The constitutionalist — Exeter, N.H., 1810-06-04 00:00:00, page 1

• . ^ ^ c - t<% ° C ^:. < ~
. /^=== jfy^^
THE CONSTITUTIONALIST.
It is known to your Lordship that
Mr. Jackson arrived in America, as
the successor of Mr. Erskine, while
the disappointment produced by the
disavowal of the arrangement of the
19th of April, was yet recent, and
while some other causes of dissatisfac
tion, which had been made to associate
themselves with that disappointment,
were in operation. But your Lord
ship also knows that his reception by
the American government was marked
by all that kindness and respect which
were due to the representative of a
sovereign with whom the U. States
were sincerely desirous of maintaining
the most friendly relations.
Whatever were the hopes, which
Mr. Jackson's mission had inspired,
of satisfactory explanations and ad
justments upon the prominent points
of difference between the two countries,
they certainly were not much, encour
aged by the conferences, in which, as
far as he thought proper, he opened to
I am quite sure, my Lord, that I
shall best consult your Lordship's
wishes and the respect which I owe to
his Majesty's government, by execut
ing my duty on this occasion with
perfect simplicity and frankness. My
instructions, too, point to that course
as required by the honor of the two
governments, and as suited to the con
fidence which the President entertains
in the disposition of his Majesty's gov
ernment to view in its true light, the
subject to which they relate—With
such inducements to exclude from this
communication every thing which is
not intimately connected with its pur
pose, and, on the other hand, to set
forth with candor and explicitness the
facts and considerations which really
belong to the case, I should be un
pardonable if I fatigued your Lordship
with unnecessary details, or affected
any reserve.
Great Cumberland Place,)
2d January, 1810. ,
My Lord—ln the course of the
official correspondence, which has late
ly taken place between the Secretary of
State of the United# States, and Mr.
Jackson, his Majesty's envoy extraor
dinary and minister plenipotentiary at
Washington, it has unfortunately hap
pened that Mr. Jackson has made it
necessary that I should receive the
commands of the President to request
his recal, and that, in the mean time
the intercourse between that minister
and the American government should
be suspended.
Washington City, May 19.
Extract of a letter from Wrn. Pink
ney, Esq. to R. Smith, Esq. Sec
retary of State, dated London,
March 21, 1810.
" On the 27th of November Mr.
Brownell delivered to me your letters
of the 11th, 14th and 23d of the pre
ceding 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, apd upon which the official in
tercourse between that Minister and
the American government had been
suspended.
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 dissat
isfied with the final course of his gov
ernment on the subjects of our con
ference.
We agreed in opinion that this in
terview could only be introductory to
a more formal proceeding on my part ;
and it was accordingly settled between
ns that I sho?i!l%R^ent an official let
ter, to the 1 Tect of my verbal commu
nication.
Having prepared such a letter, I
carried it myself to Downing street, a
few days afterwards, and accompained
the delivery of it to Lord Wellesley
with some explanatory observations,
with which it is not,! presume necessary
to trouble you. You will find a copy
of this letter enclosed, 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 above men
tioned.
A copy of the answer, received on
the day of its date, is inclosed."
From the National Intelligencer —Thetra.
Official Correspondence.
Vol. I.]
(COPY.)
AGAINST THE INSIDIOUS WILES OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE, THE JEALOUSY OF A FREE PEOPLE, OUGHT TO BE CONSTANTLY AWAKE Washington.
After remonstrating against the wish
of the American government to giveto
the further discussions a written form,
Mr. Jackson disposes himself to con
form to it; and, speaking in the same
letter of the disavowal of the arrange
ment of April, he declares, that he was
not provided with instructions to ex
plain the motives of it ; and he seems
to intimate that explanation through
him was unnecessary, not only because
it had already been made through oth
er channels, but because the govern
ment of the United States had entered
into the arrangement with a knowledge
" that it could only lead to the conse
quences that actually followed." In
the conclusion of the fourth paragraph
of the letter he informs Mr. Smith,
that the dispatch of Mr. Canning to
Mr. Erskine, “ which Mr. Smith had
made the basis of an official correspon
dence with the latter minister, and
which had been read to the American
minister in London," Was the only
despatch, by which the conditions were
prescribed to Mr. Erskine for the con
clusion of an arrangement with the
United States on the matter to which it
related.
