Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1810-01-25
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THE DIPLOMATIC POLICY OF.
Mr.. MADISON UNVEILED. d
NO.-VIiI. -.-.. !:
Air. Smith, efeassive insinuatio,ss and irri
Eating language to Mr. Jackson.
We have shewn, that neither the original
charge Of insult, preferred against MIR.
Jackson;Ein The note, by which his func:
tons were suspended nor the nilds- and
corrected explanation, of THAI charge, IN
the letter from Mr.. Smith 70 Mr.. Pinkney,
can be supported by any fair construction OF
Mr.. Jackson's letters. What, then. is the
result Why, that the certainty of a con.
tinuance of state of irritation and danger,
and the possibility of the horrible ealami.
ties Of war, are to be endured by the pes-
pie of the United States, on account OF an
imaginary insult, OF such extreme tenuitv,
ofsuch an imperceptible & intangible form,
that it requires all the sophistry of Mr..
Gilss, in speech of twenty pages, to pre-.
sent a faint aud feeble picture of it. An
Insult of SO subtle aud changeable nature,
that every man who would poin. i. out, va.
ries in the selection Of the offensive pas
sage, and in the construction Of the parts
selected.
Who are thetmen, who would thus ir,-
Game the nation to mortal hatred and in
extinguishable rage /! Are ,hsy the same
persons, who, in a moment of pretended
reconciliation, told his Britannia majesty,
that his Offer Of reparation for the Chesa-
peake did nos compors rcith his honor or
dignity , Or are we to be hurried on to
our ruin, under the belief, that ..e,sibtEty
and rights are all on Jour side, and that
while the soyereigx of another nation shall
not even look 0uDry at Us, we may, with
out ogence, impcach his good faith, and
question his honor
Let Us endeavor, for the first time, to-
wards Great Britain, to adopt the golden
rule Of Christianity, which, if i. be not re-.
;specsed as an authority in our cabinet, it is
hoped, has yet some influence with the So
Der and religious part Of our people and
while We are counting a war, on account Of
pretended insults, in the letters Of Mr..
Jackson, let Us see whether the language
of Mr.. Smith be wholly faithless--in short,
whether it be unnecessarily afrontve.
The correspondence, in the late case, was
opened by MIR. Smith, by his letter of the
9th of October, and we doubt whether SO
abrupt, so rude and offensive note can be
found in the whole annals of diplomacy, if
we except the uniform tenor Of the French
correspondence with as.
This letter is in the nature Of a manifesto,
rather than of friendly enquiry. 1t charg-
g. Great Britain with psrGdy-it declares,
by anticipation, that she hadno apology for
lit alledges. that she had made no expla-
nations Of her conduct, but that she had
accompanied this neglect by new and insult
ing pretensions. 1t goes further--is speci-
6es those pretens;ons, though, as we shall
hereafter Shew, they had been absolutely
denied by the British E.inister, in previous
conversations, and in fact, no such propo.
sisious have ever been suggested by him.
After all thess charges, - unqualified, un-
measured and indecorous in their language
as they turn out to &c unfouaded in poin.
Of fact, the common rules of diplomacy
would have required that MI. Smith should
have concluded, which he did not, with
some expressions of condolences in the dis.
position Of his Britann'c majesty to recon.
Gle his conduct with good faith and with
the principles of Justice. These Profes.
Sions, insincere enough to be sure, are a
species Of counterfeit coins, of little or no
intrinsic value, but which usage has rem.
dered. an Indispensable medium Of diploma.
tie Intercourse. knd who ought more scru.
pulsssly 70 adhere to the use Of them, than
>ous inaxamabls rulers, who San calmly ha.
xaiR che existence of nation, for a sup.
psEed failure Of etiquette? :
HAMr. Jackson had replied to this le.se,
ofMr. Smith (whieh,ws must recollecs
was the commencement OF the correspond:
snee) |" that, the temper in which Mr.
Smiths letter was coneeisss, too mueh re-
senbled che aasyecisSs tsne in which Mr.
Eskiae's arrangement was expressed, to
leays any hope Of ssrsss from the prosras: