The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-05-29 00:00:00, page 2

be considered as preparatory.
k . After rrmonstrntlng against the wish of
the American government to give to the
further discussions a written form. Mi.
Jackson disposes himself to conform to it;
and speaking in the same letter of the dis
avowal of the arrangement of April, he
declares, that he was not provided with in
structions to explain the motives of it; and
L it'! » sei ms to intimate that explanation,
' ' • <b*ough him, was unnecessary, not only
bakkuse it had already been made through
other channels, but because the govern
i ment of the United States had entered into
the arrangement with a knowledge “ that
It could, only lead to the consequences that
actually followed.” In the conclusion ot
the fuarth pa/agraph of the letter he in
•fortns Mr. Smith, that-the despatch of
Wr. Canping to Mr. Erskine, “ which Mr.
Jhfckh the bash of an official
* correspondence with the latter Minister,
which had bean read to the American
Minuter in London,” was the only despatch
b«r th»-conditions were prescribed
ta Mr. Erskine for the conclusion of an ar-
St with the United States on the
which it related.- '
ith’s answer to this letter, bears
19th 'if October; and I beg your '
i permission to.introduce from it
tnv rnnowing quotation“ The stress you
have laid on what you have been pleased
to state as the substitution of the terms
Anally agreed oa,” (in the arrangement of
April, on the Orders in Council,) “the
terms first proposed,” (by Mr. Erskine,)
* excited no small degree of surprise.
Certain ii is, that your predecessor did pre
sent for my consideration the same condi
tions which now appear in the preset t
document—that he was disposed to urge
them more than the nature of two of them,
(both palpably inadmissible,) per
mit—and that on finding his first proposal
unsuccessful, the more reasonable terms
comprised in the arrangement respecth g
the Orders in Council, were adopted.—
And what is there in this to countenance
the conclusion you have drawn in favour ot
the right of his Britannick Majesty to disa
vow the proceeding ? Is any thing tnoic
common in publick negotiations, than to
I need not remark to your Lordship that
H ’WjbothiHg of all this could with propriety be
|H .gaid of n proceeding, in itself entirely regu
far, ms usual, required by the state of the
djjfcussions to which only it to be ap
g ' pill'd, and proposed in a manner perfectly
■ daemons and unexceptionable. The gov-
K- ernment of the United States had expected
■ from Mr. Jackson an explanation of the
& grounds of the refusal on the part of his
H government to abide by Mr. Erskine’s ar-
rangement, .accompanied by a substitution
Of other propositions. It had been collect-
■ ed from Mr. Jackson’s conversations that
1 ; he had uo power whatsoever to give any
■ guch explanation ; or, in the business.of
■ the Order in Council, to offer any aubati-
I tu.e for the rejected agreement ; or, in
I the affair of the Chesapeake, to offer any
I substitute that could be excepted; and it
I had been inferred, from the same conver-
I * gation*. that, even if the American gov-
I ernment should propose a substitute for
that part of -the disavowed adjustment
which regarded the Orders in Council, the
substitute con’d not be agreed to, (if indeed
Mr. Jackson had power to do more than
discuss it,) unless k should distinctly re
cqgntae conditions which had already been
> dkcMed W bcrwbolly inadmissible. To
what valuable end, my Lord, loose con
? v variations, having in view either no defi
. >ke result, or none that was attainable,
Could under such circumstances and upon
guch topicks, be continued, it would not be
cnsy to discover ; end I think I may ven
, ' lure to assume that the subsequent written
, * Correspondence has completely shewn that
they could not have been otherwise than
fruitless, and that they were not too soon
abandoned that more formal course, to
Which from the beginning they could only
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 brgin with what is
the most desirable, and to end with what
is found to be admissible, in case the most
desirable should not be attainable I This
must be obvious to every understanding,
and is confirmed by universal experience.
“ What are the real and entire instruc
tion* given to your predecessor, is a ques
tion essentially between him and his gov
ernment. That he had, or at least that
he believed he had, sufficient authority to
conclude the arrangement, his formal as
surance* during our discussions were such
as to leave no room to doubt. Hi* subse
quent letter of the 15th of June, renewing
• his assurance to me, * that the terms of the
agreement so happily concluded by the re
cent negotiation, win be strictly fulfilled
on the part of his Majesty,’ is an evident
indication nf what his persuasion then was
as to his instruction*. And with a view to
shew what his impression* have been, even
since the disavowal, 1 must take the liberty
of referring you to the annexed rxgg.ct*.
