such extensive powers. This refusal corresponded with repeated other decisions by the House, coupled with expressions of regret from members that General Jackson had acted with so much energy; but, as to the right to do so, there was no question. The temporary act of 1821 authorized it; and, as for our constitution, it had no more application in Florida under that act, or by its own vigor, than the Koran had. Judge Fromentin planted himself upon the constitution, and was immediately shown his error by General Jackson, and afterwards by the. Administration-to which he appealed. Callava presented the strongest case; and he was too well advised to have recourse to the constitution: he took position under the law of nations, and his character as Commissary of the King of Spain for the delivery of the province; and presented his case formally to the Executive Government through the Spanish Minister. From it he received the same answer which General Jackson had previously given, and which was as follows:

Mr. Adams to Don Joaquim de Anduaga, Minister from Spain, &c. [EXTRACT.]

Far would it be from the intention of the American GovIt

ernment to draw within its rigorous limits the exemption from ordinary legal process of a foreign public officer. would extend to them a liberal measure of time and a full portion of indulgence for the execution of the trust, and for departure after its completion. But it cannot perceive the justice of extending these privileges beyond their limits as sanctioned by custom, for purposes of injustice and wrong. And here we are led to the inquiry, what was the immediate occasion of the summons to Colonel Callava, his resistance against which prompted the subsequent rigorous measures, in reference to his person, house, and papers, complained of in the note of Mr. Salmon? He had withheld, and caused to be packed in boxes for transportation, public records, relating to the property of the province-judicial documents, indispensable for vindicating the titles to succession of infant and orphan children. Application was made to General Jackson, in behalf of those orphans, for the legal judicial process to obtain those papers. He had proof that they had been removed, after a summons from him to the person in whose possession they had been to produce them, to the house and possession of Colonel Callava, for the avowed purpose of subtracting them from the process issued by his authority. Had that officer's personal immunity been complete and unquestionable, what greater abuse of it could have been made than thus to wrest from the course of justice the vouchers on which depended the rights and the subsistence of orphans? General Jackson, considering that Colonel Callava was not entitled to such exemption from legal process, issued the ordinary summons which would have been applicable to any other individual; and, on his refusal to answer the interrogatories put to him, committed him, as others in like cases would have been committed, to prison. By the same order he issued a commission for securing the papers, which ought to have been delivered up before, with all suitable caution, to prevent the taking of any others, and, immediately after the satisfactory return of that commission, ordered the release of Colonel Callava. Such appears to have been the character of the transaction, upon the report of it made by General Jackson; and, although the President cannot but contemplate with unfeigned regret this occurrence, he thinks that blame should be imputed to the party deserving it, and whose misconduct produced it; and that it is a justice due to General Jackson to make him acquainted with the objections in the note of Mr. Salmon to his conduct, and to receive his full explanation of the motives and considerations which governed him.

[H. OF R.

proper, and Military Academy, for the years 1818, 1819, 1820, and 1821, and estimates for 1822, arranged under the various heads of expenditure, according to the present and former organization of the Department of War, made in

the documents, archives, and vouchers, of which the delivery had been expressly stipulated-vouchers indispensable to and for the establishment of public right, but utterly usethe United States, both for the dispensation of private justice less to Spain; and the detention of which, by the Captain General and Governor of Cuba, and by the Spanish Governors of both East and West Florida, however intended, and by whatever motive induced, can subserve no purposes but those of fraud, injustice, and oppression. After a succession of delays, for a period of six weeks at the Havana, in a climate noted for its unhealthiness to strangers, of the Com missioner of the United States authorized to receive those documents, and of the vessel which had conveyed him, he was compelled to depart without them, nor have they yet been delivered. The attempts to carry away, both from Pensacola and from St. Augustine, many of those papers, can be viewed in no other light than as flagrant violations of the treaty. The President relies that they will be so considered by His Catholic Majesty, and that he has ere this given the most positive and effectual orders for the faithful execution, in this respect, of that instrument. I pray you, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

&c.

Don JOAQUIN DE ANDUAGA, Envoy Extraordinary, &c.

