Imprisonment of R. W. Meade. tonly confined in a dungeon in Spain, by the authority of that Government, have given to the subject the deliberation its importance deserved, and beg leave to submit the following report: 1816, down to the last accounts from Spain. The representative of this nation at that Court has repeatedly appealed to His Catholic Majesty for the relief of Meade, and the appeal has been in vain; the Court of Spain having refused either to restore the money deposited in its own treasury, by order of its own competent judicial authority, or to release the person of Meade from the long confinement to which he has been doomed. And, finally, the President of the United States, whose peculiar province it is to take cognizance of subjects of this kind, has caused a representation on the subject to be made to the Minister of Spain to the United States, demanding his immediate liberation. Nothing but a confidence that this representation will produce the desired result would have restrained your committee from recommending the adoption of measures of severe retribution. Your committee are of opinion that it is due to the dignity of the United States to adopt, as a fundamental rule of its policy, the principle that one of its citizens, to whatever region of the earth his lawful business may carry him, and who demeans himself as becomes his character, is entitled to the protection of his Government, and that whatever intentional injury may be done him should be retaliated by the employment, if necessary, of the whole force of the nation. It appears from the documents that R. W. Meade is an American citizen, who went to Spain in the year 1803 on lawful business; that, in the year 1806, such was the confidence of the Government in his integrity, that he was appointed navy agent for the United States at the port of Cadiz; a station which he held until the time of his confinement. Such was the correctness of his deportment, as to have been appointed by the tribunal of commerce at Cadiz, with the consent of all the parties concerned, assignee of a bankrupt, the amount of whose estate involved a high responsibility. He performed the duties thus devolved upon him honestly; and having collected for distribution fifty thousand dollars, he several times petitioned the tribunal to permit him to remit this sum to the creditors of the bankrupt resident in England; the only proper course left him to pursue, inasmuch as he had, when appointed agent of the bankrupt, given his bond to that tribunal conditioned to take charge of the effects of the bankrupt, and to be responsible solely to the tribunal for the proceeds, being prohibited under the penalty of the bonds from disposing of the funds without the sanction of the tribunal. A controversy having arisen between the creditors and bankrupt about the distribution, Meade offered IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, the money to either, if they would give a bond, with sureties, to the satisfaction of the tribunal April 4, 1818. of commerce, by which his own might be cap- The committee to whom were referred a resocelled. This they were unable to do. The tri-lution of the 12th of February, and a memorial bunal, of its own accord, and unexpectedly, decided that Meade should, on the following morning, place the money in the King's treasury until the parties litigant should give the security required; it being declared that all Meade's property should be sequestered in the case of nonpayment at the time limited. The money was forthwith paid by Meade into the treasury, in treasury notes equal to specie, and hence acknowledged by the Treasurer that the deposite had been made in due form, under his inspection, in effective specie; and that whenever the tribunal should order its payment, His Majesty would pay it in the same coin. from a number of citizens of the United States, residing in the city of Philadelphia, relating to the imprisonment of Richard W. Meade, report: That, upon an examination of the documents communicated to the House by the President, the following facts appear: On the second day of May, 1816, Richard W. Meade, a native citizen of the United States, who has resided in Cadiz for some years past, was arrested and closely confined in the castle of St. Catalina, which is described by the Minister of the United States at the Court of Spain as a felon's prison. At the time of the arrest Mr. Meade was the navy agent of the United States Notwithstanding this judgment, and the dis- at the port of Cadiz, and acted as consular agent, charge thereof, by the payment aforesaid, Mr. under an authority derived from Mr. Cathcart, McDermot, the agent for the British creditors, the Consul of the United States at that place, brought suit against Meade in the same court to and with the approbation of the Spanish authorrecover the very sum he had heretofore paid inities; Mr. Cathcart having appointed him to act conformity to its own judgment. The court in his stead, during his absence upon a visit he awarded judgment against Meade a second time made to the United States. Mr. Meade does not for this money. The latter appealed to the supe-appear to have ever renounced his character of rior tribunal, called alzadas. During its pendency, it is charged by Meade that the cause was removed, by the interposition of the British Minister, to the council of war; and by the same interposition his arrest and confinement were procured, from which he could be relieved only by a repayment of the money. He has languished in confinement from the 2d of May, a citizen of the United States, nor to have accepted from any foreign Power any right or privilege, nor to have contracted any obligation that could for a moment make his citizenship doubtful, or impair the claim he has upon his country