The Columbian informer, or, Cheshire journal — Keene, N.H., 1794-07-01 00:00:00, page 1

As you are willing to admit the authen-,
ticity of Lord Dorchefer's speech, we ,
will, with your approbation, reserve for
future diftuffion, on what occasion, and to
what degree, an explanation may be re-।
quired by the government of the United
States from a foreign mjnifter.,
, I feleEted only one passage of that speech,
because in it was concentered the real ob
je& of the whole ; which tyas to declare
an expectation, that Great Britain would
be at tc, with the United States in the
course of the present year, and as if file
Mere to cause the warriors to draw a line.
This is the undisguised sense of the gover
nor-general, unaffected by the prelimina
ry words- which you have thought proper
to clam. It is your own interpretation.
Forft far arc yep from contradicting my
—rffertion, that Lord Dorchester foftered
and encouraged in thb Indians.# hostile dis
position towards us, that you confine th%
greater part of your remaining obferva
ticn? to vindicate his persuasion and
your own, that the principal aggression
leading to hostility, proceeded from the
United States; and to suggest many oth
ers of the fime tendency upon which you
would rot dilate.
I fliall not ihrink, fir, from your bhar
ges.
ift. Notwithstanding the territory, upon
which certain inhabitants of Vermont are
represented in your letter of the §th of Ju
ly 1792, to have trespassed, belongs to
e jhe United States : Yet on the 9th of the
ra^me month, did my predecessor give you,
is admitted, positive aflurances of thel
determination to difeourage and reprefs|
the fubjeft of your complaint. The ne
cessary inftruaions were accordingly for-
United Stages,4th June, 1794°
Genthmeft°cf the S(mat r, and of the
Hotife cf RefnfotativeG
LAYbefore Congress the copy of
• aletter,with its enclosure,from the Se,creta
. fry of State to the Minified Plenipotentiary
of his Britannic Maj^fty ; it being an an
.fwer to a letter from the Mirißer to him,
fearing date th, 'zzd ul;. and already com
•. tnunicated.
so
frHtIXDIOHIA, JUNE 2, 179,
'SIR,, °
IF the letter with which yon ho red
me on the 22 I uh. tad notentered nto a
train of recrimination against the U: ited
States, I should not now trouble you with
a return ofits unpleafart topics. Among
the reacns which would have induced me
to add nothing to my letter of the id of
th:lad month, it would have been of some
weight, that by silence I should avoid
the repetition of a style and manner,which
Teem to have produced a personal excite
ment.
[We presume that the correfpandence
between Mr. Randolph, our Secretary of
State, and Mr. Hammond, the Minister
Plenipotentiary from Great Britain, will^
considered ofio great importance (as ft
will shew oar readers their different opin
ions with regard to matters which may
yet involve us in a war,)as net to need any
apology for devc ^ so great a proportion
Os theiNFORMER to it.J
PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 9.
A meffagefrom the President of the United
. States to Congress, tranfraitting a letter
fromtbe Secretary of fate to the Minfer
Plenipotentiary of bis Britannic Majejfy,
^itb an endofare in an anjaver to a letter
from tbe Minfer, datedzzd May, 1794.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF 'THE HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES,
THE . , '*
Columbian Informer;
STATE PAPE R.
. of Vol. ll.]
Or, CHESHIRE JOURN A L.'
PRINTED and PUBLISHED BY HENkr BLAKE, & CO. in KEENE, New-Hampshire.
2d. Among the points, to which you
intimate that-you might have adverted,
is enumerated the fitting out of two privaj
icers, at Uharleflon, in South-Carolina.
IWhatever this tranfa&ion,^_ might have
!been, it probably ccurr^d at the com
mencement of thb war, and before the ex
igence of the war, was communicated
to our government, by any of the powers
engaged. Had such a tranfiaion been
known to the President in time, you can
well judge from hit actual corduh, what
he then would have done. His proclama
tion of the zad Apri1,1793 ; " s call upon
the state governors on the 26th of the fame;
month,to co-operate with him in the workl
of impartiality and peace ; the system of;
rulers which he elhblilheel, , and which
were impacted to you, are unerring in
dications of the Spirit of thole measures,
on which.be had determined. Tie sup
pressed the consular courts, which attemp
ted to pass fentcnccs of condemnation on
captures , —he restored fevers! vessels to
Britilh owners: Prosecutions have been 4
instituted against the violators of neutrali
ty. In a word, fir, what has been re
quired, under the fanflion of the law of
nations, which has not been fulfilled ?
