CHAEL, March 12, 1791

TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.

Philadelphia, March 12, 1791,

Sir,

I enclose you a statement of the case of Joseph St. Marie, a citizen
of the United States of America, whose clerk, Mr. Swimmer, was, in
the latter part of the year 1787, seized on the eastern side of the
Mississippi, in latitude 34 deg. 40', together with his goods, of the value
of nineteen hundred and eighty dollars, by a party of Spanish soldiers.
They justified themselves under the order of a Mr. Valliere, their
officer, who avowed authority from the Governor of New Orleans,
requiring him to seize and confiscate all property found on either side
of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio. The matter being then
carried by St. Marie before the Governor of New Orleans, instead
of correcting the injury, he avowed the act and its principle, and
pretended orders from his court for this and more. We have so much
confidence, however, in the moderation and friendship of the court
of Madrid, that we are more ready to ascribe this outrage to officers
acting at a distance, than to orders from a just sovereign. We have
hitherto considered the delivery of the post of the Natches, on the part
of Spain, as only awaiting the result of those arrangements which
have been under amicable discussion between us; but the remaining in
possession of a post which is so near our limit of thirty-one degrees,
as to admit some color of doubt whether it be on our side or theirs, is
one thing; while it is a very different one, to launch two hundred and
fifty miles further, and seize the persons and property of our citizens;
and that too, in the very moment that a friendly accommodation of all
differences is under discussion. Our respect for their candor and good
faith does not permit us to doubt, that proper notice will be taken of
the presumption of their officer, who has thus put to hazard the peace
of both nations, and we particularly expect that indemnification will be
made to the individual injured. On this you are desired to insist in the
most friendly terms, but with that earnestness and perseverance which
the complexion of this wrong requires. The papers enclosed will explain
the reasons of the delay which has intervened. It is but lately they
have been put into the hands of our government.

We cannot omit this occasion of urging on the court of Madrid the
necessity of hastening a final acknowledgment of our right to navigate
the Mississippi; a rig