Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1812-06-18
MR.. FosrzR 10 MIR Mo NRoE.
Washington, June an, IS

VHS1tHStON, June am, 1917.
SIR-I must rely upon your candor to feel
! tor the embarrassment into which your note
| OF this day has thrown me.
Willing to comply with the request con-
| tanned in it, / yet cannot but be sensible that
| in making any portion of despatch from his
Majesty's Secretary of State 70 me the sub
ject of a correspondence betweenus, should
| not be justified to my own government. l
believe there is no example OF a correspon-
| dence OF such nature, and should be We
| ry 10th TO establish the precedent.
When / had the honor to make the COM
nsanication of Lord Castlereagh's despatch
to you, in consequence of its being left To my
| own discretion to do so, l did itbecause had
/ reason to think, from the numter OF my let
| tiers which then remained uil. rsNered 1T
| your Office, such communicated, if made
through a note, might have shared the fate
| of the rest You will rccollect that it was
| at your own request that l acceded to the
despatch being communicated to the Presi-
| dent: and that it was also at your instance
as being the only regular way in which the
subject could come before the American go
| vernmcnt, that determined to write to you
nste founded upon it. You were a.
ware at the latter end of last week, that
such was my determination, which repeat
ed to you through Mr.. Graham who called
upon me on the 3oth ultimo, II ask me when
L contemplated sending toyour Office. The
| note mast have reached you and been read
| before any message could have been sent
from the Executive to Congress.
| l cannot, sir, consider nv note as liable to
the charge of ambiguity which you now inn
| pute to II. The abandonment Of our most
| important maritime rights is more extern
sively than ever connected by France with
| the demand of a repeal of our orders in
| council, and while you are entirely silent rs
| to how far America concurs with her on this
point of vital interest to Great-Britain, with
out even u prospect of reply from you to
| our just complaints, as expressed in my note
on the coincidence of tire attitude taken by
! America with the hostile system of France,
l cannot bul be aware of the difficulties to
| which | should expose myself in entering
| into an explanation on any insulated passage
| Ill it. | might, perhaps, by continued silence
| on your part, never afterwards have an op-
portunity of making further explanation, and
You are well aH are how frequently points Ia
ken unconnected with what precedes or fol-
lows them are liable to misconstruction.
But, sir, reason paramount to every o.
| Their, for my not committing myself to any
| explanation on any single topic, without the
discussion between us were to be continued,
| is the publication OF the highly important de
claration of his Royal Highness, the Prince
Regent, to which had the honor to allude
in my note to you of this morning. You will
! there find stated, in as explicit and aushen-
tic manner as language can convey, the
grounds upon which his Majesty's orders in
| council will be revoked. / cannot it is true,
as yet, refer you officially to this document,
but may now be in the expectation of re
ceiving it in formal shape within a very
few days, and together with it every expla-
nation possible which you may require.
1 / have the honor, &c.
(Signed) AUGS ]. FOSTER.
The Hon. James Monroe, &C. G'c.
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