Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-03-16

yious before tnaI Lucy iooAeo
= tended duty upon cotton, as comPle,e
nrohibition--.-he said that it it woulu
be more acceptable to the y. States
hot the form Of the proceeding should be
.ba,ged so as to leave the exclusion OF cot
tan tom the continent 10 the mere effect OF
the blockade, their desire to consult the feeA-
;nes and wishes, in whateves did not entire
" counteract the great end OF the measure
would dispose them to adopt such a modi-
6cat;on of their plan. In the course OF his
esnlanations upon this point he introduced
nrafessions of good will towards our coun-
~ &c regret that France had imposed up
On Them the necessity of resorting to a step
which might be supposed to press with Sc
ve,;tv upon our interests, and OF an ANXIOUS
desire that a return to a system OF equity
and moderation on the part ct hel enemies,
would speedily enable Great Britain to a
bandon Gas she would in that case certainly
ao) the whole Of the recent orders IN cotn-
Gil. He stated that it was peculiarly IN
portant towards the first effect OF the orders
lof which it was the object to compel
France to relieve the commerce OF the
world from the oppression OF her late de-
crees) that considerable supplies OF Gotten
should net be introduced into the continent
that it had been hoped and believed that
the United States would not receiEe harsh
or unfriendly, a constrained attempt by y.
Britain 10 prevent such supplies from beng
received BY the other parties to the Wal, es-
| p~ecially as'it was certain that Great Britain
| could herself consume the whole OF the cot
| ton which we were in the habit OF sending
abroad, ard that they had preferred the I'M
| position of a duty upon cotton to 3 direct
| prohibition through the operation Of the
blockade, because it was consistent wltn
| those various and extensive notifications OF
the blockade to which they had been led,
not merely by views OF advantage to them
selves, but by respect for the convenience
and feelings Of other nations, and rartlcu-
larry Of America. In fine, he wished to
know my private opinion, before the sub
iect came before the parliament, whether an
alteration iii this respect from a prohlbitory
duty to an absolute interdict, would b5GSe-
~ to be acceptable to Us. replied N as
conciliatory a manner as | could, that as
| soon rs I had understood that a duty was to
be proposed on r~e-exported cotton, 1 had
been disposed to take for granted that the
object was not revenue cut prohibition,
That whether the object were the one
or the other, it was, as he knew, my o'ialon
that the u. S. would hold that object IS
we'll as the means aid the whole system
connected with them, to be utterly i]n.Alals-
sable, and that did ~notieel myself aljho-
1ised 10 say, to which of the causes he had
suggested, nay government would give the
preference, or that it would feel any prefer
cace for either. Mr.. c. at length asked
me, if | should think it worth while to con-
I suit my government on this subject, observ
ing at the same time, that he would not 7vish
al 10 be dane y there zyas the Aest danger of
S70ing s8ence, Gnd assuring me Mat z2hat he
said, PROCEEDED from notires the mast aaica-
hs and respectful towsras as. lie added,
that upon reflection this would be the most
convenient mode, as it would now give
them a good deal Of trouble to sccommo-
date their plan, as prepared for parliament,
to a change Of SO much importance in sea-
son to be acted upon.
" | answered in substance Cas- I saw i,
was his wish) that 1 could mention whal
had passed to you. And that did not
doubt, that the motives OF his proposal,
whatever might be though. Of the proposal
itself, woald be accePtabie TO the president.
He requested NE to say to you, that al>ho'
the necessary bills would be proposed, and
would pass in Parliament, according to lhrir
first prof ct of a duty, yet that the altera-
ton above suggested, would BE adopted
whenever it should be known that it would
be agreeable TO us.
| must not trouble you with any reAec-
tiors nnon this Conversation. but ii is my