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Return then, worthy Deputies of my good People, to your usual avocations, and accept my thanks for the active assistance which you have rendered me, as well for my advantage, personally, as for that of the Country.

You have been the Representatives of my Peoples' wishes; be ye now witnesses also of the paternal feelings with which I am animated towards them.

Assure your Fellow Citizens that my life is consecrated to their happiness and to their prosperity; and that the sole recompence which I desire for my arduous and harassing labours, is to be found in the attachment of my faithful Wirtembergers.

ACT of Congress of The United States, for carrying into execution the Treaty of Amity, Settlement and Limits, with Spain, of the 22nd February, 1819-3rd March, 1821.

BE it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorised to take possession of, and occupy the Territories of, East and West Florida, and the appendages and appurtenances thereof; and to remove and transport the Officers and Soldiers of the King of Spain, being there, to The Havanna, agreeably to the Stipulations of the Treaty between the United States and Spain, concluded at Washington on the 22nd day of February, 1819,* providing for the cession of said Territories to The United States; and he may, for these purposes, and in order to maintain in said Territories the authority of The United States, employ any part of the Army and Navy of The United States, and the Militia of any State or Territory, which he may deem necessary.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, that, until the end of the first Session of the next Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of said Territories be sooner made by Congress, all the Military, Civil, and Judicial Powers exercised by the Officers of the existing Government of the same Territories, shall be vested in such Person and Persons, and shall be exercised in such manner as the President of The United States shall direct, for the maintaining the Inhabitants of said Territories in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion; and the Laws of The United States relating to the Revenue and its collection, subject to the modification stipulated by the XVth Article of the said Treaty, in favour of Spanish Vessels and their Cargoes, and the Laws relating to the Importation of Per

*See Page 524.

sons of Colour, shall be extended to the said Territories. And the President of The United States shall be, and he is hereby authorised within the term aforesaid, to establish such districts for the collection of the Revenue, and, during the recess of Congress, to appoint such Officers, whose commissions shall expire at the end of the next Session of Congress, to enforce the said Laws, as to him shall seem expedient.

3. And be it further enacted, that the President of The United States be, and he is hereby, authorised to appoint, during the recess of the Senate, a Commissioner and Surveyor, whose commissions shall expire at the end of the next Session of Congress, to meet the Commissioner and Surveyor, who may be appointed on the part of Spain, for the purposes stipulated in the IVth Article of said Treaty: and that the President be, and he is hereby, further authorised to take all other measures which he shall judge proper, for carrying into effect the Stipulations of the said IVth Article.

4. And be it further enacted, that a Board of 3 Commissioners shall be appointed, conformably to the Stipulations of the XIth Article of the said Treaty and the President of The United States is hereby authorised to take any measures which he may deem expedient, for organizing the said Board of Commissioners; and, for this purpose, may appoint a Secretary, well versed in the French and Spanish Languages, and a Clerk; which appointments, if made during the recess of the Senate, shall, at the next meeting of that Body, be subject to nomination for their advice and consent.

5. And be it further enacted, that the compensation of the respective Officers, for whose appointment provision is made by this Act, shall not exceed the following sums:

The Commissioner to be appointed conformably to the IVth Article, at the rate, by the year, of 3,000 dollars.

To the Surveyor, 2,000 dollars.

To each of the 3 Commissioners, to be appointed conformably to the XIth Article of the Treaty, 3,000 dollars.

To the Secretary of the Board, 2,000 dollars.

To 1 Clerk, 1,500 dollars.

6. And be it further enacted, that, for carrying this Act into execution, the sum of 100,000 dollars be, and hereby is, appropriated, to be taken from any monies in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

JOHN W. TAYLOR, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN GAILLARD, President of the Senate, pro tempore.
JAMES MONROE,

Washington, March 3, 1821.-Approved.

PAPERS relative to the withdrawal of the Austrian and Russian Ministers from Lisbon.—April to August, 1821.

(Translation.)

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Portuguese Ministers at Foreign Courts.

(Circular.)

Lisbon, 21st August, 1821. It is not without great regret that I have to communicate to you, for the purpose of its being made known to the Government to which you are accredited, that the Envoys of their Majesties the Emperors of Austria and Russia have, on their own demand, received their Passports, and that they depart from this Court without leaving any person here charged with their Diplomatic affairs. To enable your Excellency to give a just account of this event, I proceed to relate the successive occurrences that have led to it.

The People of this Capital having spontaneously illuminated their houses, on the three successive nights of the 29th, 30th, and 31st of March last, in celebration of the Oath to the basis of the new Constitution, and various Foreign Ministers and Consuls having thought that they ought not to illuminate their houses, it happened that, on the first night, the Populace proceeded to break with stones the windows of the House of the Delegate of the Court of Rome, accredited to the Regency of this Kingdom; at which time the Regency made known to that Delegate, and to all the Members of the Corps Diplomatique, by means of a Circular, how much they regretted so disagreeable an event. They took every precaution, in order that a similar occurrence should not again take place, and with such effect, that, neither on that occasion, nor afterwards on the 28th of April, and the two following nights, was there the least insult of that nature shown towards the Dwellings of the Foreign Ministers or Consuls; the Patrols posted in front of them by Government having strictly fulfilled the orders which had been given to them. The Serjeant, however, who commanded the Patrol stationed in front of the house of the Chevalier de Berks, Consul-General and Chargé d'Affaires of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, having understood that he was to patrol the whole of the street, and having under that persuasion left his post, although only for the short time necessary to go to the end of the street, a distance of from one to two musket-shots, the passing Populace, irritated at seeing the house without lights, threw several stones at the windows; but the Patrol, hearing the noise, came up immediately, and the authors of the insult fled at his approach. As a numerous crowd, however, still continued near the spot, displeased that the house was not illuminated, the Serjeant, apprehensive that they might renew the insult, waited upon the Chevalier de Berks, and persuaded him to exhibit lights, which was accordingly done. On the following day, he addressed to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Regency, the subjoined Note, No. 1, to which

