The Columbian informer, or, Cheshire journal — Keene, N.H., 1794-08-19 00:00:00, page 1

The Marquis then adverted to the or
der of council, of November,1 793, for the
seizing and detaining all American vessels
laden with wheat, flour, or grain, bound
"to any of the ports of France ; which or
der had been kept a secret for some time.&
which, frora the evil consequences that
would accrue to Great-Britain in its com
mercial concerns, had called for a deputa
tion of the merchants of the city of Lon
don, who deprecated any rupture with A
merica, as one of the greatest calamities,
which in a political as well as commercial
point of view, could happen to this coun
try. This measure, the Marquis repre
sented as ungenerous,provoking and impo
iitic ; and then added, as matter of the
highest aggravation, the conduit of Min
isters, in the behaviour of the Consul at Al
giers, towards the American trade to Por
tugal. It was matter of notoriety that the
Portuguese had kept in ^Mediterranean,
a fleet ready to nd at all times against the
Algerine pirates. Various reasons had
been assigned for this armament. Some
mid it had been from the old superstitious
MARQUIS Lansdowne refe, and after
taking a view of the conduit of
Mmutera at home, and on the situation oft
affairs on the frontier cf France, drew
the attention of their Lord (hips to the con
duit of Ministers towards Neutral nations,
or those powers of Europe,who had not con
federated in the military crusade. Their
conduit towards Genoa, was highly repre
hensible anqimpolitic ; it had alienated
the affe&ions of that Republic, and driven
it into the arms of France. It becomes
now in its turn a fpe&atof of our defeat and
losses at Corsica, the circumstances of
which it is found expedient to conceal from
the public eye. Their conduct towards
Sweden and Denmark, is marked with no
less foreGght and policy, Those powers
have already fitted oct large fieets, and
should they once be brought to ad in con
jundion with the enemy,he did not know to
what an extent of war and misery we
Should be driven.
The Marquis having drawn the outline
of our situation with rtfpea to the war in
Europe, the profpeltofoar faccefs, and the
darkness which relied on it, laid, that what
had prompted him chiefly to call upon
and to interest the minds of their Lordfotps,
was a matter, now of the highest magni
tude and the widest concern. It was the
relative situation of America tb this coun
try; America' )he Lid, as a neutral na
irotrini be believed, a wile one, bad a
dopted that conduit which it behoved her
to adopt. Ncverthclefs, as a neutral na
tion, America had a right to our attention
and regard in point of justice and policy.
Whatever differeneesof opinion had arisen
between Great Britain and the European
powers, the interests of America and the
friendship of America, mould be cultivated
and revered. The peace which was made
with America, in 1783, was such as was
calculated not only to lay the foundation
of an alliance, but of a lasting friendship :
it marked cut the boundaries of her do-
BRITISH HOUSE OF LORDS, MAY 26.
Forts and cat-polls whichby treaty Should
have been ceded to her, have remained in
minion with a degree of liberality—lt
gave her the ocean as a natural barrier on
the call, and the Great Lakes as the natu
ral limits on the North and Weft. The
our hands (for what rcafon he did not now
wifn to difeufs) and though repeated ap
plications have been made to government,
yet it had appeared from Mr. Jefferfon's
letter to the Mioifter Plenipotentiary for
America, (Mr. Pinckney) that no fatis
fadory answer can be obtained refpeding
them.
[No. 21. of Vol. IL]
POLITICAL MISCELLANY.
AMERICA.
Or, C HESHIREJOURN A L.
PRINTED and PUBLISHED by H ENRY BLAKE, &I CO. 1^ KEENE, New-Hampshire.
THE
Columbian Informer;'
grudge which the Pertuguefehadagainft th:
Barbery fates. Others for the purpose of
exetcifing their marine, and keeping it in
aftion. But here it served to protect
the trade cf America to Lisbon, and here
it become# an objed cf furious attention.
It is alledged as a fall, a fall he had good
resfon, he said, to believe, (but which he
would with to hear fairly denied and refu
ted) that a truce had been made, under the
influence of the English CoAful,' between
the Dey of Algiers and the Portfrguefe ;
and that in consequence ofthis treaty the
Americans, unapprehensive' of the danger
^hich arose, from the treachery ofthe dates
of Barbary, were seized, plundered and
led into captivity, where many of them
now groan under the oppression of those
barbarians.
