B H I T A I N. 



Britain. The Fivnch ve< '.<: with the int 



of bearding ; bnt Captain Cart 'i at she 



would run off, lashed her to hi; ', in a 



short time, compelled her t > strike. The . 

 miral, with the re.^t of his ll-vt, n n ' wards 



the harbour of Bon!- I Bonaparte is s, 



have been so eiir.'tged at their retr.-at, that he order- 

 e.l the guns of the batteries to be turned on the flo- 

 tilla, to drive them out to renew the engagement. 



The British navy sustained a considerable loss to- 

 wards the end of the year, from the tempests which 

 in the north seas. On the morning of the 21-th 

 December, the St George of 98 guns, commanded 

 ''niral Reynolds, and the Defence of 7-i guns, 

 .tided by Captain D. Aitken, were driven on 

 i the coast of Jutland, and the whole of the 

 crews, amounting to nearly It )0 men, perished in 

 tii wreck. At b:--,ik of day on the 25th of Decem- 

 ber, the Hero of 71- guns was stranded on a sand 

 bank off the Texel, and the whole of her crew like- 

 wise perished; 



Difference^ The differences which h?.d so Vng subsisted be- 

 with Ame- twcen this country and America, rose to a still great- 

 er height in the course of the present year. We 

 have already seen, that the non intercourse act was 

 to be put in execution against Great Britain, on the2d 

 of February 1811, unless the orders in council were re- 

 scinded, and the commerce of neutral nations restored 

 to its former footing. A vessel from New York, how- 

 ever, having been seized by the French under the Ber- 

 lin and Milan decrees, Mr Randolph, a member of con- 

 gress, movetl for a bill to repeal the non-intercourse act. 

 This motion being rejected, it was agreed to recom- 

 mit the non-intercourse act to the committee of fo- 

 reign relations, till full proof was obtained of the com- 

 plete revocation of the French decrees. Desirous, if 

 possible, to bring the various points in dispute to a 

 speedy adjustment, the Prince Regent appointed Au- 

 gustus John Forster, Esq. to be minister plenipoten- 

 tiary to the United States ; but before his arrival in 

 America, a new and unexpected ground of differ- 

 ence arose between the two nations. On the 16th (.t 

 May, the United States frigate the President, of 4t 

 guns, commanded by Commodore Roilgers,gave chace 

 to his majesty's vessel the Little Belt, of 18 guns, 

 commanded by Captain Bingham. When the Ame- 

 rican frigate came within hail, Captain Bingham ask- 

 ed what ship it was ? Commodore Rodgcrs repeated 

 the words of the British captain, and immediately 

 fired a broadside, which was instantly returned from 

 the Little Belt. The action then became general, 

 and continued for three quarters of an hour, when 

 the firing of the American vessel ceased. About the 

 same time the Little Belt was obliged to desist from 

 firing, on account of the damage which she had sus- 

 tained in her masts, sails, rigging, and hnlh Corn- 



oi 



Affair of 

 he Little 

 Belt. 



' 



I 



then a 



A t'tri . Capt. 



Bingh 



.vd that it was tS 

 sidcnt. C . 



Little Beh ; hiii !,! 17th he boro 



up, and sent a message- to Capt. Bingham 

 the occurrence of such an unfortunate affair, and 

 stating that he would not have- find had he known 

 the inferiority of the 

 ham asked him the n; 



at all ? to which the commodore replied, that tin- 

 first gun was tired at him. In the account of this 

 affair, communicated to the American government by 

 Commodore RO<!;.T,, h.- p >:-it ; v!y maintains, that. 

 the lirot .;iui was li.ed from the British \ 

 in the inquiries which were subsequently instituted 

 by both governments, the evidence of the oi.e crew 

 was decidedly at variance with the evidence of the 

 other. We are not willing that national partuili- 

 ty should bias our judgment in this singular affair, 

 but we can scarcely h-lu-ve, that a vessel of 18 guns 

 would rashly provoke the hostility of a frigate of 

 44 guns ; and if Captain Bingham had been so re- 

 gardless of his duty, as to insult the American flag 

 by the first fire, it is not within the limit* of credi- 

 bility that Commodore Rodgers would bear up next 

 morning, regret the unfortunate affair which had hap- 

 pened, and offer every assistance to his disabled en- 

 emy. 



After the arrival of Mr Forsterin America, his cor- 

 respondence with Mr Monroe, the Secretary of State, 

 related chiefly to the British orders in council; the one 

 party asserting, that the Berlin and Milan decrees 

 were effectually repealed, while the other maintains 

 that their repeal was merely parti;i! and falL-. 

 The American minister contends, that we are bound 

 to respect the solemn declaration of the French go- 

 vernment on the 5th of August 1810, that the de- 

 crees were repealed ; and he alleges, that the liber- 

 ation of four or five American vessels, which had 

 been captured and brought into French ports since 

 the 1st of November, is a convincing proof of the 

 sincerity of France. Mr Forster, on the other hand, 

 maintains, " that the seizure of American vessels by 

 the French since the 1st of November, asd the po- 

 sitive and unqualified declarations of the French go- 

 vernment, are stronger proofs of the continued ex- 

 istence of the Berlin and Milan decrees, than the re- 

 storation of five or six vessels, tco palpably given up 

 for fallacious purposes, or in testimony of satis- 

 faction at the attitude taken -by America, is a proof 

 of their revocation, or of a return to the principles 

 of justice."f 



( The nature of Mr Forster's argument will be better understood frcm the following parngrcphs of the Pre.-ic'.ent's message 

 to Congress, on the; 5th November 1811 : " The justice and fairness which IUSM.- boi.ii tvinccil on the part ut the United 

 States towards France, both before and since the revocation of her decrees, uuthonsul an c\;n-Mt;un '.hat Ixr gmirnment 

 would have followed up that measure by all such others as were due to our reasonable clain.;., ictattd by its ami- 



cable professions. No proof, however, is yet given, of an intention to repair the other wrongs done to the I'nited States, 

 and particularly to restore the great amount of American property, seized and condemned under edicts which, though not af- 

 fecting our neutral relations, and therefore not entering into the question between the United States .ind the other belligerents, 

 were nevertheless founded on such unjust principles, that the reparation ought to have been prompt ai'.d ample. 



" In addition to this, and other demands of strict right on that nation, the United States ha\e much reason to be dissa- 

 VOL. IV. PART II. 5 A 



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