ction.' I am also informed, that on the 12th instant,
his Majesty was pleased to extend the abovementioned order to prizes
taken by American vessels of war, and sent into any of the ports of
Spain.

"So far as this order affects the United States of America, I take the
liberty of representing to your Excellency, that the execution of it
will necessarily be attended with the following inconveniences.

"1st. The distance of America from Spain is so great, and the
intercourse between the two countries rendered so precarious by the
war, that many months must unavoidably elapse before the sentence of
an American Court of Admiralty can be obtained and executed here.

"2dly. That by these delays all cargoes, or parts of cargoes, which
may be of a perishable nature, will be lost, and the value of the
vessel and rigging greatly diminished.

"3dly. That as his Majesty has not as yet been pleased to grant the
United States the privilege of having consuls in his ports, it is not
in their power to provide for the transmission of the evidence of
captures, in the manner specified in the abovementioned order.

"4thly. That in case the prize should be claimed as a neutral vessel,
the claimants must either prosecute their claim in America, or the
sentence given there could not be influenced by it; and yet it is more
probable, that those claimants would endeavor to avoid that expense
and trouble, by applying here for an order to suspend the execution of
the sentence, as well as for a trial of the merits of their claim by a
Spanish tribunal. In which case the same cause would become subject to
two jurisdictions, and tried by two different independent courts, in
two different countries.

"This order not being published, it is possible, that my information
respecting it may not be right in all its parts; though I have reason
to believe from the usual accuracy of M. Gardoqui, (from whom I
received this information) that I am not mistaken.

"There is at present an American prize at Bilboa, and all judicial
proceedings respecting it are now at a stand.

"The importance of this subject to the United States, and in some
measure to the common cause, will I hope apologize for my troubling
your Excellency with these remarks, and for requesting, that the
embarrassments in question may be removed, in such a manner as may be
most agreeable to his Majesty.

"I have the honor to be, &c.