486 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[March, 
The president called the attention of congress to this subject, in 
his annual message of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-one.* 
Soon after the capture of the vessels, Vernet left the Falklands 
in the Harriet, taking Captain Davison with him, a-nd on the 
tw^entieth of November arrived at Buenos Ayres, and immedi- 
ately caused a process to be issued from one of the judicial tribu- 
nals against the vessel, under which she was held for trial. 
Mr. Forbes at this time was dead : no successor was appointed ; 
and George W. Slacum, Esq. was the consul of the United States 
at that port. 
On the twenty-first of November, Mr. Slacum addressed a 
note to the minister of foreign affairs, Don Thomas Manuel de 
Anchorena, inquiring why " a bona fide American vessel, engaged 
in lawful trade, should be captured by an officer of a friendly 
government." 
On the twenty-fifth the minister replied, informing him that the 
affair was before the minister of war and marine ; and after the 
customary forms had been passed through, the affair would be 
laid before the government for its consideration, whose resolution 
thereon would be conformable to the laws of the country. 
On the twenty-sixth, Mr. Slacum, in another note, informed the 
minister of foreign affairs that he considered his reply as a virtual 
avowal of Vernet's right to capture American vessels, engaged in 
the fisheries at the Falkland Islands, &c. He denied the right 
in toto, and protested against its exercise — the decree of June 
. * "I should (says the president) have placed Buenos Ayres in the list of South 
American powers, in respect to which, nothing of importance affecting us was to be 
communicated ; but for occurrences which have lately taken place at the Falkland 
Islands, in which the name of that republic has been used to cover, with a show of 
authority, acts injurious to our commerce, and to the property and liberty of our fel- 
low-citizens. In the course of the present year, one of our vessels, engaged in the 
pursuit of a trade which we have always enjoyed without molestation, has been cap- 
tured by a band acting, as they pretend, under the authority of the government of 
Buenos Ayres. ' I have therefore given orders for the despatch of an armed vessel, to 
join our squadron in those seas, and aid in affording all lawful protection to our trade 
which shall be necessary ; and shall, without delay, send a minister to inquire into 
the nature of the circumstances, and also of the claim, if any, that is set up by that 
government to those islands. In the meantime I submit the case to the consider- 
ation of congress, to the end that they may clothe the executive with such authority 
and means as they may deem necessary for providing a force adequate to the com- 
plete protection of our fellow-citizens fishing and trading in those seas." 
