1809 James Madison - Erskine's Arrangement

In my previous post, I explained how Madison had rescinded his proclamation to end the Embargo after the British had repudiated the instructions given by the minister plenipotentiary, David Montague Erskine.  This arrangement had become known as Erskine' arrangement and here is the story.  In 1809, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, George Canning wanted to settle the "Chesapeake" affair and the American embargo act that followed it.  So, Canning instructed Erskine that the Orders in Council would be lifted if America lifted it's own embargo, but with these three conditions.

1. All embargoes against England should be revoked, while those against France should remain in force.
2. The United States should formally renounce any claims to British colonial trade in war which was not permitted in times of peace.
3. The United States should recognize the right of Great Britain to capture American vessels which are found to be trading with any powers acting under the French Decrees.

Erskine, knew that these sweeping conditions would be inadmissible, and following what he believed to be the "true spirit" of the instructions decided to remove them.  Thus, Erskine made an offer which Madison and Congress could not refuse.  Although no one suspected that Foreign Secretary Canning would refuse to ratify Erskine's arrangement, there were signs that made them nervous.  In April of 1809, the British government issued a new Order in Council, which revoked the one from 1807, and established a new general blockade of Holland, France and Italy.   This invoked some nervousness in Congress because Canning had acted without waiting to hear from Erskine, leading some to question whether Erskine ever had any authority to open the ports of Holland to America as he had promised.  In June of that year, Erskine wrote an official note to the American Secretary of State, assuring them that the new blockade had nothing to do with the recent negotiation between the U.S. and His Britannic Majesty.  

Meanwhile, Canning flat out rejected Erskine's negotiations and replaced Erskine with Francis James Jackson.  On July 1, 1809, Canning gave new instructions to Jackson.   Jackson was instructed to ignore Erskine's arrangement and give no explanation of it's repudiation.  He was to deliver a complaint not only of Erskine's conduct, but also that the American government had acted in bad faith.  Jackson charged the American government with fraud and trickery for publishing the arrangement and issuing a proclamation before the British Government had an opportunity to disavow it.   Madison insisted that the American Government did not know that Erskine had left out any conditions, and that if they had been known, then the arrangements would not have been made.  But in a letter to Jefferson, Canning wrote that "If Mr. Erskine availed himself of the liberty allowed to him of communicating those instructions on the affair of the Orders in Council, [the United States] must have known that it was not so".    Jackson, was also instructed to include the three original conditions in the the negotiations.   Something that neither Madison, nor Congress would ever agree to.  Ironically, as soon as Jackson set sail for America, Canning's control of American diplomacy was over.  The Administration he belonged to came to an end in scandalous disaster, but the damages were already done.  

In Madison's first annual address to Congress, he shared the disastrous recall of Erskine to Congress.  Madison wrote that he had hopes that the new minister would bring an explanation of the repudiation and "remove the causes which had so long embarrassed the good understanding of the two nations".   Madison stated that this was a reasonable expectation, but it was not fulfilled.   No explanations were received and the new conditions regarding the British orders in Council and the attack on the frigate Chesapeake were inadmissible to the United States.   Madison then concluded that it was up to the British to take the first step towards an "adjustment" of asserting a claim that was not only contrary to the principles and obligations of the United States but also to British laws and British practice. 

"The recall of the disavowed minister having been followed by the appointment of a successor, hopes were indulged that the new mission would contribute to alleviate the disappointment which had been produced, and to remove the causes which had so long embarrassed the good understanding of the two nations. It could not be doubted that it would at least be charged with conciliatory explanations of the step which had been taken and with proposals to be substituted for the rejected arrangement.

Reasonable and universal as this expectation was, it also has not been fulfilled. From the first official disclosures of the new minister it was found that he had received no authority to enter into explanations relative to either branch of the arrangement disavowed nor any authority to substitute proposals as to that branch which concerned the British orders in council, and, finally, that his proposals WRT the other branch, the attack on the frigate Chesapeake, were founded on a presumption repeatedly declared to be inadmissible by the United States, that the first step toward adjustment was due from them, the proposals at the same time omitting even a reference to the officer answerable for the murderous aggression, and asserting a claim not less contrary to the British laws and British practice than to the principles and obligations of the United States."

Madison continued to explain that the correspondence between Jackson and himself would show the amount of disrespect that was issued by Jackson, and that consequently no further communications would be accepted.  Madison wrote that this message would be delivered to "His Britannic Majesty through the minister plenipotentiary of the United States in London" and that it would indicate a lack of confidence in their ministers until the British Government was ready to change it's unfriendly policy towards the United States.  America was heading towards war with Great Britain.

"The correspondence between the Department of State and this minister will show how unessentially the features presented in its commencement have been varied in its progress. It will sow also that, forgetting the respect due to all governments, he did not refrain from imputations on this, which required that no further communications should be received from him. The necessity of this step will be made known to His Britannic Majesty through the minister plenipotentiary of the United States in London; and it would indicate a want of the confidence due to a Government which so well understands and exacts what becomes foreign ministers near it not to infer that the misconduct of its own representative will be viewed in the same light in which it has been regarded here. The British Government will learn at the same time that a ready attention will be given to communications through any channel which may be substituted. It will be happy if the change in this respect should be accompanied by a favorable revision of the unfriendly policy which has been so long pursued toward the United States."

Madison did inform Jackson that no further communication would be received from him, but Jackson was not content, and he appealed directly to the people of America.  Jackson sent a circular letter to the British Consuls in America where he reiterated his charges against the American Government in an attempt to win the people to his side.  While this should have been viewed as an insult to every patriotic American, some radical Federalists repeated some of Jackson's arguments to their advantage.  

History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison by Henry Adams, Earl N. Herbert pgs 59 to 78
History of the United States of America, Under the Constitution: 1801-1817; Jefferson Republicans (1894) Dodd,
The Attitude of the Federalist Party Toward the War of 1812 by Orren Chalmer Hormell (1905)  pgs 10-14
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