To con

I found some difficulty in dividing the subject, so as to say enough in the first instance to have a chance of eliciting a spontaneous manifestation of the views of Great Britain. clude the note by saying only that the United States acquiesced in the determination of this government not to negotiate was insufficient, since that acquiescence is a matter of necessity and on which there was no choice. I have therefore added a general expression of the President's disposition to promote a restoration of the intercourse founded on mutual legislation. It is simply proceeding one step farther than in the note of 28th December last to Mr. Canning, which concluded by expressing the readiness of the United States to treat on the subject whenever it should be [the] inclination of Great Britain to negotiate upon it.

I have in a former despatch stated my reasons for omitting in the note some of the arguments contained in your despatch No. 26, and for saying nothing liable to cavil or contradiction and which might furnish this government with a pretence for avoiding the true question now at issue.

I have the honor, &c.

P.S.-I also enclose copy of a note written to Lord Dudley on the subject of the Africans intended to be returned to their own country.

No. 92.

GALLATIN TO HENRY CLAY.

LONDON, 5th July, 1827.

SIR, Mr. Huskisson had, about a fortnight ago, intimated to me that the state of his health was such as imperiously to require that he should abstract himself altogether for a while from public business, that in order to effect this it was necessary that he should go abroad, and that he accordingly intended to take his departure as soon as possible after the prorogation of Parliament. It was understood that what related to the commercial convention, the renewal of the 3d Article of the convention of 1818, and to the "nine articles," might be concluded before that

time, and that another person would be appointed in his place to terminate the negotiations on the other points, or rather on the only remaining point, that which relates to the North-Eastern boundary.

The twelfth conference had been appointed for the 29th ult., but, on account of the press of business at the close of the session of Parliament, was put off until the 3d instant. On the 2d, Mr. Addington informed me that Mr. Huskisson was again indisposed, and requested that we should postpone the meeting till the 4th; on the 3d the conference was for the same reason delayed till this day. And yesterday Mr. Addington called upon me and read to me part of a letter from their secretary, stating that it was impossible for Mr. Huskisson to attend to-day, and that the state of his health was so precarious that it was extremely doubtful whether the new commission would not be made out (appointing another person) before another conference could take place.

Mr. Addington has still hopes, and it is very desirable, that Mr. Huskisson will be able to attend once more, so as to come to a determination on the subjects above mentioned. But this is doubtful; and, at all events, it is now ascertained that my stay here must be protracted longer than I had expected, probably till the 1st of October. Mr. Addington says that he does not know who is contemplated to succeed Mr. Huskisson in the negotiation. He told me that on one point government had come to a conclusion: it was utterly impossible for them to agree to a stipulation for the surrender of fugitive slaves. I have the honor, &c.

No. 99.

GALLATIN TO HENRY CLAY.

LONDON, 28th July, 1827.

SIR, Fearing that Mr. Huskisson's departure might be attended with some inconvenience in the formal part of the negotiations, I transmitted with my despatch No. 97 the drafts proposed but not adjusted of the last conferences at which he had

attended. Having in those that have since taken place agreed to renew the 3d and 4th Articles of the convention of 1818 indefinitely, but liable to be abrogated at the will of either party on twelve months' notice, we agreed to curtail as far as practicable the protocols, with the exception of that of the ninth conference, which had been signed by Mr. Huskisson before he left town.

We have had three conferences since Mr. Grant has been substituted for Mr. Huskisson. It was at that of yesterday that we finally agreed. We meet again to-day in order to sign the protocols, and, if they are ready, the two conventions. And I hope that I may send them by the packet of 1st of August, for which Mr. Cucheval, the bearer of the treaty with Sweden, affords a good opportunity.

I received an invitation to dine the day before yesterday at Chiswick with Mr. Canning, and to be there at four o'clock, in order to converse on the various subjects pending between the two countries. There was but little to say on the commercial convention, it having been already agreed to renew it. What passed on the subject of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, being in reference to the practicability of further arrangements calculated to preserve peace whilst the question of a definitive boundary remains unsettled, will be the subject of a distinct despatch.

