country to which the captor may belong, in all cases where he may possess himself of the captured vessel's papers. This proposition has not been, nor do I believe that it will be, acceded to by the Danish government; yet, sir, you will readily perceive that if the French government should persist, there can be very little expectation of our obtaining from this, the release of a vessel which may have been condemned by the council of prizes. There is even some reason to apprehend that it will so persist, since the French consul has now received orders from the minister of marine to transmit to Paris the papers of the ship"Olive Branch," which, as mentioned in my despatch No. 12, was seized under the very guns of the fort of Nyborg; and this case is peculiarly strong, since the "Olive Branch" had his Danish majesty's license on board. But I must in this place also mention that my correspondence with Mr. Desaugiers (lately French charge d'affaires here) which was submitted to you with despatch No. 8, having been also submitted to his government, he is now answered by the duke of Bassano, in terms strongly reprehending the excesses of the corsairs in general, and particularly reproving their practice of hoisting the French flag on board the vessels captured, of which he strictly forbids the

recurrence.

The "Rachel," "Rover" and "Packet," three vessels (on the pending lists heretofore transmitted) which have been released, being partly laden with "colonial produce," were, pursuant to the established regulations with regard to vessels so laden, ordered to quit the port and to proceed on their voyages; the French privateers were then watching for and would infallibly have captured them on their departure. The copies herewith enclosed, viz. my notes to Mr. de Rosenkrantz of November 27, 28, and 29, (Nos. 9, 10, and 11) Mr. de Rosenkratz his unofficial note of December 1st, (No. 12) my reply of same date (No. 13) Mr. de Rosenkrantz his official note of December 2d, (No. 14) relate to this matter, which you will be pleased to observe was very satisfactorily settled.

The last list of vessels which had passed this way was dated October 9: since then a few scattered vessels have presented themselves, viz.

The "Dolphin," Latham, "America," Briggs, from Petersburg to the United States, passed without interruption.

"Ann," How, arrived safely at Christiansand.

"Sally," Brown, turned away from Amsterdam by the English, continued her voyage towards this place, and was wrecked on the coast of Jutland.

"Adriana," Abrahams, of Baltimore, belonging to Smith and Co. with a cargo of hides convoyed by the Danes from Gottenburg to Copenhagen, (having Danish license) cargo sold in Copenhagen and econvoyed to Elsineur.

"Columbia," Jennison, (owners unknown) from St. Ubes with salt, much under the same circumstances. "Swanwick," Clark, with a cargo of tobacco, property of Pratt and Kintzing of Philadelphia, do. do.

"Asia," Ormsby, (Brown and Ives of Providence) with 3500 chests of tea arrived at Gottenburg some months since, in her voyage from thence to Copenhagen; captured by a Danish privateer, but immediately released, having the king's permission to come hither and sell.

This completes the account of our trade for the last year as far as particulars have come to my knowledge. In my despatch No. 12, I transmitted certain statements relating to that trade; triplicate of those statements were sent with No. 14, with the addition of a printed tariff of the duties payable on all merchandise passing through the Sound: a duplicate of the tariff is herewith enclosed. I have lately seen a printed statement of our exports from Petersburg during the last year made by a commercial house of that place. It agrees in general with the document No. 3, enclosed with my aforesaid despatch. It is however more complete as to the number of vessels, including all those which went up through the Belt, and gives a total of 127 (noting that in 1810 the total was 100 only) but states that 29 of the 127 were bound to European ports, having as part of their cargoes 23615 poods of flax! Most of these 29 probably returned through the Belt; such as passed the Sound must have had false clearances. In the course of judicial investigations the Danes have already discovered, as is supposed, sufficient grounds for distrusting the character of our commerce : such printed information from what is called a "respecta

VOL. IX.

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1

ble American house" at Petersburg, recommending itself to its correspondents by this species of industry, cannot fail to augment that distrust.

All the old and new cases being now disposed of, I herewith enclose a table (No. 19) bringing the whole of them and the proceedings which have been had on them into one view. I beg you, sir, to observe, that of 38 cases of Danish capture ON THE LIST OF 1811, there have been only three appeals of the captors against the sentences of acquittal given by the inferior tribunal, so little have been their expectations of procuring final condemnations, and that excepting the three English and English license cases ("President," "Neptune," and "Aurora,") there has been but one final condemnation, viz. the "Brutus."

