246 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC., PRIOR TO TREATY OF 1818 



The importance of these despatches, and the great probability of 

 your negotiation having been brought to a close, induced the Presi- 

 dent to determine on laying them before Congress immediately. This 

 has been done, and there is every reason to believe that they are pro- 

 ducing the best effect, in uniting all parties in a determined resist- 

 ance to the extravagant pretensions of the enemy. It has also been 

 judged proper to communicate to Congress, so much of the instruc- 

 tions given to you by this Department as would show the terms on 

 which you were authorized to make peace. 



These, as well as } r our communications, have been printed, and 

 several copies are now forwarded to you, as it is believed they may 

 be usefully disposed of in Europe. 



Should any circumstance have unexpectedly prolonged the ne- 

 gotiation, which it is inferred from your despatches will have been 

 finally closed, and you find the British commissioners disposed to 

 agree to the status ante helium, you will understand that you are 

 authorized to make it the basis of a treaty. 



I have the honor to be, with great respect, gentlemen, your obedient 

 servant, 



James Monroe. 



The British to the American plenipotentiaries. 



Ghent, October 21, 1811^. 



The undersigned have had the honor of receiving the note of the 

 American plenipotentiaries of the 13th instant, communicating their 

 acceptance of the article which the undersigned had proposed on the 

 subject of the pacification and rights of the Indian nations. 



The undersigned are happy in being thus relieved from the neces- 

 sity of recurring to several topics which, though they arose in the 

 course of their discussions, have only an incidental connexion with the 

 differences remaining to be adjusted between the two countries. 



With a view to this adjustment, the undersigned, preferring in the 

 present state of the negotiation a general statement to the formal 

 arrangement of articles, are willing so far to comply with the request 

 of the American plenipotentiaries contained in their last note, as to 

 waive the advantage to which they think they were fairly entitled, 

 of requiring from them the first projet of a treaty. 



The undersigned having stated, at the first conference, the points 

 upon which His Majesty's Government considered the discussions 

 between the two countries as likely to turn, cannot better satisfy the 

 request of the American plenipotentiaries than by referring them 

 to that conference for a statement of the points which, in the opinion 

 of His Majesty's Government, yet remain to be adjusted. 



With respect to the forcible seizure of mariners from on board 

 merchant vessels on the high seas, and the right of the King of Great 

 Britain to the allegiance of all his native subjects, and with respect 

 to the maritime rights of the British empire, the undersigned con- 

 ceive that, after the pretensions asserted by the Government of the 

 United States, a more satisfactory proof of the conciliatory spirit of 

 His Majesty's Government cannot be given than by not requiring any 

 stipulation on those subjects, which, though most important in them- 

 selves, no longer, in consequence of the maritime pacification of 

 Europe, produce the same practical results. 



