under whose orders he acted, Mr. Canning is not at present enabled to communicate to Mr. Monroe.

If Mr. Monroe should have received any accounts of it, Mr. Canning trusts that he will lose no time in communicating them to Mr. Canning.

But whatever the real merits and character of the transaction may turn out to be, Mr. Canning could not forbear expressing without delay the sincere concern and sorrow which he feels at its unfortunate result; and assuring the American minister, both from himself and on the behalf of his majesty's government, that if the British officers should prove to have been culpable, the most prompt and effectual reparation shall be afforded to the government of the United States.

James Monroe, Esq. &c. &c. &c.

To Mr. Canning.

MR. MONROE presents his compliments to Mr. Canning, and is much obliged to him for the information communicated in his note of Saturday. Mr. Monroe has heard with extreme regret the account it contains of a rencontre between a British ship of war and an American frigate off the coast of the United States. He has no knowledge of the subject except what Mr. Canning's note has furnished, but will not fail to communicate the earliest intelligence which he may receive of an event so deeply to be lamented. Mr. Monroe derives in the mean time much satisfaction from the friendly assurance of Mr. Canning, that this unfortunate occurrence was not authorized by his majesty's government, and that suitable reparation will be made for the injury, if on inquiry the British officer shall be found the aggressor.

Portland Place, Monday, July 27, 1807.

The Right Hon. George Canning, &c. &c. &c.

To Mr. Canning.

Portland Place, July 29, 1807. SIR,-Although I have no instruction from my government on the subject, it is my duty to request the attention of his Britannick majesty's government to a late aggression

on the sovereignty of the United States, of a very extraor dinary nature. The circumstances of the transaction are too distinctly marked to leave any doubt of the extent of the outrage, or of the reparation which it obviously claims. By accounts which are entitled to full confidence, it appears, that on the 23d of June last, his majesty's ship the Leopard attacked an American frigate off the coast of the United States, with a view to assert and enforce the unfounded and most unjustifiable pretension to search for deserters, and after having killed and wounded a number of her men, entered on board and carried away forcibly several of the crew. The conduct of the British officer, which in itself forms an act of complete hostility, is rendered more reprehensible from the consideration, that just before this aggression be held a station within the jurisdiction of the United States, in the waters of the Chesapcake, where, while he enjoyed the rights of hospitality, he projected this attack against the ship of a neutral power, whose commander, relying on the good faith of his majesty's government, and the friendly relations subsisting between Great Britain and the United States, could not have suspected the design. I might state other examples of great indignity and outrage, many of which are of recent date, to which the United States have been exposed off their coast, and even within several of their harbours, from the British squadron; but it is improper to mingle them with the present more serious cause of complaint. I have called your attention to this subject, in full confidence that his majesty's government will see, in the act complained of, a flagrant abuse of its own authority, and that it will not hesitate to enable me to communicate to my government, without delay, a frank disavowal of the principle on which it was made, and its assurance that the officer who is responsible for it shall suffer the punishment which so unexampled an aggression on the sovereignty of a neutral nation justly deserves.

I have the honour to be, &c.

JAMES MONROE. The Right Hon. George Canning, &c. &c. &c.

From Mr. Canning. Foreign Office, Aug. 3, 1807.

SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your official note of the 29th ult. which I have lost no time in laying before the king.

As the statement of the transaction, to which this note refers, is not brought forward either by the authority of the government of the United States, or with any precise knowledge of the facts on which it is founded, it might have been sufficient for me to express to you his majesty's readiness to take the whole of the circumstances of the case, when fully disclosed, into his consideration, and to make reparation for any alleged injury to the sovereignty of the United States, whenever it should be clearly shown that such injury has been actually sustained, and that such reparation is really due.

Of the existence of such a disposition, on the part of the British government, you, sir, cannot be ignorant: I have already assured you of it, though in an unofficial form, by the letter which I addressed to you on the first receipt of the intelligence of this unfortunate transaction and I may perhaps be permitted to express my surprise, after such an assurance, at the tone of that representation which I have just had the honour to receive from you.

