalescent.

John Bridges

Master-at-arms

Rheumatism

Improving.

Charles Holtz

Corp'l of marines

Fever

Relapse.

J. Cardif

Seaman

Intermittent

Better.

J. Harris

do

do

Paroxysm yesterday.

J. Rice

Ordinary seaman

do

Paroxysm this morning.

Wm. Ross

Seaman

Fistula in ano

Requires an operation.

J. Spaulding

Carpenter's mate

Intermittent

Better.

J. Makenzie

Marine

do

Much gastric disorder.

J. McCawley

Lieut. marines

Bilious remittent

Convalescent.

J. H. Little

Acting S. M.

do

Better—free from fever yesterday.

J. K. Valette

Acting Lieut.

Intermittent

Had a slight paroxysm last evening.

Levi Caywood

Carpenter

Bilious remittent

The same as yesterday.

M. Manamy

Marine

Intermittent

Convalescent.

----- Gray

Boy

do

Not so well to-day.

John Dunlap

Ordinary seaman

do

Better this morning.

S. Bills

Master-at-arms

do

Better this morning.

----- McCun

Serg't marines

do

Better this morning.

----- Rice

Corp'l marines

Remittent fever

Something better this morning.

DISCHARGED.

----- Gedley.

Marine

Dysentery

Total—24.

Respectfully, (Signed) S. RAPALJE, S. Mate.

To Commodore David Porter, commanding West India Squadron, &c.

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U. S. Steam Galliot Sea Gull, Matanzas, January 17, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to inform you that I arrived here last evening in the Sea Gull, from Thompson's Island, examining, in my way, the keys to windward of Siguappa Bay, &c., but without success. I shall sail again this afternoon with the two barges Gallinipper and Diablito, with the intention of scouring the north coast of Cuba, as far to leeward as Cape Antonio, and shall endeavor to be back to Thompson's Island in time to meet the officer who, I understand, has been ordered out to relieve me.

I sent you the particulars of the murder of the crew of the brig Betsey, of Wiscasset, as given by the mate. One other of the crew who escaped, and now on board this vessel, corroborates the statement.

Lieutenant Bell, in the Beagle, accompanied by a barge, is now to windward in pursuit of the pirates; the mate of the Betsey is with him; can point out the establishment and identify the men; I have strong hopes of bringing them to punishment; I have the other man on board this vessel, and should we fall in with them to leeward, they will, no doubt, be known to him; I shall endeavor to keep them both in the squadron so long as there is a hope of the detection of the murderers.

The force under my command is so reduced and scattered, that I find it difficult to afford as much protection as I could wish to our commerce, but I shall endeavor to employ it to the best advantage. To fit out the expedition, I have been compelled to lay up the John Adams.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

On the 7th instant, Daniel Collins came on board this vessel, in the harbor of Matanzas, and stated as follows:

That he sailed from Wiscasset as second mate of the American brig Betsey, Captain. Ellis Hilton, bound to Matanzas, on or about the 25th of November. That the brig was cast away on one of the Double Headed Shot Keys, about the 21st of December, when the officers and crew, seven in number, took the long boat and steered for the Island of Cuba, and the next day made one of the keys about twenty leagues to windward, at which place they found two fishing huts and five men, with whom the captain made an agreement to be brought with himself and crew to Matanzas. The night previous to their intended departure, which was two days after their landing, one of the fishermen was absent during the whole night; when they were on the point of shoving off, they were boarded and taken possession of by a boat having ten men on board, armed with muskets, blunderbusses and cutlasses, which the fishermen told them, when first seen, was the King's launch, who soon after tied the captain and crew of the Betsey, put them into the perogues of the fishermen, and taking them into a little lagoon about half a mile from the huts, where they left their boat, taking with them no other arms than cutlasses. They then deliberately commenced indiscriminate murder, by cutting off the head of Captain Hilton, which seemed to be the signal for dispatching the others; the informant was knocked overboard by a blow, and finding that he had broken the cord with which he was tied, ran through the water (about knee deep,) and swamps, followed by two of the murderers, but fortunately effected his escape after witnessing the murder of all his comrades with the exception of one, who had also broken his cord and was trying to escape, but presumes that he was overtaken, being very closely pursued by two or three. The informant on the sixth day got to an estate called Santa Clara, on the Rio Palma, where he received some nourishment and rest, and continued his route to Matanzas, where he arrived last evening, presented himself to Capt. Holmes of the American ship Shamrock, belonging to the same owner, (Mr. A. Wood, of Wiscasset.) Captain H. immediately recognized him, and says that he is a sober, honest and upright man.

(Signed) J. McKEEVER.

