(Inclosure G. 3.)-The Governor of Porto Rico to Captain Spence. (Translation.) SIR, Porto Rico, 31st August, 1822. I HAVE the honour to answer the Note which you were pleased to address to me, under date of 28th instant, relative to the indemnification which ought to be made to the American Vessels detained by Privateers of this Island, and condemned to pay Costs, after being declared innocent by the Courts of Justice; and also, relative to the nullity and illegality of the Blockade declared against the Ports of Terra Firma, for the reasons which you are pleased to give as your opinion. The principles established by the Maritime Law of civilized Nations are not unknown to me, nor the causes which have influenced the declaration of Blockade against the Ports occupied by the Insurgents; nor even the Maritime Military Force by which this declaration can be, and has been, supported; yet, as, on one hand, my authority being circumscribed to a Province, at a distance from those Places, has no influence, nor can have, in any Official acts; and, on the other, subjects of this nature belong, by their character, to the examination. and decision of the Supreme Governments of the Nations, it is my duty to avoid all interference in them, and to confine myself to the circle of my functions. I have before me the Note which you were pleased to enclose to me in your said Official Letter, containing the Vessels detained, with the circumstances in which they have been, and the consequences which have ensued. I owe it to the justice, to the unalterableness of my principles, and to the rectitude of the Government which I represent, to declare to you, that I shall take all the provisions within my power, to elicit the truth of what has occurred with respect to the detained Vessels, repeating, that you may rest assured, that the Laws of the Kingdom shall judge and decide upon them, without the possibility of any alteration in their legitimate application. Neither partiality nor personal interest, nor the passions shall have any voice, or take any part in the decisions: the Law shall dictate, and all, (I the first) shall submit to it. God preserve you, &c. Captain Spence. FR. GONZALEZ DE LINAREZ. (Inclosure G. 4.)-The Governor of Porto Rico to Captain Spence. (Translation.) SIR, Porto Rico, 1st September, 1822. I HAVE just received the Translation of your Official Note of the 29th ult., and which is an Answer to mine of the 27th containing also the former acknowledgment of the Letter of the Interpreter, De Ponce, which was communicated to me by Mr. Lord, a Citizen of The United States and now recently of the Declaration of Mr. Arthur Edgarton, Mate of the Brig Andrew Jackson, in which I have had the pleasure of reading that he and his Companions, detained on board the Privateer, had been well treated. You will be pleased, Sir, to let me know the things which have been plundered from the detained Vessel, and claim the damages which have ensued on her detention. I have taken all the measures which were in my power for eliciting the truth of the facts, in the manner provided by the Laws of Spain: and when, according to them, the Delinquents are tried and convicted, they shall be punished; then the Tribunals established by the Constitutional Law of the Monarchy will take cognizance, to which the power of judging and applying the Laws is exclusively granted-principles from which it is impossible for me to deviate, as it is with respect to those which rule in The United States, for any Functionary to deviate from them. You may rest assured, that, if the Authorities appointed there to try crimes of this class, are inexorable in their conduct, admitting nothing but Law and justice, those which are in the Territory of the Constitutional Monarchy of Spain, summoned for that purpose, will never yield in their principles of justice, and in the fulfilment of their duties. To them it belongs to try by the Laws, and to apply them, and to the political government of the People, to enforce the execution of the legal decisions of the Judicial Power, and to watch over the observance of the Laws, by taking care that no one breaks them. God preserve you many years. Captain Spence. FR. GONZALEZ DE LINAREZ. (Inclosure G. 5.)-The Governor of Porto Rico to Captain Spence. (Translation.) SIR, Porto Rico, 2nd September, 1822. YOUR Official Note of the 30th ult. has informed me of the intelligence which has reached you, of the motives which the Schooner Grampus had, for the hard and unexpected treatment of the Spanish Privateer the Palmyra. My former Communications have shown you what my principles are and what my conduct has been in this matter, as a faithful observer of the Fundamental Laws of the Spanish Monarchy. The truth of what has happened in that capture, will be the result of a legal investigation, in which sinister informations, which partiality or per sonal interest often dictate, have no part. When that shall have been elucidated in the way which the Laws require, our Supreme Governents will decide with justice what is proper. ptain Spence. God preserve you many years. FR. GONZALEZ DE LINAREZ. (Inclosure H.)-The Governor of Porto Rico to Captain Spence. (Translation.) SIR, Porto Rico, 9th September, 1822. I HAVE the honour to answer your Official Note of the 1st instant. Its object is-1st, The good conduct of the Schooner Grampus in the capture of the Pancheta. 2nd, The necessity under which the Government is, of putting a stop to the operations and irregular conduct of the Privateers towards American Vessels. 3rd, To procure the immediate liberation of those that may have been detained in the Ports. 