The Statesman. — London, England, 1815-02-11 00:00:00

----- 'C Lock to th e o.dar. of the path. ing o r err. , rts of '!'IIE gTATAISMAN. h ,,,,•a, The separation was affecting, and accom. .p d w ith mutual expressions of esteem and re. r d. His Excellency will pass some weeks with his family at Hanover, end then proceed to his new oination, the command of the Southern Army of t b e great Monarch to whom, with the other high Al lies, we are indebted for our better fortune. ‘VOVEK, JAN. 30.—We hear there is to be a grand review here next month. vi nu nor, Fre. 3.—Exchange on London 31, 3, two mouths. The conditions which the Citastcera.on of the Ex colore has thought proper to annex to his consent to the abolition of the Property Tax, in the face of the almost unanimously expressed wishes of the ~po p te of this country, must not be passed over with s light notice— they are of a nature to suggest a v ariety of important reflections. So the dropping of most grievous and justly unpopular measure is to depend on the ratification of the American Treaty, or the finding and tolerating of an adequate substi sate. Thongh we are now at peace with all the worW, thanks to good fortune, which has had more hand in producing this change than good, ppliey .L. no mention is made of lessening, by the proper and most obvious means, the enormous expenditure to which a stateof warfare and a combination of impolitic mea. sures have exposed ns. • But how well fortified ought those Ministers to be in the justice and expediency of the steps they have been pursuing, to stand justified in the eyes of a thinking nation in making such de r•tarations, in the present state of things, and such 'wands upon the patience and liberality of an ex hausted people ! The consideration of this modest answer to the reques• of the people of England must necessarily place tie measures which gave rise to this unfertonate dilemma in which the country is placed, and their authors, at the bar of public judgment. So, because Ministers, the very men who have the effrontery to make such declarations, may have added 4 20 millions, or doable that sum, to the burdens of the country by their foolish conduct of the Ameri mn war, their aptitude in finding causes of quarrel with out best friends at a time when we had sufficient expensive work of the kind upon our hands, and their dexterity in prolonging the contention after the original causes of the war had ceased—we are told by these lavishers of the national treasure, these immolators of the national honour at the shrine of ride and prejudice, that the enormous burdens which the country has been subjected to by their mode of administering our affairs must he continued until, at least, it is seen whether the Treaty which they have been compelled to sign shall be ratified by the Power which they have so long despised—a Treaty declaratory, by its natere,•of the abandon ment of all their professed objects. We Weald ra ther indulge in anticipations of peace, and the still poasible return of prosperity, than in unplessing retrospects; bat we deem it necessary to say, LI justification of our assertions, that the policy pnrsued by the Government of this country throughout the whole of the unhappy differences which haie subsisted between Great Britain and the roiled States has been, as is proved by its conse quences, of the most erroneous and infatuated sort. Who can deny that the natural and habitual par tialities of America have ever been • in favour of this country, in spite of the insults and injuries she has long been receiving from us ?-13ut the policy of France towards the same people, though united only in ideas of liberty, was of another sort. France had neither the wish nor the power to injure Ame i:ea, even when she deemed it necessary to put on a s..ow of vigorous hostility -- Iler Milan and Ilerlirt Decrees only hurt America through us,— t:trough our readiness to follow the example of a cenetry whose acts and principles we were condemn ieg. 'I he French Decrees were only heard—the Eng lish were felt, by theinjury they inflicted on England herself as well as on America. After the aggressions commit'ett under our Orders in Council, America had no alternative but going to war in good earnest. She prepared for the contest, but we did not, though we had laid ,he foundations of the most rancorous hos. tility. These obnoxious Orders being admitted to bare been the immediate cause of the war, and their effects evidently ruinous, there can be little doubt that pone might have been preserved if they had never been enacted, and that much good would have resulted to both countries had they been recalled a year earlier than they were. It seems, therefore, a fair inference, that the blame of continuing the war, with all its attendant miseries, rests on