The Sun.
London, England, 1814-08-05 00:00:00

FRENCH -NEWSPI\ PERS.

TriCl.olloiVing sensible remarks on the pt•esent
state of French New.t3papers;- are extracted front
the. Journal des Daats : !‘ \Ve still meet with
many ireolde,AWho, from lUtbit, rc sri anr.iournals
an they were. Wont, and as they ot.ght to be read
prior, to the 31st of 2ylarell : this is an error,
against which it is the wore important to guard
thepublic, as it Would .prevent us troth doing the
good which we wish to do) and often even give
Us a pernicious influence which we do riot:

possess. •
`f Under the late Government, all that'appeare
in the public papers came from the Police ; ti.tere:
was not an article Of news, nor a political
tlection which was not revised, altered, augmented,
or perverted at the IL'olice7ofliCe. The action of
authority on 'the Journals was a thing notorious,
and manifest to all the. world., They were, there;.
fore, with reason, considered as so Many official,..
or demi,offici4l, puhlicationS, Which expressed
merely the ideas and the views of the. Govern-
ment. In this way articles of news acquired.
great importanee; because people endeavoured,
to learn froarthein the 'intentions of the Oppressed'
of Enrcipe; and articles of eulogy *ere
cant,, because their insertion was ordered : at that
time there were no organs of public opinion, but
on'y organs of power. . .
"._NoW the case is altered.' All that we pub-
lish in our Journals is of our own selection. 'We
point out the sottrees,of our intelligence, and give
it, such as 'we find it in the foreign Gazettes, or
receive it from our correspondents : of co!irs..it
Must; at times, be erroneous; for our rot respon:-
dents not being initiated into the secrets of Courts,
cannot ebmnYtinicate to tis what passes 'there ex-
cept,from external appearances, which are some-
times deceitful ; hut at the same time it is im-
portant to remark, that as our articles of intelli-
gence dd not come from Government, they' can-
not be tiseribed to it, nOr become for it a sobject
of. diplomatic -bigkerings. This is sufficiently
proved by the example of. Englatitlisuthere. the (40•-•
vernment is at ud rime responsdilt• for what up-
ppeurs aOkuar c croctfl•tel cttotos rarc t
of Lirttrutyh em Je
to)
,tt
,r‘t.tialo ss.
cctn-
science and` their tneans of observation. We t,.vcal.t
freely what we think either' on the plan cif ;! t-,7
presented by the Ministers; or on propositions
made in the Chahiber of Deputies.
.‘ It in the freedoni of the Journals "that the
liberty of the preSs chiefly consists,—.that wise
and useful liberty which the Kin Les proclaili)ett
as the basis of a libe.ral constitution. Front it
there is no incbuyenience to he fotind
but advantage to be hoped. A journal VillSE not
be confounded with an ephemeral pamphlet, which
has only the printer's name as a guarantee,. And
bf wbielt the true author may ,always remain unH.
known. The guarantee afforded by journals rc.;.
stilt froM their fixtd and permanent establishittent,
though .their sheets are fugitive. The proprietors
and editors are all men well known,• both to the
Govetament and the, Public. .They are alw,yi
ready to answer for -the article's •iyhich they
insert." - •

Ts- L. . SUN REVIEW,

(so. XVII.)

The right and Practice of Impressinent, as concern-
bar Great nritmin anti America, considered.--

:Niu-Rtz:vv, Albemarle-street, pp. 68.

This masterly pamphlet is ascribed to the pen
of Gentleman high in oilier, and celebrated in
the literary world.; and it hears internal marks
of proceeding from a person who has access to
official information, antL svhost‘ talents are -(l4_
that sitperior ordir, which-enables the individual
gift( d with them to make the best nee of elm
be=t viaterials. As the subject Of which the
Writer treats is one of peculiar interest at this
era, and as be has handled his subject in a,
manner which renders every elision an act of
injustice, we are sure we shall be excused if
we Trocea to wake eopiOns extracts from this
production, without Marring , their effect by many
observations (Yf our own. The author sets out by
specifying the appropriate tinie 'chosen by Mr.
NiArrisolsT to declare war againit tngland (on the.
eve of the Russian invasion) had lie intended to
operate a' diversion in favour of BUONikPARTE.-
.
Ile then notices the -sncesSiVe rearval of all
the grounds for hostilities advanced by the
American Government as a cover for the real
cause, and the lAst pretence, supplied on the
emergency of the moment, the question cf
imprdsnient, never hinted at before, and only
resorted to when the moderation of Britain
had destroyed every vestige of those subjects
of complaint originally insisted on as the osten-
sible injuries which must be redressed. by the
sword. Consblering' this to be, as it clearly is,.
nothing more than a mere pretence to colony devo-
tion to BtioNArAnTE with the semblance of an
American object, the wiiter nevertheless states
the arginent gravely., and proceeds to analize the
two-fold nature of the Mot SONI AN complaint.