(see C.) Iron his official letter* of life 31»t
x of July, and <>f the 13th of August.
0 *• The decoration, that the despatch
from Mr. Canning to Mr. Erskine, <n the
J3d of January, ia the only deapatch by
1“
I suppose, my lord, that it was impossi
ble to disclaim for the American govern
ment, in more precise and intelligible lan
guage than is found in this quotation. *U
knowledge of Mr. Erskine’s instructions,
incompatible with a sincere, honourable
and justifiable belief, that he was, as he
' professed to be, fully authorized to make
the agreement in which he undertook tn
pledge the faith of his Majesty’s govern
ment. Yet in Mr. Jackson’* 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, concluded be
tween you and Mr. Erskine, because it was
in violation of that gentleman’s instructions,
and altogether without authority to sub
scribe to the terms of it. These instruc
tions 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 illustra
tion therefore can l>e given of the deviation
from them, which occurred, than by a re
ference to the terms of your agreement.’’
Your Lordship will allow me to take
for granted, that this passage cannot be
misunderstood. Its direct and Evident ten
dency is to fasten upon the government ol
the United States an imputation most inju
i-ious to its honour and veracity. Th
charge, that it had all along been substan
tially apprised, however it might affect to
he ignorant, of the instructions which Mn
Erskine’s arrangement was said to have
violated, had before been insinuated ; but
it it here openly made, in reply too, to <
paper, in which the contrary is formally
declared by the official organ of the Amen
can government.
This harsh accusation, enhanced by the
tohe of the letter in which it appeared,
was in all respects as extraordinary aS it
was offensive. It took the shape of an in
terference from facts and asseve rations
which necessarily led to the opposite con
clusion. It was preferred as an answer
to a claim of which Mr. Jack
son professed not to be authorized by his
government to offer at all, but which he
chose so to offer from himself as to convert
explanation into insult It was
not only without proof, and against proof
but against all colour pf .probability. It
could scarcely have beetf advanced under';
any conviction, that it was necessary to the
case which Mr. Jackson Was to maintain :
for his Majesty’s government hat) disa
vowed Mr. Erskine’s arrangement, accord,
ing to Mr. Jackson’s own representation,
without any reference to the knowledge
which this accusation imputed to the gov
ernment of the United States; and it need
nut be stated, that no allusions whatever
was made to 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 ne
gotiation, he would seek to irritate, where
he could not arrange, and sharpen dis
rppnintment by studied and unprovoked
indignity.
The course which the government of the
United States adopted on this painful oc
casion, was snch as at once demonstrated
a sincere respect for the publick charaoiei
with which Mr. Jackson was invested, and
a due sense of its own dignity. Mr. Jack
ton’s conduct had left a feeble hope, that
intercourse with him, unproductive of good
as it must be, might still be reconcileable
with the honour of the American govern
ment. A fair opportunity was accordingly
presented to him, nf making it so, by Mr.
Smith's letter of the Ist of November, of
which I beg leave to insert the concluding
paragraph.
** I abstain, Sir, making any par
ticular anitnadvejAtt* on several irrele
vant and impropeMHiasinns in your letter,
not at all comporting with the professed
disposition to adjust in an amicable man
ner, the differences unhappily subsisting
between two countries. Hut it would
be improper to conclude the few observa
tions, to which I purposely limit myself,
without adverting to your repetition of a
language, implying a knowledge on the
part of this government, that the instruc
tions of your prrdeecsaor did not authoiiz*
the arr/mgemvnt formed by him. After
the explicit and peremptory asseveration,
that thia government had no such know
ledge, and that with such knowledge, no
such arrangement would have been enter
ed into; the view which you again pre
sented of the subject, makes it my duty to
apprise you, that such insinuations are in
admiUible in the course of a foreign Minis
ter, with a government that understands
what it owes to itself.” ,
\ ■ <• '• •* - *
Erskine, for the conclusion of ai arrange
ment on the matter to which it relates, is
now for the first time made to this govern
ment. '‘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 arrange
ment, the arrangement would not have
been made.”
Whatever was the sente, in which Mr.
