The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-08-13 00:00:00

raw-rolur, Amy 11, 1107.

The following &hire's was agreed to at a meeting
of the Citiscas of Richmond and its vicinity, con•
vexed on account of the late •utrage :

To the Presideett of the United States.

St a—We, the citizens of Richmond,Manchester.and
their vicinities, and many other persons from distant
places, who have assembled to take under consider-
ation the late hostile attack upon the frigate Chita-
peels, by a British ship of vow, and the murder of a
number of American seamen in a time of peace, are
impelled by the strongest motives to carrells those
seatiments of whisk the occasion must

naturally inspire. When we reflect upon the 11111
form Corse of pec..sc conduct svhich has. been ob.
served by the. Government cf the United grates, to-
wards all foreign nations; when we recollect, on the
other hand, the innumerable insults and a:gressients
which Great 13i rain has inflicted on our just and
lawful commerce; we can only diszuver in this re-
cent act of violecce, the consummation of a system
which has for its object the prostration of neutral
rights, at the feet of a haughty and ambitious power.
The door of negociation is finally closed; the first
blow of war has been struck ; and the People of
America are called upon to decide, whether they
will rally around the staodard of the Constitution, or
resign at once the glorious inlependence which was
purchased by the valour of their fathers, and ce-
mented with their blood ? At a period of such mag-
nitude as the present, it is peculiarly necessary that
the People of Awrica should display to the world the
devotion which they feel to the free, mild, and here-
ficent Government under which they live, and their
invincible determinetion to resist to the utmost ea•
tremity, every outrage on their lights, from what-
ever quarter it may proceed. The persons who now
ettijress you, speak not only fer but for
their country ; they fed that they deliver the senti-
ment of the nation ; and they arc confident that they
will find a corresponding emotion in the bosom of
the Chief Magistrate of tee Union.
When an aa of unequivocal hostility has been
perpetrated ; when cur armed vessels are not per-
mitted to leave our own ports wits impunity ; when
a British Commander gives the signal from our
very hat bours, for the capture of cur shies ; it be-
comes a question, not of reason, but of feeling.—
Whetever may be the grounds of the ecntest in
which we are engaged, we are compelled to close
in the appeal to arms, which has been made by cur
adverse' y. It is impossible to pursue a tempt i sing
conduit, without engraving an indelible stain on
our national charaaer. The reputation of our
country is at stake; and it met now be decided
whether we shall assume the e'igniFled attitude of
an independent state, or meanly crouch under the
lash of ac insolent foe?

No nation upon earth has so many cogent reatons
for maintaining a friendly intercourse with the rest
of the world, as the United S:ates. removed
from that bloody scene of ambition, which kl:arope
has exhibited for centuries ; pursuing the eves tenor
of honest industry ; regardless of that illusive glory
which is only to,he obtained at the expense of hap-
piness; anxious only for that 5411Gi renown, which
springs from an undeviaing course of justice and
virtue: too simple for the insidious arts of courtly
intrigue, and too refined for the exertion of lawless
power; they might have flattered themselves with
the hope, that they should escape the ravages of
those conflias which have desolated the old Conti-
nent. America hes every thing to hope from peace,
and every th'ug t, deprecate irons war. But her
growing commerce and rising pro,perity, cherish-
ed by the genial warmth of Freedom, were ob-
Jeffs too tempting to the rapicitius eye of a power
who arrogates to herself the exclusive dominion
of the seas. From the monsent when our inde-
pendence was established, Great Britain rezard-
ed with malignant jealousy the progress of a na-
tion whom she had once held in bondage. From
that moment, until the present, she has waged an
open or concealed war against our indisputable
rights. It would be superfluous to dwell on the
varioas crimes altich she has committed against
the law of nations ; but it may not be improper to
enumerate a few more prominent than the rest,
which mark the spirit which has pervaded her
whole condna. She had occupied posts within
Ger territory, which ought to have b:en surren-
dered by treaty ; she has enlarged the law of con-
traband, beyond the /Urea liberal construaien of
the law of 'nations ; ;he has *mod our vessels
laden with provisions ; she has invented a ne..,
system of blockade, which extends not merely to
single ports aaually invested, but to whole coun-
tries with whom she might be at war ; she has
modified, restrained, and enlarged the rights of
neutrals, according t% her interest or caprice,
v bile her Courts of Admiralty have ceeried their
edits into rigid execution ; she has denied to neu-
tral nations the incontestible right to re-export to
a Belligerent Poweri the commodities which they
have fairly purchased from a Colony of the same
power—and she has blockaded our ports, and im-
pressed seamen from our vessels, within our lawful
jurisdiftion. But atrocious as these eels may seem,
they are insignificant when compared with the fla-
grant outrage lately committed on the frigate
Chesap►ake. The most humble sycophant of Great
Britain has never yet asserted her right to search a
'hip of war belonging to a neutral nation. A vessel
of this description is as sacred as the territory it-
self—its flag is a pauport throughout the world—
aad an insult offered to it is a dire& attack upon
the sovereignty of the state to which it belongs.
A conduit like this can neither be defended nor pal-

