“Permit me, sir, to observe on this occasion, that the United States of America have no war but with the English. They have never done any injury to other nations, particularly none to the Danish nation. On the contrary, they are in some degree its benefactors, as they have opened a trade of which the English made a monopoly, and of which the Danes may now have their share; and by dividing the British empire have made it less dangerous to its neighbors. They conceived that every nation whom they had not offended was, by the rights of humanity, their friend. They confided in the hospitality of Denmark, and thought themselves and their property safe when under the roof of his Danish majesty. “But they find themselves stripped of that property, and the same given up to their enemies, on the principle only that no acknowledgment had yet been formally made, by Denmark, of the independence of the United States; which is to say that there is no obligation of justice toward any nation, with whom a treaty, promising the same, has not been made. This was indeed the doctrine of ancient barbarians; a doctrine long since exploded, and which it would not be for the honor of the present age to revive. And it is hoped that Denmark will not, by supporting and persisting in this decision, obtained of his majesty apparently by surprise, be the first modern nation that shall attempt to revive it. “The United States, oppressed by, and in war with one of the most powerful nations of Europe, may well be supposed incapable, in their present infant state, of exacting justice from other nations not disposed to grant it. But it is in human nature, that injuries as well as benefits, received in times of weakness and distress, national as well as personal, make deep and lasting impressions. And those ministers are wise who look into futurity, and quench the first sparks of misunderstanding between two nations, which neglected, may in time grow into a flame, all the consequences whereof no human prudence can foresee, which may produce much mischief to both, and cannot possibly produce any good to either. “I beg, through your excellency, to submit these considerations to the wisdom and justice of his Danish majesty, whom I infinitely respect, and who, I hope, will consider and repeal the order above recited; and, if the prizes which I hereby reclaim, in behalf of the United States of America, are not actually gone to England, that they may be stopped and redelivered to M. de Chezaulx, the consul of France, at Bergen, in whose care they were before, with liberty to depart for America, when the season shall permit. But if they shall be already gone to England, I must then reclaim from his majesty’s equity the value of the said three prizes, which is estimated at fifty thousand pounds sterling, but which may be regulated by the best information that can, by any means, be obtained.”