The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-05-17 00:00:00

will lose no time in transmitting it to the Admiral commanding the
West India itat ion.
Receive, General, the assurances of my Trivet,
HENOUVRIIe DE FRESNE.
On board the Venus, off Puerto Cabello, March 3, 11825..
THE COMMANDER ..OF THE FRIGATE OF THE LIXO or
rnetscr, t.a vreos, TO HIS EXCELLENCY SENOR JOSE
ANTONIO PAL'. COMMANDER•IN-CHIEF or THE DEPART-
MENT OF VENEZUELA.
Senor General-1 have the honour to inclose to your Excellency
a letter which has been confided to me by the Governor of &lard-
niqne, Count aniselot., for General Escalona. in Caracas ; but as
this letter has no other object than that of claimiag the Spanish
brig El Romano, now Kotna Libre, and at present in Puerto Ca-
bello, I presume that I ought to address myself to your Excellency,
well assured that you will not lend yourself to the design of recog-
nising or protecting a vessel, against which the French Govern-
ment hat so many grounds of complaint, for the demsdations
which she has comnuttel on its commerce, as well as because I
have reason to believe that your Excellency has given orders that
ample and complete satisfaction may be given to Admiral Jurien,
Commander of the French station in the West Indies, for the insult
which a corvette of the Republic of Columbia has offered to a vessel
of his division. -
I have had the honour to address the Commandants of the Fort
and the Navy of Puerto Cabello, requesting that they will lay an
embargo on the privateer Roma Libre, until the receipt of your
Excellency's reply, and I trust that this measure will meet the
approbation of your Excellency. Until I receive an answer, I
beg your Excellency will receive the assurance of' my profound
respect.
HENOUVRIE DE FRESNE.
On board the Venus, off Puerto Cabello, Feb. 26.
P. S. The Military Commandant of this plate having informed
me that the answer of your Excellency cannot be received in less
than six days, I shall await it at this place, and if on the seventh
it do not arrive I shall consider this delay as a denial on the part of'
your Excellency, and shall report the same to my Government.
THE CAPTAIN AND COMMANDANT OP THE FRIGATE OF THE
KING OP FRANCE, VENUS, TO THE COMMANDANT OF THE
FORTRESS 0? PUERTO CABELLO.
Senor Commandant,—On my arrival at Puerto Cabello on the
'2sth of last February, at noon, L communicated to you personally
the motives of my appearance off this port ; and on the following
day I stated them to you officially, as well as to the Commandant
of Marine, Senor Emcees: both of you being thus informed by
letter that the principal object of my mission was to reclaim the
brig Roma Libre, which has taken shelter here. Before my ar-
rival off Puerto Cabello, 1 passed close to La Guayra, in order
to satisfy mys.lf that this vessel had left that medstead. Had I
found her there, it would have been my duty to have claimed her
front the local Authorities, and to have taken her by Wee, had
she been denied to me. But knowing that site was in this port. I
hastened to claim her from you, and requested that she might be.
immediately embargoed. In reply, you observe to me, that you
have not authority to accede to my request, either as relates to de..
livering up the vessel, or to her embargo, ard the Commandant of
Marine has replied to me in like terms. You also stated to me
that my demand should be addressed to General Paez, accompanied
by the necessary documents, or to General Santiago Marino, who
is acting in his stead, and that a reply would reach me in six days.
Under those circumstances, I lost no time in transmitting to the
General an official communication from Count Donzelot, ad-
dressed by him to General Escalons. in case the pirate Roma
Libre should be still in ha Guatura. But aware that this letter re-
lated solely to the restitution of the said vessel. and that General
Escalona would himself he obliged to remit it to the Commander-
in. Chief. I resolved to seed it direct from this place, accompanied
by an official letter front myself. You, Senor Commandant, wrote
to me on the 28th Feb.; and your letter, which I did not receive
till the 2tl of March, apprised me that you doubted much whether I
should receive an answer to my lettere, at the time you had previously
stated.l immediately proceeded to see you, and to wall you that I was
about to sail, and continue my mission, giving you to understand
that I should, through a written communication, convey to you the
expreesio• of my concern at not having received an answer, and in
perceiving that your governn,unt gave mare credit to the assertions
of a pirate, than to the reclamation% which the French government ,
had made to it through me. You replied on the sameday that you
expected the answer to my letters on the 6th of March at the latest,
and I therefore determined to wait until the 7th ; but now at nine
o'clock no answer has arrived. and I find myself under the neces-
sity of weighint anchor. convinced, Senor Commandant, that my
government will not view with a favourable eye the conduct which
the Republic of Colombia has observed towards it. In the first
place, two of her privateers have captured a French vessel, the
Urania, bound to the Hayannah ; secondly, one of her corvettes has
insulted the flag of the King of France. by desiring the ('aptain of
one of his vessels of war to send an officer on board ; thirdly, in
short, the Republic sifted, an asylum to a piratical vessel which
has committed various depredations on French commerce, refusing
to deliver her up to me.
Here, Senor Commandant, are facts which admit of no reply, and
so long as your government does not give ample and complete as-
three-don to Count Donzelot, Governor of Martinique, and to Ad.-
rniml Jurien for the insult thus offered to one of the vessels of his
station, there cannot subsist a grad understanding between the two
nations; but I do rot doubt that the Government of Colombia will
hasten to satisfy that of France, by affording the latter such satis-
-1 faction as it requires. Under this impression I beg of you, Senor
Commandant, to wept the assurance of my sincere consideration.
HENOUVRIE DE FRESNE.
On hoard the Venus, off Puerto Cabello, March 7, 1825.
P. S. I learned late yesterday the libel published by Senor Co..
tarot, Captain of the Roma Lthre, dusted the sth of 3larch. This
pamphlet,whieli descends to expressions equally indecent as unjust,
against the King of France and his Government, affinde sufficient
proof that his past conduct has been fairly estimated, and that
Governor Count Donzelot does not demand this pirate from your
Government without sufficient motive. You are at liberty, Senor
Commandant, and I even he of you, to send this letter to the
Commander-in-Chief, requesting !inn to accept the tmitrance of
my respect. IL DE F.
CAPT. DUPOTET, COMMANDER OF A DIVISION OF FRENCH
VESSELS or WAR, TO THE NAVAL COMMANDANT OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF VENEZUELA.
Senor General—l have the honour to inclose you a letter from
Admiral Jurien, Commander-in-Chief of the } tench West India
station and the Gulph of Mexico, demanding satisfaction for a
cowardly insult offered to a schooner of the King of France, by the
Captain of the Colombian corvette, ha Venezuela. If it he not in
s our power to send immediately by one of your vessels of war to
Martinique, a formal satisfaction for the conduct of this officer,
you will please to tell me when it can be done, as delay in this
affair may place Admiral Jurien under the necessity of exercising
the right of reprisals, however painful this may bra to she feeling%
of France. All which I hare the honour to subunit to you, Senor
Commandant, and to be,
Your humble and obedient servant,
DUPOTET.