How many thingshave been spontaneously
done, to evince our impartiality ? Let me
request yputo review my predeceflor's let
ters to you of April 2%, May if, June 5,
August 7,8,25, September $ and 12,1793;
and to fay if more could be well expelled
from us ? After some demonstrations, it
might have been hoped, that the equip
ment of these two privateers would not rife
again in the shape of a charge. But the
letter of the gth of June, being conceiv
ed ofitfelfto oe fatisfaftcry, is here in
serted.
warded to that state. Cn examining your
correspondence with my department, it
does not appear that from the 9th of July.
179:, to the loth of March 1794, up
wards of nineteen months,our government
ever understood from yourfelf or any au
thority of his Britannic Majesty, that the
original diffatisfa&ion continued. jNor
was any difconcent heard from that quar
ter through other channels,except what re
lated to outrages upon our own citizens
by British fubjeds. Then, indeed, thirty
days, after the hoftilc tribes of Indians had
been affembied by Lord Dorchester, ate
Quebec, you renew your remonstrances.
Although it cannot be by ary. means be
lieved, that this was written, in order to
uiher in the intelligence, which soon
after arrived, ofhis fpecch ; yet is it dis.
ficult to account for so long an interval
under the circumßinces foppofed. Nor
ought my anf&er, although delayed for
fifty days, until the 29th of April, 1794,
to be condoled an assent to any charge, at
the end of that period, 'having been difap
pqinted, as my letter thews, in one oppor
tunity of information, and no other pre
senting itfelf, we were notin a capacity
of contradicting your aflertions. How^
ever, fir, the inftruCtiQs, issued in con
frquence of your application, conveyed'
positive orders forthe correction of what,
upon examination should be found irreg
ular.
" In th* letter which I had the hon
ouref writing vou on the i;th May, in
answer to your fcveral memorials of the
Sthof that month, I mentioned that the
President, reserved for further confide'ra
tion# a part of the one which related to the
equipment of the two privateers in the
port of Charleston. The part alluded to.
was that wherein you express your confi
dence that the executive government of the
United States would pursue measures for
repressing such practice in future, and
in restoring to their rightful owners, any
captures which such privateers might
bring into the ports of the United States."
" The President, after a full inveftiga
tionof this fubje& and the most mature
configuration, has charged me to comma-
frU ESDA r, J u L y x, 1794.
n±ate to you, that the firfl part of this ap
plication is found to be just, and that ef
fofclual meafurea are taken for preventing
the repetitions of the a& therein complain
ed of—but that the latter part, desiring
r^ftitution of the prizes is understood to be
in/ onfiftent with, the rules which govern
Tech cases, and would therfore, be unjbfti
hlbie towards the other party.•
“ The principal agents in this transac
tion were French citizens. Being within
the United States, at the moment a war
breke out between their own and another
k country, they determine to go in its de
fence ; they purchase, arm and equip a
v/Cel, with their own money, man it them
fe!yesb receive a regular conyniffion from
the notion, departcu- of the United States,
wd then commence hostilities, by captur
ir;; a veAfel., If under these circumftan
, r^>.the commiffiun of the captors was va
|j& the property according to the laws of
war, was, by the capture, transferred to
them 1 and it would be an aggrcffiqji on
their nation, for the United States to res
cue it from them, whether on the high seas,
re on coming into their ports. Ifthe com
mifion was not valid, and consequently,
- the property not transferred by the laws
of war to the captors, then the case would
have been cognizable in our courts of ad.
mirahy, and the owners might have gone
either for redress. Sothat on either fuppa.
non would the executive be justifiable in
'i:.:erpcling.
" With reaped to the United States, the
Hrnfirtlions can in no wife be imputed to
Q m. It was in the firft moment of, the
v...r, in one of their raoft dift^nt ports, be
:measures could be provided by the
^bvernmeD< & to meet aii roe cases, which
tach a state of things was to produce—im
possible to have known, and therefore im
; possible to have prevented by that govern-
meet. ,
" The moment it was known, the mod
energetic orders were sent to every state
and port in the union, to prevent a repeti
tion of the accident.. On a suggestion,
that citizens of the United Stales h^d ta
ken part in the ^,one who was designated,
was instantly committed to prison for pro
secution ; one or two others have been
since named, and committed in, like man
ner ; and should it appear, that these were
still others,no meafutes Ihould be spared to
bring them to justice. The President has
even gone farther ; he has required as a
reparation of their breach of refped to the
United States, that the yeffela so armed
and equipped, shall depart from our ports.
" You will fee, Sir,in these preceedihgs
from the President, unequivocal proofs of
he line of ibid right, which he means to
pursue. The measures now mentioned,
are taken in justice to the other party ;
the ulterior Incafures of seizing and resto
ring primes, is declined in jufiice in the o
ther; and the evil thusearly arrefted,will
be of very limited effeds ; perhaps,indeed
soon disappear altogether."
