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1 2 3

APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE

ON THE

CAUSES AND CONSEaUENCES

:«^

iVAIt WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

:.^' V

BOSTON :

PRINTrn BY T. B. WAIT AND COMPANY
1811.

EiiSi. h^

1.4
I

;

APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE.

I KNOW it is a thankless office to warn my country-
men of impending evils. An honest developement of
their causes and consequences is likely to be received
with distrust or impatience ; — to be resisted or evaded
by the feelings of present interest, by self-love, by va-
nity, by groundless hopes, and idle wishes. Anxiety
and fear are troublesome companions — if they cannot
be put to silence, they must be dismissed. As I can-
not minister to the appetite for incredible rumours, I
feel that I am an unwelcome messenger; for I am
as utterly ignorant of the progress of negotiation at
Washington, as I am sure of its fruitless termination.

I am fully aware, that there is a reluctance in the
human mind, to admit truths which interfere with pre-
sent pursuits or interests, which perplex the calcula-
tions of prudence, and demand exertion to prevent or
mitigate calamity. Men borrow confidence from their
hopes, and resist conviction as they would an enemy.
He then who disturbs their treacherous repose, their
delusive dreams of safety, by shewing them the giant
form of danger, is regarded as an intruder, if lie is not
assailed as a foe.

176011

These considerations, so inauspicious to my hopes,
shall not deter me from the honest discharge of what I
deem to be a duty. And could I discern in the pub-
lie mind, a willingness to iix its attention upon the
causes which have brought the country to its present
critical state, I should not altogether despair of its
fortunes. A general conviction of the dangers which
threaten its peace and liberties, would give energy
enough to public opinion to prevent the shock of a Bri-
tish war. But unless more just opinions prevail among
the soundest portion of the community, upon the cau-
ses and consequences of such a war ; unless the pub-
lic mind, f^enerally, can be touched with fear, and kin-
died into activity, war, at no distant period, with its
long train of evils, must come. I do not undertake to
prophesy the exact time of this event; it is enough to
know that the temper and policy of the administration
will one day bring it to pass : And it is chiefly owing
to a spirit of forbearance, growing out of the unexam-
pled situation of Great Britain, that we are not now at
war with her, and fast bound to the destinies of France.
That spirit of hostility in the administration towards
Great Britain, one great source of their power, as well
as its aliment, which gains strength by an association
with the honest prejudices of federalists ; and above
all, the appaling demands of France, which cannot be
resisted without the sacrifice of the feelings, interests,
and power of a party ; must issue in a British war —
an unhallowed war to us — without the sanction of jus-
tice or necessity ; which Can bring no glory or secu-
rity with it ; but which must involve the safety of the
public liberties in its progress, and close with the loss
of our name as an independent nation.

Deeply impressed with the justness of these senti-
ments, and indulging a faint hope that I may find ** fit
audience, though few," I propose to examine the pre-
sent popular grounds of complaint against Great Bri-
tain. These I shall comprise under the following
heads : —

1. I'he impressment of our seamen.

2. The orders in council.

These embrace the principal topics of complaint
which are now urged by the administration, and seem
to limit the angry declamations of its supporters. For
since France has settled the question of the colonial
trade, it is no longer claimed as a right ; since the
traffic in imperial licences is publicly driven in our
great cities, little is heard of the late British transit du-
ty ; and since the brilliant achievement of the frigate
President, the affair of the Chesapeake has ceased to in-
terest the public feeling.

It is often repeated, that the impressment of our
seamen is justifiable cause of war. It is a theme full
of irritation, and leading to every kind of misrepresen-
tation. The passions of men are so easily excited on
this subject, that there is little chance for candour or
argument to gain a hearing. Indeed there is little
ground for reasoning on either side, for the question of
right is unusually clear of doubt. The difficulties are
of a practical, rather than of an abstract sort, arising
partly from intrinsic, and paitly from artificial causes.
Mutual good temper, liberal and enlightened views
only are necessary to dry up this ever-flowing fountain
of bitter waters. -^

In all treaties between nations, as there are conflict-
ing rights and interests, there must necessarily be mu-
tual concessions. A preponderance of advantage must

decide the utility of such compacts. If this can be
gained, the exercise of doubtful or disputed rights may
be suspended for future discussion and arrangement ;
uiformal agreements may be substituted for permanent
stipulations, and points of minor importance absolute-
ly yielded. An enlarged view of national interests
must exist in the government, or no treaty could ever
be made ; for if a nation were to exact the full measure
of its preconceived rights or interests, no other nation
could treat with it on a footing of equality.

Great Britain claims a right to the services of its own
subjects. \Ve cannot deny the justice of this, for we
claim and exercise as a sovereign state the same right ;
so does France ; and so did everv civilized nation of
Europe. It has long been recognized as a principle
of public law ; and the decisions of the proper tribu-
nals, touching particular cases, have always been go-
verned by it. It is as much the law in the United
States, and the Supreme Court have so decided, as it
is in England, that a man cannot divest himself of his
allegiance. It is not then so much the abstract right,
as it is the abuses connected with its exercise, which
furnishes the ground of complaint. On this point,
Great Britain has more than once discovered a willing-
ness to provide against future abuses, by such conces-
sions and informal stipulations, as would have given us
all the securitv which the nature of the case admits.
The British government proposed first to Mr. King,
and afterwards to his successors, to limit the exercise
of this right to the narrow seas, over ^vhich the right
of dominion has been claimed for centuries. And can
it be expected that Great Britain, under any circum-
stances, will ever formally abandon the mere right to
reclaim her own subjects, while her navy continues to

go-

b^ the guardian of her independence ? When the king
of Great Britain, with the consent of his people, does
homage for his crown, and consents to hold his empire
as a fief of the United States, this right may be yielded.

There are intrinsic difficulties in the case, for which
neither peace nor war, treaty or no treaty, can provide
a remedy. Identity of language, the resemblance of
persons and manners, between the subjects of the
two countries, will occasionally originate mistakes with
the best intentions in those who commit them. Na-
tive Americans will sometimes be impressed, either
through mistake or caprice. These impediments to a
good understanding necessarily exist, but so long as
they cannot justly be imputed to the government, they
ought not to stand in the way of accommodation.
During the administration of Washington they did
not ; for he made a treaty with Great Britain, containing
no express provisions against the abuses complained of,
although they then existed. He did not deem it ex-
pedient to reject a treaty because it did not provide for
impossibilities.

The high wages which our late flourishing com-
merce enabled our merchants to give, allured British
seamen to desert ; and it is notorious that thousands of
Scotch, Irish, and British sailors, with American pro-
tections in their pockets, have found profitable em-
ployment in our service. Yet the reclamation of one
of these has been recorded as the impressment of a na-
tive American, and made the subject of much angry
declamation. When it is added to this, that our com-
merce, for more than ten yeai's, came in contact with
the British naval power in every sea, it is extraordina-
ry that so few bona fide Americans have been impress-
ed. Of this number Great Britain has never refused

to restore one on application accompanied with the
usual evidence. If the injustice so often charged upon
the government had in fact existed, our vessels would
have been stripped of their crews, and our commerce
have languished for want of seamen.

