Star. — London, England, 1808-01-15 00:00:00

felt no , Lot she French armies been ever known to ar. 114 con voys ? save we not seen Lord Keith • pt to seize at Genoa vessels which were in port, , 00 4 s which were in the possession of the ruer b „ int , o f t hat city? He didbut apply on land the princi "—of the maritime code of England. The Austrians asdprincede Von Hohenzollernwho commanded them indignant at suchoppression ; they resisted them, an d t he battle of Marengo bringing, a few days after the French into Genoa, also brought back the se7o 6 " ty private pro.pert,y.T Whence then so fferent a c se he one is the result of di atra bilarious and u n j ust policy, of England, and other o f the liberal policy and civilization of France. on b e part, s he were Mistress of the Seas , she if , fo od b e seen atta cking none but armed vessels; she loom be seen even protecting th e property of the _ A ka/ of those s tates with which she might be at If we wish to compar e the spirit of liberality, sa d 'the civilization of the two nations, we should take si &terms of this com parison the French code of war 00 l an d, and its application to individuals and pro .rtr, a nd the maritime code of the English, and its r a i p fi cat ion to the individuals and property that are f o nd on the ocean. But what motive could have induced the Mi nisters of London to mention Prussia in this Mani festo ? Is it the interest of Prussia ? But if the in. of prussic touched them, they would have Ece pted the mediation of Russia. Why do they pub at thishotirdit indiscreet paragraph, which clearly on t hat the spirit which has already caused the cabinet o f Berlin to take so many false steps, is yet in mot ion ? Is it to be useful to Prussia, and to con ciliate for her the interest of France, of which, under tit re peat circtunstances, she stands in so great need' p fo r ce has evacuated many countries, England not ; a rid the preliminary basis of all these negocia noss w as the uti possidetis. When the French treat w i t h t heir enemies, they either change the Go - mmts r ay of having united with England against & i n terests of the Continent, or if they evacuate a em oted country, it is in consequence of a durable ru e, all the conditions of which are observed • and w hey are never seen to attack their allies without a k c bration of war, or treacherously , surprise their ca o; so they are never seen to quit a fortress before ic a fate has been determined by negociation. The Nish attack for the sake of plunder, and reti Shen they have burnt and pillaged all before them. N ow is well suited to them, for it is a war of pirates. When they once entered Copthnharen they gold hare remained there until peace ;as con chided. Nothing could equal the infamy h their snack, but the dish onour of their disgraceful oftfg • But if it were true that the French have exacted a little from their enemies, why should they not in fact? They have 800, 00 0 troops, and they are re ady . ie fl a t every sacrifice to double their force if it sbj e, d an be dth ne: t esr , do ; not that t se la:t sih w ly ar fee is l th eir natural , the sacrifices i t tch ad t t te ra y tion mak of e in thei wi r th so dra ferti wil so soi Tany hands from possession tif a fine country, they wish to addi ct themselves to t h e c onquests of commerce and in dustry ; but your Manny will not suffer them. You have roused a gant, w hom, having rhfourseeend, yeah, ucontinue to irritate nernan .y odn your injustice has snly tended to add to his energy n which He scatorftracaly will tl not cein lay yourtyranny increase. down his arms, but he will =gram his force until he has con quered the liberty of the seas, which is his first n t gh t t,an c dth se. the patrimony of all nations. Ifthealll questa of war are protracted, if the French troops coninve a bmtbeti to the territories which they oc rupy,riimpeare t , h eprceed from cause. All m the calamities which oppress great questions are not to be resol ve d you alone. These amottlaus. Wh en you are , by diplomatic France w ill b e ready to m a ke disposed to make peace, .it. Of this you cannot be ignorant; you well k known may • now it. An anecdote gene rallytic!,When the y lm be qu .al ot in support of this Guardasser tion: set out for .Tena, and it: day s sabyows after, known thatthe Emperor was to join the army af Lord Lauderdale asked M. Cham pagny, whether, if Eng land made peace, the Empe ror Napoleon would consent to stop and countermand the march of his Ivor replied i n thetroops against Prussia ? The affirmative.Em- With one word, you