He asks why it was impossible to obtain the Printed Correspondence A and B until a year after the last despatch. He suggests that Buxton might be persuaded to move for this correspondence to be published from 5 Jan each year to correspond with the court year instead of 1 Jan. Lord Denman's son, a naval officer, was at that time staying with him after seizing three Spanish slavers on the rumour that the Spanish Treaty had been signed and his authority to search Spanish vessels had arrived. His seizure was illegal as he could not produce his authority at the time of capture. Macaulay regrets that so many ships would escape capture by the squadron as they set off in great haste to escape the effects of the treaty and suspects that the Portuguese officials in Havana, St. Iago da Cuba, and other ports would make haste to sell Portuguese papers to the Spanish slavers and Spanish slavers would not in future be seized south of the Equator. He proposes that representations should be made to Spain and Portugal to prevent the Treaty being defeated by such means. He also suggests that the flag of the United States would be used in the same way as the Portuguese flag north of the Equator.

On 5 Dec, he reports that though a man-of-war and merchant vessels had arrived from England, no copy of the treaty or instructions from the Foreign Office had arrived. He comments on specific clauses in the treaty and their efficacy, and expresses the hope that the delay in its arrival was due to those defects being remedied first.