The following is Governor CALLAVA's own statement of his case, as furnished to the Spanish Minister, dated October 8, 1821:

On the 17th day of July last, (1821,) at ten o'clock in the morning, I delivered West Florida, which was that day under my charge as Governor, in which character he met me, to the commissary, Don Andrew Jackson, in a public act, held in the Government house. There he received from me all the archives and documents registered, and directly relative to the property and sovereignty of that province of Florida; and he received them by faithful and exact inventories, which had been compared with the documents by four persons, and had been certified to be correct. From the constitutional Spanish alcalde, and by my order, an alcalde named by Don Andrew Jackson received, by like inventories, all the criminal and civil causes of the suits of the neighborhood which are pending before the tribunal of the first instance, over which he presided, and also the notices and papers of its archives.

The day previous to these transactions, (the 21st of August,) three persons, dependents of Don Andrew Jackson, (George Walton, Esq., Secretary of West Florida; Henry M. Brackenridge, Esq., Alcalde for the City of Pensacola; and Mr. John Miller, Clerk of the County Court for the County of Escambia,) came to the house of the secretary, (Sousa,) to be informed if he had in his possession some military testamentary dispositions, which they mentioned to him. Sousa told them yes, and without reserve they were shown to them; and he informed them that if they wished for any thing, they should ask me. All the papers which he had in his charge were closely examined; they declared they would carry off those which they had pointed out to him, because they could not be in his possession as a private individual. Sousa told them that he was not a private individual; that he was an officer depending on my commission and authority; and that he could not give them without my order. And finally they went away, leaving the papers. They demanded of him an answer in writing, which they obtained from Sousa, on a second visit.

The following day, (the 22d,) in the morning, this officer (Sousa) met me in the street. He informed me of the occurrence, and also told me that he had resolved to carry the boxes to my house, with all the papers which he had in his possession, and had delivered them to my steward, not having found me within; because he was afraid, from what he had observed in those people, that they might take them away from his house, and he wished to save himself from the responsibility. And I answered that it was well.

At four in the afternoon of the same day, and not much before, I was dining at the table of Colonel George M. Brooke, of the fourth regiment of the United States line, and of the garrison at Pensacola, by whom I had been inpany consisted of Brooke, his wife, Judge Fromentin, the commander of the United States vessel of war Enterprise, Mr. Michael Kearney, the citizens Vicar Don James Coleman, Don John Innerarity, Don Juan de la Rua, Don Pedro

de Alba, and Don Jose Noriega; and the officers Lieutenant Colonels Don Marcos de Villiers and Don Francisco Palmos; Captains Don Luis Guayare and Don Bernardo Prieto Lieutenants Don Arnaldo Guillemard and Don Carlos de Villiers; and Sub-lieutenants Don Mariano Latady and Don Jose Ignacio Cruzat, secretary of my Government. Don Domingo Sousa presented himself to me there, with an officer of the United States, telling me that he was a prisoner; and that the reason was, that the three persons of the former day had returned to his house the day before, telling him that they came with orders from Governor Andrew Jackson to seize the papers; that, having informed them that he had that morning sent them to my house, they searched his house, and at last carried him to prison. And he related before the company what had occurred about the papers with the same persons the preceding day.

immediately ordered my aide-de-camp, Don Bernardo Prieto, accompanied by Alba, who was the public interpreter, to present my compliments to Don Andrew Jackson, and to inform him that Sousa was in fact, as he had intimated, an individual of my commission, and was under my power and authority; and that he could not deliver the papers in question of himself; that he would have the goodness to ask me in writing for such as he might find it proper to claim; and if they were to be given by the regulation of the treaty, or other particular circumstances, I would deliver them to him by the same procedure which indispensable regularity dictated, as had been done with the other papers; or that he should have, in the same way, a distinct explanation of the reasons which prevented their delivery; and that every direct mode of conciliation should be sought, if there was any thing that could be of use to him in any

way.

The aide-de-camp and interpreter brought back for answer that Sousa should go to prison, and that they should tell me that I should be put into another dungeon with him.