tiffs i tel po d have wer, saved would have By preventing the fall of maintained on the Elbe that barrier so necessary uid to your dearest interests, the it establishment of w hi ch hey , :ect )41! Its while the alleged rejection of the Emperor of Russia's aviation, between Great Britain and France, is stated as a just mead of his imperial Majesty's resentment; his Mijesty's request dttat eradiation, for the re-establishment of peace between Great hitaia sad Dinmark, is represented as an insult which it was trinlthe bounds of his imperial Majesty's moderation to en nue (10) (10) "The Emperor of Russia must necessarily be oSitdatthe communication that Mr. Canningmade to* Ryder (NI. Ri st ), an d i n which the English Ct dxlares himself certain that Russia would Lotmatee Denmark from the just resentment of "nee, if, after having suffered its independence to be notated, and its fleet to be carried away, Denmark constitlte itself into a British province. This hisebood had nu effect but to irritate the Prince !loyal : it could nut impose upon any body. Eng :ied wished Russia to guarantee Denmark from the - tof France, at the time when she declared she offered violence to Denmark only to guarart t'vhersell from the secret engagements contracted at n :sit, by the Emperor of Russia. It is really hard to ermine which is the most remarkable in this in mate, the bad reasoning or the immorality of the Ca ke of Lunden." " Sot until the Russian I)t claration was published, his Mr :'al Waco - reason to suspect that any opinions which the Empe vtofllassia might entertain of the transactions at Copenhagen, idle such as to preclude his Imperial Majesty from under. !It lithe request of Great Britain, that same office of Media "l, "ha ck he hadassumed with so much alacrity on the behalf of 11 c1v. Nor can his Maji sty forget that the first symptoms of se " n geoddesee since the Prate of Tilsit, the only prospect of sweat th e ende a vour, of bit Majesty's Ambassador to restore 'swat good iandentandir; between Crest Britain and IWO., tweed *Jennie intelligence of the siege of Copenhagen bad 7.2 r 7e 1111 Y received at St. Petertburgh." (11.) 1 - 1 u ; 1 If the Emperor of Russia hay :hewn Eng , P I . ra rymptome of reviving confidence after the drit, it is not consequently true that he has (inded at Tilsit secret arrangements, which place at enmity with England. If those demonstra tions have taken place at the mon.ent when the in btetroeur nt of Ccprnhagen was known at St. Peters gh. it 3, 1 ..s not because the Emperor of Russia wig became. he felt 10/11e of softening the ferocity of England by gentle mea sures—it was because he wished to interfere to save his unfortunate ally—it was because, ignorant of the causes of the Expedition to Copenhagen, knowing that he had given no pretence for it, directly Cr indi rectly, he was able to persuade himself for some time that England had some reasons to induce her to take so important a step. He was, however, better in., formed by the communications of the Prince Royal, by the communications of England herself, by the Manifesto of the English General which explained the odious pretensions of his Government ; and then he demanded that the attack of Copenhagen should cease. England answered him by setting Copen hagen in flames, and carrying away the fleet. " After this operation, the most fatal for England of all the enterprises which she has ever undertaken, I she had only two courses to pursue ; either to continue to occupy Copenhagen, and that she durst not do, or to evacuate Copenhagen, the consequence of which she knew would be, that the Sound would be for ever shut against her. She then had the meanness to have recourse to the mediation of Russia. She laid open her character ; she thought she could impose upon the Emperor Alexander ; but she could obtain nothing by a proceeding rendered odious by this very opinion.— Russia replied to her with the silence of contempt, and by fortifying Cronstadt and her coasts. This proceeding of England, then proves one thing, namely, that she did not think that Russia had formed se- cret engagements at Tilsit, contrary to her interests. This truth, established in so many ways in these notes, overturns all the scaffolding of the English manifesto. " The inviolability el the Baltic Sea, and the reciprocal guaran ties of the Powers that barber upon it, gnarentiee said to have been tomcatted with the knowledge of the British Government, are stated as aggravations of his Majesty's proceedings in the Bal tic. It cannot be intended to represent his Majesty as having