Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-04-29
From the Richmond Enquirer.
rpoucoN PORTER's SQUADRON.
CORRESPONDENCE.
(Comciudcd
TRANS L ATloN.l


[Concludcd
translation
Omce Of tie Capt General Of Porto Rico
Niosr EXCELLENT SIR-One of the
Gr,t objects of INV aLten ion, IS soon as
/ was Uniformed of the mourpful acci-
dent concerning which l wrote to your
excellepcy in my letter of Yesterday,
was to acquaint myself with the actual
condition of the wounded individual,
in order that he should be located
where the duties of friendship might
be exercised for his accommodation
and comforts but, being certined that
he had died during the transaction be-
fore related, could do no otherwise
than give my orders that his funeral
shou & be conducted with all the deco
run and man .festa'ion OF respect due
TO an honorable officer Of his character
snd station, aud causing his corpse to
he attended TO the grave By processl-
on composed Of the principal chieftains,
authorities, and other officers of this
garrison. In this act, | could wish
that your exceIlency might recognize
al expression Of the lively sorrow
wnIcn has been excited In me by this
misfortune.
May God preserve your excelieney
maOy years.
Puerto Rico, .Darch 2. 1873.
EXno. Senior
MIGUEL DE LA TORE.
The most excellent commander In
chief of the Anslo-American
squadron in the oifing of this
port, ID. ID. PoRTEK.
To has erceileacy tie Capt. General Of Por,
10 Rico.
U s. ship Peacock. March III, 1923:
SoUR EXCELSENCY--l have the ho-
nor 10 acknowledge the receipt of your
several favors OF the 9th and 9Th OF this
month.
That which is in reply to the letter
] had the honor to ADDRESS you on The
4th is perfectly Satisfactory in all its de
tslls, and the promptness with which
you have been pleased to attend to II,
% we'll as It's contents, will, no doubt,
be highly srs'iiying to the government
of he United States.
know not how to touch on the me-
laucholy subject Of your other letters
without giving vent to some of those
feelings which operate at this moment
on my miud, shall endeavOr, however,
20 treat 1t cooliy aud dipassIonately,
and hope by few facts to convince
your excellency. that there was not the
shadow Of an excuse for interdicling
TIE entrance Of my squadron into the
h.r6or OF st. Johns that nothing can
jnstlfy the order issued by your second
III command, TO f,e upon any of the
Vessels composing 1t, and that the act
OF nring was, o say the least of it. an
aet of the most objectionable cruelty
and barbarity.
1t is painful to me to see that your
excellency has lsbored to Justify the
act; and to throw the blame on the
commander Of one of the United States
vessels then in port A statement in
The Echo OF the 9Th, drawn by the same
hand that Penned your letter to me, is
given to the public with the same OBJ
ject in view. Your excellency may
have reasoned yourself into a belief of
the correcI ness of the differences you
ha Q IN both cases drawn from The in-
for nation given you, Or both may have
been considered as necessary and pro-
pes TO prevent excitement; but must
be excused for saying to your exeei!en-
cy that tho charge "a only an agsrava.
ton to the nutrsSe which had already
been committed. 1t WAS not the duty
OF that officer to move at The beck and
call of the kings lieutenant, OF 10 leave
the duty lnexecuted which had cent
him 20 perform, tc communicate to me
the hostile inEen ions of a subaltern,
which, nad they been fully explained
TO him, ne never could have believed
he would have dared to have carried
into effect: but they never were ex.
planned, and no such conversation took
place between the kings lieutenant
and the n merican officer, as IL related
by your exeellency. Your exceIlency
HIS been misinformed on the subject,
and had it been the duty of the A meri-
can officer Co nave communicated to
me the intention TO prevent my coming
into port, it would have been imprscti.
cable for him TO have executed it, as
the sea ragged with such violence at the
tile, that no vessel or boat, could pos.
sibly have left the harbor.
1t is not magnanimous In your ex-
eellancy To resort to such meAna IN ex.