The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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TO CHARLES PINCKNEY. |
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO CHARLES PINCKNEY.
My last letter was of January 18. Yours since received
are of 6th and 28th of November.
Our latest authentic information from New Orleans is of
January 20. At that date, the Edict of the Intendant against
our right of deposit had not been revoked, altho' the letters
to him and the Governor from the Spanish Minister here had
been previously received. And it appears that the first outrage
had been followed by orders of the most rigid tenor
against every hospitable intercourse between our Citizens
navigating the river, and the Spanish inhabitants.
This continuation of the obstruction to our trade, and the
the exports of the Western Country, have had the natural
effect of increasing the Western irritation, and emboldening
the advocates for an immediate redress by arms. Among the
papers inclosed you will find the propositions moved in the
Senate by Mr. Ross of Pennsylvania. They were debated at
considerable length and with much ardour; and on the question
had eleven votes in their favour against fourteen. The
resolutions moved by Mr. Breckenridge, and which have
passed into a law, will with the law itself be also found among
the inclosed papers.
These proceedings ought more and more to convince the
Spanish Government that it must not only maintain good
faith with the United States, but must add to this pledge of
peace, some provident and effectual arrangement, as heretofore
urged, for controuling or correcting the wrongs of Spanish
Officers in America, without the necessity of crossing the Atlantic
for the purpose. The same proceedings will shew at
the same time that with proper dispositions and arrangement
on the part of Spain, she may reckon with confidence, on harmony
and friendship with this Country. Notwithstanding
the deep stroke made at our rights and our interests, and the
opportunity given for self redress in a summary manner, a
love of peace, a respect for the just usages of Nations, and a
reliance on the voluntary justice of the Spanish Government,
have given a preference to remonstrance, as the first appeal
on the occasion, and to negotiation as a source of adequate
provisions for perpetuating the good understanding between
the two nations; the measures taken on the proposition of
Mr. Breckenridge being merely those of ordinary precaution
and precisely similar to those which accompanied the mission
of Mr. Jay to Great Britain in 1794. Should the deposit
however not be restored in time for the arrival of the Spring
craft, a new crisis will occur, which it is presumed that
the Spanish Government will have been stimulated to
prevent by the very heavy claims of indemnification to
which it would be otherwise fairly subjected. The Marquis
Orleans favourable answers to his letters; but the remedy
seems now to be more reasonably expected from Madrid.
If the attention of the Spanish Government should not have
been sufficiently quickened by the first notice of the proceeding
from its own affairs; we hope that the energy of your interpositions
will have overcome its tardy habits, and have
produced an instant dispatch of the necessary orders.[2]
Mr. Monroe was to sail from New York for Havre de Grace
on yesterday. He carries with him the instructions in which
you are joined with him, as well as those which include Mr.
Livingston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Madison instructed Pinckney on March 21, 1803: Since my letter
of the 8th instant, the Marquis d'Yrujo has received answers
to his letters to the Governor and Intendant of Louisiana in
which it is stated by the latter, as well as the former officer, that the
suspension of our deposit, was not the effect of any orders from the
Spanish. Government. No intimation however was given that the suspension
would be removed in consequence of the original interposition
of the Spanish Minister. In this state of things, rendered the more critical
by the rising indignation of the Western Country, and the approach
of the season when the privation of the deposit would be felt in all its
force, a letter was written from this Department, to the Spanish Minister,
of which a copy is inclosed. You will find by the tenor of his
to the Secretary of State, of which a printed translation is
also inclosed, that he has taken on himself to insure a correction
of the wrong which has been committed. It can scarcely be
doubted that his prudent zeal to preserve tranquility between
Spain and the United States, and to save the former from the
heavy damages likely to fall on her, will be approved by his government;
and it is to be hoped that the energy of his interposition with the
local authority at New Orleans, will be effectual, in case these authorities
should not have previously changed hands. Should such a change
have taken place, the letter from Mr. Pichon the charge d'Affaires of
the French Republic of which a printed translation is likewise inclosed
is well adapted to give a right turn to the conduct of the Spanish
Agents. In whatever hands the Mouth of the Mississippi may be, it is
essential to peace, as well as to right, that the gifts of nature, and
the guarantees of Treaty should be duly respected.
It appears by a letter of February 15 from the Vice Agent of the
United States at New Orleans, that the Intendant had opened the market
there for provisions going down the Mississippi. This measure is
represented as essential to the subsistance of the Colony, and if so,
makes the folly of the Intendant, as conspicuous as his arrogance, in
provoking the resentments of a powerful neighbour, from whose good
will the necessaries of life were to be drawn.—D. of S. MSS. Instr.
| The writings of James Madison, | |