I am not ignorant that I am trespassing on your patience, and that, at this late period of the discussion, I address you to no little disadvantage; but I derive, under such discouragement, great satisfaction in knowing that your politeness and indulgence are at all times the same.
I lament, sir, that the discussion has not been confined to the subject which the resolution presents for consideration, but as I had no control over the debate, I am compelled to pursue it through the meanders it has taken.
As silence on the observations which have been made, though on points foreign to the one in debate, may be ascribed to an acquiescence in their justness, I cannot refrain from apprising you that I hold myself bound to answer such as shall, in my judgment, demand an answer. This course will compel me to discuss points no ways related to the one before the House.
I shall endeavor to atone for taking this range by giving to each subject a separate consideration, and by observing a due regard to brevity. With this apology, I hasten in the first instance to the discussion of the competency of Mr. Erskine's powers to conclude the provisional agreement of the 19th of April last.
I put aside from this discussion the instructions of Mr. Erskine authorizing him to tender reparation for the attack on the Chesapeake, because his power so to act has not been distinctly questioned. The gentlemen who have preceded me on the same side of the question have sustained, I trust to your satisfaction, and that of the House, the competency of Mr. Erskine's powers to make and conclude the arrangement of the 19th of April last. Persuaded, as I am, that they have performed this task with great ability, I will not tire your patience by passing over the same ground, nor by citing the same authorities on which they relied to support their arguments.
I will permit myself only to take up the discussion of the points which terminated their remarks. I will content myself with furnishing some authorities not pressed into service, in support of the positions taken by them. That Mr. Erskine was a Minister Plenipotentiary, cannot be denied; in that character he was received, and in that he acted until he was recalled, is equally true. The propositions made by him in that character were received and acted upon as the propositions of his Government. The Executive of the United States had no control over his private instructions; no right to demand an exhibition of them; they were given for the government of the Minister's conduct. If he acted in contravention of his secret orders, over which his power was absolute, he became responsible to his sovereign for his non-observance of them; but his public acts must necessarily be binding and obligatory, originating, as they must be considered, in the general and avowed powers of the Minister, exercised in conformity to his private instructions. If his secret instructions limit his general commission, he is bound honestly to apprise the Government with which he is negotiating of the fact. He ought to say, to this boundary I can go; beyond it I cannot pass. To illustrate this doctrine, which I hold to be sound and correct, I will give as an instance the chaste conduct of Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinkney, who, previous to affixing their signatures to the treaty concluded by them with the British Commissioners, publicly apprised the Commissioners that they had no authority to bind the Government of the United States, as their instructions did not permit them to conclude a treaty which should not contain stipulations against impressments. The fate of that treaty is known. It was rejected. The British Government could not complain, because it was previously informed that the Ministers of the United States had no power to form such a treaty.
Mr. Erskine never entertained a doubt but that his powers were competent to the formation of the arrangement of April last. He unhesitatingly declared, in submitting his propositions for suspending as to the United States the operation of the Orders in Council, that he was commanded by his Majesty to submit them to the consideration of the Executive of the United States. I will prove this statement by his letter of April 18, 1809, and others, addressed to the Secretary of State. He says:
"The favorable change in the relations of His Majesty with the United States, which has been produced by the act usually termed the non-intercourse act, passed at the last session of Congress, was also anticipated by His Majesty, and has encouraged a further hope that a reconsideration of existing differences might lead to their satisfactory adjustment. On these grounds and expectations, I am instructed to communicate to the American Government His Majesty's determination of sending to the United States an Envoy Extraordinary, invested with full powers to conclude a treaty on all points of the relations between the two countries. In the mean time, with a view to the attainment of so desirable an object, His Majesty would be willing to withdraw his Orders in Council of January and November, 1807, so far as respects the United States, in the persuasion that the President would issue a proclamation for the renewal of the intercourse with Great Britain, and that whatever difference of opinion should arise in the interpretation of the terms of such an agreement, will be removed in the proposed negotiation."
In another letter, of April 19, he says:
"In consequence of the acceptance by the President, as stated in your letter of the 18th instant, of the proposals made by me on the part of His Majesty, in my letter of the same day, for the renewal of the intercourse between the respective countries, I am authorized to declare that His Majesty's Orders in Council of January and November, 1807, will have been withdrawn, as respects the United States, on the 10th day of June next." (1809.)