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this young man's recovery, after obtaining his discharge from his regiment, having excited, in combination with the other circumstances which we formerly stated, an opinion that imposition had been practised, some of the neighbours reported that a press-gang was coming for him. This, it is supposed, having reached his ears, he absconded, and not a syllable has been heard of him since. Old Adams was himself formerly in the military service, and effected his discharge by counterfeiting illness, though not of that description which has been assumed by his son. The opinion is very general, that he has assisted his son in his artifice, and that food has been secretly conveyed to him. Under this impression, however, it is necessary to state, that the father was denied all access to him for several days, while he was in gaol.

STATE PAPERS.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY, HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND WILLIAM PINKNEY, ESQ. MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES: AND BETWEEN MR. PINKNEY AND ROBERT SMITH, ESQ. SECRETARY OF THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT TO THE UNITED STATES. SELECTED FROM THE DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF DEC. 5, 18101.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, dated

Department of State, Jan. 20, 1810.

"In my letter to you of the 11th Nov. 1809, you were authorized to assure the British government, that the United States sincerely retained the desire, which they have constantly professed, to facilitate a friendly accommodation of all the existing differences between the two countries, and that nothing would be more agreeable to them than to find the successor of Mr. Jackson invested with all the authorities necessary for the accomplishing o so desirable an event; and, moreover, that if the attainment of this object through your agency should be considered more expeditious, or otherwise preferable, it would be a course entirely satisfactory to the United States.

"I am now charged by the President to transmit to you the enclosed letter, authorizing you to resume the negociations with the British government ander the full power that had been given severally, and jointly to you and Mr. Monroe. And in your discussions therein, you will be regulated by the instructions heretofore given to Mr. Monroe and yourself. It is, however, not intended, that you should commence this negociation until the requisite satisfaction shall have been made in the affair of the Chesapeake. And in the adjustment of this case, you will be guided by the instructions which you have heretofore received from this department in

relation to it.

"It is moreover desirable, that preparatory to a treaty upon all the points of difference between the two countries, an arrangement should b made for the revocation of the orders in council. As it is uncertain what may be the ultimate measures of congress at the present session, it cannot be expected that the President can, at this time, state the precise condition

1 For the Message, see General Chronicle, vol. i. p. 196.

to be annexed to a repeal of the orders in council: but, in general, you may assure the British government of his cordial disposition to exercise any power with which he may be invested, to put an end to acts of congress, which would not be resorted to but for the orders in council, and at the same time, of his determination to keep them in force against France in case her decrees should not also be repealed."

MY LORD,

Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley.

Great Cumberland-Place, Feb. 15, 1810, In pursuance of the intimation which I had the honour to give to your lordship a few days ago, I beg to trouble your lordship with an inquiry, whether any, and if any, what blockades of France, instituted by Great Britain during the present war, before the 1st day of January, 1807, are understood by his Majesty's government to be in force. I am not able at present to specify more than one of the blockades to which this inquiry applies; namely, that from the Elbe to Brest, declared in May, 1806, and afterwards limited and modified; but I shall be much obliged to your lordship for precise information as to the whole. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) WM. PINKNEY,

SIR,

Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pinkney.

Foreign Office, March 2, 1810. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th ultimo, wherein you request to be informed whether any, and if any, what blockades of France instituted by Great Britain during the present war, before the 1st day of January, 1807, are understood by his majesty's government to be in force. I have now the honour to acquaint you, that the coast, rivers, and ports from the river Elbe to Brest, both inclusive, were notified to be under the restrictions of blockade, with certain modifications, on the 16th of May, 1806; and that these restrictions were afterwards comprehended in the order of council of the 7th of January, 1807, which order is still in force. I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

MY LORD,

(Signed)

Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley.

WELLESLEY.

Great Cumberland Place, March 7, 1810. I have had the honour to receive your lordship's answer of the 2d instant, to my letter of the 15th of last month, concerning the blockades of France, instituted by Great Britain, during the present war, before the 1st day of January, 1807.

I infer from that answer, that the blockade notified by Great Britain in May, 1806, from the Elbe to Brest, is not itself in force, and that the restrictions which are established, rest altogether, so far as such restrictions exist at this time, upon an order or orders in council issued since the 1st day of January, 1807.