at any time sequieseed in the principles upon which the inviolability of the Baltic is maintained; ho"-ever his Majesty may at parti cular periods have forborne, for special reasons, influencing his conduct at the time, to act in contradiction to them. Such for bearance never could have applied but to a state of peace and real neutrality in the North; and his Majesty most assuredly could not be expected to recur to it, after France has been suffered to establish herself in undisputed Sovereignty along the whole coast Of the Baltic Sea from Dantzic to Lubeck." (12.) (12) " Why should not England consent to the inviolability of the Baltic ? If it be not an enclosed sea, why do the English vessels pay toll at Elsineur?" 41 Nor can his Majesty conceive that, iss proposing to the Prince Royal terms of peace, such as the most successful war on the part of Denmark could hardly have been expected to extort from Great Britain, big Majesty rendered himself liable to the imputation, either of ex,sperating the resentment, or of outraging the dignity, of Denmark." (13.) (13) Europe will judge whether these conditions are such as Denman& could hardly obtain by,tht most suc cessful war. England required, 1. That the Danish navy should be given up to her in deposit till peace. 2. That the just indignation produced by the at tack upon Copenhagen, should give way to friendly sentiments towards England. 3. That the Danish army should take part against France, and carry on the war for England. We should add to all the advantages offered by these fine terms granted by England the loss of the Danish possessions in Germany, which France would have seized, and upon which territories she would have beaten the English, if she allowed them to land there. _ _ --- We should in vain look for the traces of any calcu. lation, for any appearance of reason in such argu ments. The fact is, that the British Councils are guided by precipitation and ignorance, and that in what the Government says, does, or intends, no oh sect, view, or motive can be discovered. _ His Majesty has thus replied to all the different accusations by which the Russian Government labours to justify the rupture of a connection which has subsisted for ages, with reciprocal advan tage to Great Britain and Russia, and attempts to disguise the operation of that external influence by which Russia is driven into unjust hostilities, fer interests rot her own." (14.) (14.) So that Russia has no interest in going to war with England ; for the interests of commerce and navigation concern not the Russians. They have no interest in the independence of the Baltic : for an Order of the English Council has stripped the Baltic of its independence, and another Order of the same Council might decide that they had no interest in the navigation of the Neva. The object which all the ' Powers propose to themselves, in re-establishing the liberty of the seas, and restoring peace to Europe, is an object foreign to Russia. Russia, for the last hundred years, has derived such advantages from her connection with England, that she has nothing fur ther to wish for. These great advantages consist in a Treaty of Commerce, which has fettered and ruined the industry and commerce of Russia ; but since this Treaty has eminently contributed to the prosperity of England, what signifies it if it has all the effects upon Russia of a perpetual frost?" a The termin lam of the war with Denmark has been so anxiously sought by his Majesty, that it cannot be necessary fur his Majesty t renew any professions upon that subject. But his Majesty is at aless to reconcile the Emperor of Russia's present anxiety for the completion of such an arrangement, with his lin p.11:1 Majesty's recent refusal to contribute his good cdflces for effecting it' (15.) (15) " His Britannic Majesty labours here under a peat embarrassment, and his Council is not fruitful in expedients. France, Austria, Russia, require, that the I)anish fleet should be restored • that reparation should be made to the Prince Royal% that the English people, following the example of the Romans upon a similar occasion, should surrender into the hands of the Prince Royal the person who advised the expedi tion against Copenhagen ; that the houses destroyed in that city should be rebuilt at the expenee of Eng land, and finally that his Britannic Majesty should disavow the outrage offered to all Sovereigns. This is far distant from the proposals mode lir England.', "The requisition of his Imperial Majesty Eye the immediate conclusion, by his Majesty, of a peace with Prance, is