The noble Marquis then proceeded to
state that part of the business on which he
principally grounded his motion. He
laid that which would fall mast seriously
and feelingly to Ministers to explain, and
which he deemed essentially necessary for
their Lordships to be informed of, was, the
recent conduit of Ministers in the person
of Lord bychuHer, Governor- General of
Qaebeck,/ He considered Lord Dorchef
ter. as a than too prudent to all himfelf
under circumstances so tQg with danger,
so pregnant with calamity and ruin, had
he not the express -authority of Ministers
for such a conduit—a conduit which, the
Marquis said,. went to open a feeneof
horrorand devaftati6n in the weftern world,
by an open declaration of war between
Great- Britain and America. J,ord Dor
ehetter had*, he said, recently, received a
deputzror. from the Indian; who inhabit
to the north-weft of the Ohio, announc
ing their wishes to unite with the Englilh,
and break the peace with the colonies.—
The noble Marquis here read theanfwer of
Lord Dorchester to this deputation, which
re-echoed every holtile sentiment breathed
by them, affixing to each period the ten
der and paternal appellation," Children."
The Marquis then said, that if a war
with America was the object of their wish
es ; that if tfe peace of 1783 had now
given diffatisfaaion to those who then con
cluded it, they should come forward and
declare their change of sentiment, and un
fold the purpofesof such a war. The A
mericans, from their councils and public
difcuflions, wished, by every means, to
avert the calamities of such a state, and
had given proofs of forbearance under in
sults and irritation ; but he would never
theless, from R consideration of the great
importance that the trade of America is to
this country, most sincerely advise Minift
ers, before they entered on a measure so
impolitic, and on which a great part of
the commerce of this Ifiend new depended,
carefully to confider it in all its circum
dances; and he hoped that they would
fairly come forward, and give that infor
mation which their Lerdfhips should know
on the falls he had mentioned, and which
he would be very happy to find fallacious.
On those considerations he would move,
“ That an humble address be presented to
his Majesty, requesting his Majesty would
be graciously pleased to order, that there
be laid before the House such inftruaions
as have been given, or ordered to be giv
en, to Lord Dorchefler,relative to the dif
ferences between the American fates,
and the Indians to the north-weft of the
Ohio, and Lord Dorchester's answer there
to."
Lord Grenville rose in reply to the
Marquis of Lanfdowne, who, he said had
introduced into his speech much extrane
ous matter, and which was no way rele
vant to the motion he had brought for
ward. He had fetout with taking a view
of the internal situation of this country,
and had used expressions which indicated
his utter dissent to the measures lately
adopted by administration. He had said,
government ifed measures of Unmerited
TUESD ^ r, August 19, 1794,
^ftvgfri v^r&^fa%ft&qfci %fav^,l
and unprecedented severity. This, his
Lordship said, was quite foreign to the
present motion ; nevdrthelefs, as the no
ble Marquis had thought proper to intro
duce it, he conceived it proper to notice
it in reply. That government, so far
from using undue severity, had, on the
contrary, been almost criminally tardy,
w4s a point to which he was sure a sense
of the country would concede. They had
waited until they found the ferment of
opinion was ready to break out into ac
tion ; and the consequences of such actions
would be but a counter part of those hor
rors which we saw passing before our eyes
in another country. Let any man look
at this country for these two years pad,
and then fay if he can possibly deny the
urgency and the expediency of the meas-
ares which have been adopted. After the
view which the noble Marquis had taken*
of our domestic situation, the fabjelt of
the neutral powers had engaged his atten
tion. Lord Grenville said he was ready
at any time to jeftify the conduit of Great
Britain, in those parts in which it had been
impeached, relative to its conduit toward
neutral powers; He maintained that it
had been much less rigorous than it was
warranted by the law of nations.
It was a principle admitted, and in
deed was inconteftible that you might
prevent any power from supplying your
enemy under the cloak and cover of an in
tidious neutrality. The Algerine truce
was the next object that demanded his
Lordship's attention. The Portuguese,
I he faid,.were always our natural friends,
' and ever ready to give amieablf assistance ;
m< front their OTuatioir with the Alger
ines they were prevented from rendering
that assistance which otherwise they were
inclined to give us. Thus conditioned
they applied to the government of this
country, to ad the part of a mediator
and to endeavor to effelluatea peace be
tween them and the Algerines. His Maj
esty did accordingly dispatch a Consul
who negotiated a truce, but he denied it
was attended with any of that secrecy, and
for those purposes which were stated by
the noble Marquis. The order of coun
cil had also been introduced into the Mar
quis's speech of this evening. His Lord-
Ihip asserted. that in refpe& to that meas
ure this country would have been juftified
had it gone even to greater length:—
What did we do ? We did not seize the
corn, on the contrary, we merely brought
their vessels into English ports and paid
a fair price for their cargoes. Surely the
Americans could not be said to be ill
treated. Were they net as well paid in
English gold as they would not have been
in French affignats ?
