The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-05-10

TO believe that satisfactory arranEcment
may be obtained Of many ofthe great points,
and an admissible one of the inferior, that
nevertheless nothing has been concluded on,
any point, and an insurmountahie difficulty
has occurred on one which is deservedly con-
|sidered of the 6rst Importance to our coun;
try. S -.
The opportunity by which we propose to
forward this communication, is, so pressing
as totime, that we fear we shall not be abe
to give you all the details which have attend
ed the negotiation, since. the nth of Sep
TENDER. We shall, however, endcavour to
comprise in it every circrmstance which
may be necessary to convey a just idea of
its present state and prob BILE result, =. -
You were apprized by our last of the de-
lay to which we had been previously expo
sed by the indsposition of Mr.. Fox. 1t hap
pened unfortunately that the same cause
subjected MS afterwards to much interrupt
on in the prosecution of the business, which
was finally suspended altogether, for seve-
raj weeks, by his Death. We add, however,
with pleasure, thatswc experienced no de-
lay on accoiint of Mr.. Fox's indisposition,
which did not appear to us, in considerati
on Of all circumstances, to be natural and
reasonable; that the business was resumed
BY the British commissioners as soon after
his death, and intermcEt, as suitable res
lpect for his memory would permit ard
that it has been pursued by them since in a
| manner to evince an evident desire on their
part to bring it to speedy conclusion.
Our attention was naturally drawn, from
the commencemept Of the negotiation, to it's
principle objects, the impressment of our
seamen and the trade with enemies colonies,
the former of which presented the most Sc
rious difficulties with this government. AS
we knew that the tranquility of our country,
if not its peace, was essentially connected
with a suitable provision for this great in
terest, it seemed useless to proceed to those
of minor consideration, till it should be sa-
tisfactorily disposed of. Hence tie greater
portion of our time and labor has been bes-
tcwed IN our several conferences CT this lat
ter topic. We have said every thing that
we could in support Of our claim, that the
flag should protect the crew, which we have
commended was founded in unquestionablc
right, whose enjoyment it was indispensa-
BILE to secure, by an unqualified and positive
stipu' alton in its favor, We have also pro-
posed in spirit of accommodation, every
suitable expedient that we could devise, con-
sstent with that principle, to obviate the in
Iconveniences which it was urged on the o.
| Their side were likely to result from its adj
| mission. But all our efforts have SO far pro-
we'd Intellectual. The right was denied by
the British commissioners, who asserted that
| OF their government, to seize its subjects on
board neutral merchant vessels on the high
| seas, and who also'urged that the relinquish-
ment of it at this time, would go far to the O.
vcrthrow oftheir naval power, on which the
safety of the state essentially depended. At
one time, ard that very recently, there was
prospect of an agreement, on conditions
which appeared to be just and fair between
the parties, but that seems now to have COM
psetely vanished, 1t was urged by the Bri-
fish commissioners, that the proposition
which we had made, to give the aid of the
local authorities of the United States, to ap
prehend and restore deserters from their
vessels, as an inducemsnt for their govern
ment to acknowledge the right which we con-
tended tor, in favor of the vessels of the Uni
ted States on the high seas. did not furnish
a complete remedy for the evil complained of
| 1t did not follow, they observed, that such
deserters would in all, or even most cases
retire into the country; they might, on the
contrary, go on board an American vessel
which might put Immediately TO sea, where
our flag would protect them that such de-
sertions might also take place in neutral
port, and be attended with like conseouen-
ces. They were therefore DESTROYS that we
should stipulate, that a law should be pas
sed by the Congress, Ito be of course reci-
procaD which should N Ike it penal for the
commanders of American vessels to take de-
serters from those of Great Britain under
ynch circumstances, they being British sub
jects, and likewise to make it the duty of
our government to restore them on their ar
rival IN the United States, on suitable APP
plication, and due proof being made of their
persons. We agreed to provide remedy
for this presumptive evil. They then OBJ
served that the term "deserters' was too
limited, according to their law, to compTe-
bend those who might leave their merchant
vessels; that it would apply only to such as
left their ships of war; they therefore pro-
posed that we should enlarge its import by
adding the following terms, sea-faring
people quitting their service" to which we
also agreed, taking care, however, by conf
ming their operation always to the case of
real descrtion from some vessel, not to give
them greater range in the sense of our law
than we had at first intended. To our ORR
ginal project, thus amended, the British COM
missioners seemed to give their assent they
agreed expressly to propose an article to the
cabinet to that effect, from which circum-
stance, and from what had previously occur
redin our conferences, we were led to con-
clude that they would also support it. To
give the cabinet full time for deiberation on
the subject, our next meeting was postpo-