Soon afterwards I received a very long exculpatory letter from the Commodore. This letter placed his transactions in a different point of view, and inclined me to think that the proposed interposition on my part would have been unnecessary.
I forbear burthening these despatches with copies of the various letters I have received and written on this subject, as well because, as they relate to transactions in Holland and France, with the public agents and Ministers in those countries, they are not properly within my province, as because they contain nothing of sufficient importance to make it necessary for me again to send further copies.
You will be pleased to observe, that my last letter to the Minister was dated the 9th of October, and that there is a paragraph in it soliciting his speedy attention to the affairs on which he had promised to write to me. I received no answer. Some weeks elapsed and the same silence continued.
I consulted the Ambassador of France, as to the propriety of my going to the Escurial, and endeavoring to prevail upon the Minister to proceed in our affairs, observing that the measures of Spain, with respect to us, might be important if not to this, yet to the next campaign, and that the sooner they were decided, the better enabled Congress would be to regulate their future operations. He was of opinion, that as the Minister had promised to give me notice of the time when he would be able to transact these affairs with me, it would be most prudent to wait with patience somewhat longer, and not by an appearance of too great solicitude, to give him uneasy sensations. All things considered, this advice appeared to me discreet, and I followed it.
Thus the month of October produced nothing but expectation, suspense, and disappointment.
About this time M. Gardoqui mentioned to me a singular ordinance which occasioned, and is explained in the following letter from me to the Minister, viz.
"Madrid, October 28th, 1781.
"M. Gardoqui informs me, that his Majesty was pleased in the month of March last to order, 'that when a prize taken by a French or Dutch vessel should arrive in a port of Spain, the Marine Judge of the District should reduce to writing the evidence of the capture, and deliver it to the French or Dutch consul, (as the case might be) to be by him transmitted to the Admiralty, from whence the commission of the captors issued in order that the legality of the capture might there be tried; and further, that the sentence which might there be passed should, on being duly certified to the aforesaid judge, be executed under his direction.' I am also informed, that on the 12th instant, his Majesty was pleased to extend the abovementioned order to prizes taken by American vessels of war, and sent into any of the ports of Spain.
"So far as this order affects the United States of America, I take the liberty of representing to your Excellency, that the execution of it will necessarily be attended with the following inconveniences.