that Minister replied by the Note No. 2, relating the facts with truth and precision, and assuring him, at the same time, of the natural and just regret which the Government felt on the occasion. But as, from the enquiry which was immediately set on foot, the real authors of the insult could not be discovered, the Regency could afford no other satisfaction for the affair, than that of punishing the Serjeant, who, by his disobedience, had given occasion to so serious an outrage. With that the Chevalier de Berks seemed satisfied. Great, therefore, was the astonishment of this Court, when, a short time afterwards, they saw published in the English Paper, the Courier, of the 19th of May, a narrative, marked No. 3, so falsified, that from that moment they apprehended, what, at the return of the Messenger from Vienna, was realized -namely, the addressing by the Chevalier de Berks to the Count de Barbacena, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, a Note, No. 4, conceived in the feeling which the event would naturally have inspired at the Court of Vienna, when related, not as it happened in reality, but as it was detailed in the Courier. This Note terminates with a categorical and indecently premature alternative, of an immediate and signal satisfaction, or the delivery of his Passports. The Count de Barbacena, in consequence of real and well-known impediments, could not give an immediate and suitable reply thereto; and as soon as I succeeded him in the Ministry, I received from the Chevalier de Berks, a Note, No. 5, which he had handed to me during a Conference solicited by him, in which he did not hesitate to assert, that the attack was the result of a premeditated plan, and that many persons of elevated situations were implicated in it. But, notwithstanding my repeated request for the proofs, which, after so grave a charge, it was his duty to give to me, bonâ fide, and in the confidential manner which the case required, it was not possible to obtain from him any other than a vague and mysterious asseveration. In consequence of this, I proceeded myself to make the most scrupulous inquiry, and, not finding the least vestige of such a plot, I laid the whole before His Majesty, and by his orders answered the Chevalier de Berks by the Note, No. 6. But it having happened that, on the day on which I wrote that Note, the Baron de Sturmer arrived at this Court, as Envoy from His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty to His Most Faithful Majesty, he immediately waited upon me, and entered into the matter, insisting on the idea of a plot, the existence of which he pretended to prove, by the supposed fact of the rioters having brought with them a mule with panniers full of stones, and of the attack having lasted full 3 hours, without any interruption from the armed force. I consented to order the institution of a fresh inquiry, with respect to these facts, although the bare mention of them shows the spirit of inconsiderate exaggeration with which the Chevalier de Berks had persisted in describing the affair. This inquiry was actually instituted, and the result of the same was being drawn up, in

the Office of the Secretary of State, when the Baron de Sturmer addressed to me the Note, No. 7, grounded upon an affected complaint, that that Department showed itself remiss in giving the immediate and signal satisfaction required, and in which he concluded with a threat to our Court of the consequences of a silence which he pretended was as extraordinary as it was inexplicable.

Unable to endure, that he should address with haughtiness the Government which I have the honour to represent, and, more especially, that monstrous charges should be fabricated to justify unwarrantable threats, I answered the Baron de Sturmer in the Note, No. 8; to which he replied in a short Note, announcing that he thought it his duty to suspend his functions at this Court, and entirely to withdraw from it; and for that purpose he demanded his Passports, which I immediately sent to him, accompanied by a Note enclosing them,

On the same day, I received from the Baron de Tuyll, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Note, No 9, pretending to consider himself and his August Master as exposed to inevitable insult from the Populace, on all occasions of illumination, such as that of the 24th instant, and others of a like nature, and upon which occasions he declares that he is resolved not to illuminate his Palace.

It was necessary to repel this pretension of a Foreign Minister to arrogate to himself the right of judging of the nature of the Institutions of the internal Government of a Country, for the purpose of deciding whether he would confer upon them his approbation or disapprobation. It was necessary to point out to him, that, in such cases, the respect of Foreign Ministers is paid to the authority of the Government and Nation, and not to the motive of the particular measure, of which they are not supposed to be cognisant; and that, consequently, to omit it, always implies a want of the attention and respect due to the Nation and Government; but the Government, disregarding such inattention to its dignity, nevertheless considered itself bound to take the necessary steps, in order that those Ministers should not suffer inconvenience from their disrespectful behaviour, nor be the means of occasioning any interruption of the public tranquillity. The Russian Minister had doubly offended His Majesty's Government, by the indelicate declaration that he was resolved, not to illuminate his palace, on the 24th instant, and on other occasions of the same nature, and by the unbecoming manner in which he thought proper to excite the vigilance of the Ministry, not to omit to guard against the excesses of the Populace.

With that view I addressed to him the Note, No. 10, together with the Passports which he had demanded.

After having duly considered these particulars, His Majesty directs you to make them known to the Court at which you reside, in order that you may, on the one hand, prevent or destroy the erroneous im

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