As to the permission from the governor
cf South Carolina, for the departure of
these privateers from port.,co may auure
Iyoarfelf cf a proper enquiry ; and I take
the liberty of requesting any evidence
which you have cfit.
gd. With so many dire& proofs in your
hands, of the opinion constantly maintain
ed by our gpverment against the legality
ofeaptures in general, made by illegal
privateers, it is not easily explained why
the validity of those before the fifth of
June,l793,fhould be argued from a refufal
toreftore them. The above recited letter of
that date,neither affirms nor difaffirmstheir
validity ; but declines the granting of refli
tution as being inconfifteut with the rules
which govern in such cases. These rules
are—that if the eommiffion be good, the
capture is good ; if the eommiffion be bad,
the capture Is bad ; but whether^ it be
good or bad, is not decided ; it being e
nough to j>rove thst the u^feflion for the
gth. It is true, that the the sale of pri
zes made by the French cruizers, has not
been prohibited in the United States, and
that our treaty with France has been so in
terpreted,as not to contemplate a freedom
to fell. The next resort was to the law of
nations; which was fcrupulouCy searched
by the executive, with the pure desire of
difeovering truth and jufiice to all: Upon
that, as on many other occasions the civi
lians differ ; Vattel declaring, that a
privateer may carry his prize into a neu
tral port, and there freely fell it ; Mar
tensaffirming the fame 'doarine, if it has
not been otherwise -regulated by treaty ;
and others eppoung it. tn this schism a
mong the writers, it wu refoiv^d by the
President of the United States, to impofc
no reltraigt upon tuOfe faies , .ad 10 icG
theri, as affairs of legislation, to Congrefr,
at the tarlieft moment cf their session.
Thus much lias been observed J^t as m,
final answer, but merely to ircoruce an
assurance, that I will follow you in the
main difeuffion, whenever you shall bring
it forward in detail.,
6th. Undoubtedly Sir,you have been mif
informed, that the vessels of France have
been permitted ,0 depart from cur porti,
notwithstanding the embargo. As the hiflo
ry of the executive proceedings is neither
long nor entangled, it mail be frankly Ra
ted to)ou., As soon as the embargo was
laid, expresses and advice beats were dis
patched, to notify the officers of the cust
oms and revenue- cutrers, and all concern
ed in Its execution; The resolution impo
sing it, involved all foreign nations ; the
infrudioni from the Prefiaent of the United
States, favored no nation, diredly or in
direaiy. A Fiench snow, La Camille,
wtich had descended the river Delewarc as
low a, New-Callie, in her voyage, was
flopped by an officer of the United States ;
and the President adhering to perfect im
partiality, could not think himfei. juftif
ed, to gratify the Minister of the French
Republic with a passport. Ptffports being
kept under the special view of the Presi
dent, were issued only after his examina
tion of each case, and the total number of
them does not exceed twenty-fix. Among
tnem was one to yourfelf; one to an agent,
who was sent to the Weft-Indies, upon a
burinefs connected with the late captures
and condemnations in various British courts
of admiralty ; one to a citizen, whole vef
ftl was under trial in Bermuda', and who
was anxious to forward the British inftrec
tions of the Sth of January, 1794, with 2
hope of rescuing her from confiscation ;
one to the friends of Jolhua.Barney, then
in Jamaica; twenty for the accomodation
of several unfortunate inhabitants cf St;
Domingo, to feme of whom our govern
ment was advancing money for their fop
port, and who could no longer endure
their reparation from home ; one to feme
other persons in peculiar circumflances,
defircus of returning to the Weft-Indies ;
and in the last infiance one to the Minister
ofthe French Republic If, therefore, b,
reason assigned, can in no wife be imput
ed to the United States. But if captures
of this kind, prior to the ph of June,
1793, do really amount (as it is conceived
by lome) to no very coafiderable value,
this would itfelf, lessen the importance of
the insinuation.
4. The Secretary It War has under
taken to afeertain the precise date of ths
privateers la Petit Democrate and de Car
magnole,and the rcfult will be communica
ted to you. In the mean time, it is a mat
ter of some forprife, that vessels, whose
single employment and profit mod confix
in cruising on the ocean, Ihould have re
mained in the port of New-York during
the whole winter, and probably up to the
date of yon: letter [Ma, zzd, ifyijMay
it not be presumed, that their activity has
been checked by the intervention of th#
government ? Bet Sir,if they have not been
dismantled, your letter brings the fiiftao
tice of the omission.
[Whole No. 66.]