our Ministers. Pacific overtures should have been made the moment these Orders were actually withdrawn. Such offers 'mould trot have been more discreditable to us at that tine than at a subsequent period, when our armies were defeated, and our flag was confessing a superior in the enemy we were in the constant habit of de tiding. Instead of this, the causa bclli underwent a change from general principles to the defence of abuses %hick could not admit of any serious dispute. It is admitted that the right of impressment, which is vested in the Sovereign, and entitles him to annul end disregard all the contracts entered into by our ivxn merchantmen, with persons using She sea, en tiles him just as clearly to disregard any similar 1 4 , 4:lemma into which such persons may have en -1"'od with foreign merchants, and to enforce their Irnmetliete service in his navy, in virtue of the I'4 'mount sad precedent obligation which they iatt-a;ted by engaging iu that profession.— Hitt, on the other hand, it is no less plain that we hrive no right, or shadow of right, to touch the per. son or a native American, and that the impressment of a single citizen of that country is an atrocious and intoterabie violation a his most sacred rights,' against which his Government is bound to protect him, and which it would he deserting its first lad moat imperious duties if it did not resent and resist. Now, the plea of America has been, that the right of search and impressment at sea cannot, in the ! nature of things, be exercised without occasionally , mistaking native Americans for English, even if : there was any disposition to avoid such mistakes ; and she has complained, still complains, and will do so until this matter is adjusted, that there is no such disposition on the part of the British Naval Com manders, but in many instances an insolent and ar bitrary resolution to make up a complement of men, without any regard to the most regular evidence of citizenship. In defence of such practices, and to establish them as put of our Maritime Code (for America has admitted our right of claiming our own seamen) the war gas carried on—its fierceness and barbarity augmenting as circumstances gave us the power to inicease our vengeance. Our navy was td smittithate the pigmy fleets of America, - and to levy contributions along all her shores,w bile the veruiread_ and terror of ear hostility was expected to shake her unseasoned Government to pieces,—in all likelihood (humane project !) to cause a civil war, and, per haps, the return of the revolted colonies to the Mo ther Country. Such were our expectations; how have they been realised by events ? To tell it must harrow up the feelings of every English breast; we have been worsted in most of our naval encounters, and baffled in most of our enterprises by land. Our immense and costly marine, which was to blockade every port of the Western Continent, has been chaced from the Ocean by half a dozen fri g i gates; we have lost in the engagements that have taken place, at least three times more men than our opponents, and their, privateers still swarm un checked round all our settlements, and even on our European coasts, making prizes of our vessels in the sight of our merchants. In proof of the triumphant growth of the A. rican naval power, and the loss and humiliation of our own, as well as the extent of the disasters which have befallen the shipping interests of this country, by the shameful neglect and gross mismanagement of our protecting arm, we need only refer our Readers to the most important Report of the Secretary of the i American Navy, given in this Paper; a document deserving of the most serious attention. Let Go-1 vernment look at it—it is a mirror in which the effects of their policy, or rather impolicy,will be seen in images of the most convincing cast. The Secretary asserts " that the American navy is not excelled is any thing that tonstitutes efficiency, perfect equip. meat, and general good qualities"—an assertion that will generally be admitted to be true; and the de. feats of the British system, " which have been the • theme of reprehension and criticism for many years," I too treeisiest are pointed out in a way that can leave I no doubt, if we had no other evidence of the lament ables administration of our once formidable navy.