pted,
orders to prevent them were despatched to all the States and ports of
the Union. In consequence of these, the Governor of New York,
receiving information that a sloop heretofore called the Polly, now
the Republican, was fitting out, arming, and manning in the port of
New York, for the express and sole purpose of cruising against certain
nations with whom we are at peace, that she had taken her guns and
ammunition aboard and was on the point of departure, seized the vessel.
That the Governor was not mistaken in the previous indications of her
object, appears by the subsequent avowal of the citizen Hauterive,
Consul of France at that port, who, in a letter to the Governor,
reclaims her as '_Un vaisseau arme, en guerre, et pret a mettre a la
voile_;' and describes her object in these expressions; '_Cet usage
etrange de la force publique contre les citoyens d'une nation amie qui
se reunissent ici pour aller defendre leur freres_,' &c. and again; '_Je
requiers, monsieur, l'autorite dont vous etes revetu, pour faire rendre
a des Francois, a des allies, &c. la liberte de voler au secours de leur
patrie_.' This transaction being reported to the President, orders were
immediately sent to deliver over the vessel, and the persons concerned
in the enterprise, to the tribunals of the country; that if the act
was of those forbidden by the law, it might be punished; if it was not
forbidden, it might be so declared, and all persons apprized of what
they might or might not do.

This we have reason to believe is the true state of the case, and it
is a repetition of that which was the subject of my letter of the
5th instant, which animadverted, not merely on the single fact of
the granting commissions of war by one nation within the territory of
another, but on the aggregate of the facts: for it states the opinion of
the President to be, 'that the arming and equipping vessels in the ports
of the United States, to cruise against nations with whom they are at
peace, was incompatible with the sovereignty of the United States; that
it made them instrumental to the annoyance of those nations, and thereby
tended to commit their peace.' And this opinion is still conceived to be
not contrary to the principles of natural law, the usage of nations,
the engagements which unite the two people, nor the proclamation of the
President, as you seem to think.

Surely, not a syllable can be found in the last mentioned instrument
permitting the prepa