state for the United Stales that the ship Correo commanded by Thompson was a ship of war, under the full authority of government: that captain Thompson, as well as the whole of his crew, belonged to the national marine of the Mexican republic; that they were found in the seas of Texas in the execution of orders received from competent authority; and that in short the coast-guard service of the schooner imposed on her captain the duty to prevent all contraband, and chiefly of war. This being established, how can a ship of war, recognized as such by a sovereign nation, be considered a pirate - since to be declared a pirate, according to the doctrine of Galiane, Aruni, Hobbs, and all jurists who have written on maritime law, a ship should have neither papers nor commission of any government, nor belong to any nation? Then they reply that he has committed excesses, as there is none to reply for him. If captain Thompson had overstepped his powers, in visiting ships beyond the view of the coast - if he had committed violence, or had seized on the property of any American citizen, he depended on his government which would infallibly have punished him, and indemnify all the parties for the losses which they might have suffered. But it is not on the simple affidavit of Captain Hurd that they can ever establish the culpability of Thompson, if he is really guilty; nor has the captain of a merchant ship the right to capture a war vessel of a friendly nation, to lower its flag, declare its crew prisoners, and cast its officers into irons - and lastly hoise a flag different from its own; - and take it as a prize into a foreign harbor. These principles are those of maritime jurisprudence. The undersigned knows too well the great extent of the learning and knowledge of the honorable secretary of state of the United States, to explain to him those principles, founded not only on international rights, but on the constant practice of maritime nations. In consequence the government of the undersigned does not hesitate an instant to believe that the American government will show itself impartial and just - that it will order the restitution of the Correo of Mexico, which being a ship of war is national property - that it will set at liberty captain Thompson and the other prisoners detained at New Orleans, under pretence of a charge of piracy - that it will make captain Hurd responsible before an American tribunal for the gratuitous insult done lo a ship of war of a friendly nation, and render him amenable for all
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