4th, Prompt indemnification for the losses they have sustained. On making the enumeration of these matters, I must call your attention to my former Answers, because they have already been treated of in them implicitly and explicitly. Notwithstanding, I will repeat to you that the decision upon the justice or injustice, the validity or invalidity, the legality or illegality, of the Blockade of the Coast of Terra Firma, is beyond my authority: that the Privateers are informed by the Ordinances of their Cruize of their respective obligations, for the transgression of which they will be responsible, and punished by the Laws, in the same manner as in similar cases the Privateers of The United States would be by the justice of the Government, if they should transgress the limits which should be prescribed to them; but without this transgression they should not be responsible: lastly, that by the Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy, the functions of the Judicial Power are clearly designated, the Government being. totally prohibited from being joined with them; and one of the great props of civil liberty consisting in this clear separation. To preserve interior tranquillity and security; to procure public prosperity; to maintain established order; to watch over the observance of the Laws; to publish them; to cause the execution of the Decisions of the Courts of Justice; to be, in all its parts, an Agent of the Government-here, Sir, you may see the circle of my functions. Capt. Spence. God preserve you many years. FR. GONZALEZ DE LINAREZ. (Inclosure I.)-Captain Spence to the Secretary of the Navy. United States' Ship Cyane, (Extract.) St. John's, Porto Rico, 5th September, 1822. SINCE my Letter of the 3rd inst. transmitting my Correspondence, I have had a conversation with the Governor, who begs me to be assured, that all he can do, shall be done to meet my wishes, in relation to the Privateers fitted out of the Island; that those already out were equipped before he assumed the Government; that he is opposed to it, both in his private and publick capacity; that future restraints shall be placed upon them; and that he will remedy all abuses as far as he has the power. That the Brig Andrew Jackson he had ordered to be set at liberty; that he should inquire into the cause of her detention, and, unless good and sufficient reasons can be given, he will take steps to cause the Judge to be removed. In fine, that he will do his utmost to keep the Laws of Nations inviolate. That, upon the subject of Blockade he can do nothing; it was a question that must be settled between the two Governments; the Blockade had been declared by General Morillo, it was recognized, and the consequences of violating it were inevitable; over this question he had no controul. Hon. Smith Thompson. ROBERT T. SPENCE. (Inclosure J.)-List of the Names and Force of the Privateers fitted out from the various Ports of the Island of Porto Rico. Palomo.-A full rigged Brig, pierced for 20 guns, carries 6 guns, (181b. carronades) has a complement of 130 Men. Fitted out from this Port, and now on a eruize. Pancheta.-An hermaphrodite Brig, pierced for 16 guns, carries 10 to 12 guns, has a complement of 120 Men-captured by the Grampus. Schooner, General Pereira.—Pierced for 16 guns, carries 6 to 8 guns, and has a complement of 80 Men ; is fitted out from this Place, and now in this Port. Schooner, Bruquena.-Carries 4 guns and 50 to 60 Men: fitted out from this Port, and now on a cruize. Schooner, Hora de la Mar.-Fitted out from Faxardo, and now on a cruize; carries 1 gun and 40 Men. Flechera, La Carmen.-Fitted out from Porto Cabello; carries 4 guns, and a complement of 50 Men. Besides the above, there are (I am informed) 3 or 4 other small Privateers, from the different Ports of this Island, of the names and force of which I have no knowledge. DECREE of the Cortes of Spain, relative to a Pacification with the Spanish American Provinces, and annulling certain Arrangements concluded in Mexico.-13th February, 1822. (Translation.) Measures for the Conciliation of the Ultra-Marine Provinces. THE Extraordinary Cortes, in pursuance of the power vested in them by the Constitution, have decreed as follows: I. That the Government, without loss of time, shall occupy itself with the appointment of Persons who, on account of their talents, erudition, the good opinion entertained of them, and the fame whereby circumstances have distinguished them, are fit to be sent to the different Governments which are established in the two Spanish Americas, to hear and receive all the Propositions which may be made to them, in order to be transmitted to the Mother Country; excepting those States which have prohibited, or have in any way trenched upon, the absolute liberty belonging to European and American Spaniards, who may be resident in any part of the Ultramarine Provinces, of removing, or disposing of their Persons, Properties, and Families, at their pleasure, so as not to be exposed to any obstacle or measuretending to the detriment of their fortunes. II. That the Commissioners shall remain there until an answer be received by them, without the Government being, however, thereby prevented from adopting measures, in the mean time, for receiving the propositions which may be made to it, by Persons authorized by those Governments, and from transmitting them to the Cortes. III. That the Treaty of Cordova, as it is called, concluded between General O'Donoju and the Chief of the Dissidents of New Spain, Don Augustin de Iturbide, is illegal and null in its effects, as to the Spanish Government and its Subjects, as well as every other Act or Stipulation, relative to the acknowledgment of Mexican Independence, of the said General. IV. That the Government be invited to set forth, by means of a Declaration to the other Governments, with which it holds friendly relations, that the Spanish nation will, at all times, consider as a violation of Treaties, their partial or absolute acknowledgment of the Independence of the Spanish Ultramarine Provinces, until it has brought to a conclusion the discussions which exist between some of them and the Mother Country; and to explain all other things which can prove to Foreign Nations, that Spain has not yet renounced any of the rights which belong to her in those Countries. V. That the Government, by every possible means, do endeavour to preserve, and do reinforce, as soon as possible, the Points which, in any of the Ultramarine Provinces, are still united to the Mother Country, and obedient to her Authority, and do resist those of the Provinces which wish to separate from her; proposing to the Cortes the measures which are necessary, and may be within their power. Madrid, 13th February, 1822. RAMON GIRALDO, President. NICOLAS GARCIA PAGE, Deputy Secretary. DECREE of the Cortes of Spain, respecting a Pacification with the Spanish American Provinces.-28th June, 1822. (Translation.) THE Cortes, in pursuance of the power vested in them by the Constitution, have decreed as follows: |