He assumes to support this denial by a letter from Meneau, French vice-consul, who was as little able as himself to give information on the subject, not having been within eight miles of me at the time, for I was seized at the mouth of the harbor, opposite the lower fort, while Meneau never came below the town at the head of the bay, eight miles above. The American flag was flying at the peak when I was seized. Finally, Hubbard, without stating his authority, (for bear in mind he never saw the bark, nor me, nor any of my crew,) says that "after leaving Port-au-Prince the name of the vessel and port to which she belonged was erased from the stern of the bark, and she bears on her hull no indication or mark of her name or nationality. The Haytiens never had any proof of such a fact. I never heard that they pretended any such thing-and certainly no such fact ever existed. At last Hubbard gives his opinion that I intended to kidnap Haytiens and sell them into slavery. He acknowledges the incredibility of the design, but thinks I would probably have accomplished it, but for the timely discovery which baffled me. To show how gratuitous and absurd such an opinion is, needs only a moment's reflection. Passing over the condition of my ship, damaged beyond the possibility of thorough repair on a coast so destitute of facilities, short of provisions, short of water, and with a crew of only four able seamen, including officers, beside myself, the rest being boys and landsmen, let us inquire where a market could be sought for a cargo of Haytiens, people accustomed to most of the habits of civilization, talking the French language, and possessing more or less. knowledge of literature. Single instances of successfully kidnapping free persons in the midst of civilized communities, and selling them into slavery, have doubtless sometimes occurred, but the act in any such case must have been facilitated by great ignorance on the part of the victim, for even in the most benighted slaveholding portions of the United States, public opinion has always promptly rallied to the rescue of a person so wronged, when his case became known. But to carry out such a purpose with people like the Haytiens, to the extent of a cargo, or any considerable number, would be utterly impossible. A person who should commit such a crime, with momentary success, would be hunted through Christendom, and nobody would grant him protection. The papers taken from me by the Haytiens included my ship's papers with all the documents connected with her purchase and outfit, documents relating to all the business transacted at the various ports and places touched at on the voyage, and a great number of private papers relating to business I had been and was engaged in, my certificate of naturalization, sundry deeds of real estate, and a large amount of miscellaneous correspondence and papers. These papers showed that I had been for many years and still was engaged in legitimate and respectable business, and that all my proceedings on this voyage, especially my transactions with Cortez, had been regular and honest. There are various proofs that they carefully examined all these papers, and were thus thoroughly informed of my innocence in regard to all matters which they alleged against me. Having my certificate of naturalization in their possession, and probably thinking it could not be replaced, they pretended to this government to doubt my citizenship, and suggested an inquiry into the fact. They found some letters from the New Orleans house with which I was connected, written after the commencement of the voyage, referring to the return cargo I was expected to bring, and speaking of having visited several plantations and found the demand so encouraging as to justify the bringing of a full cargo, much more than we had at first contemplated. These letters, because guano, the article to which they related, was not named in them, they pretended to believe referred to slaves, though they have never attempted to explain when or in what manner the West Indian seas had, or was to, become a source of supply for slaves, except by the absurd notion of kidnapping Haytiens. From these papers they got the clue which led them to seek the testimony of Caño and Cortez, for which purpose they sent for them, eight or nine months after the events in which Cortez was interested, to Santa Martha, where they caused them to make a protest in the British consulate. which had never before been thought of, and brought them to Port-au-Prince, and consummated their villainy, which was rewarded by the receipt of $4,000 of my money for their fraud. and perjury. When the papers from Mr. Eden arrived, to replace those rifled from me by the Haytiens, the government immediately paid off Caño and Cortez, and they ran away to avoid a prosecution. It is evident that the Haytiens desired and sought to produce my death by their cruelties, in order to escape responsibility to my government for the wrongs they had been guilty of. It is also clear that they had the same object in view in their repeated endeavors, through Mr. Whidden and others, to induce me to sue for a pardon. It is not wonderful that they wished, by any means, to bar the door against just reclamation. The value of the property of which they despoiled me, nearly half of which was in money and gold, was full one hundred thousand dollars. The following is a statement of what the said property was, as nearly as I have now the means of making it: The bark