University of Virginia Library

TO JOHN ARMSTRONG AND JAMES BOWDOIN.

The inclosed copy of a proclamation by the President
will inform you of a late extraordinary hostility and
insult committed by a British ship of War on a frigate
of the United States near the Capes of Virginia, and of the
measures taken by the President in consequence of the outrage.
The subsequent proceedings of the British Squadron

in our waters, have borne a like stamp of hostility; and altho'
it may be found that these provocations have not issued from
or may be disavowed and expiated by the British Government
it may also be found that the United States must take on
themselves the reparation that is due to them. For this
event it is necessary to be prepared; as well with a view to
our finances, as to other resources and arrangements.

In this state of things, the President, taking into consideration
the objections to an application of the public funds to
objects not immediately connected with the public safety,
instructs you to suspend the negotiation for the purchase
of the Floridas, unless it shall be agreed by Spain that payment
for them, shall in case of a rupture between Great Britain
and the U. States, be postponed till the end of one year after
they shall have settled their differences; and that in the
mean time no interest shall be paid on the debt. You will
of course understand it to be inconsistent with this instruction
either to draw on the Treasury, or to obtain a credit in Europe,
for any part of the sum allotted for the purchase of the
Floridas.

Should a bargain have been made for the Floridas and
payments stipulated, as contemplated by former instructions,
you will press in the most serious and emphatic manner,
a remodification of the terms which will adjust them to the
instruction here given. Such a compliance may justly be
expected in return for the advantages which Spain and her
allies will derive, in various respects from a contest between
this country and their enemy. It may further be expected
that, in consideration of these advantages to them, and of the
general effect of a War, or even a cessation of commerce with
Great Britain on the pecuniary faculties of the United States,
the price demanded for the Floridas, will be at least greatly
reduced. To this consideration, it may be added, that whilst
the pecuniary faculties of the United States will be so materially
benumbed in the event of a rupture with Great Britain,
those of Spain may be essentially aided, by the facility which

that event will give to the command of her South American
Treasure through the United States. Finally it is not unworthy
of consideration, that the introduction of hostile
relations between the United States and Great Britain, may
remove objections hitherto felt by the latter, to enterprizes
against the Floridas, and lead to a military occupancy of
them with views very adverse to the policy of Spain.

Should Spain still obstinately persist in rejecting or retarding
an arrangement concerning the Floridas, she must
at least see the necessity of hastening a satisfactory one on
other subjects, particularly in the case of the Mobille for
the free use of which by the United States, orders ought to
be sent without a moments delay.

The President leaves to your own discretion the use to
be made of observations of this kind, and entertains an
entire confidence, that your management of the whole business
will be such as will best comport with the circumstances of
the crisis, and conduce most to the object entrusted to you.

This dispatch goes by the Revenge, a public armed vessel
charged with instructions to our Ministers in London, to
require from the British Government the satisfaction due
for the insult to the U. States. She will touch at a French
port from which one of her officers will proceed to Paris.
She will also return from England to France, and convey to
you from Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinkney, the communications
rendered proper by the conduct and countenance of the
British Government in relation to the United States. The
influence which those communications ought to have on your
proceedings, will depend on the tenor of them, and must be
left to your own discernment and sound judgment.

I have the pleasure to assure you that the spirit excited
throughout our nation, by the gross attack on its sovereignty,
is that of the most ardent and determined patriotism. You
will find sufficient specimens of it in the papers herewith
inclosed.