as extraor dinary in the substance, as it is offensive in dO manitsr. His Ma. jetty has at no time declined to treat with Mine, vibes Frazee has professed a willingness to treat on an sr basi s , AAd the Emperor of Russia cannot Lento resosialwr SW** last sego eistion between Great Brinks and Fraser was blOkeii of, urea poinu immediately Arming, not his Majesty's owe interests, but those of bi ;ntperial Ally. But his Mikity neither saderstasils, nor will he admit the pretensisn of the emperor of Tinssi‘te dic tate the tints, or the mode, of his Majesty's paciffs negotiations with other Powers. lx will never beendured by his Ad e* that any Government shall indemnify itself for the humiliation If sib serviency to France, by the adoption of an Waking Ind perenip tary tone towards Great Britain." (16) (16.) 4, Whim a person endeavours to enkport a i cause which has neither truth nor justice an at, he should do it with ability, and there uno ability dis played in the remarkable assertion contained in the following paragraph : t The last negociation betwecii France and England was broken off upon points im mediately affecting, not his Mjesty's own interests, but those of his Imperial Ally. ' People of Europe, hear this ! It was not France which opposed peace ; it was not the important interests of England which prevented it ; it was Russia alone which then threvi obstacles in the way. Well, then, when this obstacle ho longer exists, why does England object to peace ? Why does she, in place of negoctating, ask upon what basis France is willing to treat ? Why does she violate ' the flag of every nation ? Why does she maintain the whole world in that state of irritation and violence which oppresses all nations, and is a burthen to all Sovereigns ? every Englishman should blush at being governed by such men. " We shall make no observations upon the sen tence which concludes this paragraph. Insulting language from one Sovereign to another is degrading .only to him who makes use of it. The Emperor of Russia will despise the insult of England, but the Russian nation will not forget it. What the manifesto would have lost by the suppression of this phrase and many others, is not perceived. France and Russia have the highest esteem for each other. Their union is the despair of England, and it will be fatal to her. The expedition against Copenhagen should not have been undertaken. Negaciations should have been opened for peace, so much the more easy to be con cluded, as, according to the English Ministers—" it was only broken off upon points immediately affect-I ing the interests of his Imperial Majesty." a His Majesty proclaims ammo them triad/01m of Maritime Law, against which the Armed Neutrality, under the auspicivi of the. Empress Catherine, was originally directed; and against which the present hostilities of Russia are denounced. Those principles have been recognised and acted upon in the best periods of the history of Europe ; and acted upon by no Power with more strictness and severity than by Russia herself in the reign of the Empress Catherine. Those principles it is the right and the duty of his Majesty to maintain; and against every Confederacy I Majesty is determined, under the blessing of Divine Providence, _ . to maintain them. They have at all mut enntroarted essentially no the :Wart oldie Maritime tower of Great Britain." (17) (I 7) " That which lust maintained the maritime power of England has not been tyrannical principles or max ims, but the policy, the energy, the good sense, and the prudent conduct of your ancestors ; it is the divi sions which they have often had the address to scatter on the Continent. That which will essentially con tribnte to its destruction is the thoughtlessness, preci pitancy, violence, and silly arrogance of their succes sors. The Emperor of Russia wishes for a maritime peace. Austria, France, and Spain, participate in these sentiments. You have declared that the Nego ciation with France 4 was only broken off upon points affecting the interests of Russia.' Wherefore, then, we again ask, do you continue the war ? Why, it is because you do not wish for peace. 64 It is because you do not wish for peace that you raise useless questions. France, Austria, Spain, olland, Naples, say, as well as the Emperor of Rus sia, that they proclaim anew the principle,. t the a, neutrality. Those Powers have doubtless t e right to declare the principles which are to be the rule of their policy ; they have the right to say on what condi tions it becomes them to be your enemies, or neutral. Toy, you proclaim anesst,tlu , principle: of your maritime laws. Well, then-!