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THE REFLECTOR. MILLKDGEV1LLE, (i. TUESDAY, Al’RlL 7, 1818. NO. 22. UBLIC DOCUMENTS. SPANISH PATRIOTS. ! and House of TlcpreaentuLves of the U. S. enmrial of Vicente l’azos, of Peru, agent of the authorities acting in of the r«|)iililics of Venezuela, New ami Mexico, tfully represents, That several duly ed authorities of the independent ents of South A merle aft having met this enlightened, friendly ant! ountry ; and being convinced that could tend more to the at'* ..neement. eat cause, in which all the friends tint, from the bay of San Francisco i Horn, are deeply engaged, than the of Florida, w hich would cut off the of intercourse between the Spanish and the United States, and thus pa te operations of the government of in the important contiguous islands, ng thereby the fulfilment of the ar- sircs of those Islanders for cmanci- from the most cruel oppression ; thest Red authorities determined upon tin of Amelia Island, as the most direr, f obtaining possession of the content- bjcct. views were privately made known individuals in the United States emigrated to this country in const 1 f the bloody scenes of Carthagem or places of Smith America; anti t> f the, disbanded soldiers of the Brit- other nations, whose profession was arms. They were invited to repa clia Island, many of them wishing u and others desirous of assisting in triot cause, under promises of satis- proportioned to their grades but cautiously avoiding whatevei be construed as a violation of the so- nty of this highly respectable republic, tudiously careful to guard against what [could, in the most remote degree, hi dcred as infracting the laws of nation met at the place of rendezvous, they ked, they took, they kept possession of land of Amelia, with only the vanguard expected the arrival of those patriots oreigners who had voluntarily offered Ti them : but to the surprise, to the rending regret of all the friends of this revolution, the volunteers were atop their egress from the United Stales, any of them were thrown into prison measure, totally unexpected, changed ce the whole appearance of our views ad of being enabled to take possession lorida, (intended finally for the United es) we were confined to Amelia Island ‘ chiefs of the expedition were subjected to 'cion, many men deserted, anil but few left to sustain the shock of arms, which daily threatened by the Spanish troops ; remained, however, unappalled ; they ed a formidable attack ; but being by {•ointments before mentioned, incapable tive operations, the abandonment of the was contemplated at the time of gene* urv’s arrival, whose reinforcements led the patriots not only to remain mas- of the Island, nvaiting for an augincn- n of forces for ulterior operations, but were enabled to fit out several vessels to y the Spanish trade. he great importance and ronsequenre ol apture of Amelia Island, as a key to 11>> and to the. channel of the Bahamas, will ore easily comprehended by a perusal of intercepted despatches which accom- v this memorial,* from the minister of treasury of the island of Cuba to the jy Morillo, wdiose supplies were iurnish- hiefly from that island : and the island ved those supplies from the United States ugh the Floridas. The money requisite the, prosecution of the war against the in- ‘ndents, was obtained by loans from the bitants of Cuba, but these, judging cor- y, that if the patriots could take and hold elia Island, they would proreed to possess oselvrs of the, rest of the Floridas, and fi- y of Cuba,long ready for revolt, and that lie event of a revolution of these, the mii- Icnt their government would be lost, re- d those advances on the faith of govern- it that they hail been accustomed to make, ’hus may the government of the United tes now see the importance of these pri- ry movements of the patriots, which were ributed to other causes of a confined, a vote, and even of a sinister nature, by iters in the public papers of this country, a imputed motives of the most diabolical d to the chiefs of this expedition :—They ded them with every insulting epithet, and rged the whole with the irregularities that c committed by unprinrpled individuals had assumed the patriot flags to cover depredations ; thus involving in one inon disgrace, those who wero duly com- Toned, and who had acted in conformity cknou lodged laws, with those who had n guilty of this piratical assumption. The patriots tiHik many Spanish vessels engaged in the slave trade, and carried them into Fernandinn. It would be unworthy the dig nity of this memorial, to descend to the sus picion that the persons so violent in these barges, were directly engaged in this infer nal trade ; but the opposition appears to have augmented against the patriots, in pro portion to the injury done thereto. These captured slave-ships were taken, likenthrr vessels, because declaredly