provinces were united to the Em pire. "In the present time are to be found united all the circumstances of the various periods at which his Majesty manifested the pacific sentiments which he now orders me again to declare that he is actuated by. "The calamities under which Spain, and the vast regions of Spanish America suffer, should naturally excite the interest of all nations, and inspire them with an equal anxiety for their termination. "I will express myself, Sir, in a manner which your Excellency will find conformable to the sincerity of the step which I am au thorised to take; and nothing will better evince the sincerity and sublimity of it than the precise terms of the language which I have been directed to use. What views and motives should induce me to envelope myself in formalities suitable to weakness, which alone can find its interest in deceit? "The affairs of the Peninsula, and the Two Sicilies, are the points of difference which appear least to admit of being adjusted. I am authorised to propose to you an arrangement of them, on the following basis: : "The integrity of Spain shall be guaranteed. France shall renounce all idea of extending her dominions beyond the Pyrennees. The present dynasty shall be declared independent, and Spain shall be governed by a National Constitution of her Cortes. "The independence and integrity of Portugal shall be also guaranteed, and the House of Braganza shall have the Sovereign authority. "The kingdom of Naples shall remain in possession of the present mouarch, and the kingdom of Sicily shall be guaranteed to the present family of Sicily. "As a consequence of these stil pulations, Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, shall be evacuated by the French and English land and naval forces. "With respect to the other ob. jects of discussion, they may be negociated upon this basis, that each power shall retain that of which the other could not deprive it by war. "Such are, Sir, the grounds of conciliation offered by his Majesty to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. "His Majesty the Emperor and King, in taking this step, does not look either to the advantages or losses which this Empire may derive from the war, if it should be prolonged; he is influenced simply by the considerations of the interests of humanity, and the peace of his people; and if this fourth attempt should not be attended with success, like those which have preceded it, France will at least have the consolation of thinking, that whatever blood may yet flow, will be justly imputable to England alone. "I have the honour, &c. "The Duke of BASSANO." No. IX. Copy of the Answer of Lord Castlereagh, Secretary of State for Fo reign Affairs of His Britannic Ma SIR,-Your Excellency's letter of the 17th of this month has been received, and laid before the Prince Regent. "His Royal Highness felt that he owed it to his honour, before he should authorize me to enter into any explanation upon the overture which your Excellency has transmitted, to ascertain the precise meaning attached by the Government of France to the following passage of your Excellency's letter: the actual Dynasty shall be declared independent, and Spain governed by the national Constitution of the Cortes.' "If, as his Royal Highness fears, the meaning of this proposition is, that the Royal authority of Spain, and the government established by the Cortes, shall be * recognised as residing in the brother of the head of the French goverument, and the Cortes formed under his authority, and not in the legitimate sovereign, Ferdi. nand the Seventh, and his heirs, and the Extraordinary Assembly of the Cortes, now invested with the power of the government in that kingdom, in his name, and by his authority; I am commanded frankly and explicitly to declare to your Excellency, that the obligations of good faith do not permit his Royal Highness to receive a proposition for peace founded on - such a basis. But if the expressions cited above apply to the actual government of Spain, which exercises the Sovereign authority in the name of Ferdinand the VIIth, upon an assurance of your Excellency to that effect, the Prince Regent will feel himself disposed to enter into a full explanation upon the basis which has been transmitted, in order to be taken into consideration by his Royal Highness; it being his most earnest wish to contribute, in concert with his allies, to the repose of Europe; and to bring about a peace, which may be at once honourable, not only for Great Britain and France, but also for those States which are in relations of amity with each of these Powers. Having made known without reserve the sentiments of the Prince Regent, with respect to a point on which it is necessary to have a full understanding, previous to any ulterior discussion, I shall adhere to the instructions of his Royal Highness, by avoiding all superfluous comment and recrimination on the accessary objects of your letter. I might advantageously, for the justification of the conduct observed by Great Britain at the different periods alluded to by your Excellency, refer to the correspondence which then took place, and to the judgment which the world has long since formed of it. "As to the particular character the war has unhappily assumed, and the arbitrary principles which your Excellency conceives to have marked its progress, denying, as I do, that these evils are attributable to the British government, I at the same time can assure your Excellency, that it sincerely deplores their existence, as uselessly aggravating the calamities of war: and that its most anxious desire, whether "Palace of St. Cloud, April 28, 1810. Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation, "On the report of our minister for foreign affairs. "In consequence of the act of the 2d of March, 1811, by which .the Congress of the United States have enacted exemptions from the provisions of the Non-Intercourse Act, which prohibit the entrance into the American ports to the ships and goods of Great Britain, or its colonies, and dependencies; "Considering that the said law is an act of resistance to the arbi-trary pretensions consecrated by -the British orders in council, and a formal refusal to adhere to a system derogatory to the independence of neutral powers, and of their flag. "By order of the Emperor, the minister and secretary for foreign affairs. (Signed) "The Count DARU. "The minister for foreign affairs. (True Copy). (Signed) The Duke DE BASSANO." SPAIN. The Regency of the Kingdom kave caused to be published the following Decree "Don Ferdinand VII. by the grace of God, and the Constitution of the Spanish monarchy, King of the Spains, and in his ab. sence and captivity, the Regency of the kingdom, appointed by the general and extraordinary Cortes, to all to whom these presents come make known, that the Cortes have decreed as follows: "The general and extraordinary Cortes, adverting to its being provided in the Constitution of the monarchy that the ordinary Cortes shall be assembled every year; and considering that the public good, which dictated this constitutional regulation, never more strongly recommended its observance than now, when the pressing affairs of the state, and the necessity of putting in motion the said Constitution so imperiously require it, have "We have decreed, and decree resolved to decree, and do decree : as follows: "The decrees of Berlin and Milan are definitively, and from , the date of the 1st of November - last, considered as never having taken place (non avenues) with regard to American vessels... (Signed) "NAPOLEON. 