William, with tackle, &c.... Gold dust..... $35,000 32,000 A more full and complete statement was once made out and placed, with the proofs, in the hands of Mr. Whidden, who probably has it now in his possession. Besides this, among the direct consequences of my imprisonment and detention, was the entire loss of my investment with Delaunay, Rice & Co., of New Orleans, amounting to $50,000. Also the loss of sundry parcels of real estate, on which I had paid the greater part of the purchase money, giving mortgages, by which the property, during my confinement, was swept from me. The purchase money paid on such property, which has thus been lost, amounted to. 400,000 $49,000 Also the sacrifice of claims in litigation, amounting to more than 23,000 Add to these pecuniary losses the far greater loss of near three years of the heart of my life. Add still to this the terrible and inhuman tortures and sufferings to which I was subjected for more than two years in dungeons and chains. And, finally, chief of all, the ruin of an elastic and vigorous constitution, which has borne me through many labors and vicissitudes, during a life of exceeding activity, and enabled me, as yet, though barely, to survive the hardships of my imprisonment; but is now prostrated, with little hope of recuperation. All these things I have suffered, being guilty of no crime. It sometimes happens that in awarding justice between parties, although no doubt may exist as to what the rights of the contending parties are, a strong sympathy is excited for the loser in the controversy, on account of apparent hardship in the decision. No such feeling can intervene to protect the Haytiens from their obligation to render me full justice. They were not misled. The suspicions they might once have entertained in regard to my being a slaver, were soon disarmed, shown to be groundless, and abandoned by them. They then trumped up a fictitious charge of piracy, holding the proofs of my innocence in their own hands, and proceeded, in their own flagrant wrong, to my condemnation, spoliation and punishment. They tortured me before any pretended conviction, and outside of any sentence, with dungeons, irons, stonings, beatings, mobbings, and starvation, in contempt of all usages of civilization, and in outrage of humanity, to a degree that would justify their condemnation in a fine of larger amount than all I claim. I ask of my government that reparation be demanded and enforced from the republic of Hayti for the losses and sufferings inflicted on me. I do not wish to embarrass my government in the midst of domestic disturbances, with a foreign controversy in my behalf, which will involve any present expenditures or sacrifices; for although I have a right to wealth and its comforts, and am now in actual destitution and want, I am yet more solicitous to be recognized by the government as a meritorious claimant, free from the taint of felony with which the Haytiens have sought to brand me, than for a speedy recovery of what will be adjudged to be my just duc. I have two young sons, American citizens by birth, of the ages of nine and ten years, for whose sake I am chiefly anxious for early action, to the end that they may be brought up and educated suitably to the condition in life in which by birth and connection they belong. I submit to the honorable Secretary of State to fix the amount of damages to which I am entitled, and to prescribe the time and manner of compelling reparation. The documentary evidence to sustain this memorial, on file in the Department of State, or presented herewith, and which is believed to uphold it in every material statement, is as follows: 1. My certificate of naturalization. 2. Protest of J. N. Lewis, United States commercial agent. 3. Sundry despatches of Mr. Whidden. 4. Affidavits of Thibodeau, Collar, and Brown. 5. Affidavits of William Eden, jr., and others, magistrates and shipmasters of Grand Caymans. 6. Affidavit of Captain Matthew Stubbs. 7. Affidavits of Captain Thompson, and others, of Grand Caymans. 8. Affidavits of Messrs. Wilson and Mercer. 9. Affidavit of Joseph N. Lewis. 10. Affidavits of sundry persons as to character. 11 Act of condemnation, and sundry letters. 12. A piece of copper from one of the broken pintles of the rudder of the bark William. There are many other documents in the United States legation at Port-au-Prince, which will doubtless be filed by Mr. Whidden. Having confidence that the evidence on file is abundant to sustain my case, I would nevertheless suggest that friendly parties are constantly proffering further testimony, and if I could have time and means I could prove in detail all the statements of this memorial, down to minnte particulars. If therefore the honorable Secretary of State should, by possibility, doubt the sufficiency of my proofs, I respectfully beg leave to add to them, when I can in any way acquire the means to procure testimony in Hayti. I submit my case, involving my future prospects, and the hopes of my children, to the justice of my country. I have the honor to subscribe myself, Mr. Secretary, very respectfully, your obedient ser vant, ANTONIO PELLETIER. B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, STATE OF NEW YORK, City and County of New York, ss: Be it remembered, that on the sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, Antonio Pelletier appeared in the court of common pleas for the city and county of New York, (the said court being a court of record, having commou law