extend the iniquity to other nations by whom it is abhorred, and who have entered into solemn treaties with this country for its entire suppression.

In order to prove to Mr. Everett the anxiety of her majesty's government to prevent all reasonable grounds of complaint, the undersigned believes that he can not do better than to communicate to him the substance of those instructions under which the British cruisers act in relation to American vessels when employed on this service:

If, from the intelligence which the officer commanding her majesty's cruiser may have received, or from the maneuvers of the vessel, or from other sufficient cause, he shall have reason to believe that, although bearing the American flag, the vessel does not belong to the United States, he is ordered, if the state of the wind and weather shall admit of it, to go ahead of the suspected vessel, after communicating his intention by hailing, and to drop a boat on board of her to ascertain her nationality, without detaining her if she shall prove to be really an American vessel. But should this mode of visiting the vessel be impracticable, he is to require her to be brought to for this purpose. The officer who boards the vessel is merely to satisfy himself of her nationality by her papers, or other proofs; and should she really be an American vessel, he will immediately quit her, offering, with the consent of her commander, to note on her papers the cause of suspecting her nationality, and the number of minutes she was detained (if detained at all) for the object in question. All the particulars are to be immediately entered on the log-book of the cruiser, and a full statement of them is to be sent, by the first opportunity, direct to England.

These are the precautions taken by her majesty's government against the occurrence of abuse in the performance of this service; and they are ready to adopt any others which they may think more effectual for the purpose, and which shall at the same time be consistent with the attainment of the main object in view.

Mr. Stevenson has said that he had no wish to exempt the fraudulent use of the American flag from detection; and this being the case, the undersigned is unwilling to believe that a government like that of the United States, professing the same object and animated by the same motives as Great Britain, should seriously oppose themselves to every possible mode by which their own desire could be really accomplished.

The undersigned, &c.

EDWARD EVERETT, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

ABERDEEN.

Mr. Webster to Mr. Everett.-[EXTRACTS.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 29, 1842. By the "Britannia," arrived at Boston, I have received your dispatch of the 28th of December (No. 4), and your dispatch of the 31st of the same month (No. 5), with a postscript of the 3d of January.

The necessity of returning an early answer to these communications (as the "Britannia" is expected to leave Boston the 1st of February) obliges me to postpone a reply to those parts of them which are not of considerable and immediate importance.

The President has read Lord Aberdeen's note to you of the 20th of December, in reply to Mr. Stevenson's note to Lord Palmerston of the 21st of October, and thinks you were quite right in acknowledging the dispassionate tone of that paper. It is only by the exercise of calm reason that truth can be arrived at in questions of a complicated nature; and between states, each of which understands and respects the intelligence and the power of the other, there ought to be no unwillingness to follow its guidance. At the present day, no state is so high as that the principles of its intercourse with other nations are above question, or its conduct above scrutiny. On the contrary, the whole civilized world, now vastly better informed on such subjects than in former ages, and alive and sensible to the principles adopted and the purposes avowed by the leading states, necessarily constitutes a tribunal august in character and formidable in its decisions. And it is before this tribunal, and upon the rules of natural justice, moral propriety, the usages of modern times, and the prescriptions of public law, that governments which respect themselves and respect their neighbors must be prepared to discuss, with candor and with dignity, any topics which may have caused differences to spring up between them.

Mr. Everett to Mr. Webster.-[EXTRACT.]

*

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, March 1, 1842.

I received by the Britannia your dispatch No. 8, with the accompanying documents, relative to the case of the "Creole." As my note to the British government on this subject must of necessity be somewhat long, I have thought it better to make the other matters referred to in your dispatch the subject of a separate communication to Lord Aberdeen. This communication I addressed to him on the 21st of February, and a copy of it is herewith inclosed.

[INCLOSURE.]

Mr. Everett to Lord Aberdeen.-[EXTRACTS.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, February 21, 1842. The note of the Earl of Aberdeen to the undersigned of the 20th of December, in reply to Mr. Stevenson's to his lordship of the 21st of October, has been read by the President with satisfaction at the dispassionate tone with which Lord Aberdeen has discussed the delicate and important subject of that communication. The President considers that it is only by the exercise of calm reason that truth can be arrived at in questions of a complicated nature; and between states, each of which understands and respects the intelligence and the power of the other, there ought to be no unwillingness to follow its dictates. At the present day, no state is so high as that the principles of its intercourse with other nations are above question, or its conduct above scrutiny. On the contrary, the whole civilized world, now vastly better informed on such subjects than in former ages, and alive and sensible to the principles adopted and the purposes avowed by the leading states, necessarily constitutes a tribunal august in character and formidable in its decisions. It is before this tribunal, and upon the rules of natural justice, moral propriety, the usages of modern times, and the prescriptions of public law, that governments which respect themselves and respect their neighbors must, in the apprehension of the President, be prepared to discuss, with candor and with dignity, any topics which may have caused differences to spring up between them; and he places an undoubting reliance on the concurrence of her majesty's government in these views of the principles which must govern the intercourse of nations.