belong ing to the enemy ; but there is * i instance of the captors having violated the laws of this country, in attempting the introduction of the aptured slaves into the U. States : and if my individual had even attempted so irre- ular a proceeding, he would have been sub jeet to the laws: but his disgrace would sure ly not be imputed to those who disclaim any such act. The documents, now in the hands of the executive of this government, give the most itnple testimony of the regular attention paid to the laws of the United States by the, pa triots ; and your memorialist was in hopes oat these favorable representations would tave produced a very different result to the me experienced. The unfavorable impression made upon the government of this country, against the per sons employed in this enterprise, appeared to be corroborated by facts appertaining sole ly to those who, totally disconnected with the patriots, had, without authority assumed their flag; and partly under the plea that !iis impression, but especially under the pi if the floridas* having been pledged to this government, the officers thereof were direct ■d to take possession of Amelia Island, which hey did in a hostile manner, but which the patriots refused to defend, under the convic tion that a government professing friendly sentiments to those who were following its wn glorious example, would, upon due coil sideration of the subject, under proper re presentations, redress any grievances to which that exertion of power might have subjected their friends, the patriots : and un der such consoling expectations your memo rialist had the honor of addressing the. chief magistrate of this respected republic.* Af ter waiting, however, for a month (though every day’s delay is highly injurious to the great cause in which we are engaged) instead of receiving such satisfaction as the patriots had vainly anticipated, your memorialist has Ibis day received a letter from the bon. John (£. Adams, secretary of state, excluding all hopes of that reparation of the injuries sus tained, that was expected from a great and magnanimous people, whose glorious exam* pie hail fired the bosoms of their brethren of the, south ; anti nothing remains now, in the fulfilment of the duties of your memorialist to the patriots, whom lie represents, but to submit to the august assemblies whom, lie has tiie honor now to address, those evidences of injuries so grievous to the cause of liberty and the progress of the revolution, which in volves the happiness of so many millions. In this exposition of the grievances ami sufferings alluded to, your memorialist begs leave to call the attention of your honorable Houses to the following. It must be advanced (and your memorial ist hopes it will be admitted) that the, capture of Florida Would hasten the great events of the revolution : and that, this being accom plished, it was the avowed intention of the patriots to cede that country to the United States, under such circumstances as might be mutually beneficial. It must also be advanced, that they knew not of any existing engagment that hail been so concluded between this country and Spain as to subject the attack, in any manner, to the suspicion of an implication of hostility to the pre-engagements or ultimate views of this republic : For the patriots could not suppose a nation, so powerful as the United States, would permit the king of Spain to keep pos session of a country, virtually theirs, as a compensation for the extensive spoliations committed on their trade, so long ago; and especially as the governor of Florida is daily disposing of the lands, leaving nothing final ly, but the sovereignty and the sand-hanks ; and more especially, as the law of congress on that subject was passed in the year 1811, which by the constitution became effectually null in two years ; add to which, a nation, of such political forecast as the United States knowing that the patriots of the- south having declared all the American continental posses sions of Spain in a state of revolution, could not he expected to leave undecided a question of so much moment as the possession of Flo rida, if actually theirs, at a time when it was subject to an attack from without, or a revo lution frotn withirf; and under a conviction that if left to an external attack, it would in- olve the United States in a contest with the captors, (for Spain had left it almost defence less,) or virtually, decoying a force to be idly spent, which might have been efficiently engaged elsewhere, in the great, cause. Marked. Under all these circumstances,your memo rialist finds it difficult to abstract his mind from a dilemma which presents itself, and which lie submits with great deference. Either the United States did possess Flori da, or (hey did not. If they did, why not occupy the snmc and display the American flag ( Which would have prevented the