jurisdiction, and clerk and seal,) and applied to the said court to be admitted to become a citizen of the United States of America, pursuant to the direction of the act of Congress of the United States of America, entitled "An act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and to repeal the acts heretofore passed on that subject," passed April 14, 1802; and the act entitled "An act for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States," passed March 3, 1813; and the act relative to evidence in cases of naturalization, passed March 22, 1816; and the act entitled "An act in further addition to an act to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and to repeal the acts heretofore passed on that subject," passed May 26, 1824; and an act entitled "An act to amend the acts concerning naturalization, passed May 24, 1828; and an act to amend the act entitled "An act for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States," passed June 26, 1848; and "An act to secure the rights of citizenship to children of citizens of the United States born out of the limits thereof," passed February 10, 1854. And the said applicant having thereupon produced to the court such evidence, made such declaration and renunciation, and taken such oaths as are by the said acts required; thereupon it was ordered by the said court that the said applicant be admitted, and he was accordingly admitted to be a citizen of the United States of America. In testimony whereof, the seal of the said court is hereto affixed this fifteenth day of June, in the eighty-seventh year of the independence of the United States. By the court: [SEAL.] N. JARVIS, Jr., Clerk. C. JAMAICA, 88: I, Mathew Stubbs, do hereby solemnly declare that in the year 1861 I was commanding the schooner Alma, which was, at that time, employed in carrying her Majesty's mail between Nassau, Turk's island, and St. Thomas, and belonged to Turk's island. Some time in February of that year, being off the Caicos banks, we saw a bark steering a dangerous course and expected every minute to see her go on the rocks, and we came to anchor in the evening, and at about 9 o'clock p. m., we (the owner of the vessel and myself) put off (from our schooner) in a boat for the purpose of ascertaining if anything had happened to the bark which we had last seen in a dangerous position, and of rendering her assistance if necessary; and after rowing in the dark for some time we came up with her and found her at anchor in less than two fathoms of water in a most dangerous position. We found her to be the bark William, Captain Pelletier, who stated, in answer to our inquiries, that his vessel had just been on shore off the reefs of Inagua for eighteen hours; and that he had just managed to get off with the loss of his false keel, both topmasts sprung, and three of the pintles of his rudder broken, and the loss of his starboard chain and anchor. We then went on board, and to our surprise found that the captain did not know where he was, he said, on our remarking to him the anxiety we felt in seeing the dangerous course that he was steering when we saw him, that he thought himself between Grand and Little Iuagua, and we informed him that he was on the banks of Caicos. He accounted for this error by the derangement of both of his chronometers, caused by the bumping on the rocks during the eighteen hours that he was ashore. The owner spent the night on board and I returned to her next morning. We verified by ocular demonstrations that the ship was in distress, her rudder being slung by means of a chain passed through a hole made in it and steering effected by means of tackles on both sides. Captain Pelletier thanked us for the information that we had given him, and bought of us an anchor and chain to replace the one that he had lost, and paid us for it in one package containing one pound of gold dust, and we returning one hundred dollars in American gold. He also bought from us some provisions. We have since, to our great astonishment, heard that a few days after the vessel was seized by Hayti and confiscated, and that Captain Pelletier was tried and condemned to death as a pirate. We therefore solemnly declare, that in his intercourse with us on the occasion referred to, he behaved in every way as a perfect gentleman, and that it would be the height of folly to believe that a vessel in the distressed state in which we saw the William, and manned by such mere boys as her crew was mostly comprised of, could go on such a dangerous expedition as kidnapping and piracy. I further solemnly declare that it would have been the height of imprudence if Captain Pelletier had continued his voyage without first repairing his damage. MATTHEW STUBBS. KINGSTON, December 17, 1863. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, I, the undersigned, consul of the United States for the port of Kingston, Jamaica, and the dependencies thereof, do hereby certify that the foregoing is the true and genuine signature of Matthew Stubbs, a shipmaster of the Turk's island, known to me as such, and that the said Stubbs this day personally appeared before me and subscribed the foregoing declaration and made solemn oath that the same is true. Given under my hand and the seal of the said consulate the day and year above written. D. Robert Thomson, shipmaster, of Grand Caymans, West Indies, being duly sworn, declares, deposes and says, that he knows Captain Antonio Pelletier, formerly master and owner of the American bark William, and was at Grand Caymans in the month of December, 1860, when the said Pelletier was there in the said bark, said to have a cargo of lumber on board, which he was desirous to sell, so as to clear her hold for the reception of guano; and this deponent knew of some negotiation between said Pelletier and Mr. Eden, of Grand Caymans, for the sale of said lumber, which negotiation did not result in a sale, because Mr. Eden could only pay in mahogany, which would occupy the hold of the bark in like manner with the lumber. ROBERT THOMSON. