Relations with Great Britain.

Mr. King to the Secretary of State.

NEW YORK, July, 1803. SIR: I take the liberty to add a few miscellaneous articles by way of supplement to my last despatch.

AMERICAN SEAMEN.

As soon as the war appeared to me unavoidable, I thought it advisable to renew the attempt to form an arrangement with the British Government for the protection of our seamen: with this view, I had several conferences both with Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Addington, who avowed a sincere disposition to do whatever might be in their power to prevent the dissatisfaction on this subject that had so frequently manifested itself during the late war. With very candid professious, I, however, found several objections in discussing the subject with the first Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Hawkesbury having promised to sign any agreement upon the subject that I should conclude with Lord St. Vincent, I endeavored to qualify and remove the objections he offered to our project: and finally, the day before I left London, Lord St. Vincent consented to the following regulations:

mission, I concluded to abandon the negotiation, rather than to acquiesce in the doctrine it proposed to establish.

I regret not to have been able to put this business on a satisfactory footing, knowing as I do its very great importance to both parties; but I flatter myself that I have not misjudged the interests of our own country, in refusing to sanction a principle that might be productive of more extensive evils than those it was our aim to prevent.

NEUTRAL FLAG.

As it is possible that another attempt will be made during the present war to establish the rule that free bottoms make free goods, I ought not to omit the communication of the following anecdote:

Soon after the British armament in March past, Bonaparte sent his aid-de-camp-du-roi to Berlin, to announce his determination to occupy Hanover, and to close the Elbe against England, in the event of war. The Prussian Cabinet, a thing very rarely done, immediately despatched a courier with orders to Baron Jacobi, the Prussian Ambassador at London, to apprize the English Government of the views of France, to impress the dissatisfaction with which Prussia had learned them, and to offer to protect Hanover and the North of Germany, provided England would give her consent to the principle that free ships should make free goods. The English Cabinet immediately replied, that the German Empire is bound to protect the rights of its several members; that Hanover must therefore look to Germany, and not to England, for sup2. Each party will prohibit its citizens or sub-port; and, in respect to the proposed rule that free jects from clandestinely concealing or carrying away from the territories or colonial possessions of the other, any seamen belonging to such other

1. No seaman nor seafaring person shall, upon the high seas and without the jurisdiction of either party, be demanded or taken out of any vessel belonging to the citizens or subjects of one of the parties, by the public or private armed ves sels or men of war belonging to, or in the navy of the other party; and strict orders shall be given for the due observance of this engagement.

ports.

3. These regulations shall be in force for five years, and no longer.

On parting with his Lordship, I engaged to draw up, in the form of a convention, and send him, these articles in the course of the evening, who promised to forward them, with his approbation, to Lord Hawkesbury. I accordingly prepared and sent the draught to his Lordship, who sent me a letter in the course of the night, stating that on further reflection he was of opinion that the narrow seas ought to be excepted, they having been, as his Lordship remarked, immemorially considered to be within the dominions of Great Britain; that with this correction he had sent the proposed convention to Lord Hawkesbury, who, his Lordship presumed, would not sign it before he should have consulted the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, Sir William Scott.

As I had supposed, from the tenor of my conferences with Lord St. Vincent, that the doctrine of mare clausum would not be revived against us on this occasion, but that England would be content with the limited jurisdisction or dominion over the seas adjacent to her territories, which is assigned by the law of nations to other States, I was not a little disappointed on receiving this communication; and, after weighing well the nature of the principle, and the disadvantage of its ad

ships should make free goods, that no advantage nor service which could be named, would be sufficient to engage England to give it her sanction. In any circumstances, this would be the opinion of England; in the present instance, if I mistake not, the proposition was believed to have come, indirectly, from Paris.

COLONY TRADE.

In a very late conversation with Mr. Addington respecting the colony trade, he insinuated the probability that events might happen in the course of the present war, alluding, as I understood, to South America, that would enable England' to form with us such commercial arrangements as would be satisfactory. As Mr. Addington meant to be obscure, I could only conjecture his meaning; and my inference was, in case of the independence of South America, that the colony system must everywhere be abandoned-an opinion tertained by the principal members of the late not peculiar to Mr. Addington, but one that is enEnglish Ministry.

SOUTH AMERICA.

