In the present posture of our relations to Great Britain it is prudent to turn them, as much as can be honorably done, to account in our other foreign relations. In the joint letter to you and Genl. Armstrong, this policy has been explained as it applied to the objects embraced by the joint Commission. But there are other cases in which Spain is counselled by her own interest to promote that of the United States; particularly by giving greater latitude and security to our commerce with her American possessions, above all with the important and Convenient Island of Cuba. I offer this idea for your attention and improvement; and I pray you to communicate it to Mr. Erving, with such of the other matters contained in the dispatches now forwarded, as it may be useful for him to possess. I have the honor to be &c. SIR, D. OF S. MSS. INSTR. TO JAMES MONROE. 1807. I inclose for your information copies of the letters which have passed on several subjects between Mr. Erskine and the Department of State; and which it may be useful for you to possess. The proceedings at Halifax with respect to one of the men taken from the Chesapeake, and whose restoration was included in the demand of reparation for that outrage, are calculated to inspire great distrust of the temper and intentions of the British Government towards this Country. Is it conceivable that at so late a day Berkley could be unapprized of the light in which his original offence was viewed by his superiors, or that if apprized of their displeasure at it, he would brave the consequences of an additional temerity of so irreparable a character. Before the receipt of this communication you will probably have been enabled to interpret the phenomenon, and this communication suggests the light in which it is to be presented to the British Government. If the responsibility rests on Berkley or any other Officer, and that Government means to give the satisfaction due to the honor of the United States, there can be no pretext for refusing to make the severest example of the Offender or Offenders. Among the papers accompanying this will be found British evidence that the seaman sentenced to death was not a deserter from a British ship of war as alleged on his trial, but a merchantman only. You will find also that, according to information received here thro' the Collector of Baltimore the Court martial at Halifax, disregarding still further every restraint of law, of decency and of common prudence, proceeded to the trial of the three other men taken from the Chesapeake, without even pretending that they were British subjects, that a partial execution of the sentence on one of them was fatal to his life, and that the two others were forced into the service of a British Ship of War, by making that the alternative of the doom to which they were sentenced. Should this information be confirmed, and it has not yet been impaired by any circumstance whatever, the measure of atrocity will be filled up, and every motive supplied for requiring on our part and for affording on that of Great Britain the full measure of punishment due to it. The last letter received from Mr. Erskine respecting the detention of a letter to him from Vice Admiral Berkley will not be answered, unless the subject should be resumed after receiving mine which had not reached him at the date of his. If a further answer should be required, it may be necessary to remind him that if the ground for a prosecution were as legal as he supposes, the measure however it might be dictated by the respect which the United States owe to themselves, could not be demanded of right by a Government which has left unpunished the repeated violations committed by its officers on the most solemn dispatches of the United States. Instances of these have from time to time been trans mitted to you. In that of the letter from the President to the King of Holland with the great seal internally impressed, the offence was of the most flagrant kind, and rendered the more conspicuous by its publication in the British Newspapers. This circumstance, whilst it necessarily brought the aggravated insult to the notice of the Government might the rather have been expected to be followed by the punishment of the guilty officer, as this course alone could guard the Government itself to which the copy of the President's letter must be presumed to have been sent by the officer who violated it, against appearances and conjectures of the most unfavorable sort. I have the honor to be &c. TO WILLIAM PINKNEY. D. OF S. MSS. INSTR. Sir, 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 dispatches for a British packet, which will sail from New York immediately on their arrival there, and other conveyances now failing, I avail myself of the opportunity to inclose you a copy of a message from the President to Congress, and their Act in pursuance of it, laying an immediate embargo on war 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 just been 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 particularly as opposing no obstacle whatever to amicable negotiations and satisfactory adjustments with Great Britain, on the subjects of difference between the two Countries. Mr. Monroe arrived at Norfolk on the 12th inst, and at this place last night. Mr. Rose has not been heard of, since his reported departure from England on the 9th of Nov. 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, and assurances of the Esteem & Consideration with which I remain Sir &c. END OF VOL. VII. |