The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-09-01
From The Lo,lisrine Journal.

From the Louisville Journal
| An Old and Statesmaniiixe Document.
gentleman of this city has placed in our hands
the manuscript Of the following letter. which has
never been published. 1t is letter written by
President Washington distinguished Secretary OF
State Governor Shelby. If Kentucky, on the sub
jecto projected expedition from this State against
the power Of Spain. The letter deserves especial
consideration at this time, when similar expedition
is projected Our neighbor of the Democrat and all
who entertain his viewslrnay perhaps profit from
seeing how President w ashington administra ation
4 talked in regard to expeditions against friendly
| power. The Washington administration did not
proclaim, as the editor of the Democrat would now
have the Government proclaim, that the people of
the United States must have the privilege of armng
and organizing where they please, and going where
they please, and fighting whom they please, all
laws and treaties to the contrary Notwithstanding:
\ PHmADELPHIA, March %, 1894.
| SIa: The letter which your e1cellency addressed
| to my predecessor on the 18th of january, 1894,
| has been laid before the President of the United
States, and have it in charge from him to recall
to your view the state of things with which il is
connected.
| You were informed, sir on the 29th of August
I 1893 that the commissioners of Spain had com
| planned of attempts to excite the Inhabitants Of
| Kentucky to an enterprise against the Spanish
/ dominions on the Mississippi that the President
requested you to be attentive to circumstances of
this kind; that il such enterprise medita
your citizens ought be put their guard against
| the consequences; and that you should adopt the
necessary legal measures for preventing it, as acts
| of hostility, committed by our citizens against
tions at peace with the United States, were forbid
den by the laws and would subject the offenders to
4 punishment.
| That every effectual exhortation might be COM
bned with sense of duty it at the same time
represented you that, Sin addition to considera-
tions respecting the peace OF the general Union,
L hos eofK
| be particularly committed; as nothing could be
| more inauspicious TO them than such movement
at the very moment when those interests were un-
der negotiation between Spain and the United
States"
\ Your excelleney's answer the 5th October,
| l793 gave satisfactory assurance of your readi-
ness to counteract any design from Kentucky
against the Spanish domlnlons on the Mississippi
of your persuasion that none such was then in
temptation in your State, and of your citizens pos
sessing too just of the obligations which
| they owe to the General Government to embark in
any enterprise 50 injurious to the United States
| IL was, therefore, with full confidence in your
zeal that, the 9th Of November, 1893, upon the
representation of the commissioners of Spain, you
were farther informed that on the I'd OF October,
1898, four Frcnehmen, of the names of La Chaise,
Charles Delpeau, Mathurin, and Gignoux, had set
out in the stage from Philadelphia to Kentucky,
authorized by the then minister of France here to
engage as many as they could, whether of our cit
izens others on the road, or within your State or
elsew here, TO undertake an expedition against the
Spanish settlements within our neighborhood, and,
in event. to descend the Ohio and Mississippi, and
to attack New Orleans, where naval cooperation
was expected and that they were furnished with
money for these purposes, and with blank commits
sions to be filled up at their discretion. Your
cellency was requested to check these hostities,
and in doing so to prefer those peaccabe means Of
coercion which have been provided by the laws,
(such as the binding TO good behavior or indict
ing to resort to such other legal process those
learned in the laws Of your State might advise.
The letter conveying the foregoing intelligence pro-
ceeds thus: "Where these fall or are inadequate, a
suppression by the militia of the State has been
dered and practsed in other States. hope that the
citizens of Kentucky will not be decoyed into any
participation in these illegal enterprises against the
peace OF their country by any effect which they
may expect from them on the navigation of the
Mississippi. Their good sense will tell them that
this is not to be effected by half measures of this
kind, and that their surest dependence is on those
regular measures which are pursued and will be
pursued by the General Government, and which
How from the united authority of all the States -
After the impression made by your letter of the
5th of October, 1893, you will naturally conclude
how difficult il was to reconcile II with your last of
the 18th OF January, 1884
AS the Constitution and laws of the United States
are to govern the conduct OF all, 30 cannot it be
| we'll imagined that the President intended to i'm
pose upon your excclency any departure from
| them You were asked to prefer peaceabe means
of coercion; and for that purpose to consult those
who were learned in the laws OF your State to de-
signate legal process | shall not presume upon
the imperfect knowledge which can be obtained
here, of the jurisprudence of Kentucky, to deter
mine whether any or what species OF process was
admissible. beg leave, however, to observe thatif
in the opinion OF the Judges no preventive or other
step could be supported, the President required
none. My predecessor, in his letter of November
9th, 1893, arguing from what is usual in the Uni
ted States and recoecting what prevails in Vir
ginia, many of the laws of which are understood
TO be incorporated in your code, naturally sug
gested the propriety OF binding to the good beha
vior, and indicting. And, indeed, what govern
ha ~. aft1tn nF .f .n.1F
defence, to suffer, with impunity, it's peace to
be drawn into jeopardy by hostilies levied within
its territory against foreign nation, order to be
prostrated at the will of tumultuous individuals,
and scenes of bloodshed and civil war TO be intro
| duced
You intimate doubt sir, whether the two
Frenchmen, La Chaise and Delpeau can be re-
strained or punished before they have actually ac
| complisbed their plan; and assign a reason for
the doubt that any number of your citizens may
lawfully leave your State, and carry with them any
| quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition.
Hence you conclude that these acts being lawful,
| a particular intention cannot render them unlaw-
ful, and that no criterion exists for deciding such
an intention. II there be no popularity in the laws
| of Kentucky, and it be allowable TO reason from
general principles, analogy to the practice Of
other States, we might expect from candid revi-
| sion of these sentiments that contrary result
would arise in your mind That foreigners should
| medde in the affairs of government where they
happen to be ha5 scarcely been tolerated. and
ID often severely punished. That foreigners should
point the force OF nation against its will to objects
OF hostility s an invasion of its dignity, its tran
quillity, and even safety. Upon no principle can
the individuals, whom such guilt shall be fixed,
bid the government TO wait, as your exccllency
would seem to suppose, until their numbers shall
defy the ordinary animadvcrsions of law, and un-
til they incapable of being subdued but by force
of arms To prevent the extremity OF crimes 10
wise and humane, and steps of precaution have
therefore been found in the laws OF most societies
Nor is this offence of foreigners expiated or lee
sened by an appeal to presumed right in the cit-
zens Of Kentucky to enlist under such banners
without the appreciation Of their country. In n
government instituted for the happiness of the
whole, ,.with clear delineation of the channels in
which the authority derived from them must flow,
can part only of the citizens wrest the sword
from the hands of those magistrates whom the
whole have invested with the direction of the mill
j tarY poMerl They lnny. il is true. lcnse their