— " Oat of 538 ships, &c. in the British navy, now • at sea, there are only sixty-nine which are in reality superior in the discharge of metal or force of blows, but inferior in sailing, to some of the American frigates; and that there are but eighteen, which, unless in smooth water, are equal to contend with the United States, leaving 451, out of 538, which are admitted to be incompetent to engage, single handed, with an American frigate ! !" If this be really the comparative state of our pre , ponderance over America, it is fortunate that any method has been found to put a stop to the trial of strength between the countries. But let us attend a little more to the causes which have produced this exhibition of the latent energies of America. As soon as we testified our desire or need of peace, for it cannot he doubted that the appearance of our having to maintain the cause of Europe on European ground, created a real necessity on our part for peace, America immediately acceded to the proposal for negotiation. Bat what was the conduct of our Mi nisters, even under these circumstances ? The only doubt and difficulty was, whether America would abandon her pretensions, and whether we would consent to such modifications of our practice, as to lay a ground for immediate pacification. Before the Commissioners met, however, all these difficulties seemed to be providentially removed, fur peace was restored to Europe; and with the state of belligerent vanished all the grievances and all the pretensions of neutral. So well had the American Government judged of European affairs, that her Commissioners were instructed, i►► case of the cessation of hosti lities in this quarter, to allow all the the points of dis pute growing out of the war to die a natural death with it. But England would not consent to this— she had advantages to obtain which she had not in contemplation when she herself suggested the nego tiations. What these advantages were in idea, and what they have turned out to be in reality, we need riot minutely explain. The demand for a cession of territory, solemnly ceded and secured to America by the Treaty of 1783, and some indefinable stipu lations about Indians, dignified by the name of our Allies, afforded a pretext for the continuance of hostilitieq, and the lavishing of the blood and treasure of this country, till we had nearly lost every thing on the Western Continent, and Great Britain was plunged in disgrace and financial into at borne. 7With what face can Lord CASTLEREAGH oppose the unprincipled conduct of Prussia, or any other Continental State, which seeks to aggrandise itself by inratitegOliat tOrltery of another on the plea of weakuesi,..44l* 'necessity of security, when our conilnet In regard to America !was exactly this emit ? We were the weakest, it seems, of the:. two powers in America, and there fore we will take by force what is neces sary to put us on a footing with our neighbour.— Pretexts like these, pretexts indeed of a much higher nature, have never been wanting to justify the most pernicious and' most dangerous of all human crimes—the undertaking of a war of conquest, and the invasion of national rights ; " nor is there," as is justly' remarked by an elo. quent writer of the present day, " any other meaning in the general principle of maintaining the independence of all civilized governments, than that no pretext —nay, no proof of increased security and general advantage--shall be admitted as an Apology for tile invasion of one State by another, or the forcilde dismemberment of an atom of her indisputed territory. It is upon this principle that civilized so ciety depends fur its very existence. It is by this sitrttirthirthe strong are restrained, and the weak protected Worn oppression —by this and by this only, that the substance or the names of public principle or occasional peace have ever been heard of among mankind." SOUTH WA RK ELECTION. The business of Election commenced in South wark this morning, and there is every appearance of a warm contest, the friends of Mr. JONES BUR. DETT, of reform and of popular right, being deter mined not to relax their praise-worthy endeavours to give to Southwark and the British Parliament another independent Member, and another enemy to corruption. A report was prevalent yesterday, that the LORD Cisa.wczu.oa means to tender the resignation of the the Seals of Office. A domestic calamity was assign ed sa tha cause of this determination, but it has been arab ascribed to a public motive. The Nunez is expected in town to-morrow, from iirighton. On Monday his Royal Highness will !vide Privy Council, at three o'clock, at Carlton- House, for the purpose of pricking for Sheriffs for the year ensuing. Extract of a letter from Genoa, dated 25th Jan. 1815:—Our destiny is at last decided; we are subjects of the King of SARDINIA. Time will show oar debt of gratitude to England and the Congress. The King JOACHIM is in jeopardy. It is positive ly asserted that Congress has dismissed him. Will he yield without resistance? You English, what will be your policy if he defends' himself ? These are the questions we ask, and to 'which ao one can give a rely. What i• certain Is, that a King beloved by ,hia subjects, and at the head of an hundred thousand men, Ts not easily