The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-12-05

uoeS not exist IN the annals OF diplomacy q
precedent for such determination between
two Ministers. who have met for the avow-
ed purpose of terminating amicah,y the eX
listing differences between their respective
countries: but, after mature reflection,
am induced L. acQuiesce in it BY the recol,
lection ct the time that must necessarily e.
lapse before / can receive His Majesty's
commands upon so unexpected an occur
| rcHce, and of the detriment that would en-.
sue to the public service, il my ministerial
functions were. in the interval. To be alto
gether suspended. / shall therefore content
myself with entering my protest against a
proceeding which can consider i'm no other
| light, than as a violation, in my person. of
the most essential rights of public minister
when adopted, as in the present case, with,
out any alletged misconduct on his part
As matter ct opinion, cannot, own, as
sent to the preference which on give to writ
ten over verbal intercourse for the purpose
OF mutual explanation and accommodation
have thought it due to the public charac
ter with which have the homer to be inves-
ted, and to the confidence which Ills Mics
sy has most graciously been pleased TO re-
pose IN me, to state to you unreservcdly my
sentiments on this point. / shall now pro
ceed TO the other parts Of your letter, and
| apply to them the best ccnslde ration that
can arise from zeal propOrtioned to The in
crease OF difficulty thus thrown IN the way tf
the restoration of thorough good unte,
| standing between our respective countries.
You state, sir, very truly, that an arrange
ment had been made between YOU and Mr..
Erskine, and that His Majesty had thought
proper to disavow that arrangement.
have, here in the outset, TO regret the
loss OF the advantage of verbal interccu, Sc
Lob l., .
tito enquire whether by your statement it
were your intention to complain of the dis
avowal itself, or of total wan. of explana-
ton Of it, or ofthc circumstance of that ex
PLANTATION not having been made through me.
| observe that In the records of this mission
there is no trace of complaint, on the part
OF the United States, of His Majesty having
disavowed the act of his Minister. You have
not IN the conferences we have hitherto held
dsunctiy announced any such complaint.
and have seen, with pleasure, in this for
oearance, on yeur part, an instance of that
candor, which | doubt not will prevail in all
| our communications, in as much as Won
couid not but have thought it unreasonable
To complain OF the disavowal of an act. done
under such circumstances, as could ony,,
,eao 10 the consequences that have actually
| followed.
| L
whether Mr. Erskne had, according to the
liberty allowed him, communicated to Won
IN erfenso his original Instructions. 1t now
| appears thai he did not. But, in revertinp
10 MS ohciai correspondence, and particu
iarly to dispatch addressed on the Goth of
April to His Majes,y's Secretary of state
Tor Foreign Affairs, 1 find that he there
states, that he had submitted to your cons;
Iteration, the three conditions speci6ed :,
those instructions. as the ground work of an
arrangement which, according to informa
ton received from this country, twas tho't
| In England might be made, with prosn.ct
OF great mutual advantage. Mr.. Erskine
theh reports Uer6aHm et seriatin, your OBJ
servations upon each of the three conditions
! and the reasons which induced YOU to think
that others might be substituted in lien of
them. 1t may have been concluded between
you that these latter were an equivalent fo,,
the original conditions; but the very act of
substitution evidently shews that those ori
ginal conditions were, in fact, very explicit
~ communicated TO you, and by yeu of course
laid before the President for his consider.-
ten. need hardly add, that the difference
between these conditions and ,hosA COW
tanned in the arrangement of the 18th and
18Th April, is sufficiently obvious to require
no elucldation; nor need draw the conclu.
sion, which l consular as admitted bv all,
absence OF complaint. on the part of the A !.
"ierican government, viz. that under such
circumstances, His Majesty had an undoubt
ed and Incontrovertible right to dsavow the
act OF ms Minister | must here allude tn
superstition, which you have more than
once mentioned to me, and by which. if il
had any the slightest foundation, the RIGHT
might perhaps have been in some degree
affected. You have informed me that Won
understood that Mr.. Erskine had two sets
Of instructions, by which toregulate his con.
QUOT and that upon one of them, which had
sot been communicated either to you or To
lie public, was to be rested the iustifca-
ton OF the terms finally agreed upon he
tween YOU and him. 1t is my duty, Sir So
lemnly to declare to you, and. through Won
to the President, that the dispatch from Mr..
Canning to Mr.. ErskiRe. which You have
made the basis OF an official correspondence
Win the latter Minister and which was read
Dy the former to the American Minister in
London, is the only dispatch, by which the
conditions were prescribed to Mr.. Erskine
Tor the conclusion OF an arrangement with
TINS country OH the matter to which il re
lates.
10 return to the immediate subject of
your letter. If, sir, it be your intention to
state, that no explanation whatever ha been
given to the American government Of the
reasons which induced His Majesty tn diea-
vow the act of my predecessor, must. in
that case, observe, that in the Instructions
conveying to him His Maiesty's intention.
those reasons were very fully and forciblv
stated and 1t he has not transmitted them
TO yon, can only attribute it to the peculiar
deIcacy and embarrassment of his situation
Tor which he probably trusted to the Presi.
dents goodness to make some allowance
and he might the more reasonable he Iod to