againsl her without delay, according Lo law; iL being evident thaL, as her character of an armed vessel was nol protected by a flag previously recognised by the United Stales, she had acquired, from the fact of entering a foreign port armed, the indisputable character of a pirate. The district attorney answered the consul by a letter, of which the Secretary of State will find a copy (A) annexed to this note. He will there see that the principal question respecting the nature of the flag is entirely, though in courteous terms, set aside, and that the attorney speaks and acts merely with reference to general rules which have no hearing on an exceptive case. In the meantime, the schooner, encouraged by this impunity, entered farther into the port on the 2d inslant, anchored near the castle-garden, saluted the town, and was in return saluted by a volunteer company, (whether by or without the order of any military authorily is not known,) after which her officers and men landed with uniforms, arms, &c. The consul communicated to the undersigned all that had occurred; upon which Lhe undersigned ordered him to ask the collector of that custom-house whether the Texas armed schooner Brutus was really a vessel of war or an armed merchant vessel, on what grounds the custom-house had permitted her to enter, and why it recognised her flag, although that flag had not been recognised by the United States. The consul did so; and in the annexed copy, (B,) the Secretary of State may see the strange reply, to call it by no less gentle a name, which was received from the said collector; to use a proverbial English phrase, it speaks volumes. The undersigned will take the liberty of cursorily reviewing this answer. The collector begins by telling the consul that the schooner is a national vessel, and that her commander has exhibited a commission as such from the President of the republic of Texas. A national vessel! Who is the collector of the custom-house of New York, that he should thus declare to be national a vessel belonging to what is called a nation, but is not a nation in any of its relations with the Government or the citizens of the United States? He doubtless meant lo say that she was a vessel of war, as he partly shows in his allusion to the commission delivered by the President of the republic of Texas. But who is the President of Texas? What is the republic of Texas? In what document has the collector of the custom house of New York read that the United States have yet recognized either the President or
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