The National Register.
London, England, 1808-12-25 00:00:00

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" TO 11IE SENATE. ANI) At' TirrRT:SENTATIYI:S or
TUE I`NITED STATEs.

" It would have been a source, fellow -citizens, of murli
tification, if our last commitnications from Europe hail unaided
me to inform you, that the belligereut nations, lio:se disregard
of neutral right has been st`i destrurti% e to our commerce, had
become awakened to the duty and the Idic\ of revokiug their
uorighteous edicts. That RID mentis mip.lit be omitted to produce
this salutary effect, I lost no time in availing myself of the Art
authorising a suspensor,
in w hole, or in part of the sever;,l
Embargo Laws. Our Ministers at Louden and Paris there in-
structed to explain to the respective Governments there, our
iiisposiiion to exercise the authority in such manner as itoulel
withdraw the pretext on which the aggresinns!Were on inallt
founded, and open the is ac for a rencttrut of that commercial in-
tercourse, which it was alleged, on all sides, had been reluctant-
ly obstructed. As each of these Governments had pledged its
readiness to concur in renouncing a measure, which reaciaul its
adversary through the iiicontestible rights of neutrals mil v, and
as the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation for an
asserted acquiescence in the aggressions of the other, it was rea-
sonably expected that the occasion would have been seized by
both, for evincing the sincerity of their profession;, and forre-
storing to the United States its legitimate freedom. The in-
structions to our Ministers, with respect to the different Belli-
gerents, were Necessarily modified with a reference to their dif-
ferent circumstances, and to the condition annexed fiv law to the
executive power of suspension, requiring a degree of seeurit. to
our commerce, which would not result from a repeal of the de-
caves of France. Instead of a ',sledge, therefore, fora suspen-
sion of the embargo as to her, in case of such a repeal, it was
prestnned that a sufficient inducement might be found in other
considerations, and particularly in the change produced by a
compliance with our just demands, by one -Belligerent, and a
refusal by the other, in the relations bets\ een this other and the
United States. To Great Britain, whose power eu the ocrao
is
4o ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent a ith that eon,lilion.
to Stale, explicitly, that on her rescinding her orders ni relation
to the commerce of the 17nited State, their trade would be
opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy, in case of his
failure to rescind his decrees also. From France no answer has
been received, nor any indication that the requisite change in
her decrees is contemplated. The favourable reception ofahe
Propositions to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her
Orders of Council had not only been referred for their ira-
tion to ars acquiescence on the part of the Utdted States, no
longer to be pretended ; but as the arrangement-proposed, is hilst
it resister the illegal decrees of' France, invoked, moreover,
sobstantially the precise advantages professedly aimed at by. the
British Order*. The arrangement has, nevertheless, been re-
jected.
" This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and
no other e% eat having occurred on which a suspension of the Im-
burg() Its the Lxecutive was authorised, it necessarily remains
ill the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction,
however, 10 reflect, that in return for the privations
imposed by
th, measure, and which our fellow-citizens in general have borne
with patriotism, it has had the important effects of saving our
mariners, and our vast mercantile property, a* well as of atford-
he; time for prosecuting the defensive and proviSional measures
called for by the occasion. It has demonstrated to foreign
nations the moderation and firmneis which govern our Counclls,
and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the la vs,s
and the rights of their country ; and has thus long frustrated
those usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted, involved
war ; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national
independence.
Under ;t continuance of the Belligerent measures. which. ill.
si Clancy of laws w Welt consecrate the rights of peutrals, ayer

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