Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

New-Orleans, August 9.

REPORT made to his Excellency the Governor, civil and military, of the Fort and Jurisdiction of Baton-Rouge, in West-Florida, by the undersigned, relative to the mission with which they were charged by his said Excellency.

WE, PHILIP Hicky, an inhabitant of this Jurisdiction, syndic, captain of cavalry,—and SAMUEL FULTON, formerly a colonel, an inhabitant of this colony, and discharging the functions of major of militia, of this jurisdiction, having been charged by his excellency the Governor to go on board the gun boat of the United States of America, stationed near the mouth of the Bayou or River Iberville, for the purpose of claiming, on behalf of his said excellency, a man named Armstrong, who had been living in this country for several months: and had been forcibly taken from the house of Mr. Soulliac Guidry, an inhabitant of this jurisdiction, by the captain, or commanding officer, of said gun boat, aided and assisted by an armed detachment of soldiers, or marines, in the service of the United States;—this day went on board the gun-boat No. 21, commanded by Mr. John Owens, where we were received by the said commanding officer. And having requested to speak to him in private, we represented to him the motive of our visit, and demanded of him the said prisoner Armstrong, as having been illegally carried off by force and violence, contrary to the law of nations, from the territory of his Catholic Majesty, and to the great terror of the inhabitants, in which the said Armstrong had not opposed such violence, though committed in open day.

Whereupon the said commanding officer of gun-boat No. 21, made answer to us, that he neither could, nor would, restore the said prisoner, without orders from his commodore—we observed to him that doubtless he would receive such orders; and he assured us that he would write by the mail that was to pass the same day, adding that if he received orders to restore the prisoner, his superior officer might come and take the command of gun-boat No. 21, himself, for as to his part, he would not command her a day longer.

We represented to the said commanding officer how reprehensible was his conduct in making an armed descent in military array, on the territory of a neighboring nation in amity and in peace with the United States, there to make prisoners by force—To this he answered that he thinks he has a right to take deserters wherever he finds them.

After some discussion and reasoning on our part, to convince him that he was in the wrong, we retired.

And we consider it our duty to make, without delay, this report to his Excellency the Governor of Baton-Rouge, this twenty-second day of July 1808.

(Signed)
PHILIP HICKY,
SAMUEL FULTON.
Remarks.—After all the lamentations of the American government, on the subject of the attack made on the Chesapeake by the Leopard, little did we expect to see a people seemingly so well acquainted with the law of nations, commit on the territory of a sovereign with whom we are at peace, an outrage much more unpardonable than that of which they so dolefully complain.

Captain Humphreys, who, without giving much time to captain Barron to prepare for action, made him a visit so little ceremonious, would laugh with hearty glee, were he to hear that the captain of one of our gun-boats has so well profited by his lessons; and that, on the banks of the Mississippi, we rehearse, with tolerable accuracy (bating the broadsides) his Tragedy of the Chesapeake.

Had Mr. Soulliac Guidry attempted to defend the unhappy man who thought to repose in security under the Egis of the laws, protected by the treaties and by the usages of nations, the affair might probably have terminated in a manner really tragical; and the inhabitants of Baton-Rouge, like those of New York, might celebrate the anniversary of a national disgrace.

But why should we not own the truth? We had over the unhappy Armstrong the very same right as Admiral Berkeley claimed over the sailors taken on board the Chesapeake: "the right of the stronger."

We know that the Governor of Baton-Rouge has little means of defence, and that, in his insulted position, "we may securely insult him." But the political Tartuffes by whom we are governed, will not own that their conduct is influenced by the very motives that sometimes prompt other nations. They expatiate on justice, humanity and all the cardinal virtues, when they complain of others; but, towards the weak, they are as apt as great nations to forget the maxims of equity, and to regard nothing but their own interest.

[The above transaction has excited some interest at New-Orleans. It is but doing justice to Captain Porter, commanding the naval force of the United States at New-Orleans, to say that he publicly disapproved of the conduct of his officer; at the same time detained the deserter, until the pleasure of the Secretary of the Navy could be known. This affair serves to shew how wrong it is to condemn a government on all occasions for the conduct of its officers. The known principles of the American Government, do not permit us to suppose, it will countenance this open violation of the territory of a neutral nation.]