But let the administration with its partizans exagge-
rate these evils ; let them be represented as so intolc-
rable or disgraceful as to justify a war ; a reply is not
wanting which, if honour or shame had not bst their
power, would silence them forever. Mr. Munroe ac-
tually provided for the security of our seamen, as far as
it is practicable, by an informal but honorary arrange-
ment in the year 1806 ; but as this did not, in point of
form, constitute a part of the treaty, it was, chiefly for
this cause, indignantly rejected by Mr. Jefferson, with-
out submitting it to the constitutional tribunal of the
country. Yet the same administration instructed the
same minister, by the very letter which gave him no-
tice of the rejection of the treaty, to enter into informal
stipulations on this subject, as well as all others confid-
ed to his management. This strange inconsistency,
this captious trifling with the interests of the nation,
this irritating and perverse temper, are all chargeable to
the same administration which, from that day to this,
have not failed to make the subject of impressment the
bitter ingredient in all their attempts at amicable ad-
justment. Mr. Pinkney was especially instructed to
connect it with the atfair of the Chesapeake ; and as
often as other grounds of complaint have been in dan-
ger of being removed, this has been inserted into the
discussion to make defeat certain. It is a subject
so impenetrable, by reason or argument ; it is so much
connected with, our impulses and passions ; it gives a
hostile adirinistration so strong a hold upon the public

feeling ; that for them to adjust it, on any terms, would
be like stripping the combatant of his armour before
the battle was finished. No ; so long as the reclama-
tion of an English deserter, or the taking of an Irish,
man with or without a protection, can arouse the pas-
sions of the multitude ; so long as the mistake, or wan-
ton aggression of a single officer, in the impressment
of an American citizen, can, without inquiry, or appeal
to the proper authority, excite a spirit of resentment or
revenge, against the British nation, so long will this
subject be kept in reserve by the present administra-
tion.

2. The orders in council.

Great Britain justifies these orders on the ground of
retaliation, and has pledged her word to repeal them,
whenever the Jet ct of the repeal of the French decrees
shall occur. The administration at first contended that
though a belligerent had a right to retaliate the injuries
of its enemy ; yet neither could lawfully exercise this
right to the injury of an unoffending neutral. The
United States, as a neutral nation, had a right to pro-
secute a lawful commerce with either or both of the
parties, so long as it preserved its neutral character ;
and in order to satisfy Great Britain that this character
had not been violated, by submitting to the Berlin de-
cree, Mr. Madison, then secretary of state, urged that
it was merely a municipal regulation, not intended to
operate upon the citizens of this country, and as such
afforded no justification of the orders. The principle
was admitted, though the case it was contended had
not occurred which would justify its application. But
in this instance the administration were egregiously
mistaken in their facts. They gratuitously assumed a
falsehood, for the purpose of palliating the unexam-

il'

1(5

pled injuries of France. The Berlin decree did ope-
rate upon us, in the seizure of innocent property be-
longing to the citizens of the United States, in the then
neutral states of Hamburgh, Bremen, Leghorn, and the
papal territory. It was executed wherever the power
or influence of France was felt. It was also executed
on the high seas ; for Mr. Madison himself, in a letter
to General Armstrong of the 22d May, 1807, six
months before the issuing of the British orders, declar-
ed that the " French cruisers were enforcing the Ber-
lin decree, in a manner that would constitute just claims
for redress :" And in the September following, the
emperor himself declared, " that the decree had no
exception in its terms, and ough^ to have none in its
application." All this, and much more, was known
and done before the orders in council issued. With-
out spending an indignant word upon the justification
of such municipal regulations, as violated the most im-
portant stipulations of the treaty of 1800, and became
another name for sequestration, while they virtually
made us, by our acquiescence, accessary to the decree
itself, I would merely remark, that the ground assum-
ed by the administration altogether failing them, the
question took an entire new form. As the adminis-
tration, instead of vindicating the neutral rights of the
country, became the passive instrument of injury, an
unresisting medium through which France could reach
her enemy. Great Britain claimed the right of return-
ing the blow. One year before this was done, how-
ever, she gave a formal notice, appended to the treaty,
that she reserved this right of retaliation, to be put in
force only in the event of our submission to the Berlin
decree. We did submit, and retaliation followed.

If the rights of war do not give to a belligerent,
under sucii circumstances, the right of retaliation, it
may be deprived of its most important means of an-
noyance or defence, by this partial interference of the
neutral. It would be better for the belligerent at once
to make an enemv of such neutral, than to suffer it-
self to be handcuffed under the pretence of neutrality.
And if a belligerent should be compelled, by a regard
to the rights and interests of the war, to resort to such
a measure against the pretended neutral, it would be
strictly a war of defence : For, before this could hap-
pen, the neutral must have made it for the interest of
the belligerent to give the shape of war to a contest in
which all the gain had been on one side, and all the
loss on the other. But such a crisis could never occur,
unless the neutral had first forfeited, by its indirect
hostility, the immunities of neutrality.

I have chosen thus far briejy to consider the ques-
tion stricti juris, without resorting to the argument,
which is by itself conclusive, arising from the charac-
ter of the enemy, and the peculiar conduct of the war ;
the necessities which these impose, and the measures
which they justify.

It was about this time, that the administration took
what was then called its dignified stand. Disdaining
to count the number of their enemies, or to make any
discriminations of character, the government mehcd
them all down into one mass, and proposed to main-
tain what was then denominated the neutral position of
the country, by a species of armed neutrality. All
this ended in some abstract resolutions, and a non- in-
tercourse law against Great Britain and France, in place
of the embargo, which a suffering people would no
longer endure. This measure did not succeed in con-

vincing the nation that the policy of the administration
was either dignified or impartial, and was soon follow-
ed by the deceitful arrangement with Mr. Erskine.
' Great Britain refused to ratify this adjustment,
chiefly in consequence of the insult to the British go-
vernment inserted in the correspondence by Mr. Ma-
dison himself. This important fact has recently been
disclosed ; and would of itself have ensured the rejec-
tion of the treaty, independently of its having been
concluded by Mr. Erskine, not only without autho-
ritv, but in violation of his instructions.

Bv this time it was discovered that Great Britain
had been the first aggressor upon our rights ; and the
evidence of this w^as found in the rule of the war of
1756. This was declared bv Mr. Adams, then a se-
nator of the United States, to be the "root" of ail the
infringements of our neutral rights. In the progress
of this discussion,* however, it was made to appear,
that, even admitting the rule of the war of 1756 to be
indefensible upon the strict principles of public law,
which I do not, France, as early as the year 1704 and
1744, by various ordinances, had adopted principles of
greater extent and rigour, and more injurious to tlie
rights of neutrals. It appeared also that Holland had
adopted the same course of policy, and that all mari-
time states, whenever the interests of war should ren-
der it necessary, would adopt similar principles.