I need not remark tefyour Lord
ship that nothing of all this could with
propriety be said of a proceeding, in
itself entirely regular aud usual, re
quired by the state of the discussions
to which only it was to be applied
and proposed in a manner perfectly
decorous and unexceptionable. The
government of the United States had
expected from Mr. Jackson an ex
planation of the grounds of the refuse
on the part of his government to abide
by Mr. Erskine's arrangement, accom
panied by a substitution of other prop
ositibns. It had been collected fron
Mr. Jackson's conversations, that It
had no power whatsoever to give an\
such explanation ; or, in the busines
of the orders in council, to offer any
substitute for the rejected agreement ,
or, in the affair of the Chesapeake, to
offer any substitute that could be ac
cepted ; and it had been inferred, from
the same conversations, that, even if
the American government should pro
pose a substitute for that part of the
disavowed adjustment which regarded
the orders in council, the substitute
could not be agreed to (if indeed Mr
Jackson had power to do more than
discuss it) unless it should distinctly
recognize conditions which had already
been declared to be wholly inadmissi
ble. To what valuable end, my Lord,
loose conversations, having in view
either no definite result, or none that
was attainable, could, under such cir
cumstances and upon such topics, be
continued, it would not be easy to dis
cover ; and I think I may venture to
assume that the subsequent written
correspondence has completely shewn
that they could not have been other
wise than fruitless, and that they were
not too soon abandoned for that more
formal course, to which from the be
ginning they could only be considered
as preparatory.
It is evident, my Lord, from Mr.
Jackson's reply of the 11th of the
same month, that he received this inti
mation (which, carefully restricted as
it was, he seems to have been willing
to understand in a general sense) with
considerable sensibility. He speaks
of it in that reply as being without
example in the annals of diplomacy ;
as a step against which it was fit to en
ter his protest;, as a violation in his
person of the most essential rights of a
public minister; as a new difficulty
thrown in the way of a restoration of a
thorough good understanding between
the two countries.
Mr. Smith, soon after his arrival, the
nature and extent of his powers and
the views of his government. After
an experiment, deemed by the govern,
ment of the United States to be suffi
cient, it appeared that ' these conferen
ces, necessarily liable to misconception
and want of precision, were not likely
to lead to any practical conclusion.
Accordingly, on the 9th of October,
Mr. Smith addressed a letter to Mr.
Jackson, fa which, after stating the
course of proceeding which the Ameri
can government had supposed itself en
titled to expect from him, with regard
to the "rejected arrangement and the
matters embraced by it, and after re
capitulating what Mr. Smith believed
to have passed in their recent inter
views relative to those subjects ; he in
timated that it was thought expedient
that their further discussions, on that
particular occasion, should be in writ
ings
EXETER, (N.H.) MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1810.
Mr. Smith's answer to this letter
bears date the 19th of October ; and I
leg your Lordship's permission to in
troduce from it the fC> .mg quota
ion : —^ The stress you have laid on
what you have been pleased to state as
r ,he substitution of the terms finally
agreed on" (in the arrangement of
April on the orders in council) " for
the terms first proposed" (by Mr.
Erskine) " has excited no small degree
of surprise. Certain it is that your
predecessor did present for my consid
eration the same conditions which non
appear in the present document—that
he was disposed to urge them more,
than the nature of two of them (both
palpably inadmissible, and one more
than merely inadmissible) could per.
mit—and that, on finding his first pro
posal unsuccessful, the more reasona
ble terms, comprised in the arrange,
ment respecting the orders in council,
were adopted—And what is there in
+his to countenance the conclusion you
have drawn in favor of the right of his
Britannic majesty to disavow the pro
ceeding? Is any thing more common
in public negociations, than to begin
with a higher demand, and, that fail
ing, to descend to a lower ? To have,
if not two sets of instructions, two, or
more than two grades of propositions
in the same set of instructions ; to be
gin with what is the most desirable,
and to end with what is found to be
admissible, in case the more desirable
should not be attainable? "his must
be obvious to every understanding, and
is confirmed by universal exjerience"
" What are the real andentire in
structions given to your predecessor,
is a question essentially betveen him
and his government. —That Ie had, or
at least that he believed he lad, suffi
cient authority to conclude the ar
rangement, his formal assurances during
our discussions were such as to leave
no room for doubt. His sibsequent
letter of the 15th of June, renewing
his assurance to me, 'that the terms of
he agreement so happily concluded by
ne recent negociation will be strictly
fulfilled on the part of his Majesty?
is an evident indication of what his
persuasion then was as to his instruc
tions. And with a view to shew what
his impressions have been ever since the
disavowal, I must take the liberty ot
referring you to the annexed extracts,
(see C.) from his official letters of the
31st of July and of the 14th of August
“ The declaration, that the despatch
from Mr. Canning to Mr. Erskine of
the 23d of January is the only despatch,
by which the conditions were prescrib
ed to Mr. Erskine for the conclusion of
an arrangement on the matter to which
it relates, is now for the first time made
to this government. And I need
hardly add that, if that despatch had
been communicated at the time of the
arrangement, or if it had been known
that the propositions contained in it,
and which were at first presented by
Mr. Erskine, were the only ones on
which he was authorised to make an
arrangement, the arrangement would
not have been made."