I infer also, either that no other blockade of France was instituted by Great Britain during the period above-mentioned, or that, if any other was instituted during that period, it is not now in force.

May I beg your lordship to do me the honour to inform me whether these inferences are correct, and, if incorrect, in what respects they are so? I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

(Signed)

WM. PINKNEY.
Mr.

SIR,

Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith.

London, March 21, 1810.

1

On the 27th of December, Mr. Brownell delivered to me your letters of the 11th, 14th, and 23rd of the preceding month, and on the Saturday following I had a conference with the Marquis Wellesley, in the course of which I explained to him fully the grounds upon which I was instructed to request Mr. Jackson's immediate recal, and upon which the official intercourse between that minister and the American government had been sus. pended.

Lord Wellesley's reception of what I said to him was frank and friendly, and I left him with a persuasion that we should have no cause to be dissatisfied with the final course of his government on the subjects of our conference.

We agreed in opinion that this interview could only be introductory to a more formal proceeding on my part; and it was accordingly settled between us, that I should present an official to the effect of my verbal communication.

Having prepared such a letter, I carried it myself to Downing-street a few days afterwards, and accompanied the delivery of it to Lord Wellesley with some explanatory observations, with which it is not, I presume, necessary to trouble you. You will find a copy of this letter inclosed, and will be able to collect from it the substance of the greater part of the statements and remarks which I thought it my duty to make in the conversation abovementioned.

Although I was aware that the answer to my letter would not be very hastily given, I certainly was not prepared to expect the delay which has actually occurred. The President will do me the justice to believe that I -have used every exertion, consistent with discretion and the nature of the occasion, to shorten that delay: which, though not ascribable, as I persuade myself, to any motive unfriendly or disrespectful to the United States, may, I am sensible, have been productive of some disadvantage. A copy of the answer, received on the day of its date, is inclosed.

Between the delivery of my letter, and the receipt of the reply, I had frequent conversations with Lord Wellesley, some of which were at his own request, and related altogether to the subject of my letter. The rest were on other subjects; but Mr. Jackson's affair was incidentally mentioned in all. A particular account of what was said on these several occasions would scarcely be useful, and could not fail to be tedious. It will, perhaps, be sufficient to observe, that, although these conversations were less satisfactory to me than the first, there was always an apparent anxiety, on the part of Lord Wellesley, to do what was conciliatory; and that, in the share which I took in them, I was governed by an opinion that, although it might become my duty to avoid, with more than ordinary care, all appearance of my being a party to the ultimate proceeding of the British government upon my official representation, it could not be otherwise than proper, in any turn which the affair could take, that I should avail myself of every opportunity of bringing to Lord Wellesley's mind such considerations as were calculated to produce a beneficial influence upon the form and character of that proceeding. In what light the President will view the course, which after so much deliberation this government has adopted, it would not become me even to conjecture. If either in manner, or in effect, it should not fulfil his expectations, I shall have to regret that the success of my humble endeavours to make it what it ought to be, has not been proportioned to my zeal and diligence.

Of my letter to Lord Wellesley, of the 2d of January, I have very little to say. I trust it will be found faithful to my instructions; and that while it maintains the honour of my government, it does not neglect what is due to conciliation.

I am not sure that I ought to have quoted in it your letter to me of the 11th of November, of which the substance is undoubtedly given in the quotation from your subsequent letter of the 23d of the same month. But I saw no objection to a repetition of the just and amicable sentiments expressed in these quotations; and, as I had been induced, at my first interview with Lord Wellesley, to read to his lordship each of the passages, I felt that I was in some sort bound to the introduction of both into my written communication.