Jackton had used the expression to which
. -’ll <,
the American government took exception,
he was nut aware of the sense in which
they were understood ; and, consequently,
was called upon, if he had been misappre
hended, to aay so. His expressions ogu
veydff an injurious meaning, supported
moreover by the context; and the notice
taken of them had not exceeded the bounds
of just admonition. To have explained
tway even an imaginary affront, would
nave been no degradation ; but when an
occasion was thus offered to quality real
•»nd severe imputations upon the govern
ment to which he was accredited, it could
scarcely be otherwise than a duty to take
immediate advantage of it.
Such, however, was not Mr. Jackson’s
opinion. He preferred answering the ap
peal which had been made to him by re
iterating 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
neeessarily 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. To facts,
such as I have' become acquainted with
them, I have scrupulously adhered. Zn so
doing I musArontinue, whenever the good
faith of his Majesty’s government is called
in question, to vindicate its honour and dig
nity, in the manner that appears to be best
calculated for that purpose.”
To this, my Lord, there could be but
one reply. Official intercourse with Mr.
Jackson could no longer be productive of
my effects that were not rather to be
tvoided thau desired ; and it was plainly
impossible thatii should continue. He was .
therefore informed by Mr. Smith, in a let
ter of the Bth of November, which reca
pitulated the inducements to this unavoida
ble step that no further communications
would be received from him ; that the ne
cessity of this determination would with
out delay be made known to his govern
■neut ; and that in the meantime a ready
attention would be given to any communi
cation, effecting the interests of the two na
< ions, through any other channel that might
substituted.
The President has been pleased to direct
that I should make known this necessity to
his Majesty’s government, and at the same
time reque st that Mr. Jackson be recalled.
And I am particularly instructed to do tips
m a manner that will leave no doubt of the
undiminished desire of the United States
u> uniie in all the means the best calcu
lated to establish the relations of the
wo countries on the iolid foundations nf
of friendship and of mutual Inle-
particularly instructed.
nwffiflfcMmake his Majesty’s govern- |
in requiring the recall
Mr. Jackdon, the United States wish
not to be' understood as in any degree ob
structing communications which may lead
to a friendly accommodation, but that, on
the contrary, they sincerely retain the de
sire, which they have constantly professed,
to facilitate so happy an event, and that
nothing will be more agreeable to them
than to find the Minister, who has rendered
himself so justly obnoxious, replaced by
mother, who with a different character,
may carry with him all the authorities and
instructions requisite for the complete suc
cess of his mission, or, if the attainment of
this object through my agency should bt
considered more expeditious, or otherwise
preferable, that it will be a course entirely
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 com
nunications, received by Mr. Secretary
Smith from Mr. Oakley after the corres
pondence with Mr. Jackson had ceaaed.
The first of these communications (of
which I am not able to ascertain the date)
>' questing a document, having the effect
of a special passport, or safeguard, for Mr.
J'icksnn and his family, during their fur
ther stay in the United States. This ap
plication was regarded as somewhat singu
lar, but the document of which the neces
sity was not perceived, was nevertheless
furnished. The reasons assigned for-the
application excited some surprise. I have
troubled your Lordship, in conversation,
with a few remarks from my instructions,
upon one of those reasons, which 1 will take
the liberty to repeat. The paper in ques
tion states that Mr. Jackson “ had already
been once most grossly insulted by the in
habitants of Hampton, in the unprovoked
language of abuse held by them to several
officers bearing the King’s uniform ; when
those officers were themselves violently as
saulted 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 notice of
the American government by this paper ;
• hat it had, indeed, been among the ru
mours of the day, that some unbecoming
scene had taken place at Hampton or Nor
folk between some officers belonging to th«
Africaine frigate and some of the inhabi
tants, and that it took its rise in its indis
cretion of the former ; that no attention to
the circumstance having been called for,
and no inquiry having been made, the truth
The other communications (of which the
substance was soon afterwards published
to the American people in the form of a
circular letter from Mr. Jackson to the
British Consuls in the United States) seems
io have been intende- a justification of
bis conduct in that pa. t of his correspon
dence, which had given umbrage te the
government. This paper, bear
ing date of the 13th of November, is not
very explicit; but it would appear to be
calculated to give rather a new form to
the statements, which Mr. Jackson had
suffered the government of the United
States to view in another light, until it had
no choice but to act upf»n the obvious and
natural interpretation of them sanctioned
by himself. .'