* 1 allude particularly to the examination of this question by the writer
of the " Analysis of the correspondence between our administration and
Great Britain and France ;" a production of singular merit, elucidating' with
preat force and precision a subject but imperfectly understood before
There have since, a number of political pamphlets issued from the press,
which I am satisfied, from internal evidence, are from the same pen.
There is great power in them all, a>.u what must be gratifying to a disir-
terestcd mind, they have had a most extensive and decisive influence
upon public opinion.

This topic too has been abandoned, and the original
aggression has been found in the famous British order
of Mav, 1806. As this had become the last resort of
the administration and its supporters, I had propos'^d
to enter into a minute examination of its origin and ef-
fects ;* and I am deterred only by an intimation in the
cabinet paper, that this order is no longer an obstacle
to accommodation ; though I have no doubt other ob-
stacles will be found, to prevent it. I cannot quit this
topic, however, though it is now dead, without a re-
mark upon the use which the administration have made
of it.

This order was intended, and did in fact, remove
the ground of complaint urged by the administration
against the rule adopted by Great Britain in relation to
the colonial trade. It was in substance a relaxation
of the rule in our favour, permitting all but the direct
trade with the enemies colonies ; an indirect mode re-
sorted to by Mr. Fox, to avoid a formal abandonment
of the principle, and yet to give to the United States
all the advantages of such a concession. Mr. Mun-
roe declares in his correspondence that he understood
it in this light, and that Mr. Fox admitted, that such
would be its operation, though he was unwilling to
admit that this was its particular object. The admi-
nistration were satisfied with this mode of quieting
their claims, and our citizens for some time enjoyed
its benefits. Mr. Madison continued to entertain the
same opinion of this order so late as the spring of 1809,
when he made his treacherous arrangement with Mr.

* This has been done in a very able and perspicuous manner in a pam-
phlet, entitled, "An Inquiry into the origin, nature, and object of the
British Order in Council of May 16th, 1806; by Enos Bronson, Esq- ol"
J'hiludelphia," the well known editor of tlie Gazette of the United Slalcp

Erskine. He then required the repeal of the British
orders of 1807, as the only orders violating our neutral
rights. His authority, derived from the law of Con-
gress, required this ; with this he was satisfied, and in
his proclamation declared that all the orders in council,
violating tlie rights of neutral commerce, were abro-
gated. Mark well ! In one year after, this same order
of 1806, which had satisfied all our complaints on the
subject of the colonial trade, which had been past over
in silence in the negotiation with Mr. Erskine, was
suddenly brought to life ; and from that time forward
made a conspicuous figure in all the discussions of our
foreign relations. It was represented as an infringe-
ment of national law, of so malignant a nature as al-
most to justify a crusade against Great Britain, by the
civilized portion of the world. It was declared to be
an unexampled violation of neutral rights, the first in
the series of aggressions, the origin of the Berlin and
Milan decrees, and the only obstacle in the way of their
repeal. It was a cruel invention in the business of
war, calculated to extend its calamities to such as
were not parties to the contest. It frustrated the ar-
dent desire of his imperial majesty to do us justice, by
the solemn injunction, which his honour imposed, not
to repeal his decrees, which were retaliatory, so long
as the cause of them existed. There was a wonder-
ful concert in the language of the American and French
cabinets on the subject of this order. After lying in
*' oblivious night" for years, it was suddenly recalled
to a new service, and the communications of both cabi-
nets cotemporaneously became vocal with it. Appli-
cation was forthwith made to the British government ;
and when it was ascertained that this order was consi-
dered as merged in a subsequent one, and would not

be formally repealed, it then became the theme of fresh
declamation, the only impediment to the freedom of
the seas !

But these topics which I have briefly examined are
nothing more than the pretences for hostility. If the
pith of our controversy with Great Britain lay only in
these causes, all irritation would soon subside, and a
just policy would bring again the days of prosperity.
And this I am persuaded would be accomplished in
spite of an administration, whose power is compound-
ed of French attachment and British hatred, if it was
not at the same time supported by the quick jealousies,
sudden resentments, unreasonable expectations, and
deeply rooted prejudices of the great body of honest
Americans, in relation to the people and government
of Great Britain. The spirit of lofty pretension, of
rigid exaction, and of rival animosity, which imper-
ceptibly influences the opinions even of such men, has
been enlisted into the service of the party now in pow-
er, under the various pretexts which the purposely un-
settled state of our relations with Great Britain, has
supplied. Had it not been for the operation of such
causes, the present administration could never have
jeopardized the safety of the country by their slavish
attachment to one nation, and their hatred of another.
Public opinion would have compelled them to make
an honourable adjustment with Great Britain, which
might have been efiected at any time ; or it would
have driven them from power, and filled their places
with men of other views and better principles. A
sounder policy would have prevailed, which would
have been felt in again opening the true sources of
prosperity. Our national character would not have

become the scorn of slaves, nor our citizens the victims
of perfidious rapacity.

I do not here address the apologists and abettors of
French despotism, the revilers of Great Britain, the ad-
vocates of war, the traitors to the independence of the
country. With such men I will neither reason nor
expostulate. But with men who have an interest in
the last great question of peace or war ; who are wil-
ling to examine temperately our own unquestionable
as well as doubtful rights ; who can contemplate, with
some just feeling, the present war against the liberties
and virtues of mankind ; who can keep down their re-
sentments, while they consider the pretensions of Great
Britain, her motives, her interests, and her dangers ;
and who can discern in the policy of Bonaparte, the
steady pursuit of universal conquest, by the diabolical
union of fraud and force, of all that is detestable with
all that is terrible....! would both reason and expostu-
late.

Of such men I would inquire what, but the opera-
tion of causes already indicated, has enabled Mr. Jef-
ferson and Mr. Madison to persevere for years in a de-
ceptive, irritating, and hostile course of policy towards
Great Britain ? To avoid the proffered renewal of a
treaty which the best interest of the country demand-
ed ; — to reject the one afterwards concluded, by our
ministers in London, embracing all the points in dis-
pute between the two nations ; — to refuse to deliver
up British deserters, when demanded, claiming them
as native Americans ; — to defeat the solemn mission
of Mr. Rose, sent to this country for the sole purpose
of making honorable reparation for the unauthorized
attack on the Chesapeake, by a scrupulous adherence
to a mere punctilio, against reason and usage ; — to ca-

jole Mr. Erskine into a delusive treaty, knowingly
made without authority, and carrying with it an insult
inserted by Mr. Madison himself, to ensure its rejec-
tion ; to charge Mr. Jackson, another minister of peace
and reconciliation, falsely, with offering an insult to
the government, and by virtue of that falsehood, to
dismiss him in an unprecedented manner ; — to lay an
embargo, by sea and land, under false pretences, in-
tended to cripple her commerce, and to prostrate her
independence at the foot of her implacable enemy ; —
and, to hasten to the last most atrocious act of the ad-
ministration, to renew the non- intercourse law against
her, without previous authority, assuming, for its basis,
an experienced falsehood, and then requiring of Great
Britain to believe it, and forthwith to repeal her orders,
or prepare to meet the consecjuenees of our just re-
sentment ! !

