[15] *Mr. Dick, district attorney, to Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State.
Sir: Attempts to violate the laws by fitting out and arming, and by augmenting the force of vessels, have no doubt been frequent; but certainly in no instance successful, except where conducted under circumstances of concealment that eluded discovery and almost suspicion, or where carried on at some remote part of the coast beyond the reach of detection or discovery. In every instance where it was known that these illegal acts were attempting, or where it was afterward discovered that they had been committed, the persons engaged, as far as they were known, have been prosecuted, while the vessels fitted out, or attempted to be fitted out, have been seized and libeled under the act of the 5th of June, 1794; and when captures have been made by vessels thus fitted out and armed, or in which their force was augmented or increased within our waters, where the property taken was brought within our jurisdiction, or even found upon the high seas by our cruisers and brought in, it has been restored to the original Spanish owners, and in some instances damages awarded against the captors. An enumeration of the cases in which individuals have been prosecuted for infringing, or attempting to infringe, our neutrality in aid of the governments of New *Spain, and in which vessels have been seized and libeled under the act of the 5th of June, 1794, together with a list of the vessels and property restored to the original Spanish owners, (confining the whole to the operations of the year commencing March, 1815, and ending February, 1816,) will show more conclusively, perhaps, than anything else can, how totally without foundation are the complaints and how misplaced are the assertions of the minister of Spain on this head. [16]
The names of individuals prosecuted in the district court of the United States for the Louisiana district during the year 1815, for violating, or attempting to violate, the neutrality of the United States in aid of the governments of the United Provinces of New Granada, and of the United Provinces of Mexico: José Alvarry Toledo, Julius Ceasar Amigone, Vincent Gambie, John Robinson, Romain Very, Pierre Lameson, Bernard Bourden.
List of vessels libeled for illegal outfits of the same governments during the same period: Brig Flora Americana, restored; schooner Presidente, condemned; schooner Petit Melan, condemned; schooner General Bolivar, discontinued; schooner Eugenen, alias Indiana, condemned; schooner Two Brothers, restored.
[17] *Enumeration of vessels and property brought within the Louisiana district, captured under the flags and by the authority of the governments of New Grenada and of Mexico, libeled on the part of the original Spanish owners, and restored upon the ground that the capturing vessels had been fitted out and armed, or had their force augmented within the waters of the United States:
- 1.
- Schooner Cometa, restored April, 1815.
- 2.
- Schooner Dorada, proceeds restored 16th May, 1815, $3,050.
- 3.
- Schooner Amiable Maria, $3,850.
- 4.
- Schooner Experimento, restored 3d August.
- 5.
- The polacre brig De Regla and cargo, proceeds restored 18th December, 1815, $19,209.50.
- 6.
- Schooner Alerta and cargo, being the proceeds of the capture of about eighteen small vessels, restored 18th December, 1815, $62, 150.05.
- Damages awarded to the original owners against the captors in the two foregoing cases, $55,272.99.
- 7.
- Cargo of the schooner Petit Melan, restored 1st February, 1816, $2,444.31.
- 8.
- Cargo of the schooner Presidente, restored 1st February, 1816, $10,931.15.
- 9.
- Schooner Sante Ritor and cargo, restored 1st February, 1816, $37,962.94.
The preceding account of Spanish property restored to the original proprietors, after being in the possession *of the enemies of Spain, is defective, inasmuch as it does not comprehend the whole of the cases of restoration that have taken place within the period to which the detail is confined. The very hasty manner in which I have made this communication did not admit of a more accurate statement. The principal cases, however, are included in it. [18]
In several other cases where the property was claimed for the original Spanish owners, the claims were dismissed, because it did not appear that any violation of our neutrality had taken place. The capturing vessels were not armed, nor was their force augmented within our jurisdiction, nor had the captures been made within a marine league of our shore. The principles that guided the decisions of the court, as well in restoring the property captured where our neutral means had been used, as in declining all interference where that was not the case, manifest, I think, a disposition to, and ah exercise of, the most rigid neutrality between the parties.
If the whole of this letter is not an act of supererogation, to dwell longer upon those parts of the correspondence of the Chevalier de Onis which relate to Louisiana would at least be so considered.
I have the honor to be, &c.,
Hon. James Monroe.