1. That the ordinary Cortes be convoked for the ensuing year, 1813. 2. That it being absolutely impossible, considering the shortes9 of the time, and the distance of places, for the ordinary Cortes, to meet at the precise time pointed out out in the Constitution, it not being possible that the deputies from the more distant parts of the kingdom can be assembled by the 1st of March, of the said year, the first ordinary Cortes will therefore open their session on the 1st of October, 1813. And for this purpose shall be held electoral assemblies of parishes, districts, and provinces, in conformity to the instructions for the Peninsula and ultra marine possessions which accompany this decree. 3. That with a view of facilitating the elections at a period when the extraordinary circumstances in which the whole kingdom is placed, oppose obstacles of so many kinds to the necessary verification of the elections, and to the first assembling of the ordinary Cortes which is to result from them: the regulations contained in the instructions for each of the two hemispheres, which accompany this decree, shall be observed and followed in the provinces of the Peninsula and adjacent isles, and in those beyond the sea, respectively. 4. That all the ultra marine deputies repair to this city of Cadiz, where the place in which they are to open their sittings shall be communicated to them by the permanent deputation of the Cortes; for this purpose they ought to be assembled in this city at the commencement of the month of September, 1813. 5. The deputies to the present general and extraordinary Cortes cannot be re-elected for the ensuing ordinary Cortes. The Regency shall take the proper measures for executing this decree, causing it to be printed, published, and circulated. JOSE MARIA GUTIERREZ DE TERAN, President. JOSE DE ZORKAQUIN, JOAQUIN DIAZ CANEJA, Secretaries. Given at Cadiz the 23d of May, 1812. To the Regency of the kingdom. We therefore order all tribunals, justices, chiefs, governors, and other authorities, eivil, milita ry, and ecclesiastical, to observe, and cause to be observed, fulfil and execute the present decree in all its parts; and that the same be printed, published, and made known in order to its fulfilment. JOAQUIN DE MOSQUERA Y FIGUEROA, President. JUAN VILLAVICENCIO, IGNACIO RODrigués de RIVAS, The Conde DEL ABIZBAL. Cadiz, May 24, 1812. AMERICA-Message from the President of the United States to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. I communicate to Congress certain documents, being a continuation of those heretofore laid before them, on the subject of our affairs with Great Britain. Without going beyond the renewal, in 1803, of the war in which Great Britain is engaged, and omitting unrepaired wrongs of inferior magnitude, the conduct of her government presents a series of acts hostile to the United States as an independent and neutral nation. British 1 British cruizers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it, not in the exercise of a belligerent right, founded on the law of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal prerogative over British subjects. British jurisdiction is thus extended to neutral vessels in à situation where no laws can operate but the law of nations and the laws of the country to which the vessels belong; and a selfredress is assumed, which, if British subjects were wrongfully detained and alone concerned, is that substitution of force for a resort to the responsible sovereign, which falls within the definition of Could the seizure of British subjects, in such cases, be regarded as within the exercise of a belligerent right, the acknowledged laws of war, which forbid an article of captured property to be adjudged without a regular investigation before a competent tribunal, would imperiously demand the fairest trial, where the sacred rights of persons were at issue. In place of such trial, these rights are subjected to the will of every petty commander. war. The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British subjects alone, that under the pretext of searching for these, thousands of American citizens, under the safe-guard of public laws, and of their national flag, have been torn from their country, and from every thing dear to them, have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation, and exposed, under the severities of their discipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instraments of taking away those of their own brethren. Against this crying enormity, which Great Britain would be so prompt to avenge if committed against herself, the United States have in vain exhausted remonstrances and expostulations: and that no proof might be wanting of their conciliatory dispositions, and no pretext left for continuance of the practice, the British government was formally assured of the readiness of the United States to enter into arrangements, such as could not be rejected, if the recovery of the British subjects were the real and sole object. communication passed without effect. 1.2 The British cruisers have been in the practice also of violating the rights and peace of our coasts. They hover over and harass our entering and departing commerce. To the most insulting pretensions they have added lawless proceedings in our very harbours, and have wantonly spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial jurisdiction. The principles and rules enforced by that nation, when a neutral nation, against armed vessels of belligerents hovering near her coasts, and disturbing her commerce, are well known. When called on, nevertheless, by the United States to punish the greater offences committed by her own vessels, her government has bestowed on their commanders additional marks of honour and confidence. Under pretended blockades, force, without the presence of an adequate |