_From Commodore Rodgers to the Secretary of the
Navy._
U. S. FRIGATE PRESIDENT,
BOSTON, _Jan. 14, 1813_.
SIR: Herewith you will receive two muster books, of His
Britannic Majesty's vessels Moselle and Sappho, found on board
the British packet Swallow.
As the British have always denied that they detained on board
their ships of war American citizens, knowing them to be such,
I send you the enclosed, as a public document of their own, to
prove how illy such an assertion accords with their practice.
It will appear by these two muster books that so late as August
last, about an eighth part of the Moselle and Sappho's crews
were Americans; consequently, if there is only a quarter part
of that proportion on board their other vessels, that they have
an infinitely greater number of Americans in their service than
any American has yet had an idea of.
Any further comment of mine on this subject, I consider
unnecessary; as the enclosed documents speak but too plainly
for themselves. I have the honor to be, &c.,