United States, and also to his Excellency Commodore Biddle, the services always due to Friends, offers to his Excellency any Vessel whatever of the Imperial Squadron to carry his Officers to Buenos Ayres, under a Flag of Truce: in that manner, some Person whom his Excellency may designate, will be able to go with them if it should be found necessary. The Undersigned deems it proper to offer to his Excellency Commodore Biddle, some explanation concerning the entrance of English Vessels of War into the Port of Buenos Ayres, to prevent that fact from being adduced as a precedent. England, as mediatory Nation for Peace between the Empire of Brazil and the Republick of Buenos Ayres, had, for that reason, to send a Corvette there, which carried one of the Negotiators and the Treaty. Reports being in circulation that it would not be ratified, the Populace of the Capital became riotous, and lampoons against the British Envoy and the English in general, were posted up. Lord Ponsonby judged it prudent to exhibit a larger British Force to compel respect, and then the Frigate Forte went up; to her I lent my Pilot, because as yet there was a hope of Peace, for there had been no movement which had indicated, in fact, a rejection of the Treaty; they all retired, a Brig having gone twice afterwards with Despatches, in furtherance of that end, by the mediatory Nation. From the above his Excellency Commodore Biddle will perceive that the British Vessels of War went to Buenos Ayres, not upon the service of England, but upon that of the Empire of Brazil; and that, with the exception of these, no other Vessels of War have hitherto gone there. If The United States were the mediatory Nation, (as surely they would have been, from the good understanding and the friendship which they have for His Imperial Majesty, if His Imperial Majesty had not anticipated them,) the same would have happened with their Vessels that has occurred with the English, and the latter would not have gone up. Possessed of all that has been recited, his Excellency, Commodore Biddle, will form the resolution that may appear to him most suitable to the occasion, remaining responsible for the consequences. The Undersigned will have the pleasure of sending the Pilot to obey the orders of his Excellency, in shifting the birth of the Frigate Macedonian, not being able to spare him for a longer time, because affairs wearing a different aspect from what they did when he allowed him to carry up the Frigate Forte, it may be necessary for him at any moment to get under weigh. If in any thing else his Excellency Commodore Biddle shall find that the Undersigned has it in his power to oblige him, he may reckon upon his willingness, to the utmost of the ability of the Squadron under his command. The Undersigned avails himself, &c. BARAO DO RIO DA PRATA. The Commandant of the Naval Forces of The United States on the Eastern Coast of South America. SIR, (2.)-Commodore Biddle to the Brazilian Admiral. United States' Frigate Macedonian, YOUR Excellency's Letter of the 10th instant has been received and attentively considered. A number of American Vessels have recently arrived at Buenos Ayres; and the Seamen belonging to them being there discharged, are often compelled, by their necessities, to enter a Foreign Service.—It is my duty to endeavour to relieve these Seamen, as far as practicable, by furnishing them the means of quitting Byenos Ayres in a publick Vessel of The United States. Outrages of an aggravating character have recently been committed upon the lawful Commerce of The United States, by the private armed Vessels of Buenos Ayres; and particularly the American Brig Ruth, bound to Santos, and the American Brig Anna, bound to Rio Janeiro, have been captured by Buenos Ayrean Privateers, and the Crews of both Vessels have been abused. To ascertain if these captures and this abuse be sanctioned by the Government, and to decide in what manner I shall in future treat these Privateers at Sea, it is indispensable I should communicate with the Diplomatick Representatives of The United States at Buenos Ayres. These are the considerations which have determined me to send the Boston to Buenos Ayres; and in communicating them I give to your Excellency a new proof of my respectful and amicable disposition. It was not necessary I should communicate them; since, in the case of the Boston, all that a Blockading Squadron can rightly claim, is, to be satisfied that she is a publick Vessel of The United States; and to this end, I have already ordered Captain Hoffman to show his Commission from the President of The United States to any Brazilian Cruizer that may ask to see it. I must be permitted to say, notwithstanding your Excellency's observation to the coutrary, that Blockades never have been deemed to extend to publick Ships. Great Britain, almost perpetually at War, and numerically superior at Sea to any other Nation, never for a moment pretended that neutral Ships of War could be affected by Blockades. During several Years of the War in Europe, the Government of The United States maintained its diplomatick intercourse with France, exclusively by means of its publick Ships entering the French Blockaded Ports. In 1811, in The United States' Ship, Hornet, I myself went into Cherbourg, then Blockaded by a British Squadron; was boarded as I went in by the Blockading Squadron, but merely for the purpose of ascertaining our national character. To the list of neutral Ships mentioned by your Excellency as having gone to Buenos Ayres, your Excellency might have added The United States' Ship Cyane, in April, 1826, and His Britannick Majesty's Packet, regularly every month, since the first establishment of the Blockade. It results, therefore, that, in sending the Corvette Boston to Buenos Ayres, I exercise an indisputable and customary right. At the same time, I fully recognize the relations of amity, happily subsisting between The United States and Brazil, and I am disposed to preserve them so far as may depend upon me. When at this anchorage in February last, the Chargé des Affaires of The United States at Buenos Ayres expressed a desire that I would visit Buenos Ayres; but I then declined, because then no object of a publick nature existed to call me there. I did not consider the Blockade as at all interfering to prevent my