`this 'opposition of principles will not be an impediment to the ve-establishment of peace. —They have on neither side any effect during peace ; they have no application except when you are at . war with a maritime power ; but in that case each Government has the right and power to consider the first violation of its flag as an act of hostility. . The circumstances in which you will then find yourselves will determine your conduct then. If it is with France that you are at war, you will not judge her a power sufficiently feeble t o render it indifferent to you whether you draw other enemies upon you, and you will shew some consideration fur the rest of Eu rope. You did not venture to insult the flags of every power, till you had the address to arm all the Continent against France. It was then your mari time principles were changed ; and they became more unjust and more violent, in proportion as your Continental connections became more contrac ted, or your Allies maintained with more difficulty the struggle in which you had engaged them. It was thus that when Russia was obliged to collect all her force against the French in Poland, you violated her flag, and refused her, in respect to her Commercial Treaty, concessions which you shewed yourselves dis posed to grant when she had no longer any enemies to combat. The Powers of the Continent, in proclaiming anew the principle: of the armed neutrality, do but announce the maxims upon which they purpose to act in the next ma ritime war. You cannot prevent their directing their policy as they understand it ; they exercise in this the maxims which you will employ in your next war. The Continent has no interest in demanding from you ei ther declarations or renunciations. Declarations would have no effect, from the moment you might think you could forget ;Xem with impunity. Renunciations are without an object, since we cannot renounce what we do not possess. elf we j4ge of what you will do, by what you have hitherto done, we may conclude, that you will not require from the Powers of the Continent either declaration or renunciation • and as they will demand none from ysu, there is h ence no question to discuss, no difficulty to relays ; there is nothing which can retard for a day dia blessings of right which appertains to all Governmssats. and MA , * usurpation of which they would have - to alt. nothusl pose but the ultimo ratio regain. On your rt ‘ Ali proclaim the principles of your maritime law:, t is, the peace. If, however, you should raise the strange. and novel pretension of imposing upon France, and the other Powers of the Continent, by an act of your will alone, the obligation of subscribing to your mari time laws, this is as if you were to require that the Legislature and Sovereignty of Russia, France, and Spain should be transported to London—a fine prero. dative for your Parliament. It would be the saint as if you were to proclaim everlasting war, or as if you were to fix as the termination of war the moment when you should have seized on St. Petersburgh,. Paris, Vienna, and Madrid. But if this be not at the bottom of your sentiment, there is no further obstacle to peace : for, according to your own expresskins, asp. anion were irden • w s points which torched immedi ately not As interest: h ie Britannic Majesty, but than of r e' hi, Imperial All ; or the Imperial Ally of his Bn tannic Majesty has *formed you, that peace is hence firth the magi* end °this wish, the principal object of his interest." \. 1••••••• - •P -. . LONDON. ~ . FRIDAY, JANUARY IS. PRICE OF tiTOCIta THIS DAY AT 01,7 i O'CLOCK. Consols, for !stoney, 44i—for lasosary 6t`—Rogitold_ 63 ii — Oundutn 21 pretn.—E“heq. Balt Ys. to ::s. A frigate is arrived at Portsmouth from India, sup posed to be the Salcette, built at Bombay for his Majesty's service. It is hoped, at the Inai.x-Hous..., that Lord Wu.i.:Am BENTINCK and Sir JOHN CRAD DOCK are passengers, ai they were expected in the fleet lately arrived. By this vessel important dispatches are understood to have been received from Sir EDWARD Pte', the Admiral on that station. The Monsieur of the 7th, and 'a Supplement of the same date, received yesterday evening, contains a long commentary, in the form oe Notes, on all the leading points in his BRITANNIC MAJZSTY'S Reply to the Declaration of the EMPEROR of Russu. This document, which may be considered as a Counter- Declaration of France on behalf of her Northern Ally, is interesting chiefly on account of the disco veries it makes of the future views of