t

DOCUMENTS.

(No. 1.)

Mr. Adams to Mr. Forsyth.-No. 16.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, June 13, 1821.

SIR: The hope had been entertained, after the ratification by both parties of the treaty of 22d February, 1819, between the United States and Spain, that all our relations with that country would, thenceforth, have been of the most amicable character, signalized only by the interchange of good offices. It is painful to be obliged, on the return to your station at Madrid, to charge you with representations to be made to the government of Spain, relative to the unwarrantable delays by the Governor and Captain General of the Island of Cuba, in taking the measures incumbent upon him for carrying the treaty into

execution.

By the seventh article of the treaty, the Spanish troops were to be withdrawn from the ceded territories, and possession of them was to be given of the places occupied by them, within six months after the exchange of the ratifications, or sooner if possible. And the United States were to furnish the transports and escort necessary to convey the Spanish officers and troops, and their baggage, to the Havana.

As soon as was practicable after the exchange of the ratifications, arrangements were made, on the part of this government, with the view of carrying into effect these stipulations. The royal order from the King of Spain to the Captain General of the Island of Cuba, for the delivery of the ceded territories, and of the archives belonging to them, to the commissioner of the United States authorized to receive them, had been transmitted with the Spanish ratification of the treaty to the Minister of Spain residing here, to be delivered by him after the exchange of the ratifications. It was accordingly delivered by him. Colonel James Grant Forbes was appointed by the President to carry it to the Governor of Cuba, and commissioned to receive the orders to the Governors or Commanding officers of the places within the territories, for their delivery, and also the archives which were to be given up. The United States' ship Hornet was despatched to the Havana, with Col. Forbes, who was instructed, on receiving them, to proceed with them, forthwith, to Pensacola, taking suitable measures for transmitting the order to the Governor of East Florida, at St. Augustine. A letter from the Spanish Minister here to the Governor of Cuba, was also furnished to Col. Forbes, announcing him as the officer authorized to receive the order for delivery and the ar

chives. General Jackson was appointed by the President Governor of East and West Florida, and was instructed to proceed immediately to Montpelier, the post within the United States nearest to Pensacola; there to await thre arrival of Col. Forbes, with the necessary orders; upon which the General was directed to receive possession for the United States, and to provide for the transportation of the Spanish officers and troops, and, their baggage, to the Havana; and by a liberal construction of that article of the treaty, the provisions necessary for the subsistence of these officers and troops, on their passage, was considered as concluded within its obligation.

General Jackson reached the post of his destination on the 30th of April. On the 22d of the same month, Colonel Forbes had arrived in the Hornet, at the Havana; and had he been despatched without delay, might have arrived at Pensacola in season for the reception of General Jackson, without any unnecessary detention. The letters received at this Department from Colonel Forbes, copies of which are herewith enclosed, exhibit a series of delays on the part of the Governor, for which no adequate reason is assigned, but which have already produced great public inconvenience to the United States, and which, if longer continued, will give them the most serious grounds of complaint. The last letter received from Col. Forbes, bears date the 23d of May, when his detention had already been protracted more than a month, in the interval of which the re-appearance of the disease incident to the climate excited strong apprehensions for the health of the captain and crew of the Hornet, as well as of Col. Forbes himself. There is too much reason for the alarm, with regard to Capt. Reid, who is stated, by accounts of dates more recent than those officially received, to have been, on the 28th of May, still at the Havana, and very dangerously ill.

General Jackson, desirous of ascertaining the number of men for whom it would be necessary to procure transports and provisions, as well as to make arrangements for the supplies necessary to the troops of the United States who were to take their place, sent, on the first of May, Dr. Bronaugh and Judge Brackenridge to Pensacola, with a communication of Don José Callava, Governor of West Florida, to communicate to him the commission and authority with which he was clothed, and to ask of him such information as would be necessary for the arrangements adapted to the evacuation of the territory by the troops of Spain, and to the taking of possession on the part of the United States. Governor Callava declined making any such communication, declaring himself subordinate altogether to the Governor General of Cuba, and that he did not feel authorized to act at all in regard to the execution of the treaty, until duly instructed to that effect by his superior officer. The letters, copies of which are enclosed, contain intimations from various sources, that all these dilatory proceedings have too much connexion with private purposes, and dishonorable pecuniary speculations. It is yet wished, that this awkward and unpleasant state of things may, before this, have terminated; but the unreasonable delays of the Governor General of Cuba, inconsistent no less with good faith than with the good harmony

which we are so desirous of cultivating with Spain, cannot be suffered to pass without animadversion. You will take the earliest opportunity, after your arrival at Madrid, to make suitable representations on this subject to the Spanish government; and to state, that, whatever unpleasant or injurious consequences may result from this unwarrantable conduct of the Governor of Cuba, must be attributed altogether to him.

