The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-04-05

majesty has authorised me to discuss will
you the subject of your representation, and
that Irenew to you the assurances of the dis.
position TO conduct that discussion in the
most amicable form, and to bring it to con-
clAsion satisfactory to the honor and to the
feelings OF both countries it is matter OF
| regret that you should have been instructed
to annex to the demand of PREPARATION for
the attack of the Leopard upon the Chesa-
peake, any proposition whatever respecting
the search for British seamen in merchant
vessels; subject which is wholly uncon-
nected with the case of the Leopard and
the Chesapeake, and which can only tend to
comp!icate and embarrass n discussion, in
itself of sufficient delicacy and Importance.
In stating the grounds upon which your
government expect with confidence that
- the whole subject of impressment shall
'be taken up at this time" and that in
making the PREPARATION which is claimed for
the particular injury alledged to have been
sustained by the U. States, in the late un-
fortunate transactio noff the Capes of Virgil
ma, "a remedy shall be provided for the
whole evil, you appear to have been directed
to assume, that this act of violence fsuch as
you describe it, is the natural and almost
necessary result of the practice of impress
ment OF British seamen from merchant YES
sells OF other states and to represent the
particular transaction and the general oues-
ton OF impressment, as e identified in the
feelings and sympathies of your nation, as
well as in the sentiment of your govern
ment."
With every attention due to the feelings
OF the people of the United States, I am
sure you will readily all ~ that those feel
lnSs cannot properly be considered as affect
ing the merits of the case
The first ebullitions of national sensibli-
ty may very naturally have communicated
an impulse to the proceedings of the Anne
rican government; but it cannot be expect
ed, that they should guide the deliberate o.
plnions and conduct of the government with
Which you have &c treat. / would farther
observe &c you, that your government cannot
reasonably claim any advantage in arcu-
ment from the expressed sense of its own
people, unless it be prepared at the same
time to take upon itself responsibility
lwslch there is no desire Of attributine toit)
FOR the outrage and indecency, with which
upon the late occasion, that expire ssion has
IN too many instances been accompanied. It
is better for temperate reasoning, and as
surediy 1t is more advantageous for the GO
vernment of the u. States, that the consi-
deration OF popular feeling should be wholly
omitted in this discussion.
he right and the practice of which YOU
with justice, and intolerable in all their
parts, have been exercised by Great-Britain
from the earliest ages of the British naval
power, even without any qualification or ex-
oeption in favor of national ships of war.
ahe grounds upon which such distinc-
ton has been admitted in later times, and
upon which, for the course of nearly a CEN
tury, tho crown has forborne to instruct the
commanders of its ships of war, to search
t(lr o. IN rs &.
ready had the honor to explain to you:-
And you will have perceived, that those
grounds are wholly inapplicablc to ships in
the merchant service.
mat foreign power will not knowing
~, retain IN its national service, mariners,
the natural born subjects of his majesty, who
have been recalled by public proolama-
ton, may be regarded as presumption e.
rising out of the hostile nature of the act
and out OF the probable consequences to which
such An act of hostility must lead
But with respect to merchant vessels,
there is no such presumption.
When mariners, subjects of his majesty,
are employed in the private service of 70
reign individuals, under private civil con-
tracts, the kings subjects, and the foreign
individuals with whom they serve, enter in
TO engagements inconsistent with the duty
OF his maJesty's subjects towards him but
TO those engagements the government of the
foreign nation has not made itself party.
In such cases, the species of redress which
the practice Of all times has admitted and
sanctioned, is that of taking those subjects
at sea. out of the service Of such foreign in
dividua's; and recalling them to the dis
charge OF that previous and paramount du-
ty WHICH they owe to their sovereign and to
their country.
That the exercise of this right involves
some OF the dearest interests of Great Bri-
tam, your government is ready to acknow-
ledge, and has accordingly authorised you
to propose certain regulations, which you
apprehend would be equivalent in their eff
feet for the preservation of the interests
concerned.
There will ne no indisposition here to en-
tertan, at proper time the discussion of
such proposed regulations. But when you
rccoicct that many proposals to this effect
have already been brought forward, and have
been found wholly inadmissible when you
have, yourself, had recently occasion to expert
cnce the difficulty OF framing any gatisfacto-
ry arrangement upon the subject; with ali
the anxiety which is properly felt by both
governments for the speedy adjustment Of
the difference between them, and for the
"healing of that deep wound which YOU
state to have been inflicted on the nation
" al honor Of the u. States :" surely it is not
wcll-adviscd to make the termination of that
difference, and the healing that wound, de-
I,...N Ill. Al. &