Another fubjed introduced was a boun
dary line. This,his Lordship find,was the
firft time he had ever heard that article in the
treaty of peace, flared as an advantage to
this country. He admitted that although
it was not advantageous yet the treaty
should be observed ; at the fame time it
was to be remembered, that it was mutu
ally binding on both parties, and it was
unfair to demind the execution of a trea
ty by one party, when it remained unful
filled by the other. It was unjust to de
mand one party to relinquifrtheir advan
tages without receiving those benefits
which they had stipulated for, by the ve
ry fame treaty. He had voted for the
treaty of peace, not becaafe he thought
it was the most deferable that could be pro
cured ; and further experience had con
vinced him he was right in his opinion of
the article fettling the boundary line of
the American dates.
He now came to the left part of the
noble Marquis's speech, and on which he
seemed most to reply. He should only
fy, that the paper which was produced
from the pocket of the noble Lord, was
l one that never before came to hit knowl
edge. He had received non, such from
Lord Dorcliefter ; and if any such real;,
did exist, he ffiould doabtlefs in due time
hear ofit, together with that noble per
son's reasons for his conduit. Until that
time he thought it decent and decorous
not to investigate the matter. He ffiould
therefore oppose the motion as Unnecefin
ry-,
The Duke of Grafton deprecated the
idea of a war with America, whom he
thought thould be united to us by a family
compad. He wilhed Ministers had given
a more explicit information upon the fob
jed before the houfc,as certainly they well
knew whether there was any thing in Lord
Dorchester's inftrhaions which would lead
him to use such a speech as that which was
supposed to be uttered to him by the In
dians.
Lord Sydney said, that Lord Dorches
ter was a person of the highest prudence
as well as abilities, and to which he added
a particular regard for America; it would
therefore be improper to difeufs his con,
dull now, rftl)put being in possession of
those falls which might influence his reso
lutions.
-Lord Stanhope said that the noble fecre
tar, had admitted possibly such a paper
might exiß.
[Here was a call of No! No !]
Lord Stanhope infilled he had admitted
that there might exiß such a paper, ard
consequently the possibility of a war with
America.
Lord Grenville said; if any other No
ble Lord had said what had just fall
en from the Noble Lord, if had re
quired an tnfwer ; as it was, it required
none. ...._} . & . .. ..^
The house then divided. °
Contents; - - g
Non Contents, - fy
Majority - - 60
HOUSE OF COMMONS— may^.
Embargo laid on foreign foip by the rfmeri*
can States,
Mr. Sheridan said, there was a paper
which had created a general alarm, and
on account of which the States of Ameri
ca bad laid an Embargo on foreign ships.
The paper he alluded to, purported to be
an answer given by Lord Dorchester to the
Indians of Lower Canada. In that paper
his Lordship animadverted on the condua
o!the American States, and laid, that it
was likely we ffiould be at war with A
merica-before the end of the pietent year.
&c. He thought it was of conference
that this paper should be laid before the
house; and it was supposed to have been
written in consequence of orders from this
country, and therefore he moved for an
address fimiiir to the Marquis of Landf
downe's.„,
Mr. Secretary Dundas said, that was
the firft moment he had ever heard of such
a paper, and he was certain that no or
ders had been sent from this country
to Lord Dorchester to write such a let
ter. \.
Mr. Fox faid,if that letter was a forge
ry, that circumßanee could hoc be commu
nicated too soon for the country. It had
been considered as an Authentic letter in
America; where it had already produced
force mifehief. He Wes extremely happy
to hear from the King's ministers, that it
was all a fabrication. It had been faid,no
orders was sent to Lord Dorchester to Write
such a letter;bnt he wished to knpw if any
orders were sent to his Lordship that Would
authorize him to write such a letter ?
He knew that coble Lord was not a pterfon
who would write such a letter without au
thority.,,
Mr. Secretary Dundas firmly believed
Lord Dorchester incapable of-writing any
paper that had the leaf tendency to in
volve this country in a war with America.
He declared upon bis honor as 4 gentleman,
that he had never heard before of such a
letter, and that it bad been written in
[Whole No. 73.]
;V^nV^,Oft.vfr.