The same causes which have enabled tlie admini-
stration to prevent a peace with Great Britain, have
also aided them in preventing a war with France. The
current of our resentments has been diverted from its
true course, and turned against the nation, from whose
character we expect to receive the full measure of our
rights, and whose immense naval power keeps all our
jealousies alive, because its abuse would be followed
by much greater evils than we apprehend from France.
On the other hand, as the sentiment is generally felt,
that neither honour, justice, nor good faith, belongs to
the character of the emperor, a devoted administration,
by suppressing or eviscerating such parts of the des-
patches from France as were calculated to rouse the
feelings of the country, by a patient endurance of per-
fidv. insult, and robbery, by humble supplication and

; systematic hypocrisy in alliance

gentle

murmurs,

Ir'

with all the arts of popular delusion, have been able to
carry a nation, founded under the auspices of Wash-
ington, to the foot of the imperial throne.

I need not search far into the records of our humili-
ation, to find the evidence of these criminations. With-
out quoting a sentence from the dejected, spiritless,*
or adulatory communications of our ministers at the
imperial court, I will merely select a few sentiments
from the direct correspondence of the administration.

In the spring of 1807 they declared, that the indis-
criminate seizure of our vessels in the West Indies,

• The style of reception at the imperial court, as well as the spirit of
tlie different foreign ministers, not excepting Chancellor Livingston, Gen.
Armstrong, or even Mr. Barlow, are much the same as they were in 1796.
Substituting Napoleon fur Carnot, the following passages from Burke's
** Letter on a Regicide Peace,'^ have nearly as much truth in their appU«
cation now, as they had then.

" To tliuse who do not love to contemplate the fall of human greatness,
I do not know a more mortifying spectacle, than to see the assembled
majesty o'* the crowned heads of Europe waiting as patient suitors in the
antichamber of regicide. At the opening of these doors, what a sight it
must be to behold the plenipotentiaries of royal impotence in the prece-
dency which they will intrigue to obtain, and which will be granted to
them according to the seniority of their degradation, sneaking into the
regicide presence, and with the relics of the smile, which they had dres-
sed up for the levee of their masters, still flickering on their curled lips,
presenting the faded remains of their courtly graces, to meet the scorn-
ful, ferocious, sarcastic grin of a bloody ruffian, who, while he is receiving
their homage, is measuring them with his eye, 8tc. — These ambassadors
may return as good courtiers as they went ; but can they ever return from
that degrading residence loyal and faithful subjects ; or with any true af-
fection to their master, or true attachment to the constitution, religion, or
.laws of their country? At best, they will become totally indifierent to
good and evil, to one institution or another. This species of indifference
is but too generally distinguishable in those who have been much employ-
ed in foreign courts ; but in the present case the evil must be aggravated
without measure ; for they go from their country, not with the pride of the
old character, but in a state of the lowest degradation ; and what must
happen in their place of residence, can have no effect in raising them to
iJie level of true dignity, or of chaste self-estimation, either as men, or as
representatives/' &c. £cc.

under the Berlin decree, which violated the treaty with
France, and which was issued in contempt of all no-
tions of national law, had a tendency to do what ? —
" to thicken the cloud that hung over the amity of the
two nations.''* The burning of our ships on the high
seas, without even the formality of a decree, was gently
complained of as ** the most distressing of all nodes by
which belligerents exercised fo'^ce contrary to right. ^*
The declaration of war against Great Britain, made by
the emperor in our behalf, had merely ** the air of an
assumed authority ;" and the treacherous surprise of
millions, under the Rambouillet decree, was nothing
more than a " misapplication of the law of reprisals^
combined with a misconstruction of our own law*''
The tenants of the state prison would strike a man to
the ground with their chains, who should attempt to
justify so perfidious a robbery under so shameless a
pretence. Mr. Madison knows as well as any man
living, that the Rambouillet decree has no concern with
the law of reprisals, or the misconstruction of his non-
intercourse law ; nor has he the least expectition that
this property will ever be restored, though he has the
hardihood to declare it. Well might the Due de Ca-
dore declare to the world, that we were a nation with-
out " any just political views, without energy, or ho-
nour.'* It was an honest sentiment in the Due, and
much to be commended for its frankness. And we
must admit him to be a competent judge, for the evi-
dence of the chiU'ge is all in his own custody. He
was ordered by his master to make the experiments ;
tind after having faithfully applied all the instruments of
torture to the administration, the sensorium of the na-
tion, he form?Uy pronounced it to be a mere caput
mortuum, without sensibility or life.

it IS worth the remark, that in many communica^
tions of the administration, there is in fact an apology
for the injury, as in the case of the Rambouillet de-
cree, where it is gravely said to the people of this coun-
try, that the whole evil originated in mistake : in others,
it seems to be the mode or style of injustice which
forms the burthen of complaint ; as in the still conti-
nued practice of burning merchantmen, which has been
denominated the most distressing of all modes of com-
mitting injustice ; and in none is there tlie least ap-
proach towards that manly spirited tone, which either
justice, or the honour of the country demanded.

In this last interval of repose, it may be useful to
asiv whaX there is in die present condition of Great Bri-
tain to justify the opinion that she is desirous of pro-
voking a war with the United States. We behold her
engaged u ith an enemy, who solemnly declares to the
world that nothing short of her destruction shall end
the conflict ; an enemy nurtured in blood, and 5ed by
conquest ; whose genius is altogether military, and
who has already bowed the greater part of continental
^Europe to his fell purpose. The nature of the present
war is such, that peace would be to Great Britain ano-
ther name for submission. There is literally no dis-
cliarge in this war ; no hope, but in her ability to sus-
tain it. It is a struggle for existence, requiring all her
strength, resources, and fortitude. It is this convic-
tion in the minds of the people of England, that enables
the government to carry on the war ; and it is this,
which throws into it such a spirit of fortitude and con-
stancy, such deeds of courage, such perilous but bril-
liant achievements, as smite the heart of the tyrant
with dismay-

For the last five years, nothing has been said of the
invasion of England. The policy of Bonaparte has
been to accomplish her destruction by the ruin of her
commerce. He considers her commerce as her life
blood ; and seems to believe that if the channe]s of this
can be stopped, death must ensue. How much truth
there is in this opinion, it is not important to inquire ;
it is enough to know that all his prodigious efforts arc
governed by it. The continental system is nothing
but diis theory reduced to practice. He seems to have
conquered countries for no other puq^ose than to make
them auxiliary to this scheme of destroying British
commerce. The adoption of it is required as the
pledge of honest neutrality ; it is exacted as the badge
of submission ; and if anv nation refuses to wear it, it is
deemed a good cause of war, which is never forgotten,
though policy may dictate delay.

