SIR,

General Armstrong to M. Champagny.

PARIS, JULY 10, 1808.

YOUR excellency will see by the enclosed extracts from two letters which his majesty's minister of marine has done me the honour to address to me on the 18th of April and 13th of June last, that the property taken from the four American ships, destroyed by rear admiral Baudin, has been placed under the jurisdiction of the imperial council of prizes, to be judged by it, as a case of ordinary capture.

To your excellency, it will be unnecessary to remark, that whatever may be the decision of this council in relation to the merchandise which has been saved, the case presents a question of much higher import, and entirely beyond the jurisdiction of a maritime court, viz. the kind and degree of reparation which shall be due for the ships and merchandise which have been destroyed? and by way of opening this subject, your excellency will permit me to ask, whether his majesty's government does or does not justify the conduct of rear admiral Baudin, in burning, or otherwise destroying, on the high seas, the ships and merchandise of a neutral and friendly power?

I pray your excellency, &c. (Signed)

M. CHAMPAGNY.

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Extract of a Letter from General Armstrong to the Secretary of State, dated Paris, July 26, 1808.

"IT would have given me the highest pleasure to have drawn from this government such explanations, on the general subject of our differences with them. as would have met the friendly and equitable views of the United States; but I owe it, as well to you as to myself, to declare, that every attempt for that purpose, hitherto made, has failed, and under circumstances which by no means indicate any change in their respect for the better."

Extracts of a Letter from the same to the same, dated Paris, Aug. 7, 1808.

"I WROTE a few lines to you yesterday. Two weeks have gone by without any new condemnation. My remonstrances continue to be unanswered."

"P. S. I enclose a copy of my note of yesterday to M. de Champagny."

Extract of a Letter from General Armstrong to M. Champagny, dated Paris, Aug. 6, 1808.

"MR. ARMSTRONG presents his compliments to M. de Champagny, and begs leave to inform him, that having, for some months past made trial of the artificial waters of Tivoli, without any useful effect, his physician has prescribed for him those of Bourbon d'Archambault. Should M. de Champagny have any communication to make to Mr. Armstrong, he will be pleased to address them as usual to the hôtel de Légation Américaine, Rue Vanguard, No. 100, whenee they will be regularly and promptly transmitted to Bourbon.

On leaving Paris, Mr. Armstrong thinks proper to state his regrets, that the political relations of the two powers should continue to wear an aspect less auspicious to their future good understanding, than is wished for by those who are the friends of both.

That his majesty has a right to make such municipal regulations as he may deem proper with regard to foreign commerce, neither is, nor has been denied: for example, he may forbid the entry into the ports of France of American ships which have touched in England, or been destined to England, and he may either sequester or confiscate such vessels of the United States as shall infract these laws, after due promulgation and notice thereof; but beyond this the United States hope and believe that his majesty will not go.

M. de Champagny will not fail to seize the distinction which these remarks present, between the authority of

municipal regulations, and that of publick law, and will decide whether it does or does not offer a ground on which the good understanding, so long and so usefully maintained between the United States and France, may be preserved, and a degree of intercourse between them revived, which shall have the effect of reanimating their former industry.

Does his majesty fear, that the balance of trade, arising from this renewed industry, would go to the advantage of England? Means are certainly not wanting to prevent this consequence. Would it not be entirely avoided by making it a condition of the commerce in question, that all ships leaving France shall take (in some article or articles of her produce or manufacture) the full amount of the cargoes they bring hither?

Ships, sailing under this regulation, would, or would not, go voluntarily to England. If they went voluntarily, it would only be, because that country afforded the best markets for the productions of France; in which case the habitual results would be entirely changed, and England, ceasing to receive a balance for her manufactures, would begin to pay one to the United States on the productions of France. Could France wish a state of commerce more prosperous than this?

If, on the other hand, the American ships did not go voluntarily to England, but were captured and sent in for adjudication, it may be fairly presumed, that the United States could no longer hesitate about becoming a party to the war against England.

Thus, in either case, the interests of his majesty would be directly advanced by the measure: in the one, the wants of France and her colonies would be not only regularly supplied, but she would herself become an entrepot for the supply of the continent; in the other, the wishes of his majesty, as expressed in February last, would be directly promoted.

Mr. Armstrong has the honour of renewing to M. de Champagny the assurances of his very high consideration."

Extract of a Letter from the same to the Secretary of State, dated Bourbon l'Archambault, August 28, 1808.

"Since my arrival at this place I have been honoured by the receipt of your despatch of the 21st ult. and would immediately return to Paris, to renew my discussions with M. de Champagny, either personally, as you suggest, or by writing, had I not the most solemn conviction, that any new experiment, made at the present moment, in either form, and of official character, would certainly be useless and probably injurious.”

Extracts of a Letter from Mr. Madison, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinkney, minister of the United States at London, dated Department of State, Dec. 23, 1807. "MR. ERSKINE having been so good as to let me know that the mail of this evening will carry his despatches for a British packet, which will sail from New York immedi ately on their arrival there, and other conveyances now failing, I avail myself of the opportunity, to enclose you a copy of a message from the President to Congress, and their act in pursuance of it, laying an immediate embargo on our vessels and exports. The policy and the causes of the measure, are explained in the message itself. But it may be proper to authorize you to assure the British government, as has been just expressed to its minister here, that the act is a measure of precaution only, called for by the occasion; that it is to be considered as neither hostile in its character, nor as justifying, or inviting or leading to hostility with any nation whatever, and particu larly as opposing no obstacle whatever to amicable negoti ations and satisfactory adjustments with Great Britain, on the subjects of difference between the two countries.

The suddenness of the present opportunity does not allow me time to add more than a newspaper, containing a part of the proceedings of Congress in relation to the embargo."

"P. S. As you may be able to find conveyances to Paris, whither none will for some time offer hence, I request the

favour of you to communicate to general Armstrong the contents of this letter, and through him, or otherwise, to Mr. Erving at Madrid.”

Extract from the same to the same, dated Department of State, Feb. 19, 1808.

“A VESSEL having been engaged to carry from the port of New York publick despatches and mercantile letters to Europe, I avail myself of the opportunity of forwarding you a series of gazettes, which contain the proceedings of Congress, and such current information as will give you a view of our internal affairs. They will be put, with this letter, into the hands of Mr. Nourse, a passenger in the despatch vessel, who will deliver them at London; and as the vessel, which will have previously touched at L'Orient, will, after waiting ten or twelve days at Falmouth, return to that port, and thence to the United States, you will have an opportunity of sending thither any communications you may wish to make to Paris, as well as of transinitting to your government such as may follow up your correspondence, which, at the present period, will be the more acceptable, the more it be frequent and full.

"My last, which was committed to the British packet, enclosed a copy of the act of embargo, and explained the policy of the measure. Among the considerations which enforced it, was the probability of such decrees as were issued by the British government on the 11th of November; the language of the British gazettes, with other indications, having left little doubt that such were meditated. The appearance of these decrees has had much effect in reconciling all descriptions among us to the embargo, and in fixing in the friends of the measure their attachment to its provident guardianship of our maritime interests.

Mr. Erskine communicated, a few days ago, the several late decrees of his government, with expressions of the regret felt by his Britannic majesty at the necessity imposed on him for such an interference with neutral commerce, and assurances that his majesty would readily