My letter avoids all discussion, on the business of the Chesapeake, on the orders in council, and on other topics which circumstances have connected with both. It does not, however, entirely pass them by; but con tains such references to them as I supposed were likely to be useful. I feel assured, that in this respect I have acted in conformity with the President's intentions. Indeed, if I had acted otherwise, I should have complicated and embarrassed a question, which I was ordered to simplify, and forced into combination the peculiar difficulties of several subjects, to counteract the wishes of my government upon each. I should have done so, too, without inducement; for I had no authority to make any demand or proposal in the cases of the Chesapeake, and orders in council, or to act upon any proposal which Lord Wellesley might be inclined to make to me; and it was perfectly clear that these subjects were not susceptible of any very material written illustrations which they had already received. I did not, however, imagine, that I was to make no use of the reflections upon them which you had furnished in your letter of the 23d of November. I was, on the contrary, convinced that it would be proper to suggest them occasionally in conversation, with a view to dispose Lord Wellesley, and, through him, the British government, to seek such fair and liberal adjustments with us as would once more make us friends.

Accordingly, in my first conference, I spoke of the affair of the Chesapeake and the orders in council, and concluded my explanations, which did not lose sight of your letter of the 23d of November, by expressing a wish that Lord Wellesley would allow me an early opportunity of a free communication with him on these heads. From the disposition evinced by Lord Wellesley, in the notice which he took of these suggestions and of that wish, I was inclined to hope that it might be in my power to announce to you, by the return of the corvette, that a new envoy would be charged, as the successor of Mr. Jackson, with instructions adapted to the purpose of honourable accommodation. My letter to his lordship was written under the influence of this hope, and concludes, as you will perceive, with as strong an appeal to the disposition on which it rested as could with propriety be made.

I recurred in subsequent conversations as, often as occasion presented itself, to the attack on the Chesapeake, and to the orders in council. It soon appeared, however, that a new envoy would not, in the first instance, be sent out to replace Mr. Jackson, and consequently that an arrangement of these subjects was not in that mode to be expected, a special mission would still less be resorted to; and it was not likely that approaches to nego ciation would be made through a chargé d'affaires. It was still barely possi ble that, though I had no powers to negociate and conclude the British government might not be disinclined to make advances through me, or that Lord Wellesley would suffer me so far to understand the views of his

government

government as that I might enable you to judge upon what conditions, and in what mode, arrangement was practicable. This was possible, though not very probable; but it finally became certain that no definite proposal would, for the present at least, be made to us through any channel, and that Lord Wellesley would not commit himself, upon the details to which I wished him to speak, but upon which, of course, I did not press him.

It only remains to refer you, for the actual sentiments of this government, with regard to future negociation, to the concluding paragraph of Lord Wellesley's letter to me, which is substantially the same with his recent verbal explanations, and to add that, in a short conversation since the receipt of his letter, he told me that, if I thought myself empowered to enter upon and adjust the case of the Chesapeake, he would proceed without delay to consider it with me.

I have not supposed that Lord Wellesley's letter requires any other than the common answer; and I have accordingly given the reply of which a copy is now transmitted. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. WM. PINKNEY.

SIR,

(Signed)

Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pinkney.

Foreign-Office, March 26, 1810. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, requesting a further explanation of my letter of the 2d, concerning the blockades of France, instituted by Great Britain, during the present war, before the 1st day of January, 1807.

The blockade notified by Great Britain in May, 1806, has never been formally withdrawn. It cannot, therefore, be accurately stated, that the restrictions which it established, rest altogether on the order of council of the 7th of January, 1807: they are comprehended under the more extensive restrictions of that order. No other blockade of the ports of France was instituted by Great Britain, between the 16th of May, 1806, and the 7th of January, 1807, excepting the blockade of Venice, instituted on the 27th of July, 1806, which is still in force.

I beg you to accept the assurances of high consideration, with which I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

(Signed)

MY LORD,

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WELLESLEY.

Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley, dated,

Great Cumberland Place, May 3, 1810. I have the honour to call your lordship's attention, in pursuance of the instructions of my government, to a practice which has for some time past prevailed in this country, of forging American ships' papers for the purpose of giving to English vessels the character of American bottoms.

It appears from various sources of information, that these fabrications are carried to a great extent, particularly in London, and that the fraudulent papers are purchased as a regular article of traffic, and used in numerous instances, so as to bring into suspicion, the genuine documents on which the safety of American commerce depends, and to subject that commerce to serious vexation and loss.

I am confident, my Lord, that it is only necessary to suggest to his majesty's government the existence of these abuses, so injurious to the United States, and so pernicious in their general tendency, to induce it to cause immediate inquiry to be made with a view to an efficacious remedy.

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