(Lord Castlereagh,) that there were 3 distinct points relating to them which had been under discussion between the 2 Governments. The first regarding the Slaves carried away by the British Commanders from The United States, contrary, as the American Government holds, to the express stipulation of the Treaty of Ghent. After referring to the Correspondence which has taken place on this topic, at Washington and here, I observed that the last Note concerning it, which I had received from Lord Bathurst, seemed to intimate that this Government had taken its final determination on the matter; that I hoped it was not so I hoped they would give it further consideration-it had been the cause of so much anxiety to my Government-it was urged so constantly and so earnestly in my Instructions. The language of the Treaty appeared to us so clear and unequivocal-the violation of it, in carrying away the Slaves, so manifest-and the losses of property occasioned to our Citizens so considerable, and so serious, that I would not abandon the hope that further consideration would be given to it here, and ultimately that satisfaction would be made to The United States on this cause of complaint. Lord Castlereagh said, that he had not seen the Correspondence to which I referred, but that he would have it looked up, and examine it. There was, I told him, a special Representation concerning 11 Slaves taken from Mr. Downman, by the violation of a Flag of Truce sent ashore by Captain Barrie : I had also received from Lord Bathurst an Answer relative to this complaint, stating that it had been referred to Captain Barrie for a Report, and giving the substance of that which he had made. It did not disprove any of the facts alleged by Mr. Downman; but I must remark, that Captain Barrie was himself the Officer who had sent the Flag of Truce, and who was responsible for the violation of it—and that, as a general principle, it was scarcely to be expected that satisfaction for an injury could ever be obtained, if the Report of the Person upon whom it was charged should be received as a conclusive answer to the complaint. He said he supposed the complaint itself was only the allegation of an Individual, and that, naturally, reference must be made to the Officer complained of for his answer to the charge. I replied that the Documents I had furnished Copies of, in Mr. Downman's Case, did not consist merely of his allegations; there were Affidavits of several other Persons-taken, indeed, ex parte, because they could not be taken otherwise but they were full and strong to the points, both of the violation of the Flag and of the carrying away of the Slaves. He said he did not know how they could proceed otherwise, unless the affair were of sufficient importance for the appointment of Commissioners by the 2 Governments; but he had not seen the Papers, and would look into them.

The Hon. James Monroe.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

(15.)-Mr. Adams to the Secretary of State. (Extract.) London, 17th February, 1816. THE Note respecting the Slaves carried away, is a Reply to that which I received from Earl Bathurst, in October last, as an Answer to your Letter to Mr. Baker, and to my Letters of the 9th August and 5th September last to Lord Castlereagh. A Copy of Lord Bathurst's Note was transmitted to you immediately after it was received. The determination to refuse all satisfaction for this glaring violation of the Treaty appeared, by the Note, to be so settled and peremptory, that I thought it would be most prudent to allow some interval of time to elapse, previous to exposing all the distortion of facts and perversion of argument with which it abounded. I found, upon the conversation with Lord Castlereagh, that he had seen none of the Papers which had passed on this question during his absence in France, and this circumstance has afforded a proper occasion for urging the discussion again. The Hon. James Monroe.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

(16.)-Mr. Adams to Viscount Castlereagh.

London, 17th February, 1816.

THE Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from The United States of America, requests the attention of Lord Castlereagh to the Letters which he had the honor of addressing to his Lordship on the 9th of August and 5th of September last, in relation to the Slaves belonging to Citizens of The United States, carried away by the Naval Commanders of the British Forces from Places within The United States, subsequently to the Peace between the 2 Countries, and in violation of the engagement in the Ist Article of the Treaty of Ghent.

In pressing this subject once more upon the consideration of His Majesty's Government, the Undersigned deems it necessary to state the terms of the Stipulation in the Treaty, and the facts in breach of it, constituting the injury for which he is instructed to ask redress from the justice and good faith of the British Government.

The Stipulation of the Treaty is as follows:

"All Territory, Places, and Possessions whatever, taken by either Party from the other during the War, or which may be taken after the signing of this Treaty, excepting only the Islands hereinafter men. tioned, shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the Artillery or other public property originally captured in the said Forts or Places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the Ratifications of this Treaty, or any Slaves or other private property."

The facts in violation of this Stipulation are, that in evacuating sundry Places within The United States, which had been taken by the

continued not only upon the Coast, but actually on shore in America, until after the Ratification of the Treaty of Peace, and was, to the last, in the habit of receiving Letters on such subjects from all parts of the Country, Washington not excepted.

The Havana being now upon this Station, and it being possible that some of the Officers and People who were in the Tender may be still on board the Frigate, I will, whenever she returns to this anchorage, cause Captain Hamilton to make every inquiry and report to me hereupon; and I shall not fail to transmit this Report to their Lordships by the earliest opportunity afterwards, at which time I will also return the several Papers which have been transmitted to me referring hereto. I have, &c.

J. W. Croker, Esq.

GEO. COCKBURN.

(21.)-John Quincy Adams to the Secretary of State.

(Extract.) London, 15th April, 1816. SINCE this interview with Lord Castlereagh, I have received from him a Note respecting the Slaves carried away from The United States after the Ratification of the Peace. A Copy of it is enclosed; to reply to it, at present, would be to no purpose. I shall wait for your further Instructions.

