TO JOHN ARMSTRONG.
Department of State, February 8th, 1808.
Sir,Your letters and communications by Dr. Bullus were duly delivered on the NA day of NA. The same conveyance brought a copy of the sentence pronounced by the French prize Court in the case of the Horizon, giving a judicial effect to the Decree of Nov. 21, 1806, as expounded in the answer of Mr. Champagny to your letter of the NA.
...
-James Madison
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TO WILLIAM PINKNEY.d. of s. mss. instr.
Department of State, March 8th, 1808.
Sir, Having just learnt that the present Mail will arrive at New York in time for the British packet, I avail myself of the opportunity of forwarding your Commission and letters of credence, as successor to Mr. Monroe, in the Legation at London.Since my last which went by Mr. Nourse in a dispatch vessel bound first to L’Orient and then to Falmouth, I have received your communications of the 23d Nov. and NA of Decr. These with a representation from Genl. Armstrong to the French Government on the subject of the Decree of Berlin as expounded and enforced in the case of the ship Horizon, were thought by the President to throw so much light on the course likely to be pursued by Great Britain and France in relation to the United States, that he had the documents confidentially laid before Congress.
-James Madison
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TO WILLIAM PINKNEY.d. of s. mss. instr.
Department of State, April 4th, 1808.
Sir,My last letter was of March 22d and went under the care of Mr. Rose. I now forward printed copies of the correspondence with him on the subject of his Mission, and of the antecedent documents relating to the case of the Chesapeake. As soon as the voluminous residue of the communications made to Congress issues from the press, it shall also be forwarded. You will find that they include certain documents relating to France which were thought proper for the knowledge of Congress at the present Crisis.
To these communications I add copies of Mr. Erskine’s letter to me on the subject of the British decrees of Novr. last, and of my answer. And that you may have a view of the ground which has been taken with respect to the French decree of Novr. 1806, and to the judicial exposition in the case of the Horizon giving it an illegal operation against the United States, I inclose copies of two letters to Genl. Armstrong on those subjects.
-James Madison
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And of course, other people were talking about the "Horizon."
Rufus King letter to Timothy Pickering
Jamaica, L. I., Dec. 1, 1808.
Dear Sir :I should have returned a more seasonable answer to your letter of the 19th past, had I not from day to day expected to remove to town - where only I can make the Examination that may enable me to answer your enquiry ; we are still detained in the Country ; but propose to remove to town, if the weather be favourable, in the early part of next week.
Mr. Madison to avoid the charge of acquiescence, has contended that the Berlin Decree did not infringe our Neutral Rights in any case antecedent to the case of the Horizon. What are we to understand by Neutral Rights? Undoubtedly the Rights that a nation at peace may claim to enjoy when other nations are at war - Belligerent and neutral are therefore correlatives. By the Convention with France it is agreed, when France is at war, and the U. S. at peace, that the American Flag shall cover and protect enemy goods, that the presence of a national ship of the U. S. shall free her convoy from visit and search, that Amer. ships may pass and repass between the Ports of France and those of her Enemy &c. &c.
...
Always & faithfully yr.,
R. K.
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Timothy Pickering letter to Rufus King
Washington, Feby. 26, 1808.
Dear Sir :....
I presume you will see published the President's Message on this occasion ; and I believe (but I will ascertain this to-morrow) it purports to have communicated Armstrong's letters us well as Pinkney's ; but the fact is, that we again did not receive one line of Armstrong's letters to his own government ; but only his letter to Champagny (I think dated Nov. 12) controverting the arguments of the Tribunal of Prizes for condemning the Ship Horizon's cargo so far as it consisted of goods from England or her Colonies. The decree in this case of the prize court was very long & has been published months ago in all our news-papers. The ship had been wrecked near Morlaix. This document from Paris was a tub to the whale. I am pretty sure that Pinkney said he had known of no instance in which the Berlin decree had been executed against our vessels. Yet, if I mistake not, the case in which the letter of Regnier was written, occurred in September.
The other letters from Pinkney to Madison bore dates of Dec. 14 & 29th, and Jany. 2., the latter inclosing (but without one remark) the Milan decree of Dec. 17. The other two letters were short - I do not remember their contents.
...
Yours truly, T. Pickering.
