The Rhode-Island Republican — Newport, R.I., 1810-06-27 00:00:00, page 2

General Armatrong to My, Smith >
. ARIS; 18th pxn. 1810,
sn, i
[ wrete a few fines 1o you yesterday, an
nouncing the récfipt and transmission of a
copy of the Duke'of Cadore's note to e of
the lath inst,
Atter much serious reflection, I have tho’t
it hest to torbear wll notice ' at present of the
errours, as swethof fact as of argument, which
may be found if\ the introductory purt of that
note ; to ke the minister at his word 3 to
£nier at once updn the proposed negociation.,
and, for this purpdse to offer to him a pro-
Ject for renewing Wie coavention of 1800.
This mode will bave the advantuge of try
in; the sincerity of\the overtures made by
Lim, and._perbaps df drawing from him the
precise mm:‘,omgth his mastér will accom
modate. It these be such as we ought to ac
cept, we shall have a treaty, in which neither
our rights norour weongs will be forgotten;
if otherwise, there will be enough, both of
time and occasion, to do Austice to their poli
cy and our own, by ‘a free examination of
oach. «. v, :
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
.. With very great respect,
. Your'most obedient, and
: Very bumble servant, ,
(Signed) JOHN' ARMSTONG.
ddon. Robert Smith, ~
Extract of & letter from the same to the same.
Lo« 1%%:/' March. 1 have at length reccivy
cd d'verbal message in answer to my note of
thy 21t wit. It was from the minister of
fwtug‘n telations, and in the following words :
« His Majesty has decided to sell the Ameri
can. ‘\wugemy seizod in Spain, but the money
arisi‘{‘ ‘therefrom shall remain in depot.”
- 'Thigte'tter has gﬁg%g&caolon for a letter from
me, \N‘tkpd No. 23, .
' “(Ne. 22)
. .PARS, 10th MARCH, 1810,
3IR, : ‘
| I bad yestarday the honour of receiving
a verbal message\ from your excellency, stat
ing that ¢ his g\a sty had decided, that the
~ American Wt seized in Spain, should
" be sold, but that \tl'momyarismg therefrom
', shg'tld remain in depot.”” i |
n rgﬁdﬂ':s this ~ation, two' ques
tians nmn themselves—
Ilst. Whether this detision was,or was not,
extended to ships, us well as to cargocs 1w
:e - 5
’ngd. Whether the money\arising from the
sales which might be made undev it, would,
. or would not, be subjcct to the issue of the
+ .. The gentleman charged with the delivery
- of your message not having becn instructed
to answer these questions, it becomes my du
ty to present them to your excellency, and to
« yequest u solution of them. Nor is it less.a
duty; on 'my part, 1o examine the ground on
which his majesty has been pleasedto take
this decision, which I understand to be that
ol represal, wsgested for the first time in
the note you did me the honour to write me
on the M4th ultimo. It the 4th paragraph
of this note, it is said, that « his Maujesty
L T et
o Counlaint Mm have oo&‘:;;ua
* ber in her ucts of exclusion, und since the |
mounth of May last have prohibited the ‘entry
into our ports of French yessels, by sulyject
'imt::n to dlhnt‘i:l\." | Ll B
23 ?‘U hatthe United States have
the 20L16F Muy last, forbidden the rm:‘yn:.‘f '
French armed vesdels, into their hai bourse
iis ulso true that the penalty o ¢ , it
% The ministerial despatch under daite of
the §thinst. 18 arvived at St. Scbastian, bear
ing wn order fof the immediate transportation
in smail vesscls, for all the sequestered A
merican, eargaes, to Bayonne, to be placed in
ihe Custom Llouse there. This news is pub
lick at St, Sebastian ; but what is not so as
yet, is that the same order sayss,
“ Ist. That these cargoes are to be sent
1o Baeyonne, whether the commodities of
which they are composed may have come
irom English commerce, or [rom the firoduce
of the soil of the United States.
¢ 2ndly. That they shoyld be sent to the
Custom House of that place to be sold
there.” .
