The letter written to the commanding officer of the frigate, a copy of which was furnished to the Count de Florida Blanca, is as follows. TO COMMODORE GILLON. "Madrid, October 9th, 1781. "Sir, "The paper herewith enclosed is a copy of a letter which I received this morning from his Excellency, the Count de Florida Blanca, his Catholic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. "You will perceive from it that two men on board your frigate are claimed by this government, as deserters from one of his Majesty's Irish regiments of infantry; and that you are said to have refused to deliver them up, because, among other reasons, your crew are the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty. "If the men in question are citizens of one or other of the United States of North America, and admitted to be such, refusing to deliver them up, as deserters from the service of Spain, may be proper, because while their own country is at war, they cannot without her consent enter into the service of any other power. "If they are Spaniards, then they are the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, and ought not to be withheld from him. "If they are foreigners, in that case whatever right they might have to enter into the American service, they certainly had an equal one to enter into that of Spain; and if they had previously engaged with the latter, their subsequent enlistments with you were void, and Spain being in friendship with us has a just right to reclaim them. "If they deny their having enlisted in the Spanish service, still like all other foreigners who come into this kingdom they ought to submit to the justice of the country, and you ought not to screen them from it, especially as it cannot be presumed that the charge made against them is destitute of probability. "As to the circumstance of your crew's being subjects of the King of France, I cannot think that any argument to justify your detaining them can be drawn from it. For admitting them to be French subjects, yet as it may be lawful for them (Spain and France being allies) to enter into the service of Spain, the right of Spain to enlist must necessarily involve a right to compel obedience, and also to retake and punish deserters. Besides, as any questions about the legality of such enlistments concern only those two crowns, Americans cannot with propriety interfere. "In whatever light I view this affair, I cannot perceive the least right that you can have to detain these men, after having been thus formally and regularly, demanded by proper authority, as deserters from the service of his Catholic Majesty. "You may observe that I treat this subject merely as a question of justice, arising from that general law, which subsists and ought to be observed between friendly nations.