all orders and instructions for any acts of hostility whatever against the territories of his majesty or the persons or property of his subjects; with the understanding that, immediately on my receiving from you an official assurance to that effect, I shall instruct all the officers under my command to desist from corresponding measures of war against the ships and property of the United States, and that I shall transmit without delay corresponding intelligence to the several parts of the world, where hostilities may have commenced; the British commanders in which will be required to discontinue hostilities from the receipt of such notice.

Should the American government accede to the above proposal for terminating hostilities, I am authorized to arrange with you, as to the revocation of the laws which interdict the commerce and ships of war of Great Britain from the harbours and waters of the United States; in default of which revocation within such reasonable periods as may be agreed upon, you will observe by the order of the 23d June, the orders in council of January, 1807, and April, 1809, are to be revived.

The officer who conveys this letter to the American coast has received my orders to put to sea immediately upon the delivery of this despatch to the competent authority; and I earnestly recommend that no time may be lost in communicating to me the decision of your government, persuaded as I feel, that it cannot but be of a nature to lead to a speedy termination of the present differences.

The flag of truce which you may charge with your reply, will find one of my cruisers at Sandy Hook ten days after the landing of this despatch, which I have directed to call there with a flag of truce for that purpose.

I have the honour to be, &c.

VOL. IX.

JOHN BORLASE WARREN, Admiral of the Blue and Commander in Chief, &c. &c. &c.

11

The Secratary of State to Admiral Warren. Department of State, October 27, 1812.

SIR, I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 30th ultimo, and to submit it to the consideration of the President.

It appears that you are authorized to propose a cessation of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, on the ground of the repeal of the orders in council, and in case the proposition is acceded to, to take measures in concert with this government to carry it into complete effect on both sides.

You state also, that you have it in charge, in that event, to enter into an arrangement with the government of the United States for the repeal of the laws which interdict the ships of war, and the commerce of Great Britain, from the harbours and waters of the United States. And you intimate that if the proposition is not acceded to, the orders in council, repealed conditionally by that of the 23d June last, will be revived against the commerce of the United States.

I am instructed to inform you that it will be very satisfactory to the President to meet the British government in such arrangements as may terminate, without delay, the hostilities which now exist between the United States and Great Britain, on conditions honourable to both nations.

At the moment of the declaration of war, the President gave a signal proof of the attachment of the United States to peace. Instructions were given, at that early period, to the late charge des affaires of the United States at London, to propose to the British government an armistice on conditions which it was presumed would have been satisfactory. It has been seen with regret that the proposition made by Mr. Russell, particularly in regard to the important interest of impressment, was rejected, and that none was offered, through that channel, as a basis on which hostilities might cease.

As your government has authorized you to propose a cessation of hostilities, and is doubtless aware of the important and salutary effect which a satisfactory adjustment of this difference cannot fail to have on the future rela

tions between the two countries, I indulge the hope that it has, ere this, given you full power for the purpose. Experience has evinced that no peace can be durable unless this object is provided for. It is presumed, therefore, that it is equally the interest of both countries to adjust it at this time.

Without farther discussing questions of right, the President is desirous to provide a remedy for the evils complained of on both sides. The claim of the British government is to take from the merchant vessels of other countries British subjects. In the practice, the commanders of British ships of war often take from the merchant vessels of the United States, American citizens. If the United States prohibit the employment of British subjects in their service, and enforce the prohibition by suitable regulations and penalties, the motive for the practice is taken away. It is in this mode that the President is willing to accommodate this important controversy with the British government, and it cannot be conceived on what ground the arrangement can be refused.

A suspension of the practice of impressment, pending the armistice, seems to be a necessary consequence. It cannot be presumed, while the parties are engaged in a negotiation to adjust amicably this important difference, that the United States would admit the right, or acquiesce in the practice of the opposite party, or that Great Britain would be unwilling to restrain her cruisers from a practice which would have the strongest tendency to defeat the negotiation. It is presumable that both parties would enter into the negotiation with a sincere desire to give it effect. For this purpose it is necessary that a clear and distinct understanding be first obtained between them, of the accommodation which each is prepared to make. If the British government is willing to suspend the practice of impressment from American vessels, on consideration that the United States will exclude British seamen from their service, the regulations by which this compromise should be carried into effect would be solely the object of negotiation. The armistice would be of short duration. If the parties agreed, peace would be the result. If the negotiation failed, each would be re

stored to its former state, and to all its pretensions by recurring to war.

Lord Castlereagh, in his note to Mr. Russell, seems to have supposed that had the British government accepted the proposition made to it, Great Britain would have suspended, immediately, the exercise of a right, on the mere assurance of this government that a law would be afterwards passed to prohibit the employment of British seamen in the service of the United States, and that Great Britain would have no agency in the regulations 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 of 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 countrics 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 ouued 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.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Monroe. London, May 25, 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.

The Hon. James Monroe, Esq. &c.

JONA. RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell to Lord Castlereagh.

THE undersigned, charge d'affaires of the United States of America, has the honour to transmit to lord Castlereagh authentick copies of a decree purporting to be passed by the emperor of the French on the 28th of April, 1811, of a letter addressed by the French minister of finance to the