The Miaister Plenipotentiary offers to His
Excellency the assurances of his high con.
siderativn, .~ |
(Signed) JOIIN ARMSTRONG.
The Minister Plenipotentiary of the U.
States has the bonour to submit to His Ex
cgllency the Duke of Cudoré, a copy of a
letter this inst. received from Buyonne and
begs from him an explanation of the circum
stances mentioned in it.
LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1810,
IR, Y
I had the honour 10 receive on Satyrday
Jast (by Dr, Logsm, in ¢ e British Packet)your
letters of “the” 20th Junuary and 16th Feb.
I have only time to add that I am tesee
Lord Weﬂés{éy to-morrow.
I bave the honour to be,
Whih great counsideration,
S y
Cotry of a letter from Gen, ARMsTRONG Lo the
Liuke of Cadorey dated Paris, #ch, 21511810,
Your most obedient
Humble servant.
i Wu. PINKNEY.
The Hon. R. Syrrn, &, ¥, o,
These remaks divide themselves into the
following heads iwa
Ist. The right of his majesty to seize and
confiscate American vessels, within his own
territories. _
2d. The rightto do so within the territo
ries of his allies ; and |
3d The reason of that right, viz : “because
the Amevicans had scized French vessels.”
The first of these sul,@&ts has been al
ready éxamined ; and the second must be
decided like tha. firsty since his majesty’s
rights within the limits of his ally cannot be
greater than within his own. If then it has
been shewn, that the non<intercourse law
was merely defensive in its object ; that it
was but intended tq/ guard against that state
“of violence which”unhappily prevailed ; that
it was restrictedn its operation to the tervi
tory of the United States, and that it was
duly promulgated there, and in Europe, be
fore execuslon. It will be almost unnecessa
ry to repeut, that a law of such description
cannot authotize a measure of reprisal, eqnad-
Iy sudden and silent in its enactment and ap
plieation, founded on no previous wrong,
productive of no previous complaint, and op
erating beyond the limits of his majesty’s
tervitovies, and within those of sovercigns
who had invited the commerce of the United
States to their ports, a 5 .
It is therefore the third subject only, the
veason of the vight, which remaips to he ex
amined ; and with regard to it I may observe,
that if the alledged fact which forms this rea
son be unfounded, the reason itself fails and
the rilght withit. In this view of the busi
ness | may be permitted to re, when
aad where any seizure of a ?-‘“q:ch vessel
‘has taken place under the non-intercourse
law f——and at the same time to express my
} fibem persuasion, that no such seizure has
Deen made : a persussion founded alike on
he silenee of the government, and of the
fourasds of the country, and ul‘;l more on the
positive declaration o?uvenl well informed
aid yespectable persons who have left Amer
3 ¥ Bt ¥ 1§ "’v.;' L %
attacties to (Fe violation of the luw, Butdn
what respect does this offend ¥ rancc.? Will
she refuse to us the right of regnhqmegu
merce within our own ports ! Or wilt she
deny that the law in question isa ggﬂmon
merely municipal 7 Examine_i both as to
object and means—what does it ‘more than
forbid American shigo_ fromn qom’ into the
ports of France, and ')'beh ships from com
ing into those of the United States ? And
why this probibitdon ? To avoid m)ua and
insult ; to escape the lJawiessness, which is
declared to be ¢ a forced consequence of the
decrees of the British Council.” * If then its
object be purely defensive, what are its
mesns 2 Simply a law, previously and gen
erally promulgated, operating solely within
the territdry of the United States, and pun
ishing alike the infractors of it, wether ciu
zens of the said States or others. And what’
is this but the: exercise of a right, common
to all nations, of excluding at tgair will, for
eign commerce, and of enforcing that exclu
sion ! Can this be deemed a wrong to
France ! Can_tbis be regarded as a legiti
mate cause of reprisal on the rn of a power
whe makes it the first duty of nations to de
fend their sovereignty, and who even dena
donalizes the ships of those who will not
sabscribe to the opinion.
