constituted authority vested in them, have declared by their act bearing date the 18th day of the present month that war exists between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof and the United States of America and their Territories:

Now, therefore, I, James Madison, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the same to all whom it may concern; and I do specially enjoin on all persons holding offices, civil or military, under the authority of the United States that they be vigilant and zealous in discharging the duties respectively incident thereto; and I do moreover exhort all the good people of the United States, as they love their country, as they value the precious heritage derived from the virtue and valor of their fathers, as they feel the wrongs which have forced on them the last resort of injured nations, and as they consult the best means under the blessing of Divine Providence of abridging its calamities, that they exert themselves in preserving order, in promoting concord, in maintaining the authority and efficacy of the laws, and in supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be adopted by the constituted authorities for obtaining a speedy, a just, and an honorable peace.

In testimony, etc.

Done etc. the 19th day of June, 1812, etc.

For the private armed vessels of the U. States

called

I. The tenor of your Commission and of the act of Cong entitled "An act, &c. &c. a copy of which is hereto annexed,

This is endorsed: Instructions for private armed vessels, drawn up by President Madison. It is in Madison's hand and is among the War of 1812 MSS., Letters of Marque.

will be kept constantly in your view. By The high seas referred to in your Commission, you will understand generally, to extend to low water mark; But with the exception of the space within one league or three miles of the shore of countries at peace both with G. B. and with the U. S. you may, nevertheless execute your commission within that distance of the shore of a nation at war with G. B. and even on the waters within the jurisdiction of such nation, if permitted so to do.

2. You are to pay the strictest regard to the rights of neutral powers, & the usages of Civilized nations; and in all your proceedings towards neutral vessels, you are to give them as little molestation or interruption as will consist with the right of ascertaining their neutral character, and of detaining and bringing them in for regular adjudication in the proper cases. You are particularly to avoid even the appearance of using force or seduction with a view to deprive such vessels of their crews, or of their passengers, other than persons in the military service of the enemy.

3. Towards enemy vessels & their crews, you are to proceed, in exercising the rights of war, with all the justice & humanity which characterize the nation of which you are members.

4. The Master & one or more of the principal persons belonging to captured vessels, are to be sent, as soon after the capture as may be, to the Judge or Judges of the proper court in the U. S. to be examined upon oath, touching the interest or property of the captured vessel & her lading; and at the same time are to be delivered to the Judge or Judges, all passes, Charter-parties, bills of lading, invoices, letters & other documents & writings found on board; the s. papers to be proved by the affidavit of the Commander of the capturing vessel or some other person present at the capture, to be produced as they were rec without fraud, addition, subduction or embezzlement.

SIR, I have rec$ the address from "The Convention of Republican Delegates from the several Counties of the State of New Jersey," explaining the sentiments entertained, at this crisis, by that portion of my Constituents. The sentiments are worthy the character of Citizens, who know the value of the National rights at stake in the present contest; and who are willing to do justice to the sincere & persevering efforts which have been employed to obtain respect to them without a resort

to arms.

The conduct of the nation agst whom this resort has been proclaimed left no choice but between that & the greater evil of a surrender of our Sovereignty on the Element, on which all nations have equal rights, and in the free use of which, the U. S. as a nation whose agriculture & commerce are so closely allied, have an essential interest.

The appeal to force in opposition to the force so long continued against us, had become the more urgent, as every endeavor short of it, had not only been fruitless; but had been followed by fresh usurpations & oppressions. The intolerable outrages committed agst the crews of our vessels which at one time were the result of alledged searches for deserters from British Ships of War, had grown into a like pretension, first as to all British Seamen, and next, as to all British subjects; with the invariable practice of seizing on all neutral seamen of every Nation,

and on all such of our own seamen as British officers interested in the abuse might please to demand.

The blockading orders in Council, commencing on the plea of retaliating injuries indirectly done to G. Britain, through the direct operation of French Decrees agst the trade of the U. S. with her, and on a professed disposition to proceed step by step with France in revoking them, have been since bottomed on pretensions more & more extended and arbitrary; till at length it is openly avowed, as indispensable to a repeal of the Orders as they affect the U. States, that the French Decrees, be repealed as they affect G. Britain directly, and all other neutrals, as well as the U. States. To this extraordinary avowal is superadded abundant evidence that the real object of the orders is, not to restore freedom to the American Commerce with G. B. which could indeed be little interrupted by the decrees of France, but to destroy our lawful commerce, as interfering with her own unlawful commerce with her enemies. The only foundation of this attempt to banish the American flag from the highway of Nations, or to render it wholly subservient to the commercial views of the B. Govt is the absurd and exploded doctrine that the ocean not less than the land is susceptible of occupancy & dominion; that this dominion is in the hands of G. Britain; and that her laws, not the law of nations, which is ours as well as hers, are to regulate our maritime intercourse with the rest of the world.

When the U. S. assumed & established their rank

among the Nations of the Earth, they assumed & established a common Sovereignty on the high seas, as well as an exclusive sovereignty within their territorial limits. The one is as essential as the other to their Character as an Independent Nation. However conceding they may have been on controvertible points, or forbearing under casual and limited injuries, they can never submit to wrongs irreparable in their kind, enormous in their amount, and indefinite in their duration; and which are avowed and justified on principles degrading the U. States from the rank of a sovereign & independent Power. In attaining this high rank, and the inestimable blessings attached to it, no part of the American people, had a more meritorious share than the people of N. Jersey. From none therefore may more reasonably be expected a patriotic zeal in maintaining by the sword the unquestionable & unalienable rights acquired by it; and which it is found can no otherwise be maintained.

TO HENRY DEARBORN. 1

MAD. MSS.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9th 1812

DEAR SIR, The last of your favors which I have to acknowledge is that of the 3d Ult: from Boston. I am glad to find that you are again at Albany; where your presence will aid much in doing all that can be done for the reputation of the campaign. The lapse

1

He had been appointed Senior Major-General in the army, January 27, and assigned to the command of the northern department.