Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-08-07

rSSoGrCeleSS, uuripy the sitting or the cor
tez at Cadiz. he was seized and thrown in
to prison, fer refusing to surrender his
property and the property of others who
had consigned 10 his care, without any Sc
curity of payment. This was the act of
the civil authorities of Cadiz. From them
he appea ed to the cortez, and the press
being 1t that time in some measure free, he
wrote and pr.ntetl in the Spanish language,
pamphlet. in manly and spirited style,
a copy of which he caused to be placed in
the hands of every member OF the Cor
ttz.
This bold and digniicd course produced
the respect of all the liberal and virtuous,
and his release /; but his stores were bro
ken open, and his property takcn-Wheth-
or he at that time obtained any considera-
Die portion Of the debt due him, we do not
ut present recollect, though we were well
Informed OF ,he issue 1T the moment /; bat
having lent the copy of the pamphlet which
we had received at the time, it is out of our
power to refer to it. But vast debt re-
manned uapaid, and remains SO still.
The pretext upon which the outrage re-
Gently committed, is connected i'll some
measure with the debt of the government.
In the transaction of his mercantile affairs,
he was enabled to obtain by negotiations
and agency, credit to certain amount,
perhaps one or two hundred thousand dol
lars on account of the Spanish Treasury.
Mr.. Meade, with the consent of the public
authorities, employed this and a further
credit to considerable amount, in discharge
ofpart of his debt, and closed the negocia-
ton, in which he was enabled to secure
sum on account os Spain in foreign coun-
tries. This ah .ir was honorably adjusted
at the Spanish treasury, and triplicate re
cepts gwen him for sum paid into the
treasury. More than a year had expired,
when by some intrigue. fostered by the ne
cessities and the depravity of the new race
IL pubic agents who had come into power,
hungry, vindIctive & rapa cious, it was inti-
mated to him that he must REF und-that
ne must deposit a sum of money in the Spas
n'sh treasury equal to the amount for
which he had already secured receipts IN
liquidation of part of The debt due to him.
Mr.. Meade was at this moment acting
as consul of the u. S. He urged that his
funds, if it were just, were not then in
spain, that they had been RENTED in mer-
Camille adventures to England and the U. S.
that as consul of the Ueited States, he had
no tunds-arc, if he had, could not dispose
OF them but for the service of his country
de was Informed, that if he did not de-
post t0at amount In 4 given time in the
treasury of the Governor General of
Andalusia, he should be imprisoned. fit
We're proper, competence was out of his
power; but he magnanimously declared,
that posses sed of the evidence of the gov
eminent that he had already paid the sum
required, he should deem it q submission
to unjustifabIe outrage, if he had the mo-
ney; ard should not, f he did possess il.
refund sum paid to him, which had been
but very small part of the enormous debt
which still remained due to him by the
spanish government /; debt contracted
when Spain was in tribulation, and without
means to subsist the immense body of troops
which occupied Cadiz and the Isle of Lee
on.
He was Immediately seized and convey
ed to the castle of Santa Catalina, & there
renamed prisoner on the 9Th Of May
last We shall now give the manly remon-
STRANGE OF Mr.. Catrcart, Immediately on
his arrival ; and translation of the Span
ish answer and the correspondence.
as tais transaction affects the national
character, we thiHk it will be proper to
narrate with some particularly the tran
sacton as it occurred, prior 20 the state
ment of the written documents.
On the morning of the ID of May, Mr..
Meade being at his own residence in the
city of Cad z, about s o'clock, the visit of
some public officers was announced, and
the auditor of war of Andalusia, with an
adJutant OF the governor, and scrivener,
were introduced.
The auditor of war then informed Mr..
Meade. that royal ordcr had been issued
under the sign manual, IN virtue of a secret
consultation offhe council u 7par, through
me department IF STATE, under the direc-
ton OF Don Pedro Cevalos, and comman~
cling the capiain~general of Andalusia to
execute it.
The tenor ofthe matter in Implication,
was sum Of money, which he was requi-
red to pay into the royal treasury, or give
satisfactory security for is pqyment to the
tribunal of.commerce, at Cadlz that in
formation had been given that Mr. Meade
was about to depart from Cadiz; and that
u he did not pay the money. or give the
security required, their orders were to
selze on and secure his person.
M. Meade, though he demonstrated %
Gainst the nature of this proceeding, the
uniounded pretences, aud the false allega-
tons as to his departure after Il FIRST re-
iIsal on the score ofjustice, ard aware that
itconiined, he could not 50 well and PROMPT q
~ manage the transaction, and on consu!ta-
ton Of friends, proposed to give a security
considerably more ample such indeed as
i was impossible 20 conceive could be re-
fused. for among those who came forward
and offered security, seyerh rendered a
deposit OF notes, IN which the members of