View Document Frames
"Mr. Forsyth to Chavalier de Argaiz, 24th October, 1839, and translation." U.S. Congress. House. Africans Taken in the Amistad. 26th Congress., 1st sess., 1840.H. Doc. 185.
Mr. Forsyth to the Chevalier de Argaiz.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, October 24, 1839.
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the h[onor] to acknowledge
the receipt of the note addressed to him on the 22d inst. by the Chevalier de Argaiz,
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her Catholic Majesty, protesting
against the arrest, and imprisonment at New York, of two Spanish subjects, Jose Ruiz
and Pedro Montes, and asking the interposition of the Executive in procuring their
liber[ation] and indemnity for the losses and injury they may have sustained.
It appears from the documents accompanying the note of the Chevalier de Argaiz, that
the two Spanish subjects referred to were arrested on pr[text missing] issuing from
the superior court of the city of New York, at the suit of [text missing] upon affidavits
made by, certain colored men, natives of Africa, for the purpose of securing their
appearance before the proper tribunal, to answer wrongs alleged to have been inflicted
by them upon the persons of [the] Africans; and, consequently, that the occurrence
constitutes a simple[text missing] of resort by individuals against others to the
judicial courts of the [country] which are equally open to all without distinction,
and to which it b[elongs] exclusively to decide, as well upon the rights of the complainant
to de[text missing] the interposition of their authority, as upon the liability of
the defend[ant to] give redress for the wrong alleged to have been committed by him.
[Word missing] being the only light in which the subject can be viewed, and the co[nstitu]tion
and laws having secured the judicial power against all interfere[nce on] the part
of the Executive authority, the President, to whom the Ch[evalier] de Argaiz's note
has been communicated, has instructed the undersig[ned to] state, that the agency
of this Government to obtain the release of [Messrs.] Ruiz and Montes cannot be afforded
in the manner requested by him [ under the] laws of the State of New York, of which
the constitution and laws [of the] United States and their treaties with foreign
Powers form a part, [afford] Messrs. Ruiz and Montes all the necessary means to procure
their [release] from imprisonment, and to obtain any indemnity to which they may
be [text missing] entitled, and therefore would render unnecessary any agency on
the [text missing] this department for those purposes; but, inasmuch as the imprison[ment
of] those persons connects itself with another occurrence which has been brought
under the President's consideration, in consequence of a correspondence between the
Spanish legation and this department, instructions (of which a copy is enclosed)
have been given to the attorney of the United States for the district of New York
to put himself in communication with those gentlemen, to offer them his advice (and
his aid, if necessary) as to any measure which it may be proper for them to adopt
to procure their release, and such indemnity as may be due to them, under our laws,
for their arrest. and detention.
[15]
The documents enclosed in the Chevalier de Argaiz's note are, agreeably to his request, herewith returned; and the undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the Chevalier de Argaiz the assurance of his high consideration.
JOHN FORSYTH.
The Chavalier de ARGAIZ, &c., &c., &c.,
