Erskine Agreement

British Minister David Erskine began negotiations with Foreign Secretary Robert Smith after receiving instructions from his government in early April 1809. Especially because Erskine did not disclose three provisions on which George Canning, the British Foreign Secretary, expected the United States to admit, Erskine reached an agreement with the Madison administration, that trade with Britain would be resumed and that British orders would be withdrawn from the Council in January and November 1807. Consequently, on 19 April 1809 Madison issued a proclamation which formally annuled the Non-Intercourse Act of 1 March 1809 effective 10 June 1809 and announcing the imminent withdrawal of orders from the Council. The proclamation was accompanied by the corresponding correspondence between Smith and Erskine (Madison, Papers Description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, note, The Papers of James Madison, 1962 – 31 volumes. Ser., 17 volumes; Near. Ser., 5 volumes; Sec.

6 volumes description ends, Pres. Ser., 1:117-9, 125-6; Washington National Intelligencer, April 21, 1809; Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805-1812, 211-3). Congress passed an army law to extend the second regular army to 25,000 soldiers. The increase in numbers is far greater than Madison`s request — he had asked for a force of 10,000 — but the bill offers less flexibility than Madison had requested. Amid disagreements between Madison`s government and Congress, legislative changes will be made this summer. December 31, 1806 Monroe Treaty – U.S. Secretary James Monroe and U.S. Special Envoy William Pinkney are able to negotiate a contract with the British, a treaty that has addressed all major differences over the law of the sea, with the exception of legal references. This contract, signed that day by all parties, will make no difference. Why not on Earth? President Jefferson will decide not to pass it on to the Senate because the issue of legal references has been omitted.

The ambiguous status of the proxies was to have unforeseeable consequences within the nationalist movement when it was divided over the content of the treaty in 1921/22. Plenipotentiaries generally have full powers to conduct negotiations as they see fit, but de Valera had instructed them to refer to his cabinet on each “main issue” and with “the full text of the draft treaty that is about to be signed,” which has led to difficulties. Subsequently, the anti-protracting party felt that the proxies of the existing Sovereign Republic had somehow been persuaded to accept much less. The pro-treaty party argued that the negotiations took place after 11 October on the condition that the agreement, although the British do not negotiate with a sovereign state, was an important first step towards Irish sovereignty. One of the five decrees that give plenipotentiaries the power that the city of Valera has signed is on permanent display at the Petit Musée in Dublin. [Citation required] Former Secretary of State Robert Smith publishes a speech to the people of the United States in which he attacks the Madison government and reveals differences within the cabinet.