man belonged to the Hannah of Baltimore, Captain Wescott. This vessel, with four other Americans, were carried into St. Johns, Newfoundland ....the sailors were either turned ashore to starve, or pressed into the British service. The Norfolk paper of the 4th of April has the following paragraph: "The ship Diana, of NewYork, David Chadeayne master, on his passage from the East-Indies to New-York, was boarded by his Britannic Majesty's brig Pelican, Captain J. C. Searle, who sent an officer and crew on board, and took out the mate, six people, and carried her into Port-Royal, where, on the 6th of March, while in their possession, she caught fire and was burnt to the water's edge, with all her cargo of immense value." The Boston Newspaper of the 7th of April, 1796, has the following letter: "Captain Elkanah Mayo, who arrived in town this week from New-York, has favoured us with the following account of the cruel treatment he and his men received from the officers and men of the British frigate La Pique, at Barbadoes, in December last, viz. Captain Mayo, in the ship Polly, of Cape-Ann, homeward bound from a whaling voyage, was drove in by stress of weather to Barbadoes, where he lay near three weeks for the arrival of some Americans to freight his oil home, during which time the British frigate La Pique arrived there from a cruize, and, in two days after, pressed two of his hands. Captain Mayo applied E . to the Governor for protection, who caused the men to be released. Three days after, Captain Mayo's boat being ashore with three men, waiting for him, the frigate's barge hauled in close to his boat, and boarded him with cutlasses, to press the men by force. The men called on Captain Mayo from the shore, who run to the boat for their relief, where he found the crew of the British frigate, with the tiller of their barge, beating his men over their heads with said tiller, till the blood gushed from their mouths and noses, and otherwise mangling them in a barbarous and shocking manner. Captain Mayo sprung into the boat and cleared it of the British crew. The commanding officer, who was then on the wharf, said he would have every man on board the ship. Mr. Woodruff, with whom Captain Mayo did business, being on the wharf, offered his bonds to the Captain of the frigate that he would bring his protections on shore. Captain Mayo then went on board his ship to bring his protections....while he was on board, the commanding officer of the frigate, and all the rest of the officers, got into their barge, waiting for Captain Mayo, who was returning with all his protections....they boarded him....the commanding officer jumped into Captain Mayo's boat with his drawn cutlass, and dragged by force all his men into their barge, and then presented his cutlass to Captain Mayo's breast, and ordered him into the barge, which he refused; after which he pricked him several times in the breast, and then towed him on board the frigate....he put Captain Mayo's men into the hole, among his men who were sick with the yellow fever....he then ordered a pair of irons to be fixed on Captain Mayo, which were not, however, fixed....he kept him on the quarter-deck until evening, then ordered Captain Mayo's boat to be hauled up, and ordered him on board alone. Captain Mayo requested him to let him have a man to go with him, which the Captain of the frigate refused; then said he would cast him off and let him go adrift....he told him he might perish at sea, to which he replied he hoped he would. Captain Mayo told him he would not go unless he cast him off....he then took his barge and towed Captain Mayo on board his own ship. The next morning Captain Mayo went to the Governor and complained of the officers' conduct....the Governor ordered his men to be immediately released, who were accordingly sent on shore. Four days after, three of his men were taken with the yellow fever, which they took while on board the frigate, and which spread through Captain Mayo's ship's company....four of his men died of the fever; the rest were obliged to leave the ship, and he hired negroes to pump her. Captain Mayo then chartered vessels as he could find them, to take his men and cargo to the United States. This base conduct of our new treaty-allies occasioned the loss of eight thousand dollars to his owners." I, the subscriber, do testify to the above account. (Signed) The Musquito, Captain Harshar, arrived on the 17th of January at Baltimore, from Bourdeaux. On the voyage he was met by the Hussar, a British frigate....his keys were taken, his chests broke open, and every thing stolen that the British could lay their hands on. They also drank a case of wine, pressed the Musquito's mate, and one of the hands, who was an American. A letter from Fredericksburgh, dated April 1, 1796, has the following intelligence: The schooner William, Captain John Scott, from Bassaterre, St. Kitts, having arrived in the river, on the 23d of February, between nine and ten o'clock in the evening in Bassaterre-road, he was boarded by a boat with five men with cutlasses....they belonged to a British armed sloop lying there. They ordered William McCoy, a native of Fredericksburgh, into the boat; but being prevented from taking him, they went back to the sloop; immediately after, they returned with their commander, one Williams, and an additional number of men, armed with pistols and cutlasses....they took away from the schooner, John Mansfield, William M'Coy, and two blacks. Next morning Captain Scott went on shore, and proved these people to be citizens of the United States....he could recover only the two blacks. Every American at the port shared a similar fate....a Baltimore schooner was stript of all her hands excepting the mate and a boy. A letter from Captain Thorndike Deland, dated Kingston, 1st of April, 1796, to a merchant in Philadelphia, contained for publication a list of twelve American vessels taken and carried into that port. Captain Deland farther says, that he had heard of twenty-seven other ships at Tortola which were in jeopardy....that all Americans when carried into Kingston were, after examination, turned ashore without provision for their support. Any one having a concern in a house, or having even a factor in St. Domingo, or any French port, was deemed a Frenchman, and his property was on that account condemned. On the 21st of April, 1796, the schooner William and Mary, Captain Shaw, arrived at Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, in thirty-eight days from Kingston....when he left that place, the impressment of American seamen had not subsided. On the 5th of May the schooner Mermaid, Captain Tabet, arrived from the Mole at New-York....his mate, a native American, was pressed by the Regulus. Several other Americans were, at the same time, pressed from different vessels. A Charleston newspaper of the 8th of April, 1796, contains the copy of a sentence past by Judge Green, of Bermuda....it is dated the 6th of January preceding, and respected the brig Fame. In summer 1795, the Fame sailed from Charleston for Bourdeaux....on her return she was captured and taken into Bermuda....the vessel and cargo were both American property, but one of the owners, who went along with her, had staid behind in France to dispose of the remaining part of the |