It appearing to me that Don Andrew Jackson had not been well informed of my message by the interpretation, (although the incident offended me and surprised those at table,) I made the same persons return and inform him a second time; and that gentleman repeated to them in a loud voice, in the presence of several persons, and upon the street balcony, the same thing, saying, Colonel Callava to the dungeon!

An occurrence so strange and abusive in the presence of those who surrounded me at table, a great part of whom were there as a greater compliment to me, and others my subordinates, could not but raise a blush in my face, and disorder my stomach in the very act of eating, and in the convalescent state in which I was; and I felt myself attacked by a deadly pain, (which I almost habitually suffered, and which had frequently attacked me on the preceding days;) notwithstanding, I concealed the circumstance so as to render it impossible to be discovered, that, upon quitting the table, I might go and reflect, for it was not known upon what such answers or occurrences rested.

We all left the table. Brooke's lady was very much grieved, and I was going to the street, when three persons presented themselves to me in Brooke's house, telling me, from Don Andrew Jackson, that they came for the papers which Sousa had carried to my house, or to carry me with them to Jackson's house; because the Governor, with his authority, could not respect me in any other light than as a private individual.

The officers went away to carry my answer, which was given them in the presence of all at Brooke's house; and I, feeling now a recurrence of my pain, requested them to permit me to go home, whither several of those persons accompanied me. As soon as I arrived, I caused my secretary to extend in my office all that I had said to the persons sent, and with him I sent Lieutenant Colonel De Villiers, accompanied by another officer, to the Governor, thinking that thus my answer might be more correctly understood by him; but, when it was presented he would not receive it, and they brought it back to me unopen.

After these officers returned to me, now at my own house, the same three persons came with a determined and brief message that I must not make any pretensions to official situation or other considerations-the papers, or go with them." I was surrounded by my officers, and other persons of character, whose countenances I saw filled with pain and surprise to see me in the sad state of suffering, and unable to remain tranquil. Till then I knew not of what papers they spoke, as I had not entered upon an inquiry, nor had they given me an opportunity of doing so; and I answered

[MARCH, 1822.

DEPARTMENT OF WAR, March 1, 1822. SIR: Pursuant to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th ultimo, I have now the honor of submitting 66 a comparative view of the expenses

them that I was unable to go out of my house. I entreated that they would, at least, give me an abstract of what papers and of what class those were which they demanded, and I would inform Don Andrew Jackson that I was sick.

Without giving me any answer, they went away, and I laid myself on the bed. An hour afterwards, one of the three presented himself in my house, and gave me an abstract, written on a half sheet of paper, in the English language, and signed "Alcalde Brackenridge." I took it; I told him that I should have it translated, and should reply to it. He went away. I gave it to the interpreter at that hour, which was nine at night, and sought repose on the bed; but, a while after, and without further preliminaries, a party of troops, with the commissioners, assaulted the house, breaking the fence, notwithstanding the door was open; and the commissioners entered my apartment; they surrounded my bed with soldiers with drawn bayonets in their hands; they removed the mosquito net; they made me sit up; and demanded "the papers, or they would use the arms against my person."

In fine, in a short while after, one of the three went out, and returned accompanied with an officer, who, placing himself before me, told me I was a prisoner, and ordered me to dress myself. I answered that I was so, but that he would have the goodness to observe that I was so sick as that I ought not to be taken out of my house at that hour. He made no answer to the interpreter, and remained silent; but one of three deliberately ordered me to dress. I dressed in my uniform, was going to put on my sword, but, upon reflection, thought it better to deliver it to the officer. I did so, and one of the three took it from his hand and threw it upon the chimney, and in this manner I was conducted through the streets among the troops.

They took me to a private house, in which they presented me to Don Andrew Jackson, who, with two other persons, was seated near a table; the house was filled with people of all ages and classes, and there he made me a sign to sit down, which I did. By the only interpreter who had hitherto delivered and carried back the verbal messages I have already mentioned, he put one question to me, according to my recollection, confined solely to whether certain papers had been carried to my house by Don Domingo Sousa, and delivered to my steward.