It was never objected to Mr. Jackson (as
this paper seems to suggest) that he had
stated that the three propositions, in Mr.
Erskine’s original instructions were sub
mitted to Mr. Smith, by that gentleman;
or that he had stated it as made known to
him by Mr. Canning, that the instructions
to Mr. Erskine, contained those three con
ditions, was the only one from which his
authority,was derived for the conclusion ?■
an arrangement on the matter to which it
related.
The objection was, that he bad ascribed
to tbe American government a knowledge,
that the propositions, submitted to its con
sideration by Mr. Erskine, were indispen
sable condition*; and that he did so, even
after that knowledge had been distinctly
disclaimed, and had been made to perceive
that a repetition of tbe allegiance could not
be suffered. 1 willingly leave your Lord
ship to judge, whether Mr. Jackson’s cor
respondence will bear any other construc
tion than it in fact received; and whether
supposing it to have been erroneously con.
strued, birletter of the 4th of November
should not have corrected tbe mistake, in
stead of confirming and establishing it.
As an explanation this paper was even
worse than nothing. It had not the ap
pearance of an attempt to rectify misap
prehension. It sought to put the Ameri
can government in the wrong, by assuming
that what had given so much. umbrage
ought not to have given any. It imported
reproalh, rather than explanation. It
kept out of sight the real offence, and intro
ducing a new and insufficient one in it*
place, seemed to disclose no other wish
than to withdraw from the government of
.he United State* the ground upon which
it had proceeded. Its apparent purpose,
io a word was to fix a charge of injustice
upon the past, not to produce a beneficial
effect upon the future. In this view, and in
this only, it was perfectly consistent that it
should announce Mr. Jackson’s determina
tion to retire to New-York.
The time when this paper was presented
will not have escaped your Lordship’s ob
servations. It followed the demand, al
ready mentioned, of a safeguard for “ Mr.
Jackson his family and the jentlemen at
tached to his mission a demand which
cannot be regarded, especially if welook to
the inducement* to which it was referred
as either conciliatory or respectful. It fol
lowed, too, the letter of the fourth of No
vember, which had explanation been in
tended, ought undoubtedly to have contain
ed it, but which in lieu of it, contained fresh
matter of provocation. It was itself follow
ed by the publication of its own substance
in another garb. On the very day of it*
date, when Mr. Jackson, if he meant it as
an explanation, could not be justified in
concluding that it would not be satisfactory,
it was moulded by him into the circulai
address to which I have before alluded;
and immediate steps appear to have been
taken to give it, in that shape, the utmost
publicity. I have no wish, my Lord, to
make any strong rematksupon that pro
ceeding. It will.be admitted that it was a
great irregularity, and that if Mr. Jackson
had been particularly anxious to close every
avenue to reconciliation between the Arne
ricun government and himself, he could
not have fallen upon a better expedient.
I have now only to add, my Lord, the
expressions of my own most ardent wish
that, out of the incident which has produced
this letter, an occasion may be made to
arise, which, improved as it ought to be,,
and I trust will be, by our respective gov
ernments, may conduct them to cordial and
lasting friendship. Thu* to endeavour to
bring good out of evil, would be worthy ef
the rulers of two nations that are only in
their natural position when they are en
gaged in offices of mutual kindness and
largely contributing to the prosperity and
happiness of each other.
I have the honour to be, with the highest
consideration, my Lord, your Lordship’s
most obedient humble servant.
(Signed) WILLIAM PINKNEY.
7*Ae most noble
[l7* Here follows the letter from the
Marquis Wellesley to Mr. Pinkney, as
published in The American of Friday last.]
* jL ; *
of tbe case is unknown; but that it was
never supposed that Mr. Jackson himself,
who was on hoard Qte frigate, had been
, personally insulted ; nor is it yet under
stood in what v>y ho supposes that he was
so. lam authorised to add, that any com
plaint or representation on the subject,
would instantly have received every proper
attention.
The Marquis Wellesley, t/c. 17c.
tjje jOBallS.
NORFOLK, May 14.
