its independence, and the maintenance of its honour, of its sovereignty, and of its dignity?"

Having failed in the negotiation with Mr. Erskine, of obtaining a revocation of the British orders in council of January and November, 1807, the President's proclamation replaced the intercourse between the countries upon the same footing upon which it stood previously to the opening of that negotiation. It was then thought expedient by the American government to make au experiment with France, for the purpose of inducing the government of that nation to repeal the Berlin and Milan deOn the 1st of December, 1809, the Secretary of State addressed a letter to General Armstrong, of which the following is an extract :

crees.

"Inclosed you have five copies of the President's message and of its accompanying documents. They will afford you a view of the existing state of things here, and particularly of the ground taken in the correspondence of the British minister. You will perceive that the deliberations of congress at their present session cannot but be embarrassed by the painful consideration, that the two principal belligerents have been, for some time, alike regardless of our neutral rights, and that they manifest no disposition to relinquish, in any degree, their unreasonable pretensions.

"You will also herewith receive a copy of a letter to Mr. Pinkney, which will show the light in which M. Champagny's letter is viewed by the President, and at the same time the course of proceeding prescribed to our minister in London. You will of course understand it to be wished that you should ascertain the meaning of the French government, as to the condition on which it has becn proposed to revoke the Berlin decree. On the principle which seems to be assumed by M. Champagny, nothing more ought to be required than a recall by Great Britain of her proclamation or illegal blockades, which are of a date prior to that of the Berlin decree, or a formal decla

ration that they are not now in force. Should this be done and be followed by an annulment of all the decrees and orders in chronological order, and Great Britain should afterwards put in force old, or proclaim new blockades, contrary to the law of nations, it would produce questions between her and the United States, which the French government is bound to leave to the United States, at least until it shall find it necessary to bring forward complaints of an acquiescence on our part, not consistent with the neutrality professed by us."

On the 25th of January, 1810, General Armstrong wrote the following letter to Mr. Pinkney :

"A letter from Mr. Secretary Smith of the 1st of December last, made it my duty to inquire of his excellency the duke of Cadore, what were the conditions on which his majesty the emperor would annul his decree, commonly called the Berlin decree, and whether if Great Britain revoked her blockades of a date anterior to that decree, his majesty would consent to revoke the said decree. To these questions I have this day received the following answer, which I hasten to convey to you by a special messenger.

ANSWER.

"The only condition required for the revocation, by his majesty the emperor, of the decree of Berlin, will be a previous revocation by the British government of her blockades of France, or part of France, [such as that from the Elbe to Brest, &c.] of a date anterior to that of the aforesaid decree."

On the 28th of January, 1810, General Armstrong wrote the following letter to the Secretary of State.

"In conformity to the suggestions contained in your letter of the first of December, 1809, I demanded whether, if Great Britain revoked her blockades of a date anterior to the decree, commonly called the Berlin decree, his ma

jesty the emperor would consent to revoke the said decree." To which the minister answered, that "the only condition required for the revocation, by his majesty, of the decree of Berlin, will be a previous revocation by the British government of her blockade of France, or part of France, [such as that from the Elbe to Brest, &c.] of a date anterior to that of the aforesaid decree; and that if the British government would then recall the orders in council which had occasioned the decree of Milan, that decree should also be annulled."

On the 11th of November, 1809, Mr. Smith, Secretary of State, wrote a letter to Mr. Pinkney, from which the following is an extract :—

"From the enclosed copy of a letter from M. Champagny to General Armstrong, it appears that the French government has taken a ground in relation to the British violation of our neutral rights, not the same with that heretofore taken, and which it is proper you should be acquainted with. You will observe that the terms stating the condition on which the Berlin decree will be revoked, are not free from obscurity. They admit the construction, however, that if Great Britain will annul her illegal blockades as distinct from her orders in council, such as the blockade from the Elbe to Brest, &c. prior to the Berlin decree, and perhaps of subsequent date, but still distinct from her orders in council, that France will put an end to her Berlin decree, or at least the illegal part of it. Whilst therefore it becomes important to take proper steps, as will be done, through General Armstrong, to ascertain the real and precise meaning of M. Champagny's letter, it is important also that your interposition should be used to ascertain the actual state of the British blockades, distinct from the orders in council, whether merely on paper or otherwise illegal, and whether prior or subsequent to the Berlin decree, and to feel the pulse of the British government on the propriety of putting them out of the way, in

order to give force to our call on France to prepare the way for a repeal of the orders in council, by her repeal of that decree.

"In the execution of this task, I rely on the judgment and delicacy by which I am persuaded you will be guided, and on your keeping in mind the desire of this government to entangle itself as little as possible in the question of priority in the violation of our neutral rights, and to commit itself as little as possible to either belligerent as to the course to be taken with the other.

"If it should be found that no illegal blockades are now in force, and so declared by Great Britain, or that the British government is ready to revoke and withdraw all such as may not be consistent with the definition of blockade in the Russian treaty of June, 1801, it will be desirable that you lose no time in giving the information to General Armstrong, and whatever may be the result of your inquiries, that you hasten a communication of it to me."

It is very apparent from the tenor of these letters, that the course which the government was pursuing, was not a little embarrassing to them. The British blockade of May, 1806, was prior in date to the French decree of Berlin. And it was an object of great importance, in the view of the French government, to have it understood, that the Berlin decree was issued in order to retaliate upon the British government for the blockading order abovementioned. But that order had not been considered by the government of the United States as a violation of their neutral rights, at least so far as to make it the subject of any formal or serious complaint. It will be recollected, that in the correspondence between Mr. Monroe and Mr. Fox in regard to it, at the time when the measure was adopted, the former, as well as the latter of those statesmen viewed it as rather advantageous to neutrals than otherwise. But after the failure of the arrangement with Mr. Erskine, it was a matter of deep concern with our

government to endeavour to adjust their difficulties at least with France; or by attempting to play off one of the belligerents against the other, to bring one, if not both of them to terms. For this purpose, General Armstrong was directed to apply to the French government, to ascertain on what terms his imperial majesty would consent to revoke the Berlin decree. His instructions, however, made it necessary for him to do something more than ask the simple general question, on what terms his majesty the emperor would annul that decree; he was directed to inquire "whether, if Great Britain revoked her blockades of a date anterior to that decree, his majesty would consent to revoke the said decree?" The only blockading order of a date prior to the Berlin decree, that appears to have formed the subject of complaint on the part of France, was that of May, 1806. Of course, as might have been, and doubtless was expected, the answer to the inquiry was, as has been already cited-" The only condition required for the revocation, by his majesty the emperor, of the decree of Berlin, will be the previous revocation by the British government of her blockades of France, or part of France, [such as that from the Elbe to Brest, &c.] of a date anterior to the aforesaid decree." It is very easy to see that the correspondence with the British government, under these circumstances, would be attended with no inconsiderable difficulty.

In a letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Pinkney, dated July 2d, 1810, he says

"As the British government had constantly alleged that the Berlin decree was the original aggression on our neutral commerce, that her orders in council were but a retaliation on that decree, and had, moreover, on that ground, asserted an obligation on the United States to take effectual measures against the decree, as a preliminary to a repeal of the orders, nothing could be more reasonable than to expect, that the condition, in the shape last pre