should be cleared away, with all practicable expedition, and if it could not be removed, that no presumption should be afforded of a disposition on the part of the United States to acquiesce in it. My note to lord Wellesley was written and delivered upon these inducements.

In the king's actual situation, the orders in council can scarcely be formally recalled, even if the cabinet are so inclined; but it does not follow that something may not be done (though I have no reason to think that any thing will be done) which may be productive of immediate advantage, and at any rate prepare the way for the desired repeal.

I have the honour to be, &c.

WM. PINKNEY.

Hon. R. Smith, Secretary of State.

P. S. This letter is written in great haste, that I may send it to Liverpool by this evening's mail.

W. P.

Mr. Pinkney to Lord Wellesley. Great Cumberland Place, Nov. 3, 1810.

MY LORD,-In my note of the 25th of August, I had the honour to state to your lordship, that I had received from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States, at Paris, a letter, dated the 6th of that month, in which he informed me, that he had received from the French government a written and official notice, that it had revoked the decrees of Berlin and Milan, and that after the first of November, those decrees would cease to have any effect; and I expressed my confidence, that the revocation of the British orders in council, of January and November, 1807, and April, 1809, and of all other orders dependent upon, analogous to, or in execution of them, would follow of

course.

Your lordship's reply, of the 31st of August, to that note, repeated a declaration of the British minister in America, made, as it appears, to the government of the United States in February, 1808, of "bis majesty's earnest desire to see the commerce of the world restored to that freedom which is necessary for its prosperity, and his

readiness to abandon the system which had been forced upon him, whenever the enemy should retract the principles which had rendered it necessary," and added an official assurance, that, "whenever the repeal of the French decrees should have actually taken effect, and the commerce of neutral nations should have been restored to the condition in which it stood previously to the promulgation of those decrees, his majesty would feel the highest satisfaction in relinquishing a system which the conduct of the enemy compelled him to adopt."

Without departing, in any degree, from my first opinion, that the United States had a right to expect, upon every principle of justice, that the prospective revocation of the French decrees would be immediately followed by at least a like revocation of the orders of England, 1 must remind your lordship, that the day has now passed when the repeal of the Berlin and Milan edicts, as communicated to your lordship, in the note above mentioned, and published to the whole world by the government of France, in the Moniteur of the 9th of September, was, by the terms of it, to take effect. That it has taken effect, cannot be doubted; and it can as little be questioned, that, according to the repeated pledges, given by the British government, on this point, (to say nothing of various other pow. erful considerations,) the prompt relinquishment of the system, to which your lordship's reply to my note of the 25th of August, alludes, is indispensable.

I need scarcely mention how important it is to the trade of the United States, that the government of Great Britain should lose no time in disclosing with frankness and precision its intentions on this head. Intelligence of the French repeal has reached America, and commercial expeditions have doubtless been founded upon it. It will have been taken for granted that the British obstructions to those expeditions, having thus lost the support which, however insufficient in itself, was the only one that could ever be claimed for them, have been withdrawn; and that the seas are once more restored to the dominion of law and justice.

I persuade myself that this confidence will be substantially justified by the event, and that to the speedy recall of such orders in council as were subsequent in date to the decrees of France, will be added the annulment of the

antecedent order to which my late letter respecting blockades particularly relates. But if, notwithstanding the circumstances which invite to such a course, the British government shall have determined not to remove those obstructions with all practicable promptitude, I trust that my government will be apprized, with as little delay as possible, of a determination so unexpected, and of such vital concern to its rights and interests; and that the reasons upon which that determination may have been form. ed, will not be withheld from it.

I have the honour, &c. &c.

WM. PINKNEY.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. JAN. 14, 1811.

I TRANSMIT to the House of Representatives, copies of the documents referred to in their resolution of the fourth instant.

JAMES MADISON.

CIRCULAR.

Treasury Department, Nov. 2, 1810.

Sia,-You will herewith receive a copy of the proclamation of the President of the United States, announcing the revocation of the edicts of France which violated the neutral commerce of the United States, and that the restrictions, imposed by the act of May 1st last, accordingly cease from this day in relation to France. French armed vessels may therefore be admitted into the harbours and waters of the United States, any thing in that law to the contrary notwithstanding.

It also follows, that if Great Britain shall not, on the 2d of February next, have revoked or modified in like manner her edicts violating the neutral commerce of the United

States, the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 18th sections of the "act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France and their dependencies, and for other purposes," shall, in conformity with the act first above mentioned, be revived and have full force and effect, so far as relates to Great Britain and her dependencies, from and after the said 2d day of February next. Unless, therefore, you shall before that day be officially notified by this department of such revocation or modification, you will, from and after the said day, carry into effect the above mentioned sections, which prohibit both the entrance of British vessels of every description into the harbours and waters of the United States, and the importation into the United States of any articles the growth, produce or manufacture of the dominions, colonies and dependencies of Great Britain, and of any articles whatever brought from the said dominions, colonies and dependencies.

I am respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

The Collector of the Customs

for the district of

By the President of the United States,
A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS by the fourth section of the act of Congress, passed on the first day of May, 1810, entitled "An act concerning the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France and their dependencies, and for other purposes," it is provided "that in case either Great Britain or France shall, before the third day of March next, so revoke or modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, which fact the President of the United States shall declare by proclamation, and if the other nation shall not within three months thereafter so revoke or modify her edicts in like manner, then the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eighteenth sections of the act, entitled "An act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and

France and their dependencies, and for other purposes,"

shall, from and after the expiration of three months from the date of the proclamation aforesaid, be revived and have full force and effect, so far as relates to the dominions, colonies and dependencies, and to the articles the growth, produce or manufacture of the dominions, colonies and dependencies of the nation thus refusing or neglecting to revoke or modify her edicts in the manner aforesaid. And the restrictions imposed by this act shall, from the date of such proclamation, cease and be discontinued in relation to the nation revoking or modifying her decrees in the manner aforesaid:"

And whereas it has been officially made known to this government, that the edicts of France violating the neutral commerce of the United States have been so revoked as to cease to have effect, on the first of the present month: Now, therefore, I, JAMES MADISON, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim that the said ediets of France have been so revoked as that they ceased on the said first day of the present month to violate the neutral commerce of the United States; and that, from the date of these presents, all the restrictions imposed by the afore. said act shall cease and be discontinued in relation to France and her dependencies.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand at the city of Washington, [L. S.] this second day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ten, and of the independence of the United States the thirtyfifth.

By the President.

JAMES MADISON.

R. SMITH, Secretary of State.