Sir, Your letter of the late, this place, of which you speak, as having seen
at no one else, addressed to Mess.
all the americans there, it became, as soon as received by them,
their common property, and if they thought proper to destroy it,
the act of doing so, furnishes no just cause of complaint on my part.
I have only to regret, that, as it may be called in question at a
future day, and that, as the letter itself, in such event, would be
more true to the motives of its any one, might have served hereafter, as
a shield to the
The letter was ocasioned in part only, by the threat and visitation
of the
It was occasioned principally, by an occurrence which transpired
previous to the communication of that threat.
The rights of an one who had violated no
law;—rights, the protection of which, had been solemnly guarranted
by treaty—had been invaded, insulted, spit upon, and
contemptuously trampled in the mud. In doing this, the rites—the sacred
rites, of even savage hospitality, had been denied and insultingly
refused. Divested of his arms—his papers—travelling apparel;
forcible possession taken of his horse, and thus deprived, for a time, of
the means of transporting himself to any never never again be felt, even
by a land professing Christianity, and calling itself
civilized. Treated as an indiantold that he was one, put in
charge of beings, far less humane than the
These are some of the amiable proceedings, these are a part of the
tantalizing and disgraceful doings of Men, calling themselves
Oh, liberty! Oh, humanity! Oh, pity!! When, and why, did the
thunder sleep? Why was it reserved, why permitted, a "law-
despising," unprincipled, and merciless banditti, thus to outrage, a
pupil, of the school of
But to proceed—My object in writing to thethem, and through them, the selfstyled know the determination, the unanimous, the individual, and
the collective determination, of the people here, in case of an attempt.threat into execution. I thought, that, by
doing so, the effusion of blood, Might be prevented.
Furthermore—the convention, considering there was no adequate
power in that body, or elsewhere in the cargo, consented, and recommended to
tax the flag only; Not pretending to extend their authority beyond
the collection of the tonage duty.
This was the basis, or foundation of the resolution taken by the
people here; and if an observance of any part, or portion of the
proceedings of the convention, was either lawful or innocent, then
their proceedings were lawful, were innocent, were patriotic!