_May 27, 1812_.

SIR: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 2d instant from
St. Marys, where you had arrived in discharge of the trust reposed in
you by the President, in relation to East Florida.

My letter by Mr. Isaacs has, I presume, substantially answered the most
important of the queries submitted in your letter, but I will give to
each a more distinct answer.

By the law of which a copy was forwarded to you it is made the duty of
the President to prevent the occupation of East Florida by any foreign
power. It follows that you are authorized to consider the entrance, or
attempt to enter, especially under existing circumstances, of British
troops of any description as the case contemplated by the law, and to
use the proper means to defeat it.

An instruction will be immediately forwarded to the commander of the
naval force of the United States in the neighborhood of East Florida to
give you any assistance, in case of emergency, which you may think
necessary and require.

It is not expected, if you find it proper to withdraw the troops, that
you should interfere to compel the patriots to surrender the country or
any part of it to the Spanish authorities. The United States are
responsible for their own conduct only; not for that of the inhabitants
of East Florida. Indeed, in consequence of the compromitment of the
United States to the inhabitants, you have been already instructed not
to withdraw the troops, unless you find that it may be done consistently
with their safety, and to report to the Government the result of your
conferences with the Spanish authorities, with your opinion of their
views, holding in the meantime the ground occupied.

In the present state of our affairs with Great Britain the course above
pointed out is the more justifiable and proper.

I have the honor, etc.,

JAMES MONROE.

JULY 6, 1812.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate copies and extracts of documents in the
archives of the Department of State falling within the purview of their
resolution of the 4th instant, on the subject of British impressments
from American vessels. The information, though voluminous, might have
been enlarged with more time for research and preparation. In some
instances it might at the same time have been abridged but for the
difficulty of separating the matter extraneous to the immediate object
of the resolution.

JAMES MADISON.

VETO MESSAGE