The Sun.
London, England, 1808-01-01 00:00:00

"111,1ER1C,.1N PAPERS..

SENATE.--WAsHlNG'istm .qu'y, Nov, 30,
Mr. COOK.' 'observed ; that the House had been
some time in. Session, and had done nothing, on the
great national question forwhicb they had altsembled.
Sitme'were in want of the information ,necessary, ,
and some perhaps of the disposition to aEt. For the
purpose of gaining that information, he submitted
the following Resolutions
-1. ,Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be
direEted to lay before this Housee statement of the
number of Frigates and other armed' Vessels compos,
ins 'the Navy of the United. States, distinguishing
those in a6nal service from those in ordinarpand
those in want of repairs, the sums neeeirary to put
them to gtual service, and the time' necessary fOr
making such repairs.
. Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be
diretied to lay. before this House, a statement of the
number of Officers and men respe6tiveli, belonging
to the Navy of the United States and the Marine
Corps.
Reiolved, That the Secretary of 'the Navy,be
direded to lay tiefoie thi's House a statement of the,
sminber at' Officers and men "NO may be, necessary
to man the whole and entire,lforce•of the ,United
States, including Gnn-boats ; and an estimate of the,
expetice necessary to keep dim in aaultt s'er'vice
during one year.
4. Resolved, That the Secretary of the -,Navy be'
diretled to lay before this House, a statement of the
quantity, quality, and present
,state of the timber
and other materials belo'nging to the United States,
now on hand, and the purpbses for whiclsi spell mp-
terials may be suited.
Mr. Statue wished the dentleman .testate the
-objet of the reOotutions; and Whether the building
of a Fleet was to follow. A report was on .theta-ble, which.was a part of the system of 'defence now
in contemplation. He thought it best to do one
thing at once; he therefore moved to postpone the
further consideration of the resolutions until this
day week.
Mr. COOK was surprised to find' any ObjeetiOn to
the Resolutions they merely went to request in-
formation uccessary for the House 'to have. There
was nothing in them about increasing or dedreallitlg
the Navy. He thought we had slept long enough :
he feared we alight sleep the sleep of death.
Mr. Mitalott thought the 'Motion of his Col-

league (Mr. Saillie). very extraordinary.' • Not With,
standing the Gentleman's great antipathy. to a Navy,
• he was surprised that
..he should be unwilling to
grant the House the infortnition now requited.---p
Whether the Navy 'was to be increased or annihin.
laced, it was necessary tbr. the Hense to liosse's.stli!l
information requested in the Resolutions. He -be"-
Loved there were not ten Gentlemen on the flodr
. who knew the present, situation of our naval affairs,
bow many vessels were in.etnal service, how many
were in ordinary, or how. many were."rotting
. It had been said on the last day the House were
in session, that we were on ibe,,eve of a war; he bd.
lieved one Gentleman had 'Said, that...We 'were
aaually at war, In this situation, a Gentleman
;.:ornes forword and ~.objeas to the call. for necessary
• a )oforrnation respeaing the present state of. our de-
. zlence;. and partieularly when the r winter was, ap-
proaching, at which time die difficulty of reptdring
our vessels greatly increased.
Mr. Momman said the House hadbrti'
la month
in session, and had done 'nothing, altitoisiti•the.
...tion was continually looking, up, to • therißotise for
.a teething to be done. Ho hoied the llbt se,would
Immediately proceed to the. defence or the 14atioti•
Look at the preparations in Canada and Nova Scotia,
where Troops have arrived,.'and others'ale expi4ed •
Twenty thousand. men,, were said to be destined
. 'for South America, when they might la faa.be des-
tined far the West' Indies,; 'and fourteen-Sail of the
Line were said to be destined for the. West Indies,
when tit -A6t they. mighk to blockade our .own
ports. •

Mr. DANA said that the bbje& of theltettnlutions
ilea merely to gain official ,information ; he thought
them important, as our affairs were certainty in a
very delicate situation.' Some- Gentlemen had said
that we were on the eve of a war if so, we should
lour* know our means of , defence: lf it Was im-
proper in the house to know the-means, it was im-
;Proper in the President to commend the subject to
their consideration. • 4.1,c
Mr. SMILIE said, that if the Gentleman from
New-York (Mr—Mumford) suppcised'that ho was
_ opposed to putting the Country in a state of de-
fence, he was incorrea; he thought that in our
present critical situation, we ought to proceed
as if we were atually at war. But he did not
think that Fleets were the best mode of defence; he
believed that our Ports and Harbour&ought to be
fortified.
Mr. Srnilie's motion to postpone was `lost.
Mr. Coosc said, he consented to withdraw the first
Itesolution, as it api eared the House had received a
letter from the Secretary of the Navy, gillng the

information required by it buthe hoped the House
would adopt the others: .
The question was then taken on .the three reniairk-
ing Resolutions and they were agreed to.

NEW YORK, Dtcb S.
,From the National Intelligeneer of the 30th ult.]

