day, when I received the letter from the duke of Cadore, of which No. 1. (enclosed) is a copy. By this it will be seen that the decree of Rambouillet is not in operation, and that American ships entering the ports of France before the 1st of November next, will be judged under the decrees of Berlin and of Milan." "No. 2. is the copy of a note written to M. Champagny, with a view of drawing from him something explicit, on the points of which it treats. The first of these may appear to have been useless, after the declaration of that minister, that American ships, which will hereafter arrive in the ports of France, shall not be subject to confiscation; but understanding from the council of prizes, that until some act be taken which had the effect of recalling by name the decree of the 23d of March last, they must continue to consider it both as existing and operative, and of course binding upon them, I hastened to present the subject again, and in a form which leaves no room for misunderstanding." To the "12th Sept. I have the honour to enclose copies of two other letters from the duke of Cadore, one of which is an answer to my note of the 8th instant. question, whether we had any thing to expect in reparation for past wrongs? they reply, that their act being of reprisal, the law of reprisal must govern; in other words, that if you confiscate French property under the law of nonintercourse, they will confiscate your property under their decree of Rambouillet. The words underscored is the verbal explanation which accompanied the letter." I set out this day for Bordeaux, (on my way to the United States,) and hope to begin my voyage from that port on the 1st of October next.' TRANSLATION. The Duke of Cadore to General Armstrong. Paris, Sept. 7, 1810. SIR,-You have done me the honour to ask of me, by your letter of the 20th of August, what will be the lot of the American vessels which may arrive in France before the 1st of November. His majesty has always wished to favour the commerce of the United States. It was not without reluctance that he used reprisal towards the Americans while he saw that Congress had ordered the confiscation of all French vessels which might arrive in the United States. It appears that Congress might have spared to his majesty and his subjects this mortification, (ce désagrément) if in place of that harsh and decisive measure, which left to France no choice, they had used some palliative, such as that of not receiving French vessels, or of sending them away, after a delay of so many days. As soon as his majesty was informed of this hostile act, he felt that the honour of France, involved in this point, could not be cleansed (ne pouvait être lavé) but by a declaration of war, (which) could not take place but by tedious explanations. The emperor contented himself with making reprisals; and in consequence, he applied to American vessels which came to France, or to the countries occupied by the French armies, word for word, the regulations of the act of Congress. Since the last measures by which that hostile act is repealed, his majesty hastens to cause it to be made known to you, that he anticipates that which may re-establish harmony with the United States, and that he repeals his decrees of Berlin and Milan, under the conditions pointed out in my letter to you, of the 5th of August. During this interval, the American vessels which shall arrive in France, will not be subjected to confiscation; because the act of Congress, which bad served as a motive to our reprisals, is repealed; but these vessels will be subjected to all the effects of the Berlin and Milan decrees; that is to say, they will be treated amicably, if they can be considered as Americans, and hostilely, if they have lost their national character, (s'ils se sont laissé dénationalisé) by submitting to the orders in council of the British go vernment. I have the honour to renew to you, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. CHAMPAGNY, His Excellency General Armstrong, &c. &c. &c. General Armstrong to the Duke of Cadore. Paris, Sept. 7, 1810. SIR,-Your excellency will not think me importunate if I should employ the last moments of my stay in Paris, in seeking an explicit declaration on the following points: 1. Has the decree of his majesty of the 23d of March last, enjoining acts of reprisal against the commerce of the United States on account of their late law of non-intercourse, been recalled? 