Thus situated, can it be believed that Great Britain
is disposed to provoke a war with the United States.
Unquestionably she is impelled by powerful motives
to maintain the relations of peace so long as it can be
done without a stain upon her honour, or a blow at her
vital interests. She cannot wish to add to the number
of her enemies, while she is grappling with one that
requires her whole strength. She indulges no dreams
of conquest ; she has neither blood nor treasure to
waste in an unnecessary war with this country"; but
she has that to protect, which is more important to
her than either. ^

If we turn to the representations of the war advo-
cates, we shall find it often repeated, that Great Britain
exists by our forbearance. We hold her destinies in
our hand. With shattered finances, increasing bur-
thens, disastrous expeditions, murmuring manufactu-

rers, and a declining commerce, it is within the com-
pass of our energies to humble her pride, and eclipse
her glory for ever. And yet this same nation, thus
pressed on every side, thus dependent on our good
will, is trampling upon our rights, and wantonly pro-
voking a war, which must end in her ruin ! When na-
ture and experience contradict themselves, such repre-
sentations may gain credit.

It is unquestionably true that the administration
have made many bold experiments upon the spirit of
Great Britain, in the belief that she was not in a situa-
tion to notice them. Every period in the course of
her affairs, of real or imaginary depression, has been
the signal for rallying all our complaints, and urging
them in the tone of demand. Whenever she has made
advances towards reconciliation, the administration have
receded in sullen affectation of dignity. If she appear-
ed anxious to settle subsisting differences by negotia-
tion, it was proof of her weakness, and made the
occasion of some new demands : if she omitted to do
this, it become the evidence of her unfriendly disposi-
tion, and called for some token of resentment. The
last experiment, however, has probably been made,
unless satisfactory explanations are given. A gallant
nation, like Great Britain, cannot be made desperate
without danger. Honour is the unbought jewel of her
croAvn. Unless this far-beaming ornament, the polar
star of every true Englishman, can be preserved un-
sullied, the war will end in her humiliation. Till this
happens, unprovoked hostility will be resisted ; insult
will not be endured. So long as England stands forth
the champion of freedom and civilization, she must
maintain all tlie honours of her station. Her interest,
her policy, the success of the cause in which she is

•

engaged, demand of her every concession or sacrifice,
whici) is coubistent with her truest rights and honour.
But to yield more than this to any nation, would be
evidence oi her inability to sustain the conflict ; and for
us to require it would be the evidence of unappeasa-
ble hostility. In whatever shape then, or under what-
ever popular pretences war shall come, unless the prin-
ciples of human conduct change, it must come, be-
cause it has been sought.

What is there, let me inquire, in the general charac-
ter or conduct of Great Britain, that endangers our
safety. On this subject, I am content to hear all that
resentment or prejudice can allege ; and then to prove,
by an examination in detail, that no other nation pos-
sesses as much justice, honour, or virtue, provided her
character is not to be decided bv the decree of a vice-
admiralty judge, by the aggression of a naval comman-
der, or by the morality of a peer of the realm.

In the history of wliat other nation can there be
found such various and well directed industry, such
punctuality in the fulfilment of engagements, such
liberality in the common business of life, so pure and
perfect an administration of justice, so much respect
for public law, or so much good faith in the govern-
ment ? These virtues, the causes and effects of her
commercial prosperity, have inspired a confidence
which is felt by the whole trading world. The nation
is sound at heart ; and though many affect to deny this
in words, they give the best evidence of its truth by
their conduct. Great Britain is the only nation that is
expected to do justice, or to preserve good faith ; and
it is this very expectation that excites irritation when-
ever we imagine it is not fully answered. Her power
on the ocean is and has been for years uncontrolled ;

and had it not been directed by a due regard to neutral
rights, our commerce, second only to her own, would
have bet n annihilated.

Prejudice may rail, but there is much to admire and
approve in the character and institutions of Great Bri-
tain. Her liberty is not the worse for being old, nor
kss likely to endure. Instead of resting jirincipally on
metaphysical construction, or abstract theory, it has be-
. come in a great measure a matter of fact, which every
Englishman can comprehend. He need not labour to
understand a speech in parliament befoi'e he can decide
whether his essential rights are violated or not ; for he
knows what his inheritance is, without such aids, and
the best n-eans of preserving it*
/ ■ The naval power of Great Britain has always been
' subservient to her commerce, which never could have
reached its present L^lght, if this power had been great-
ly abused. Her reputation in the commercial orld
. ha^ been one source of her greatness ; and this could
not have been preserved unless she had been substan-
tially just. She has never possessed the means or the
spirit of conquest ; and she can never, while she re-
mains a commercial, become a conquering nation.

* •' In the famous law of tlje 3J Charles I. culled the Petition of Right,
tV.e parliament says to the king, " Your subjects have inherited this free-
dom," claiming their franchises not on abstract principles, " as the rigiits
of men," but as the rights of Englishmen, and as a patrimony ci<:;rived
from their forefathers. Selden and tlie other profoundly learned nicn,\vIio
di'ew this petition of riglit, were as well acquainted at least with all the
general theories concerning •' the rights of men," as any of the discoursera
in our pulpits or on youi tribune ; full as well as Dr, Price, or as the Abbe
Seyes. But for reasons worthy of that practical wisdom which superseded
tlieir tlieoretic science, they prcfcried this positive, recorded hereditary
title, to all which can be dear to the man and the citizen, to that vague
speculative right, which exposed tlicir sure inheritance to be scrambled
for and torn to pieces by every wild litigious spirit "—-ffj/r^'/* iicjJeciiav.e
on the Revolution in Fiance.

e.
a
c
(1

•J'
e

There is a deep sense of religious tniths, which per-
vades the great body of the English people. The fruits
of this are seen in the almost incredible number of cha-
ritable institutions at home, and in that benevolent spi-
rit which visits every region of the earth with the light
of knowledge and the consolations of hope. The arts
and sciences pay contribution to the comforts of life,
while they sustain the order of society. The moral
world is benefitted by those intellectual exertions,
which are fostered and rewarded by the government.

A more sublime or affecting spectacle has never
been seen, than the present war in Portugal and Spain.
It combines valour with disinterestedness ; it is full of
honour and glory, giving hope to the broken spirited
nations of the continent. It has already done much to
dissipate their fears, by shewing them the conquering
legions of France, led by their boasting generals, dis-
graced and beaten by inferior numbei's. I trust in an
over-ruling Providence, that the banners under which
the allied armies fight, are consecrated by the cause
they maintain. 'f

Quitting a theme, inspiring hope in the breasts of all
the friends of human happiness, I turn to the contem-
plation of one replete with shame and terror — our pre-
sent and probable future relations with France ; — of
shame, from the nature and magnitude of the wrongs,
which we have tamely endured ; and of terror, froni
the consequences which must follow a British war.
No nation ever yet long preserved its liberties, that had
lost its honour. When the seal of infamy is once put
on a nation's character, the people are either conquered
or betrayed. If the people of this country are so sub-
dued in spirit that they are prepared to wear the badg<j
of the administration, the work of subjugation is already

done, and all that is to follow is mere matter of form.
They may prepare an inventory of their goods and chat-
tels, and piofFer their personal services to the tyrant^
without waiting for the operation of the conscription^
or the routine of contributions. Those who have thus
sunk to the condition of slaves, will not be likely to
quarrel about the etiquette of their servitude. But if
the people liave been deceived or betrayed by their own
rulers ; if they are willing to look at their dangers, and
exert themselves before exertions shall be vain ; they
may yet wrench the country from the hands of its spoi-
lers, wipe away its present foul disgrace, and retrieve
its desperate fortunes. A war with Great Britain must
therefore be resisted at all hazards. The causes of
such a war have alreadv been considered ; the most
important of its consequences will be an alliance with
France.