The Hon. James Monroe.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

(22.)-Viscount Castlereagh to Mr. Adams.

Foreign Office, 10th April, 1816. THE Undersigned has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Adams' Note of the 17th of February, claiming, on behalf of The United States, all such Slaves belonging to their Citizens as had been carried away by the Naval Commanders of the British Forces, from Places within The United States, subsequently to the Peace between the 2 Countries.

The grounds upon which His Majesty's Government felt themselves compelled to withhold their acquiescence in the claim of The United States, as preferred in Mr. Adams' former Note of the 9th of August, have been already fully explained by Lord Bathurst in his Communication of the 2nd of October: it does not, therefore, appear to the Undersigned to be requisite again to discuss, at any length, the construction of the 1st Article of the Treaty of Ghent. Agreeing entirely in the arguments urged by Earl Bathurst on this subject, the Undersigned can never admit that construction of the Article to be the true one, which would apply to the restoration of Slaves a different rule from that applicable to private property; or which, admitting that the restoration of private property, Slaves inclusive, is to be

subjected to some limitations, applies to it a different degree of limitation from that conveyed in the words immediately preceding.

His Majesty's Government have always been ready to admit the most liberal construction of the Article in question. They have never pretended to resist the claim of The United States to indemnification for Slaves or private property belonging to their Citizens, which can be proved to have been in Places directed to be restored by the Treaty of Ghent at the date of the exchange of the Ratifications, and to have been afterwards removed. But they do and must ever deny, that The United States can have any claim to property not actually in the Places which, by the Stipulations of the Treaty, were to be restored at the time specified therein; because such a claim is utterly inconsistent with the provisions of the Treaty, and is equally unsupported by anything which passed in the discussion of that Treaty, or even by the original Projet of that Treaty, as offered by the American Negotiators.

That Projet, indeed, required that the Places should be restored, without carrying away any private property. If it had been then intended to provide for the restoration of all private property originally captured in the Places, instead of prohibiting its removal, the Article would have positively enjoined the restoration. What had been previously removed could not become the subject of the prohibition, for not being in the Place to be restored, it could not be carried away. Under this Projet, therefore, a removal previous to the Ratification of the Treaty was admitted to bar the claim of The United States, without reference either to the distance to which the property had been removed, to the actual state of the property, whether on Ship-board or on British Territory, or to the length of time which had elapsed since its removal.

The Undersigned, therefore, considers it impossible to inaintain. that the insertion of the words, " originally captured in the said Places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the Ratifications of this Treaty," (words which must be admitted, at least, of a restrictive nature,) can have given to the original proposition of the American Plenipotentiaries a greater latitude than it originally possessed.

The Undersigned trusts that the Government of The United States will, upon these considerations, not be disposed further to urge the general claim to indemnification which was the subject of Mr. Adams' former Notes. Animated with a sincere disposition to act towards all Powers with the strictest justice and good faith, His Majesty's Government will be most happy to attend to any representation on the part of The United States, which may have for its object the restoration, or indemnification for the loss, of property of her Citizens, actually removed from Places within the Territory of The United States, subsequent to the Ratification of the Treaty of Ghent. But, at the same time, the Undersigned cannot consider any property which had been, previous

to the Ratification of the Treaty, removed on Ship-board, as property forming a subject of such representation.

The Undersigned begs to renew, &c.

John Quincy Adams, Esq.

CASTLEREAGH.

(23.)-The Secretary of State to Mr. Adams.

(Extract.) Washington, 21st May, 1816. SHOULD the British Government persevere in its construction of the Ist Article of the late Treaty of Peace, respecting Slaves carried off, in violation, as we presume, of its obvious import, the President is willing to refer the question to the decision of some friendly Power; which you will propose. A reference is suggested, by provisions in the Treaty, applicable to anticipated differences in other instances; indeed, where such differences exist, no better mode can be adopted for settling them in a satisfactory manner. In this instance, the interest is too important to be neglected. It is impossible that the opinion of the British Government can be more decided than that of The United States. There is no reason, therefore, why The United States should yield to the opinion of Great Britain, more than that Great Britain should yield to that of The United States. John Quincy Adams Esq.

(Extract.)

JAMES MONROE.

(24.)-Mr. Adams to Viscount Castlereagh.

London, 17th September, 1816. 4th. SLAVES carried away from The United States by British Officers, after the Peace.

As the construction given by His Majesty's Government to the Ist Article in the Treaty of Ghent, in reference to the Slaves carried away from The United States by British Officers, after the Ratification of the Peace, is so directly at variance with the construction which the American Government think alone applicable to it, the Undersigned has been further instructed to propose, that this question should be submitted to the decision of some friendly Sovereign. This reference is suggested by provisions in the Treaty of Ghent itself, applicable to the contingency of differences in other instances; and it is conceived, that when such differences exist, no hetter mode can be adopted for settling them in a satisfactory manner.

Viscount Castlereagh.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

(25.)- Viscount Castlereagh to Mr. Adams.

SIR, I VERY much regret that the absence from London, at this season of the year, of several of the Prince Regent's Ministers, will preclude me from returning as early an Answer to your Note, of the 17th inst., as I

Foreign Office, 28th September, 1816.