Posyscitirr.--We learn that our Government ye-
ceived no letters from Mr.'Moratos by the British
Packet lately arrived. lt Was before 'known, that
on' the 7th of September, Mr, Mobiaot addresse4.l,
note to Mr. CiNwitiO, iu consequence of his in-.
struefions by the Reilenie,: complaining of the ag-
gressiOn
.on *the Chesapeake,. calling on that Go-
vernment for reparation of the wrong, and for
a final discitsion and understanding on their claim
to take whomsoever they chase to call their seamen,
Wheriter found ; and assuring him at the same

time, that he was authorised to concur in ar-'
rangeinents- liberally calculated' to take- away all
groUnd 'for that praaice. It is now rumoured that
the answer was, that by the President's Proclaina-

tion,' we bed. taken the buiiness of satisfaaion for
the aggression on the Chfisupeake, so far into ..our
own liana ; that still, however, the British Go-
vernment was -ready to 'enter into n discussion of
thit aa, if it could :be done separately,' leaving.
their general claini. to Andre negociatioln .; but as
Mr. MoNuog considered himself unantherised to
settle this as septately, tint Oov.iiiimenritrould
enter with him . .into no explanations concerti-
ing it, but would send 3 NliniSter' to this place:
for that special purpose. Whether this is a.
pure manoeuvre, to avoid 'a
settlement, and
lose the spbjeet, altogether in the endless.
tnazes of. peiociati9ni is to be judged of by
the promptitude or the delay of thii
In the. mean time our peace is left at the mercy of

their Officers, whose interest and wish is war with
all mankind ; and how can it be pretended that the
subjeashave-rso connbaliOn ? They-claim a right to
take those whom tliey call their s'eatheti—(and und6r
that cover ours also) Wherever they can find theni,
even without their own jurildiaion: And Ist%
Their Officers are in the daily, pra&ice of taking

them from on_beard our Merchant Vessels, mid
with theni many. more of : ours than of theirs.
2. They have repeatedly done. the same in foreign
ports and countries, pariicullrly itt Canton, in Lis-
bon, and now lately in Madeira, - going ashore and
seizing them in the streets and houses of the place.
3. In the instance now in qUestion, they have ex-
tended it,to the taking them by force from our na-
tional armed Ships. And '4. The next step may be
to patrole- by thc,ir press-gang's, the streets of New.
Yo k and Norfolk and take froM thence all those
who may suit them; their principle
%evidently goes
:to that extent. ls it then sufficient.to receive satii-
Saaion for an aa done under one particular branch
of this abuse, without any assurance that it will not..
be repeated .the nexti day Under the others ? .Cer-
.tain .is there never' can. be friendship, nor
even a continuance of peace, with England so
long as no American citi7.en.can leave his • o.wn

shores without danger of. being seized by the first
British Officer he meets, and made to serve 49
common seaman on board their ships of war : and
equally so, that if the general question 'is not set.
fled now, we may,. give,it up for ever, and let our
citizens understan4 that they are abandoned by their
Countiy, to the 'Unbridled powet of every British.
Naval Commander. , 1 '

The Glmjaec4n trading Ve.Ssel, between Liver-
pool. and' Londonderry, was wrecked and totally
lost in the late gales, and all on board perished.—
A: trunk, with Brigadier-General SPENCEIes [mini;
'upon it, washed on ihe coast of the Isle of Angle.
sea, and proteded by Mr... JON us, Agent ,to the
Earl.of thetttnos,, hat ascertained ttio melancholy
fate of this Wessel, vin hoard of which it :is feared
there were a number of passengers. The whole
of Brigadier-General Svpicares baggage, and also
of his' family, was shipped on board this Vessel at'
Liverpool, to a very considerable amount, and not
insured.

`Yesterday. a, Vessel
.arrived at Gravesend from
Holland, but brought no intelligence of import-
ance. Recent aoeounts• from Dantzic state, that
t 5,000 French •troops still remain in that, city-and
its neighbourhood.-,„ The King of ruins' A has not
yet removed from.iletnel.—.A scarcity of provisions
.is yery severely felt at Dantzic. It is laid that ,gout
,si poundS of a very coarse kind of brown bread
costa tilere, and in other parts of Prusiaot least
two shillings., ••
cATALANI.--thaugh the admirers of music,. and
. the frequenters of the Opera House may regret that
this Performer. has.thought proper to relinquialt.her
.engagement, yet it must be gratifying to all, people
of-good sense, Who .duly
,reflea upon the situation
of the Country.—We are at this. time suffering
under beavyburthens, rendered, however, absohne.
ly necessary, by► the, ambition and the ImappeaSable
malevolence of the Enemy, and therefore it wai
im-
possible to hear,. without. strong sentiments of regret.,
of the enormous sum which was to 'be-paid tO this
Performer, amounting, if we may trust. report, o not
less than five thousand poundS' for the season and
two Benefits besides, which were to be guaranteed
to the extent of a thousand pounds each 'This
would be a monstrous sum in the Must secure and
tranquil times, even if given to a native of our soil,
merely for singing; but , when intended for • a
Foreigner,. to be eventually spent-in the Country of
our bitterest Enemy, such .an extravagant reeorn-
pence might indeed • well be Aviv-frilled as a proii
national follY, at this awful and al..rtning