_But it has been said that the « United
States had nathing to complain of aguinst
France.” .
Was the capture and condemnation of a
ship driven on the shores of France by stress
weather and the perils of ‘the sea~noth
ing ! Was the seizure and sequestration of
many cargoes brought to France in ships vi
olating no law, and admitted to regzular entry
at the imperial custom. houses——nothing {—
Was the violation of our maritime rights,
consecrated as they have been by the solemn
forms of a publick treaty—notbing ? In
a word, was it nothing that our ships were
buret on the high secas, without other offences
than that of belonging to the United States ;
or other apology, than was €0 be found in the
enhanced safety of the perpetrator { Surely
if it be the duty of the United States to
resent the theoreticnl usurpations of the Brit.
ish Orders of Nov.lBo7,it cannot be less their
duty to complain of the daily and praeticel
outrages on the part of France ! It 15 in
deed true that were the people of the United
States, destitute of policy, «f honour, and of
energy, (as has heew insinuated) they might
have adopted & system of discrimination be
tween the two great belligerents ; they might
tave drawn imaginary lines between the first
und second aggressor ; they might have re
sented in the one a conduct w which they
tamely submitted in tis: other, und in his way
huve patched np 4 comnpromise between hon
our and intefest, equaliy weak and disgrace
ful. But such was not the coutse they pur
sued 3 and it is perhaps a necessary conse
quenve of the justCeé O heit measures the
they are at present an independeut nation.
But T will not press this part of my subject ;
it would be affrontful o your excellency
(knowing, as you do, that there are not less
than one hundred Americun vessels within
his majesty’s possession, or that of his allies)
to multiply proofs that the United States
have grounds of complaint against France.
My atiention is necessarily called to anoth
er part of the same paragraph, which imme
diately follows the quotation already made.
“ As soon,” says your excellency, *as his
majesty was informed of this measure, (the
non-intercourse law) it became his duty 10
retaliate upon the American vessels, not only
within his own territories, but also within
the countries under his influence. In the
ports of Holland, Spain, Italy, and Naples,
the American vessels have been seized, be
cause the Americans had seized French ves
scls”’ 5
st sDk b by v
sibn!':horéﬁre, is, ﬁm no #undt‘gz: “hav
o tea 3 B¢ . “eonclu
lni violated the law, no seizure of such ves
sel has occurred, and that the report which
has reached Paris is probably founded on a
circumstance altogether unconnected, with
the non-intercourse law or its operation.
+ Though far. from wishang to prolong this
‘letter, 1 cannot close it without remarking
/the great and sudden change wrought in his
‘majesty’s sentiments with regard to the de
fensive system adopted by the United States.
The law, which is now believed to furnish
ground for reprisal, was first communicated
to his majesty in June or July last, |[nd cer
tainly did not then exeite any suspicion un
friendly to the American government. Far
from this, its cemmunication was followed by
overtures of uccommeodation, which, tboudgh
productive of no positive arrangement, did
not make matters worse than they found
them. .
-~ Onthe 22d of Aug. last I was honoured
with a full-ex{osition of the views and prin
ciples whieh had yoverned, and which should
continue té govern his majesty’s policy in re
lation to the United States, and in t4is we do
not find the slightest trace ‘of complaint e
. geinst the rrrovnioqi of the law in question.
At a period later'than the 32d of Aug. an
American ship; destined for a port of Spain,
was captured by a French privateer. An ap
peal was made to bis\ majesty’s minister of
ear, who having subniitted the case, receiv
ed orders to lberateall American vessels des
tined for Shanish ports, which had not violared
che imperial decrees,
Another American ship, at a point of time
still later than the capturé of the preceding,
was brought into the port of Bayonne, but
having violated no law of Kis majesty, was
acquitted by his Council -of prizes; and
lestly, \ '
lnythc long conversation which I had the
honour of holding with yous excellency, on
the 25th of January, no idea of reprisal was
maintained by you, nor suspected by me ;
but on the contrary, in speaking of the seiz
ure of American property in Spuin, you ex
pressly declared, that it was nv-a confisca
ton, ’
Can proofs be more conclusive that from
the first promulgation of the lax down to
the 25th of January last,nothing inghe nature
of reprisal was contemplated by his ina
jesty ¢ A
What circumstance may have since occure
red to produce a change in his opinion, I
know not ; but the confidence’ I feel in the
open and loyal policy of his majesty, altes
gether excludes the idea, that the rule was
merely found for the occasien, and made to
justify seizures not otherwise justifiable.
