The Sun.
London, England, 1808-06-03 00:00:00

search for British seamen in merchant vessels ; a
subjed Which is wholly uneonnetlett with the case :
of the Leopard and the Chesapeake, and wJtich can,
only tend to complicate and embarrass, a discussion in
itself of sufficient delicacy and importance.
In stating the grounds upon which your Govern- .
Ment expect with confidence that " the whole sub-
. jett of impressment shall be taken up at this
and that in making the reparation which was claiin-
ed for the particular injury alludged to havepeetisits...
tained by the. United States in the late unfortunate •
transaction off the Capel• of- Virginia, " a remedy
shall be provided for the whole evil ;" you appear to
have been dire&ed to assume that this ad of vieleece,
such as.you describe it, is the natural and aln-tosfne-
cessary result of the practice of impressment of Bri..
tish seamen iron; the. Merchant vessels of other
States ; and to repreient the particular 'transaction,
and the general question of. impressment as " idea - .
tilted in the feelings and sympathies of your nation,,
'• as well as in the sentiment of your. Government.'"
With every attention due to the feelings. of the ,
people of the United States, I am sure you will rea.
dily allow that those feelings cannot properly be.
considered as affeeting the merits of the case. The
first•Obullitionss' of ". national sensibility" may very
naturally have eonsmdnicated an impulse to the pro,
ceedings of the Americtin government ;. but it can-
not be expelled they should guide the deliberate
opinions and condutt of the Geternmeut with
which which you have to treat. I would farther
observe. to you,, that . you Government cannot rea-
• sonably claim any advantage in argument 'from the
expressed sense of its own. people, unless it ix: pre-
pared to take upon itself a. responsibility (whichthere
is no desire of attributing to it) fur the outrage and
indecency with which, upoh the late occasion, that
expression has in too many instances been accotn-
nanied, It is, better for temporate reasoning, and
assuredly it is more advantageous for the -G,ovein •
went of the United States, that the'consideration of
the popular feeling should Wholly omitted io this
diseussioo.
The right anti the praCtice of which you a..e.
strutted to complain as irreconcilable with justice,
and intolerable in all their parts, have been exercis-
ed by Great Britein from the earliest ages of the Brt-
tisla. naval power even without any qualification or'
exception in favour of national ships ot-war.
The grounds upon which such a•distinalien has
been admitted in later times, and upon which, for
the conrse of nearly a century,, the crown has for-
borne to instruct t he Commanders of its strips of tears
to search foreign ships of war for deserters,. I have
already had the honour to explain to you.: and you
will have 'perceived that thosepounds are wholly in.-
applicable to thipain the merchant service.
That a foreign power will not knowingly retain
.
Inits national service mariners the natural born
subjects of his Majesty, who have•been recalled 4. '
public Proclamation, may be regarded as a presump.
tion arising out of the hostile natore of the 46t. and •
out of the probable conseiiiettCes to. which such, au
at of hostility niu.st lead-
But with reaped to ceerehistt verse s, there is no
such presuaTtion. Whin mariners, subjects of his
Majesty, are employed in the private service of fo-
reign individuals, wider private civil contracts, the
King% subjects, arid the foreieri individuals with
wham they contract to Serve, enter into engagements
inconsistent with the duty of his Majesty's subjects
. towards him but to those erizapnien,:s the Goveru-
mem of the t9reigtruation bas not made itself a par-
ty. in such cases the species 'of redress which the
pra&ice of all' times has admitted and sanctioned, is'
the taking those sobie'cis at sea out of the service Of
such foreign individuals, and re-calling them to rho
discharge of that previous and paratuount,duty which.
they owe to their Sovereign- and their Country.
That the exercise of this tiOt involves some of
the dearest interests of Great Biitaio, your Govern,
ment is ready to acknowledge, and has aecordiugbr
authorised.yon•to propose certain regulations, which
you apprehend would be equivalent it► their, etlid.
for the preservation of the. interests concerned.
There will be no indisposition here to entertain
at a proper tittle the discussion of such proposed re-.
gulations. But when you recollett.that many pro.:-
posals to this effed have already been found wholly
inadmissible ; when you have yourself recently had
occasion to experience the difficulty 'of framing any
satisfatlory arrangement upon the subject ; with all
the anxiety which. is properly felt by boas Govern-
atents for the speedy adjustment of the ditference
between theoi, and fur the " healing of that'deep
wound which you state to have been inflicted on the
national honour of the United States :" surely it is
not well advised to make the termination of that dif-
ference and, the healing of that wound dependent
wholly on the complete success of an attempt whiCh
has already been made so• often, and which has hi..
therto uniformly failed.
Your own reasoning spews that you are aware of •
the more than ordinary difficulty which must attend
'any arrangement for 'the prevention of desertioo be-
tween the two nations, whose similarity of manners...
and habits, and whose identity of languagc,inter.;•
pose so many impudiments..to the discrimination of
" national charaCter." ' \
.To these circumstances, and not (as you seem al-
most to insinuate) to any peculiar harshness towards
the .United States, it is owing, that the exercise of
this right, as with resped to them, is necessarily
more frequent than with respect to any other na-
tion, and is felt by them to be more rigid and vexa-
tious. Bat these circumstances cannot -furnish an
argument for the suspension of the exercise of the.
right with respeatio America, unless it be contend-
ed that multiplicity of frauds and difficulty of detee.
tion are reasons against suspicion, or motives for ac.
• quiescence.
. As little foundation is there for the complaint that
the pradiee • has grown out of the recognition of
American independence; and that the character of
'that eveut is affected by its continuance.
in
thatanrepeat
Gen pare operated' any change in that respek.l; un- 1
less it can be shown, that in acknowledging the
Government of the United States, Great Britain vir- ;
tually abdicated her own rights as a naval tamer •'
or unless there we're any express stipulations,

