Condemned June 18, 1811. † Condemned June 21, 1811. Condemned July 5, 1811. The two last have not had a trial. Mr. John Spear Smith, Chargé d'Affaires of the Uni- | from his Lordship on the same subject, which I ted States, to the Secretary of State. received last evening.* LONDON, July 22, 1810. SIR: I have the honor to enclose a copy of Mr. Russell's letter to me of the 14th instant, which contains the agreeable intelligence of the release of three of the captured American vessels. shall communicate its substance to this Government without the formality of an official note, supposing that Mr. Foster is fully instructed on the subject of the Orders in Council, and that anything I might, under these circumstances, offer, would be attended with no advantage. I enclose also a letter from Mr. Russell, of the 5th instant.* I have the honor to be, &c. Mr. Monroe to Mr. Russell. DEPARTMENT of State, July 27, 1811. SIR: This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Barlow, who is appointed to represent the United States at Paris, as their Minister Plenipotentiary. You will deliver to him the papers in your possession, and give him all the information in your power, relative to our affairs with the French Government. The President has instructed me to communicate to you his approbation of your conduct in the discharge of the duties which devolved on you, as Chargé d'Affaires at Paris, after the departure of General Armstrong, which I execute with pleasure. As an evidence of his confidence and favorable disposition, he has appointed you to the same trust in London, for which I enclose The papers enclosed in these letters make part of the enclosures in Mr. Monroe's letter to Mr. Foster, of the 17th of October, and are printed with it. Relations with Great Britain. you a commission. It is hoped that it may suit your convenience to repair to that Court, and to remain there until a Minister shall be appointed, which will be done as soon as the Congress convenes. The frigate which takes Mr. Barlow to France will pass on to some port in Holland to execute a particular instruction, from the Secretary of the Treasury, relative to our debt in that country. She will then return to France, and take you to such English port as may be most convenient to you. Your services in France will have given you such knowledge of your duties at London, that I shall not go into detail in this communication respecting them. It is wished and expected that you and Mr. Barlow will communicate fully on the subject of your respective duties, and co-operate together in the measures which are deemed necessary to promote the just objects of the United States with the countries in which you will respectively represent them. You will receive a copy of the notes of Mr. Foster on several important topics, and my answers to them, particularly on the British Orders in Council; the possession taken by the United States of certain parts of West Florida; and the late encounter between the United States frigate, the President, and the British sloop of war, the Little Belt. It is hoped that the British Government will proceed to revoke its Orders in Council, and thus restore, in all respects, the friendly relation which would be so advantageous to both countries. The papers relative to West Florida show the ground on which that question rests. The affair of the Little Belt cannot excite much feeling, as it is presumed, in England; the chase was begun by the British captain; he fired the first shot and the first broadside; to which it may be added that the occurrence took place near our coast, which is sometimes infested by vessels from the West Indies, without commissions, and even for piratical purposes. It seems to be a right inseparable from the sovereignty of the United States, to ascertain the character and nation of the vessels which hang on their coast. An inquiry is ordered into Commodore Rodgers' conduct, at his request, for the purpose of establishing all the facts appertaining to this occurrence. You will be allowed an outfit for Paris, and half an outfit to take you to London. Should you, by any circumstance, be unable to proceed to London, which would be a cause of regret, you will be so good as to transmit, by a special messenger, the papers forwarded for you to Mr. Smith, who, in that event, will remain there. You will receive, enclosed, a letter to Mr. Smith, to be delivered to him in case you go to London, as it is wished that your removal to London should not be imputed to a want of due respect for him. I have the honor, &c. JAMES MONROE. Extract-Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. I have the honor to inform you that I reached London on the 12th of this month, and on the 15th waited on the Marquis Wellesley, in pursuance of his appointment. His Lordship said it was very uncertain when he should be able to present me to the Prince Regent, as His Royal Highness had, the day before, met with an accident at Oatlands, which might prevent his return to town for some time. Our conversation was of a very general character, and did not embrace with precision any of the questions in agitation between the two countries. His Lordship once observed that he hoped, in the course of five or six weeks we might have some amicable discussion with each other. Until I am otherwise instructed, I shall confine myself here to the exercise of the ordinary duties of the Legation. After the proof which has been already produced of the revocation of the French decrees, it would probably do no good for me to make a statement on that subject, especially as I have nothing new to offer. Enough has already been said to convince those who were not predisposed to resist conviction. The Constitution left Portsmouth on the 21st instant for Cherbourg. Extract-Mr.Monroe, Secretary of State, to Mr.Russell. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Nov. 27, 1811. I had lately the honor to transmit to you a copy of the President's Message to Congress at the commencement of the session, and of the documents which accompanied it, so far as they were then printed. In the papers now sent, you will receive a complete copy of that highly interesting communication. You will see by these documents the ground which has been taken by the Executive, in consequence of the new ground taken by Great Britain. The Orders in Council are considered as war on our commerce, and to continue until the Continental market is opened to British products, which may not be pending the present war in Europe. The United States cannot allow Great Britan to regulate their trade, nor can they be content with a trade to Great Britain only, whose markets are already surcharged with their productions. The United States are, therefore, reduced to the dilemma either of abandoning their commerce, or of resorting to other means more likely to obtain a respect for their rights. Between these alternatives, there can be little cause for hesitation. It will be highly satisfactory to learn that a change in the policy of Great Britain shall have taken place, and it is expected that you will avail yourself of every opportunity, and particularly of the return of this vessel, to communicate the most full and correct information on the subject. The Hornet will land a messenger in France, who takes despatches to our Minister in Paris, after which she will proceed to England, and land there a messenger with despatches to you. It is desired that you will hurry her return to France, with the greatest expedition possible, from whence she will hasten to the United States. Relations with Great Britain. Extract-Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. LONDON, Dec. 23, 1811. Since I wrote to you on the 22d ult. nothing new, in relation to the United States, has occurred here. Everything remains in doubt with regard to a change of Ministers, and much more so with regard to a change of measures. I have not heard from Mr. Barlow since I left France, and do not know if the Constitution has yet left that country. The newspapers which I transmit you herewith contain the late occurrences, and to those I beg leave to refer you. Extract-Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. LONDON, Jan. 10, 1812. Mr. Tayloe, the messenger by the United States ship Hornet, arrived in town on the 3d of this month, and delivered your despatches. I regret that I have nothing of a satisfactory nature to communicate to you, in return, relative to a change of system here. I have detained Mr. Tayloe a few days, as the opening of Parliament and the early debates might indicate the spirit and develope the views of the Ministry with regard to us. I have announced to the Marquis Wellesley that the messenger will leave London on the 14th instant; and while I offered to take charge of any despatches which his Lordship might wish to transmit by him, I availed myself of the occasion to state the high satisfaction it would afford me to be able to communicate to the American Government, by the same opportunity, the repeal, or such modification of the Orders in Council violating the rights of the United States, as would remove the great obs acle to free intercourse and perfect harmony between the two countries. I do not, however, flatter myself that this suggestion will produce any effect. Extract Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe. LONDON, Jan. 14, 1812. Since I had the honor to address you via Liverpool, on the 10th of this month, I have received no communication from this Government. Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. LONDON, Jan. 14, 1812. SIR: I lament that it is not in my power to announce to you, by the return of Mr. Tayloe, the adoption of a system here towards the United States more just and reasonable than that of which we now complain. No intimation has been given to me of an intention to abandon the offending Orders in Council. I have not, hitherto, made any representation in regard to these orders; and if they are to be persisted in, as Mr. Foster declares, not only until the Berlin and Milan decrees be entirely abrogated, but until we compel the French Government to admit us in France with the manufactures and produce of Great Britain and her colonies, it must be useless to say anything upon the subject. The revolting to be the subject of argument; and the very atextravagance of these pretensions is too manifest tempt to reason them down would admit that they are not too absurd for refutation. Should Mr. Barlow furnish me with any new evidence of the discontinuance of the French edicts, so far as they were in derogation of our rights, I shall present it to this Government; and, once more, however unnecessary it may appear, afford it an opportunity of revoking its orders, which can no longer be pretended to rest on our acquiescence in the decrees of its enemy, from the unrighteous operation of which we are specially exempted. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe. LONDON, Jan. 22, 1812. SIR: Yesterday I understood the case of the Female, one of the vessels captured under the Orders in Council, came to trial before Sir William Scott. He rejected a motion for time to produce evidence of the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees in relation to the United States, and suggested that there would be a question of law, if such revocation, when shown, would be considered by the British Government as sufficient to require the repeal of the Orders in Council; at any rate, that he was bound to consider these orders to be in force until their repeal should be notified to him by this Government. The Fe The expectation of a change of Ministry, which was confidently entertained a few weeks since, appears to have vanished, and a hope of the ex-male was condemned. tinguishment of the Orders in Council is very much diminished. Extract-Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your two letters of the 27th November last. It would have afforded me the highest satisfaction to have been able to communicate to you, by the return of the Hornet, the revocation of the Orders in Council. Hitherto, however, there has been exhibited here no disposition to repeal them. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Hon. JAMES MONROE, &c. Extract Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. Since I had the honor to address you on the 14th instant by the Hornet, I have received no communication either from Washington or Paris. The Hornet did not leave Cowes until the 18th, ~ owing, I presume to the indisposition of the captain, whom I understand to have been very ill. I dismissed Mr. Tayloe here on the 14th. Relations with Great Britain. Extract-Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe. LONDON, Feb. 3, 1812. Since I had the honor to address you on the 25th ultimo, I have received your communications of the 20th December, through the good offices of Mr. Foster. While I lament the necessity, as I most sincerely do, of the course indicated by the proceedings of Congress, yet it is gratifying to learn that it will be pursued with vigor and unanimity. I am persuaded that this Government has presumed much on our weakness and divisions, and that it continues to believe that we have not energy and union enough to make efficient war. I have this moment learned that the Hornet has returned from Cherbourg to Cowes; and I understand by a letter from the Consul there, that there is a Mr. Porter on board with despatches from Mr. Barlow for this Legation, but he has not yet made his appearance here. I am obliged to close this letter without waiting for him, as I understand the next post may not arrive at Liverpool in season for the Orbit. Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. LONDON, Feb. 9, 1812. SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you, enclosed, a copy of a letter, dated the 29th ultimo, from Mr. Barlow, and a copy of the note in which I yesterday communicated that letter to the Marquis Wellesley. within that period of a vessel, in either of the J. BARLOW. [Enclosed in Mr. Russell's letter of Feb. 9th, 1812.] Mr. Russell to the Marquis Wellesley. LONDON, Feb. 8, 1812. MY LORD: I have the honor herewith to hand to your Lordship the copy of a letter addressed to me, on the 29th of last month, by Mr. Barlow, the American Minister at Paris. I have felt some hesitation in communicating this letter to your Lordship, lest my motive might be mistaken, and an obligation appear to be admitted, on the part of the United States, to furnish more evidence of the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees than has already been furnished, or than has been necessary to their own conviction. I trust, however, that my conduct on this occasion will be ascribed alone to an earnest desire to prevent the evils which a continued diversity of opinion on this subject might unhappily produce. The case of the Acastus necessarily implies that American vessels, captured by the cruisers of France, are adjudged by the French navigation laws only, and that the Berlin and Milan decrees make no part of these laws; the Acastus being acquitted, notwithstanding the fact of her Although the proof of the revocation of the having been boarded by an English vessel of war. French decrees contained in the letter of Mr. To the declaration of Mr. Barlow, that since his Barlow, is, when taken by itself, of no very con-residence at Paris there had been no instance of a clusive character, yet it ought, when connected with that previously exhibited to this Government, to be admitted as satisfactorily establishing that revocation, and in this view I have thought it to be my duty to present it here. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. [Enclosed in Mr. Russell's letter of Feb. 9th, 1812.] Mr. Barlow to Mr. Russell. PARIS, Jan. 29, 1812. SIR: The ship Acastus, Captain Coffee, from Norfolk, bound to Tonningen with tobacco, had been boarded by an English frigate, and was taken by a French privateer, and brought into Fécamp for the fact of having been so boarded. This was in November last. On the 2d of December I stated the facts to the Duke of Bassano; and in a few days after the ship and cargo were ordered by the Emperor to be restored to the owners, on condition that she had not violated the French navigation laws, which latter question was sent to the Council of Prizes to determine. The Council determined that no such violation had taken place, and the ship and cargo were definitively restored to Captain Coffee. vessel, under either the Berlin or Milan decrees, being detained or molested by the French Government, I beg leave to add that, previous to his residence and subsequent to the 1st of November, 1810, these decrees were not executed in violation of the neutral or national rights of the United States. Whatever doubts might have been entertained of the efficient nature of the revocation of those decrees, on account of the form in which that measure was announced, these doubts ought surely now to yield to the uniform experience of fifteen months, during which period not a single fact has occurred to justify them. I do not urge, in confirmation of this revocation, the admission of American vessels with cargoes arrived in the ports of France after having touched in England, as stated by Mr. Barlow, and as accords with what occurred during my residence at Paris, because such admission