188 



A VOYAGE TO 



dependently of my own sense of propriety, when seek- 

 ing refreshment in a friendly port, most positively for- 

 bid my pursuing any course of conduct, which might 

 be offensive to any individual of the country; much 

 less that I should knowingly suffer any thing like in-r 

 ^ult to be offered to the constituted authority of that 

 country. I had with great confidence hoped, that the 

 strict etiquette I had uniformly observed since my ar^ 

 rival, would have forbidden the possibility of my be- 

 ing even thought capable of acting otherwise than in 

 conformity to these regulations. I had with equal con- 

 fidence believed, that the character of American offi- 

 cers for politeness, etiquette, strict subordination, and 

 respect to officers superior or inferior in grade, of all 

 nations, was sufficiently well established to have equal- 

 ly forbidden the belief for a moment, that they would 

 knowingly have offered an insult to officers of the 

 grade above alluded to, sooner than they would tamely 

 receive abuse or insult, if in their power to redress it. 



In compliance with your request, and to satisfy you 

 that the cause of complaint lies on the side of my 

 government, I will give you a brief statement of the 

 aiiair as it happened. With respect to the seaman, 

 whom the Portuguese minister is pleased to call a de- 

 serter, the penalties of our laws prohibiting the enlist- 

 ment of any but American seamen in our naval ser- 

 vice, are too severe to admit a tloubt that we should 

 knowingly receive any that are not of this description, 

 on board our ships of war. And if any to appear- 

 ance should not be such, the fact is well known of our 

 liaving within our own territory, people of every ori- 

 gin, and speaking almost every language of Europe, 

 particularly since the acquisition of Louisianna, for- 