The immediate effects of the war will be felt in the
ruin of our com lerce — the friend of civilization, the
constiint associate of liberty, the parent of many vir-
tues ; and in the consequent decline of agriculture :
they will be felt in the general consternation, which will
succeed the loss of credit and confidence ; in burthens
augmented an hundred fold by the destruction of the
regular revenue, and the necessary expenditures of
war ; in an increasing inability to support them, which
will find no relief or resource in that spirit which a
good cause inspires ; in the deterioration of the pub-
lic morals, and the general impoverishment of the coun-
try. These e'/ils, necessarily resulting from the com-
mencement of war, will fall most heavily on the com-
mercial states, and will be greatly augmented by the
criminal neglect of the administration to provide for the
defence of the country. Still they could be sustained.

even in an unnecessary war, if it did not involve an al-
liance with France.

An alliance with France ! These words fall like mol-
ten lead upon my heart ; they excite unmingled hor-
ror ; they extinguish the last glimmering of hope. An
alliance with France carries with it the foulest disgrace,
and ensures the basest servitude. The state of Hol-
land, of Switzerland, of Prussia, of Sweden, and of all
the Italian states, is the best commentary on French
alliance. It is the wormwood and the gall, which the
wrath of heaven has mingled for the nations that have
polluted themselves with French abominations. Ger-
many has at last sunk into the rank of an ally. Russia
is permitted to pursue a half submission policy. The'
time is not far distant, when she will be compelled to
take her place among the vassal states of Europe, or
make one last effort to preserve her independence.
Spain and Portugal have nobly preferred to grapple
with their invaders, and to take their only chance of
future safety, to the infamy and certain ruin of an alli-
ance. This is the alternative which the tyrant offers ;
a co-operation in his ambitious scheme of universal
despotism, or war, even to utter extermination. Policy
may sometimes suffer a delay, diat intrigue and cor-
ruption may accomplish then vork ; and what they fail
to do, treachery and force will finish. England is the
last great obstacle to his gigantic plan, and every nation
that freights a vessel, or consumes a bale of cloth, must
be bowed to his pui-pose. I'here is neither respite
nor neutrality allowed in this work. Delenda est Car^
thago — is the spring of all his mighty movements ;
its completion will be the consummation of all his
hopes. A state once brought to aid him in this pio-
£ct, is subdued to all his present purposes. The pre-

sent is boastingly called the last Punic war, in a spirit
more fell than ever dwelt in a Roman bosom. He is
a studious imitator of Roman policy in the business of
breaking down states that thwart his views, first to the
rank of confederates, and afterwards incorporating tliem
into the body of his empire ; in dividing and beating
his enemies separately, and in all that is imposing, mag-
nificent, or terrible.

What is there, then, my countrymen, in the charac-
ter or conduct of the imperial tyrant, that should tempt
us to become his ally in a war against Great Britain ?
Is there any consolation in the late intelligence from
France, that as we have taken measures to cause our
rights to be respected, he will assist us f The mere
expression of his good will is portentous ; it imports a
dreadful unity of purpose, a fellowship of interest and
design ; it is associated with such awful forebodings,
and such dire recollections ; it savours so strongly of
domestic treason against the falling liberties of the
country ; that this single expression, truly felt, is
enough to collect horrors like a frost around the heart
of every honest American.

Do we expect that our commerce will thrive under
his patronage, who has publicly declared that he hates
commerce and all its concerns ; and that he wishes to
see Europe reduced to the condition of the fourth cen-
tury ? whose spirit and policy are wholly military, and
wlio justly thinks that commerce is not only hostile to
his system, but fatal to its endurance ? Can it be ex-
pected that he, who has already crippled the commerce
of France ; who requires of all his allies and friends, as
the price of his good will, tlie condition of his assis-
tance, the interdiction of all commerce with Great Bri-
tain ; will relax his iron system in favour of a nation,

129

"^vhich he holds in merited contempt ? The administra-
tion have never risen to the dignity of any other notice
than insults ancbblows. Under these they have grown
docile. Aslio art or disguise has been found necessa^
ry, they have been dispensed with as useless ; and
broad noonday robbery, public scourging, taunts, and
threats, have been employed to reduce them to the con-
tinental system. Experience has satisfied the tyrant
that his means were well chosen, and well adapted to
the spirit of the administration. They have at length
caused, their rights to be respected, by the invasion of
the Spanish territory ; by the renewal of the non-im-
portation law against Great Britain ; the protection and
aid given to French privateers ; and above all, by their
brilliant achievement in the affair of the Little Belt !
The emperor is satisfied, and w ill assist us !

Or is it the tender regard which the emperor disco-
vers for neutral rights on the land or sea, that would
induce us to seek his aid in repelling British aggres-
sion ? This champion of the freedom of the seas has
had the frankness to declare, in substance, that until
England is humbled, he must disregard all rights
which interfere with this pursuit ; and that we ought,
as w^ell wishers to the repose of the world, to be willing
to submit to sacrifices, and to endure wrongs, for the
advancement of that happy state, when his will shall be
the rule of universal obedience.

It is overwhelming to reflect upon the progress al-
ready made by one man, towards the attainment of
what was once considered chimerical — a universal mo-
narchy ; and this too without affecting much conceal-
ment of his object, or hardly stooping to employ plau-
sible pretences. He has hunted liberty as his natural
game, dcchiring himself to be itr, protector ; he has

brought nations to aid in their own destruction, by
joining in the war against England, in order that he
may establish the liberty of the seas„when her ruin
shall be accomplished ; he lias violated the obligations
of treaties, trampled on the rights of justice and huma-
nity, to give salutary lessons to the refractory or rebel-
lious ; he has provoked wars, and conquered countries,
for the repose of the continent; he has perpetrated thefts
and robberies, in order to restore the lost sense of obli-
gation ; he has committed old crimes with new aggra-
vations, and enlarged the boundary of human depra-
vity by the commission of new ones ; he has bowed
the lofty spirit, the independent mind, and compelled
it to lend its energies to corrupt the rising generation
in France with the maxims of despotism, to exclude
the light of freedom and the beam of hope, and to cloud
the intellectual vision with gloom and despair.*

In France, the press is a tremendous instrument in
the hands of the tyrant, and a most fearful supporter of
his power. Through this channel he has exclusive
access to the public mind ; and pours into it those
systematic falsehoods, which fill every public commu-
nication, from the throne to the humblest officer of
the empire ; those adulatory effusions, bordering on
idolatry, which tend to enervate and corrupt the best
feelings ; and those detestable lessons of despotism
which help to rivet upon the minds as well as bodies of

• The lifted axe, the agonizing- wheel,
Luke's iron crown, and Dainien's bed of steel.
To men remote from power, but rarely known,
Leave reason, faith, and conscience all our own.