is evidence only of the cessation of the municipal operation of the decrees in relation to the United States, of which it cannot be presumed that the British Government requires an account. I cannot forbear to persuade myself that the proof now added to the mass which was already To the above fact I can add, that since my res- before your Lordship will satisfactorily establish, idence here, several American vessels with car-in the judgment of His Britannic Majesty's Govgoes have arrived and been admitted in the ports of France, after having touched in England, the fact being declared; and there is no instance ernment, the revocation of the decrees in question, and lead to such a repeal of the Orders in Council, in regard to the United States, as will Relations with Great Britain. restore the friendly relations and commercial in- the legal process, might yet be considerable, I retercourse between the two countries. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State. LONDON, Feb, 21, 1812. SIR: I regret that, in announcing to you the cessation of the restrictions on the Regency here, I cannot at the same time apprize you of the adoption of a more just and enlightened policy in favor of the United States than has hitherto prevailed. The partial changes in the Ministry will probably produce no change of its character, or lead to an abandonment of the existing system in relation to us. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Hon. JAMES MONROE, &c. quest your immediate attention to this communi- BOROUGH OF PORTSMOUTH, LIVERPOOL. in the County of Southampton: Elizabeth Eleanor Bowman, of Kingston, near Portsmouth, in the said county, maketh oath that she was married to William Bowman, late of Portsmouth, shipwright, about six years ago; that he was employed in the dock-yard there, which he quitted about three years ago, and sailed from hence in the Edward Fork, a transport, which was wrecked on the island of Cuba; that she was informed by her husband that he got from Cuba to New York in an American ship, and, about the 4th of June last, having got in liquor, he found himself LONDON, Feb. 22, 1812. in the American rendezvous there, and that he SIR: I have the honor to hand you, enclosed, was compelled against his inclination to go on a copy of a letter to me from the Earl of Liver- board the Hornet, an American sloop of war, bepool, relating to a person by the name of Bow-ing conducted on board her by a file of soldiers; man, said to be a British subject, and forcibly detained on board the United States' ship Hornet, together with copies of the deposition of Elizabeth Eleanor Bowman, which accompanied it, and of my reply. I have the honor to be, &c. Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Hon. JAMES MONROE, &c. [Referred to in Mr. Russell's despatch of Feb. 22.] The Earl of Liverpool to Mr. Russell. FOREIGN OFFICE, Feb. 20, 1812. SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you the copy of an affidavit, sworn at Portsmouth, by Elizabeth Eleanor Bowman, stating herself to be the wife of William Bowman, one of His Majesty's subjects, now detained against his will on board the United States' sloop Hornet, at present in Cowes road. You cannot but be aware of the urgent necessity of putting the facts alleged in this document into an immediate train of investigation, and I am to request that you will communicate, without loss of time, with the commanding officer of the Hornet, in order that he may afford you all the information in his power, and that the vessel may not put to sea before the result of the inquiry shall be ascertained in a manner satisfactory to yourself and to this Government. You must likewise be aware that this Government has no power to prevent the issuing of a writ of habeas corpus by the friends of Bowman, and that in that case it would be impossible to impede or delay its execution, and the consequent removal of this question out of the hands of the two Governments into those of the legal force and authorities of this country. Anxious to prevent any such proceeding, the inconveniences of which, even if they did not involve the possibility of a forcible execution of 12th CoN. 1st SESS.-56 that the Hornet having arrived safely at Cowes, she received a letter from her husband, requesting her to come on board to see him; that she accordingly went on board her, but was kept alongside the sloop about half an hour before the officer would admit her on board; that the permission to remain on board was for half an hour, but the officers would not afterwards permit her to quit the ship until the following Friday: that her husband told her that the officer threatened to punish him for having informed her where he was; and he also told her there were a great many English on board, several of whom would be glad to quit her; also, that some men on board much wished her away from this country, but that she does not know the names of any of the parties: that the said William Bowman, who passed on board the Hornet by the name of William Elby, is now detained on board her against his will, and is very anxious to quit the American sloop Hornet, and to return to his native country. The of ELIZABETH E. BOWMAN. Sworn at Portsmouth, in the said county, the 25th day of January, 1812, before me, the same having been first read, and she having set her mark thereto in my presence. E. H. AMAND, One of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of Southampton. [Enclosed in Mr. Russell's despatch of Feb. 22.] Mr. Russell to the Earl of Liverpool. LONDON, Feb. 24, 1812. MY LORD: I have the honor to inform your Lordship that the United States' sloop Hornet left Cowes on the 13th of this month. The statement of this fact does away, I presume, the necessity of a more particular reply to your Lord |