s rint PAPER,

RELAtIVE`TO AMERICA.

.The following is an Official Copy of the excellent
-Letter of Mr. secretary Canning to Mr. Munroe, of
which we wade only a slight minltion• in our Paper
of Tuesday. It is a document which we are ilr-
snacled will be read with plea tire, as containing
principles awl arguments every way congenial to Bri,
tishiteling and British spirit

SIR,

l'areign Office, Sept. 23.,.1807.

. . _ .
1 have laid before the King,.roy master, the letter
which I hail the honour to receive from you on the
iill of iliii R10:1111.

BetOie I proceed 'to observe upon that part of it
which, relates iuore immediately to the question now
at issue between our,two.Goi.ernments, I ant corn-
in the first instance, to express the sur-
prise which is telt at the total omission of a subjeot
upon which Y had already been conunavded to apply
to you tor intOrmation—the Ptoelatuatioh purported
to have been issued by the President of the United
Stares. Of this Paper, when last I addressed ?ou
upon it, you professed not to have any knowledge
beyond what' the ordinary channels of public in-

foitnation afforded, nor any authority to declare it
to be authentic. •

. I reel it an indispeuiible'duty to renew nay enqui-
ry on this subject. The • answer which I may
rec3ive from you is by no Means unimportant to
the settlernent of the' niscUssion which has arisen
from the encounter between the Leopard and
the Chesapeake. The whole of the question
arising out of that transa&ion, is in fact no,other
than a question,as to. the amount of leparation due
by his it for the unauthorized ait of his Offi-
cer : and yo,u Will, therefore, readily perceive, that
in so far a,ithb Government of the United States
have thought proper to take that reparation into
their own hands, and to resort to merkures of reta-

Nation, previously to any cliakt% application to the
British Government, or to the British Minister in
• America, for redresS; in so far the British Govern-.
ruetitis entitled to take such measures into account,
and to. consider them its, the estimate of reparation.
which is acknowledged to have been originally due.
The total evlusion of all ships of war belonging
to one of tub belligerent parties; while the. ships of
war of the other were protected by the harbotirs of
the neutral-Power, would furnish no light ground of
c,,mplaint abainst that neutral, if considered in any
other point of view than as a measure of retaliasion
for previous injury, and, so considered, it cannot
but be necessary to take it into account in the ad-
tistnient of the original dispute. , I am, therefore,
distitiCtly, to repeat the inquiry, whether you are now
enabled to declare, Sir, that the Proclamation is to
be considered as the ,authentic adt of your Govern-'
tnent and, if,so, lam further to inquire whether
yQu•are authorised to notify the-intention of lour
WI/eminent to withdraw that Proclamation on the
knowledge of his Majesty's disavowal of the.ad
which occasioned its publication

The light in which you are direded to represent
Mama' ilerlseley's conoud, and the delicription
which you gibe at the charader of .the measure Ito-
, pined to lout : that " headed us-it he had the power
_ to make war, and to decide'causes of war," suffi-
ciently evince the eecessay or comprehenditiz in
this diA:us4ion all the circumtances which have

led to, or have followed, the action with the
Cltasa-
peake.
Undoubtedly the •attack upon a national ship of
war is an act of hostility; and • the very essence of
the charge agiiinst Admiral lierkelexe a: you repre.
sent it, is the having taken upon himself to conunit
an aCt of nosiility without the previous authority of
his.Guverninent.

