effect on the first of November, of that year, at which time their operation actually ceased, is disregarded, as are the claims of the United States arising from the repeal on that day, even according to the British pledge.

3d. That even if the United States had no right to claim the repeal of the British orders in council prior to the French decree of the 28th of April, 1811, nor before the notification of that decree to the British government on the 20th of May, of the present year, the British repeal ought to have borne date from that day, and been subject to none of the limitations attached to it.

These remarks on the declaration of the prince regent, which are not pursued with rigour, nor in the full extent which they might be, are applicable to it, in relation to the state of things which existed before the determination of the United States to resist the aggressions of the British government by war. By that determination the relations between the two countries have been altogether changed, and it is only by a termination of the war, or by measures leading to it, by consent of both governments, that its calamities can be closed or mitigated. It is not now a question whether the declaration of the Prince Regent is such as ought to have produced a repeal of the non-importation act, had war not been declared, because, by the declaration of war, that question is superceded, and the non-importation act having been continued in force by congress, and become a measure of war, and among the most efficient, it is no longer subject to the controul of the executive in the sense and for the purpose for which it was adopted.

The declaration, however, of the prince regent will not be without effect. By repealing the orders in council without reviving the blockade of May, 1806, or any other illegal blockade, as is understood to be the case, it removes a great obstacle to an accommodation. The president considers it an indication of a disposition in the British government to accommodate the differences which subsist between the countries, and I am instructed to assure you, that, if such disposition really exists, and is persevered in, and is extended to other objects, especially the important one of impressment, a durable and happy peace and reconciliation cannot fail to result from it.

Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State, inclosing a correspondence with Lord Castlereagh, on the subject of an armistice.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe.

London, 1st Sept. 1812. Sir, You will perceive by the enclosed copies of notes which have passed between Lord Castlereagh and me, that the moderate and equitable terms proposed for a suspension of hostilities, have been rejected, and that it is my intention to return immediately to the United States.

My continuance here, after it has been so broadly intimated to me by his lordship, that I am no longer acknowledged in my diplomatic capacity, and after a knowledge that instructions are given to the British admiral to negociate an arrangement on the other side of the Atlantic, would, in my view of the subject, not only be useless, but improper.

It is probable, howeyer, that the vessel in which I propose to embark, will not take her departure before the 15th or 20th of this month.

I have the honour to be, with great consideration, sir, your most obedient servant,

To the hon. James Monroe, &c.

JONA. RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell to Lord Castlereagh.

London, August 24, 1812.

My lord, It is only necessary, I trust, to call the attention of your lordship to a review of the conduct of the government of the United States, to prove incontrovertibly its unceasing anxiety to maintain the relations of peace and friendship with Great Britain. Its patience, in suffering the many wrongs which it has received, and its perseverance, in endeavouring, by amicable means, to obtain redress, are known to the world. Despairing, at length, of receiving this redress from the justice of the British government, to which it had so often applied in vain, and feeling that a further forbearance would be a virtual surrender of interests and rights, essential to the prosperity and independence of the nation confided to its protection, it has been compelled to discharge its high duty, by an appeal to arms.

While, however, it regards this course as the only one which remained for it to pursue, with a hope of preserving any portion of that kind of character, which constitutes the vital strength of every nation, yet it is still willing to give another proof of the spirit which has uniformly distinguished its proceedings, by seek

ing to arrest, on terms consistent with justice and honour, the calamities of war. It has, therefore, authorized me to stipulate, with his Britannic majesty's government, an armistice, to commence at or before the expiration of sixty days after the signature of the instrument providing for it, on condition that the orders in council be repealed, and no illegal blockades be substituted to them, and that orders be immediately given to discontinue the impressment of persons from American vessels, and to restore the citizens of the United States already impressed: it being, moreover, well understood, that the British government will assent to enter into definitive arrangements, as soon as may be, on these and every other difference, by a treaty, to be concluded either at London or Washington, as, on an impartial consideration of existing circumstances, shall be deemed most expedient.

As an inducement to Great Britain to discontinue the practice of impressment from American vessels, I am authorized to give assurance, that a law shall be passed (to be reciprocal) to prohibit the employment of British seamen, in the public or commercial service of the United States.

It is sincerely believed, that such an arrangement would prove more efficacious, in securing to Great Britain her seamen, than the practice of impressment, so derogatory to the sovereign attributes of the United States, and so incompatible with the personal rights of their citizens.

