Indiana Republican, Volume 2, Number 104, Madison, Jefferson County, 5 December 1818 — Page 1

"WHERE LIBERTY DWELLS, THERE IS MY COUNTRY"

Vol. II. MADISON, (INDIANA) -SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1818. No. 104.

'conditions. , f. . , o0.ni.ir.ii1' mill bedelivered

Anlltirit uer annum,

I flJoiM; if paid wAn two

ifer snoscrioing, f ti-,.m . dollars and. fifty

.m tmdve months:

f dollars if not paid until the

PUBLISHED BY JOHN LODGE, EVERY SATURDAY.

ff. " ' mill ha a near.

WO . 1 i:..,.fiiuiirl lint 7 f.

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h(fW,n f'n, of the year

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:,.aV ; proportion, and ij tns

,f insertions aesirru. w '" they will be continued at the ,fthe advertiser, until ordered

Letters to the Editor must

paid.

latbington City, Nov. 17.

1 day at 12 . o ciock, uic iresident of the Unit-

ites transmitted to both ,

of congress, by his secrc-

lr. 7. J. Monroe, the fol-

IMIJOO riKM 1-,. mxens of the Senate, & of Rouse of Representatives :

huspicious circumstances,

Mich you win cuuiwwiw. lies of the present session, thten the burthen, insepa-

oai the high trust commitvnu. The fruits ' of the

have been unusually abunhas flourished ;

henue has exceeded the Savorable anticipation, and

and amity are prcscivcu reign nations, on condilonnraMft to our country.

Up inestimable blessings,

not but be grateful to that

h'nee winch watcnes uvci

tines of nations. the firm limited for the O-

pn of the commercial con-

With Great Britain will

early in the month ot July . if

and t was deemea impur-

ut there should be no intertiring which, that portion

commerce wnicu was prufor by that convention

not be rezulated, cither

Wement between the two

!ments, or by the authority 2;ress, the minister of the States at London was in-

d, early in the last summer Jte the attention of the BriWernment to the subject, I view to that object. He istructcd to nronose, also.

e negociation which it was

i to open, might extend to ticral commerce of the two

lies, and to every other in-

m unsettled diticrencc dc-

tliein: particularly those

impressment, tne iisiic

"ries, and boundaries in the hope that an arrrangement might be made, on the principles of reciprocal advantange, which might comprehend, and provide, in a satisfactory manner, for all these high concerns. I have the satisfaction to state, that the proposal was received, by the British government, in the spirit which prompted it; & that a negociation has been opened at London, embracing all these objects. On full consideration of the great extent and magnitude of the trust, it was thought proper to commit it to not less than two of our distinguished citizens, and, in consequence, the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, at Paris, has Jeen associated with our envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at London; to both, of whom corresponding instructions have been given, and they are now engaged in the discharge of Its duties. It is proper to add, that, to prevent any inconvenience resulting from the delay incident to a negociation on so many important subjects, it was agreed, before entering on it, that the existing ronvention should be continued fcr a term not less than eight years. Our relations with Spain remain nearly in the state in which they were at the close of last session. The convention of 1802, providing for the adjustment of a certain portion of the claims of our citizens for injuries sustained by spoliation, and so longsuspended by the Spanish government, has at length been ratified by it ; but no arrangement has yet been made for the payment of another portion of like claims not less extensive or well founded, or for other classes of claims, or for the settlement of boundaries. These subjects have again been brought under consideration in both countries, but no arrangement has been entered into respecting them. In the mean time, events have occurred, which clearly prove the ill effects of the policy, which that government has so long pursued, on the friendly relations of the two countries, which, it is at least of as much importance to Spain, as to the United States, to maintain. A state of things has existed in the Florida3, the tendency of which has been obvious to all who have paid the slightest attention to the progress of affairs in that quarter. Throughout the whole of those provinces to which the Spanish title extends, the government of Spain has scarcely been felt. Its authority has been confined, almost exclusively, to the walls of Pensacola and St. Augustine, within which only small garrisons have been maintained. Adventurers from every country, fugitives from justice, and absconding

