The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
 |
TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. |
 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Dear Sir,—I send herewith a few papers which
have come to my hands, along with those addressed
to myself.
Jackson, according to a note sent from Annapolis,
to Mr. Smith, was to be in Washington on Friday
evening last. The letters from Mr Pinkney, brought
by him, were dated June 23, and merely rehearsed a
conversation with Canning; from which it would seem
that C readily admitted that his second condition
(Colonial trade) had no connection with the subject,
and that it was not to be expected the U. States would
accede to the 3d, (G. B. to execute our laws.)[12]
Why,
reject the arrangemt of E. for not including them?
For as to the first article, if he does not fly from his
language to P., the continuance of the non-intercourse
against France cannot be denied to be a substantial
fulfilment of it. From this view of the matter, it
might be inferred that Jackson comes with a real
olive in his hand. But besides the general slipperiness
of his superior, some ideas fell from him in his
conversation with P. justifying distrust of his views.
The bearer of this is Mr. Palmer, a young man,
respectable I believe, of New York. He is very
remarkable as a linguist, and for the most part self-taught.
He is perhaps the only American, never
out of his own Country, who has dipt as much into
the Chinese.
The letter herewith for Capt: Coles, was to have
gone by the last mail. If no earlier conveyance shd.
offer I beg the favor of its being sent to the post office
in time for the next. Be assured always of my
affectionate respects.
As we wish not to be from home, in case any of
visit, be so good as to drop us notice of the time.
I have mustered up the weather journals, and wd.
send them by the present oppy but that they wd.
encumber too much. The fall of water I find has
been noted for not more than 7 or 8 years. The
other items much longer.
Only an extract of Pinkney's chief letter was sent to Congress.
It may be seen in Am. State Papers, For. Affs., III., 303, and Annals
of Cong., 11th Cong., 2d Sess., Part 2, p. 2074, and is indicated in the
complete letter which follows by an asterisk at the beginning and end
of the extract. The closing sentence of Secretary Smith's letter of
April 17th (written by Madison) to Erskine, to which Canning took
exception, was as follows:
"But I have it in express charge from the President to state that,
while he forbears to insist on a further punishment of the offending
officer [Berkeley], he is not the less sensible of the justice and utility
of such an example, nor the less persuaded that it would best comport
with what is due His Britannic Majesty to his own honor."
Pinkney's letter to Smith was as follows:
"London, June 23, 1809.
"Sir,
"I had an Interview yesterday with Mr. Canning, of which I will
trouble you with a very brief account.
"As the orders in Council of the 24th. of May did not extend to the
Dutch Settlement of Batavia, and as an American Trade with that
Settlement was supposed to be affected by the order of the 26th. of
April, I suggested to Mr. Canning the propriety of a supplemental
order on that point. His Idea was that the omission of Batavia in
the order of the 24th. of May must have been an oversight, and that
it would be set to rights as I proposed. Of course he could not speak
positively on such a Subject.
"American Vessels, taking Cargoes to Holland, are not allowed by
the order of May to clear out from that Country, with Return Cargoes,
after the 1st of July. I supposed that the homeward Voyage ought,
upon every principle, to have been placed upon the same Footing
with the outward, and that both should have been considered as
forming one Transaction and equally resting upon the Faith of Mr.
Erskine's arrangement. Mr. Canning did not appear to be convinced
that this was a correct View of the Case; but he took a Note of what
I said upon it for Consideration. The Importance of this alteration
will depend upon the Manner in which our Vessels may be received
& treated in Holland. This is still doubtful, but I hope to be able in
a few Days to give you precise Information on that point.
"It seemed to be desirable that, before Mr. Jackson's Departure
this Government should determine to avoid the Error of taking formal
Exception to your letter of the 17th of April to Mr. Erskine; and,
accordingly, I availed myself of this occasion to enter very fully into
that subject. I need not state in Detail the Grounds upon which I
recommended that Mr. Jackson should not be directed or even permitted
to attribute to that Letter in his official Discussions with you
any thing of that Harshness which had at first been supposed to
belong to it. I ought to say, however, that I thought myself bound
to contrast the Spirit and Terms of your Letter with the strong Imputations
contained in the introductory part of Mr. Canning's Instructions
to Mr. Erskine of the 23 of January, which introductory part,
as well as the Body of the Instructions, Mr. Erskine was authorized,
without any apparent necessity, to communicate to you, and which
has, moreover been lately published to the World, with still less of the
Appearance of Necessity, through the House of Commons; and that
I dwelt, with the same object upon Mr. Canning's official reply to my
Letter of the 23d of August last, and pointed out in as conciliatory a
Way as possible but nevertheless with great Explicitness the Course
of Recrimination which a Complaint by the British Government of
the Temper imputed to your Letter would inevitably produce, and
how perniciously it might affect the Relations of the two Countries
without any Chance of doing Good.
