"The elections for Congress are nearly over. The result is another warning against a reliance on the strength of a British party, if the British government be still under a delusion on that subject. Should France effectually adhere to the ground of a just and conciliatory policy, and Great Britain bring the United States to issue on her paper blockades, so strong is this ground in right and opinion here, and even in the commitment of all the great leaders of her party here, that Great Britain will scarce have an advocate left." Mr. PINKNEY to Mr. MADISON. "LONDON, Dec. 17th, 1810. "DEAR SIR,- The proclamation of the 2d of November* is doing good here, and may, perhaps, bring the ministry to reason. 1 enclose Cobbet's last number, which touches upon our relations with this country, and Bell's Weekly Messenger of yesterday, which treats of the same subject. My letter to Lord W. of the 10th instant, would have gone into it more fully, (though I was straightened for time,) but that I was afraid of the sin of prolixity, and expected, moreover, to be called upon to resume the discussion in another letter. There is reason to think that, though the freedom of its style may have given umbrage to some of the cabinet, it will assist your proclamation. I have never met with a state-paper to be compared with Lord W.'s note to me of the 4th instant. To tell me gravely and dryly, after my letters of the 25th of August and 3d of November, that he had not been able to obtain any "authentic intelligence" of the repeal of the French edicts, &c. !! "You may, perhaps, suppose that in my letter to him of the 10th, I have examined too much at large the British construction of the French declaration. I should not have done so but for a conversation a few days before with Sir William Scott, who appeared to have a prodigious hankering after the nonsense about préalable conditions. It is known besides to have been the favour * [Issued in consequence of the supposed repeal of the French decrees, and declaring the revival of the non-intercourse with Great Britain, unless that power should also repeal its Orders in Council] ite doctrine of the court and its adherents, and of all that antineutral class to which Stephen and Marryatt belong, and indeed of the people in general. We shall probably hear no more of it, however; and I understood, indeed, last night, that there is a perceptible change in the tone of ministers and their friends on the whole subject. Whether they will act wisely in the end, I cannot yet say. The presumption is always against them. "I have observed in my letter that the convenience of relaxing the orders in council by licenses "seems to be no longer enjoyed." The object of all that part of my letter was merely to give a slight sketch (which I should have been glad to be at liberty to make much stronger) of that monopolizing and smuggling scheme which has so long insulted the world and tried our patience. The fact is, that they have not granted any licenses for several weeks. It is not, however, (as I am assured,) that they are ashamed of this mean practice, but because they hope, by abstaining from it for a time, to get better terms of intercourse in this way from their enemy. If their orders should not be immediately revoked, so as to prevent the revival of this trick of trade, a vigorous tone should be used with them and I shall be happy to be authorised to use it at discretion. Be assured they will not stand against a show of determined resistance to their injustice, But if they should, they must be resisted to the uttermost, nevertheless. "There will, I am inclined to think, be a regency; but it is believed that the Prince will be greatly restricted at first. The restrictions will not last; yet if he should be obliged to continue the present ministers for any time, however short, (which it is imagined will be a part of the terms with which he will be shackled,) the mischiefs of their crooked and little policy towards the United States, supposing that they mean to brave the consequences of persevering in it, may become permanent and irretrievable. "There has been, I believe, some juggling in the affair of a Minister Plenipotentiary. You will see in my letter to Mr. Smith of the 14th, an account of Lord W.'s late explanations to me on that head. I have omitted, however, to state in that letter that he inadvertently remarked, in the course of the conference, that great pains had been taken by some people to persuade him "that the British interest in America (I quote his words) would be completely destroyed by sending thither at this time a Minister Plenipotentiary." He soon perceived, by my comments on this suggestion, that he had committed an indiscretion in talking of it, and he wished me, I thought, to consider what he had said as confidential. May we not infer that these persuasions have had an effect, when we look to the quality of his ostensible reasons for not redeeming his pledge of July last? Who the persuaders were he did not say-but Mr. Jackson (who, by the bye, cannot be very well satisfied with his reception here) may be supposed to be among the number, if he is not the only one. Whether this gentleman (if he has used such instances) quotes any American authorities in support of them can only be guessed. It would be no breach of charity to conjecture that he does. At any rate there must be some secret cause for the delay of the promised mission. Even the insolence of added to the reason assigned in conference, will not explain it satisfactorily. There is cunning at the bottom; and I can imagine nothing so likely to throw a light upon it as the unguarded communication of Lord W. above mentioned. : N°. IV. SPEECH IN THE CASE OF THE NEREIDE. : IF I were about to address this high tribunal with a view to establish a reputation as an advocate, I should feel no ordinary degree of resentment against the gentleman whom I am compelled to follow ;* if indeed it were possible to feel resentment against one who never fails to plant a strong and durable friendship in the hearts of all who know him. He has dealt with this great cause in a way so masterly, and has presented it before you with such a provoking fulness of illustration, that his unlucky colleague can scarcely set his foot upon a single spot of it without trespassing on some one of those arguments which, with an admirable profusion, I had almost said prodigality of learning, he has spread over the whole subject.. Time, however, which changes all things, and man more than any thing, no longer permits me to speak upon the impulse of ambition. It has left me only that of duty; better, perhaps, than the feverish impulse which it has supplanted; suffi * Mr. Dallas.. cient, as I hope, to urge me, upon this and every other occasion, to maintain the cause of truth, by such exertions as may become a servant of the law in a forum like this. I shall be content, therefore, to travel after my learned friend, over a part of the track which he has at once smoothed and illuminated happy, rather than displeased, that he has facilitated and justified the celerity with which I mean to traverse it more happy still if I shall be able, as I pass along, to relieve the fatigue of your honours, the benevolent companions of my journey, by imparting something of freshness and novelty to the prospect around us. To this course, I'am also reconciled by a pretty confident opinion, the result of general study as well as of particular meditation, that the discussion in which we are engaged has no claim to that air of intricacy which it has assumed'; that, on the contrary, it turns upon a few very plain and familiar principles, which, if kept steadily in view, will guide us in safety, through the worse than Cretan labyrnth of topics and authorities that seem to embarrass it, to such a conclusion as it may be fit for this Court to sanction by its judgment. I shall in the outset dismiss from the cause whatever has been rather insinuated with a prudent delicacy, than openly and directly pressed by my able opponents, with reference to the personal situation of the claimant, and of those with whom he is united in blood and interest. I am willing to admit that a Christian judicature may |