Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

Affair of the Chesapeake. This long existing, and, in our opinion, the most serious cause of dispute between the United States and Great Britain, has at last been removed, by the offer of reparation made by the latter through her minister, and the acceptance of that offer on the part of our government. The correspondence is given in this day's paper, upon which occasion we congratulate that portion of our readers who are sincerely desirous of an accommodation of disputes so repugnant to the interests of both nations.

Message to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.

I communicate to congress copies of a correspondence between the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain and the secretary of state, relative to the aggression committed by a British ship of war on the United States frigate Chesapeake, by which it will be seen that that subject of difference between the two countries is terminated by an offer of reparation which has been acceded to.

JAMES MADISON.

Washington, Nov. 13, 1811.

MR. FOSTER TO MR. MONROE.

Washington, October 30, 1811.

Sir—I had already the honour to mention to you that I came to this country furnished with instructions from his royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, for the purpose of proceeding to a final adjustment of the differences which have arisen between Great Britain and the United States of America in the affair of the Chesapeake frigate, and I had also that of acquainting you with the necessity under which I found myself of suspending the execution of those instructions in consequence of my not having perceived that any steps whatever were taken by the American government to clear up the circumstances of an event which threatened so materially to interrupt the harmony subsisting between our two countries, as that which occurred in the month of last May between the United States ship President and his majesty's ship Little Belt, when every evidence before his majesty's government seemed to shew that a most evident and wanton outrage had been committed on a British sloop of war by an American commodore.

A court of enquiry, however, as you informed me in your letter of the 11th inst. has since been held by order of the president of the United States, on the conduct of commodore Rodgers, and this preliminary to further discussion on the subject being all that I asked in the first instance, as due to the friendship subsisting between the two states, I have now the honour to acquaint you that I am ready to proceed in the truest spirit of conciliation to lay before you the terms of reparation which his royal highness has commanded me to propose to the United States' government, and only wait to know when it will suit your convenience to enter upon the discussion, I have the honour to be, &c.

AUG. J. FOSTER.

To the Hon. James Monroe, &c. &c. &c.

FROM MR. MONROE TO MR. FOSTER.

Department of State. October 31, 1811:

Sir,—I have just had the honor to receive your letter of the 30th of this month.

I am glad to find that the communication which I had the honor to make to you on the 11th inst. relative to the court of enquiry, which was the subject of it, is viewed by you in the favorable light which you have stated.

Although I regret that the proposition which you now make in consequence of that communication, has been delayed to the present moment, I am ready to receive the terms of it whenever you may think proper to communicate them. Permit me to add, that the pleasure of finding them satisfactory will be duly augmented, if they should be introductory to a removal of all the differences depending between our two countries, the hope of which is so little encouraged by your past correspondence. A prospect of such a result will be embraced, on my part, with a spirit of conciliation equal to that which has been expressed by you.

I have the honor to be, &c. JAS. MONROE.

Aug. J. Foster, &c. &c. &c.

MR. FOSTER TO MR. MONROE.

Washington—Nov. 1, 1811.

Sir In pursuance of the orders which I have received from his royal highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, for the purpose of proceeding to final adjustment of the differences which have arisen between G. Britain and the United States in the affair of the Chesapeake—

I am authorized to offer to the American government, as far as the same can be done, the immediate restoration, as far as circumstances will admit of the men who in consequence of the orders of admiral Berkeley were forcibly taken out of the Chesapeake to the vessel from which they were taken; or if that ship should be no longer in commission to such a port of the United States as the American government may name for the purpose.

Secondly: that I am authorized to offer to the American government a suitable pecuniary provision for the sufferers in consequence of the attack on the Chesapeake, including the families of those seamen who unfortunately fell in the action and of the wounded survivors.

These honorable propositions, I can assure you sir, were made with the sincere desire that they may prove satisfactory to the government of the United States, and I trust they will meet with that amicable reception which their conciliatory nature entitles them to. I need scarcely add how cordially join with you in the wish that they might prove introductory to a removal of all the differences depending between our two countries. I have the honor to be, &c.

AUG. J. FOSTER.

To the hon. James Monroe, &c.

MR. MONROE TO MR. FOSTER.

November 12 1811

SIR—I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 1st. Nov. and to lay it before the President.

It is much to be regretted that the reparation due for such an aggression as that committed on the United States Frigate Chesapeake, should have been so long delayed; nor could the translation of the offending officer from one command to another, be regarded as constituting in part of a reparation otherwise satisfactory; considering however the existing circumstances of the case, and the early and amicable attention paid to it by his royal highness the Prince Regent the President accedes to the proposition contained in your letter, and in so doing your government will, I am persuaded, see a proof of the conciliatory disposition by which the President has been actuated.

The officer commanding the Chesapeake now laying in the harbour of Boston; will be instructed to receive the men who are to be restored to that ship. I have the honour, &c. JAS. MONROE.

Aug. J. Foster, Esq. &c. &c. &c.