I suppose, my Lord, that it was im
possible to disclaim for the American
government, in more precise and intel
ligible language than is found in this
quotation, all knowledge of Mr. Ers
kine's instructions incompatible with a
sincere, honourable and justifiable be
lief that he was, as he professed to be,
fully authorised to make the agreement
in which he undertook to pledge the
faith of his Majesty's government. Yet
in Mr? Jackson's next letter (of the
23d of October) to Mr. Smith, he
says—" I have therefore no hesitation
in informing you that his Majesty was
pleased to disavow the agreement, con.
eluded between you and Mr. Erskine,
because it was in violation of that gen
tleman's instructions, and altogether
without authority to subscribe to the
terms of it. These instructions I now
understand by your letter, as well as
from the obvious deductions which I
took the liberty of making in mine of
the 11th instant, were at the time in
substance made known to you. No
stronger illustration therefore can be
given of the deviation from them which
occurred than by a reference to the
terms of your agreement."
Your Lordship will allow me to
take for granted that this passage can
not be misunderstood. Its direct and
evident tendency is to fasten upon 'the
government of the United States an
imputation most injurious to its hon
our and veracity. The charge, that it
had all along been substantially ap
prized, however it might affect to be
the sense in which they were under
stood; and, consequently, was called
upon, if he had been misapprehended,
to say so. His expressions conveyed
an injurious meaning, supported more
over by the context ; and the notice
taken of them had not exceeded the
bounds of just admonition. To have
explained away even an imaginary af
front, would have been no degradation:
but when an occasion was thus offered
to qualify real and severe imputations
upon the government to which be was
accredited, it could scarcely be other
wise than a duty to take immediate ad
vantage of it.
Such, however, was not Mr. Jack
son's opinion. He preferred answer
ing the appeal, which had been made
to him, by reiterating with aggravations
the offensive insinuation. He says in
the last paragraph of his letter of the
4th of November to Mr.Smith —"You
will find that, in my correspondence
with you, I have carefully avoided
drawing conclusions, that did not me.
in the intercourse of a foreign minist
er with a government that understands
what it owes to itself."
your letter, not at all comporting with
the professed disposition to adjust in
an amicable manner the differences un
happily subsisting between the two
countries. But it would be improper
to conclude the few observations, to
which I purposely limit myself, with
out adverting to your repetition of a
language, implying a knowledge or
the part of this government, that th<
instructions of your predecessor did
not authorise the arrangement formed
by him. Afterthe explicit and peremp.
tory asseveration, that this government
had no such knowledge, and that with
such knowledge no such arrangement
would have been entered into, the view,
which you again presented of the sub
ject, makes it my duty to apprize you,
that such insinuations are inadmissible
Whatever was the sense, in which
Mr. Jackson had used the expressions
to which the Americon government
took exception, he was now aware of
Mr. Erskine's arrangement was said
to have violated, had before been in
sinuated; but it is here openly made,
in reply, too, to a paper, in which the
contrary is formally declared by the
official organ of the American govern-
it by Mr. Secretary Canning, in those
informal communications to me which
Mr. Jackson has mentioned. It was
not, moreover, to have been expected
that, in the . apparent state of Mr.
Jackson's powers, and in the actual
posture of his negotiation, he would
seek to irritate where he could not ar
range, and sharpen disappointment by
studied and unprovoked indignity.
The course, which the government
of the United States adopted on this
painful occasion, was such as at once
demonstrated a sincere respect for the
public character with which Mr. Jack
son was invested, and a due sense of
its own dignity. Mr. Jackson's con
duct had left a feeble hope that further
intercourse with him, unproductive of
good as it must be, might still be recon
cileable with the honour of the Ameri
can government. A fair opportunity
was accordingly presented to him of
making it so, by Mr. Smith's letter of
the Ist of November, of which I beg
leave to insert the concluding para
graph:—
" I abstain, sir, from making any
particular animadversions on several
irrelevant and improper allusions in
ment.
