lations to give effect to that prohibition. Such an idea was not in the contemplation of this government, nor is it to be reasonably inferred from Mr. Russell's note; lest, however, by possibility such an inference might be drawn from the instructions to Mr. Russell, and anxious that there should be no misunderstanding in the case, subsequent instructions were given to Mr. Russell, with a view to obviate every objection of the kind alluded to. As they bear date on the 27th July, and were forwarded by the British packet Althea, it is more than probable that they may have been received and acted on.

I am happy to explain to you thus fully the views of my government on this important subject. The president desires that the war which exists between our countries should be terminated on such conditions as may secure a solid and durable peace. To accomplish this great object it is necessary that the interest of impressment be satisfactorily arranged. He is willing that Great Britain should be secured against the evils of which she complains. He seeks on the other hand that the citizens of the United States should be protected against a practice which, while it degrades the nation, deprives them of their rights as freemen, takes them by force from their families and their country into a foreign service, to fight the battles of a foreign power, perhaps against their own kindred and country.

I abstain from entering, in this communication, into other grounds of difference. The orders in council having been repealed (with a reservation not impairing a corresponding right on the part of the United States), and no illegal blockades revived or instituted in their stead, and an understanding being obtained on the subject of impressment, in the mode herein proposed, the president is willing to agree to a cessation of hostilities, with a view to arrange by treaty, in a more distinct and ample manner, and to the satisfaction of both parties, every other subject of controversy.

I will only add that if there be no objection to an accommodation of the difference relating to impressment, in the mode proposed, other than the suspension of the British claim to impressment during the armistice, there can be none to proceeding without the armistice to an immediate discussion and arrangement of an article on that subject. This great question being satisfactorily adjusted, the way will be open for an armistice, or any other course leading most conveniently and expeditiously to a general pacification.

I have the honour, &c.

JAMES MONROE.

Letter from Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State, inclosing a correspondence with Lord Castlereagh, on the subject of the repeal of the orders in council.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe.

London, 25th May, 1812. Sir, I have the honour to hand you herein a copy of my note of the 20th of this month, communicating to lord Castlereagh a decree of the French government, dated the 28th of February, 1811, and of two letters of the French ministers of the 25th of December, 1810. I also send you copies of that decree, and of a note from his lordship acknowledging the receipt of my communication, and engaging to submit the documents above mentioned to his royal highness the prince regent. I have the honour, &c. JONA. RUSSELL.

The honourable James Monroe, &c.

Mr. Russell to Lord Castlereagh.

The undersigned, charge d'affaires of the United States of America, has the honour to transmit to lord Castlereagh authentic copies of a decree purporting to be passed by the empe ror of the French on the 28th of April, 1811, of a letter addressed by the French minister of finance to the director general of the customs on the 28th December, 1810, and of another letter of the same date from the French minister of justice to the president of the council of prizes.

As these acts explicitly recognize the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees, in relation to the United States, and distinctly make this revocation to take effect from the 1st November, 1810, the undersigned cannot but persuade himself that they will, in the official and authentic form in which they are now presented to his Britannic majesty's government, remove all doubt with respect to the revocation in question, and, joined with all the powerful considerations of justice and expediency, so often suggested, lead to a like repeal of the British orders in council, and thereby to a renewal of that perfect amity and unrestricted intercourse between this country and the United States, which the obvious interests of both nations require. The undersigned avails himself, &c.

18, Bentinck-st. 20th May, 1812.

[TRANSLATION.]

JONA. RUSSELL.

Palace of St. Cloud, 28th April, 1811. Napoleon, Emperor of the French, &c.

On the report of our minister of foreign relations :

Seeing by a law passed on the 2d March, 1811, the congress of the United States has ordered the execution of the provi

sions of the act of non-intercourse which prohibits the vessels and merchandise of Great Britain, her colonies and dependencies, from entering into the ports of the United States.

Considering that the said law is an act of resistance to the arbitrary pretensions consecrated by the British orders in council, and a formal refusal to adhere to a system invading the independence of neutral powers and of their flag; we have ordered and do decree as follows:

The decrees of Berlin and Milan are definitively, and to date from 1st November last, considered as not existing in regard to American vessels. NAPOLEON.

By the emperor, the minister secretary of state.

THE COUNT DARA.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell.

Foreign Office, May 23, 1812. Lord Castlereagh presents his compliments to Mr. Russell, and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of his official note of 20th instant, transmitting copies of two official letters of the French ministers, and of a decree of the French government, bearing date the 28th of April, 1811. Lord Castlereagh will immediately lay these documents before his royal highness the prince regent, and avails himself of this opportunity to renew to Mr. Russell the assurances of his high consideration. Jonathan Russell, Esq., &c.

Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State.

London, 26th June, 1812. Sir, I have the honour to hand to you herein, an order of council of the 23d of this month, revoking the orders in council of the 7th of January, 1807, and of the 26th of April, 1809.

To this decree I have added copies of two notes of the same date from lord Castlereagh, accompanying the communication of it to me, and also a copy of my answer.

With great respect and consideration, I am, &c.

JONA. RUSSELL.

At the court at Carlton House the 23d of June, 1812, present his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in Council. Whereas his royal highness, the prince regent, was pleased to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, on the 21st day of April, 1812, "that if at any time hereafter the Berlin and Milan decrees shall, by some authentic act of the French government, publicly promulgated, be absolutely and unconditionally repealed, then, and from thenceforth, the order

in council of the 7th of January 1807, and the order in council of the 26th of April, 1809, shall, without any further order, be, and the same are hereby declared from thenceforth to be wholly and absolutely revoked."

And whereas the charge des affaires of the United States of America, resident at this court, did, on the 20th day of May last, transmit to lord viscount Castlereagh, one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, a copy of a certain instrument then for the first time communicated to this court, purporting to be a decree passed by the government of France on the 28th day of April, 1811, by which the decrees of Berlin and Milan are declared to be definitively no longer in force in regard to American vessels.

And whereas his royal highness, the prince regent, although he cannot consider the tenor of the said instrument as satisfying the conditions set forth in the said order of the 21st day of April last, upon which the said orders were to cease and determine, is nevertheless disposed on his part to take such measures as may tend to re-establish the intercourse between neutral and belligerent nations upon its accustomed principles. His royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, is therefore pleased, by and with the advice of his majesty's privy council, to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that the order in council bearing date the 7th day of January, 1807, and the order in council bearing date the 26th day of April, 1809, be revoked, so far as may regard American vessels, and their cargoes being American property, from the 1st day of August next.

But whereas by certain acts of the government of the United States of America, all British armed vessels are excluded from the harbours and waters of the said United States, the armed vessels of France being permitted to enter therein, and the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and the said UnitedStates is interdicted, the commercial intercourse between France and the said United States having been restored, his royal highness the prince regent is pleased hereby further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that if the government of the said United States shall not, as soon as may be, after this order shall have been duly notified by his majesty's minister in America to the said government, revoke or cause to be revoked the said acts, this present order shall in that case, after due notice signified by his majesty's minister in America to the said government, be thenceforth null and of no effect.

It is further ordered and declared, that all American vessels, and their cargoes being American property, that shall have

been captured subsequently to the 20th of May last, for a breach of the aforesaid orders in council alone, and which shall not have been actually condemned before the date of this order, and that all ships and cargoes as aforesaid, that shall henceforth be captured under the said orders prior to the first day of August next, shall not be proceeded against to condemnation till further orders; but shall, in the event of this order not becoming null and of no effect, in the case aforesaid, be forthwith liberated and restored, subject to such reasonable expenses on the part of the captors as shall have been justly incurred.

Provided that nothing in this order contained, respecting the revocation of the orders herein mentioned, shall be taken to revive wholly or in part, the orders in council of the 11th of November, 1807, or any other order not herein mentioned, or to deprive parties of any legal remedy to which they may be entitled under the order in council of the 21st April, 1812.

His royal highness is hereby pleased further to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that nothing in this present order contained, shall be understood to preclude his royal highness the prince regent, if circumstances shall so require, from restoring, after reasonable notice, the orders of the 7th of January, 1807, and 26th of April, 1809, or any part thereof, to their full effect, or from taking such other measures of retaliation against the enemy as may appear to his royal highness to be just and necessary.

the

And the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesty's treasury, his majesty's principal secretaries of state, lords commissioners of the admiralty, and the judge of the high court of admiralty, and the judges of the courts of vice admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein, as to them may respectively appertain. JAMES BULLER.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell.

Foreign Office, June 23, 1812. Sir, I am commanded by the prince regent to transmit to you for your information, the enclosed printed copy of an order in council which his royal highness, acting in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, was this day pleased to issue, for the revocation (on the conditions therein specified) of the orders in council of the 7th January, 1807, and of the 26th of April, 1809, so far as may regard American vessels and their cargoes, being American property, from the 1st August next.

I have the honour to be, &c.

CASTLEREAGH.