2. What will be the operation (on the vessels of the United States) of his majesty's decree of July last, forbidding the departure of neutral ships from ports of France, unless provided with imperial licenses? Are these licenses merely substitutes for clearances? or do they prescribe regulations to be observed by the holders of them within the jurisdiction of the United States? Do they confine the permitted intercourse to two ports only of the said States, and do they enjoin that all shipments be made on French account exclusively? Is it his majesty's will, that the seizures made in the ports of Spain and other places, on the principle of reprisal, shall become a subject of present or future negotiation between the two governments? or, are the acts already taken by his majesty to be regarded as conclusive against remuneration? I need not suggest to your excellency the interest that both gov ernments have in the answers that may be given to these questions, and how nearly connected they are with the good understanding which ought to exist between them. After the great step lately taken by his majesty towards an accommodation of differences, we are not at liberty to suppose that any new consideration will arise, which shall either retard or prevent the adoption of measures necessary to a full restoration of the commercial intercourse and friendly relation of the two powers. I cannot omit expressing, on this occasion, the sense I shall carry with me of the many obligations I am personally under to your excellency, and of the very high consideration with which I have the honour to be, &c. JOHN ARMSTRONG. His Excellency the Duke of Cadore, &c. &c. &c. TRANSLATION. The Duke of Cadore to General Armstrong. Paris, Sep tember 12, 1810. SIR, I have received your letter of the 7th September, That which I wrote to you the same day answered the first of the questions you put to me. I will add to what I have had the honour to write to you, that the decree of the 23d March, 1810, which ordered reprisals in consequence of the act of Congress of the 1st March, 1809, was repealed as soon as we were informed of the repeal of the act of non-intercourse passed against France. On your second question I hasten to declare to you, that American vessels loaded with merchandise, the growth of the American provinces, will be received without difficulty in the ports of France, provided they have not suffered their flag to lose its national character, by submitting to the acts of the British council; they may in like manner depart from the ports of France. The emperor has given licenses to American vessels. It is the only flag which has obtained them. In this his majesty has intended to give a proof of the respect he loves to show to the Americans. If he is somewhat dissatisfied (peu satisfaite) that they have not as yet been able to succeed in causing their flag to be respected, at least he sees with pleasure that they are far from acknowledging the tyrannical principles of English legislation. The American vessels which may be loaded on account of Frenchmen or on account of Americans, will be admitted into the ports of France. As to the merchandise confiscated, it having been confiscated as a measure of reprisal, the principles of reprisal must be the law in that affair. I have the honour to renew to you, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. CHAMPAGNY, His Excellency Gen. Armstrong, &c. &c. &c. General Armstrong to Mr. Pinkney. Bordeaux, September 29, 1810. SIR,-Your letter of the third instant found me at this. place, and on the point of embarking for the United States. I hasten, therefore, to give to it an immediate answer. There was no errour in my representation to you, nor in your representation to lord Wellesley, of the words, or of the meaning, as I understand it, of the duke of Cadore's note to me; nor indeed do either of these appear to be readily susceptible of mistake. The former, no doubt, retract, in the most positive terms, the Berlin and Milan decrees, and, of course, the principles on which these decrees were founded; and in doing so, assuredly gives us a fair claim on his Britannick majesty for a fulfilment of the promise made by his minister plenipotentiary to our government, on the 23d day of February, 1808. It would however appear by lord Wellesley's letter to you, of the 31st ultimo, that the British cabinet has given a new version to this promise of his majesty, and that, as a preliminary to its execution, it is now required, not merely that the principles, which had rendered necessary the British system, should be retracted, but that the repeal of the French decrees should have actually began to operate, and that the commerce of neutral nations (generally) should have been restored to the condition in which it stood previously to the promulgation of these decrees. It would also appear from different passages in your letter, that this deviation from the original promise of his majesty grew out of a supposition, that the recall of the French decrees implied a contemporaneous cessation of the British orders in council of November, 1807, and a repeal before the first day of November next, of all proclamation blockades of France, &c &c. Than this construction nothing can, in my opi nion, be more erroneous. Were the repeal of the French decrees dependent alone on what Great Britain may do, the supposition would have in it some colour of reasonable. ness; but as the conditions of it present an alternative, one side of which depends, not on the will of his Britannick majesty at all, but altogether on that of the United States, and which cannot be adopted by them until after the first |