Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

1

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

formerly his Majesty's Colonies; look at Ireland; look at the Bank; look at Sweden; look at Holland look up the Scheldt; look back at Walcheren; or, look now at Portugal; look any where, and produce us your marks of success. Here, again, too, the system, which has led to all the evils that these names bring to our recollection; this fatal system is ascribed wholly to the King.The day will, I trust, yet come, when the system and its measures will be ascribed to others, and that, too, in such a way as truth and justice demand. The insult here offered to His Royal Highness is truly abominable. This writer, in addition to all his other insults, tells him, that he is bound in delicacy to adhere to a system, part of which, and no very trifling part, has been to misrepresent, calumniate, and degrade himself!Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, in the debate of the 21st instant, said, upon this subject, that he "neither "accused nor could he suppose Mr. Per"ceval capable of offering any insult to "the Prince of Wales. He wished he "could say the same of his political adhe"rents. If so, they would not have found "those public prints, which he should not say were under the protection of the ad"ministration of his right hon. friend, "but which were certainly not prosecuted "with the same severity and rigour as were "manifested in other instances, pursuing a systematic course of attack upon his Royal Highness, calumniating every act, and misrepresenting every word of his Royal Highness, and holding up to scorn and de"rision every member of the Royal family. "Neither should they have found them "incessantly imputing the basest motives to many members of that House for pursuing on this occasion what they conscientiously « considered their duty.”- -It was well to point this out, though it could not have escaped the public attention. But, there is, in the present conduct of the venal prints towards the Prince of Wales, nothing new. They have been constantly at it, in a way more or less open, ever since I have been a reader of news-papers; but, now, they have thrown off all reserve, which, to say the truth, is less objectionable than the base eves-dropping misrepresentations, the whispering and canting caJumnies, in which they have so long dealt, but which they now perceive can no longer serve their MEAN, MERCENARY and MALIGNANT purposes.

[ocr errors]

86

66

[ocr errors]

WM. COBBETT.

State Prison, Newgate, Tuesday,
January 22, 1811.

OFFICIAL PAPERS.

AMERICA AND FLORIDA.-Proclamation of President Madison, 27th Oct. 1810.

Whereas the Territory South of the Mississippi Territory, and Eastward of the River Mississippi, and extending to the River Perdido, of which possession was not delivered to the United States in pursuance of the Treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of April, 1803, has at all times, as is well known, been considered and claimed by them, as being within the colony of Louisiana conveyed by the said Treaty in the same extent that it had in the bands of Spain, and that it had when France originally possessed it. And whereas the acquiescence of the United States in the temporary continuance of the said territory under the Spanish authority was not the result of any distrust of their title, as has been particularly evinced by the general tenor of their laws, and by the distinction made in the application of those laws between that territory and foreign countries; but was occasioned by their conciliatory views, and by a confidence in the justice of their cause, and in the success of candid succession and amicable negociation with a just and friendly Power. And whereas a satisfactory adjustment, too long delayed, without the fault of the United States, has for some time been entirely suspended by events over which they had no controul; and whereas a crisis has at length arrived subversive of the order of things under the Spanish Authorities, whereby a failure. of the United States to take the said territory into its possession may lead to events ultimately contravening the views of both parties, whilst in the mean time the tranquillity and security of our adjoining territories, are endangered, and new facilities given to violations of our revenue and commercial laws, and of those prohibiting the introduction of slaves :-Considering moreover, that under these peculiar and imperative circumstances, a forbearance on the part of the United States to occupy the territory in question, and thereby guard against the confusions and contingencies which threaten it, might be construed into a dereliction of their title, or an insensibility to the importance of the stake: considering that in the hands of the United States it will not cease to be a subject of fair and friendly negociation and adjustment: considering finally, that the Acts of Congress, though contemplat

ing a present possession by a foreign au- | thority, have contemplated also an eventtual possession of the said territory by the United States, and are accordingly so framed as in that case to extend in their operation to the same: Now be it known, that I, J. Madison, President of the United States of America, in pursuance of these weighty and urgent considerations, have deemed it right and requisite, that possession should be taken of the said territory, in the name and behalf of the United States. W. C. C. Claiborne, Governor of the Orleans Territory, of which the said territory is to be taken as part, will accordingly proceed to execute the same; and to exercise over the said territory the authorities and functions legally appertaining to his office. And the good people inhabiting the same, are invited and enjoined to pay due respect to him in that character; to be obedient to the laws, to maintain order, to cherish harmony, and, in every manner, to conduct themselves as peaceable citizens, under full assurance, that they will be protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.