for protection. Soon after his confinement began, George W. Erving, Minister of the United States at the Imprisonment of R. W. Meade. Court of Spain, interposed to obtain his liberation, and from the 27th of August, 1816, to the 9th of May, 1817, made repeated and earnest applications to the public functionaries of Spain. claiming his release, as a citizen of the United States unjustly deprived of his liberty. It is chiefly from this correspondence, accompanying the Message of the President, that the committee have been able to obtain any knowledge of the causes that led to Mr. Meade's arrest and impris onment. could be collected by the treasury to restore the deposite made by Mr. Meade. From the date last mentioned, (4th of August, 1815,) it does not appear that any proceedings took place until the 2d of May, 1816, when the tribunal of war issued the order under which Mr. Meade was arrested and continues to be imprisoned. This order was founded upon a suggestion made by McDermot, that Mr. Meade was about to leave the Kingdom, and required him to "deliver up the aforesaid deposite, (meaning the money belonging to the bankrupt's estate,) in like manner, and in the same specie, as he had received it, or to give full, clear, and sufficient security, to the satisfaction of the tribunal of commerce at Cadiz; and, in default thereof, to be removed to a public prison, to prevent all evasion of the sentence against him." It is understood that the tribunal would receive nothing as satisfactory security but a deposite of specie. Mr. Meade, it seems, had been regularly appointed assignee at Cadiz of the estate of James W. Glass, declared a bankrupt in England, and in that capacity, after faithfully executing his duty, there remained in his hands a sum of about $52,000 belonging to the estate, which there is reason to believe was the subject of controversy between different claimants. There is no complaint or suggestion that Mr. Meade improperly retained this money in his hands, or was prevented from paying it over by any consideration The proceeding of the tribunal of war is apbut that of a just regard for his own security, parently so destitute of all foundation in justice, which did not, under the then existing circum- and so plainly contradictory to the royal decree stances, permit him to part with the fund; and of the 4th August, 1815, that it becomes necessait seems that he could not under any circum-ry to examine, for a moment, the only suggestion stances pay the money, without the consent and direction of the Consulado of Cadiz. In this state of things, on the 18th of February, 1814, the Consulado of Cadiz, a tribunal whose jurisdiction over the matter does not appear to be questioned, made a summary order, requiring Mr. Meade, within a limited and very short time, (about twenty-four hours,) to deposite the abovementioned sum of money in the treasury general of the province. With this order Mr. Meade complied on the following day. The fact of his compliance was vouched at the time by the usual and authentic evidence from the proper officer, and has since been satisfactorily established, in the manner that will hereafter appear. The Consulado, by its own act, in taking the fund from the hands of Mr. Meade, and causing it to be deposited in the public treasury, would seem, upon every just principle, to have liberated him from further accountability. That tribunal, nevertheless, soon after entertained a new proceeding against Mr. Meade, at the instance of a certain John McDermot, the agent of Duncan Hunter, having for its object to compel him to pay to the Consulado the same amount which he had been previously ordered to pay, and, under their order, had already paid into the public treasury; that is, in substance, to pay the same sum a second time. The Consulado made a decree against him to that effect. From this decree Mr. Meade appealed to the superior tribunal of the province, called the alzadas," but its interference was overruled by the tribunal of war at Madrid, and this latter confirmed the sentence of the Consulado at Cadiz." On the 4th of August, 1815, a royal decree was issued, suspending the further proceedings of the Consulado against Mr. Meade, until funds bearing the semblance of a vindication of it that has been offered on the part of the Spanish authorities. of the 10th September, 1816, alleges "that Mr. Don Pedro Cevallos, in his note to Mr. Erving Meade attempted to restore (alluding to the payment into the Treasury) the money demanded of him, in credits of the Treasury." The precise import of this allegation may be understood to be, that Mr. Meade had made the deposite in Government paper, instead of making it in specie. That Mr. Meade made the deposite in what was equivalent to specie, and was received as such by the officer authorized to receive it, is perfectly clear. The Intendant of the Treasury gave him a receipt for the deposite, made pursuant to the order of the Consulado. In answer to an inquiry soon after directed by the Consulado, the same officer replied, that the deposite had been made in effective specie, and that he would respond for the specie. The royal order, or decree, of the 4th August, 1815, is founded upon the admission of the same fact. But there is still further evidence, though further evidence would seem to be unnecessary. In November, 1816, the Treasurer General of Spain distinctly put the questions to the Consulado, whether the deposite had been made? whether it still existed? and whether there was any impediment to its return? That tribunal, with equal distinctness, replied, that the deposite was made, pursuant to their or der, "in Treasury notes of effective cash, which said Meade had to receive from said Department, and the deposite was thus made: the Treasurer obliging