MISCELLANEOUS. 1211 



from the Department of State to the Executive Mansion. Mr. Clay 

 had succeeded him; and a new British minister had arrived in the 

 United States to treat with the new administration. To have delayed 

 a reply to that note for a year and a half, was eq uivalent to a refusal ; 

 and it could hardly be hoped by Mr. Vaughan, that Mr. Adams would 

 permit, as President, what he had declined as Secretary of State. 

 Yet, on the 29th of April, that functionary called the attention of 

 Mr. Clay to the fact that his predecessor, on the fifth of October, 1824, 

 had informed our government "that an outrage had been committed 

 by some armed citizens of the State of Maine, in forcibly rescuing, off 

 Eastport, two American vessels, the Reindeer and Ruby, which had 

 been captured by his Majesty's cruisers while fishing in the Bay of 

 Fundy in places where the United States had by treaty renounced 

 the right so to do;" and in renewing the request "for an acknowledg- 

 ment of the improper conduct of the persons engaged in" the enter- 

 prise, he remarked that "the British government was disposed to 

 waive all demand for the punishment of the offenders, as the act 

 resulted apparently from unpremeditated violence." 



It does not appear that Mr. Clay ever replied to this letter, or that 

 the required " acloiowledgment " was ever made in any form. 



The naval and diplomatic officers of his Majesty attached far more 

 importance to this affair than it deserved. Admiral Lake stated, and 

 the British charge d'affaires repeated to Mr. Adams, that the Reindeer 

 and Ruby were rescued "by two schooners and an open boat, under 

 American colors, full of armed men, with muskets and fixed bayonets, 

 amounting to about one hundred, headed by a Mr. Howard,* of East- 

 port, who is said to be a captain in the United States militia." But 

 the truth is, that "Mr. Howard" was a mere stripling, and a mer- 

 chant's apprentice. I was a witness to the whole affray. The two 

 vessels in question were partly owned by young Howard's employers. 

 As they hove in sight under charge of Captain Hoare's prize-masters, 

 a party of some thirty persons, many of whom were boys, and without 

 "muskets" or weapons of any sort, were hastily collected and em- 

 barked. The deed was bravely done, and at the moment won tKe 

 plaudits of grave men. Persons of mature years who deliberately 

 arm themselves to expound treaty stipulations, are not to be justified ; 

 but the acts of generous, impulsive youth, admit of apology and ex- 

 tenuation. 



The period of quiet which followed the transactions last noticed 

 indicates that Captain Hoare was too zealous, or that his successors 

 were remiss in the performance of their duty, or that the masters of 

 our fishing vessels suddenly reformed their practices, and conformed 

 to the provisions of the convention. In January, 1836, Mr. Bank- 

 head, the British charge d'affaires, at the instance of the colonial 

 authorities, called the attention of Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of State, 

 to "repeated acts of irregularity committed by fishermen of the United 

 States;" but the papers which accompanied his note specify the 

 encroachments of a single vessel only namely, the schooner Bethel, of 

 Provincetown, Massachusetts. Still, the President, "without wait- 

 ing for an examination of the general complaint," or that of the soli- 

 tary instance cited, " directed the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct 



* William A. Howard, subsequently a midshipman in the United States navy, and 

 a captain in the revenue service. He was in command of the steam cutter McLane 

 at the attack on Vera Cruz, during the late war with Mexico. 