He opened the subject of impressment, and asked the usual question whether we had any new guarantee to propose. After having reminded him that on that subject I was instructed to receive and discuss but not to make proposals, I told him that as to any guarantees, he must expect none but the good faith of the United States and the interest they had in fulfilling the engagements they might contract in relation to that object. I had on a former occasion stated the argument as to the question of right, and I now argued in general terms on the policy as far as Great Britain was concerned. I feel satisfied that Mr. Canning entertains the same view of the subject; but he is in that respect, as Lord Castlereagh was, ahead of public opinion or national pride; but he does not perhaps feel himself quite strong enough to encounter those sentiments and to give new arms to his adver

saries; and I think that, notwithstanding his conviction that an agreement such as we might accept is extremely desirable, he is not prepared at this time to make the proposal.

I asked whether I might expect an answer to my last official note on the colonial intercourse, to which he answered in the negative, saying that he had considered it as merely giving some final explanations and closing the controversy. I told him that as far as related to controversy or argument he was correct, but that, having stated the acquiescence of the President in the determination of the British Cabinet to let the subject be regulated by the respective legislative regulations of the two governments, we had expected a declaration of the ultimate views of that of Great Britain in that respect. He expressed his surprise that after what had been already stated there could be any doubt on that point. This was nothing more than what I had expected; and I only observed that the course adopted by the British government was so contrary to the nature of things and to their avowed general principles, that we had naturally considered it as a temporary measure and founded in part on misapprehensions, which I had hoped we had succeeded in removing. I am confident that you may rely that no change will take place for the present, nor until the experiment of supplying their West India colonies through their own means shall have failed and produced a reaction.

I have the honor, &c.

No. 107.

GALLATIN TO HENRY CLAY.

LONDON, 14th August, 1827.

SIR, It is now understood that the new Administration of this country is to be but a continuation of that of Mr. Canning, to act on the same principles, and no new appointments to be made but those that are strictly necessary.

Lord Goderich is First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Harrowby, President of the Council, retires from office, principally on account of a domestic affliction. Marquis Lansdowne, Lord

Dudley, and the other Ministers, with the exception perhaps of Mr. Huskisson, remain in their respective offices. The Duke of Wellington may resume his place of commander-in-chief, but without a seat in the Cabinet, which he could not with propriety have accepted, since his fellow-seceders were excluded. Mr. Peel, and this is the greatest loss to the Administration, cannot at this time come in, having so lately committed himself by his solemn declaration that his reason for resigning was that he could not make part of an Administration at the head of which was a friend to Catholic emancipation.

The places to be filled are: 1, the President of the Council,and I have not heard who is intended, perhaps the Duke of Portland; 2, Colonial Department, vacant by Lord Goderich's promotion; 3, Chancellor of the Exchequer, an office which as a peer he cannot fill. It is probable that the option of these two places will be given to Mr. Huskisson, now on the Continent, where he was to remain three months, but whom the late event will probably bring back. The last place is that for which he is best qualified, and to which he is called by public opinion; but his precarious health will probably induce him to take the Colonial Department, as less laborious and, above all, as requiring less public speaking. In that case Mr. Herries, the principal Under-Secretary of the Treasury, and a capable man, but without political influence, will probably be the Chancellor, though Lord Palmerston is also spoken of; and Mr. Grant, now VicePresident, will naturally become President of the Board of Trade.

The great difficulty is who shall succeed Mr. Canning as leader of the House of Commons. Mr. Peel, who would have more of their confidence than any other man, is out of the question; and all that can be hoped is that, agreeing on almost every subject but that of the Catholic emancipation with the members of the Cabinet, he will not become the leader of an opposition. Without him there hardly can be one in the House of Commons; and the return of the Duke of Wellington to the command of the army would go far to paralyze that in the House of Lords, whilst it would add to the weight of the Administration abroad. Mr. Brougham is undoubtedly the first man in the House of Commons, superior to Mr. Canning in force and logic, at least