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capture them under convoy. The undersigned must repeat that the rule laid down by that article of the ordinance, will be followed by the prize courts whenever the proofs are clear; that the vessels under American flags as er well as those of other nations are found in a convoy under the protection of the enemies of Denmark. He does not wish to repeat here what he had the honour of stating on this subject in his preceding note; but he begs Mr. Erving to be so good as to observe to his government that none of the powers of Europe have called in question the justice of this principle.

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Mr. Erving has observed, that notwithstanding the Danish courts had not been directed to consider the certificates of origin granted by the French consuls in the ports of America as false until after the 22d September of last year, there has nevertheless been imposed upon two ves sels acquitted by the supreme court of admiralty, a fine solely for having these certificates on board, as Mr. Erving has been informed. The undersigned, although he is not informed of these facts, will not call in question the assertion of the minister of the United States; and he must consequently suppose that the suspicion of the legality of these certificates was excited by the publick declaration which was before made on the part of the French government, that the consuls of France were not authorized to grant the certificates in question, and that for that reason the courts have decided that the captors were justified in bringing in the vessels for examination.

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I Now lay before Congress two letters to the department of state, one from the present plenipotentiary of France, the other from his predecessor, which were not

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included among the documents accompanying my message of the fifth instant, the translation of them being not then completed.

JAMES MADISON.

LETTERS.

Translation of a Letter from Gen. Turreau to the Secretary of State. Nov. 14, 1810.

SIR, Although you may have been already informed through another official channel of the repeal of the decrees of Berlin and Milan, it is agreeable to me to have to confirm to you this new liberal disposition of my court towards the government of the States of the Union.

You will recollect, without doubt, sir, that these decrees were adopted in retaliation for the multiplied measures of England against the rights of neutrals, and especially against those of the United States: and after this new proof of deference to the wishes of your government, his majesty the emperor has room to believe that it will make new efforts to withdraw the American commerce from the yoke which the prohibitory acts of Great Britain have imposed upon it. You will, at the same time observe, sir, that the clearly expressed intention of my government is, that the renewal of commercial intercourse between France and the United States cannot alter the system of exclusion adopted by all Europe, against all the products of the soil or of the manufactures of England or her colonies: a system, the wisdom and the advantages of which are already proved by its development and its success. And of which also, the United States, as an agricultural and commercial power, have a particular interest, in aiding in, and hastening the completion. Moreover, sir, this measure of my government, and those which yours may think proper to adopt, will prove the inutility of the efforts of the common enemy to break the ties of friendship which a humane and generous policy has necessarily formed between France and the United States, and which the actual crisis ought to draw closer. We ought hereafter, sir, to hope, or rather we may be assured, that new relations still more close and more friendly are about to be formed between Americans and Frenchmen, and that these two

people will be more than ever convinced that their glory, their interest and their happiness, must eternally consecrate the principle and the conservation of these relations. I seize with eagerness this occasion, sir, of renewing to you the assurance of my high consideration.

TURREAU.

Washington, July 23, 1811.

SIR,-The new dispositions of your government express ed in the supplementary act of the 2d of March last, having been officially communicated to my court by the charge d'affaires of the United States, his imperial majesty, as soon as he was made acquainted with them, directed that the American vessels sequestered in the ports of France, since the 2d of November, should be released. Their car goes have been admitted, and some of them have departed upon conforming with the municipal laws of the country; that is to say, by exporting wines, silks and the products of French manufactures. Orders were to be given at the same time, that all American vessels coming from the United States, and loaded with merchandise, the growth of the country, should be admitted and received in all the ports of France.

I hasten, sir, according to the orders I have received, to make these dispositions known to your government.

In order to prevent all difficulty in relation to the cargoes of vessels, the table indicating the merchandise of the growth of the United States has been prepared; and it has been thought that a rule could not be adopted more favourable and more sure, than the statement itself of the exportations made by the Americans during the year which preceded the embargo, viz: from 1st October, 1806, to 30th September, 1807, a period during which your commerce of exportation was in full activity. I annex this table to my letter. Coffee, sugar and cocoa are not included in this statement. These articles of merchandise have always been ranged in the class of colonial products, and whatever may be their origin, his majesty, while favouring in his states many branches of culture, and many new establishments with a view of supplying their place by indigenous productions, could not encourage indefinitely

their exportation. Vessels arriving with permits, by means of which the importation of merchandise of this sort is authorized, will be admitted.

The introduction of tobacco is not prohibited. It forms the first object of culture of some of the States of the Union, and his majesty having an equal interest in the prosperity of all, desires that the relations of commerce should be common to all parts of the federal territory; but tobacco is under an administration (en régie) in France; the administration is the only consumer, and can purchase only the quantity necessary for its consumption. It became necessary that measures should be taken upon this subject, and they have been conformable to the common interest. Tobacco will be received in the ports of France and placed in actual deposit (en entrepôt réel ;) and if more arrives than the administration can purchase, the transit of the surplus will be permitted across France for Germany and the other states of Europe, in which the American merchants may find a sale for it.

All the vessels of the United States which may arrive in France will have to discharge the customhouse duties, to which the merchandise they may bring is subject; and their return must be effected by exporting an equal value in French wines, silks, and other articles of French manufacture, in the proportions determined by the regulations.

Merchandise of the growth of the United States composing the cargoes of American vessels, must be accompanied with a certificate of origin, delivered by the French consul of the port from whence the vessel departed.

I flatter myself, sir, that the communication of these dispositions of the emperor, in favour of American commerce, will be as agreeable to your government, as it is to me to be the means of making it.

I have the honour, sir, to renew to you the assurance of my high consideration.

The minister of France,

Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State.

SERRURIER.

Productions of the Soil and of the Manufactures of the United States exported from the 1st October, 1806, to the 30th September, 1807.

SALT or smoked fish, dried or pickled do. whale and other fish oil, whale bone, spermaceti candles, staves and heading, shingles, hoops, plank, timber, lumber of all kinds, masts and spars, manufactures of wood, oak bark and other dyes, tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine, skins and furs, ginseng, beef, tallow, hides, horned cattle, pork, hams and bacon, lard, hogs, butter, cheese, pot and pearl ashes, horses, mules, sheep, poultry, mustard, cotton, linseed oil, spirits of turpentine, cards, wool and cotton, maple and other brown sugar, bar iron, nails, castings, canvass and sail cloth, wheat, flour, rye meal, buck wheat meal, biscuit or ship bread, indian corn, indian meal, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, beans, peas, apples, potatoes, rice, indigo, tobacco, flaxseed, hops, wax, household furniture, coaches and other carriages, hats, saddlery, boots, shoes, silk and leather, beer, porter and cider in casks and bottles, spirits from grain, starch, candles, soap, wax candles, hair powder, snuff, tobacco manufactured, bricks, essence of bark, cables and cordage, spirits from molasses, refined sugar, chocolate, gunpowder, copper manufactured, medicinal drugs.

True copy,

The Minister of Foreign Relations,

THE DUKE OF BASSANO.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. NOV. 13, 1811.

I COMMUNICATE to Congress copies of a correspondence between the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain and the Secretary of State, relative to the aggression committed by a British ship of war on the United States frigate Chesapeake, by which it will

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