When these line- were written, the imagination of the poet had never
conceived of that refined and diffusive despotism which has since been
established in France. The present organization of religion, of the press,
of the internal police, and of the conscription, would furnish images to
poetry more terrific than the history of ancient tyranny has yieldcfl.

men the most debasing servitude. The press, under
its present organization in France, instead of being the
friend, is the enemy of liberty and truth, the scourge
of virtue, and will be the curse of posterity. Already
the productions of artists and learned men in France are
tainted with the influence of despotism. The mind is
in bondage, and patronage, however liberal, cannot
make it free. The learned bodies are all governed by
the tyrant, and all their labours are directed to the per-
petuity of his dominion. Eulogies, complimentary
poems, elementary works for schools, and political ca-
techisms may thrive, but nothing higher or nobler can
be expected. The great men who survived the revo-
lution have fallen into the diiferent classes of the na-
tional institute, and submitted their faculties to the drill
of a master. The eloquent Maury, the intrepid defen-
der of the altar and throne in the early stages of the re-
volution, has returned ftom exile, to compose panegy-
rics upon the illustrious family* of the Bonapartes ;*
and David, the ferocious jacobin under Robespierre,
now embodies the visions of his imagination to grace

* See Mr. Walsh's Letters on France and England, published in his
Review, &c. I cannot forbear to express my admiration of tliis gentle-
man's talents, and of the noble purposes to which he devotes them. Per-
haps no public writer ever made so strong an impression on the public
mind. His first publication, the " Letter on the genius and disposition
of the French government," was read with deep interest. It is a beauti-
ful specimen of correct reasoning, in a style of pure and manly eloquence ;
but above all, there is in it a tone of earnestness, and exactness in the state-
ments of many new and important facts ; a spirit of benevolent anxiety for
the welfare of his country, and a thorough comprehension of its interests
and dangers, which excite as much interest as admiration. The subse-
quent numbers of his Review have rather confirmed, than weakened, the
high opinion which his first work gave rise to. They display all the attri-
butes of a fine scholar ; all tl)e qualifications of a profound statesman ;
and all the disinterested ardour of a patriot ; such as Washington, and
Hamilton, and Ames, could approve and admire.

the habitation of his imperial master. Codes civil antl
criminal have been compiled, which afford no protec-
tion to innocence or private right ; and great efforts
have been made to throw the splendors of learning,
arts, and jurisprudence, around the throne ; but it docs
not require the gift of prophecy to foretell, that what-
ever is unconnected with the business of war, or does
not in some way minister to the pleasures of a corrupt
court, will ultimately decline.*

* A work has lately been ptiblisliecl in France, under the patronagp
of the government, entitled, " Sur la Souverainete," by M, I. Chas. The
editors of the Edinburgh Review, in their remarks upc.i it observe tliat
it " contains a panegyric, a professed panegyric on despotism ; — a com-
parison of this simple form of government with all other forms, whe-
tlier simple or mixed — and in particular with that mixed form, which
is exemplified in Great Britain ; and a distinct deliberate raisonne prefer-
ence over them all. If Bonaparte has hitherto played the hypocrite, it
must be allowed that his agents now speak plain. He probably thinks the
time is at last come, when boldness is better than imposture ; and it can-
not, at any rate, be insinuated, that he is afraid to avow his purposes. If
impudence were a term which could apply to persons in situations so
exalted, we should say that this, taken with all its circumstances, is the
most impudent address which any government ever ventured upon offer-
ing to its subjects. How low must a nation, which had once dared to lift
its eyes to liberty, be degraded, before its government could venture to
present it with a creed like this ! How prodigiously did the first ef-
forts of the French to acquire for themselves a good government, lead
the world in general to overrate the true character of that nation !
With the single exception of courage and military skill, the commonest
and cheapest qualities of human nature, they have exhibited nothing but
what is vulgar in point of conception, and servile in point of spirit, through
the whole course of their revolution. Hardly had it begun, when some
hired ruffians in the metropolis were allowed to give law to the whole
nation. How tamely after this did they bend their necks to the stroke of
an exterminating tyrant, supported by a party already miserable both in
numbers and in reputation. — Robespierre and the Jacobins ! With wliat
base submissiveness did they again deliver themselves up to tlie misgo-
vernment of a factious and arbitrary Directory ! How lightly did they
permit themselves to be transferred into the bonds of the consulate ;
and with what quiet obedience have they submitted to every encroach-
ment 0^ Bonaparte— till despotic power is at last not only consummated.

This blasting influence is coextensive with the power
of the tyrant. All the countries of Europe, once the abode
of tranquillity and comfort, over which he now exercises
control, have felt it. Credit, commerce, industry, the
social virtues that adorn life, and the fortitude that sus-
tains its burthens ; all that wisdom has devised to se-
cure the order of society, all that beneficence has exe-
cuted to mitigate calamity, even the face of nature it-
self — all wither and die beneath his baleful influence.
The charms of refined taste, the lustre of cultured life,
the hopes that yield present bliss, and the dreams of
future good, all fade at his approach ; desolation, gloom,
amazement, sorrow, and despair, follow in his train.

It is not for me to interpret " diirk sentences," or
apply the sure word of prophecy to the existing state
of France, or the passing events of the times. Without
resorting to considerations of such awful import, there
is something in the thought of an alliance with France,

but openly proclaimed, and held up to the nation, as an object upon which,
to plume themselves, and to despise their neighbours "

To give some idea of the nature of this work by Cbas, to those who do
not read the Edinburgh Review, the following summary of the French
constitution is extracted.

