Mr. Sterling, district attorney, to Mr. Williams, Attorney General.
United States Court-House, Baltimore, January 30, 1872.
Sir: Referring to your letter of January 15, 1872, in which you say that the Secretary of State has requested you to obtain from me a full report of any evidence I may find on the records in my office, or of the United States courts in the district of Maryland, which will tend to show in what manner the United States sought to maintain its neutrality, before the courts in that district, from the year 1815 to 1830 inclusive, I respectfully report as follows:
There are no papers or records of any kind in the office of the United States attorney for this district for the years stated in your inquiry. The reason for this is, that the attorneys, at that time, had no offices, except their private ones as members of the bar, and all papers *in their possession at that time are either among their private papers or are lost, or are among the records of the United States courts for this district. I have had a careful search made under my personal oversight in all the records of said courts, for the period from 1815 to 1830 inclusive. I have personally examined the papers and dockets in cases of prosecutions during those years, by libels on vessels, and by indictments for breaches of the, neutrality laws of the United States, and I find abundant evidence from these records that the attorneys of the United States for this district, during those years, were active and diligent in enforcing those laws, by libels against vessels, and by indictments, both under the neutrality act of 1818, chapter 88, and the piracy act of 1819, chapter 77. [159]
I find that the same parties were indicted at the same term of court under both laws, and that the piracies charged were alleged to have been committed on the property or persons of subjects of the Kings of Spain and Portugal, and that those who had served on armed vessels, cruising against Spanish or Portuguese commerce, were indicted for piracy under the above-mentioned act of 1819, which act the records show to have been used by the United States attorney *to enforce the neutrality of the United States, as well as the above-mentioned act of 1818. [160]
It appears by the dockets that, in cases under the above laws where the process of arrest against the persons indicted was returned non est inventus, renewals of process were made and continued during several successive terms of court, showing diligent efforts to secure the arrest of the persons indicted; and, generally, the papers and dockets during the years aforementioned exhibit, on inspection, evidence of constant activity and diligence on the part of the law-officers of the Government here in enforcing the provisions of the neutrality laws and maintaining before the courts the neutrality of the United States.
Attorney of the United States for the District of Maryland.
Hon. George H. Williams, Attorney-General.