University of Virginia Library

TO JAMES MONROE.

In my last letter of the 26th inst, I inclosed you a
copy of one from Mr. Erskine communicating the British
order of Jany 7th and of my answer. Occurring circumstances
and further reflection on that extraordinary measure
produced a return to the subject, and another letter was

added to the first answer. A copy is enclosed with the same
view which led to the last inclosure.

The more this order is examined, the more unjustifiable
it appears in its principle, the more comprehensive in its
terms, and the more mischeivous in its operation. In the
recitals prefacing the measure, as communicated by Mr.
Erskine, in the order itself, and in the Note of Lord
Howick to you, there is a medley of motives for which a
cause must be sought either in the puzzle to find an adequate
one, or in the policy of being able to shift from
one to another according to the posture which the case may
take. Whatever be the explanation, the order, in relation
to the United States at least, must ever remain with the
candid and intelligent, a violation of those rules of law and
of justice which are binding on all nations, and which the
greatest nations ought to pride themselves most in honorably
observing. Considered as a retaliation on the United States
for permitting the injury done to Great Britain thro' their
commerce, by the French decree, the order, over and above
the objections stated to Mr. Erskine subjects the British
Government to a charge of the most striking inconsistency,
in first admitting that the decree gave a right to retaliate
in the event only of a failure of the United States to controul
its operation, as well as that such a failure alone would justify
a final refusal of the Treaty signed by its Commissions; and
then actually proceeding to retaliate before it was possible
for the decision of the United States to be known or even made.

If it be said as is stated that captures had commenced under
the decree, the fact would be of little avail. Such occurrences
could not have escaped anticipation, nor can the amount of
them under the present superiority of British power at sea
afford the slightest plea for the extensive and premature retaliation
comprized in the order. A Government, valuing its
honor and its character, ought to have dreaded less the injury
to its interests from the pillage committed by a few cruizers,
on neutral commerce, than the reproach or even the suspicion,

that a pretext was eagerly seized for unloosing a spirit, impatient
under the restraint of neutral rights, and panting
for the spoils of neutral trade. The British Government
does not sufficiently reflect on the advantage which such
appearances give to her adversary, and the appeal they are
both making to the judgment, the interests and the sympathies
of the world. If Great Britain wishes to be regarded as the
champion of Law, of right and of order among nations, her
example must support her pretensions. It must be a contrast
to injustice and to obnoxious innovations. She must
not turn the indignation of mankind from the violence of
which she complains on one element, to scenes more hostile
to established principles on the element on which she bears
sway. In a word, she ought to recollect, that the good opinion
and good will of other nations, and particularly of the United
States, is worth far more to her, than all the wealth which her
Navy, covering as it does every sea, can plunder from their innocent
commerce.

As to the scope of the order, it is evident that its terms
comprehend not only the possessions of France and of her
allies in Europe; but in every other quarter; and consequently
both in the West and in the East Indies. And as to the
injury which, if the order be executed as it will be interpreted,
by British Cruizers, in the full extent of its meaning, will be
brought on the commerce of the United States, an idea may
be collected from the glance at it in the letter to Mr. Erskine.
The inclosed statement of the amount of our Exports to
Europe and of the proportion of them which, not being
destined to England may be food for this predatory order,
will reduce the estimate to some precision. To make it still
more precise however, it will be necessary, on one hand to
transfer from the proportion cleared for Great Britain, as
much as may have touched there only on its way to continental
ports; and, on the other, to deduct the inconsiderable
destinations to Portugal, the Baltic, and the Austrian ports
in the Mediterranean.

Having in your hands the material which this communication
will complete, you will be able to make whatever
representations to the British Government you may deem
expedient, in order to produce a proper revision of the order.
If it shall have been finally ascertained that the French Decree
will not be applied to the commerce of the United States
you will of course insist on an immediate revocation of the
order so far as it may have been applied to that commerce;
and if, as in that case the order can no longer be maintained
on the principle of retaliation, the pretext of a blockade or of
illegality in the trade as a coasting one, be substituted, you
will be at no loss for the grounds on which the order is to be
combated, and its revocation demanded.

Among the papers accompanying my last was a printed
copy of the Proclamation, suspending the Non-importation
Act, until December next. This measure of the President
under any circumstances, ought to be reviewed as the effect
of his amicable policy towards Great Britain. But when it is
considered as having been taken with the British order of
Jany before him, and a measure subject to the strictures
which have been made on it, it is the strongest proof that
could be given of his solicitude to smooth the path of negotiation
and to secure a happy result to it; and in this light
you will be pleased on the proper occasions, to present it.