APPENDIX (F). 



Letter from Mr. Anthony St. Jno. Baker to Lord Castlereagh, 



November 28, 1815. 

 (No. 37.) 



WASHINGTON, November &S, 1815. 



MY LORD, I had the honour to receive on the 19th instant by the 

 Messenger Williams, who arrived at New York in the Chesterfield 

 Packet Boat, Earl Bathurst's Dispatches Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and their 

 Enclosures, together with the Ratification of the Commercial Con- 

 vention signed at London on the 5th of last July. 



I lost no time in requesting an Interview with the American Sec- 

 retary of State which took place yesterday, at which in compliance 

 with the Instructions contained in Earl Bathurst's No. 8, 1 proceeded 

 to point out the necessity which existed under the present circum- 

 stances of the world, of restricting the intercourse of all Ships and 

 Vessels, British as well as foreign, with the exception only of those 

 belonging to the East India Company, with the Island of St. Helena, 

 and the impossibility therefore of complying with that part of the 

 third Article of the Commercial Convention lately signed between 

 the two Countries, by which that Island is made one of the ports of 

 refreshment for the vessels of the United States bound to the East 

 Indies or China. I then acquainted Mr. Monroe that I had received 

 the Prince Regent's Ratification of the Commercial Convention, and 

 had been empowered to proceed to the Exchange, but had been com- 

 manded in making this notification, at the same time to communicate 

 to the Government of the United States an explicit declaration as 

 to the intentions of His Majesty's Government with respect to the 

 prohibition of all intercourse with the Island of St. Helena, while it 

 should remain the residence of Napoleon Buonaparte. I remarked 

 that the present stage of the transaction, before the Treaty had been 

 sent to the Senate, was peculiarly appropriate for making this com- 

 munication, and delivered to him a Note, a copy of which is inclosed, 

 notifying my readiness to exchange the Ratification, and transmit- 

 ting the Declaration which I had been commanded to make, stating 

 that I had kept these papers until the day which he had appointed 

 for the interview, in order that their delivery might be accompanied 

 with the above declaration. 



Mr. Monroe received these Notes, and after reading them atten- 

 tively, observed that they would be laid before the Senate with the 

 Treaty, and that the President would determine whether any 

 previous communication to me respecting them was necessary. He 

 said very little on the subject, and did not appear to consider the 

 alteration to be of very material importance, although to be regretted, 

 as depriving the vessels of the United States of one convenient port 



of refreshment, 



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