John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

17. V: Mr Calhoun the Secretary at War called upon me this Morning with a Mr Ware of the State of Mississippi, who had been mentioned to me by Mr John Vaughan and Dr Brown whom we met in the street at Philadelphia last Tuesday Morning, and whom Vaughan introduced to me. They were under the impression that Ware himself had seen at San Antonio, records of antient grants of Land by the French Government within the Province of Texas. Mr Vaughan therefore had promised to ask Ware to call upon me when he should come to Washington—but it proved, not that he had seen these records himself, but that Americans who were at San Antonio in the year 1813. had told him they had seen them there— The records and the town of San Antonio itself have been since burnt, when retaken by the Royalists.— Mr John Graham called on me at the Office, and mentioned to me, that the Report of the late Commissioners to South-America, was to be drawn up by Mr Rodney, and would contain rather a statement of facts collected by the Commissioners, and observed by them than any opinions of their own— To this I readily assented— He said he had written to Mr Rodney before I last left the City, that the President and all the Administration would probably be here by the 15th. of this Month; and that it would be expected that the Report of the Commissioners would then be ready. Mr Rodney had answered him that he would have it ready by the time; but within these few days had written him again that he had been unexpectedly called away upon business of his own, which would delay for a short time the completion of the Report— I told Mr Graham that if it was sent in by the end of the Month it would be in time; but it could not without inconvenience be longer postponed, as Congress are to convene on the 16th. of next Month, and the manner in which the subject will be mentioned by the President in his message, will depend in some measure upon the Report.— I had mentioned yesterday Young Essex to the President as soliciting a Warrant of Midshipman; and as he belongs to the State of Kentucky, from which the proportion of Officers in the Navy is very small, the President directed that a warrant should issue for him immediately; as well as for a young man named Telfair, of Virginia recommended by Mr Crawford. I called at the Navy Department, and spoke to Mr Homans about the warrants. He found Telfair’s name on the list of Applicants. Essex’s application was entirely new. He said he would have the Warrants made out immediately but there was no person yet authorized to countersign them— Coll. Swartwout was yesterday commissioned as Navy Agent at New-York— He had called upon me the day before to ask for my influence in obtaining the appointment. I told him that being perfectly disposed to render him any service in my power, I should be happy if he should obtain the appointment; but as it was of the resort of another Department my general rule was merely to make known to the President such applications as were made through me 416together with the recommendations by which they were supported, leaving him to judge of them himself. I should feel myself peculiarly obliged to observe that course in the present case, having been very earnestly solicited at my passage through New-York to interest myself in behalf of another person, a Mr Rutgers— Coll. Swartwout professed to be entirely satisfied with this— I received last Evening a Note from the Abbe Correa, the Portuguese Minister, complaining of an attempt to fit out an armed vessel in the Patuxent to cruize against Portuguese subjects and property, under Commissions from Artigas— I met the Abbé as I was going to the Office and appointed to see him at 2 O’Clock, when he came. I told him that the only way in which the Executive could interpose was by directing a prosecution of the persons chargeable with a violation of the Laws, and that if he would give the names of such persons and of the witnesses who would establish the proof against them, the Attorney for the District of Maryland would be directed to commence a prosecution. He asked whether the President was not authorized by the Law of the last Session of Congress to employ the army and navy of the United States to suppress such armaments. I said he was, but that he could not take the facts for granted— A judicial conviction appeared to be the only proof upon which he could resort to measures of that character— He said he could have no confidence in any judicial prosecution— What reliance for instance could he place for instance in the verdict of a jury selected by the Sheriff of Baltimore, who was himself concerned in the fitting out of these privateers. I told him the Sheriff of Baltimore would have nothing to do with the selection of the Juries, the trial being before the Courts of the United States, and not those of the State. He said it was very hard, that such things must be doing almost under the very eyes of this Government; and that there should be no remedy for Portugal, whose king had always been so friendly towards the United States. That privateering Commissions from Artigas were mere absurdities, as he had possession of no Seaport; and that there might just as well issue Commissions for privateering, from Harper’s ferry, or from the Seminole Indians— That he was fully persuaded of the just and honourable intentions of the American Government; but that “we had a most unmanageable crew—” I answered him that I trusted he did not intend by that remark to cast a reflection upon the nature of our Institutions, but that at all events our people were quite as manageable for every good purpose, as the people of any other Nation, not excepting that of Portugal and Brazil. That we wished to take no part in the war carried on between the Portuguese Government and that of Artigas; but that there could be no analogy between Artigas and the Seminole Indians— He disclaimed any intention of reflecting upon our Institutions, and professed on the contrary great respect for them; but he recurred to the kindness which his king had always manifested to the United States. I mentioned to him the case of the privateer General Armstrong at Fayal, during our late War with England— He said that Ghost was always brought up against him— He had written about it to his Court, when I mentioned it to him before and had received all the papers that had passed between them, and the British Government concerning it. Fayal was an open road; incapable of resistance; and great damage was done upon the occasion of this transaction, to the houses of the inhabitants on shore. The British Government had offered to indemnify all those inhabitants, but his Court had refused to accept that indemnity, without satisfaction’s being given to the complaint on the part of the United States also. This was all they could do— I said the result however was that no satisfaction had been given to the United States. The Abbe finally concluded by saying that he wished me to answer his note so that he might make his report to his own Government— I told him there were some other subjects on which I should be glad to converse with him, and he said he would call at my house to-morrow— Mr Bagot, and the Viscount de Quabeck, the new Chargé d’Affaires from the Netherlands sent notes requesting interviews; for which I appointed twelve and two O’Clock next Monday. On returning home to dinner, I found Mr Bailey, and the Chevalier Courson de la Villehalio, Captain of the French Frigate la Duchesse de Berri, now at New-York. I found quite unexpectedly that this Officer was an old acquaintance—he reminded me of having seen me at the University of Cambridge, and of having with a party of French Officers dined with me at my father’s house, in September 1788. he belonged to a French squadron then in Boston harbour commanded by a Mr. de Vintimille— I recollected the circumstance distinctly 417but not the person of Mr Courson. He has mistaken also the year, which was 1788. He thinks it 1787— I went after dinner with Mrs Adams and we spent the Evening at Mr Frye’s.