Mr. Chacon, Spanish consul, to Mr. McCulloch, collector.
Baltimore, August 26, 1816.
Sir: I had the satisfaction of receiving your letter of the 23d instant, in answer to mine of the same day. I am very much obliged to you for the measures you had the goodness to take to secure the Spanish prize I alluded to, and I hope she will be brought here to be delivered to her rightful owners.
[Page 459]This is now to call to your attention another unpleasant affair, which is of the greatest importance to the interest of the subjects of my nation. I have just got information that Captain Boniface Re villa, of the Spanish schooner Felix Cubana, which cleared lately at your office for Saint Martha, is secretly arming said schooner with guns and ammunitions, and is recruiting a crew here for the purpose of cruising against the Spanish vessels, under the revolutionary flag of Spanish America. I beg you, therefore, sir, to have the goodness to order, without loss of time, an examination to be made on said vessel, and to compel her captain to land all the implements of war and men he might have taken without your knowledge. As a proof of his bad intentions, I may state that he has not called at my office to have his *papers indorsed, and to receive the documents from me which are required by the Spanish laws. Please, sir, to excuse this trouble and apprise me of the result for my government. [34]
I am, most respectfully, &c.,
His Catholic Majesty’s Consul.
J. H. McCulloch, Esq.