I pray Your Excelleacy to accept, &c.
(Signed) JOHN ARMSTRONG.
His Excelleney the Duke de Cadore,
§ Minigter of Lxteriour erqlionl;.
Extract of aletier from Gen, ARMSTRONG to
My, Surrn, dared Paris, Tth Aprit, 1810,
“ The Emperour left Paris two days aro
for St. Cloud, whence he goes to Compeigne
where he will remain till Easter. It is not
probable that I shall have an answer to my
propositions, til! he returns to Paris. The
day before he set out he gave me ‘a ship to
carry myself and family to the United States.
The Minister recommended that I should
not pin myself down to a day as to departure,
as circumatances might make it proper for me
to stay somewhat longer then I new intended.
The Treaty between France and Holtand was
ratified the 30th March, and will be published
Although I have detained the corvette
much langer than I wished I am not yet able
to send you the result of my application to’
this government concerning the British bloce
kades of I'rance priorio the Berlin Decree.
I expect to receive it in a few days, and will
immediately forward it 0 you by Mr. Lee,by
the way of Morlaix, for it seems that the
French Government will not permit & mes
senger to land in any other port,
I have the honour to be, .
(Signed) W. PINKNEY.
Its Excellency Gen. ArMstroxa,
Copy of a letter from Mr. PinkNer to Gen
ARNETRONG, dated London, 33d Marck, 1810,
DEAR SIR, :
linformed Mr, Champagny, Ist, that Mr
Pinkney had .pot been able to send by this
conveyunce the rosult of his application to
the British government, concerning the block
aces of France, prior to the: Berlin decree ;
but that he hoped to be able to send'it in a
few days by another conveyance ; and 2d,
that if he (Mr. Champagny) had any thing to
communicate which would have the effect of
changing the présent relations of the two
countries, and which he wished to be carly
known to the government: of the United
States, he would do well to let me know it
in 24 hours, as the messenger would leave.
Paris within that time. To this message I
received the following answer : That * for
some days past nothing in the nature of bysi
ness, and unconnected with the marriage of
the Emperour, could be transacted ; and that
for some days to come the same cause of de
lay would continue to ‘operate ; that my let«
ters were still before the Kmperour, and that
he would seize the first moment to get some
decision’ in relation to them.” Thus you
see every thing is yet in air.
Alter seven weeks’ detention in England,
the John Adams has a: length got back to
I'rance. Shearrived in the Roade of Havre
on the 28th ultimo.
Extract of a letter from General Armestrong
to Mr. Smith, dated Parisy the 4h April,
1810, . : J . LR
e o antiy
%ﬁﬂ&tbis day. 1 am assured that it
b "y
ns the following article.
~ “ Toutes les merchandises verues sur les
batimens Americains entres dans’les portsde -
la Hollands depuis le ler Janvier, 1802, ser~
ont mis sous le sequestre et appartriendront a
la France pour en deposer sclon les circom
stances et les relations politiques avec les [-
tats. Unis.”’* You will see by the copy encle
sed of a decree of the King of Naples, that
Le Las put his gains be ong the reach of ne
gociation. The ports o{?mssia are opcned
to our commerce. Avoid both Prussia and
Denmark till you have other assurances.”.
The Augustus, Hercules, Zephyr, Sophis,
Romp, Two Betseys, Kite, Sukey and Betsey,
Kary, Capt. Wuterman, Francis, Hound,
Peace, Victory, Dove, Urania, Fortune, Wil
lium, Nancy, Maria, Hami!ion, Phenix, Ou
sitonack, Rose and Mary, Orozimbo, Am
herst, Mary-Ann, Louisiana, and the John.