I requested him to permit me to answer in writing, and to do so with my own hand. He granted it readily. I set myself to write a regular protest, that I might go on to answer afterwards; but I had hardly begun when Don Andrew Jackson took the paper from before me, and, with much violence and furious gestures, spoke for some time, looking at the bystanders; and when he had concluded, the interpreter told me that he had ordered me to give no other answer to all that he had asked me but yes or no.

Don Andrew Jackson proceeded to speak for a considerable time, looking at the people, but speaking furiously; and in the countenances of the bystanders I perceived fear or surprise, caused by what he said. He concluded, and the interpreter told me that the Governor would not treat with me in any other way than as a private individual; this idea (which I knew not how to account for) made me catch at the word, and demand some explanations. Don Andrew Jackson did not permit me to speak. I insisted that the interpreter should translate what I said; he was sometimes about to do this, and he interrupted him at the very beginning; so that of all that he said in two hours, (and Don Andrew Jackson directed himself to me,) only the aforesaid intimation was translated to me, that I had not a word to answer but yes, or no, to what I should be asked, and that the Governor would not treat me in any other way than as a private individual.

I remained silent; they called my steward; they asked him if certain papers had been delivered to him by Sousa at my house? He answered, yes.

Don Andrew Jackson drew from among other papers one which was already written; he read it to me, and it contained the order for committing me and my steward to prison.

I got upon my feet; I begged the interpreter to ask him if he did not shudder, and was not struck with horror at insulting me; and I pronounced a solemn protest against his proceedings. The interpreter informed him, and he replied, that for what he had done he had no account to give but to his Government, and he told me that I might protest before God himself.

I was carried off to prison at twelve at night, and my steward also. I left my house open, with three or four sol

of the Army proper, and Military Academy, for the years 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, and estimates for 1822, arranged under the various heads of expenditures according to the present and former organization of the Department of War." The military disbursements for the years 1816 and 1817, as explained by the letter from the Second Auditor, accompanying this report, are so blended with the arrearages of prior years, pay and subsistence of the militia, and claims of certain States and individuals, arising out of the

diers of the United States troops in it. I left all my private papers, all the official correspondence of my Government, and what was under my charge officially, without any ac count, at the discretion of Don Andrew Jackson. The keys of my trunks and money chests were not removed. I left in my house no person to represent me, and who was in my confidence; and, lastly, by a respectable citizen of the United States, and my officers, at two in the morning, a couch was spread for me and my other assistants to throw ourselves down upon; (for, by Don Andrew Jackson, I was permitted to throw myself, sick as I was, upon the bricks of the prison;) when, afterwards, I was informed by various persons who understood the Spanish and English languages, that the matters above related, which had been conceived against me, and were not translated by the interpreter, consisted in having endeavored to persuade the people that the papers were taken from the office of the alcalde, and that I was an accomplice in that criminal action.

At eleven in the morning of the following day, (the 23d,) Judge Elegius Fromentin issued a writ of habeas corpus for the release of my person; and Don Andrew Jackson answered that it was not proper to carry it into execution; but, on the same day, at one in the afternoon, he gave order that an officer should inform me that I was released from prison, and might be accompanied by him to my house to examine if the boxes were sealed.

I replied to the person who communicated this to me that I could not enter it unless accompanied by a judge, who might be present, and certify to the situation in which all things in it were found, since I had been dragged from it, leaving every thing to their discretion.

The officer accompanied me into the presence of Judge Fromentin, whom we found sick. I related to him what had happened, and entreated him to afford the protection of the law to my prerogative, person, and house. He informed me that he could not assist me, because his situation rendered it impossible; but he would cause witnesses to accompany me, who should make the examination, and sign it.

I went thither with the officer and many other persons: it was found open, with three or four soldiers within; the papers of official correspondence scattered upon the table, and the covers open; one box, which was left shut, and sealed with the seal of my Government, had been burst open, the seals broken, and again shut, with different seals; and nothing was found wrong in the contents of the money chest. I had not time to examine the papers, nor could I do it, because I was too much indisposed.