forced. God. preserve Italy from the, atlsfortune of becoming the theatre of a new war ! There is, nevertheless, much to fear." We understand that some serious disputes exist in the Island of Trinidad, between the Government and the Military, the latter having been subjected to the tribunals of the Spanish Civil Law. The subject will be brought before Parliament. We understand that it is the intention of the Lords of the Admiralty, not only to dispense with the FlapOtlicers in the rivers Thames and Medway, dur ing the peace, hut also with the Commissioners of the Navy at the yards of Deptford and Woolwich; which appointment was only made by the zealous Earl St. Vincent for a temporary puruese, and from recent events appears to be no longer of use. About 10,0001. per annum is expected to be saved by this measure, in attendants, &c. &c. We hear the South Sea Company has surrendered their right to an exclusive trade, on condition of being guaranteed by Government in the full amount of their usual dividend. THE LATE FAUX PAUX IV HMIs LIFE.— On Sun. day morning last, when Lord -- returned from Church, he was met on entering his house by his daughter, a child only six years of age, whom he accompanied to the door of the nursery, which he found closed, and on looking through the key-hole, he saw his Lady with an intimate friend of his Lord ship in such a situation that is not to be described.— His Lordship instantly flew to his chamber, and seizing a pistol, returned to the door of the nursery at the moment it was opened by the adulterer, and levelled it at his head—by raising his arm he avoided the fatal effects of the hall, which he received in his right arm, by which it was shattered. FoRGErs PASSE9.—The system of vagrancy, which was exposed at the late general Quarter Sessions for (be county of Devon, is a most deplorable abuse of that benevolent act of the Legislature, which grants pecuniary aid to soldiers, seamen, and their families, on their respective journies home. It came out that a man, of gentlemanly appearance, called Malony, keeps, or kept, an office in St. Giles's, London, for the manufacture and sale of printed passes, to which the names of Magistrates are ingeniously forged in imitation of their proper hands' writing. These passes he sold, at Is. each, to understrappers, who laid their own profit on retailing them out to such as were to make use of them. Large parties of vagrant ma rauders have left London, from time to time, each provided with a pass for him or herself, and many of them carrying bundles of them to sell to such as they meet with on their tours. Many of them, who tra velled towards Scotland, Wales, Devon, or Corn wall, had passes, purporting that they were landed at Portsmouth, on the Kentish coast, or other parts the most remote from those to which they purport to be travelling ; the printer's name and residence tallying with the residence of the Magistrate whose forged signature they bore. "3fenzA,or the HOLLANDERS."—A translation of this work, the production of Lours BONAPARTE, the late King of Holland, will appear in a few days.— The foreign Journals pronounce it to have very con siderable interest, arid in particular to exhibit a most lively picture of society and manners in Holland. ID e NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. i .7: DE It, FEB. 10.—Sailed this motelng the n hole or the outward-bound Eastindtamen, trafipotts, coast. ers, and colliers, to the Westward, % ith a fine breeze at S. E. Also sailed hip Majesty's ship De siree, far Portsmouth.. Cam: down from the River the Numa, Robson. for Grenada. PUKTSM . OUTIT, FEB. 10.—Sailed his Majest,'S ship Myrmidon, for PI) month. The outward-bound convoys have made the signal to prepare to sail, and will be off at day.light i% the moruirg. P. S. Arrived the Foster, from the DjWIIF, bound to Jamaica. SCILLY, FEB. 7.—lfis Majesty's ship Thais, Capt. Ware, came in a few days ago from a cruize, and sailed again to-day. lIA atwi cii, Fun. 10.—A rrired the Prince of Orange packet, with a Mail from Holland; and the Ileallfoy packet, with a Mail from Cuxhaven.--A w•ritinS desk has been picked up near Brudwell, in which was a ship's papers, called the Guntor, !lob. Master. PLYMOUTH, Fin. 9.—Sailed the or man of war, for Cork and the West Indies; and the Tay sloop of war, .with a fleet for Bourdeauso ~~` . ORATORIOS. DRURY-LANE.