Mr. Gardoqui informs me that his Majesty was pleased in the Month of March last to order “that when a prize taken by a French or Dutch Vessel should arrive in a Port of Spain, the Marine Judge of the District, should reduce to writing the Evidence of the Capture, and deliver it to the French or Dutch Consul (as the case might be) to be by him transmitted to the Admiralty from whence the Commission of the Captors issued, in order that the Legality of the Capture might there be tried—and further that the Sentence which might there be passed, should, on being duly certified to the aforesaid Judge, be executed under his direction.” I am also informed that on the 12th. Instant his Majesty was pleased to extend the abovementioned Order to Prizes taken by American Vessels of War, and sent into any of the Ports of Spain.

So far as this Order affects the United States of America, I take the Liberty of representing to your Excellency that the Execution of it will necessarily be attended with the following Inconveniencies.

1st.— The Distance of America from Spain is so great, and the Intercourse between the two Countries rendered so precarious by the War, that many Months must unavoidably elapse before the sentence of an American Court of Admiralty can be obtained and executed here.

2d.— That by these delays all Cargoes, or Parts of Cargoes, which may be of a perishable nature, will be lost, and the Value of the Vessel and rigging greatly diminished.

3d— That as his Majesty has not yet been pleased to grant the United States the Privilege of having Consuls in his Ports, it is not in their Power to provide for the Transmission of the Evidence of Captures, in the manner Specified in the abovementioned Order.1

4th.— That in Case the Prize should be claimed as a Neutral Vessel, the Claimants must either prosecute their Claim in America, or the Sentence given there could not be influenced by it; and yet it is more probable that those Claimants would endeavor to avoid that expense and trouble by applying here for an Order to suspend the Execution of the Sentence, as well as for a Trial of the merits of their Claim by a Spanish Tribunal: In which Case the same Cause would become Subject to two Jurisdictions, and tried by two different independent Courts in two Different Countries.

This Order not being published, it is possible that my Information respecting it may not be right in all its parts; though I have reason to believe from the usual Accuracy of Mr. Gardoqui (from whom I received this Information) that I am not mistaken.

There is at present an American Prize at Bilboa, and all Judicial Proceedings respecting it are now at a Stand.2

The importance of this Subject to the United States, and in some measure to the Common Cause, will I hope apologize for my Troubling your Excellency with these Remarks, and for requesting that the Embarrassments in question may be removed in such manner as may be most agreeable to his Majesty.3 I have the honor to be, &c.