Your lordship will not be surprised that I have presented the revocation of the orders in council, as a preliminary to the suspension of hostilities, when it is considered, that the act of the British government, of the 23d of June last, ordaining that revocation, is predicated on conditions, the performance of which is rendered impracticable, by the change which is since known to have occurred, in the relations between the two countries. It cannot now be expected that the government of the United States will, immediately on due notice of that act, revoke, or cause to be revoked, its acts, excluding from the waters and harbours of the United States all British armed vessels, and interdicting commercial intercourse with Great Britain. Such a procedure would necessarily involve consequences too unreasonable and extravagant to be, for a moment, presumed. The order in council, of the 23d of June last, will, therefore, according to its own terms, be null and of no effect, and a new act of the British government, adapted to existing circumstances, is obviously required, for the effectual repeal of the orders in council, of which the United States complain.

The government of the United States considers indemnity for injuries received, under the orders in council, and other edicts violating the rights of the American nation, to be incident to their repeal, and it believes that satisfactory provision will be made, in the definitive treaty to be hereafter negociated, for this purpose.

The conditions now offered to the British government, for the termination of the war, by an armistice, as above stated, are so moderate and just in themselves, and so entirely consistent with its interest and honour, that a confident hope is indulged, that it will not hesitate to accept them. In so doing it will abandon no right; it will sacrifice no interest; it will abstain only from violating the rights of the United States, and, in return, it will restore peace with the power from whom, in a friendly commercial intercourse, so many advantages are to be derived.

Your lordship is, undoubtedly, aware of the serious difficulties with which a prosecution of the war, even for a short period, must necessarily embarrass all future attempts at accommodation. Passions, exasperated by injuries-alliances or conquests, on terms which forbid their abandonment-will inevitably hereafter embitter and protract a contest which might now be so easily and happily terminated.

Deeply impressed with these truths, I cannot but persuade myself, that his royal highness, the prince regent, will take into his early consideration the propositions herein made, on behalf of the United States, and decide on them in a spirit of conciliation and justice.

I have the honour to be, with high consideration, my lord, your lordship's most obedient servant, JONA. RUSSELL.

To the right hon. lord viscount Castlereagh, &c.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell.

Foreign Office, August 29.

Sir, Although the diplomatic relations between the two governments have been terminated by a declaration of war on the part of the United States, I have not hesitated, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, and the authority under which you act, to submit to the prince regent the proposition, contained in your letter of the 24th instant, for a suspension of hostilities.

From the period at which your instructions must have been issued, it is obvious that this overture was determined upon by the government of the United States, in ignorance of the order in council of the 23d of June last, and, as you inform me that you are not at liberty to depart from the conditions set forth in your

letter, it only remains for me to acquaint you, that the prince regent feels himself under the necessity of declining to accede to the proposition therein contained, as being, on various grounds, absolutely inadmissible.

As soon as there was reason to apprehend that Mr. Foster's functions might have ceased in America, and that he might have been obliged to withdraw himself, in consequence of war being declared, from the United States, before the above-mentioned order of the 23d of June, and the instructions consequent thereupon could have reached him, measures were taken for authorizing the British admiral on the American station, to propose to the government of the United States, an immediate and reciprocal revocation of all hostile orders, with the tender of giving full effect, in the event of hostilities being discontinued, to the provisions of the said order, upon the conditions therein specified.

From this statement you will perceive that the view you have taken of this part of the subject is incorrect; and that, in the present state of the relations between the two countries, the operation of the order of the 23d of June, can only be defeated by a refusal, on the part of your government, to desist from hostilities, or to comply with the conditions expressed in the said order.

Under the circumstances of your having no powers to negociate, I must decline entering into a detailed discussion of the propositions which you have been directed to bring forward.

I cannot, however, refrain, on one single point, from expressing my surprise; namely, that, as a condition preliminary even to a suspension of hostilities, the government of the United States should have thought fit to demand, that the British government should desist from its ancient and accustomed practice of impressing British seamen from the merchant ships of a foreign state, simply on the assurance that a law shall hereafter be passed to prohibit the employment of British seamen in the public or commercial service of that state.

The British government, now, as heretofore, is ready to receive from the government of the United States, and amicably to discuss, any proposition which professes to have in view either to check abuse in the exercise of the practice of impressment, or to accomplish, by means less liable to vexation, the object for which impressment has hitherto been found necessary; but they cannot consent to suspend the exercise of a right upon which the naval strength of the empire mainly depends, until they are fully convinced that means can be devised, and will be adopted, by which