himself to hold the amount at the disposition of this tribunal." They state, also, that the deposite still exists at their disposition, and that they cannot resolve to whom it is to be returned. And, again, on the 29th April, 1817, the treasurer of the revenue, or provincial rents of Cadiz, Relations with Spain-Blockades. states explicitly to the Treasurer General of Spain, that the deposite had been made, and had not been returned. With such an accumulation of evidence from sources of unquestionable authenticity, and wholly uncontradicted, to show that the deposite had been made in what was equivalent to specie, and received as specie, and that the Treasury became, and acknowledged itself to be, answerable for the amount, it is almost superfluous to add a remark, which the course of the business very naturally presents, tending to the same result. If the order made by the Consulado in the first instance had not been complied with, that tribunal would have proceeded to enforce its authority by summary and direct compulsion; in other words, it would have used the means with which it is invested by law to compel Mr. Meade to do exactly what that order required. This would have produced an immediate inquiry whether he had or had not complied, and would have enabled Mr. Meade to justify himself. The resort to an irregular and arbitrary course, which avoids that question, affords the strongest reason to believe that the allegation of Mr. Cevallos was known to be untenable. In fact, that allegation has since been wholly abandoned; for, in the three notes subsequently addressed to Mr. Erving, in reply to his urgent remonstrances, one by Mr. Cevallos, and two by his successor, Mr. Pizarro, it is not even alluded to. It is impossible, however, to avoid remarking the extraordinary character of one of the questions put to the Consulado in November, 1816, and the still more extraordinary character of the answer. The inquiry alluded to was, whether there was any impediment to its (the deposite) being returned? The answer is, that, from the circumstances of the suit still pending, this tribunal cannot resolve to whom the sum so deposited is to be returned. Why Mr. Meade should be imprisoned pending that suit, which was to determine to whom the money in the Treasury was to be paid, is a question that seems to admit of no answer that is reconcilable with common justice, more especially as the same document implies that the Treasury was to pay the money as soon as the suit should be decided, and, of course, the object of the suit was not to coerce Mr. Meade to pay, but simply to determine who was to have the money from the Treasury. There is still another view of this matter which the committee think it proper to submit, and which they deem of itself decisive to establish the flagrant injustice of Mr. Meade's imprisonment. If the deposite was made in paper, it is beyond a doubt that the paper was the evidence of a debt due from the Treasury to Mr. Meade, and the receipt of it amounted to nothing more than a payment of what was justly due to him; in fact, it was the same thing as if the Treasury had paid him the money, and he had immediately after repaid the same money to the Treasury. The Treasury, therefore, had no just cause to complain. It is equally evident that the individual interested in the deposite (Mr. McDer mot, or his constituent) had no reason to complain. Whether the deposite was made in specie, or in what was equivalent to specie, or how it was made, could not be material to him, provided it was so made as to give him a right to call upon the Treasury; that is, to make him a creditor of the Treasury for the amount, in case of an eventual decision in his favor. That this was the effect of the deposite made by Mr. Meade, and received by the Treasurer, is not, and cannot be disputed. The Treasurer cancelled the securities deposited, and engaged to respond for the amount in specie. If the Treasury of Spain had been ready and willing to fulfil this engagement, Mr. Meade's imprisonment could not have continued for a single moment; and it is, therefore, evident that he is kept in confinement simply because it is not convenient for the treasury to pay the money. And your committee are well assured that the Government of Spain, aware that, let the decision be what it might, the royal treasury would be called on to pay money in dispute, has, by a secret exertion of the authority which it possesses over the proceedings of the tribunals, commanded "the business to be prolonged as much as possible." In every point of view, then, in which the case can be considered, your committee can discover no justification for the imprisonment and sufferings of Mr. Meade. It does not appear that he has violated any civil or social duty which he owed by the laws of Spain, and for which, in the ordinary administration of justice, he might rightly be imprisoned. They are satisfied, too, that the continuance of his imprisonment is dependent upon the pleasure of the Government of Spain, and that his liberation may at any time be effected by that Government. Your committee hope and believe that.the demand made by the President will not be unavailing, but they think it proper, at the same time, on the part of this House, to give assurance of support in the measures that may become necessary, in case this expectation should be disappointed. They, therefore, submit the following resolution: Resolved, That the House is satisfied that the imprisonment of Richard W. Meade is an act of cruel and unjustifiable oppression that it is the right and duty of the Government of the United States to afford to Mr. Meade its aid and protection; and that this House will support and maintain such measures as the President may hereafter adopt to obtain the release of the said