The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-04-21 00:00:00, page 5

dent. Before the receipt of this mes
sage, the majority contended that the
publication of the French papers would
be a breach of confidence towards the
French court, as well as disrespectful to
the Executive. But when the President
left the question of publishing Cham
pagny’s letter to the decision of Con
fress, the breach of confidence towards
'ranee was no longer an obstacle. An
intimation from the Executive was more
powerful, more convincing, than the
most cogent arguments of an eloquent
minority ; and the publication was una
nimously agreed to. .
To. the Senate and house of Representa
tives of the United States. ■■
Believing that the confidence and u
nion of our fellow citizens, at the pre
sent crisis, will be still further confirm
ed by the publication of the letter of Mr.
Champagny to General Armstrong, and
that ol Mr. Erskine to the Secretary of
State, communicated with my message
of the 30th ult. and therefore that it
may be useful to except them from the
confidential character of the other docu
Tnents accompanying this, message, I
leave to the consideration of Congress
the expediency of making them pub
lick.
ih: Jefferson.
April 2, 1808. .
rranslation of a letter from Mr. Cham
pagmjy to general Armstrong, dated
Paris, Jan. 15 1808. i
Sir,
The different notes which you have
done me the honour to address to me,
have been laid before his majesty. .
The proceedings of England towards
all governments are so contrary to the
law of nations, and to all the • rules so
constantly observed, even among ene
mies, that no recourse against this pow
er is any longer to be found in the ordi
nary means of repression. > In order to
annoy her, it is become necessary to
turn against her the arms which she
makes use of herslf; and if transient in
conveniences result therefrom, it is to
her alone that they are to be imputed.
Since England respects no laws, how
could thev be respected with regard
to her ? T he maritime laws which sh •
violates, ought they still to be a protec
ion to her ? \nd if gome powers tole
rate the infractions committed on their
.ndi pendence, could they have the righ'
to require that France alone should rr
: train herself within the limits, which
her enemy has every where overleaped?
The United States more than other
power, have to complain of the aggres
sions of England. • It has not been e
noiigh for her to offend against the in
dependence of their flag ; nay, against
that of their territory and of their in
habitants, by attacking them even in
their ports ; forcibly carrying away
their crews : her decrees of the 11th of
November have made a fresh attack on
their commerce and on their navigation,
as they have done on those of all other
powers. ■.
In the situation in which England
has placed the continent, especially
since her decrees of the 11th Novem
ber, his majesty has no doubt of a de
claration ot war against her by the Uni
ted States. Whatever transient sacrifi- i
ces war may occasion, they will not be
lieve it consistent, either with their in
terest or dignity, to acknowledge the
monstrous principle and the anarchy
which that government wishes to esta
blish on the seas. If it be useful and
honourable for all nations to cause the
true maritime law of nations to be re-esta
blished, and to avenge the insults com
mitted by England against every flag,
it is indispensable for the United States,
who from the extent of their commerce
have oftener to complain of those viola
tions. War exists then in fact between
England and the United States ; and his
majesty considers it as declared from the
day on which England published her
decrees. In that persuasion, his ma
jesty, ready to consider the U. States
as associated with the cause of all the
powers who have to defend themselves
against England, has not taken any
definitive measure towards the Ameri
can vessels,which may have been brought
into our ports. He has ordered that
they should remain sequestered, until a
decision may be had thereon, according
to the dispositions which shall have been
expressed by the government of the U.
Srates. — -— —
[ Mr. Erskine to the Secretary of State.]
Washington, Feb. 23d, 1803. ;
Sir, -
I have the honour to transmit to you
the copies of certain orders of Council
which his majesty has thought proper to
issue in consequence of the hostile con- j
duct of France towards the navigation j
and commerce of Great*IJrrtnin and of I
neutral states. .
His majesty h is been induced hitherto I
to forbear recurring to measures of |
this nature, by the expectation that the *
governments of the neutral states, who
have b«en the objects of the French de
crees, would have been awakened to a
just sense of what they owe to their in
terests and ovrn rights, and would have
interposed with effect, either to prevent
the execution of the French decrees or
to procure their abrogation.
But his majesty having been disap
pointed in this just expectation, and per- '
ceiving that the neutral nations, so far
from opposing any effectual resistance,
have submitted to whatever regulations
France may have prescribed for giving
effect to her decrees, can no longer re
frain from having recourse to such
measures as by retorting on the enemy
the inconveniences and evils produced
by his injustice and violence, may afford
the only remaining chance of putting an
end to a system, the perseverance in
which is no more injurous to his majes
ty’s dominions than to nations not parties
to the war between Great-Britain and
France.
1 he principle, upon which his majes
ty finds himself compelled to proceed,
would justify a complete and unqualifi
ed retaliation on his part of the system,
announced and acted upon by France,
in respect to his majesty’s dominions :
and his majesty might, therefore, have
declared in a state of rigorous and un
mitigated blockade, all the coasts and
colonies of France and her allies. Such
a measure, the maritime power of G.
Britain would have enabled his majesty
to enforce : nor would those nations,
which have acquiesced without effectu
al remonstrance, in the French decree
of Blockade, have ' derived any right
from the perfect execution of a corres
ponding determination on the part of •
his majesty, to complain of his majes
ty’s enforcing that measure, which the
enemy has executed imperfectly, only
from the want of the means of execution.
His majesty, however, actuated by
the same sentiments of moderation by
which his majesty’s conduct has been
uniformly governed, has been desirous
of alleviating, as much as possible, the
inconveniences necessar ly brought up
on neutral nations by a state of things
so unfavourable to the commercial in
tercourse of the world ; and has there
fore anxiously considered what modi
fications it would be practicable to ap
ply to the principle upon which he is
to compelled to art, which would not, at
the same time that they might afford i