•' Telle est I'institution et la nature du gouvernement Frar^ais. L'Em*
pereur exerce seul la plenitude de la souverainetc, com me le representant
hereditaire de ;;- nation, comme pouvoir constituant ; comme pouvoir ad-
mlnistratif ; il est legislateur et executeur supreme des lois ; il est I'ame
du gouvernement ; il met en activite tous les parties de la constitution ;
c'est lui qui propose les lois constitutives, les lois civiles et administra-
tives : il fait de reglemens ; crce des institutions sociales ; commande les
armees ; declare la guerre ; fait la paix ; conclut les traitt^s de commerce ;
et d' alliance ; nomme d tous les emplois civils, militaires et religieux :
c'est en son nom que les lois sont proclamces, et que la justice est rendue
dans tous les tribunaux. .. •■»ersonne est sacrte ct inviolable ; son efli-
«'ie est grav^e sur les monnoics , il a le droit de faire grace, et de commu-
er les peines. Les mcmbrcs du corps Icgislatif sont scs sujcts ; tous les
citoyens lui doivcnt respect et obeissance. 11 n'a au-dessus de lui que
Dicu et laloi. Tous ces droits, tous ces prerogatives constituent la veri-
table souverainetc ; il I'exerce dans toutc sa plenitude, et dans toute sou
iiitcgritc, sans postage, ct sans division "

¥,

repulsive to a moral mind. No man who considers
the present military power of France, the means it em-
ploys, and the objects it pursues, if he believe in the
moral government of the Being, who

*• Wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds,"

can contemplate such an event without (I quote the
sentiment with awe) " a certain fearful looking for of
judgment." It seems to be bidding a final adieu to
all that makes life a blessing ; and soliciting the ven-
geance of heaven upon ourselves and our children. It
is tiiking up our residence in Sodom, soon to be visit-
ed in anger, instead of flying from its destruction.
There is not less infatuation than peril in such a con-
nection ; and when it shall have accomplished its ten-
dencies, it will stfnd among the recorded wonders of
history, as much the monument of our i^ramy, as the
" grave stone of our liberties."

We appear, as a people, to be under the same ma-
lignant spel' which bound the nations of Europe to
their own sad tate. There is an apathy in the public
feeling on the subject of a war with Great Britain, a
reluctance to admit the necessary consequences of such
a war ; a disposition to hope all things against all hope,
as almost to justify the belief that we are already too
spiritless to make one effort to save ourselves from
threatened bondage, or too corrupt to desire it. The ruin
that has awaited al) those countries, which have been
corrupted, and at last brought under the power of
France, is apparently known only to be disregarded.
Experience, though still inculcating her lessons with
whips of scorpions, is no longer regarded as an instruc-
tei All sensibility to our dangers seems to be dead,
reason has lost its power, and truth its authority. We
7Tsiga ourselves in listless indolence to the manage-

ment of an administration,* whose power has no foun-
dation in the real interests or virtues of the country.

1 might iiere repeat the question, which no one can
answer ; — wliat is to be gained by even a successful
war against Great Britain ? If there is any truth in the
preceding remarks, she is neither able nor disposed to
engage in a war for any thing short of her essential
rigiits. If it is admitted tliat we can compel her to
yield these, by the aid of her enemy, we make our own
ruin sure. Does this brighten our future prospects ?
There are few intelligent men at the present day of any
party, who do not admit, that the fall of British inde-
pendence would destroy all hope of maintaining our
own.f My heart is full of this subject, but I must

* " Quicquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi." This sentiment of the
poet is as truly descriptive of an elective government as of any other.
A president may inflict as severe sufferings upon a people as a mo-
narch. The only difTerence seems to be in the mode.

t " If Britain fails in fighting our battles, we must fight our own ; and
what law of sound policy or true wisdom is there, that should choose to
fight them unassisted and alone ? We do not say that the time has come —
heaven forbid it should ; but it may come, and that speedily, when the op-
position to a British alliance would be treason against American indepen-
dence. Let French emissaries cavil, but let Americans ponder." Such
was the sentiment of Ames in the year 1806. What would have been his
sentiments if he had lived to witness the present state of the country,
on the eve of a war with Great Britain, and of an alliance with her
enemy. But he has been taken from the evil which was to come ; and
cu.v.iy a purer spirit never fled from earth to heaven ; nor has a brigh-
ter intelligence ever beamed upon this nether world. Yet this man, so
pure and disintf.rested that he seemed to have been sanclitied and set
apart to the service of his country, has not been suffered to rest in peace.
His political character, and even his motives, have been assailed with
great bitterness by the Hon. John Q. Adams, under the pretence of a review.

And was not this a becoming labour, let me ask, for Mr. Adams ? for a
man whose sordid mind is utterly incapable of even comprehending the
character of Ames ? and whose political principles have noother foundation
than his private interest ; a man to be purchased in the market, like any
other commodity, and whose malignant pa.ssions fit him for the service of
an administration, deriving its support from the passions and the vices of the
country. If in the times of trouble wliich await us, the passions of this
man shall make him conspicuous enough, to induce tlie historian to
transmit the history of his life, in,, nf^anncss and his malignity will

desist. This then is the rallying point of patriotism ;
I use this word in its original sense ;* the sentiment
that ought to govern every pen, and animate every
heart — save the country from a British war, or all islost.-j-

want no other illustration than his attack upon the memory of Ames.
The jackal! has preyed upon the dead lion. Let it be so.

1 know that this is harsh language to apply to any man claiming the rank
and feelings of a gentleman ; but the occasion justifies it ; and may "my
right hand forget its cunning," if it ever refuses to vindicate the cha«
racter of Fisher Ames.

" I am worse than a lingerer in my faith," as to the political integrity or
talents of Mr. Adams. His employment, by the present administration, un-
der all circumstances, is good proof of the one ; and his '* Lectures on
Rhetoric and Oratory," a book of common learning, written in a deprav-
ed taste, of the other.

* Few men in any country ever had higher or juster claims to the dig-
nified character of a patriot, than Col. Pickering. The numbers now pub-
lishing with his name, addressed to the people of the United States, are full
of instruction. They are written with great perspicuity, adapted to the times,
and are calculated to be extensively useful. Independent of the many impor-
t.int facts already disclosed, which were known to very few ; of the rea-
sonings and admonitions, the result of wisdom and experience,which these
addresses contain ; they have an authority which few political writings
possess : — the authority of experience, of long and faithful service, and of
an unspotted life. The answer he gives to the slanders of his en. "'^s, is
a challenge to examine his private as well as his public life. "'Vhat man
among his accusers, dares to make such an offer.
f Perhaps there has never been a period in the affairs of the country ,which
had such strong claims upon the exertions of its friends as the present.
Much is done by men whose business it is to enlighten public opinion, I
mean the Editors of federal newspapers. Many of these papers, such as
the New York Evening Post, tlie Federal Republican, the Gazette of the
United States, the Connecticut Mirror, The Repertory, Centinel, and many
others, are conducted with great intelligence and abiUty. I know the edi-
tors are poorly rewarded. The same talents and industry which are be-
stowed upon many of these journals, would accumulate a fortune, if em-
ployed in other pursuits. But there is a sort of reward withheld from some
of them, 'Which is very proper to give, because, in truth, the donor receives
full value for the same ; and it is very pleasant to receive, because it con-
fers no obligation — / viean the business of advertising. The federal mer- .
chants who neglect to advertise in political papers, because some other pa-
per of no political character, or a bad one, has more advertisements in its
columns, have very limited notions of their own interests. They are little
aware, how much the value of the merchandise, they advertise exclusively^
in some neutral or stupid vehicle, depends on the labours of men, who are
permitted to pursue their toll unrewarded by this cheapest and best mode
of patronage.

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