The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-12-19

o. ueuo"s, ds tne Sr0uhu work OF an ar
rangemeH which, according to information
IN England might be made. with prospect
OF great mutual advantage. Mr.. Erskine
then reports verbatim ct seriasins your OBJ
servations upon each of the three conditions,
ana the reasons which induced you to think
that others might be substituted in lieu Of
them. 1t may have been concluded between
| you that these latter were an equivalent for
the original conditions but the very act of
substitution evidently shews that those orr
ginai conditions were intact very explicitly
communicased to you, and by you of course
| iaia before the President for his considera
ton. need hardly add, that the difference
between these conditions and those contai
ed In the arrangement of the 18th aud 1911.
lot April. is sufficiently obvious to REQUIRE no
eiucidation nor need I draw the conclusion,
which consider az admitted by all absence
oi complaint on the part of the American
government, viz that under sucI, circu,n-
stances his majesty had an undoubted and
incontrovertible right to disavow the act OF
AIS minister. / must here alludc to a SUP.
position. which you more. than once menti-
| oned to me, and by which, if it had any the
slightest foundation, this right might per.
maps nave been in some degree affected
You have Informed me that you understood
Il ~.
by which to regulate his conduct and that
upon one OF them. which had net been COM
municated either to you or to the public,
was tobe rested the justification of the terms
hnaliy agreed upon between you and him-
Ii Is my duty, Sir; solemDiy to declare to
you, and shro' you, to the President, that,the
despatch from Mr.. Canning to Mr.. Tirskine,
which you have made the basis of an official
correspondence with the latter minister,
and which was read by the former to the A .
merlcan ministerin London, is the only des
Patch oy which the conditions we're prescri
bad to Mr.. Erskine for the conclusion of an
arrangement with this country On the matter
to which it relates"
| Permit me, sir; to call your attention to
the first paragraph of this quotation in the
following words-Addressing himself to Mr..
Smith. MIR. Jackson says.
! You have not in the conferences, we
have hitherto held, distinctly anncuncs ed anv
snch complaint, and have seen with plea
sure, IN this forsearance, on your part, an
instance OF that candor, which doubt nor.
will prevail in all our communications, in
asmuch as you could nor bur have thoupht
if unreasonable to COMPLAIN ,ofthe disavozu-
al 81 an act, done ander such circun,stan.
ces. as could only. lead to the consequences
fhathave actually Followed"
First, let me ask, Mr.. President, what
| were the consequences that actually followed
this acts The obvious answer is, the d.sa
vowal ofit. Who is it that must have fho't
1t unreasonable to complain of this disavow
al! The answer is. Mr.. Smith, Secretary
OF State. What are here suggested, as the
materials for his thinking or upon which his
thoughts must have been exercised? The
answer is, the circumstances under which
the act zuas done.
! Mr. Smith then must have had a know
Hedge OF these circumstances, upon which
lie exercised his houShts-hecause it is Inn
possible to exercise thoughts, or perform
the act OF thinking upon circumstances,
without the knowledge Of those circumssan-
ces What must have been the Character
OF such circumstances as could o,,ly lead to
the d!savowai OF the act done under theml
Could IL have been fair Could il have
been honorable Certainly not-because
an act done under circumstances, the chcrac
ter OF which was fair and honorable. might
merit better destiny, than an unqualified
| dlsavowal; but this act was done under such
circumstances within the knowledge of Mr..
Smith as could only lead to a disavowaI of il
| ne character OF such circumstances must
then have been dishonorable and scandal
ious, or certainly some better fate, than a
dlsavowal OF the act under them, might have
I IT,
says, NO better fate could attend the act :.
the circumstances were such as could oniu
| lead to disavowal. Now, sir, after thus
stripping this extraordinary sentence of all
its DISCUSSES, and transIating il into plain
English to what does it amount VVbv
| sir, certainly and unGuestionably to this -
You, MIR. Smith, Secretary of State of the
u. States, have entered into an ARRANGE.
ment with my predecessor, Mr.. Erskine
| under such scandalous and dsIonorable cir
cumstances, as could only lead to disavow-
al OF it; and you yourself were so we'll an
| priced OF them, and SO conscious of their in /.
eVitabie operation, as even to think it unrea
sonable to complain of the cisavowal. I de-
~ gentlemen to give to this offensive para
graph any other fair and correct nterDreta.
ton and ii this be the fair ard correct one
can you conceive, sir, of an insult more ont-
rageous and premeditated And will YOU
not be surprised, sir, to be told. that the
insult does not stop here! That a, ofFen-
sIye as It already appears, it does nor ston
here that 1T is still further aggravated.
Yes, sir, Mr. Jackson, not content with
making this extraordinary and insolcpt con,
munication in its ordinary form, underscorc.
the words "could only containing the he;ul
on git of the insult : thus aggravating the
act either Ivy the distrust thus mamie sted
OF .'Ir. Smiths mental perceptions. or bv
letting MIR Smith know, that the insult was
known TO, and Intentionally gwen by Mr.
jackson for the understanding could no. have
had gay other object in view.
In this inpudent act of underssorins
1 In gcC $50, a. -.