From the Virginia Avails,
It muft afford feme pleafnre to
the patriotic bolbm tc fi.;d that fome
of ihofr papers as well as individu
als ufually called “ federal,” enter
lain and exprels thofe lentirn. nts
which become an American 3 anxious
for the welfare, profperity and ho
i,or of our common country. It is
but too true that, the words “ Fede
ral and Federdlifm” have been ufed
jvj cloaks to cover a hidden arnmo
firy, bordering on open creafon a
gaiuft all that Americans fiiould
hold dear : and wkilft the a£lors in
the wicked fohemes conceal them-
Elves from open view, they con
trive to did me the credit of being
the politic ai aliociates of many up
tight and patriotic Americans who
are denominated Federalifts.
Thefe feelings and remarks are *■:
prelVnt chitllv t xciced by the com le
purfued by Major Jackfon, the E
tii or of a paper publifbed in Phi
ladelphia, called Federal, and like
wife from fume articles which have
appeared in that paper ; one in par
ticular under the fignature of c< As-
TftCA,” deftrves notice : And the
moft proper notice is to publifh the
whole without mutilation.
The article juft mentioned re
lates to the conelpondence between
the Secretary of State, Mr. Robert
Smith, and the Britijh Minifier,
Mr. F> J. Jackfon. The writer
1 as verv ingeuioufly and corredly
f.-lcdted from that lengthy correl
pondence thofe paragraphs, or fen
tcnces which embrace all the points
in difeuflion, and from thefe each
reader may at once, decide for him •
ft If, w ithout embarraffing and in
cumbering his underftanding with
a guments, propofitions, replies, e
v3lions, affertions, and all the ar
tillery of diplomatic warfare. Thefe
extracts appear to exhibit the points
of importance. When they are
read in the fucceftive order in whicn
they occurred —there will be but
little occafiun for lengthy explana
tions.
To the Editor of the Regifter .
SIR,
Wha ever may be the wifhes of
the one party or the other, in rela
tion to the events which may fol
low the lufpenfion of the fundions
of Mr. Jackfon, the Britifh Envoy,
it tnull be thedefireof all parties
fully to comprehend the true merits
of the correspondence between that
minifier and the government of the
United S ates. The bed way to
eff and this grneraland corred corn
prehcnfion is, in my opinion, for
every citizen to throw fuch lights
upen the fubjrd as his calm and
candid refl ations may produce.—
With this view, and pradiflog up
on mv own fuggeflion, I btg leave,
through the medium of your Ga
zette, to iff.r to the public, the
101 l >wing collation from the cor
refpondtnce, upon two particular
points, to wit :1. The numeri
cal {lavement of Mr. Jackfon’s re
prefentations to the Secretary of
Sra e, contained in Mr. Smith’s
ic ter of Od. 9th —and 2. The
caufe for which Mr. Jackfon was
difearded. In the flrft inftance the
reader will perceive, I think, as the
Vrt li lent La his late Meffage has
llao'd, ‘ how uneffentiaily the fea
tures prefented in its commence
ment have varied in its progrtfs;’
and, in the fecond, that Mr. Jackfon
in Mr. Oakley’s note, Jus mill a ted
the grounds upon which he has
been debarred communication with
the government. My objed is, on
theft topics, to Amplify what Mr.
Jackfon has dilfjfcd o-vcv a wide
and thereby rendered ex
tietnely complex.—Mr. Jackfon
may have had his reafons forcreat
idg this perplexity j lor, certain ic
is, that inftead of anfwering to the
fpetifi attons of the ftu'ement brief
ly arid promptly, he evaded a dif
tmc:t and unequivocal replication,
and fhrouded his refponfe in un
ntctfTary verbofity.
FIRST POINT.
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, Od. 9.
“ The Pr eft dent has learned, with
no lejs fur pr ife than regret, that in
your jeveral conferences Kith me, yeti
have fated —
“ if. ‘That yen have no inf ruc
tions from your gov a nment which
authorife you to make any explanati
ons whatever to this government as to
ties reafons which have induced his
majefty to dijavow the arrangement
lately made by your predcccjfcr and
that, therefore,you could not make any
Jucb explanations .”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Od. 11
“ As to the expectation entertained
here, that the explanation of his ma
jefty's jhare in this trarfahlion jhould
be made through me, I might content
myfeif with fimply cbferving, that I
was not provided with inf ruElior.s to
that effeti.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, 061. 9.
