H.

K.

No. 5.

Extract from the log-book of the proceedings of his Majesty's sloop Argus, Septimus Arabin, esq., captain.

Remarks, &c.-Friday, 9th of May, 1823.

EDWARD POTTER, Master.

No. 6.

CUSTOM HOUSE,

St. Johns, N. B., August 23, 1823.

SIR: I have this moment had the honor to receive your letter of the 13th inst., stating that a complaint and protest of George Moody, master of the American fishing schooner Charles, had been transmitted to you by his Majesty's envoy extraordinary in the United States, respecting the seizure of that vessel by his Majesty's sloop Argus; and of Captain Arabin having employed the said schooner as a cruizer; and you request me to give you all the information on these subjects in my power.

I accordingly beg leave to refer you to the enclosed copy of a paper transmitted to me by Captain Arabin on his arrival in this port, dated the 16th of May last, which contains a full detail of the cause of seizure, under which she was subsequently libelled in the vice-admiralty court here and condemned on the 17th of July last.

As to that part of the complaint of Captain Arabin having manned and employed the schooner to cruize, I have no knowledge of that circumstance and am inclined to think it is incorrect.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

H. WRIGHT, Collector.

W. C. FAHIE, Esq., C. B.,

Rear Admiral and Commander-in-chief, Halifax.

No. 7.

MEMORANDUM of particulars of seizure by the Argus of the American fishing vessel Charles, on the south coast of Nova Scotia.

The American fishing schooner Charles, William Stover master, belonging to York, state of Maine, detained by the Argus at Shelburne on Friday, 9th of May, 1823, for a breach of the act of 59 Geo. III, chapter 28, for the protection of the British fisheries, and to enable his Majesty to make regulations respecting the same, according to a convention made between his Majesty and the United States, 20th October, 1818. The said schooner was found at anchor in Shelburne harbor, into which she had not been driven by stress of weather or any other fortuitous circumstance. Information had been received of this schooner having put into that same harbor on the Tuesday previous to the seizure, and anchored below Sandy Point, the weather being fine and moderate at that time, as well as on the day of seizure. She went out on Wednesday and returned again on Thursday, where she was found by the Argus on Friday; and having remained hovering upon the coast instead of proceeding on her fishing voyage, when there was no pretence whatever for her putting into port, she was detained. SEPTIMUS ARABIN. His Majesty's sloop Argus, at St. John's, N. B., May 16, 1823.

Mr. Addington to Mr. Adams:

WASHINGTON, June 10, 1824. SIR: In reference to the subject of a letter which I had the honor to address to you on the 12th of October last, namely, the detention by Captain Arabin of his Majesty's ship Argus, and illegal employment as a British cruizer of the American fishing schooner Charles, on which subject I subsequently, in pursuance of instructions from home, gave you verbally the assurance" that orders would be issued by his Majesty's government, that any American vessel detained by the Charles while thus irregularly employed, should be restored to the owner, even although liable on other grounds to be condemned;" I have now the honor to inform you that an inquiry having been instituted into this subject by orders of the admiralty, it has been found that only one American vessel, the Dolphin, was detained by the Charles previous to her adjudication, and that the requisite intimation for the restoration of that vessel has been made to the proper authorities, in conformity with the assurance thus given to the United States government on the part of his Majesty's ministers.

I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, sir, your most obe lient humble servant,

To Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, &c., &c.

H. U. ADDINGTON,

Mr. Brent to Mr. Addington.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, September 8, 1824.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you three memorials from sundry citizens of the United States, belonging to the State of Maine, accompanied by seven protests and affidavits which exhibit the nature and extent of the facts referred to by the memorialists, complaining of the interruption which they have experienced during the present season in their accustomed and lawful employment of taking and curing fish in the Bay of Fundy and upon the Grand Banks, by the British armed brig Dotteril, commanded by Captain Hoare, and another vessel, a provincial cutter of New Brunswick, acting under the orders of that officer; and earnestly soliciting the interposition of this government to procure them suitable redress. With this view, I was charged by the Secretary before his late departure from this city, to communicate to you the above papers, and to request your good offices towards obtaining for the sufferers the indemnity to which they appear to be so well entitled, not only from 'the peculiar nature and extent of the injuries and losses of which they complain, proved and illustrated as they are by the series of protests and depositions accompanying their men.orials, but from the serious violation of the rights and liberties of the citizens of the United States which they involve in the use of the same fisheries; and I have the honor, accordingly, to request that you will have the goodness to make such representations to the commanding officer of the naval forces of your government on that station, or to the Colonial govern

ment of New Brunswick, as may be available, not only for the relief of the memorialists, but for the prevention of similar interruptions in future.