slaves, have found an asylum there. Several tribes of Indians, strong in the number of their warriors, remarkable for their ferocity and whose settlement extend to our limits, inhabit those provinces. These different hor4es of people, connected together, disregarding, on the one side, the authority sf Spain, and protected on the other, by an imaginary line which separates Florida from the United States, have violated our laws prohibiting the introduction of slaves, have practised various frauds on our revenue, and committed every kind of outrage on our peaceable citizens, which ' their proximity to us enabled them to perpetrate. The invasion of Amelia island last year, by a small band . of adventurers, not exceeding one hundred and fifty in, number, who wrested it from the incon-.' siderable Spanish force stationed there, and held it several months,

during which, a single feeble effort only was made to recover it, which failed, clearly proves how completely extinct the Spanish authority had become, as the conduct of those adoenturers, while in possesion of the island as distinctly shews the pernicious purposes for which their combina-tsc-n had been formed. Ihis country had, in fact, become the theatre of every species of lawless adventure. With' little population of its own, the Spanish authority almost extinct, and the colonial governments in a state of revolution, having no pretension to it, and sufficiently employed in their own concerns, it was, in a great measure, derelict, and the object of cupidity, to every adventurer. A system . of buccaneering was rapidly organizing over it, which menaced, in its consequences, the lawful commerce of every nation, and particularly of the United States; while it presented a temptation to every people, ,on vhose seduction its success principally depened. In regard to the United States, the pernicious effect of this unlawful combination, was not confined to the ocean : the Indun tribes have constituted the effective force in Florida. With these tribes these adventurers had formed, at an early period, a connection,with a view to avail themselvts of that force to promote theirN own projects of accumulation at,d aggrandizement. It is to the interference of some of these adven.urers, in misrepresenting the cliims and titles of the Indians to lanl? and in practising on other sayag propensities, that the Seminole w is principally to be traced. Men who thus connect themselves Wth savage communities, and stimulate them to war, which is always attended on their part with actof barbarity

the most shocking, deserve to be viewed in a worse light than the

savages. I hey would certainlv have no claim to an immunity from the punishment, which according to the rules of warfare practised by the savages, might justly be inflicted on the savages themselves. . If the embarrassments of Spain prevented her from making an in, demnity to our citizens, for so long a time, from her treasury, for their losses by spoilation, and otherwise, it was always in her power to have provided it, by the cestion of this territory. Of this her government has been repeat! ediy apprized ; and the cession was the more anticipated, as Spain must have known that in ceding it she would, in effect, cede what had become of little value to her, and would likewise relieve herself from the important obligation secured by the treaty of 1795, and ail other compromitments respecting it. If the United States,' from consideration of these em. barrassments, declined pressing their claims in a spirit of hostility, the motive ought, ot least, to have been duly appreciated by the government of Spain. Ir is well known to her government, that other powers have made to the United States an indemn ity fur like losses, sustained by their citizens at the same epoch. There is, nevertheless, a limit beyond which, this spirit of amity and forbearance can, in no instance, be justified. If it was proper, to rely on amicable negociation, for an indemnity for Josses, it would not have been so, to have permitted the inability of Spain to fulfil her engagements, and to sustain her authority in the Floridas, to be perverted by foreign adventurers and savages, to purposes so destructive to the lives of our fellow-citizens, and the highest interests of the United States. The right of self defence never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals. And, whether the attack be made by Spain, herself, or those who abuse her power, its obligation is not the less strong. The invaders of Amelia ishnd had assumed a popular and respected title, under which they might approach and wound us. As their object was distinctly seen, and the dutyimposed on the executive, by an existing law, was profoundly felt, that mask was not permitted to protect them. It was thought incumbent on the United States, to suppress the establishment, and it was accordingly done. The combination in Florida, for the purposes stated, the acts perpetrated by that combination, and, above all, the incite-, merit of the Indians, to massacres of our fellow citizens, of c