R. W. Meade from confinement, should such measures be proper and necessary. SPAIN-BLOCKADES. [Communicated to the House, February 17, 1818.] To the House of Representatives of the United States: Conformably with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 6th of this month, I now Relations with Spain-Blockades. lay before that House a report received from the be declared a good prize, whatever documents or Secretary of State, with a copy of the corre- destination she might have; but that he had left spondence referred to, and requested by that re-open to the commerce of neutrals the two ports solution. of Santa Marta and Porto Bello. FEBRUARY 12, 1818. JAMES MONROE. I have the honor to give you this notice, as it Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, to the Chevalier de Onis, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, &c. MARCH 20, 1816. Department of State, Feb. 12, 1818. The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 6th of this month, requesting the President to cause to be laid before that House the correspondence with the Government of Spain, to which a letter of the Minister of the United States at the Court of Madrid, of the 25th of Oc-ter of March 2, announcing the continuance of a tober, 1816, communicated with a late message of the President to that House, relates, has the honor, herewith, to submit to the President a copy of the correspondence requested. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. SIR: I have had the honor to receive your let blockade of the Spanish coast in South America, from Santa Marta to the river Atrato, inclusive of the latter, by the Commander-in-Chief of His Catholic Majesty's forces; and that if any vessel is met south of the mouths of the Magdalena, or north of the parallel of Cape Tiburon, on the points, she shall be seized and condemned as Mosquito coast, and between the meridian of those prize, whatever may be her documents or destination. You state, also, that the ports of Santa Marta and Porto Bello are left open to neutrals. PHILADELPHIA, September 5, 1815. SIR: Under the date of 30th June, I am advised by Lieutenant General Don Pablo Morillo, I have to state that this proclamation of GenCaptain General of Caraccas, and commander of eral Morillo is evidently repugnant to the law of the expedition which His Majesty has destined nations, for several reasons, particularly the folto re-establish tranquillity at Carthagena, that, lowing: that it declares a coast of several hunwith a view to accelerate this important object, dred miles to be in a state of blockade; and behe is about to establish the most rigorous block-cause it authorizes the seizure of neutral vessels ade of the ports of the viceroyalty of Santa Fe, including Carthagena, and that, in consequence, every neutral vessel which shall be found, not only in those ports, but on those coasts, shall be made prize of, in order to prevent those who have revolted from His Majesty's authority receiving succors of any kind. I have thought it proper to communicate this to you, for the information of the President, that the injuries may be avoided which would result to the citizens of this Republic, if they continue, as heretofore, to trade with the rebels against the authority of my sovereign. I renew to you, &c. LUIS DE ONIS. at an unjustifiable distance from the coast. No maxim of the law of nations is better established than that a blockade shall be confined to particular ports, and that an adequate force shall be stationed at each to support it. The force shall be stationary, and not a cruising squadron, and placed so near the entrance of the harbor or mouth of the river as to make it evidently dangerous for a vessel to enter. I have to add, that a vessel entering the port ought not to be seized, except in returning to it after being warned off by the blockading squadron stationed near it. I am instructed by the President to state to you these objections to the blockade which has been announced in your letter, that you may communicate them to your Government, and in confidence that you will, in the mean time, interpose your good offices, and prevail on General Morillo to alter his proclamation, and practice under it, in such a manner as to conform, in both respects, to the law of nations. Don Luis de Onis to the Secretary of State. PHILADELPHIA, March 2, 1816. SIR: Don Pablo Morillo, Commander-in-Chief of the forces destined by the King, my master, for the pacification of the viceroyalty of Santa In stating to you these well-founded objections Fe, says to me, under date of the 19th of Decem-to the blockade of General Morillo, I have the ber last, that, after having compelled Carthagena honor to observe that your motive for commuto surrender at discretion, he had found it expe- nicating it is duly appreciated. dient, for the complete re-establishment of the tranquillity of the viceroyalty, to continue the blockade from Santa Marta to the river Atrato, inclusive; and to give orders that if any vessel be met with further south than the mouths of the Magdalena, or further north than the parallel of Cape Tiburon, on the Mosquito shore, and be I have the honor to be, &c. JAMES MONROE. Don Luis de Onis to the Secretary of State. PHILADELPHIA, March 25, 1816. SIR: I have received your official letter of the tween the meridians of those points, she would | 20th of this month, in which you state that the Relations with Spain-Blockades. I will communicate to His Majesty, in compliance with the wishes of the President, what you have stated to me in your note; and I will, with pleasure, avail myself of the departure of Mr. Hughes to write to General Morillo, inviting him, in the execution of his blockade, to avoid the injurious effects resulting therefrom to the citizens of this