The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1794-06-10 00:00:00, page 1

It cannot be unknown to you, that a
speech. laid to be addrefled,on the toth of
February, 1794, to fcveral Indian nations,
and ascribed to the Governor-General of
his Britannic Majesty at Quebec, has ap
peared in most of the public prints in the
United States, with fomany circumstances
of authenticity, after remaining so long
Without contradiction, it might have jufti
bed us in inquiring from you, Whether it
• was really delivered under British author
ity. Our forbearance thus to inquire is
conformable with the moderation which
has direfled the condufl of our govern
ment towards Great Britain ; and indicates
at the fame time, our hope, from the dec
larations of yours, that its views would
prove ultimately pacific, and that it would
discountenance every measure of its officers
having a contrary tendency.
Even now fir, while I entertain a firm
perfusfion, presuming this (peech to be
genuine, I cannot well crrj I ffiall be ready
to retrafl the comments which I am about
to make, if you ffiall think proper to deny
its authenticity.
. At the very moment when, the British
Ivliniftry were forwarding' assurances of
good Will, does Lord Dorchester fofter and
encourage, in the Indians, hofiile dispositi
ons towards the United States ? If it was a
part of the American charafler to indulge
suspicion, what mixht not be conjeflured
as to the influence by which our treaty
was defeated in the last year, from the as
sembling of deputies from almost all the
n^ions who were at the late general coun
eUbn the Miami, and whole enmity a
gainft.ua cannot be dbub fal. How nearly
’^vouldthat suspicion approach to proof,
were we to recollefl, that so high an officer,
is himfelf, would not raffily hazard this ex
preffipn : r ‘ I ffiould not be ffirprifed, if we
are at war with the United States in the
tourfeof the present year; and if we are, a
line, mutt then be drawn by the warriors.”
But this speech only forebodes hostility ;
the intelligence which has been received
this morning is, if true, hoftili tics itfelf.—•
'the President of the United States has un
derstood, through Channels of real confi
dence, that Governor Simcoe has gone to
the foot of the rapids of the Miami, fol»
lowed by three companies of a British re
giment, in order to build a fort there.
Permit me then to ask, whether there things
United States, May 21, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Sena.e,
and of the House of Repr-clentatives,
I LAY before you certain information,
whereby it would appear that feme en
troachment was about to be made on our
territory by an officer and party of Britilh
troops.—Proceeding upon a supposition of
the authenticity of this information, al
though of a private nature. 1 have caused
the reprefehtation to be made to the Bitilh
Minister, a copy of which accompanies this
fneflage.
It cannot be neceflary to comment upon
the very ferfous nature of such encroach
ment, nor to lirg* that this new Ulate of
things suggests the propriety of placing tKe
United States in a posture of effectual pre*
paration lor an event, which notwithstand
ing the endeavours making to aVert, it may
by circumftanpes beyond our cootroul, be
forced upon üb.
United Statu, May ^d, 1794
Gentleman of the Senate and
cf the House of Rrpreientatives,
I lay before you the copy of a letter
from the Miaifter Plenipotentiary of his
B-itanic Majesty, in answer to a letter of
the Secretary of State, communicated to
Cbngrefs yesterday ; and also the copy of a
letter from the Secretary, which is referred
to in the above mentioned letter of the
Mini Her.
Communicated to Congress May 23.
Important State Papers.
SIR,
[Volume VIII.
' American Herald of Liberty.
——— — — —— -——-X----------------.
EXE T E R ( New-Hampjhire) Printed and Published by Stearns and Winslow, in Main-Street, at 6/8 per annum.
G. WASHINGTON.
PHILADELPH J, MAY 20.
G. WASHINGTON.
In answer to your letter of the 20th cur
rent, which I did not receive until late in
the afternoon of yefierday, it is necessary
for ineto preinife, that whatever may be my
personal opinion, with refpefl to the Rile
and manner in which you have thought it
proper to addrefi me, upon the present ot
cafion, it is not my intention to offer any
animadversion upon them, but to proceed
with temper and candour to the examina
tion of the fubjefls of your letter.
Though I never can acknowledge , the
right of this government so require from
trie so categorically, as you have required
• it, an explanation of any measure emana
ting from the Governors of Canada, over
whole aflions, I have no Controul, and for
whole condufl lam not responsible; I arp
willing to admit the authenticity of the
speech to certain Indian nations, to which
you have alluded, and whiqh you have as
cribed to the Governor General of his
Majesty’s possessions in North America.—
But in order to afeertain the precise f?nf e
of th£ only paffagebf that speech, to which
be so ’ It has been usual, for tach party to
a negotiation, to pay such a deference to
the pretensions of theother, as to keep their
affairs in the fame posture, until the nego
ciation was concluded.. On this principle
you complained, in your letter cf the sth
of July, 1792, cf the junfdiftion attempted
to oeexercifed, under the State of Vermont
within the diftrift occupied by the troops
of your king ; and demanded, that our gov
ernment fhouid fuppreh it, from reiptft to
th# difeuffion which was pending. On
this principle, you were afluted that proper
measures would be adopted. On the fame
principle you renew on the loth of March
1794, a similar application, and are an
fweied that the mealures of the government
fhouid correspond with its aflurances. Ac
cordingly, although the for s, garriions and
diftnds, to which your letters relate, are
conftffedly within the limits of the Unked
States,yet have our citizens been forbiden
to interrupt you in the occupancy of them.
