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Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley. Great Cumberland Place, June 23, 1810.

MY LORD, I beg to recall your lordship's attention to the subject of the letter which I had the honour to address to you on the 30th of April last, concerning the British blockades of France anterior to the Berlin decree.

My government expects from me a communication on that subject, and your lordship will I am sure take pleasure in enabling me, with as little delay as possible, to fulfil that expectation in a satisfactory manner.

I feel confident that after the declaration of France, which I had the honour to state to your lordship in that letter, and to mention in conference before and since its date, there will be no difficulty on the part of his majesty's government in revoking these blockades, or declaring that they are no longer in existence.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

WM. PINKNEY.

Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith. London, July 1, 1810. SIR,I have this day had the honour to receive your letter of the 23d and 22d of May by Mr. Parish, and have sent a note to lord Wellesley requesting an interview. He is out of town, but will return to-night or in the morning. The instructions contained in your letter concerning the inequality, supposed to be intended by this government in the state of our diplomatic relations, shall be.exe cuted with the discretion which undoubtedly they require; and I am persuaded that the result will be perfectly satisfactory to the President. In the mean time I think I can undertake to assure you, that no change has taken place in the opinion of lord Wellesley, as announced in my private letter to you of the 4th of January, that a minister plenipotentiary of rank should be sent to the United States. Certainly, no idea has been entertained here of a permanent or long continued charge d'affaires. It could only be intended to send one in the first instance. And I have reason to be confident, that for some time past, it has been in agitation to appoint a minister plenipotentiary without

delay, that lord Wellesley has in fact thought of and mentioned a person, and that Mr. Morier's departure has been put off in consequence.

In the case of the Chesapeake, I have already stated to you that I think there will be no difficulty, if the farther punishment of Berkeley is not made on our part a sine qua Your instructions are very clear that this is not to be peremptorily insisted on.

non.

I have nothing to add to my communication of the 26th ultimo concerning the British blockades of France before the Berlin decree, except that I mean to press lord Wellesly on that subject at our next interview as I did at our last. I shall not fail at the same time to draw his attention to the orders in council and the intercourse act.

I need scarcely say that if events should make it proper for me, in obedience to the President's commands, to return to America, (leaving a charge d'affaires) I shall lose no time in doing so.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

WM. PINKNEY,

Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith.

London, July 23, 1810.

SIR, I followed up the conversation with lord Wellesley, mentioned in my letter of the 6th instant, with a short note, of which a copy is enclosed, requesting information concerning the intention of this government to send a minister plenipotentiary, without delay, to the United States, as the successor of Mr. Jackson.

Reflection seems to have suggested to lord Wellesley some objections which did not occur in the course of our conference, to giving this information in an official

manner.

I was aware of this on Saturday last; but was not willing to forego a written communication on a matter which had taken a character of some delicacy and importance.

Lord Wellesley has endeavoured to avoid his own difficulty and mine, by sending me the letter (marked" private") of which I have now the honour to transmit a copy.

As this letter is in conformity with his verbal assurances in conference, and appears to leave no reasonable doubt

upon the point to which it relates, I do not suppose that I can properly undertake to question its sufficiency, either by pressing for a more formal communication, or by taking the step which your instructions, of the 23d of May, in certain circumstances prescribe to me.

I still believe that the affair of the Chesapeake will very soon be brought to a conclusion.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt (on the 21st instant, by Mr. Henry Izard) of your letters of the 13th and 16th of last month, and I take this opportunity to thank you for the private letter of the 5th ultimo, received at the same time.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

WM. PINKNEY.

Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley. Great Cumberland Place, July 7, 1810.

MY LORD,-In pursuance of the conversation which I had the honour to hold with your lordship on the 6th inst. I take the liberty to request information, which I am sure will be readily given, concerning the intention of his majesty's government to send a minister plenipotentiary to the United States, as the successor of Mr. Jackson.

I have no doubt that it is intended to send such a successor without delay, as one of the means of restoring and maintaining the friendly relations of the two countries; but I shall, nevertheless, be glad to be authorized by your lordship to make a communication to that effect to my government.

I have the honour to be, &c.

The Most Noble the Marquis
Wellesley, &c. &c. &c.

WM. PINKNEY.

VOL. VII.

56

PRIVATE.

Lord Wellesley's Reply to the foregoing. Apsley House.

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July 22, 1810.

SIR, I think it may be difficult to enter upon the subject of your last note, (respecting the diplomatic rank of our minister in America) in any official form."

But I have no difficulty in assuring you that it is my intention immediately to recommend the appointment of an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the king to the United States.

I have the honour to be, &c.

Wm. Pinkney, Esq. &c. &c. &c.

WELLESLEY.

Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith. London, Aug. 14, 1810. SIR,-As lord Wellesley still withheld his long expected answer to my note of the 30th of April, respecting the British blockades anterior to the Berlin decree, and his written overture in the case of the Chesapeake, I sent him on the 8th instant a letter, of which a copy is enclosed. No importunity had before been spared which it became

me to use.

I need not trouble you with comments on the obvious unwillingness of this government to touch the first mentioned subject, or any thing connected with its principles and practice respecting blockades, or with the system of the orders in council. Justice and policy both invite it to give the declaration which I have required; and certainly nothing has been omitted on my part to induce it to take that course. I fear, however, that the declaration will be declined, unless indeed lord Wellesley should continue to evade my application by returning no answer to it; a new practice, I think, which, little to be commended as it is. must, I presume, if persisted in here, be reciprocated in America.

It is truly surprising that in the case of the Chesapeake there should be the same backwardness. I can conjecture no motive for this hesitation to propose, in writing, terms arranged in conference between lord Wellesley and my

self in an affair which it is the manifest interest of England to settle as soon as possible. It is now almost six weeks. since lord Wellesley last assured me (as he had before more than once assured me) that he would put me in possession of his formal overture in this case immediately. He knows that you have been made officially acquainted with that assurance; for I thought it advisable to submit. to his perusal, before it was transmitted (for the purpose principally of avoiding misunderstandings) my short letter to you of the 6th of last month, which states that "in the business of the Chesapeake he will write to me in a few days," and further, that in that business "I do not expect any difficulty."

There can be no misconception as to the terms to be offered; for, besides that they were stated with great precision in the conference alluded to in my letter to you of the 6th ultimo, as well as in several antecedent interviews, I wrote lord Wellesley the day after that conference a private note of which a copy is now transmitted, enclosing a memorandum in pencil of the terms which (exclusive of any further mark of displeasure to admiral Berkeley, very decidedly discouraged by lord Wellesley) had been spoken of in our different conversations as fit to be proposed. I do not find that I retained any copy of the memorandum in pencil; but the terms (agreeing in substance with those to which I informed you in my letter of the 13th of June last, lord Wellesley had no objection) were to this effect.

1. The overture to contain such a recital or statement, as is found in Mr. Erskine's letter to you of the 17th of April, 1809, of the prompt disavowal by his Britannick majesty of the unauthorized act of his naval officer, whose recall, as a mark of the king's displeasure, from a highly important and honourable command, immediately ensued.

2. To offer, without any reservation, the restoration of the men to the ship from which they were forcibly taken.

3. To offer, without any reservation, and as a part of the terms of the international adjustment, a suitable pecuniary provision for the families of the persons slain in the attack, and for the wounded survivors.

It was moreover understood, that the paper proffering these terms would not contain the allusions which have heretofore occasioned embarrassment; that the whole

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