patri ots from attempting the conquest of a country that had consummated its wishes. If they did not possess Florida, why have they, vi et ar- mis, taken from the patriots a part thereof, wltieh they had fairly, and by force of arms, onquered, and kept against every attack from their only declared enemy ? • • ■ It is in vain to urge that the patriots were considered as pirates ; because it is not the usage of nations to accept from pirates terms of capitulation ; and your memorialist begs ave to solicit your honorable, houses to pnn- t well upon the sensibility of this nation, when the Danes delivered up to the English minister the vessels captured from that nation by com. Faul Jones, who, because lie had been an English subject, was denominated anti threatened by them as a pirate ; for the Danes tad not then acknowledged your indepen dence. This subject was thought worthy, at a subsequent time, of a formal representa tion through your minister, Mr. Jefferson, then at the court of Versailles ; and the inju ry sustained then, was, till within a short period, made a plea against the restoration f even private property, belonging to the subjects of that crown ;* and so lasting was the impression of that injury, that it lias been tho’t worthy of remembrance, until this day Even your venerable and respected philo sopher Franklin, though eloathed with minis terial dignity, was called a hoary headed traitor! The situation of those whom your memo rialist lias the honor to represent, calls for the reminiscence of these circumstances, that your honorable houses may judge, by the feelings of those days, of the impressions which your acts are calculated to stamp upon the minds of the patriots, which are peculi- ary alive to every sentiment emanating from so high anti so esteemed a source. The patriots have not only been deprived of the captured territory, but of all the war-* like stores found thereon ; they have remait* ed uncompensated for all their expenditures in the erection of barracks anti other neces sary buildings : they have not only been de prived of the captured vessels, but of their cargoes, j The validity of these prizes, anil of the property taken, has been, by request of the Spanish agents, subjected to the courts of ad miralty of the United States for adjudication, though these courts can have no competent jurisdiction over property taken by the cit izens of another power, from another peo ple, on the high seas : And yet the court of admiralty of Savannah has lately decided a- gainst the srlir. Tantativa’s being a gootl prize to the Brutus privateer, commissioned iy the Mexican government: also against a brig prize to the Gen. San Martin, under Buenos Ayres colors, seized on the coasl The cargo, too, of a brig prize to the Mexi can Congress, wrecked on the coast of N Carolina, has been sold by the colloctor, and the money deposited in his office. The patriots have not only been precluded from recovering debts to a large amount due for the legal sales in the United States of va rious goods, but their liberties are endanger ed by the threats o fereditors, to whom com paratively small debts are due, and at tin time that these threats are made, the stfffcr- ers of all these injuries arc ordered peremp torily, by the officers of the United States, to quit a territory that has never belonged to this government, who seem, thereby, to have espoused the cause of our enemies, and tt have entered into league against us. All these tilings, too, are done when the govern ment of this country are acquainted with the reports of the junction of the Russian and Spanisli fleets, whose destination is declared to be against the patriots ; and thus shall w be subjected, while waiting for the restora turn of our property, to the risk of having our vessels blockaded in port, thereby haz arding their loss with the prize goods, and thus giving advantages to an enemy insatia hie in blood ; and to whom reconciliation is impossible : an enemy who may bcrome.for- midable by sucli unexpected interferences bnt whom the patriots would otherwise, ne ver hesitate to meet boldly. In repeating those manifold grievances to your honorable houses, your memorialist looks with confidence, for the dignified and sincere support of the great republican cause in which those whom he represents arc so deeply engaged : and he reposes in the bo som of your august assemblies those repre srntations, depending on such a redress of grievances as shall comport with the honor dignity and justice of the government of the U. States. VICENTE PAZOS City of Washington, March 6. 