as testimony agst us. Will it not be well, in forwarding the correspondence to M: Erving to furnish him with the facts of an opposite tendency which fall within your personal knowledge. Great stress will doubtless be laid by the Spanish Govt on the principle asserted by Onis, that France & Spain alone who were parties to the Treaties, can interpret the respective intentions recorded in them. To this must be opposed the meaning deducible by the legal rules of interpretation, and the fact that the U. S. were bona fide purchasers without notice of any other interpretation, altho' Spain was not ignorant of our views, of purchasing, and even referred us to France as alone having the right to sell. The second letter of Onis shows adroitness; but it does not clear his Govt from the charge of not proceeding at Algiers in the spirit we were authorized to expect. If However Algiers obtained the Brig, without redeeming it from Spain no pretext remains for a demand on the U. S.

Cordial regards

1 The argument of the United States was put forward by Monroe June 10, 1816, in a long note to Onis.-See Am. State Papers, For. Rels., Vol. IV., 429.

TO JAMES MONROE.1

MONTPR July 26, 1816.

DEAR SIR

Herewith are the communications from Mr Adams. He pinches Castlereagh not a little. I always suspected that the enlistments & apprenticeship of captured Negroes, in the W. Inds would be the refuge agst the allegations on our part.2

But, if the former be for life, & the latter for 14 years even for those of mature age, both be forced, as the law & order in council shew, how can either be a situation in which the unfortunate blacks are protected in the privileges of freedom? Nor is it conceivable that the act of Parl', which contemplates evidently the African trade, and seizures on the high seas, can be fairly applied to negroes in the U. States in a slavery originating with G. B. herself, seduced or forced therefrom with her sanction, and rec on board vessels within the waters of the U. S. As the B. Govt [illegible] a full [illegible] into the charges agst its officers, whether with a view to discredit this Govt or for

1 From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

2 In his note of April 27, 1816, to Adams, Lord Castlereagh said: "By the Act for the abolition of the Slave trade and the consequent order in Council (of which copies are inclosed for the information of the American Minister) all negroes captured at Sea are condemned as prize to His Majesty and the disposal of them after condemnation is specially limited to their enlistment into the army or navy by which they at once by Law acquire the Rights of freemen, or to their being bound for a limited time as free apprentices to persons capable of teaching them some Trade or Handicraft.”—D. of S. MSS. Despatches.

whatever other purpose, it will be proper to promote the establishment of the truth. It will be particularly proper to keep in the front of the transaction, the inviting proclamation of the B. Commander, and the bondage de facto into which, it is admitted, that the negroes are placed, under the name of freedom & protection. I hope M Adams will not fail in the most suitable stage of the business to do justice to this view of the subject. It will put our charges on defensible ground, even if we fail to establish what is fairly to be believed, that the captives or fugitives in question were sold into the ordinary slavery of the W. Indies. The object of La Castlereagh evidently is to draw the question to a point most difficult of proof, and in the failure of it to avail himself of an ostentatious zeal for an impracticable investigation.

Yours

TO JAMES MONROE.

D. OF S. MSS. MISCL. LETS.

DEAR SIR

MONTPELLIER Aug. 4. 1816

I reca yesterday the 2 letters from Onis herewith returned, and today copies of the papers transmitted by M: Crowninshield, which as the originals are in the Dept I return. The law of nations, and our position in relation to the contest between Spain & Spanish America will of course govern the reply to these representations.

VOL. VIII.23.

The remarks of Judge Story as to the fisheries are valuable, and furnish some precise objects for discussion with the B. Govt If Mr. B[agot] will accede to the most favorable arrangements marked out, it may be well to close with him. Whether the one next best ought to be accepted, is a more delicate question; notwithstanding the opinion of Mr. Crowninshield on the subject. I do not think in the present temper & situation of G.B. that delay with a prudent conduct on our part will injure our prospects. And it appears after all, that the right to cure fish on the B. shores, the fish cured on them being the proportion only of or of those caught by our vessels in those waters, is of less importance than was supposed. How far the waters within the marginal league have been used, and wd be prohibited if not stipulated is to be ascertained. On the whole, I still think unless an arrangement likely to be satisfactory can be obtained, it will be better to prolong the negotiation, than to cut it short from a despondence as to better terms. I observe that J. Story represents the shores of Labrador as a good deal settled. If this be the fact and could appear in an arrangement of our use of them, we might accept the use of the shores without any unselfish surrender of our pretensions, which are limited to unsettled districts. Perhaps M3 B. may be willing to make a partial arrangement, leaving open the negociation for its extension. If this can be done in a form avoiding implications adverse to our claims, it wa be a safe & might be an

eligible course.

It might be predicated on the want of full information, and the purpose of obtaining it. The sources of further information pointed at by the Judge may deserve attention.

best respects & regards

TO JOHN GRAHAM.

D. OF S. MSS. MISCL. LETS.

DEAR SIR

MONTPELLIER Aug. 5, 1816.

I return the letter from M Bagot. It manifests a good disposition on his part, and on that of the Commander in chief in Canada. But it appears by communications to the War Dep from one of our own sources, that the hostile purposes of the Indians in question are the effect, of instigations from British Traders. I have desired M: G. Graham to lay these communications before the Dept of State. In connection with those from M: B. they will bring the whole subject into the conversation desired by M: B. The British authorities ought to repress a resort to their posts, of Indians from our side of the boundary, at least for political purposes; and to prohibit effectually the misconduct of their traders. If this

1

July 29 Bagot wrote a private letter to Monroe saying he had just received information from the Commander-in-Chief in Canada that a very hostile spirit had been manifested towards the United States by the Indian tribes, "in consequence, as it seems, of the American Government having signified their intention of erecting Forts within their land during the course of the summer."-D. of S. MSS. Notes.