FLORIDA-WEST.-Declaration of Indepen

dence.-26 Sept. 1810.

It is known to the world with how much fidelity the good people of this territory have professed and maintained allegiance to their legitimate Sovereign, while any hope remained of receiving from him protection for their property and lives. Without making any unnecessary innovation in the established principles of the Government, we had voluntarily adopted certain regulations in concert with our First Magistrate for the express purpose of preserving this territory, and shewing our attachment to the Government which had beretofore protected us.-This compact, which was entered into with good faith on our part, will for ever remain an honourable testimony of our right intentions and inviolable fidelity to our King and Parent Country, while so much as a shadow of legitimate authority remained to be exercised over us. We sought only a speedy remedy for such evils as seemed to endanger our existence and prosperity; and were encouraged by our Governor with solemn promises of assistance and co-operation. But those measures which were intended for our preservation, he has endeavoured to pervert into an engine of

destruction, by encouraging, in the most perfidious manner, the violation of ordinances, sanctioned and established by himself as the law of the land.-Being thus left without any hope of protection from the mother country-betrayed by a magistrate whose duty it was to have provided for the safety and tranquillity of the people and government committed to his charge, and exposed to all the evils of a state of anarchy, which we have so long endeavoured to avert; it becomes our duty to provide for our own security as a free and independent state, absolving from all allegiance to a Government which no longer protects us.

[ocr errors]

We, therefore, the Representatives aforesaid, appealing to the Supreme Ruier of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do solemly publish and declare the several districts composing this ter ritory of West Florida to be a Free and Independent State; and that they have a right to institute for themselves such form of government as they may think conducive to their safety and happiness, to form treaties, to establish commerce, to provide for their common defence, and to do all acts which may of right be done by a sovereign and independent nation; at the same time declaring all acts within the said territory of West Florida, after this date, by any tribune or authorities not deriving their powers from the people, agreeably to the provisions established by this Convention, to be null and void, and calling upon all foreign nations to respect this our declaration, acknowledging our independence, and giving us such aid as may be consistent with the laws and usages of nations. This declaration, made in Convention at the town of Baton Rouge, on the 26th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1810, We, the Representatives, in the name aforesaid, and on behalf of our constituents, do hereby solemnly pledge ourselves to support with our lives and fortunes. By order of the Convention,

JOHN RHEA, President. AND. STEELE, Secretary. [The above act of independence was communicated to the Governor of the Mississippi Territory, requesting it might be transmitted to the President of the United States, with the expression of a hope that the Government would take the present Government and people of Florida under their immediate and special protection. The answer of Mr. Secretary Smith to the Governor of Mississippi,

states the right of the United States to the
territory of West Florida, as far as the
River Perdido, it having been fairly ac-
quired by purchase, and formally ratified
by treaty; and also that the President
cannot recognize in the Convention of
West Florida any independent authority
whatever, to propose or to form a compact
with the United States.]

AMERICA AND ENGLAND.-Letter from Mr.
SMITH, Secretary of State, to Mr.
PINKNEY, American Minister in England,
relative to the recall of the latter.-15
Nov. 1810.

Sir,-From a view of the conduct of the British Government, in relation to a Plenipotentiary, successor to Mr. Jackson, as presented in your several communications, including even those brought by

rities necessary for the accomplishment of 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 subjoined, authorising you to resume the negociations with the British Government, under the full power that had been given, severally and jointly, to you and Mr. Monroe. And in your discussion 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 adjustment shall have been made in the affair of the

