The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

CHARLESTON, S. C.

(COPY.)

Office of the South-Carolina Insurance Company.

CHARLESTON, June 22, 1805.

SIR,

I have the honor to inclose a memorial of the President and directors of the South Carolina Insurance company, and of the merchants and others, interested in the commerce of the city of Charleston; and am, sir,

Your most obedient servant,

THOMAS CORBETT.

President of the South-Carolina Insurance Company.

To the hon. JAMES MADISON,

Secretary of State

of the United States of America.

MEMORIAL

To the hon. James Madison, Secretary of State of the United States.

The MEMORIAL of the President Directors of the South Carolina Insurance Company, and of the Merchants, and others interested in the Commerce of the city of Charleston,

RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:

THAT your memorialists are deeply affected by the recent capture, at the very entrance of this port, of the American ship True Friends, by a French privateer. This event has excited among all classes of citizens the strongest sensations, not only because the said ship was captured without any colour of pretence, within sight of land, but because she is our only regular London trader, and had on board a full supply of spring and summer goods. The distress and anxiety occasioned by these circumstances, are greatly enhanced from our having been hitherto deprived of our spring supplies, and from an anticipation of the consequences justly to be apprehended from a continuance of similar outrages, should not the most prompt and effectual measures be adopted for the protection and security of our commercial interests.

Your memorialists are authorised to add (although the fact be not detailed in the Protest) that it appears from undoubted authority, that the magnitude of the prize was the sole inducement to the abovementioned capture, the captors having said that they would release the True Friends, in the event of their falling in with any other valuable prize, which might be more worthy their notice.

This most extraordinary capture, in direct violation of our treaty with France, (as appears by the accompanying documents) has already been followed by events no less alarming--our harbor being at this moment completely blockaded by three French privateers (and more are daily expected) which examine all vessels coming in and going out of this port, and either detain or release them, according as their value excites the cupidity of the cruizers.

This degrading state of our harbor has necessarily raised the premium of insurance, thus forcing additional sums from the pockets of our citizens---has advanced the price of every commodity, and created a distressing stagnation of our exports; for the merchants, not receiving their goods from abroad, are incapacitated from purchasing the produce of our country.
duce of the country. Among these deplorable effects of the defenceless and humiliating condition of our commerce, may be moreover enumerated the immense loss of duties those on the ship Two Friends alone, being estimated by the Collector at 45,000 dollars.

Your memorialists have the best reasons for believing that this early success, experienced by these French privateers will immediately allure others in swarms to our coasts and bar, to the total ruin of private mercantile concerns, and the most fatal defalcation of the public revenue : Your memorialists have no less ground for apprehending that British cruizers, availing themselves of the absence of domestic protection, will, under the colour of expelling the French, assume and occupy their ground, and either retain us in the same degraded state, harrassing our vessels by searches and detentions, or subject us to the disgraceful and mortifying obligations of gratitude for alien succour and relief.

Your memorialists are the more alarmed at these depredations, because much valuable property is still expected this summer, from other quarters than London, and considerable importations will be looked for in the fall: and should there not be an early and effectual check to these aggressions; should our fall importations be also interrupted, the calamities of the last year, produced by the hurricane and other causes, in which this city has so largely participated, would be aggravated to such an extent as to eventuate in general ruin, and these great alarms and apprehensions of your memorialists, are heightened by the well known circumstance of many of the cruizers which infest our shores, belonging to St. Jago de Cuba and Barracoa, in which receptacles our vessels and their cargoes, with the knowledge of the government of Cuba, are instantly sold, without even the formality of a trial, or any condemnation whatever, thereby precluding every future probability of redress.

Your memorialists avail themselves of this occasion to notice a late decision of the district court within this state, grounded on an act of Congress, whereby the territorial jurisdiction of the United States is limited to the short distance of three miles, or a marine league from the coasts or shores, which, by the said court, is construed to mean three miles from the land, consequently the middle channel of our bar, being more than three miles distant from the nearest land, is pronounced, by judicial authority, to be without the jurisdiction of the United States ! The very entrance of our harbour, in full sight of the city where vessels are frequently obliged to anchor while waiting for a tide, and with a pilot on board, is, by our own tribunals, acknowledged to be without the protection of our government! !!

Your memorialists refrain from commenting on the pernicious effects of a system of policy so pregnant with dishonor and ruin to the trade and navigation of the Union at large, but more particularly to those of Charleston, from the geography of whose shores and peculiar local situation of whose bar and harbour, every vessel, in her ingress and egress, is thus subjected to search, detention or seizure. We content ourselves with a bare statement of the above grievance, superadded to so many others; not doubting that the President will take the same into consideration, and being duly impressed with the necessity of some early remedial arrangement, either of a legislative or diplomatic nature, will recur to such as may appear conducive to the desired end.

Your memorialists having thus exhibited but an imperfect view of the ruinous, unprotected and degraded situation, rely with confidence on the prompt interposition of the President to obtain by representations to the minister of France and Spain, (in the event of the Two Friends being carried into a Spanish port) restitution of the said ship and her cargo, and to cause a stop to be put to further spoliations. And your memorialists further most earnestly solicit some immediate and effectual naval protection for our harbour and shores, together with such other measures as the national councils, in their wisdom, may deem expedient, as well for prevention of the renewal of outrages we have sustained, as for the the permanent safety and protection of our commercial and navigating rights and interests.

CHARLESTON, S. C. June 22, 1805.

COPY.

Department of State, 10th July, 1805.

SIR,

I have received your letter of the 22d ult. inclosing the memorial of the Insurance Company of which you are President, and of the merchants and others, interested in the commerce of Charleston.

Having been before made acquainted by the collector of the customs, with the circumstances of the capture of the Two Friends, I lost no time in stating it to the French minister, who has replied, that the communication made to him respecting this affair, by the commissary of his nation at Charleston, had enabled him to anticipate my desires, by requesting the captains general of the French colonies, to all of whom he had written respecting it, to obtain satisfaction for this violation of the convention between France and the United States.

The observations contained in the Memorial respecting the local situation, and the protection necessary for the port of Charleston and the adjacent coast, have been weighed by the President, and in connection with other information, will promote such measures as the nature of his functions, the existing laws, and the public good, may be thought to admit and require.

I have the honor to be, sir,

Very respectfully,

Your most obedient servant.

JAMES MADISON.

Thomas Corbett, Esq.