—Two grand Miscellaneous Acth were given at this Theatre. The selections made were judicious, and the effect all that could be wished. The Rattle Synfonia of BEETHOVEN, descriptive of - the Victory of Vittoria, was performed for the flrt time. The history and the description of this piece are already before the public. "Iso these we have little to add, but this, that the description, se far as it goes, is correct; but the feeling which it produces in the minds of the spectators, is among those things which cannot be described. The march of the hostile armies, to the tunes of Rule Britannia and Marl- • brouk, are admirably managed. Their approach to. wards each other is exceedingly well indicated, and the battle itself displays the vivid imagination of the . Composer to the greatest advantage. The gradual termination of the contest is not the least effective part, and the final transition to God save the King, • in which the vocal Performers assist, with Madame Sass' nt their head, is peculiarly gratifying to a Bri tish audience. Shouts of " bravo," and a long cuts tinued tumult of applause, announced the high satin. faction of the audience, at being presented with's.. compo;ition equally distinguished by its grandettr and vaiiety ; and the whole synfonia was rapturottsly. encored. rs. DiceoNs, and the other priretipalLi singers, were rapturously applauded throughout.— The conduct of one of the female foreign singers, its retiring each time after she sung her song, while the others more decorously remained during the whole performance, was the subject of general auitnstiver.• sion throughout the house. . I COVENT-GARDEN. —At this Theatre the Orato4 rios commenced with the first act of the au= work of The Creation, the principal •parts of were sustained by Mr. BRAHAM, Mr. BARTLE4,I I / 17 Miss STEPHENS, Mrs. CHILDE (a new performer), and Miss GDIGLIETTI. Mr. BARTLEHAN had the open ing recitativo, and air—ln the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and which he execute& with that purity of taste for which he is so much die. tinguished. Miss STEPHENS, in the exquisitely hew , tiful air—With verdure clad the fields appear, sang with the most appropriate sweetness; and Mr. BRA-. HAM, in the grand and varied air—ln splendour bright is rising now the sun, displayed a power arid richness of intonation that gave the most sublime ef fect to the Author's conception. The tone was se round—so full—so truly harmonious, and he de. scended with such delightful taste to de s cribe the • softer beams and milder light of the silver moon, that every 'ear was enraptured. Indeed, we never felt the effect of an air more powerful on the heart, from the impressive chastity and pathos with which • this consummate Artist executed the composition. We lamented that the whole of the work was not given. The two next parts were a Miscellany, and consequently had nothing of dramatic unity. They combined, undoubtedly, some grand morsels—a new Duetto, by Mr. BRAIIAM and Mrs. SALMON ; a Re ' citative, by Mr. BA ItTLEMAN ; Pious Orgies, by ' Miss STEPHENS, &c. were all loudly applauded. DUBLIN, FAL 7. THE. RECENT DUEL No Inquest has been held on the body of the en., fortunate Mr. D'Esterre ; and it appears by the fol lowing letter, which was received by Mr. O'Connell on Saturday evening, from Sir tAlward Stanley, that there is to be no prosecution : " Royal Barrnrks, 4th Fcb..181.5. SlR,—Lest Yntir professional ;iterations should be inter rupted by an apprehension of ail proceedings being in contem plation, in consequence of the late luelmo holy event, I h+`e the h ~,,,, ur to inf..rin you that there is not !lie most distant inten tion of any prosecution whatever on the part of ore family or friends of the late Mr. D'Esterre. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your most obedient humble servant, " EDWARD STANLEY. " Daniel O'Connell, Esq. Merrion-square." To the above, which evinces a very commendable spirit of accommodation, Mr. O'Connell returned, the following answer : " Merrion.square, sth Feb. 1415. • " have the honour to iek;I:):1 0 n ►etYiyf of lede c e c ; p he t your letter of yesterday, aid I tics o f t ay liuee,ss thanks fur poor very polite and considerate sttettiino. " It is to me it mournful consolation to meet such grepr ou4. sentim• nes from those vs hi/ /110,1 he rankled at she late annositsv event. Best. helsese me, my regrel nl thus evens iv **tot i.loce,o and unaffected; nod, if I know my own heart, l cost, o uls the striett.,l truth assert, that no person elite fet I for the loss •Orirty has sustained in the death of /dr. D'Esterre, stills inure steep and lasting sorrow than I do. utleanckon:isutolue,S wills I lse r for t e hee ft an o 044relmesav1 f your letter—:s fnu,tr+v it dense; iiiii ur of entire conduct nu this uselaachuly trio,ac. lion. _ . . " I hove the honour to be, Sir , " Your most obedient 1111;104•'SAVV-er. (Sklied) " DAN I LI. ONNL.LL. " Sir Law. Smoky." Yesterday, at two o'clock, a CI we; !kid at the Foreign Office. t 0, 1 . `I • • • . :.• • ~' • I • • • • • .• • IhN, e ako *liq uding, 'lt'd s pre. cation CC:11. ire it. from and a dis. suns, as ill 'a wen Rots, r th e is of hare new tba Me t the of :it- till ons etll 'to I ry e.