“ id. ‘That in the cafe of the Che
fapeake, your inf ruElions only autbo
rijeyou, ( without affigr.ing any rea-
Jon whatever why the reajonable terms
of fatisfaction tendered and accepted,
have not been carried into ejjett) to
communicate to this government a note
tendering falisfaflion, with an under-
Jtanding that fuch note foould not be
Jigned and delivered by you, until you
Jhuuld have previcufly feen and ap
proved the propcfed anjwcr of this
government , that the Jigning and de
livery of your note jhould be Jimultans
ous
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Od. 11.
“ My prepofai was to agree with
you beforehand upon the terms of a
declaration on the pa> t of his majefty ,
which Jhould aflualiy give the Jatis
faftion (the conditions of which 1 in
formed you I was authorifed to carry
into immediate execution) and of a
counter declaration to be Jigned by you
on the part of the United States, Jor
the purpofe of accepting J'uch fatisfac
tion—the papers to be Jigned by us
refpeftively reciprocally correfled and
modified, & jimultaneoujly delivered.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, Od. 9.
“ id. That you Lave no infiruc
tions which author ife you to make to
this government any propoftiions what
ever in relation to the Britijh Orders
in Council—but only to receive fuch as
this government may deem it proper to
make to you.”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. S.rith,Od. 11.
“ It has appeared to his majejly to
be unneceffary to command me to pro
poje to the government of the United
States any formal agreement to be
fubftituted for that which his majefty
has been under the neceffity of dijavow
ing ; but / am dire fled to receive and
djjcufs with you any propojai which
you may be authorifed to make me on
this head.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, Od. 9.
“ ‘lhat at all events, it is not
the dijpofition or the intention of the
Britijh government to 7 evoke their or
ders in council, as they refpefl the U.
States, but upon a formal jlipulation
on the part of the U. States, to accede
to the following terms and'conditions,
viz ; —•
<( iff Thai the aft of congrAs 10 n
nionly called the non intercouffe law,
be continue l againjt France, Jo long as
(he Jhall continue her decrees.
“ id. That the navy of Great
Britain be aulhorijed to aid in enforc
ing the previfiens of the faid act of
congrefs.
“ jd. That the United States jhall
explicitly renounce, during the prefent
war, the right of carrying on any
trade, whatever, dire it or indirect
with ary colony of any enemy of Great
Britain, from which they were exclu
ded during peace ; and that this re
nunciation mufi extend, not only to the
trade between the colony and the mo
ther country, but to the trade between
the colony and the United States.”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Oct. ir.
“ li is matter of indifference to
Great Britain, whether the orders in
council be continued, or an arrange
ment by mutual con/entfubfitutedin
its room.
The commerce of the U. States
may be if they pleafe, nearly as great
under the orders in council of the
16th of April, as it would be under
any arrangement which Jhould effetl
the indifpenfikle objeCfs to which that
order applies, or as it would be even
without ary Juch order fo long as
France, and the powers fubjervieni to
Trance, continue to enforce their de
crees.”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Nov. 4.
“ ‘ That before the orders in council
can be revoked, their objeft muf be
obtained in fame other way, is unquej
thmbly true.”
Ihus, by peacemeal, with long di
grcffions, multiplication of words, and
drawl ng relublance, Mr. Jackfon ad
mits the whole of Mr. Smith's fate
ment to be fubflantially true. ‘The e
quivocation of the envoy rejpefiing the
4, tto feftion, and the three [ubdiviftons
of it, is totally deftroytd by the Jingle
refleSHon, that if no accommodation
could be made unlefs the indifpenfible
objefts of the exijling order in council
be obt lined in fome other way , and the
intervention of the Britijh navy is ne
cejjary, according to Mr. Canning's
fine cjua non, to fecure the bona fide
intention of America, there could be no
arrangement u at all events,” without
the government of the United States
would agree to the three conditions of
the fourth feftion.