I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, sir, your obedient and very humble servant,

HENRY U. ADDINGTON, Esq.,

Chargé d'Affaires from Great Britain.

DANIEL BRENT.

Mr. Brent to Mr. Addington.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 21, 1824.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you copies of some additional papers which have been received at this oflice, upon the subject of the interruption, likewise given by the same armed British brig Dotterel, to vessels of the United States, cinployed in the prosecution of the fishery in the cay of Passamaquoddy, and elsewhere in the same neighborhood, as partibularly exemplified in the cases of the two schooners, William and Rebecca, which are fully stated in the enclosures, and to pray the interposition of your good offices in behalf also of the owners of these vessels, towards obtaining for them the indemnity to which they may be justly entitled.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient and humble servant, DANIEL BRENT.

HENRY U. ADDINGTON, Esq.,

Chargé d'Affaires from Great Britain.

Mr. Addington to Mr. J. Q. Adams.

WASHINGTON, October 5, 1824.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of two letters, one dated the 8th and the other the 21st ultimo, which Mr. Brent addressed to me, in pursuance of instructions from you, relating to certain American fishing vessels averred to have been detained, in violation of the terms of the convention of 1818, by his Majesty's sloop Dotterel in the bay of Fundy in the months of June and July last.

I shall not fail to communicate, without loss of time, the whole of the papers relative to this matter, to the admiral commanding his Majesty's naval forces at Halifax, and in so doing shall strongly recommend that a full and impartial investigation be made into the merits of the various cases therein reported; the result of which shall be forthwith imparted to you, whenever it comes to my knowledge.

Mean time, sir, I must inform you that a report of those very occurrences, of a nature very different from that made by the individuals to you, has reached me from rear-admiral Lake, of whose letter, together with its enclosures, I have the honor to transmit to you copies herewith.

It is therein made to appear that the fishing vessels above mentioned were detained by the Dotterel solely on account of their having been detected in the commission of a direct infraction of the treaties existing between the two nations, having in fact been found pursuing their occupation without the boundaries assigned to them by the terms of the convention of 1818.

On this point, however, the parties are at issue, each stating his case according to his own view of it. Thus far, therefore, there is ground for a candid and impartial investigation on both sides. Such I have recommended to Admiral Lake, and such, I trust, you will also cause to be instituted

here.

But there is another point, sir, on which I lament that there should be no ground for doubt or hesitation as to the course which I have to pursue. By a perusal of the enclosed documents you will perceive that after the detention of the Reindeer and Ruby by the master of the Dotterel, and while on their way to St. Andrews, an attack was made on three vessels by two schooners and an open boat, under American colors, full of armed men, with muskets and fixed bayonets, amounting to about one hundred, beaded by a Mr. Howard of Eastport, who is said to be a captain in the United States militia, in consequence of which the master thought it most prudent to surrender to such superior force."

This, sir, is an outrage of such a nature as to leave me no other alternative than to make a formal demand from the American government for the infliction of punishment on the offenders.

Whether the vessels were legally detained or not, such an act of violence will bear no justification. If individuals are permitted to expound the stipulations of treaties for themselves, with arms in their hands, the preservation of harmony and good understanding between nations can no longer be hoped for.

I am disposed-no person can be more so-to act fairly and openly by the citizens of this republic, whenever they have just ground of complaint against British authorities, and shall accordingly take every measure for ascertaining whether the detention of the vessels in question was legal or

not.

If it was not legal, you have abundant proof, sir, in your own hands, of the disposition of his Majesty's government to afford the most prompt and equitable redress to the parties aggrieved. I allude to the case of the American schooner Charles, detained and employed as a tender last year by his Majesty's sloop Argus. That act, you will recollect, was condemned as illegal by his Majesty's ministers, and restitution ordered to be made to the parties who suffered through the exercise of it, although otherwise liable, by the illegality of their conduct, to the entire loss of their property.

But in the mean time, sir, it becomes my duty to demand reparation, by the punishment of the transgressors, for the act of violence perpetrated on persons bearing his Majesty's commission, while engaged in the discharge of their public duties.

I feel confident, sir, that you will view this outrage in the same light as myself, and consider such conduct equally dangerous to the peace and wellbeing of the two countries, and I have no doubt that you will see the