,The proyucittion which may. have led to such an

wiihotit such. previous authority, if it cannot.
may possibly extenuate it : as they steps
which have been taken in reprisal, though they can.,
not alter the character of the original act, may and.
do Mate:lady aired every question concerning the
reparation claimed for it, thi this ground it is, that
while I am commanded to repeat, to you (what you
consider` as so iatisfaaory), that the general and
unqualified pretension to search ships of war for de-
serters is not asserted by, this country, I am pre,
eluded trona concurring in the inference, that there-
fore " the national character of the men who were
violently taken from on board the Chesapeake
makes no part of the present question."
If the right to search ships of war for deserters is
not insisted upon by this country, it is not because
the employment and the detention of British mari-
ners on.board the national ships of any State are con-
sidered
as less injurious towards Great Britain than-
their employment on hoard of merchant vessels (a
proposition which would be manifestly absurd) -: it
is not intended to allow, that the sailors of Great
Britain.may be justly-employed against her consent,
in foreign ships of war; but merely that redress is,
in that
_ease, to he sought fir by Government from
Govermnent ; and not to be summarily enforced
by the unauthorized Officer of any ofhis Majesty's
ships of war. ' •
It follows from this reasoning, that not only the
" national character of the men *taken out of the
Chesapeake is matter fur con.licierationr,,but that the
reparation to be made by the British Governinent to
that ot. the United States, would depend, among
other circumstances, on tire question whether an'
a't, which the British Government would be justi-
fied in consi,:c:lng as an at of hostility, bad been
cOminit led by the GovernMent of the United States
(in ref Using to clisenaige British seamen in their na-
tional service) previously to the commission of an
ad of hostility.by an Officer of his Majesty.
The act of the British Officer would still be an
unauthorised aft, and as such liable to complaiatiand
disaperobatidn ; but the Case, as between Guvern-
mein and Government, would be ivaterially varied.
At the sane time that I offer to you tins explana.
, lion 61 the principles upon which his ..Majesty has
authorised me to discuss with you the subject or your
representation, and that I renew to yoti "the assur-
ance: of the disposition to condua that discussion in
the most amicable form, and to:bring it to a conclu-
sion satislattory to the honourand to the feelings of
both countries, it. is niattei of regret that you should
hive been instructed to annex to the demand for re-
paration for the attack of the Leopard upon the Che-
Lpyake's any pri.position whatever • respecting the

winch tli antient andliciutuptive usages of Grea
Britain, founded in the soundest pr.nc pies of natural
law, though still enforced against .the independent
-stations of the world, were to be suspeuded when-
ever they might come in collo& with the iuterests
or the feelings of the American people.
I would now recall your attention to the conside..
ration 'of the-question yespeditig the late transatlion
between the Leopard and the Chesapeake ;
till the receipt of your letter, I imagined to- be the
only question In discussion between us ;.
and in consideration ot the delicacy and pressing im-
portance of which, `we had, by! common consent,
waved the consideration of all other matters pending
between our two UovernmeOts. Into the discussion.
of. this question I am pr pared to enter ; with what
disposition, on the part of his Majesty's G.overnme6f,
to consult the- feelings and the' honour of the Go-
- vernment of the United States, it' is not necessary
for we here to declare, for you have yourself done
justice to the sincerity of that disposition.
The. difficulties in the way of such adjustment are
already smoothed, by the disavowal voluntarily offer-
ed, at the very outset of the discuSsion, of the gene-
ral ana unqualiaed pretension to search. ships of war
fordeserters. Them remained only to. ascertain the
fads of the particular case, and to proportion the re-,
prat ion to the wrong..
Is the British 'Government now to. understand,.
that you, Sir, are not authorised to- enter into this
question separately and distinctly, without having
obtained, as. a .pielitninary concession, the consent
of this country to enter into. discussion with respeCt
to the prak.tice of searching merchant vessfas for des
setters ? •