What return then have we a right to ex
peft ?
But you will.not suppose that I put the
impropriety of the present aggression, upon
the pendency of the negotiation. 1 quote
this only to shew the contrail: between
the temper Observed on your part towards
us, and on cur part towards you. This
pofle flion of our acknowledged territory,
has no pretext of flato quo on its ft e ; it
has no pretext at all * it is an aSE, the hos
tility of which cannot be paliated by any
connection with that negotiation.. It is
calculated to support an enemy whom we
are seeking to bring to peace.
A late mission of the United States to
Greit Britain, is an unequivocal proof, af
ter all that has happened, of the sincere
wish of our government to preserve peace,
and a good understanding with your nation.
But our honor and fafety require that an
invasion fhouid bs repelled.
Let me therefore inform you. Sir, that I
have it in charge from the President of the
United States, torequeft and urge you to
take immediate and effectual measures, as
far Ms in you lies, to suppress those hostile
movements; to call to mind that the army
cf the United States, in their march a
gain it the enemy, will not be able to dis
tinguish between them and any other peo
ple, afTociated in the war ; to compare these
encroachments with the candour of our
conduit, and the doftrines which you have
maintained ; and to admonilh those who
shall throw obstacles in the way of nego
tiation, and tranquility, that they will be
responsible for all the unhappy confequen*
ces.
I have the honor to be,
With refpefl,
Your most obedient fervarit, >
(Signed) EDM. RANDOLPH.
Mr. Hammond, Miniftcr J
Plenipotentiary of his >
Britannic Majesty. J
Mr. Hammond’s Answer,.
Philadelphia, May 22,1794.
SIR,
TUESDAY, June io, 1794.
relative to this circcmftance 1 ffiall imme
diately tranimit copies 6f your letter, and
of this answer, as well to, the Governor-
General of his Majesty’s possessions in north
America, and the Governor of Upper'Can
ada, as to his Majesty’s Miniflers- in En
gland, for their refpeflive information.
Before I conclude this letter, I must be
permitted to observe that 1 have confined
to the unreprefled .and continued aggres
sions of the state of Vermont, alone, { the
persuasion of Lord Dorchester, that they
were indicative of an existing hofiile dil
pofition in the United States against Great-
Britain, and might ultimately produce an
aflual state of war on their part, If I had
been desirous of recurring to other sources
of disquietudes I migh»> frorp the allusion
•of his lordffiip to the condufl of this go
vernment towards «the sea/ haVe deduced
other motives of apprehension, on which,
from the solicitude you evince ro eftabliffi
a contrafl between the temper observed on
4 your part towards us, and our part to
wards you, I might have conceived myfelf
juftified in dilating. I might have advert
ed to the privateers originally fi led out of
Charleftob, at the commencement of the
present hostilities. and Which were allowed
to depart from that port^not only with the
content, but under the ex press permiflion
of the Governor of Souths Carolina.
1 might have adverted co the prizes mads
“ Since my return, I find no appearance
of aline remains, and from the manner in
which the people of the States push 00,
and aft, and talk on this fide, and frem
what I learn of their conduft towards the
sea, 1 shall r.ot be surprised, if we are at
war with them in the course of the present
year; and if so, a line must then be drawn
by the warriors.” From the context of
the whole paflage, it is manifeft that Lord
Dorchester was perluaded, that the aggres
sion which might eventually lead to a date
of hostility, had proceeded frem the Uni
ted States: And so far as the State of Ver.
moot, to which I presume his Lordship
principally alluded, was implicated, 1 am
convinced that that pcrfualion was not ill
founded. For notwtthftanding the pefidve
afiurances, which I received from your
predecessor on ;he 9 h of July, 1792,10
answer to my letter 01 the sth of the lame
month, of the determination of the general
Government to discourage and repress
the encroachments, which the State and
individuals of Vermont had committed on
the territory occupied by his Majesty’s
garrisons, I aflert with confidence, that not
only those encroachments have never been
in any manner reprefied, but that recent
enfringements in that quarter, and on the
territory in its vicinity have been committed,
indeed, if this aflertion of mine could re
quire any coroboraticn, I would remark,
tnat though the space of 50 days elapsed
between my letter of the loth of March,
1794, u p°n this fubjeft, and your answer,
of the 219th of April, 1794, you did not
attempt to deny the fafts which 1 then Ba
ted and which I now explicitly repeat.
In regard to your declaration that “ gov
ernor Simcoe has gone to the foot of the
rapjds of the Miami, followed by three
companies of a Britilh regiment, in order
to build a fort there,” I have no intelli
gence that such an event has aftually oc
curred—But even admitting your infor
mation to be accurate, much will depend
on the place in which you assert, that the
fort is intended to be eiefted, and whethei
it be for the purpose of protesting fubjtds
of his Msjefty reading in the dinrifts de
pendant on the fort of Detroit o« o> prevent
ting that fortrefs from being flraightened
by the approach of the American army ;
either of which cases I imagine that the
principle of the^afa quo, until the arrange
ment of the points in dilcuffion betweeen
the two countries shall be concluded, will
flriftly apply- In order however, to cor
reft any inaccurate information you may
have received, or to avoid any ambiguity
you have referred, and of which you have
given merely a partial citation, I shall quote
the pafDge at length ;
“ Children,
I might have adverted to the condu&
which this government has observed to*
warda the powe s combined a/ainlt France
in the enforceroen; of the embargo. For
while ihe vefirls pt the fotmerarc fubjeft
ed to the refiriftons of that measure, those
of the !a ur, have been permitted to depart
From Hamton-Road, though three weeks
had elapsed fubfeqeently to the impefiuon
of the embargo, though they were amcana
ble to its operation, and though they were
chiefly laden with articles calculated to
support an enemy whom we are seeking to
bring to peace.” I might have adverted
to the uniform'y unfrie dly treatment
which his Majesty’s ships of war, and offi
cers in his Majesty’s iervice, have, since
the present holtih ies commenced, expe
rienced in the American portsand lalily,
I might ha.ve adverted to the unparelleled
insult, which has been recently offered at
Newport, Rhodc-lfland, (not by a lawlefa
colleftion cf the people, but) by the gov
ern or and council of that lUte, to the Biit
ifh flag, in the violent measures pur.iueo to
wards his Mejefty’s ilocp of war Nautilus,
and in the iorcible detention cf he officers
by whom ihe was commanccd. I have
however forborn to expatiate upon these
points becaole I am not difpbfed toconfid
e< them, as I have before Itated as neces
sary elbcidations, of the immediate objeft
of your letter, and much less to urge them
in the r present iorm, as general topics of
recrimination.
I the bon^r to be nvitb great refpeSi,
Sir, Your mo fl obi die nt.
Humble Servant,
(Signed) GEORGE HAMMOND,
by those privateers, of which the legality
was in fbme measure admitted,- by the
refula! of this government to rtilote such
as were made antecedently to the sth of
June 1793. I might have advertca <0 the
permhliun granted by this government to
the commanders of French ships of war,
apd of privateers, to dispose of thejr prizes
by sale, in ports cf the United S'ates. I
might have adverted to the two privateers,
le Petit Democrat (now la Corneli ) and
la Carmagnol, both which were illegally
fitted out in the river Delaware, anc which
in confequcncc of my remoiiltrances, and
of the aflur.inces I received, I concluded
would have been dilmantied ; but which*
have remniped during the whole winter in
the port cf New-York armed, and now are,
as i am informed, in condition to proceed
immediately to sea.
Exasperated at his uage at Fort Ofwe
go, he raised a party of men, and prcceed
ed to the Three River Points,' where they
came across the beat belonging to Niaga
ra, on its return with a Cargo valued at up
wards of three hundred pounds, which they
leized upon as a reprifal^of the propt tty
taken from them at Fort Ofwego.
, We hear further, that the banka of the
fivers to the Westward are lined with pri
watters, waiting for bosts bound to Niaga*
ra,and other British settlements, which the/
are detetmined to detain, not onlv as re
priials, but as, violations of the embargo
laid upon all ‘veffeh in the ports and hat
bours of the United States, CA IRA,
Whitestown, (Penn.) May 4.
The following may be depended on as
fafl: Some boatfmen were proceeding with
a boat load of fait, and other articles, valu
ed at 601. from the Onondago fair spring,"
to Niagara, while passing Port Ofwego, a
detachment of BRiTISH FORCES fla
tioned at that place, seized the boat and
cargo, and condemned them Is a legal
prize. The oWner of the property seized,
obtained information that a boat was dis.
patched from Niagara force time since for.
Scheneflady, on the Mohawk, river, by the
fubjefls of his Britannic Majesty, for arti
cles to a cohfiderable amount.
Frort^e WESTERN COUNTRY,
[Number 49,