On the 26th day of the same month, about half past three in the afternoon, the secretary of the Government of Don Andrew Jackson delivered to mine the testimony which I had asked on the night of the 22d; and early in the morning of the following day, (the 27th,) sick as I was, I set out with my secretary for Washington, to give an account to the Minister Plenipotentiary of His Catholic Majesty near the Government of the United States, leaving without my power and authority in Pensacola what was under my charge belonging to the nation of which I am a dependent, because in me all confidence and every law of nations had been violated by the authority now existing there.

THE CASE OF VIDAL'S HEIRS. There were several cases, all judicial and affecting the rights of persons, in which the ex-Governor retained the papers to carry away; but the one which was the immediate existing cause of the strong proceedings against Callava, his secretary, Sousa, his major domo, Fullarat, and Judge Fromentin, was that of the heirs of Vidal. The case was this: Don Nicholas Maria Vidal had been an officer of the Spanish Government, an auditor of war; and died at Pensacola in 1807, leaving considerable property, and four children, minors, and all girls-the offspring of a connection with a quadroon woman- of course illegitimate. The VOL. VII.-18

[H. OF R.

late war, as to preclude the possibility of ascertaining the expenses of the army for those years, and so as to put it out of my power to embrace them in the comparative view called for; though it is believed, if it could be embraced in the comparison, the result would not vary materially from that founded on the expenditure of the year 1818, in which year a separation was made, for the first time, between the current expenses of the army, and the arrearages growing out of the expenditures of the late war.

property he gave by will to these children, and during fourteen years that had elapsed since his death, they had not been able to obtain possession of any part of it. Claims were set up against the estate, and suits instituted, and sales made, and the proceeds went into the hands of the strong house of Forbes and Company, and John Innerarity, as depositaries; and who proved, in one respect, to be very safe depositaries, as the heirs could get nothing from them. Great illegalities and frauds had been committed in the proceedings against the estate-so flagrant in one instance that the sale of 16,000 acres of land, twice made, had been twice set aside for fraud; and once by Callava himself acting as judge. Property sold in New Orleans, and other places, brought nothing to the children: the proceeds went into the hands of the depositaries, and although decrees were repeatedly made, ordering them to account with the heirs, yet every decree remained without execution. This was the state of the case when the Floridas changed hands, and the Americans arrived to supersede the Spanish authorities. The Vidal estate, so far as the heirs and the depositaries were concerned, remained as it had done for fourteen years -the depositaries, and some claimants, the whole beneficiaries of the estate; the heirs, aliens to their father's property. And now, a new feature of oppression developed itself. The records of the case were to be carried off by Callava! By the treaty all the archives of the province, and all evidences of titles and judicial proceedings, were to be delivered up to the American authorities; and the greater part were so delivered. But the papers in this case of Vidal, and some others, formed an exception; and were retained by the Governor to be carried to the Havannah. If this was done, there was an end of justice to the children of Vidal. They heard what was to be done: they applied to American lawyers: and they brought the case before General Jackson, as the supreme judicial authority of Florida. He took cognizance of it-found all the statements made to him to be true; and immediately instituted those proceedings for the recovery of the papers which led to the arrest of Domingo Sousa, Fullarat, Callava, Fromentin, and others. The design of all these arrests was to coerce the delivery of the papers, which being accomplished, the ar-rested and imprisoned persons were set at liberty, and the cause regularly proceeded with before Governor Jackson in his supreme judicial capacity, and justice done to the heirs of Vidal. In the United States, where people are accustomed to the regular administration of justice, the summary and energetic proceedings of General Jackson appeared to be harsh, and even lawless; but they were all justified by the Administration, and sanctioned by the negative action of Congress; and in Florida, where they took place, and where it was seen that no wealth or power could screen the oppressor; and that governors, judges, and rich merchants were laid by the heels, like common offenders; and the protecting shield of law and justice thrown over the most humble and helpless: in this province, so long a prey to oppression and corruption, the conduct of General Jackson appeared like an emanation of divine justice, greatly exalting the American character.