The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-01-03 00:00:00

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I the.Utsited "haters would at once bide with that
power against the Whew which might continue its
.1•11;" "cry opinion which he entertained re.
speeting tee kst itsterests of his eountr , led him
to wish that a good underst suiting shordil take
place butweeti Great Britain and the Visited States,
and that lie thought that the obvious advantages
as [skit would thereby revolt to'. built coutitrias,
were a sufficient pledge of the sine. city of his lett-
titwaits.
These observations. sir, I beg leave to remark,
s' were made to me by Mr. Mattison, about a month
after the itstalligence hail been received in this
country of the rejection by his Alaj..aty 's Govern-
meta of the crui.osition made through Mr. Pink.
hey 11 the President, foe• aim removal of the
Emb 1140 a. respected Great upon con.
ditioa that the Orders in Coasted should be with.
drawn as resit( west the United St.oes ; -and his
at w intents were, AS I iunccrved, eapres.red to me,
ht order that 1 *night convey teem to his Majesty's
GUlt.rioni, tit, so 41 to lead to 4 reconsideration of
tl e ;imposition above meutioucd, u ith a view to
the at!jti.tmelit of the 'Hifi:retires upon th tt subject
het* veil the respee tire codintlies. But I never
considered that 11 r. Madison meant that the Go.
'eminent of the United Status would Wedge them-
selves beyond the proposition respeetiug the Ent.
bar4o, as above stated—b-cause that was the ex.
tent of the power of the President by the Consti-
tutiois of the Coiled Slat's.
I understood, very distinctly, that the observa..
Cons of the Secretary of State were intended to
convey all opinion as to what ought and would be
the course pursued by the United States, iii the
event of his Majesty's Orders iu Council being
withdrawn.
In these sentiments and opinions, you con-
cerred, as I collected from the _tenor of several
swayers flint's which I held with you at that period.
With respect to the second point, as stated in
your letter to be contained in a Dispatch from
Mr. Canning," Ibe leave to offer the following
explanation :
lu the course of a private interview I had with
Mr. Gallatin (the Secretary of the Treasury), he
intimated that the non-intercourse law which was
then likely to be passed by the Congress, might
be considered as removing two very important
grounds of difference with Great Britain, viz. the
non-impurlation act, as applicable to her alone,
and 4:,u the President's pro( Lunation, whereby the
ships of Great Britain were excluded from the ports
of the United States, while those' of France %%ere
permitted to enter—but that by the non-intercourse
law, both powers were placed ua the same touting.
Honk] not pretend to say that this measure had been
taken from any motives of concussion to Great
Britain ; but as, in fact, those cuitserpriaaces fol-
lowed, he conceived they might -betlionsidered as
removing the two great obstacle+ to sitanicilirtion.
• Ile adverted also to tl.e probability of an .ail-
justment of atwitter ion:•ortatit piriiit in dispute be.
' tweet' the two countries, as lirtaid lie knew that
it was intruded by the United States to abandon
the attempt to carry on 4 trade with the culue.its
of belligerents in time -of war, which was nut
allowed in time of peace, and to trust to the
bent; permitted by the French to carry on such
trade in peace, so as to entitle them to a continu-
ance of it in time of oar.
Agit maybe very material to ascertain what" trade
with the colonies of belligerents" was,in toy concep-
tion, meant by Nlr.Gallatin,as intended to be abase.
dotted by the United States,' feel no hesitation in de-
elatinz, that I supposed he alluded to the trade from
the colonies of belligerents direct to their another
country, or to the ports of other beliigerents, be.
cause the right to such trade hail been the point in
dispute ; whereas, the right to carry on a trade
front the colonies of b Iligerents to the United
States had nuwer been called in (position, and had
been (-vete:fused by his Nlajescy's Supreme Court
of Admiralty ; aid the tern., even upon which
such colutual produce might be re-expurted from
the United States had been formally arranged in a
treaty biped in Loudon by the Ministers Plenipn.
tentiary of both countries, which was not indeed
ratified by the President of the United States; but
was nut übj, cted to as to that article of it. which
settled the terms upon which such trade was to be
permitted.
. Such *as the substance, Sir, of the unofficial
conversations which I had held with Mr. MadiSon,
Mr. Gallatin, and yourself, which I did not con.
seder or represent to his Majesty's Goveitiment as
intended with any other view than to endeavour to
bring about the repeal of the Orders in Council,
by sheaving that many of the obstacles which had
stood iu the way of sass amicable adjustment of the
differences between the two countries werealready
removed, and that a faint prospect existed of set-
tling what remained; since the limited States bad
ethttrtted renetihina fon To resist nit 'unjust ag-
- gressiuns upon her neutral rights, which was ail that
Great Britain had ever rcq'.ired ; but I certainly
never received any assurances from the American I
government that they would pledge titentselves to
adopt the conditions specified in 11r. Canning's in.
struclions as preliminaries ; nor did I ever hold
out such an expectation to his Nlrjosty's Govern-
ment, having always stated to them that iu the
event of his Majesty's thinking it just or expedi.
cut to cause hie Orders in Council to be with. i
drawn, that the President would take off the ern-1
bargo as respected England, leaving it in opera-
tion aaaiast France the powers which adopted,"
or acted under her decrees, according to the an-
Thority which was vested in him at that time by
=he Congrea; of the United States, and that there
was every reason to expect that a satisfactory ar-
ratigement might he made upon the points of the
coluuial trade which had been so lung in dispute
between the two countries.
As to the third condition referred to by yon,
'peel:lei in Mr. Canning's insti-ectionc, have only
to remark, that I never held any conversation
with the Members of the Government of the
United States, relative to it, until my late nego-
ciation —or had ever mentioned the subject to his
Majesty's Gevernment—it having, for the firs('
time, b:•en pres:•nted to uty consideration in Mr.
Canning's dispatch to um of Bit of January,