U. S. Steam Galliot Sea Gull, Matanzas, January 7, 1825.

U. S. Steam Galliot Sea Gull, Havana, January 24, 1825.

Sir:

By the public prints containing your communication to the President, and his message to  Congress, respecting the Foxardo affair, I perceive that orders have been issued for my return to the United States without unnecessary delay. I shall, therefore, proceed in this vessel with all dispatch to Thompson's Island, where I hope to meet on my arrival the orders alluded to.

I have sent the two barges down inside the Colorados reef on a cruise of from fifteen to twenty days. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

Washington, March 6, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit to you a number of original letters and depositions respecting transactions at Foxardo, and the piratical character of the place.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Note.—This letter refers to certain papers which were sent on the 6th May by Commodore Porter to the Department, and on the following day sent by the Department to the court of inquiry, and by the court rejected as incompetent evidence, and returned. A part of them will be found in the proceedings of

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the court of inquiry, and the rest in page 74 of Commodore Porter's pamphlet, which is contained in the printed volume of his trial. The names of the writers of some of those in the pamphlet are omitted. The reason for the omission was probably that they were of a confidential nature, and the same reason now operates to prevent their being sent to  Congress.

Washington, March 16, 1825.

Sir:

It is now sixteen days since I had the honor to report to you my arrival here, in obedience to your orders of 27th December, and I have anxiously, since, awaited your further instructions.

I am aware, sir, of the interruptions the recent changes in government, and other circumstances, have occasioned to the transaction of public business; and however irksome and uncertain may be my present situation, and whatever anxiety I may feel on the occasion, it is not my wish to press on the Department my own affairs, in preference to those of more importance. I cannot, however, help requesting that there may be as little delay in the investigation of my conduct, both as regards the affair of Foxardo and the statements of Mr. Randall and Mountain, as is consistent with the public interests.

The state of ignorance and uncertainty in which I have been kept, as to the intentions of the government, and the desire of vindicating myself to the government and the public, and relieving myself from a species of suspension and supposed condemnation, must be my apology for now troubling you.

Officers continue to make to me their reports, and request of me orders; not knowing whether the Department still consider me in command of the West India squadron, I have been at a loss how to act. Will you be pleased to instruct me on the subject?

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable Sam'l L. Southard.

Washington, March 19, 1825.

Sir:

I have to ask of you that Mr. Thomas Randall may be notified of the intention of the Department to grant my request, that a court of inquiry be instituted to ascertain the truth of his statement, affecting myself and others, that he may be prepared, on the meeting of the court, to substantiate his charges against us, and to establish the truth of his reports to the State Department on the subject of piracies, &c.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard.

Washington, March 22, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday, which informs me that you are requested by Commodore Porter to apprise me that a court of inquiry will be held in a few days, one object of which will be to investigate his conduct in relation to the carrying of specie and neglect of his duties in the suppression of piracy.

Doubtless Commodore Porter, in requesting, and you, sir, in making this formal annunciation to me, of a fact which had already been published to the world, considered the notice of some special import to me, and designed that it should produce a correspondent effect upon my conduct; but as your letter does not state the relation in which I am considered as standing, either to Commodore Porter or the court, nor prescribe any course to be pursued by me, I am at a loss to know the object it was designed to produce. I have therefore to request that you will be pleased to state how I am particularly interested in the fact you announce, and the effect your letter was designed to produce upon my conduct, in reference to the approaching investigation.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient servant,

(Signed) THOMAS RANDALL.

Sam'l L. Southard, Esq., Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, March 24, 1825.

Sir:

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d, enclosing a copy of one from Mr. Thomas Randall, requesting to be informed how he is particularly interested in the court to be held on my account, in relation to charges exhibited by him against me and others, and the effect the information communicated to him was designed to have on his conduct. A copy of my letter of the 19th will place him in possession of the information required.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, D. PORTER.

Honorable Sam'l L. Southard.

Washington, March 25, 1825.

Sir:

Having an engagement at Norfolk of a private nature, requiring my attention there on the 29th of this month, and which will keep me away until the steamboat returns, I beg leave to ask of you

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whether the meeting of the court, or any other circumstance, will require my presence here until the 2d or 3d of April?

As the steamboat will leave here on Sunday, an early answer is solicited.

With great respect, I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, May 10, 1825.

Sir:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th, informing me of the reception of mine, dated March 6th, &c., which should have been dated May 6th, the day on which it was written; the mistake originated with the clerk.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Honorable S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.

Washington, May 30, 1825.

Sir:

Late on Saturday night (the 28th) I received from your messenger your communication of that date, informing me that the court of inquiry had closed its examination into the matters submitted to it, and made report to the Department; also apprising me of the intentions of the Executive with regard to me. Ignorant as I am of the report of the court, I can form no idea of the nature of the charges intended to be preferred against me, the motives of the Executive, or the object of the notification; I have the honor, therefore, to ask of you the necessary information to enable me to prepare for my defence.

With great respect, your very obedient servant,

(Signed) D. PORTER.

Hon. Sam'l L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy.