The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1813-03-26
Application was made to the British Co

hPPhSatfoh was made 70 the British Go
vernment. They refused. An appeal wa.
then made to France; and the letter OF
the Duke De Cadore was received BY our
minister, assuring our government tina. tn e
edicts would cease to be in force ON a s,i.
pulated day. The question then to be sol
we'd. was this; ough, the President 70 have
credited the assurances thus positively gi-
ven! In the case of Erskinc's arrange
ment. Mr.. Madison had paid this respect
to the good faith of G. Britain.-And this
case was even stronger than that;of Mr..
Erskine, because the pledge was not only
made by French minister, but by mi
mister IN the very Court and under the We
ry beard of Lis master. There could be no
misunderstanding of Instructions-no want
of patent-power, about which you and
your good friends in Congress excited SO
much Glamour, in the case of Mr.. Erskiue.
Mr.. Madison therefore only did that by
France. which he had doue i'm the case of
Great Britain, and upon stronger ground.
Besides in yielding credit to the assuran-
ces OF France, Mr.. Madison only did that
which Great Britain had done before him.
He hal her own example before him ia a
transaction both delicate and important
Great Britain offered to the French Com
missioner for settling a Cartel, to give up
the Frensh Prisoners. il the Commissioner
would only agree to give as many british
IN exchange, when so many should fall into
their hands. The truth is, that if nations
refuse to- repose any confidence in the De-
clarations OF each other, there can never
be an end of any controversy contests
must be perpetual. and every war would
prove war of determination.
The French DEGREES, as was admitted
by the British Minister, produced little or
no INJURY to Great Britain-I speak Of them
IN the only sense in which they could vio-
late our right, viz. interrupting our trade
with Britain.--Why then did she not accent
of the offers of the U. States when they
were first rendered ?-Why did she not
repeal her Orders in Council, when she
had received the Communication of the
Duke De Cadore The truth was, that G
Is. asked more than either we or she bad a
right to claim. She refused to repeal her Or
ders in Council, unless France would admit
her goods into the ports of the Continent.
Now, what is IL to the S. whether France
permits British cutlery or cloths to be used
in her Empire She has right to regu-
late her own affairs in her own way--to saw
what vessels, what goods, and on wha,
terms, shall enter her ports, You say, in
deed, that G. Britain was pledged to re-
peal her Orders as soon as France should
repeal her DEGREES affecting the neutral
rights ofthc y. States. Such is your as.
serffom-but what is the fact ? On the 10Th
day OF June Last, only 8 days before the De.
claration OF war, Mr.. Foster declared in his
letter to MIR. Monroe that &c. Britain ne.
yer did nor ever could engage without the
grosscst injustice to herself and her allies,
as we'll as to other neutral nations, to re.
peal her orders as affecting America alone
leaving them in force against other states
uhon condition that France quouLd eEccof
stnSly and specially, fmerica from the one.
ration IF her deerees." He then adds thu
as the French DEGREES are war Of trade
carried on by France - that is to saw. nre-
venting British goods from entering France
it could not be expected that G.. Britain
would repeal her Orders. merely because
France might seek to alleviate her own sit
uation. by waving the exercise of that hart
ef her system which she cannot enforce -
that is to say, the blockade of England. the
only part against which we had right 10
protest. The Declaration of the Prince
Regent was in complete unison with this
letter of Mr.. Foster. The fact then is this.
that within few days only before we de
clared war, we were told that the British
would continue to plumber our trade, until
the ~ States could succeed in inducing
France, LIST. to repealhcr DEGREES not ONLY as
10 us, but as TO the rest ofthe zvorld, 2nd .
to repeal them not only as to our trade
with G. Britain, but as TO that hart of rbe
system which interdicts our carving the
British goods into theFrench ports neither
of which demands had we right to make
from France. When these averments were
made within only 8 days before the DECLARE
tion of war, does it not prove that we kent
OPEN the door as long as possible and that
at the time of this declaration, every hone
of Justice from England was extinguished
This pointed refusal contradicts the whole
tenor OF your letter on this subject. tits j.
die in you TO say, that all that G.. Britain
wanted was e" document bearing an ofcia
stamp" Gas you call it) to the effect Of the
Duke De Cadore's etter-becausc the
Prince Regent in his Declaration and Mr..
Foster in his last letter respectively tell
us that such a Document would not have
been sufficient. So far from it, they want.
ed one which stated the French DEGREES to
be repealed generally as to all the world g.
absolutely in all its parts; not only as it
respected our neufrafr rights, but the privi-
lege of trading in British goods.
But say you, "the British Orders in coun-
Gil were repealed in consequence of The
throdUcsIon" of the French decree If reDeal
caring date Gath April and, therefore.
you would argue, that its production would
at any fime have been sufficient to lead to
a repeal Of these Orders. This is not the
fact /; and / quote the words of the Prince
Regen, himself in his instrument of Repeal
to- prove my assertion.--That instrument
after recitlng the previous pledge of the
Declaration of the 21st Of April 1912" that
II! at any time hereafter the Berlin and