1. Or the Impressment of British' Subjects from
American vessels ; and,
2. Of the forcibly taking or detaining Ameri-
can .e,lmen, under pretence that they arc British

subjects.
The first of these complaints,- he ja.stly ob-
serves, , involves the question of Right of Search-
and Impressment from Neutral Ships in general
sectind, that of the practice as it affects Ame-
rica—and he undertakes to she that the former is
utterly ,tiufounded, and the latter grossly exalt=
plated. Upon the first head, our right of im-
prossment, as being engaged in war, and entitled
to the services of all the natural-bore .subjects of
the State, it is observed, that America. seems to
(len), this'right on twogrounds—
. 1..Q0 an assertion of the right of a natural:-
born subject of one State to adopt, and naturalize
him-self in.- -another ; and to transfer his alle-
giance to the latter, to the exclusion of the

former, .
"2. On the general objection to-the search Of
neutral ships by a belligerent.''
The Author, however, shews, from the best
writers on the law of.natiOns, that every country
must, of nerqssity, and for self-preservation, pus-
m!ss this right, now questioned for the• first time ;
d thus, conki titles
" But this duty of allegiance is not 'only uni-
versal, or applicable to every subject, b;tt is inde-
feasible, and cannot be put oil. It is an engage-
ment contracted by the citizen at his. bit th, and
ro-exis!ent with his life ; for, if: it were other-
wi!ze,—if every individual were to have the Power
of transferring his allegiunce at his own will and
pleasure,--the greatest crime known to the law
of all countries, n'tmely, High Treason, %could be-
come a safe and profitable practice. If- it were.
tawful to change a allegiance WICC, it would
be lat~ful t,) change it as 'often as the individual
pleased—ft-bin England to America, and from
America, back again to England. Men- would
change their national character to evade the re-
o.u:sitions made on their personal or pecuniary
service. Deserters from the cause of their coun-
try would be merely neatrafizd citizens and de-
serters to the- enemy, citizens who had transferred
their allegiance ; the punishment of offences
against the laws of God, and of the land, would
be evaded by the transfer of the allegiance of the
offender, and the whole frame and state of So-
ciety would be disordered and subverted. •

‘"l'he doctrine which leads to these monstrous
conclusions, and which nb nation of the old world
ever thought of, it remained for America to ad-

vance." •
After noticing a probable reason why America
should thus- endeavours to erect a new system of '
inter-national law, sic. the European code, _being
us yet of 'no use to this young country, the Writer
ably, refutes the false allegation set un_by the ene-
my, that a similar naturalization of 'foreign sea-
men was legalized in England by 13 Geo. 11.
sap. 3. which enacts, that-
- after the year 1739, every foreign seaman, who
" shall have served two years in one •of his Ma-
" itsty's ships, shall be taken' to be a natural-
" burn subject' of his Majesty ; and shall, be .en-
v tled to all-the privileges, powers, rights, and
" capacities, of a,natural-born.subiect,-
" Now this Act," says the writer, " is alto-
gether in favour of the foreign seaman ;
,it imparts
to him a new character without obliterating the
old it confers privileges. and capacities on him ,
it, Protects him iu his person and property; hilt it
never rias been construed or considered to create
any new liability in _dui foreigner, or 'to exact
from him any thing inconsistent
,with his
allegi-
ni►cc to his liativC Sovereign ; it Makes him an
Englishman in civil and personal concerns, as for
cis he may choose-in be one; but interferes not with
his own wishes or his Sovereign's right as to hiS
personal services or his natural allegiance.- This

is 90 tytil uniter,t,ood in tI7gNO(I, it has hap-
pened that a foreigner has been disclo”.ged 'from
the Briiish naval service on the round of his
being.ft foreigner; And yet if wages or otliei-debts
front lodivicluals have been (life 'to him, the Soli-
citor of the Admiralty has beets directed to

silence a suit -agaitist the debtors in the foreigner's
brUalf, which be -himself might not be able to du
for want of means, and which, if his nation
should be at war with Great- Britain, he .Couhl not
.dc) without the assistance of the special law in his
favour..

" To this may be added another fact, that,
where the discharges olforeigners from the Bii-
tish sers'ice have been demanded by the Agenni of,
America; ori,ny- other State„or by the individUals
thenelves, it never has been set up as a bar against-
that (l-emand,. that ‘...they were •na.ruralized,by two
years' service in the British navy.'
" A few words num: will conclude what I have
to say, gcuerCily, as to foreigners iu
.tl,c
service.

" l'ha right of ImPREts.sING foreigner. let me
state, is, not only not claimed,- but, 'absolutely
disrlaimedin principle and prohibited in practice :
iu'thc cAse of the voLuNraitY enlistments
of fOrcigners, it will lgt found that the practice
of the British Admiralty is -et:insistent with, and
efirroborative of, all the principlcs fur' witich I
'have beLore contended. • _ _ .

" That practice recognizes (is was stated in the
House of Commons last year fronoovhoritv) two
diptinetebaracters in every•foreigti-seaman :—the
one individual and perishid, the other national.
In the former character, any aeanl nnty volun-
tarily enter the British service ;, anti having thus,
(if his own accord, entered into an individual
be is not permitted ag4io to change his
mind, and depart from that eng-ageMent.. He vo-
luntarily renounces his individucil rights as it fo-
reign eitilen, And is not allowed, at his pleasure,
to restnme them. ' ,

" Bit the natio;ml:character is not an indivi-
dna% but a public right': it [wrongs less to the.
seaman himself than to the Soyereign.Mi..) has a
claim to his service ; and it is therefore a►iotitted
that eve►t the volitutary entry of a foreigner into
our navy cannot bar the right of his So►•ereign to
reclaim him.
_ _

" Thus, then, the. aprikations of:ipdividuals
who have voluntarily entered are resisted, though
the claim of their Sovereign for their release is