I hope that upon the whole this view will be satisfactory to the President. Mr. de Rosenkrantz told me in an early interview that the administration of justice was as impartial and as prompt here as in any other country; he added (referring to the dispositions of the king) that in future we should have nothing to complain of. How far his assertion was correct, or his promise has been complied with, I will not presume to determine; but I must do that minister the justice to say, that he spoke with perfect sincerity, and under impressions the most just and friendly, and to believe that where the results fall short of our expectations, it has not been from any failure of those dispositions.

I have taken occasion in former despatches to mention, and in frequent representations to Mr. de Rosenkrantz, to remonstrate against the practices of fining and taxing vessels acquitted in the tribunals. These practices, nearly indiscriminate as they are, I found to be quite unreasonable, in their application frequently most unjust; yet after all, for the amount of the exactions, they are not oppressive, perhaps had they been abolished altogether we might not have had quite so many vessels captured; there would certainly have been more appeals and might have been more condemnations. The lists herewith enclosed (paper marked No. 20) show the sums which the cases have been charged under the several heads of costs, fines, and two per mille tax in the tribunals of Copenhagen: the two per mille goes to the king's coffer; the fine goes to the captor

for his trouble in capturing where he is supposed to have had just grounds of suspicion; the court expenses are invariably forty rix dollars (equal to five and a half dollars) in each case. There are no other expenses but advocate's fees here, as in all countries, the amount of these is settled by agreement between the counsel and the client; in the inferior tribunal no advocate is employed.

out success.

The situation of the masters of our vessels condemned here was formerly made the more distressing by the prosecutions to which they were exposed on account of wages due to their sailors, the laws here compelling them to provide for their crews: these laws had been executed with great rigour, and large sums had been frequently adjudged to be paid by masters who could scarcely find credit for their own subsistence. The consul had, by frequent representations, endeavoured to remedy this evil, but withWhen I came to act in this matter I was answered, that if the master deceived the men by engaging them in a vessel which was not in fact American as he pretended, it was but just that he should pay them, his sufferings then were chargeable only to his own misconduct however, I finally obtained that it should be laid before the chancery; that tribunal, by a report of January 11, adopted by his majesty, decreed that "no law suit regarding the wages due to North American mariners from their captains shall be admitted before the tribunals." I did not succeed in obtaining payment for the men out of the condemned vessel, but on this point thought it not prudent to go far.

I have the honour to be, &c.

GEORGE W. ERVING.

Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State.

No. 7. B.

Mr. Erving to Mr. de Rosenkrantz. Copenhagen, April

10, 1812.

SIR,-In one of the first interviews which I had with your excellency, you assured me, on the part of his majesty, "That for the future the United States should have nothing to complain of." Fully relying then on the good

faith and friendly sentiment in which this declaration was made, to those favourable dispositions of his majesty I have addressed all my subsequent reclamations; and the reports which I have, from time to time, submitted to my government, have corresponded to the harmony thus established in our proceedings. Judge then, sir, with what extreme concern and regret I now find myself under the necessity of protesting and reclaiming against a sentence of the high court of admiralty, grounded on the king's own decision, against the American ship Brutus and her cargo, the genuine property of American citizens, in favour of which I have been for several months negotiating with your excellency; respecting which I have furnished documentary evidence of great importance, and the circumstances of which I was so fully authorized to consider as peculiarly favourable: judge, sir, of the concern with which I see, in the sentence now given, that the reclamation which I have made in this case, has been passed over; the documents which I have furnished have been set aside, and that grounds for condemnation have been assumed, wholly insufficient, and, in part, even contrary to facts as established by those documents. I am perfectly certain that his majesty does not believe that I am capable of attempting to support any cause but the just cause of a genuine American citizen, nor shall I readily abandon the Conviction that he is still actuated by the just and friendly dispositions which motived the declaration above cited: hence I must presume that the misrepresentations which have been made to him, and the influence which has been produced in his mind, on the present occasion, are of a very extraordinary character. This conclusion is the more unavoidable, since, certainly, I have long since succeeded in convincing your excellency, who has such high and indisputable title to the entire confidence of his majesty, that the cause of the Brutus is a just one; nor can I in this view fail to notice that the opinion of the chancery was in its favour; that there was a division of opinion amongst the members of the high court, and that the vessel was fully acquitted by the inferior court in Norway. By my note of December 13, 1811, I furnished to your excellency proofs that the captor's appeal from that sentence had been made only because the American captain