Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-06-20
CORRESPONDENCE.
q &c Orders pa ColtncW. J

) al Highness the Prince Regent, that the or
ders in council will be and are absolutely re-
voked from the period when the Berlin and
Milan DEGREES shall, by some authentic act of
the French government, publicly promulgat-
cd, be expressly and Internationally repealed.
a considerable time has now elapsed since by
order of my government had the honor OF
Urging to you the expediency of procuring
such an authentic act from the French govern
ment, and in all probability the above decla-
ration may have been issued in the confident
expectation that the government of the Unit
cd States would have been able to produce it
ere this.
AT all events, sir, considering the important
nature of the above mentioned article and the
probability that / shall have soon to be the or
gan of some official communication to the A
mericau government in relation to it, cannot
but trust thai no measure will meanwhile be
adopted by the Congress, which would defeat
the endeavor of procuring complete recon
citation between our two countries.
Should any eIpbamassments arise in conse-
quenCe of the declaration onthe subject of the
proposed revocation Of the orders in council,
above alluded TO, resting at present upon a
mere statement In the newspapers, IT will no
doubt occur to your recollection, that on the
enactment ofthose orders measure was taken
by Congress fer the purpese of meeting them
when they were as yet known but through
the public prints.
have the honor TO be, Sc.
(Signed) AUG. ]. FOSTER.
Mr.. FoS7'ER 10 IR. MONROE.
Washington, Jane 4, 1912.
SlR-I must rely upon your candor to feel
for the embarrassment into which your note Of
this day has thrown ne.
Willingto comply with the request contain
ed in it, ! yet cannot but be sensible that in
making any portion of dispatch from his ma
jesty's secretary of state to me the subject of
a correspondence between Us, should not be
justified to my own government / believe
there is no example Of a correspondence of
such nature, and should be very 10th 10 es-
tablish precedent.
When Ihad the honor to make the commu-
nication Of lord Castlereagh's dispatch TO you
in consequence of It's being left to my own dis
erection to do SO, did it because had reason
to think, from the number of my letters which
then remained unanswered at your office, such
communication, if made through note,
might have shared the fate of the rest. You
will recoliect that it was at your own request
that acceded to the dispatch being commu-
nicated to the president: and that 1t was also
ct your instance, as being the only regular
way III which the subject could come before
the American government, that determined
towrite to you note founded upon 1t, You
were aware at the latter end of last week,
that such was my determination, which re-
peated to you through Mr.. Graham who cal
led upon me on the 3oth ultimo, TO ask me
when contemplated sending it To your office.
The note must hare reached you and been
read before any message could have been sent
from the executive to congress.
cannot, SIT, consider my note as liable to
the charge of ambiguity Which you nowlmpute
to it. The abandonment of our most import
ant maritime rights is more extensively than
ever connee.edby France WITH the demand OF
a repeal of our orders In council, and while
YOU are entirely silent as TO how far America
concurs with her on this point of vital interest
to Great Britain, without even prospect of a
reply from YOU TO our just complaints, as ex-
pressed IN my note on the coincidence of the
attitude taken bv America with the hostile sys-
tenn of France, | caonot bnt beware of the diff
fcultiss to which | should expose myself In
entering into an explanation on any insulated
passage init. ! might. perhaps, By continued
silence on your part. never afterwards have an
opportunity Of making further explanation,