The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-04-07 00:00:00, page 6

The dispatches, which had been put
into the post office, were received bv
i\Tr. Erskine, & forwarded by a courier
to Mr. Kosc. Their contents are not
known, but it is said those addressed
to 31 r. Erskine, leave no room to hope
lor an extension ol 31r. Rose’s instructi
ons. 1 here does not at present appear
any probability that he will return, or
that the negociation on the affair of the
Chesapeake will be renewed.
The reading of the documents com
municated to the legislature on Tuesday
last, is not yet finished. The embrace,
it is said, a full history of the English
relations from the year 1804-, and of our
French relations for the last year.—
Though they have been read with
closed doors, there are but a small part
of them of a confidential nature. The
house of representatives have ordered
5000 copies to be printed, only omit
ting some parts of little importance to
the public, and such as it would be im
proper to disclose.
The following is the message of the
President on the occasion,
i o the Senate and House of Represen
tatives of the IT. States.
At the opening of the present session,
I informed the legislature, that the mea
sures which had been taken with the go
vernment ol Great Britain, lor the set
tlement ol our neutral and national
rights, and of the conditions of com
mercial intercourse with that nation,
had resulted in articles of a treaty, which
could not be acceded to on our part ;
that instructions had consequently been
sent, to our ministers there, to resume
the negociations, and to endeavour to
obtain certain alterationss, and that this
was interrupted by the transaction which
took place between tlie frigates Leopard
and Chesapeake. The call on that go
vernment lor reparation ol this wrong
produced, as Congress lias been alrea
dy informed, the mission of a special
Minister to this country, and the occa
sion is now arrived, w hen the public in
terest permits and requires, that the
whole ol these proceedings should be
made known to you. * . ,
I therefore now communicate the in
structions given to our Minister re
sident at London, and his communica
‘ .tions to that government, on the subject
of the Chesapeake, with thi correspon
dence which has taken place here be
tween the Secretary of State and Mr.
, ftjose, the special Minister charged with
the adjustment of that difference ; the
instructions to our Minisers for the for
mation of a treaty ; their correspon
dence with the British commissioners,
and with their own government on that
subject; the treaty itself and written
declaration of the British Commission
ers accompanying it ; and the instruc
tions given by us for resuming the ne
gociations, with the proceedings and
correspondence subsequent thereto.—
To these I have added a letter lately
addressed to the Secretary ol State from
one of our late Ministers, which, though
not strictly written in an oflicial cha
racter, I think it my duty to commu
nicate, in order that his views of the
proposed treaty, and of its several arti
cles, may be fairly presented and under
stood.
Although I have here tofore,and from
time to time, made such communica
tions to Congress, as to keep them pos
sessed of a general and just view of the
proceedings and dispositions of the go
vernment of France towards this coun
try, yet in our present critic..! situation,
when we find that no conduct on our
part, however impartial and friendly,
has been sufficient to insure from either
belligerent, a just respect for our rights,
I am desirous that nothing shall be o
mitted on my part, which may add to
your information on this*subjt:ct,or con
tribute to the correctness of the views
which shoulel be formed. The papers
which for these reasons, I now lay be
fore you, embrace all the communica
tions, official or 'verbal, from the
French government, respecting the ge
neral relations between the two coun
tries, which hnd been transmitted
through our Minister there, or through
any other accredited channel, since the
last session ot Congress ; to which time
all information of the same kind had,
from time to time, been given them.
Some of these papers have already been
submitted to Congress : but it is
thought better to offer them again in or
der that the chain of communications,
of which they make a part, may be pre
sented unbroken.
When on the 26th of February, I
communicated to both houses the letter
ol Cen. Armstrong to M. Champagne,
I desired it might not be published, be
cause ol the tendency of that practice to
restrain injuriously the freedom of our
foreign correspondence. Hut perceiving
that this caution,proceeding purely from
a regard for the publick good, has hn
mshed occuaiou lor disseminating uu
founded suspicions and insinuations, 1
am induced to believe that the good
which will now result from the publica
tion, by confirming the confidence and
union of our fellow citizens, will more
than countervail the ordinary objection
to such publications. It is my wish
therefore that it may now be published.
Th : Jefferson.
March 22, 1808.
By an arrival at New-York, London
dates have been received of the 17th
ot February. No political events of
moment appear to have taken place af
ter the 10th, the date of former adviefc?.
The ministry have a large majority in
both houses of parliament. Their con
duct towards Denmark and their orders
ot council against neutral commerce,
have been severely censured by the
minority, but as warmly approved by
the majority. In the selections made
lor the New-York Gazette, we find the
following article, which seems to be the
only one immediately interesting to this
country.
London, Feb. 15.
I he expedition under the command
of lieutenant general Sir George Pre
vost, sailed from Portsmouth on Sunday
for Halifax. The 7th, 8th, 13th, and
23d regiments oi foot accompanied him.
i iii.s force will be further augmented
by the 98th regiment, from Bermuda,
and the 99th, 101st, and 10th royal ve
teran battalion at Halifax, where the
staff of the army already is. The expe
dition under general Spencer remained
at Falmouth on Friday last expecting to
he joined by the troops collected at
Portsmouth. The two corps united
would amount to neatly ten thousand
men. From the magnitude of the force,
it would seem as if government had
come to a determination to defend our
possessions in North America to the
last extremity, in case of a war with the
United Scat. s.
IV 11 E E L 1 A' G,
Thursday, 7th April, 1808.
At the close of th<- polls on Monday
last, in this place, the votes stood as
follows :—
Senate.
David Chambers, 113
Philip Doddridge, 112
Janus Pindall, 32
Delegates.
William Irwin, (elected) 165
George Miller, (elected) 11D