STATE PAPERS. 



655 



and to occasion mischiefs which may 

 perhaps be irremediable. The said 

 provisional chief, the Royal Acuer- 

 do, and the other concurring au- 

 thorities, give you every assurance 

 that can be wished for. 



By command of his excellency, 

 the President, with the Royal 

 Acuerdo, the most illustrious seig- 

 nor Archbishop, and the other Au- 

 thorities. 



Francisco Ximenez. 



Letter Jrom Mr. Giles, Member of 

 the Embargo Committee, to Mr. 

 Gallatin, Secretary of the Trea- 

 sury, dated Wth November, 

 1808. 



Dear Sir — I am instructed by 

 the Committee appointed to consi- 

 der the several Embargo Laws, &c. 

 to request you to lay before them 

 with as little delay as possible, such 

 information as your department af- 

 fords upon the following questions. 



First, What measures would be 

 most effectual in preventing the vio- 

 lations or evasions of the several 

 Embargo Laws : and enforcing due 

 observance thereof? 



Second, Can any of the inconve- 

 niences of the present system be re- 

 medied by further modifications ; 

 and what modifications would effect 

 that object ? 



Be pleased. Sir, to accept assur- 

 ances of my high consideration and 

 regard. 



Letter from Mr. Gallatin, in An^ 

 sxjoer to Mr. Giles. Dated 2lst 

 November, 1808. 



Sir — Indisposition has prevented 

 an earlier answer to your letter of 

 the 14th inst. 



For better preventing coasting 

 vessels regularly cleared from violat- 

 ing the Embargo, two measures ap- 

 pear necessary : 



1st. That the amount of the 

 Bonds should be increased. 



2dly. That neither capture, dis- 

 tress, or any other accident should 

 be admitted as a plea, or be given 

 in evidence on trial. 



By the first regulation the temp- 

 tation of going to a foreign port, in 

 hopes that the profit on the sale of 

 the cargo will indemnify for the for- 

 feiture of the penalty, will be done 

 away. By the second, every ex- 

 pectation of escaping the payment 

 of the penalty under fraudulent pre- 

 tences will be disappointed; and the 

 power of remitting the penalties in 

 the few cases of unavoidable acci- 

 dent which may occur, will remain 

 as heretofore, and as in other cases, 

 with the treasury. 



As the object of those two regu- 

 lations will be to make the bond a 

 sufficient and complete security, 

 they will have a tendency to relieve, 

 in a considerable degree, the coast- 

 ing trade from theinconvenience re- 

 sulting from detentions. The suffi- 

 ciency of the bond will in many 

 doubtful cases remove the necessity 

 of detaining the vessels, or what 

 amounts to the same, of informing 

 the owners that unless they reduce 

 the amount of their cargoes they 

 will be detained. 



I would also submit the propriety of 

 placing under the control of the pre- 

 sident, that power of detentionvested 

 in the collectors bytbeaot of the25th 

 April last. That subject has been a 

 constant source of complaintand dif- 

 ficulty. Ithasbeenthe uniform prac- 

 tice from the establishment of the 

 government of the United States, to 

 give positive instructions to the col- 

 lectors 