Chesapeake. And in the adjustment of this case, you will be guided by the instrucfrom this department in relation to it.— tions which you have heretofore received It is moreover desirable, that preparatory to a treaty upon all the points of difference between the two countries, an arrangement should be made for the revocation of the Orders in Council. As it is uncertain what may be the ultimate measures of be expected that the President can, at this Congress at the present Session, it cannot time, state the precise condition to be ancil. But, in general, you may assure the nexed to a repeal of the Orders in Coun British Government of his cordial dispo

the Hornet, at which date, and on which inviting occasion the subject does not ap pear to have been within the attention of Government, the President thinks it im-proper, that the United States should continue to be represented at London by a Minister Plenipotentiary.-In case, therefore, the appointment of a successor to Mr. Jackson, of that grade should have taken place at the receipt of this letter, you will consider your functions as suspended, and you will accordingly take your leave of absence, charging a fit person with the affairs of the Legation. Considering the season at which this instruc-sition to exercise any power which may tion may have its effect, and the possibility of a satisfactory change in the system of our relations with Great Britain, the time of your return to the United States is left to your discretion and convenience.

[blocks in formation]

be invested, to put an end to Acts of Con-
gress, 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.

Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, Department of
State, Jan. 20, 1810.

Sir; The President, anxious to adjust the existing differences between the United States and Great Britain, and deeming it expedient to make another effort for that purpose, has given it in charge to me to instruct you to renew negociations in London under the commission, dated 12th of May, 1806, authorising Mr. Monro and yourself, severally, as well as jointly, to treat with the British Government relative to wrongs committed between the parties on the high seas, or other waters, and for establishing the principles of navigation and commerce between them. I have the honour, &c. &c. R. SMITH

Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney. Department of inference drawn from the letter of Lord occasion, and consequently justifying the

State, May 22, 18 PO.

Wellesley, the respect which the United States owe to themselves will require that you return to the United States, according to the permission hereby given by the President, leaving charged with the business of the Legation such person as you may deem most fit for the trust. With this view a commission, as required by a statute of the last session, is hereby enclosed, with a blank for a Secretary, of Legation. But this step you will not consider yourself as instructed to take, in case you should have commenced, with a prospect of a satisfactory result, the negociations authorised by my letter of the 20th of January.In a letter of the 4th of this month, I transmitted to you a copy of the Act of Congress, at their last Session, concerning the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Bri

Sir; Your dispatch of the 27th of March, by the British packet, was received on the 17th of this month.-The President has read with surprise and regret the answers of Lord Wellesley to your letter of the 2nd of January, and also his reply to your note requiring explanations with respect to the blockades of France. The one indicates an apparent indifference as to the character of the diplomatic intercourse between the two countries, and the other evinces an inflexible determination to persevere in their system of blockade. The provision made for the Diplomatic Agency which is to succeed that of Mr. Jackson, manifests a dissatisfaction at the step necessarily taken here with regard to that Minister, and at the same time a diminution of the respect heretofore attached to the diplo-tain and France. You will herewith rematic relations between the two countries. However persevering the President may be in the conciliatory disposition which has constantly governed him, he cannot be inattentive to such an apparent departure from it on the other side, nor to the duty imposed on him by the rules of equality and reciprocity applicable to such cases. It will be very agreeable to him to find that the provision in question is intended merely to afford time for a satisfactory choice of a Plenipotentiary successor to Mr. Jackson, and that the mode of carrying it into effect may be equally unexceptionable. But whilst, from the language of the Marquis Wellesley, with respect to the designation of a Charge d'Affairs, and from the silence, as to any other successor to the recalled Minister, it is left to be inferred that the former alone is in contemplation, it becomes proper to ascertain what are the real views of the British Government on the occasion, and should they be such as they are inferred to be, to meet them by a correspondent change in the diplomatic establishment of the United States at London. The President relies on your disSir-Your several letters of the 8th and cretion for obtaining the requisite know- 9th of April, and 2d and 3d of May have ledge of this subject, in a manner that been received. Whilst it was not known will do justice to the friendly policy which on the one hand, how far the French Gothe United States wish to be reciprocal in vernment would adhere to the apparent imevery instance between the two nations. port of the condition as first communicated, But in the event of its appearing that the on which the Berlin Decrees would be substitution of a Charge d' Affairs for a revoked, and on the other hand, what exMinister Plenipotentiary, is to be a conti-planations would be given by the British nuance not required or explained by the Government with respect to its blockades

ceive another copy of the same Act. In
the fourth section of this Statute you will
perceive a new modification of the policy
of the United States, and you will let it be
understood by the British Government,
that this provision will be duly carried
into effect on the part of the United States.
--A satisfactory adjustment of the affair
of the Chesapeake is very desirable. The
views of the President upon this delicate
subject you may collect, not only from
the instructions heretofore given to you,
but from the sentiments that had been
manifested on the part of this Government
in the discussion with Mr. Rose, and from
the terms and conditions contained in the
arrangement made with Mr. Erskine.
And conformable with these views, thus
to be collected, you will consider your-
self hereby instructed to negociate and
conclude an arrangement with the British
Government in relation to the attack on
the Chesapeake.-I have the honour to
be, &c.
R. SMITH.

Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney. Department of
State, July 2, 1810.

[ocr errors]

prior to that Decree, the course deemed proper to be taken was that pointed out in my letter to you of Nov. 11, and in that to Gen. Armstrong of the 1st of Dec. The precise and formal declaration since made by the French Government, that the condition was limited to the blockades of France, or ports of France, of a date prior to the Berlin Decree, and the acknowledgment of the British Government of the existence of such blockades, particularly that of May, 1806, with a failure to revoke it, or even to admit the constructive extinguishment of it, held in your letter to the Marquis Wellesley, give to the subject a new aspect and a decided character. As the British Government had constantly alledged that the Berlin Decree was the original aggression on our neutral commerce; that her Orders in Council were but a retaliation on that Decree, and had, moreover, on that ground asserted an obligation on the United States to take effectual measures against the Decree, as a preliminary to the repeal of the Orders, nothing could be more reasonable than to expect, that the condition, in the shape last presented, would be readily accepted. The President is therefore equally disappointed and dissatisfied at the abortiveness of your correspondence with Lord Wellesley, in this important subject. He entirely approves the deter. mination you took to resume it with a view to the special and immediate obligation lying on the British Government to cancel the illegal blockades; and you are instructed, in case the answer to your letter of the 30th of April should not be satisfactory, to represent to the British Government, in terms temperate but explicit, that the United States consider themselves authorised by strict and unquestionable right, as well as supported by the principles heretofore applied by Great Britain to the case, in claiming and expecting a revocation of the illegal blockades of France, of a date prior to that of the Berlin Decree, as preparatory to a further demand of the revocation of that Decree. It ought not to be presumed that the British Government in reply to such a representation, will contend that a blockade, like that of May, 1806, from the Elbe to Brest, a coast of not less than 100 miles, proclaimed four years since, without having been at any time attempted to be duly executed by the application of a naval force, is a blockade conformable to the law of nations, and consistent with the

neutral rights. Such a pretext is completely barred, not only by the unanimous authorities both of writers and treaties on this point, not excepting even British treaties; but by the rule of blockade communicated by that Government to this, in the year 1809, in which it is laid down that orders have been given not to consider any blockade of those islands (Martinique and Guadaloupe) as existing, unless in respect to particular ports which may be actually invested; and then not to capture any vessels bound to such port, unless they shall have previously been warned not to enter them, and that they (the Lords of the Admiralty) had also sent the necessary directions on the subject to the Judges of the Vice-Admiralty Courts in the West Indies and America.In this communication it is expressly stated that the rule to the British courts of cruizers was furnished in consequence of the representations made by the Government of the United States against blockades, not unlike that now in question, and with the expression of redressing the grievance complained of. Nor ought it to be presumed that the British Government will formally resort to the plea that her naval force, although unapplied, is adequate to the enforcement of the blockade of May, 1806, and that this forms a legal distinction between that and the Berlin Decree of November following. Were it admitted that an adequate force existed, and was applicable to such a purpose, the absurdity of confounding the power to do a thing, with the actually doing of it, speaks for itself. In the present case, the absurdity is peculiarly striking-a port blockaded by sea, without a ship near it, being a, contradiction in terms, as well as a perversion of law and of common sense.-From the language of Lord Wellesley's two letters, it is possible he may endeavour to evade the measure required, by subtle comments on the posture given to the blockade of May, 1806, by the succeeding orders of 1807. But even here he is met by the case of blockade of Copenhagen and other ports of Zealand in the year 1808-at a time when these with all Danish ports were embraced by these orders of 1807-a proof that, however the orders and blockades may be regarded as in some respects the same, they are regarded in others as having a distinct operation, and may consequently co-exist, without being absolutely merged in, or superseded, the one by the other.

« ZurückWeiter »