Copy of a note from Robert Liston, Esq., Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Britannic
Majesty, to Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State of the
United States.
PHILADELPHIA, _May 23, 1799_.
R. Liston presents his respects to Col. Pickering,
Secretary of State. A seaman of the name of Thomas Nash
having been committed to jail in Charleston, South
Carolina, at the instance of His Majesty's Consul there, on
suspicion of his having been an accomplice in the piracy
and murder committed on board His Majesty's ship Hermione,
and information of the circumstance having been transmitted
to Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, a cutter was despatched to
Charleston, with an officer on board to whom the man was
well known, in order that his person might be identified,
and that he should be carried to the West Indies for trial.
But on the application of the Consul for the restoration of
Nash, in conformity to the treaty of 1794, Judge Bee and
the Federal Attorney were of opinion that he could not with
propriety be delivered up, without a previous requisition
on my part made to the Executive Government of the United
States. May I therefore request, sir, that you will be
pleased to lay this matter before the President, and
procure his orders that the said Thomas Nash be delivered
up to justice.
Letter from the Secretary of State to Judge Bee.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
_Philadelphia, June 3, 1799_.
SIR: Mr. Liston, the Minister of His Britannic Majesty has
requested, that Thomas Nash, who was a seaman on board the
British frigate Hermione, and who, he is informed, is now a
prisoner in the jail of Charleston, should be delivered up.
I have stated the matter to the President of the United
States. He considers an offence committed on board a public
ship of war, on the high seas, to have been committed
within the jurisdiction of the nation to whom the ship
belongs. Nash is charged, it is understood, with _piracy_
and _murder_, committed by him on board the above mentioned
British frigate, on the high seas, and consequently within
the jurisdiction of His Britannic Majesty; and therefore,
by the 27th article of the Treaty of Amity with Great
Britain, Nash ought to be delivered up, as requested by the
British Minister, provided such evidence of his criminality
be produced as, by the laws of the United States or of
South Carolina, would justify his apprehension and
commitment for trial, if the offence had been committed
within the jurisdiction of the United States. The President
has in consequence thereof authorized me to communicate to
you "his advice and request" that Thomas Nash may be
delivered up to the Consul or other agent of Great Britain,
who shall appear to receive him. I have the honor to be,
&c.