"It was not necessary, or perhaps proper, that I should make many
Comments upon your Letter; and I added, in fact, very little to a confident
Denial that it was written in any other than a just and friendly
Spirit or that it was liable to the Charge of Harshness. The last Sentence
of it has been felt with some Sensibility here; but I am inclined
to think that no Stress will now be laid upon it. It would be obviously
unjust as well as injudicious to do so and although I am quite sure
that you would meet, with that Moderation by which national Dignity
is best supported, a Disposition on the part of this Government to
press this Punctilio into Notice, it certainly is not to be wished that
any thing of the Sort should be attempted.
"* In conversing upon the first of the conditions, upon the obtaining
of which Mr. Erskine was to promise the Repeal of the British orders
in Council and a special Mission, I collected, from what was said by
Mr. Canning, that the Exemption of Holland from the Effect of our
Embargo & non-Intercourse would not have been much objected to
by the British Government, if the Government of the United States
had been willing to concede the first condition subject to that Exemption.
Mr. Canning observed that the Expedient of an actual Blockade
of Holland had occurred to them as being capable of meeting that
Exemption; but that Mr. Erskine had obtained no Pledge, express or
implied, or in any Form, that we would enforce our non-Intercourse
System against France and her Dependencies—that our mutual System
would, if not re-enacted or continued as to France, terminate with the
present Session of Congress—that, for aught that appeared to the contrary
in your correspondence with Mr. Erskine or in the President's
proclamation, the Embargo and non Intercourse Laws might be
suffered without any Breach of Faith to expire, or might even be
repealed immediately, notwithstanding the Perseverance of France in
her Berlin and other Edicts—and that Mr. Erskine had in Truth secured
nothing more, as the Consideration of the Recall of the orders
in Council, than the Renewal of American Intercourse with Great
Britain.
"Upon the second of the Conditions mentioned in Mr. Erskine's Instructions
I made several Remarks. I stated that it had no necessary
connection with the principal subject—that it had lost its Importance
to Great Britain by the Reduction of almost all the Colonies of her
Enemies—that Batavia was understood not to be affected by it—
that it could not apply to Guadaloupe (the only other unconquered
colony) since it was admitted that we were not excluded from a Trade
with Guadaloupe in Peace—that I did not know what the Government
of the United States would, upon sufficient Inducements, consent to
do upon this point; but that it could scarcely be expected to give the
implied Sanction, which this Condition called upon it to give, to
the Rules of the War of 1756, without any equivlaent or reciprocal
Stipulation whatsoever.—Mr. Canning admitted that the second condition
had no necessary connection with the orders in Council, and he
intimated that they would have been content to leave the Subject of
it to future Discussion and arrangement. He added that this condition
was inserted in Mr. Erskine's Instructions because it had appeared
from his own Report of Conversations with official persons at Washington
that there would be no difficulty in agreeing to it.
"Upon the third Condition I said a very few Words. I restated what
I had thrown out upon the matter of it in an informal Conversation
in January—and expressed my regret that it should have been misapprehended.
Mr. Canning immediately said that he was himself of
opinion that the Idea upon which that condition turns could not well
find its way into a stipulation—that he had, nevertheless, believed
it to be proper to propose the condition to the United States—that he
should have been satisfied with the Rejection of it—and that the
Consequence would have been that they should have intercepted the
Commerce to which it referred, if any such commerce should be
attempted.*
"In conclusion I urged the Importance of sending out Mr. Jackson
as promptly as possible, with such liberal Instructions as would be
likely, if acted upon as they ought to be, to conduct the two countries
to peace and Friendship. I was told that Mr. Jackson would probably
sail in ten days, and I had much Reason to hope that his orders would
not be such as to render adjustment impracticable.
"I shall commit this letter to Mr. Jackson's care. It is rather a prevailing
notion here that this Gentleman's conduct will not and cannot
be what we all wish, and that a better choice might have been made.
I trust, however, that you will find him anxious to reestablish a good
understanding with us, and that with some small occasional allowances
he will do very well. It must be granted, however, that the
Crisis seems to require a minister of mild Deportment, studious to
soften asperities, and incapable, from Temperament, of being betrayed
into an offensive manner of discharging his Duty."—D. of S. MSS.
Despatches.
| The writings of James Madison, | |