Republic, so far as may be compatible with the security and tranquillity of His Majesty's dominions under his command. proclamation of General Morillo is repugnant to employed. Actuated by a constant desire to prethe laws of nations, as well because it declares a vent the misfortunes which such injuries might coast of several hundred miles in a state of block- occasion to the citizens of this Republic, I have, ade, authorizing the capture of every neutral ves- on other occasions, suggested a very simple mode sel at an unlimited distance from the coast, as of putting an end to them, namely, that the Presithat it is an established maxim among nations dent would be pleased to issue orders that no vesthat a blockade should be limited to the ports sel should be cleared at the custom-houses save where there may be a stationary and not a cruis- for a specified port, according to the general pracing force sufficient to make the entrance of the tice of nations. The practice of clearing many harbor or river where it may be placed danger-vessels for the West Indies, generally, carries with ous; and, finally, even in this case, a vessel ought it a suspicion of a design to carry on a contranot to be captured when she is about to enter a band trade, or to disturb the public tranquillity port, save only when, after having received no- in the dominions of the King, my master; and, tice of the blockade, she attempts to infringe it. therefore, the owner who clears out his vessel in You are pleased to state to me that the President this way, and without the certificates of the Spandesires that I will communicate these observa-ish Consuls, cannot complain if it be detained as tions to my Government, and that I would use suspicious. In fact, what difficulty can a mermy good offices, confidentially, with General Mo- chant, acting fairly, have to specify the port of rillo, so to modify his blockade as to make it con- Havana, Kingston, Santa Marta, Guaira, Porto form to the laws of nations. Bello, Rio Janeiro, or any other of an independent nation? None, unquestionably; since, in case of not finding a good market at one place, he proceeds to another, with a declaration made at the port he touched at of the motives which obliged him to alter his destination. The wisdom and humanity which eminently distinguish the President and the Administration cannot fail to perceive the solidity of these observations, nor to approve of the policy of His Majesty in taking the most suitable and effectual measures to secure I must, however, observe to you, sir, that Gen- his subjects from the civil war which a number eral Morillo has a naval force disposable and com- of adventurers are endeavoring to kindle in his petent, as I conceive, to the object in view; that, dominions; and I therefore flatter myself that he on the 3d of February, there sailed from Cadiz a will be pleased to take into consideration the exsquadron of a ship-of-the-line, two frigates, and pediency of adopting the measure I have had the several smaller vessels, as a reinforcement; that, honor to suggest to you, by preventing the collecon the coast intended to be blockaded by the said tors of the customs from clearing out vessels, exGeneral, there are no other ports of entry for mer- cept for specified ports, and notifying merchants chant vessels than those of Carthagena, Santa trading with the possessions of the King to conMarta, and Porto Bello; and, finally, that the form to the established rules and orders, regulameasure taken by him, not being directed againstting not only neutrals but Spanish vessels also, an enemy's country, is not, as stated in your esteemed note, contrary to the laws of public rights. The object of the General's proclamation is to notify the traders of foreign nations that he will maintain the laws for the regulation of the Indies in their full force; the observance of which had been relaxed, in latter times, by the effect of circumstances, though modified, however, in favor of neutrals, by leaving two ports open to their commerce. You are aware that, agreeably to those laws, no foreign vessel was allowed to trade with the dominions of His Majesty on that continent, without a special license, and that vessels found near, or evidently shaping a course towards them, were liable to confiscation as interlopers. Not only that part of the coast lying between Santa Marta and the river Atrato, but the whole Extract of a letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. coast eastward and southward of those points, from the Oronoco to the territory of this Republic, belongs to the Spanish monarchy; and, consequently, any vessel whatever found near it, or standing towards it, can have no other object than to carry on smuggling, or stir up a civil war in the King's dominions: in either case, the laws of nations recommend the seizure of the vessels so that they may avoid the consequences of their non-observance, notwithstanding His Majesty's desire to afford them, within his dominions, all the benefits and advantages compatible with the public safety and his royal interests. I hope that the explanation which I have thus taken the liberty to make, until I have received the answer of the King, my master, will quiet the anxiety of the President as to the proclamation of General Morillo, and that it will be viewed by him as a continuation of my earnest desire to reinstate the commerce of the two nations, reciprocally, on the most liberal and favorable footing. I renew my respects, &c. LUIS DE ONIS. Erving, dated DEPARTMENT OF STATE, July 20, 1816. You have been apprized already of a similar measure which was taken in regard to the vessels which had been seized at Carthagena, and the citizens of the United States, who, under various pretexts, had been arrested and imprisoned |