Ar 7. 2. Such of the cargoes of the said
vessels as have not yet been sold, as well us
the ships, are hereby directed to be disposed
of at publick sale, by the minister adminis
trator general of the indircct duties, and un
der the inspection of our ministerof finances
or may otherwise be sold at private sale by
the said minister, as he shall judge most con=
ducive to our interests.
Accept, Sir, &c.
(Siﬁmﬂ) JOHN ARMSTRONC.
His Excellency,
* Al the merchandize conveyed into the ports of
Hollind on board American vesse!s, since the Srst duy
«f Jan. 1809, shall be prut under sequestration, subject
to the disposition ef France, according’te cireumstance:,
and the pelitical relations with the United Siates”
AnT, 3. The procecds of these sales shall
be depoasited in a particular banky to be here~
alter employed as we shall judge convenient.
ART. 4. If any of these captors” of the ae
foresaid vessels have claims upon them which
they may think proper to advance, they ave
authorized (o present and explain their prem
tentions in relation to the same, and we shall
decide thereupon in pursuance of the report
which we shall cause to be made to us by our
minister of the finances and the minister of
the marine and of war, after havigg taken the
opinion of a commission compos’eg of one of
the admimstrator generals. of indirect duties,
of one member of the ‘council of maritime
prizes, and of one eofficer of the marige.
Our minister of the the finances of war,
and of the marine, are charged; as far as ic
concerns them respectively with the execus.
tion of the'present'decree. -
I have thought, sir, that the peculiarity of
these circumstances made it proper for n.e
to ask a special decision of his majesty on
this case, and with this view 1 have Ropour
of offering to your Excellency the present
representation.
Joachim Nepioleon, King of the Two Siciliesy
has decreed and does decree thar solich
Jollows e
The John Adams being yet detained, I am
able to inform you, that on the 11th inst. the
Emperour directed the sale of all the Amer
ican vessels taken in the ports of Spain, and
that the money arising therefrom, should be
placed in his caisse firivee. He has also ree
fused to give up the Hero and bas ordered
that the case Le brought bLefore the council
of prizes, where condemnation necessarily ae
waits it. I send a copy of a note upon which
this last order was taken and another relating
to our business in Naples, and am, Sir, willy
very high consideration,
Your most obedient, .
And very humble servant,,
JIOHN. ARMSTRONG.,.
Hon. R. Sasrn, U, ;
Arr. 1. In conformity to the ordérs whicle
we have given from Paris, the 213 t of Dec:
1809, we declare confiscated the American
vessels whose names are subjoined ; that is
to say,
The United States wishing to fulfil their
engagement to the holders of their publick
debt in Holland, but unable fiom the present
state of commerce to do so by the ordinary
®ode of remitting bills of exchange, found
it necessary to enter into contracts with cer
tain merchants of the said states, to make re
mittance in tobacco,. A cargo of this article
was accordingly put on board of the Ameri
can ship Hero and despatched for the port of
Tonningen-in Denmark, with erders that the
nett precceds should be placed in the hands
of the American bankers in Amsterdam for
the purpose abovemcntioned. The passage
having been uncommonly stormy, the ship
much damaged and the crew quite exhaunsted
the captain helieved it to be his cuty, on the
Erinciple of sclfspreservation, to enter the
rst port e could malke. He accorciogly
eatered that of the Texet, and, after havingy
taken on board iwo pilots and being within
the fousth buoy, was captured by a boat be
longing to 2 French privateer. Besides the
customary papers, all of which are in rule,
the Hero sailed under a certificate, granted
by theé government, that the voyage was un
dertaken for the purpose of efiecting a nu
tonal remittance.
SIR,
SIRy
The Duke of Cadore.
JOACHIM NAPOLEON.
NAPLES, 12¢h March, 1810.
PARIS, APRIL 16th 1810,
PARIS, MARCH 20, 1810,