Doc. No. 36.
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did depose and declare that the facts and particulars set forth in the forego ing written statement, which he has subscribed, are true. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto seti my hand, and caused t h e corporate seal of the said city to be affixed, this twenty-fifth day [L. S ] of September, A . D . one thousand eight hundred and thirtyeight. JOHN SWIFT, Mayor.
SCHOONER
DASH.
C O L L E C T O R ' S O F F I C E , Norfolk,
September
12, 1810.
S I R : I herewith transmit to you the protest of Captain Wills, command ing t h e schooner Dash, belonging to this port, protesting against the con duct of Christophe at Cape François, as well for defrauding him out of a part of his cargo, as also for forcibly arresting and detaining one of his seamen, a native born citizen of the United States. Captain Wills further observed, in a conversation with m e , that he was confident that Christophe had im pressed, and now held in his service, between four and five hundred A m e r i can citizens, or sailors, principally men of color. 1 have considered it my duty to impart this information to you. 1 have the honor to b e , sir, with the highest respect, your obedient ser vant. LARKIN SMITH. The
Hon. ROBERT
Secretary
SMITH,
of State,
Washington.
V I R G I N I A , D I S T R I C T O F N O R F O L K , to
wit
:
T o all persons to w h o m these presents shall come, I, Littleton Waller T a z e w e l l , notary public, in and for the district aforesaid, by lawful au thority, duly admitted and qualified, do hereby certify and make k n o w n , that on this day personally appeared before me George Wills, master, Thomas B a r r e t , mate, and William Stanton, a seaman, of and belonging to the schooner Dash, on a late intended voyage in the said schooner from the port of Norfolk to the port of Port-au-Prince, in the island of St. D o mingo, and, being duly sworn on t h e Holy Evangelists of Almighty G o d , declared that they sailed, in the said schooner, on the intended v o y a g e from the port of Norfolk aforesaid, on t h e 30th day of May last past, hav ing on board an assorted cargo ; that they proceeded towards the said port of their destination without meeting with any thing worthy of remark, un til the 22d day of J u n e following, w h e n , being off the island of Saint D o mingo, Cape Nicholas mole distant from t h e m about four leagues, they were captured by a brig belonging to Christophe, one of the brigand chiefs governing the said island of Saint Domingo, and commanded by one Spalding, an American, formerly a master of a vessel stiling out of the port of Norfolk ; that the said Spalding put a prize-master and crew on board the schooner Dash, and ordered h e r for Port-de-Paix, for which place they immediately made sail, and arrived the next day ; that they w e r e detained in the P o r t - d e - P a i x , by the order of the said Christophe 2