The President of the United States has approved the conduct of the undersigned in forbearing, at the suggestion of the Earl of Aberdeen, to pursue the discussion here of topics which would form the subjects of negotiation between Lord Ashburton and the government of the United States at Washington. It is the duty, however, of the undersigned, to make an observation to Lord Aberdeen on the subject of American vessels detained, searched, and captured, which were enumerated in the note of the undersigned of December 27th. The undersigned is aware of the delay necessarily incident to official inquiries into transactions occurring in distant seas, and has every reason to be satisfied with the promptness with which Lord Aberdeen called the attention of the Lords of the Admiralty to these cases. Firmly persuaded, however, that the success of any attempt to negotiate on this subject, in any form, will de

pend upon the promptness with which redress is afforded in cases where wrong and injury have been inflicted, and with a view of presenting to her majesty's government, disconnected with other matters, a case which, it would seem to the undersigned, carries almost in its statement the materials for a safe opinion on its merits, the undersigned would respectfully invite the attention of Lord Aberdeen to the case of the “Tigris." In this case, on slender grounds of suspicion that the vessel was engaged in the slave trade-grounds which, as the undersigned understands, were immediately overruled by the Circuit Court of the United States for the circuit of Massachusetts, before which the proceedings were had-the American vessel, the "Tigris," was on the 7th October, 1840, by Lieutenant Matson, the commander of her majesty's brig " Waterwitch," searched, captured, taken out of her course, her voyage broken up, and the vessel sent home, with a prize crew, under a very young and (as is alleged) intemperate officer. The peculiarity of this case is, that in a letter addressed by Mr. Matson "to the secretary, or registrar, of either of the circuit courts of the United States," he uses the following language: "These, sir, are my reasons for taking upon myself the responsibility of detaining the Tigris; but, in doing so, I find myself placed in a very delicate position, not having received any orders or instructions to interfere with vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, whatever their employment might be." This admission appears to deprive Lieutenant Matson of the justification relied upon in some cases in other respects similar, viz.: that which consisted in the agreement or understanding between Commodore Tucker and Lieutenant Commandant Paine, authorizing each other to institute a mutual search of British and American vessels engaged in the slave trade. Mr. Matson alleges no knowledge of that agreement, but expressly states that he acted on his own responsibility, and without orders or instructions.

6

In separating this case from the others, it is not the purpose of the undersigned to make a distinction in their merits, but to call the attention of her majesty's government to a case which, from the peculiar circumstances mentioned, would seem to admit a summary proceeding.

Mr. Everett to Mr. Webster.-[EXTRACTS.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, March 23, 1842. The queen's first levee was held on the 16th of March. While waiting in the room appropriated to the foreign ministers, Lord Aberdeen took me aside and informed me that he had an agreeable communication to make to me; which was, that the government had determined to indemnify the owners of the "Tigris" for the damage sustained by the detention of

that ship on the coast of Africa by the "Waterwitch." He said he had examined the subject sufficiently to make up his mind that the claim was just, and that he would immediately address me a note to that effect, which he did the next day. A copy of his note and of my answer are herewith inclosed. Whether the documentary evidence in my hands, a copy of which accompanies my note to Lord Aberdeen, will be deemed sufficient, remains to be seen; but, at all events, the matter is in a happy train of adjustment.

I deem this an event of very great importance. You will bear in mind that the " Tigris" was one of four cases submitted by Mr. Stevenson to the British government in May last. Lord Palmerston did not refer them to the Admiralty till four months afterward. In my interview with Lord Aberdeen of the 27th of December, I found that his attention had not been drawn to these cases. I gave him their names, which he took down at the time, and, on my return home, I sent him a memorandum of them. Although I considered, with Lord Aberdeen, that the discussion of the question of search was, by the mission of Lord Ashburton, transferred to Washington-a view of the subject which the President has been pleased to ap prove-I deemed it highly important to keep the individual instances of outrage constantly before the government here, with whom, of course, the reports of their cruisers on the coast of Africa are deposited. I seized the opportunity, when addressing a note to Lord Aberdeen in obedience to the instructions contained in your dispatch of the 29th of January, expressing the satisfaction with which the mission of Lord Ashburton was regarded by the government of the United States, again to urge the case of the "Tigris" upon his consideration; this appearing to me the case admitting the readiest decision. I took care, however, to guard against any inference unfavorable to the strength of the other claims which might be drawn from putting this case prominently forward; and I shall urge the others at the proper time, in the manner best calculated to cause them to be favorably considered.

[INCLOSURE.]

FOREIGN OFFICE, March 17, 1842.

The undersigned, her majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has had the honor to receive the note addressed to him on the 21st ultimo by Mr. Everett, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America; and the undersigned has now the honor to acquaint Mr. Everett that her majesty's government have fully considered the case of the United States vessel "Tigris," adverted to in that note, as having been detained on the coast of