NAPOLEON. It discusses the subject of peace pretty freely, an4with a seeming leaning towards a negociation ; but with what sincerity time alone will discover. The most ' s riking is the concluding Note in this commenter:. —ln reply to that part of his MAJESTY'S Dec'.l tion, in which he says, that he proclaims anew those principles of Maritime Law against which the Armed Confederacy was directed ; it is ob served in effect, 44 that each of the contending parties may continue to proclaim their respective maritime laws, but that this circumstance need throw no im- pediment in the way of peace ; becfuse each may abstain from making any declaration, or requiring any renunciations on this subjects " How is this to be reconciled with the repeated declarations which have been made by NAPotroN, that no - peace could le coficluded with England, but on the condition of her Peaouncing what she calls her maritime code? It is true, strictly speaking, that by avoiding all discus , sion on this point in any negociation that may take place, we du not formally give up our rights ; but it is equally true, that, if we conclude a treaty, with out having them recognized in that treaty, it may be afterwards asserted, that our silence on these disputed rights amounted to an abandonment of the principle. The Golconda is arrived at Liverpool from New York. She sailed on the 19th ult. and brings letters to that date. These state, that the Non-Importation Law had gone into operation with certain restrictions: but that it was understood the President had been invested with the power of suspending it at pleasure. It was still:maintained, that the Revenge brought ac counts that Bonaparte had declared that be would not suffer America to remain neuter. The belief of this report had greatly irritated the - public mind. A meeting of the Committee of the American Mer chants took place Yesterday,pursuant to adjournment. The Chairman was delegated to wait upon Ministers relative to the application of the merchants and ma nufacturers of Lancashire and Yorishiii; for licences to protect such cargoes as they were aboitt to embark for America.... Mr. SANBOU accordingly procee4ed to the Treasury, where he had an in terview with the CHANCILLOR OF TIM EXCHEQUXR andLorci BATnuaar, whose answer to this application was, we understand, to the following purport..." that.they saw no necessi ty for such licences, as we are not at war with America; ' but that, however, they had no objection. to grant them in order to satisfy the persons who applied" The letters give various accounts of a renrsolp , th it had taken place between the Patriote Freckli frigate and the Chesapeake American frigate. It is. staied by some that the dispute was respecting an American deserter, and that the case was precisely similar to that of the Leopard; that guns were reported to have been fired on both sides. The situation of America with respect to France does not seem less precarious than with respect to England. The French privateers, in conformity tp the late decree, capture every American they meet, bound to England. The Live Oak, an American ship, from Virginia to London, has been taken, re taken, and brought into the Downs. The Hyades, (an American) from Charleston and Cowes to Lon don, was taken on the Slst ultimo, by a French privateer, and carried into Calais—the Captain and I crew taken out of the ship and put under a guard. —The Joseph and Edward, from Guernsey to Dover. was taken on the sth inst. off Dover Pier, and car ried into Calais : several other vessels have lately I een carried into Calais ; among them were three Ameti can vessels, exclusive of the Hyades. Prmsorrn, JAIL 13.—Came in the Mary, Captain FIMERICK, from Alexandria, with tobacco, detained by the Lively privateer ; French chase mane,- from Isle de Ree, with rye, captured by the Aile, of 36 guns ; Alexandria frigate, from Portsmouth; Neme sis frigate, from a crate ; Portuguese ship Ulysses, Captain FEIRNAIA, from Rio Janeiro, with sugar, coffee, and hides, detained by Sir SIDNEY &ma.— There are four ot h ers expecte d, detained by the same squadron. Portman:ma, JAN. ls.—Ateved the Coquette at d Resistance, from a cruise; Kingsfisher schooner, from Monte Video, last fioat Cork, with several transports tinder convoy, aa4 the Salcette, from the East Indies --she left lying stHelena his MNF!ty's ships Po. ntnca. dinnar lyphemns, A Idrianay, and _ It has blows a gale darifrom S. W. A brig is driven on shore oh the Sand Head, and remains—• calms learn bee mull. Wind 'Ng .ble. ' I fl I I F I 1 ; I • I p t I 0 ,0 :e to to