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, I, the undersigned, consul of the United States for the port of Kingston aforesaid and the dependencies thereof, do hereby certify that the above named Robert Thomson this day appeared before me and in my presence subscribed the foregoing declaration, and made solemn oath that the same is true. Given under my hand and the seal of this consulate, the day and year above written. F. H. RUGGLES, [SEAL] United States Consul. E. John Yates, seaman, of Grand Caymans, West Indies, being duly sworn, declares, deposes, and says, that he knows Captain Antonio Pelletier, formerly master and owner of the Ameri can bark William; that he was at Grand Caymans aforesaid when the said Pelletier arrived at that island in the said bark William in the month of December, 1860; that he was on board the said bark William on that occasion, in the said month of December, employed about getting water, provisions, and stores aboard the said bark, or otherwise preparing her for departure from the said island, and became acquainted with the cargo of the said bark then on board; that she had a full cargo in her hold of pitch-pine lumber, and it was stated that her deck-load of the same character had been left at Carthagena; that he was present when the said Pelletier, during the said month of December, made an agreement with Captain James P. Bodden, then of Grand Caymans, since deceased, by which said Bodden agreed to load the said bark with guano for the sum of $800, the said Pelletier furnishing provis ions for his laborers while employed in loading said bark, and the said agreement being dependent upon the condition that said Pelletier should be able to sell his cargo of lumber, so that the hold of his vessel might be ready for the reception of the guano; that he knew of some negotiations of the said Pelletier with Mr. Eden, of Grand Caymans, for the sale of the said lumber, which negotiation did not end in a sale because Mr. Eden could only pay in mahogany, which would have occupied the hold of the bark in like manner with the lumber, for which reason, as was stated and seemed apparent, said Pelletier was obliged to leave Grand Caymans with his cargo of lumber to seek another market for the same, and did accordingly clear his vessel and sail for Port-au-Prince, in Hayti. his JOHN YATES. Witness: FRED. W. COOPER. mark. CONSULATE OF THE UNITed States oF AMERICA, I, the undersigned, consul of the United States for the port of Kingston aforesaid and the dependencies thereof, do hereby certify that the above named John Yates this day appeared before me and in my presence subscribed the foregoing declaration, and made solemn oath that the same is true. Given under my hand and the seal of the said consulate, the day and year above written. F. H. RUGGLES, [SEAL.] United States Consul. F. H. Thomson, of Grand Caymans, West Indies, being duly sworn, says that he has heard the above affidavit of John Yates read, and knows the contents thereof, and that, of his own knowledge, he knows the contents of said affidavit to be true. F. H. THOMSON. Subscribed and sworn to before me, April 16, 1864. F. H. RUGGLES, [SEAL.] F. [Translation.] OFFICE OF MR. L. PRADINE, ADVOCATE, SIR: I was not able to reply sooner to the letter which you did me the honor to address me, as well on the account of a lasting fever which prevented me from doing anything, as because of the illness of my children, affected by the prevailing epidemic. I do not lose sight of the affair of Pelletier. I am doing all I can; but I do not find here the readiness and good will which would aid me to overcome all the difficulties. God alone could cause the light of truth to pierce those biased hearts. Up to now all steps have failed; but let us wait. For my part, I do not lose a single occasion to speak a word in favor of the unfortunate in whose behalf you interest yourself with so much reason. From the documents emanating from the American consul at Grand Caymans, and which I have already transmitted to Pelletier, you will be convinced that the poor man is entirely innocent of all he has been accused of with regard to the coasts. His opinion of this count demonstrates the fallibility of human decisions. But what is to be done? There is no appeal from the decrees of the court of cassation. As to the other counts in the indictment, the zeal which I showed in the defence of Pelletier will sufficiently prove to you that I do not deem them better grounded. To convict a man on his presumed intentions, when those intentions have not been manifested by any overt act, is exposing oneself to commit many a judicial blunder. Our judges have not sufficiently considered the matter. It gives me pleasure to learn that you interest yourself in behalf of Pelletier. He is much to be pitied. Receive, sir, the assurances of my full consideration. Mr. A. FOLSOM, Commercial Agent of the United States at Cape Haytien. LINSTANT PRADINE. |