rican colonies and the United States. This bill was brought into the house of commons during the last session of parliament by Mr. Rose and Mr. Eden, and has passed into a law. You will perceive that it has in view the 8th article of the project of a convention of limits already transmitted to you. A copy is also enclosed of the communication which we have thought it our duty to make to general Armstrong and Mr. Bowdoin. We have the honour to be, &c. James Madison, Esq. JAMES MONROE, P. S. We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 17th and 30th of July. There not being time to prepare copies of the project presented Mr. C. for Dr. Bullus, it will be forwarded by another opportunity without delay. WILLIAM PINKNEY. London, July 24, 1807. THE undersigned, ministers extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States of America, have the honour to inform Mr. Canning that they are instructed by the President of the United States, to propose to his majesty's government a renewal of negotiation relative to the objects of the mission of the undersigned, with a view to a more satisfactory result than is found in the instrument signed on the 31st of December last, by his majesty's plenipotentiaries and those of the United States. The undersigned are persuaded, that his majesty's government will see in this measure an unquestionable proof of the sincere desire of the President, to place the friendly relations of the two countries beyond the reach of those misunderstandings which either the absence or the inadequacy of precise arrangements on subjects of the greatest delicacy and importance, might from time to time occasion. It is under the influence of this solicitude that the President has charged the undersigned to express to his majesty's government, his unfeigned regret that the instru ment above mentioned does not appear to him to be such as he can approve, and at the same time to declare his entire confidence that the just and liberal sentiments which animate his majesty's government, corresponding with those which belong to the government of the United States, cannot fail to lead, without delay or difficulty, to such an issue of the negotiation which is now proposed, as shall be suited in all respects to the rights and interests of both nations, and therefore calculated to ensure a long continuance of the friendship which so happily subsists between them. The undersigned have already had the honour to present to Mr. Canning a paper, which, taken in connection with a project on the subject of impressment, and another on the subject of certain claims to compensation by American citizens, presented by the undersigned at the same time, will be found to exhibit a complete view of the alterations which the instrument above mentioned is deemed by the President to require. They forbear to trouble Mr. Canning with a recapitulation of the details which these papers contain; but there are some explanations upon the topicks of impressment and compensation, which they do not furnish, and which it is therefore incumbent upon the undersigned to avail themselves of this occasion to give. It was one of the primary objects of the mission of the undersigned, to adjust with his majesty's government a formal and explicit arrangement, relative to a practice by British ships of war, which has excited in a very great degree the sensibility of the American people, and claimed the anxious attention of their government. The practice alluded to, is that of visiting on the main ocean, the merchant vessels of the United States, navigating under the American flag, for the purpose of subjecting their crews to a hasty and humiliating inquisition, and impressing, as British seamen, such of the mariners as, upon that inquisition, the visiting officer declares to be so. The effect of this practice is that the flag of an independent power is dishonoured, and one of the most essential rights of its sovereignty violated; that American citizens either mistaken for British subjects, or assumed to be such without sufficient inquiry, are forced from the quiet pursuits of a lawful commerce into the severe and dangerous service of a foreign military navy, to expose their lives in fighting against those with whom their country is at peace; and that the merchant vessels of the United States are frequently thus stripped of so large a portion of their hands, before their voyages have been performed, as to bring into the most imminent peril, and sometimes to produce the actual loss, of the vessels, their cargoes, and their remaining crews. It cannot be thought surprising that a practice like this should act with peculiar force upon the feelings of those whom it oppresses, and that the sensation should extend itself to their countrymen and their government. The government of the United States has accordingly made this pretension the subject of frequent discussion with Great Britain; and, when an extraordinary mission to his majesty's government was last year determined on, it was one of the instructions to the undersigned, to whom the duties of that mission were confided, to make no treaty which should not provide for that object. In the first stages of the negotiation, which followed that mission, the undersigned were led to indulge a confident expectation that such a provision would be obtained. At length however, the rejection by his majesty's government of a