By the fourth article of the treaty, each of the contracting parties engages to appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, to meet before the termination of one year from the ratification of the treaty at Natchitoches, on the Red River, to run and mark the boundary line. Col. McRae has been appointed the commissioner on the part of the United States, and will be ready to proceed on the important duties of the commission, as soon as the appointment of the Spanish commissioner and surveyor shall be notified to us. It is further stipulated, that the two Governments will amicably agree respecting the necessary articles to be furnished to those persons, and to their escorts, if necessary. At the time of the exchange of the ratifications, General Vives, at my request, promised to remind his Government of the necessity of an immediate appointment of the commissioner and surveyor on their part. It is presumed this will have been done before you reach Madrid. Your attention to the subject is, nevertheless, requested, in case any thing should yet remain to be done, to put in train the execution of this article. As the necessary supplies for the commissioners will be, naturally, best known on the scene of their operations, it is presumed the Spanish Government will authorize its minister here to agree, for them, to such arrangements, in this particular, as may be found necessary.

I am, with much respect, sir,

Your very humble and obedient servant,
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

JOHN FORSYTH,

Minister Plenipotentiary U. S. to Spain.

(No. 2.)

Mr. Adams to Mr. Forsyth.-No 17.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, 16th June, 1821.

SIR: Since my letter of the 13th inst. a letter of the 28th ult. with inclosures, has been received from Col. James G. Forbes, copies of which will be forwarded to you next week. By a letter of the 5th inst. from Mr. Warner, our Commercial Agent at the Havana, we are informed that Col. Forbes, in the Hornet, sailed for Pensacola on the 30th ult. and the Nonsuch for St. Augustine on the 1st inst.

It is hoped, that, on the arrival of these vessels at their respective places of destination, no further vexations and unwarrantable delays

will occur in the execution of the seventh article of the Treaty. Bu Col. Forbes has been obliged to depart without the archives and public documents, which were stipulated by the Treaty, and directed by the Royal Order to the Governor and Captain General of Cuba, to be delivered over to us.

As Col. Forbes thus appears to have been at last despatched, the uncertainty as to the extent of time during which this measure might be protracted, has ceased, and the representation which, by my letter of the 13th inst. you was requested to make to the Spanish Government, will properly be accommodated to the circumstances as now known to us with the complaints of delays, without the assignment of any reasonable cause, which it will yet be proper that you should prefer, a firmer confidence in the expectation that no further unnecessary postponements will occur, may be expressed, but our disappointment at the detention of the archives, will also require to be more explicitly signified; and it will be very desirable that you should obtain a new and peremptory order to the Governor and Captain General, for the delivery of all the archives and documents to which we are entitled by the Treaty, which will leave him no apolo gy or pretence for either denial or procrastination.

I am, with much respect, Sir,

Your very humble and obedient servant,

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

JOHN FORSYTH,

Minister Plenipotentiary. U. S. to Spain.

(No. 3.)

Mr. Adams to Mr. Forsyth.-No. 18.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, 18th June, 1821.

SIR: Herewith are enclosed copies of a letter from Captain Downes, commander of the United States' frigate Macedonian, to the Secretary of the Navy, together with correspondence between him and the Vice Roy of Peru, relating to certain transactions, in which several persons belonging to the Macedonian lost their lives, and others were wounded; and much injury was suffered by the American schooner Rampart, for which some responsibility seems to attach to the officers and troops of Spain, if not personally to the Vice Roy.

These papers are transmitted to you, that you may be in possession of the facts, and that you should make such representation of them to the Spanish government as may be warranted by circumstances. Much of the injuries suffered by our people in this case, is,