Arxivkd here this morning the ship
Rolla, Capt. Sanford, from Lisbon, which
place he left the first of April. The Bri
tish and Portuguese army of 100,000 men
were on the frontiers, where they Had
been* for sometime; the French had not
attempted to advance. The day before
Captain S. sailed a fleet of transports with'
troops and horses had arrived. Fifteen
thousand men were daily expected from
i England to re-enforce Lord Wellington’s
army.
Markets for corn and flour were good,
the former two dollars per bushel, and the
latter fifteen dollars per barrel, and look
ing up.
Yesterday a number of vessels, nearly
seventy sail, which had been detained for
some time by a continuation of easterly
winds, got under weigh' from Hampton
Roads, and proceeded te sea, delivered
from all the restrictions of non-intercourse,
embargo, and other wise measures of de
motratick policy. ,
BALTIMORE, May 21.
Extract of a letter from New-Orleans,
dated 241 h ult. to one of the Editors.
“ Since the departure of Wilkinson there
hs* been a great calm. It is said that our
sapient govemour will soon follow. He has
just retuined from Natches, where he has
been arranging some private business, and
will sail, it is said, in the ship Clifton,
M‘Meal, for your port. Your nest of de
mocrats ought to receive him with open
arms, as the child of their beloved Sage of
Carter’s mountain, and equal to themselves
in every thihg mean and grovelling,”
NEW-YORK, May 21.
Though the English do not imitate the
French in the capture and seizure of un
armed and decoyed neutral vessels, they
now and then obtain some pretty pickings,
from their enemies-—Steel’s List for Janu
ary last, contains the following paragraph :
“Hl* Majesty’s squadron in the Baltick,
under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir
James Saumarez, and the cruisers under
his orders, on the different stations inci
dent to that extensive command, have cap
tured and destroyed 430 vessel* of various
description*, within the pesent year, the
aggregate burthen of which exceeds 23,000
tons, navigated by 2300 men, with 130
guns of different calibres. Of this grand
total, 340 vessels, with 1900 men and 100
guns, including 14 stout cutter privateers,
and upwards of 20 armed schooners, are
Danes, government having fitted out *
great number of vessels of the latter class
for supplying Norway with grain, during
the unexampled scarcity occasioned by tbe
present war, which they are compelled at
all risk* to attempt The remaining 90
vessels, with 430 men and 30 guns, belong
ed to Russia, and were captured in the
Gulf of Finland, during the short summer
season ; in which are included an Impe
rial schooner, 10 gun-boats, and a* many
armed transports, for carrying supplies to
the Russian army In Finland and Bothnia ;
besides the loss sustained in the very sever*
attack* on the Russian flotillas at Percola
and Aspo, on the 7th and 23th of July, ’
amounting, iu killed and drowned, to 200
men.”
May 23.
Captain Place, who arrived from Ha
vana, informs, that two days before he
sailed, that port was opefied to Americans,
and it was said tbe and Coun
cil had determined to take off the ad va
lorem duty of 34 per cent, on imports fh
American bottoms, and fix tbe duty at 15
per cent, on dry good.;, and 10 on pro- ,
visions. This new regulation was supposed
to be in consequence of the news of the
French being near Cadiz ; and it was be
lieved that in the event of the success of
the French, an independent government
would be established at Havana.
May 23.
Captain Marshall, who arrived here last
night, sailed from Gottenburg on the 17th
of last month ; at which time it was re
ported, that the Danes had orders to take
all the American vessels they should fall
in with ; and it was generally supposed,
that Bonaparte would soon have the regu
lation of the commerce of Sweden. A
French Agent had arrived at Stockholm,
and another at Gottenburg. Markets dull
at Gottenburg, except for sugar and log
wood. Cotton was about 37 cents.
The accounts from the Havana, of the
3d inst. are of a satisfactory nature. Ad
vices had reached that place of the ad
vances of the French in Old Spain; of
their investment of Cadiz ; and of the es
tablishment of the new Regency in the
Isle de Leon, (Cadiz,) and to which au
thority the government of the Havana
(and of Cuba) had publickly acceded,
without any tumult, dissatisfaction, or de
spondency, among the people. It was ru
moured yesterday morning that the Colony
of Cuba had declared itself independent ;
but this arose from a very cursory view
of some Spanish papers, of considerable
length received by the gentleman to whom
wears indebted fee thia article, aad who