1832.] 
OI'FICIAl. DOCUMENTS. 
117 
" It was desirable, also, that a previous demand should have 
been made for restitution and indemnification ; as, whether neces- 
sary or not on principles of national law, it would have furnished 
the most favourable opportunity for success in obtaining redress, 
and would have tended to remove any complaint in any quarter, 
on account of the nature and consequences of the attack. 
" On every circumstance, influencing your judgment to dispense 
with these, he wishes the fullest information, since it may here- 
after become material. 
" At the same time, the president wishes me to express his 
highest commendation for the coolness, firmness, and skill, evinced 
by yourself, officers, and men, in the whole attack ; and hopes that 
the best consequences to our trade and national character will re- 
sult from it, in that region of the world. 
" Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" Levi Woodbury. 
" Commodore John Downes, > 
" Commanding U. S. Squadron, Pacific Ocean." J 
"U. S. Frigate Potomac, Callao, 13th Feb., 1833. 
" I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
bearing date the sixteenth of July, 1832; containing the wish of 
the president, that I would communicate all the circumstances 
which influenced my judgment in directing the manner of attack 
on the town of Quallah-Battoo. 
" I was directed in my instructions, on arriving at the island of 
Sumatra, to obtain from the intelligent shipmasters, supercargoes, 
and others engaged in American trade in that neighbourhood, 
such information as they possessed in relation to the nature of the 
government there, the piratical character of the population, and 
the flagrant circumstances of the injuries. before-mentioned. 
" The above were the only sources of information to which I 
was referred in my instructions, and in reference to which I stated, 
in my communication to the department dated February seven- 
teenth, 1832, that finding no vessel on the coast, I could obtain 
no information in addition to that already possessed respecting 
the nature of the government, &c. &c. 
" There were other sources of information, however, to which 
