for me to give decisive opinions, until I receive his Majesty’s ministers’ official documents, by which I must be governed in my future conduct, a * * * * * * * * * * * * *. I remain, with great truth, your’s very sincerely,
The correspondence which ensued between Captain Douglas and the Mayor of Norfolk, already alluded to at p. 652 of our first volume, the resolutions of the citizens of New York; and the proclamation of President Jefferson, requiring all armed vessels, bearing commissions under the government of Great Britain, immediately and without delay to depart from within the harbours and waters of the United States, are given at length in the Naval Chronicle for 1807[1]. An official letter from Colonel John Hamilton, the British Consul at Norfolk, in Virginia, to Captain Douglas, dated June 25, 1807, describing the violent conduct of the inhabitants of that town and Hampton, is also given in the 28th volume of the same work, from which we make the following extract:–
“I have this moment the honor of your letter of the 23d instant, with the copy of that written to you by Captain Humphreys, explaining the circumstances under which he found himself obliged, in the execution of his orders from the commander-in-chief, to fire into the United States’ ship of war the Chesapeake. However sincerely I deplore with you that a mutual accommodation for the search for deserters being refused by Commodore Barron, under his construction of the orders of his government, rendered it necessary, on the part of the Captain of H.M. ship Leopard, in pursuance of his orders, to resort to force, yet I am happy to find, that the firmness and moderation which he employed, previous to the last appeal, were such, as might have been expected from Captain Humphreys, no less as a British officer, than in his individual capacity.”
It is imposible for us to enter into the detail of the voluminous correspondence which afterwards took place between the governments of Great Britain and America. By what has been stated, it must be sufficiently evident, that from the commencement to the close of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, the behaviour of Captain Humphreys was not only unimpeachable, but, in a very high degree, praise-worthy. We cannot but regret that those ships, under the same commanders, had not been opposed to each other during the late conflict with America, although
- ↑ See Nav. Chron. Vol. XVIII., pp. 118 to 128 inclusive.