But the earnest desire of his majesty to evince, in the most satisfactory manner, the principles of justice and moderation by which he is uniformly actuated, has not permitted him to hesitate in commanding me to assure you, that his majesty neither does, nor has at any time, maintained the pretension of a right to search ships of war, in the national service of any state, for deserters.

If, therefore, the statement in your note should prove to be correct, and to contain all the circumstances of the case, upon which complaint is intended to be made, and if it shall appear that the act of his majesty's officers rested on no other grounds than the simple and unqualified assertion of the pretension above referred to, his majesty has no difficulty in disavowing that act, and will have no difficulty in manifesting his displeasure at the conduct

of his officers.

With respect to the other causes of complaint [whatever they may be] which are hinted at in your note, I perfectly

agree with you, in the sentiment which you express, as to the propriety of not involving them in a question, which is of itself of sufficient importance to claim a separate and most serious consideration.

I have only to lament, that the same sentiment did not induce you to abstain from alluding to these subjects, on an occasion which you were, yourself, of opinion, was not favourable for pursuing the discussion of them.

I have the honour to be, with great consideration, &c. GEORGE CANNING.

James Monroe, Esq. &c. &c. &c.

No.

London, August 4, 1807.

SIR, I avail myself of the opportunity, afforded by Mr. Biddle, to communicate to you a copy of a correspondence, and the substance of a conference, between Mr. Canning and myself, relative to the late aggression on the peace and sovereignty of the United States, by the British ship Leopard, in an attack on the Chesapeake off the capes of Virginia.

Mr. Canning's private letter of July 25, which gave the first intelligence of the occurrence, left it doubtful whether the British officers had been culpable in it, and as I knew how very reprehensible their conduct had been on our coast, on many other occasions, and to what height the sensibility of our citizens had been excited by it, I thought it not improbable that something might have occurred to divide the blame between the parties. It was under that impression that my answer was written. On the next day the leading features of the transaction were presented to the publick through the medium of the gazettes, which were taken from private accounts received directly from Halifax, by a vessel which had been despatched by admiral Berkeley with the official one. By these it was evident that the British officer was completely the aggressor, in an outrage of great enormity, attended with circumstances which increased the offence. It was understood likewise from good authority, that the official intelligence, which the government had received, corresponded with and confirmed the other accounts already before the publick.

On full consideration of these circumstances, I concluded that it would be highly improper for me to leave the affair on the ground on which Mr. Canning had placed it. I could see no other motive in him to obtain further information relative to the transaction, than for the purpose of ascertaining whether the men said to be deserters, and for whom the attack was made, were American citizens or British subjects; to which it was impossible for me to give any countenance. I thought it indispensable therefore to call on the government to disavow the principle, and to engage such other reparation to the United States, as their injured honour obviously required. It appeared to me, that any delay in taking that step which depended on an abstract principle, and required no argument to illustrate, or facts to support it, would have a tendency to weaken a claim which was unquestionable, and to countenance the idea that it would not be supported with suitable energy.

I had, before the knowledge of this event, obtained the appointment of an interview with Mr. Canning on other business, to take place on the 29th ultimo. We met according to the appointment; I observed, in opening the conference, that although the topicks, which had brought us together, were important, the late occurrence at the entrance of the Chesapeake had in a great measure put them out of sight. He expressed his regret that such an event, which would at all times furnish cause of concern, should have happened at the present time. He asked if the men in question were American citizens, or British subjects? I replied that that was a point which could not come into view in the case: that it was one which, according as the fact might be, would make the cause more or less popular, in either country, but could not affect the principle: that, on principle, a ship of war protected all the people on board, and could not be entered to be searched for deserters, or for any purpose, without violating the sovereignty of the nation whose flag she bore; that in the present case I had been assured, that the men were American citizens, and that the British minister at Washington had been made acquainted with it. He said little on the subject, but by the tendency of what he did say seemed to imply that his government could not lose sight of the consideration above alluded to, nor indeed did he admit by any thing that