This harsh accusation, enhanced by
the tone of the letter in which it ap
peared, was in disrespects as extraor
dinary as it was offensive. It took the
shape of an inference from facts and
asseverations which necessarily led to
the opposite conclusion. It was pre
fefred as an answer to a claim of ex
planation, which Mr. Jackson profes
sed not to be authorised by his gov
ernment to offer at all, but which he
chose so to offer from himself, as to
convert explanation into insuit. It
was advanced, not only without proof,
and against proof, but against all color
of probability. It could scarcely
have been advanced under any con
viction that it was necessary to the
case which Mr. Jackson was to main
tain; for his Majesty's governmen
had disavowed Mr. Erskine's arrange
ment, according to Mr. Jackson's own
representation, without any referenc
to the knowledge which this accusation
imputed to the government of the Uni
ted States; and it need not be stated
that no allusion whatever was made to
ignorant, of the instructions which
The first of these communications
(of which I am not able to ascertains
the date) requested a document, hav
ing the effect of a special passport, oc
safeguard for Mr. Jackson, and his:
family, during their further stay in ths
United States. This application was:
regarded as somewhat singular, but the
document, of which the necessity was:
not perceived, was nevertheless furnish
ed. The reasons assigned for the ap
plication excited some surprise. I
have troubled your lordship, in con
versation, with a few remarks, fronz
my instructions, upon one of these rea
sons, which I will take tbe liberty to
repeat. The paper in question states:
that Mr. Jackson " had already beere
once most grossly insulted by the in
habitants of Hampton, in the unpro—
evoked language of abuse held by them
to several officers bearing the king's:
uniform ; when those officers wera
themselves violently assaulted and put:
in imminent danger."
I am given to understand, my lord,'
that the insult, here alluded to, was:
for the first time brought under the no
tice of the American government by
this paper; that it had, indeed, been:
among the rumours of the day that:
some unbecoming scene had taken placer
at Hampton or Norfolk, between soma
officersbelonging to theAfricaine frigate*
and some of the inhabitants, and that
it took its rise in the indiscretion o£
the former ; that no attention to the
circumstance having been called for and
no enquiry having been made, ther
truth of the easels unknown ; but that:
it was never supposed that Mr. Jack
son himself, who was on board the fri#
gate ; had been personally insulted; nor
The president has been pleased to di
rect that I should make known this
necessity to his Majesty's government,
ind at the same time request that Mr-
Jackson be recalled. And lam [par
ticularly instructed to do this in a man
ner that will leave no doubt of the un
diminisheti desire of the U. States to
unite in all the means the best calculat
ed to establish the relations of the two
countries on the solid foundations of
justice, of friendship, and of mutual
interest. lam further particularly in
structed,my lord, to make his majesty's
government sensible, that, in requiring
the recal of Mr. Jackson, the United
States wish not to be understood as in
any degree obstructing communications
which may lead to a friendly accom
modation, but that, on the contrary,
they sincerely retain the desire, which
they have constantly professed, to fa
cilitate so happy an event, and that
nothing will be more agreeable to them
than to find the minister, who has ren
dered himself so justly obnoxious, re
placed by another who, with a differ
ent character, may carry with him all
the authorities and instructions requis
ite for the complete success of his mis
sion, orif the attainment of this object
through my agency should be consid
ered more expeditious, or otherwise
preferable that it will be a course entire-.
Iy satisfactory to the United States-
These instructions, which I lay before
your lordship without disguise, require
no comment. —Before I conclude this
letter it may be proper very shortly to
advert to two communications, receiv
'd by Mr. Secretary Smith from Mr-
Oakley after the correspondence with
Mr. Jackson had ceased.
cessarily follow from the premises ad*
vanced by me; and least of all should
I think of uttering an insinuation where
I was unable to substantiate a fact
lofacts, such as I have become ac
quainted with, I have scrupulously ad
hered. In so doing I must continue^
whenever the good faith of his Majes
ty's government is called in question
to vindicate its honour and dignity, ia
the manner that appears to me best
calculated for that purpose."
To this my lord, there could be but
one reply. Official intercourse with
Mr. Jackson could no longer be pro
ductive of any effects that were not
rather to be avoided than desired; and
it was plainly impossible that it should
continue. He was, therefore, inform
ed by Mr. Smith, in a letter of the Bth
of November, which recapitulated the
inducements to this unavoidable step,
that no further communications would
be received from him ; that the neces
sity of this determination would with-*
out delay be made known to his gov
ernment; and that, in the mean time,
a ready attention would be given to
any communication, affecting the in
terests of the two nations, through any
other channel that might be substi
tuted.
[No. 3.