When the preliminaries of the late peace were signed, an expedition, fully prepared, was in readiness to set sail for the purpose of assisting the inhabitants of the province of Carracas in throwing off their obedience to Spain. Trinidad was retained by England, chiefly with the view of furthering this revolt; and if Spain be drawn into the war, which she will be unable to avoid, the

Relations with Great Britain.

expedition to the Carracas will be revived. No probable change of the Ministry of England will change this intention, for it is known to be the opinion of the first men of the nation that the secondary object of the present war, and one that must give England courage as well as resources to go on with the struggle, is the entire independence of South America.

With perfect respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and faithful servant, RUFUS KING.

Maryland Bank Stock.

Mr. King to the Secretary of State.

LONDON, May 1. 1803. SIR: According to the certificate of the Accountant General of the Court of Chancery, the fund now standing in his name, and claimed by the State of Maryland, is composed of98,518 29 Bank stock, worth at the present price of 170 15,290 17 9 5 per cent. stock at par 4,796 2 3 Cash in the Bank of

England

Sterling,

167,480 120
15,290 17 9

4,796 23

£187,567 12 0

It will be recollected that suits in Chancery were instituted many years back against Russell and other trustees of this fund

By Chase, agent of Maryland.

By Barclay and others, executors of Hanbury, for the two sums of eleven thousand pounds, and four hundred and forty pounds bank stock, and the accruing dividends granted to them by Maryland in 1786.

By Harford, devisee of Lord Baltimore, claiming as Lord Proprietor of the Province of Maryland, and, as such, entitled to all forfeitures.

Besides these persons, the Ewers, and the signee of Buchanan, have likewise respectively claimed an indemnity for losses of real estate in Maryland.

and others; and of the motion of the Attorney General, founded on the presumption that after the decree in Barclay's suit, the regular course of an information, for the purpose of vesting the stock in the Crown, would have been dispensed with by the parties consenting to receive their costs, and withdraw all opposition to the funds being disposed of as the Crown should direct.

Contrary, however, to this expectation, the solicitors of Mr. Chase and Mr. Harford refused their consent: the motion was therefore postponed to a future day, before which I sent the two subjoined letters to Messrs. Lyons and Collyer, the solicitors of Mr. Chase, who, in consequence thereof, withdrew their opposition. Mr. Harford continued to oppose; and when the motion of the Attorney General was resumed, on the 27th past, however, to his doing so, he came to me with an his solicitor again refused his consent: previous, cffer to withdraw his opposition, and consent to the motion of the Attorney General, provided I would engage to transfer to Mr. Harford ten thousand pounds bank stock. This I declined doing, with the observation that, as both the late and present Chancellor had given an opinion that, upon the dissolution of the Corporation or Colony of Maryland, the stock accrued as bona vacantia to the Crown; and as I held the engagement of the King to transfer the same to the State of Maryland, upon its being decided that the title to the same had accrued to the Crown, there was sumcient certainty that Maryland must ultimately, and in spite of all opposition, obtain possession of the entire fund; and although it might be some time before this could be accomplished, owing to delays which might be created, still, as the dividends would, from time to time, be reinvested, the property would, in the end, be received, together with compensation for its detention.

Could I have been certain that the representatives of Buchanan and of the Ewers, or that the as-holders of a considerable sum of the Colony bills of credit, said to have been issued upon the credit of this fund, and who have petitioned the King to apply the same according to its original destination, might not have been encouraged by the settlement with Harford to pursue their opposition, unless they also were bought off, I might, for the sake of finishing a tedious business. have agreed with the Hanburys to give to Mr. Harford. according to the respective interests of the proprietors, a sum of money, or bank stock, to induce him to withdraw his opposition. But, after mature consideration of the subject, I have preferred the course which is now to be adopted.

The title of Maryland has been more than once argued in the case of Barclay and others; and it has appeared to be the opinion, both of the late and present Lord Chancellor, that the Crown is legally entitled to this property. My correspondence with the Department of State has explained the means that have been employed to effect a transfer of it to Maryland, as well as the series of disappointments which has defeated them.