listed- -and :t is nteetotry to meet the 'mom
meth& with the decision becoming freen.en.
Wbile we are sensible of the erili whi
resole from war, we are prepared to f
then* in defence of our deare.t rip,:as.
continent that but one sentinitnt pert,
American people, and that howevzr 012!
divi.i!ed as to points of domestic p.2:cy,
actuated by one soul in repelling the at
of is foreign power. It remains for the
of the Constituted Auttori•ies, to siren
C.:Jcy the energies of the nation It is of
&elate you and to the world, that WI
;sued to support, with our lisr,s and tom
Givrinmmt of our choice, against ere'
:Tan th. SP rtiCtlt ko Cbai
Tuosiss

GOTFENfiffti ti

ExtrAa of a Letter rtt,to Gotten'au-gl

Aaguat 3 :

'• Th.,. English sloop of war, the Maur
rived here the day before yesterday, when
cer landed from her, for the purpose of pi
pilots for the Belts, but without success
the English fleet destined for the 13.11tif
this pltce. Twenty sail were seen from of
as the -;:ind has been very fair; they must,
f:tne, have reached Copenhagen.
'• Private letters from Copenhagen, reed
yesterday's post, state, that General Bernadc
Prince of Ponce Corvt.) was with the Prince
of Danmark at Kiel and that a large. Freud
waited his commands; it this be true, the
fl .:et could not have arrived at a more cri:ir
tore..

" We have no news today from Stralstn

THE BRITISH PRE

, LONDON,
THURSDAY, Ammar IS.

A strong report prevailed yesterday hi
that the Exptdition sent to the Baltic bad
session of Copenhages and the Danish feet
oppoiition. It was also reported that the
had t...icn possession of Tonningen. Both
moors, we uadcrAancl, were mete specolati;
did no: rest upon any positive intel:igenee.

A Gottenhurgh mail arrived yesterday
tern and Papers to the 4th instant. Admin
et err's 6:et passed that place on the 2d,
with a fair wind for the Baltic. He had .
Ilfaufairo forward, to provide pilots at Gotten)
to conduA the ships through the Belts, ane
cir landed at that city, en the tat. f:R.
pose, but without succest. As we cannot
some that the place could be without some
acquainted with the navigation, it is
that the service was declined from
towards Decmark and Russia: Should
settee of our fascia in the Baltic Foal
sure offensive to either of these, Sweden mi
their di.e.easure, by urfo:ding any tacili
passage of our ships. Slaw may. therefore,
aft of prudence, decline the request of pilots.
out any imputation upon her frienisbip and
will towards this country. Private Lew
Copenhagen state. that BILIMADOTTIt
the Prince Royal of Destaaac, at Kt
had made him an offer of a French army
the object of our fleet in the Baltic was
Denmark from the fraternal embrace of
r.rs:c, and prevent her fleet from fain
hands, has been long mentioned as a probable
culation. For our own part we have been
Lime of opinion, that the whole of the expedi
are destined for the Baltic. We may be '
but many circumstances have arisen to
that idea. A Hull Paper, received yawn.
tains the following article, in corroboration
sentiments :

so The expeditions which have left oar
are now so far advanced in their voyage,
consider ourszlvcs no longer precluded
municating that intelligence of their desth
which we have received from officers and
the first rank and information, and whict,
own mind, amounu to positive and absolai
taiuty. We believe oar arm..menta to
gone to Boulogne, Antwerp, Flushing'
Helder. Boulogne is impregnable, wil
digious risk and loss, and Antwerp is si
by a most diffi:ult country. The embarkatim
not calculated for what military men term.
wain. Enormous mortars, and cannon of
calibre, with immense stores fur sieges,
1000 artillerymen, are embarked. We
a • Officer of Engineers of rank was seat
Woolwich, and employed, merely from
knowledge of the place of attack.
4, The grand objea of our Expedition.
r:ons one it is, we therefore confilmtly