Whether nny arrangement cart be devised by which
Pis pratice may admit of modification, without pre-
judice to the essential rights And interests of Great.
.Britain, is a question which, as I have already said,
the tiritish government May, at a proper season, be
ready to entettain ;,but whether the consent of Great
liiritain w. the entering into such discussion shall be
extorted as the price. of an amicable adjustment, as.
the condition of being erdinittecl to make lionourablq
reparation tor ati injury, is a question of suite a (lit;
ferent.sort, and one which can be answered nclother
wise than by an unqualified refusal. I earnestly re-
commend to y Ott, therefore, to consider, whether the
instructions which you have received from your Go-
vernment may not leave you at liberty to come to an
adjustment of the ease of the Leopaid and the Che-
sapeake, independently of the other question with
which it appears to have been unnecessarily con-
nected. .

if your iustruiaians leave you no discretion, I can,:
not press you to act in contradiction to them. In
that case there can be no advantage in pursuing a
discussion which yoct are not authorised to.conclude;
and I shall have only to•regret that the disposition of
his Majesty to terminate thatditterence amicably and
satisfattorily is for the present tendered unayailing.
In that case bis Niajesty, in pursuance of the dis-
poiition of which be has giyen such sigtial proofs,
will lose no lime in sending a Minister to Atiterica,,
furnished with the necessary iinstructions and powers
for bringing t !.is unfortunate dispUte to-a conclusion,
consistent with du.; harmony subsisting between Great
Britain and the- United StRIS:3. Rut, in order to avoid
the inconvenience which has ariseil Cron) the mixed
thitureal your instructions, that. will
.taut. be
empowered to entertain, as comic:W:4 with 016 s,utx-
jea,, any proposition Nspetling ilia strcli ut. were
chant vessels..
It will, however, be far more satisfaCtory to his
Utjesty to• learn that, upon • re-consideration; yoa
think yourself authorised to separate the two tiaes
tions.

hope.you will allow me to express, at the same
time, the sincere pleasure winch- I should feel in
kaving to treat with .you, Sir, personally, for the. re-
establishment of a (,)od under.tanding between uur
two Countries.

I ilaVe the honour to be, with•the Laigheit con'
sitleraiion, your most obedient humble. Set rant,
(Signed)• Gr.ottoz CANNINLi.

POLICE.

Bow-STREET.—Ycsterdty, about one o'clock, a
marl of a respetlable appearance calred at the,
Clneen!ii Palace, and 'said, he wanted to see the
King. Being found to be insane; Alacmanus and
Toi,voshend, the ()Ulcers in attendance, took bun
into custody, and conveyed hinv before Mr. 11F.Ani
who. sent lb: the Officers of the Parish to.which be
biiilungs, to have him taken care 'of. He proves to
have bison deranged some y..:ar), and has, been 4tbr;
in custody, ,

At a late hour,, a few nights • since, as Richard
Lintherick, and another of the patrole, were passing
through Queen-street, Lincoln's-Inn-fields, tbey
observed three men standing at the door of a house
adjoining Mr. GRAHAAPSs the Magistrate ; they
went towards them to see what they were doing,
when two of theM ran off, and streded their escape ;
;iv/latent scuttle then took place bet Ween the other
man and the Officers, and they all got severely
wounded. The man would probably have . made
his escape, being. very strong sad powerful, had hot
a man happened to come up at the time, who as-
sisted in securing him. He proves to be a very
old and notorious housebreaker. On searching him
there were found two iron crows, a large one for
breaking open bureaus and drawers; a bunch of
pick-lock keys, some phosphorus, and a piece of
wax candle. He was examined before Mr. Rssoi
and committed for having implements of house-
breaking found' Upon him. ,He has been couvicited
of this offence betbre, and transported. His name
is Harry Gritfiths;

The apartments in K011141%10/I Palace, which have
been for some. time fitting up for the Princess of
AVALSS., are nearly completed : some of her Royal
Highness's servants
-have been at the Palace several
days, .making preparations for her reception. fler
Royal Highness is expecled to dress there on Sa-
turday, for court, on his MAJESTY'S Birth-day, and
to sleep there on that night.
A murdered infant was found. on Wodnesday, in
one of the fields leading. trotn Pancras to Ketnisli
Town, by 'two boys. Yesterday an Inquest was
held at the sign of the Duke of York public-house,
Somers Town, when a Verdid of Murder
w,as rut urned against some person unknown.

le.tt•eotpl, Bow-stiect;
LONDON s Printed by tem stlin HARRIS, of No. a, Ntart
404 publistic by WI Lt.:A 14 AR/410E4 Sc* t PPS, Sfitith Nlnht
At the SUN-OFPIcv No. it: Strand; whore drivettisemtvis r
O(CPS tor e, pow, I eitrn for the 4ditors B:c4 (Ptift-Pgd4l.l
.