I have now the satisfaction to send you the copy of a letter that I have received from Lord Hawkesbury, in which the King engages, in the event of its being decided that the title to this stock has accrued and belongs to the Crown, that the same shall be transferred to the State of Maryland, together with the accumulations proceeding from the re-investment of the dividends. I likewise enclose for your information copies of the instruction given to the Attorney General relative to this stock; of the decree of the Court of Chancery, in the suit of Barclay and others, against Russell

The suit of Barclay, and others, having been dismissed upon the principle that the fund must. by law, accrue to the Crown, and the King hav ing given his solemn engagement to transfer the same to Maryland as soon as it shall have been decided that it has so accrued, it remains only that an information be filed against all the parties hitherto in opposition, in order to obtain a decision vesting the fund in the Crown; and for this purpose it may be expedient that the solicitors of Mr. Chase be instructed to assist those of the Treasu

Relations with Great Britain.

ry, and the family of Hanbury, in pressing the process to a conclusion. Owing to the dispersed situation of the parties, and of the angry perseverance which influences the conduct of Mr. Harford, it may require some time to complete the business; but it is a satisfaction that we hitherto have not enjoyed, that no future change in the Court of Chancery, or in the Ministry, can alter the decision of the one or the precise engagement of the other.

It would have given me great pleasure to have seen the close of a business that is of importance to the State of Maryland, and which has so constantly as well as zealously engaged my attention; but the entanglements of an intricate suit in Chancery, early and unfortunately thrown into an embarrassing situation, are reached with difficulty by diplomatic means: there have, moreover, been some difficulties in our way, which neither patience nor industry has hitherto been able to surmount. We may, I think, now put our opponents at defiance, as we at length stand on secure ground, and with a little more patience may reckon with confidence upon the attainment of our object. I shall leave with the papers of the Legation such a view of the subject as I hope may enable my successor with little trouble to hasten the conclusion of this long protracted business. With perfect respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and faithful servant,

RUFUS KING.

Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. King.

The Accountant General's certificate read. CUR-Dismiss the bill, with liberty for the parties to apply to the court on this or any other cause for a transfer of the funds standing in the name of the Accountant General, in trust in this cause, as they shall be advised; and no order on the petition.

Motion in Hanbury's cause.

26th April, 1803.

}

In

In Chancery.

Between Samuel Chase, Esq., plaintiff, and James Russell and others, defendants; between David Barclay and others, plaintiffs, the said James Russell and others, defendants; and between Henry Harford, Esq., plaintiff, and His Majesty's Attorney General and others, defendants.

Take notice that this honorable court will be

moved by the Attorney General, on behalf of His Majesty, on Wednesday, the twentieth day of April instant, being the first seal before next Easter term, that all parties be paid their costs of these suits, to be taxed by one of the masters of this court, out of the sum of four thousand seven hunthree pence cash, in the bank, in the name of the dred and ninety-six pounds two shillings and Accountant General of this court, in trust in the

DOWNING STREET, April 25, 1803. SIR: I have the honor to send you herewith enclosed a copy of the instruction that has been given to His Majesty's Attorney General, relative to the stock claimed by the State of Maryland; and I have the satisfaction, by His Majesty's commands, to state to you, for the information of your Government, that in the event of its being decided that the title to this stock has accrued, and belongs to His Majesty, His Majesty will cause the same to be transferred to the State of Maryland, togeth-cause, Chase against Russell; and that, after the er with the accumulations which shall have ac- payment of such costs, the Accountant General of crued from the reinvestment of the dividends; this court may transfer the several sums of nineand measures to enable His Majesty to fulfil his ty-eight thousand five hundred and eighteen intention to this purpose, shall be adopted with as pounds two shillings and nine pence bank stock, little delay as shall be consistent with a due ob- the sum of eight thousand three hundred and servance of the forms with which it may be re-five per cent. annuities, 1797, and the sum of six fourteen pounds, sixteen shillings and one penny quisite to comply.

I flatter myself, sir, that this communication will be regarded by your Government as a new proof of His Majesty's disposition to consult and promote the interests of the United States; and I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient,

humble servant,

HAWKESBURY.

Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. Perceval.

thousand nine hundred and seventy-six pounds one shilling and eight pence, bank navy five per cent. annuities, also standing in his name in trust in the same cause, and may pay the residue of the said sum of four thousand seven hundred and ninety-six pounds two shillings and three pence, cash in the bank; and, also, such future dividends on the said several stocks, as shall accrue thereon respectively, until such transfer thereof unto such person or persons as His Majesty shall, by warrant, under his Royal sign manual, nominate and appoint. Dated 18th April, 1803.

DOWNING STREET, Dec. 15, 1802. SIR: As I understand that a cause has long JOS. WHITE, been depending in the Court of Chancery, relaSolicitor for the Attorney General. tive to a sum of money which is claimed by the To Messrs. WADESON, BARLOW, & GROSVENOR.

France and Spain-Louisiana.

France and Spain-Louisiana.