noon
The Spaniards , of the two , were the most uneasy , I believe , their country being then at war with England ; but we spoke each other without coming to blows . As soon as the strangers saw the American ensign , they expressed a wish to communicate with us ; and , unwilling to let them come on board us , I volunteered a visit to the Spanish captain . He received me with formal politeness , and , after some preliminary discourse , he put into my hands some American newspapers , which contained a copy of the treaty of peace between the United States and France . On looking over the articles of this new compact , I found that , had our recapture of the Crisis been delayed to that very day , at noon , it would have been illegal . The two nations , in fact , were at peace , when the French seized the ship , but the customary provisions as to captures in distant seas , just brought us within the saving clauses . Such is war , and its concomitants ! In the course of half an hour 's conversation , I discovered that the Spaniard intended to touch at Valparaiso , and called , in order to get men , his own having suffered , up the coast , with the small-pox .