"Mr Jay is too reasonable not to grant that it would be unjust for a vessel to appear in a port, solely to require and receive all sorts of attentions and marks of respect, (without any previous claim or engagement) and at the same time to refuse and deliver up any subjects, which it should have on board, of the sovereign of the country in whose name all these tokens of respect have been rendered. "_October 8, 1781._" ANSWER TO THE ABOVE. "Madrid, October 9th, 1781. "Sir, "The letter which your Excellency did me the honor to write on the 8th instant arrived this morning. I consider myself much obliged by the communication of the facts mentioned in it, especially as it affords me an opportunity of manifesting to his Majesty and to Congress my attention to his rights and to their orders. "I perfectly agree in sentiment with your Excellency respecting the impropriety of detaining on board the American frigate at Corunna, the two men claimed by the commandant there, as deserters from one of his Majesty's regiments. "Your Excellency's remarks on this subject are no less delicate than just; and your assurance that these men shall not be punished renders a compliance with the requisition to deliver them up no less consistent with humanity than with justice. "It gives me pleasure to confess, that the hospitable reception given to American vessels in the ports of Spain gives his Majesty a double right to expect, that their conduct should at least be inoffensive. In the present case, (as stated in your Excellency's letter) I am fully convinced of the justice of this demand, that I should not hesitate to comply with it, even though made on a similar occasion by the Court of Portugal, from whose affected neutrality we suffer more evils, than we should experience from any open hospitality she is capable of executing. "Agreeably to your Excellency's desire, I have written a letter (of which the enclosed is a copy) to the commanding officer of the frigate in question; and as the manner in which your Excellency's letter to me treats this subject cannot fail making agreeable impressions on Americans, I shall take the liberty of sending a copy of it to Congress, as well as to the abovementioned officer. "I cannot omit this opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments for your Excellency's promise to write to me from the Escurial, as soon as you shall be in a capacity to speak positively on the subject of my late letter. Permit me only to remark, that the season wears away fast, and that Congress must be extremely anxious to hear that the delays, which have so long kept them in a disagreeable state of suspense, are finally and happily terminated. "I have the honor to be, &c. JOHN JAY."