1818. Extract of a letter from Mr. Secretary Ad ams to Don Luis Ue Onis, dated March 12, 1818. “ You perceive, sir, that the government of the United States is not prepared cither to renounce any of the claims which it has been so long urging upon the justice of Spain, or to acquiesce irt any of those arguments which appear to you so luminous and irre sistible. Determined to pursue the estab lishment of their rights, as long as by any possibility they can be pursued through the paths of peace, they have acquiesced, as the Message-of the President at the commence ment of the present session of Congress has informed you, in that policy of Spain which has hitherto procrastinated the amicable ad justment of these interests ; not from an in sensibility to their importance to this union* nor from any indifference to the object of be ing upon terms of cordial harmony with Spain ; but, because peace is among the dearest and most earnest objects of their policy ; and because they have considered, and still consider it, more congenial to the principlesof humanity, and to the. 'perma nent welfare of both nations, to wait for the favorable operation of time upon the preju dices and passions opposed to them, -than to resort to the unnceessary agency of force. After a lapse of thirteen years of-patient forbearance, in waiting for the moment when Spain should find it expedient to meet their constant desire of bringing to a happy and harmonious termination all the conflicting; interests between them, it will need little, ad ditional effort to wait somewhat longer with the same exportation. The President deems this course even more advisable than that of ferring the questions depending between tlie two nations to the arbitrament of mediation of one or more friendly European powers, as you have been authorised to pro pose. The statement in your note of the 10th of February, in reference to tliis subject, is not altogether correct. It is not the British overnment which, on this occasion, lias of- red ; but your government w hich, without insulting or asking the concurrence o£ ited States, has requested the media- Geeat Britain. The British govern ment, as must be well known to you; have dc- lined the offer of their mediation, unless it should be requested by both parties; anti avc communicated to the government of tho United States this overture on the part of Spain. The president has (honclit proper, oni motives which he has no doubt will he deemed satisfactory; both to Great Britain md Spain, to d|ylinc uniting in this request* lie is indeed fully persuaded that, notwith standing any ^possessions which the Brit- iitni iie^epn »Mi' t Mn t Addrfi-s in the hands of the executive, • Cane o: hrllcnry, 6tc. • | The documents are in the lands of the executive. isli governmenT*lnay heretofore have enter tained with regard to any of the points iu controversy, they would have been entirely lisrarucd in assuming the office of mediator. But it has hitherto been tho policy, both of Europe and the United States, to keep a. lool froin the general federative system of each other. TUp European States arc com bined together, and contacted With one an other, by p multitude of important interest^ aid relations, with which the United States have fio colirern, with which they liava always manifested the determination not to interferere, ami of which no communication being made to them by the governments of Europe, they have not information compe tent to enable them to estimate their extent and bearings, The United StRtes, in justice to themselves, in justice to that harmony which they earnestly desire to cultivate with all the powers of Europe, in justice to that fundamental system of policy w hich forbids them from entering the labyrinth of Europe an polities, must decline soliciting or acced ing to the interference of any other govern ment of Europe, for the settlement of their differences with Spain. • : l But however discouraging the tenor and character of your recent notes have Seen to the hopes which the promises and professions of your government had excited, that tho time for adjustment of these differences with Spain, herself, had at length arrived, the, U* nited States will not abandon the expectation that more correct views of the subject, w ill ultimately be suggested to our government, and they will always be disposed to meet them in the spirit of justice and amity.—, With regard to those parts of the province of Louisiana, which have been incorporated within the state of that name.it is time that the discussion should cease—forming part of the territory of a sovereign and independent state of this union, to dispose of them is not within the competency of thccxrciitivegovern ment of the United States ; nor w ill the. dis cussion be Hereafter continued. But if you have proposals to make, to which it is. pos sible for the government of the United States to listen with a prospect of bringing them to any practicable conclusion, I am authorised to receive them, and to conclude with you a treaty for the adjustment of all the differen ces between the two nations, upuu terms which may be satisfactory to both. With regard to the motives for the occu-