SECOND POINT.
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Oft. 11.
“ It may have been concluded
between you [Mr. Smith and Mr.
Erfkine] that thefe latter were an
equivalent for the original condi
tions ; but the very aft of fubftiiu
tion evidently fhews, that thefe
conditions were in fad, very ex
plicitly communicated to you, and
by you, of courfe, laid before the
Prefident for his confideration.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, Oft. 19.
“ What was the real and entire
inftrudions given to your preu • (-
for, is a queftion effentially between
him and ms government. That he
had, or at leaft, that he believed he
had, fufficient authority to conclude
the arrangement, his formal affu
rances during our difeuflions, were
fuch, as to leave no room to doubt.
lt The declaration, that the dif
patch from Mr. Canning to Mr.
Erfkine, of the 1 2d January, is the
only difpatch by which the condi
tions were preferibed to Mr.
Erfkine, for the conclufion of an
arrangement, on the matter to
which it relates is now for the firft
time, made to this government. —
And I need hardly add, that if that
defpaech had been communicated
at the time of the arrangement <V
if it had been known, that the
propofitions contained in ir, and
which were ac firft prelented by
Mr. Eilkine, were the only on s
on which he was authcrifed to make
an arrangement, the arrangement
would not have been made.”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith, Oft. 23.
“ Theft* inftrudions, I now
undetftand by your letter, as weii as
from the obvious deductions which
I took the li berry of making in
mine, of the 1 ith inft. /ere at the
time, in fubftance, made known to
you.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, N ov. 1.
i( It would be improper to con
clude the few obfervations, to
which I purpofely limit myfeif,
without adverting to your repetiton,
a language implying a knowldgeon
the part of this government, that
the ir.ftrudions ot your predeceflur
did not authorize the arrangement
formed by him. After the explicit
and peremptory affbveration that
this government had no fuch
knowledge, and that with fuch a
knowledge no fuch arrangement
would have been entered into, the
view which you ha/e again prefenc
ed of the fubjed, makes it my duty
to apprize you that fuch infinuations
are inadmiffible in the intercourfe
of a foreign minifier with a govern
ment that underftands what it owes
to itfelf.”
Mr. Jackfon to Mr. Smith , Nov. 4.
“ You will find that in my cor
refpondence with you, I have care
fully avoided drawing conclusions
that did not nectftarily follow from
the premifes advanced by me, and
leaft of all fnouid I think of utter
ing an infinuacion where I was
unable to fubftantiate a fadl.”
Mr. Smith to Mr. Jackfon, Nov. 8.
“ Finding that in your reply of
4th ir.ft. you have ufed a language
which cannot be under flood but as
reiterating and even aggravating the
fame grofs infirniation it only
remains in order to preclude oppor
tunities which are thus abufed, to
inform you that no further commu
nications will be received from you,
and that the neceffity of this deter
mination will without delay, be
made known to your government.
In the mran time a ready attention
will be given to any communications
affecting the incerefts of the two
nations, through any other channel
that may be lubftituteu.”
Mr. Oakley to Mr. Jackfon, Nov. 13.
“ One of thefe lads aduded to
ha3 been admitted by the Secretary
of State hirnlcif in his letter of the
19th of Odober, viz. that the three
conditions forming the fubftance of
Mr. Erfkintds original inftrudtions
were fubmitetd to him by thac
gentleman. The other, v:z. that
that inftrudion is the only one in
which the conditions were pre
fer! bed to Mr. Erfkine for the
conclufion of an arrangement on the
matter to which it related, is known
to Mr. Jackfon by the inftrudions
which he has himfelf received.”
“In Hating thele fads and ad
hering to them,” Mr. Jackfon,
through Mr. Oakley, lays, confifted
the offence for which he was dil
carded. Bur, fir, I will fubmit it
to you, and your readers, after you
and they have perufed with attention
what precedes the quotation from
Mr. Oakley’s* note, whether the
envoy’s offence wis not of a very
efferent nature, to wit: not that
Mr. J addon knew another fact; j