THE STATES

iu which.that idea is suggested, and•is stated to
have been assented to by Mr. Pinkney..
It would belinasailiotc at the present moment to
enter upon an raamirsa•ion of the .44 prettits:oits
net forth if: Mr. Caistain4's letter of instructiotii."
w 11.164 you ars pleased to terns " extraordi-
nary,'.' .

. •
coocitier it, however, to be my .duty to de-
, 4 laic that, during my negociation with you which
led to the conclusion of AIL! provisional agreemwnt,
I found no reason to. believe that any difficulties
not I:! occur in the accomplishment of the two
former conditions, as far as it Was in the power or
the Pre+idont of the United Stites to accede to the
first, and consistently with the explain:lion whi7!:l
L have before given of the second point. On the
contrdry, I received assurances through you, that
the President would comply (as f.lr as it was in his
;Hitter) pith the first condition, and that there
cool Ibe nu doubt that the C.)11;411:f3 ()it'd think
it incumbent upon them to assert the rights of the
United States against such pm ers as should adopt.
or act finder the decrees of France as soon as their
actual cunduet or deternrinitions upon that Sub-
ject could be ascertained ; hot that, iii thu mean
time, the Pr,:sident had not Vie, power, and could
nut undertake to pledgehimself in the formal man-
ner required to that cifect.

I rcccivel also assurances from you that no
doubt could be reasonably entertained that a satis-
factory arrangement might be made in a treaty
upon the subject tit the second condition mentioned
;n Mr. Canning's ipstructions, according to my
explanation of i: in the foregoing part of this let.
ter, but that it necessarily would form an article
of a treaty in hich the various pretensions of the
two countries should be stinted.

the third conditiuti, you certainly very distinct.
ly informed the could not be, recognized by the
l'resalent ; but you added what had great weight
in my mind, that you aid not see why any great
importance should be attached to such a recogni-
tion ; because it would be impossible that a citizen
of the United States could prefer a complaint to his
Gov..rnment on account of the capture of his yes-
ad while engavd in a trade absolutely interdicted
by the laws of his country.
Under these circumstances, therefore, finding
that I could nut obtain the recognitions specified
in Mr. Canning's dispatch of the 231 t.f January
formed but one part of I.is instructions to
me) in the formal manlier required, I considered
that it would be in vain to lay before the Govern_
mental the United States the dispatch in question,
ill WA. was at libertg to have done in extenso,
had I. thought proper. But as I had such strung
grounds for believing that the object of his Ma-
josty's Government could be attained, though in'
a different manner, aad the spirit, at least, of my
several letters of instructions be fully complied
with, I kit a thorough conviction upon my mind
that I should be acting in conformity with his
Maj..sly's wishes ; and, accordingly, concluded
the late provisional agreement on his Majesty's be-
half with the Government of the United States.

disavowal by his Majes•y is a painful proof
to me, that I had formed an erroneous judgment
4;f hi. iilaj:•sty's vieus ana the intention of tny
instructions; and I have most severely to lament,
that au act of mine (though uninttu.tinnally)
situ:►ld produce any embarrassments in the relations•
belt% cot the two countries.

It is a great consolation tome, however, to per-
ceive that measures have been adopted by both
Governments to prevent any losses, and to obviate
any incoi.veniencies which might have arisen to the
citizens or subjects of either country from a re-
liance un the fulfilment of that provisional agree-
ment; and I cannot bat, cherish a hope, that a
complete and cordial understant:ing between the
two countries may be effected.
I beg leave to add, that it would have given me
greatihappiness to have contribute(' to so desirable
an ()Vet, and to off :r you the assurances of the
great respect and high consideration with which 1
remain, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
D. M. ERS6INE.
The Hun. R. Smith, &c. &c. &C. 71*-
TIIE SECEETARY TREASURT kb.

ERININ
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