University of Virginia Library

TO WILLIAM PINKENY.[16]

Dear Sir,—I received some days ago a letter of the
10th instant from Doctor Logan, containing observations
on the posture and prospect of our foreign
relations. Before the answer was out of my hands,
I received another dated four days after, in which
he merely informed me that he should embark for
England in about eight days, with an offer to take
charge of any communications for you. As his first
letter did not glance at any such intention, it must
be presumed to have been very suddenly formed.
And as his last is silent as to the object of the trip,
this is left to conjecture. From the anxiety expressed
in his first letter for the preservation of peace
with England, which appeared to him to be in peculiar
danger, and from his known benevolence and
zeal on the subject, it may reasonably be supposed
that his views relate, in some form or other, to a
mitigation of the hostile tendencies which distress
him; and that his silence may proceed from a wish
to give no handle for animadversions of any sort on
the step taken by him.

You will receive from the Secretary of State,
unless, indeed, opportunity fail through the shortness
of the notice, such communications and observations
as may be thought useful to you. You
will find that the perplexity of our situation is amply
displayed by the diversity of opinions and prolixity

of discussion in Congress. Few are desirous of war;
and few are reconciled to submission; yet the frustration
of intermediate courses seems to have left
scarce an escape from that dilemma. The fate of
Mr. Macon's Bill,[17] as it is called, is not certain. It
will probably pass the House of Representatives,
and, for aught I know, may be concurred in by the
Senate. If retaliated by G. Britain, it will operate
as a non-importation act, and throw exports into
the circuit of the non-intercourse act. If not retaliated,
it may be felt by the British navigation,
and, thro' that interest, by the Government, since
the execution of the law which relates to the ship,
and not to the merchandize, cannot be evaded. With
respect to the E. Indies, the proposed regulation will
have the effect of compelling the admission of a
direct and exclusive trade for our vessels, or a relinquishment
of this market for India goods, farther
than they can be smuggled into it. It just appears
that a proposition has been made in the House of
Representatives to employ our ships of war in convoys,
and to permit merchantmen to arm. However
plausible the arguments for this experiment, its
tendency to hostile collisions is so evident, that I
think its success improbable. As a mode of going
into war, it does not seem likely to be generally
approved, if war was the object. The military
preparations which have been recommended, and
are under consideration, are what they profess to
be, measures of precaution. They are not only
justified, but dictated by the uncertainty attending
the course which G. Britain may take, or, rather,
by the unyielding and unamicable traits in her
Cabinet and her countenance. Measures of that
sort are also the more adapted to our situation, as,
in the event of accommodation with G. Britain, they
may possibly be wanted in another quarter. The
long debates on the Resolution of Mr. Giles,[18] on the
subject of Mr. Jackson, have terminated in affirmative
votes, by large majorities. This, with the refusal
of the Executive to hold communication with him,
it is supposed, will produce a crisis in the British
policy towards the United States; to which the
representations of the angry Minister will doubtless
be calculated to give an unfavorable turn. Should
this happen, our precautionary views will have been
the more seasonable. It is most probable, however,
that instead of expressing resentment by open war,
it will appear in more extended depredations on our
commerce; in declining to replace Mr. Jackson; and,
perhaps, in the course observed with respect to you,
in meeting which your own judgment will be the best
guide. Should a change in the composition or calculations
of the Cabinet give a favorable turn to its
policy towards this country, it is desirable that no
time may be lost in allowing it its effect. With this
view, you will be reminded of the several authorities
you retain to meet in negotiation, and of the instructions
by which they are to be exercised; it being
always understood, that with the exception of some
arrangement touching the orders in Council, reparation
for the insult on the Chesapeake must precede a
general negotiation on the questions between the
two countries. At present, nothing precise can be
said as to the condition on our part for the repeal of
the orders in Council; the existing authority in the
Executive to pledge one being expirable with the
non-intercourse act, and no other pledge being provided
for. As it is our anxious desire, however, if
the British Government should adopt just and conciliatory
views, that nothing may be omitted that
can shew our readiness to second them, you may
offer a general assurance that, as in the case of the
Embargo and the non-intercourse acts, any similar
power with which the Executive may be clothed will
be exercised in the same spirit. You will doubtless
be somewhat surprised to find among the communications
to Congress, and in print, too, the confidential
conversations with Mr. Canning, reserved from
such a use by your own request.[19] It was, in fact,
impossible to resist the pointed call for them, without
giving umbrage to some, and opportunity for
injurious inferences to others. The difficulty was
increased by the connection between those and other
communications necessarily falling within the scope
of the rule of compliance in such cases. Finally,
there did not appear to be any thing in the conversations
which could warrant British complaint of
their disclosure, or widen the space between you and
the British Ministry.

As it may not be amiss that you should know the
sentiments which I had expressed to Doctor Logan,
and which, though an answer to his letter written
previous to the notification of his intended trip, he
will of course carry with him, I enclose a copy of the
answer.

The file of newspapers from the Department of
State will give you the debates on the case of Jackson.
I enclose, however, a speech I have just looked over,
in a pamphlet form. Although liable to very obvious
criticisms of several sorts, it has presented a better
analysis of some parts of the subject than I have
observed in any of the speeches.