On board the Jeanne d*Arr„ Jan. 11, 1825.
LIVELOSED IN THE roneuoiso.
On hoard the line-of-battle ship of his Most Christi3n Majesty, the
Evian, in the port of Fart Royal, Island of Martinique, Decem-
ber 15. 1824. _ _ _

..,..„_.
Senor General,—A schooner of the King of France has been
insulted oft Porto Bello, by the Colombian corvette La Venezuela.
The Captain of this vessel presuming shamefully on his superior
strength. carried his audacity so far as to oblige the French Captain
to send an Officer on board his vessel, threatening to tire a broad-
side on him if he did not instantly comply with this order.
Such an outrage towards a nation which has observed until now
the strictest neutrality, in the dispute between America and Spain,
ought not to pass without reparation; I demand it therefore in the
fullest and amplest manner.
I hope that the Republic of Colombia, consulting its own
interest. will hasten to'despatch one of its vessel% of war as soon
as possible, with a view of conveying to Fort Royal, in Marti-
nique, its disapprobation of the imprudent conduct of the Captain
of the Venezuela, lest I should be obliged to ii‘e the force which
his Majesty the King of France has confided to me, in order to
obtain the satisfaction which I require.
I have the honour to be, Senor General, your attentive and
obedient Servant. JURIEN.
Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the French
Naval Forces in the West Indies and the Gulf of
Mexico.
FELIPE ESTEVES, OF TIIT ORDER OF LIBERATORS OF VE-
NEZUELA, POST-CAPTAIN OF THE NAVY OF THE REPUB-
LIC, COMMANDER-IN-CITIEF OF THE SECOND NAVAL DE-
PARTMENT, &C. &C.—TO THE CAPTAIN DL'POTET, COM-
MANDING A DIVISION OF VESSELS OF WAR OF HIS MOST
CHRISTIAN MAJESTY IN THE WEST INDIES.
Senor Commandant—l had the honour to receive yesterday your
communication, accompanied by another from Admiral Julien.
dated Martinique. on the 15th December last past, on board the
line of battle ship F.vlau, relative to an occurrence between the fri-
gate of the Republic La Venezuela, and a vessel of the French
squadron, as well as respecting a ship of the latter nation, detained
by a privateer, with Colombian colours, bound to the Ilavannah,
and part of her cargo belonging to Sosnislo subjects.
After minoring you how disagreeable such events are to all, who
like us desire the best understanding with neutral powers, I cannot
do otherwise than limit my reply to the particular circumstances of
the came, and to the laws of my nation, which are the guide of this
deparunent.
I da not doubt but that the Government of Colombia will make
reparation to that of his Meat Christian Mit'esty, for the offence
which one of its vessels bas offered to another of the French nation:
but I pt.: it to your consideration, that the frigate Venezuela does
not belong to this department. nor although this event is public
and notorious, have we any official ccomunication respecting it.
Neverthekss, I will profit by this occasion to state the matter to
the general government, and seek a final determination thereon, in
the peremptory period of three or four months, be it what it may,
according to the opinion it may form on the subject.
The part of the cargo of the ship Urania, that has been con-
domned, has been .S 0 condemned by the lath article of the cruising
laws of Colombia, and a subaltern authority like myself has not the
power of dispensing with its arrangements, nor even of failing in
the execution of them. The declaration of Captain Trela himself,
as recorded in the fourth sheet of the proceedings, contributed ma-
terially to this condemnation, and the protest he has entered against
the proceedings has weakened his claim ao damages, according to
the literal meaning of the said law.
This is all that occurs to me in this affair, and all that it lain my
power to do.
I am, with the greatest consideration,
Your moat attentive and obedient servant.
FELIPE ESTEVES.