crew on short allowance. After the arrival of the vessel at the city of Tabasco, additional guards were placed on board. The che captain was then given to understand he might land his cargo; but on the following day the guard was again increased in number, and he was not permitted to discharge his vessel with her own crew-laborers having been sent from the shore lo perform that duty, contrary to the captain's expressed wish. After the vessel was discharged, another unsuccessful search for contraband goods was instil11ted, in the prosecution of which the cabin and furniture were much broken and otherwise injured; notwithstanding all which, an exorbitant bill of expenses was presented to Captain Lane for discharging the vessel as aforesaid, and, upon his refusing to pay the same, and making a formal abandonment of the vessel, she was seized and he imprisoned. At the last advices received, the one still remained in close confinement, and the other fast moored in the river. In April last, the brig Jane, the schooner Compeer, and other vessels of the United States, were forcibly detained for a length of time at Matamoras. And in May last, the consul of the United States at Tabasco was summoned before an alcalde of that city, and required by that functionary to authenticate public documents under the consular seal of his office. Upon his refusal to comply with this extraordinary demand, he was ill-treated, and threatened with imprisonment; the alcalde thereby constituting himself an arbiter to decide upon the propriety of the discharge of duties confided lo an officer bearing the commission of a foreign power, to whom alone he is responsible for the faithful discharge of all his public obligations. The flag of the United States has been repeatedly insulted and fired upon by the public armed vessels of this Government; her consuls, in almost every port of the republic, have been maltreated and insulted by the public authorities; her citizens, while in the pursuit of a lawful and peaceful trade, have been murdered on the high seas by a licentious and unrestrained soldiery. Others have been arrested and scourged in the streets, by the military, like common malefactors; they have been seized and imprisoned under the most frivolous pretexts; their property has been condemned and confiscated, in violation of existing treaties and the acknowledged laws of nations; and large sums of money
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