vi 
INTRODUCTION. 
gentleman who had previously filled that station having died at 
sea. This is a pleasant birth on board a flag-ship, and I accepted 
it, as the stay of the commodore on the station promised me a 
fine opportunity to improve my knowledge of the institutions^ 
natural capacities, commercial resources, and political condition 
and prospects of so large a portion of South America, which 
hitherto I had not been able to visit. 
The cruise of the Potomac, thus far, had been one of great 
interest, and the services performed by her of high importance 
to our commercial interests in the east. News of her arrival at 
the Island of Sumatra, and her action with the Malays, reached 
the United States in the early part of Ju.ly, 1832, at which time 
Congress was still in session. 
Partial statements relative to the occurrences at Quallah-Battoo 
had been published in the journals of the day ; and those papers 
had now reached the Pacific. The attention of Coiigress had 
been called to the subject. Mr. Dearborn, of the House of 
Representatives, on the 12th day of July, submitted a resolution 
calling on the President for the instructions under which Com- 
modore Downes acted, in his attack on the Malays of the Island 
of Sumatra. The resolution was adopted without objections 
from any quarter; and before the adjournment of the House on 
the next day, a communication covering the instructions was 
received from the President, recommending that these papers 
should not be made public until a full report of the proceedings 
at Quallah-Battoo should be received from Commodore Downes; 
intimating, that the vague rumours and partial statements before 
the public relative to the transactions at that place, when com- 
pared with the instructions under which that officer acted, might 
create an unfavourable prejudice against him in the public mind, 
which ought to be guarded against during his absence from the 
country, and until all the circumstances which influenced his 
mind should be authentically known. 
On the reception of these papers, the House of Representatives 
referred them to the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and after 
being examined by that committee, the latter unanimously con- 
curred with the President, that the instructions ought not to be 
published until official, full, and accurate information was received, 
as to the manner in which the instructions had been executed. 