project of an article on this point, which, without touching the question of right, offered, on the part of the United States, an effectual equivalent for the mere forbearance of the practice, having extinguished all hope of an immediate adjustment of this subject by treaty, the undersigned felt that they were called upon by candour, as well as by their duty to their government, to inform the British commissioners, that, the project relative to impressment having failed, they had no power to conclude a treaty upon the other points which had been discussed between them, so as to bind the government of the United States. The undersigned did accordingly give them this information, in the most explicit terms, and the negotiation was in consequence, for a short time, suspended. It was soon afterwards, however, suggested by his majesty's commissioners, that if this topick should be expressly reserved for future conventional arrangement, and a pledge given to the United States for resuming the consideration of it at a convenient season with that view, and if in the mean time -such an informal understanding should be substituted, as The in its practical effect would remove the vexation complained of, it might perhaps be yet possible to conduct the negotiation to a result which would not be unacceptable to the respective governments and in pursuance of this suggestion, the British commissioners presented to the undersigned, on the 8th day of November last, the official note, of which a copy is herewith enclosed. undersigned transmitted to their government, for its consideration, a copy of this note, together with a statement of the circumstances connected with it, and, without giving it their sanction, agreed in the meantime to concur with the British commissioners, as they were invited to do, in an effort to adjust the stipulations of a treaty, upon the remaining objects of their mission, and leave the effect of what should be so adjusted to their government. It appears that the President of the United States considers this collateral proceeding upon a concern of such paramount importance as unsuitable to the nature of it, as well in the mode as in its terms. In this opinion, the President does but continue to respect the considerations which heretofore induced him to believe that an arrangement upon this point ought to stipulate with precision against the practice in question, and that the manner of it would properly be that which should be chosen for the arrangement of the other points of discussion, and in the instructions which, in conformity with that opinion, he has now given to the undersigned, he does but manifest his reliance upon the spirit of justice and amity, which he is assured his majesty's government will bring to the renewed consideration of a subject so interesting to the rights and feeling of a friendly nation, for such an adjustment of this, as well as of every other question belonging to the relations of the two countries, as shall confirm their dispositions to mutual kindness, and promote the happiness and prosperity of both. The subject of compensation will perhaps be sufficiently explained by the enclosed copies of two notes from the undersigned to lord Holland and lord Auckland, and to lord Howick. It will appear from the last of these notes that this subject, for which the projected treaty did not provide, was not to be affected by it; but on the contrary, that the rights of the United States and the claims of their citizens were understood to be reserved for future adjustment, as completely as if no treaty had been made: and it will occur to Mr. Canning that the project of an article on this point, which they had the honour to leave with him at their last interview, is in the spirit of that understanding, and is besides so entirely free from objection, that no motive is likely to exist against the adoption of it. There is another object to which the undersigned have the orders of the President to invite the attention of his majesty's government, as affecting materially, and giving a new and unexpected character to the proposed treaty. They allude to the written declaration, relative to the French decree of the 21st of November last, by which his majesty's plenipotentiaries accompanied their signature of the treaty; a declaration which in its actual form creates unnecessary embarrassments in the way of an acceptance of the treaty by the United States. The undersigned persuade themselves that as this proceeding, to which no sanction was given on their part, imposed on the United States no new obligation, could only be intended to declare that in signing or ratifying the treaty it was understood by Great Britain that nothing contained in it would be a bar to any measure, which if no such treaty had been signed, would be lawful as a measure of retaliation against her enemy, and as the occasion which produced it does not now appear to exist as then supposed, it will not be thought that any thing is sacrificed by withdrawing it as unne cessary. The undersigned request Mr. Canning to accept the assurances of their distinguished consideration. JAMES MONROE, The Rt. Hon. George Canning, &c. &c. &c. Copy of proposed Alterations. ARTICLE III. OMIT the words "and sailing direct from the ports of the said States." Omit the words "between the said territories and the United States," and substitute "with the said territories." |