_Mr. Fox to Mr. Forsyth_.
WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1840_.
Hon. JOHN FORSYTH, etc.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
26th instant, in which, in reply to a letter which I had addressed to
you on the 13th, you acquaint me that the President is not prepared to
comply with my demand for the liberation of Mr. Alexander McLeod, of
Upper Canada, now imprisoned at Lockport, in the State of New York, on
a pretended charge of murder and arson, as having been engaged in the
destruction of the piratical steamboat _Caroline_ on the 29th of
December, 1837.
I learn with deep regret that such is the decision of the President of
the United States, for I can not but foresee the very grave and serious
consequences that must ensue if, besides the injury already inflicted
upon Mr. McLeod of a vexatious and unjust imprisonment, any further harm
should be done to him in the progress of this extraordinary proceeding.
I have lost no time in forwarding to Her Majesty's Government in England
the correspondence that has taken place, and I shall await the further
orders of Her Majesty's Government with respect to the important
question which that correspondence involves.
But I feel it my duty not to close this communication without
likewise testifying my vast regret and surprise at the expressions which
I find repeated in your letter with reference to the destruction of the
steamboat _Caroline_. I had confidently hoped that the first erroneous
impression of the character of that event, imposed upon the mind of the
United States Government by partial and exaggerated representations,
would long since have been effaced by a more strict and accurate
examination of the facts. Such an investigation must even yet,
I am willing to believe, lead the United States Government to the
same conviction with which Her Majesty's authorities on the spot
were impressed--that the act was one, in the strictest sense, of
self-defense, rendered absolutely necessary by the circumstances of the
occasion for the safety and protection of Her Majesty's subjects, and
justified by the same motives and principles which upon similar and
well-known occasions have governed the conduct of illustrious officers
of the United States. The steamboat _Caroline_ was a hostile vessel
engaged in piratical war against Her Majesty's people, hired from
her owners for that express purpose, and known to be so beyond the
possibility of doubt. The place where the vessel was destroyed was
nominally, it is true, within the territory of a friendly power, but the
friendly power had been deprived through overbearing piratical violence
of the use of its proper authority over that portion of territory. The
authorities of New York had not even been able to prevent the artillery
of the State from being carried off publicly at midday to be used as
instruments of war against Her Majesty's subjects. It was under such
circumstances, which it is to be hoped will never recur, that the
vessel was attacked by a party of Her Majesty's people, captured, and
destroyed. A remonstrance against the act in question has been addressed
by the United States to Her Majesty's Government in England. I am not
authorized to pronounce the decision of Her Majesty's Government upon
that remonstrance, but I have felt myself bound to record in the
meantime the above opinion, in order to protest in the most solemn
manner against the spirited and loyal conduct of a party of Her
Majesty's officers and people being qualified, through an unfortunate
misapprehension, as I believe, of the facts, with the appellation of
outrage or of murder.
I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurance of my
distinguished consideration.