Blackstone ( same reference ) also explains how " letters patent " ( Latin " literae patentes ", " letters that lie open " ) were so called because the seal hung from the foot of the document : they were addressed " To all to whom these presents shall come " and could be read without breaking the seal, as opposed to " letters close ", addressed to a particular person who had to break the seal to read them.
32.
The letter closed with a statement of friendship : " We sincerely hope, sir, when things are represented with truth, it will rescue our friend Don Estevan J . Mart�nez from censure . . . As to the treatment of the Americans by Don Estevan, we have ever testified to it in terms due to such hospitality, and we are again happy to have it in our power to do what we deem justice to his conduct . " The Americans were not a neutral party; the United States had only gained its independence from Britain through war a few years before.