going to Buenos Ayres; but, as long as I had no publick duty to perform there, I deemed it proper to abstain from going there. Now, however, as your Excellency must perceive, objects important to the interest of The United States require that I should communicate with Buenos Ayres; and these objects, your Excellency must also perceive, I cannot, consistently with my duty, neglect. And it is necessary to my views that Captain Hoffman should have a personal interview with our Chargé des Affaires at Buenos Ayres, and as it is not prudent, at this exposed anchorage, that he should be separated from his Vessels, I must decline your Excellency's offer of one of the Vessels under your command, to convey my Officers to Buenos Ayres, while I duly appreciate the kindness of the offer. I will add, that upon my arrival here, on the 6th instant, I received communications from the Chargé des Affaires of The United States at Buenos Ayres, urging strongly, and upon publick grounds, the presence of a publick Vessel of The United States there. I have, &c. JAMES BIDDLE, H. E. Sir. Rodrigo Pinto Guedes, Baron of La Plata. (3.)-The Brazilian Admiral to Commodore Biddle.-(Translation.) H. I. M. Frigate Piranga, 11th Nov. 1827. MOST EXCELlent Sir, ALTHOUGH I might have been ignorant of some facts which your Excellency recites as having occurred in the late War, I am now informed of them; yet I beg leave to make some remarks upon the same subject, impelled to do so by the station I occupy in the Rio de la Plata. Your Excellency knows perfectly well, that, in the late War, monstrous transactions had place, such as are no longer received in the Law of Nations. He who was then Chief of the French Nation for many Years, holding his will alone as right, forced other Nations to resort to extraordinary measures, to counteract disorganizing attacks. Your Excellency, therefore, must see that examples drawn from that War cannot well apply to periods in which more regularity existed. The English Nation itself, from whom your Excellency argues, has given a decision, and consequently pursues a different course, in the present War between His Imperial Majesty and the Republick of Buenos Ayres. Some of the English Authorities, as well in Rio Janeiro as in the La Plata, pretending to establish the same doctrine which your Excellency lays down as certain, the question was referred to the Cabinet of London, and His Britannick Majesty decided that Vessels of War could not enter blockaded Ports, and such has continued to be the practice of the English. Permit me, your Excellency, to deny the argument of the Packet, because it proceeds from a special Convention, and therefore cannot enter into the general rule. No one can forget that that establishment being merely commercial its continuance was indispensable for the adjustment of accounts, and the liquidation of funds, from the different circumstances which the War and the Blockade were about to impose on mercantile transactions. But it does not appear to me that Brazil, in similar cases, and by means of similar Vessels, will deny the communication to any other Power. As to the case of the Cyane, though I much respect Captain Elliot, who commanded her, still I cannot admit, before the act be proven a proper one, that it should authorize others. I cannot agree in opinion with your Excellency, in adducing arguments from the English, because their maritime Force exceeds that of other Nations. The right of Blockade emanates from Sovereignty, and, as this consists in independence, the small State is Sovereign as well as the great; the rights are equal; otherwise, we are to be considered as degenerated to a state of nature, out of society, where force alone has the right to govern. From this general rule, without making relative application, concerning which I would have much to say, your Excellency will see that the comparison does not sustain them. Besides, in conflict with the arguments drawn from the principles of England, the decision of the English Government, mentioned above, will convince your Excellency that there is uncertainty in the opinion affirmed. I cannot believe that the just requisition of the President of The United States, depends for its satisfaction by the Government of SIR, BARAO DO RIO DA PRATA. (4.)-Commodore Biddle to the Brazilian Admiral. United States' Frigate Macedonian, YOUR Excellency's Letter of yesterday's date I received this morning. The usage of Nations is, not to apply a blockade to Ships of War; and this usage is conformable to reason, since the legitimate and only object of a blockade is to exclude supplies; and your Excellency well knows that a Ship of War never carries supplies of any kind, except for her own use. I beg leave to state, in addition to my Letter of the 11th instant, that in 1818, while in command of The United States' Sloop of War Ontario, I entered the Port of Valparaiso, then blockaded by a Spanish Squadron. The Spanish Commodore notified to me the Blockade, and requested I would acknowledge the notification of it, which I accordingly did in writing, and then entered the Port. In 1819, The United States Frigate Macedonian, Captain Downes, entered the Port of Callao, then blockaded by the Chili Squadron, commanded by Lord Cochrane, who boarded the Macedonian as she went in. In 1802, I was a Junior Officer in the American Squadron, then blockading the Port of Tripoli. A Danish Frigate came off the Port, which our Squadron boarded, and permitted to enter. Independently of this general usage in regard to Blockades, the Ships of War of another neutral Nation have, during the present Blockade, passed up to Buenos Ayres. It matters not whether these Ships went to Buenos Ayres in their own right, or by the relaxation of your belligerent rights, since your Excellency knows that a Belligerent is not permitted to apply different principles to different neutral Nations, but is bound to conduct towards all alike. Submission to so injurious a distinction is inconsistent alike with national honor and the principles of strict Neutrality. Embargoes are analogous to Blockades, and they do not extend to Ships of War. On the 13th of November last, His Imperial Majesty's Government notified to the Foreign Ships of War at Rio Janeiro, that an Embargo was laid on all the Vessels in Port. I was lying there |