The Sun.
London, England, 1812-06-08 00:00:00

1ND1.:4-HOUSE,

June 6, 1812.'
THE COURT of DIRECTORS of the UNITED
COMPANY of MERCHAiVY'S of ENG4AND,Trad-
ing to the East Indies, do hereby give Notice,
That a GENERAL COURT of the said Company wa Le
held at their House in Leadenhall-street, on Tuesday next,
the 9th in t. at Eleven o'cic.ek in the Forenoon, on spec::::

it.elMSelY, Sec.

necessary to go to America to procure these ` cer
tificates 5' they are to be purchased at Most of the
.
sea ports of'the United Kingdom. The crews of
American vessels are not only entered on the cer-
tified list,' but are also furbished with these inks
vidualprotections; frequently in duplicate, and even
Triplicate ; they are offered for sair.s. to British sea-
men the age and description are altered and
erased to suit those of the purchaser ; a ceremony
however, which 'is, not always observed, as it is by
no means uncommon for a man with blue eye:
and sandy hair, to carry about with him a `-cola
lector's certificate', describing a mulatto, '
If to the vast number of protections thus issued'
from the American custom-houses, with so little
caution and withotit any proof, be added the nna
merous forgeries of this kind of documents il:n4
the protections that are granted by the American
Consuls and Vice-torisuls, and Notaries Public,,
it is not surprising that English seamen, in the dis-
guise of Americans, should be met with in almost
every English vessel that navigates the ocean.
We have partly the means of ascertaining the
extent of the injury Sustained by Great Britain
from the profuse supply of the doeunisnts we have
been describing. We have seen a collector's
certificate' of • Philadelphia bearing - inumber
above 20,000, and one 'of New-York • exceeding
12,000; of Roston above 8,000. We should wt.
(ferrate the other ports collectively at 40,000 -more;
and-taking into the account the forged Certificates,
the duplicates and triplicates, the, 'certificates of
Consuls and Notaries, we are . certainly withi
bounds in estimating the outstanding number of
protected' American seamess 'at 109,000. What
proportion of these may bel.;yeal .Ameri-2an.nctire
seamen; or born of Araericiin settlers, it would b
difficult to determine. The whole tonnage of
Great Britain in the merchant and transport ser-
vice employs • about 120,000 Men. To allow to
America one-third of this slumber would probably
be allewing . her too much ; but to keep within
bounds, we will admit it to be. one half there
still remain 40,G00 British seamen navigating mer-
chant ships of our own and neutrals, under cover
of American protections.
It appears from a correspondence that took
place between Monroe and the Secretary of
State in 1804, that about one one-fourth part taf
those seamen, 'whose: discharge from the British
Navy had been applied for bx the Consul at va-
rious times, " had produCed satisfactory proofs of
American. citizenship ; the remaining three-fourth
were rea4 British seamen. Taking the ,number
as nominal Americans serving in the navy at 4;000,
which we understand is beyond the calculation, we
cannot on these data reckon the number of Ameri-
cans serving in the British navy at morethan 1,000..
If this statenent be correct we are injured in a .
forty-fold p!-q..tion to America, by the effact
the `Act of C'ongress for the relief .and protection,.
of American seamen'.' It would be little short of
. madness then, we repeat, and an act of political
suicide, to give up our right of search for Britiih
seamen, and to admit the American flag to pro-
tect all those sailing under it. We- have heard
indeed, that it has been more than once suggest-
ed, by the American Government, that some com-
promise or modification of. the exercise of this
right might be devised,which should, equally with
the actual search itself, 'secure the object of re-
taining to Great Britain the services of all her'
seamen. If the American Government has any
such arrangenaeut to propose, there will, of course,
be no indisposition on the part of this country
to examine it. But we cannot forbear to express
our extreme apprehension that the sbstitution of
any other less simple mode of enforcing this Mi.-
doubted right would be found to multiply the op.-
portunities of evading it. 'We protest against any
scheme of paper security, any accurnu.ation of
certificates and of oaths, of which we have but too
much already, And seeingnootherthetbas been,

as tar as we know) can be devised, We content
olln,t-lves \vial observing . on this proposal of the
Ar:-..!rican Government, that it clearly; imequivO-
caiv, and in' a manner more satisfactory than a
dirt e a nd naked acquiescence, admits the legality
of the right, and the necessity of the practice, for
whir,'ll it offers a substitution: Against this right,
therefore, surely America Will not go to war.
What then can be her motive-for assuming her.
present hostile attitude towards .Great Britain ?
It cannot be, the wantonness of Wealth, since their
Secretary of the Treasury tells them that the state
. .
of 'their fluances is not even equal to • the peaCe
establishment. :Mr. Jefferson, in a message .to
Congres,s, in 1805, observed ;—‘ It may-be the
pleasure and pride of an American to ask, 'what
farmer,
.what meckanic,' what labourer, ever sees
a tax-gatherer of the United States ?' We leave
to Mr. Gallatin the pleasure and pride of answer-
ing the American's question.'
. Can it be the love of conquest ? This is a very

6:i

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f

natural object for a great military power :- but for
, a power whose army is yet a project pn,paper, it
seems peima facie not a very intelligble one: We.
learn, however, from the gentleman who brought
up the report of .their Committee, that they will
' take Canada. What proportion of the 25,000
men which-they are to raise, they will be able to
.bring against Quebec; after having conquered-500.
miles of territory, and garrisoned 14Iontreal, and
ali the. interfuediate forts, after all the casualties
of so long a march, of partial skirmiShes,.and re-
gular sieges; we do not.venture to calculate; nor
even, to hint at the, opposite supposition,, that the
invading force, if it should ever reach the capital
of Canada, might possibly arrive there as captives
./
latlicr•tlian as conquerors.
As to the capture of the British .West.lndiazco-
lollies; it may be just sufficient to observe, that
the warlike navy. of America, as .enumerated .in
their official reports, does not appear to be quite •
competent to such an achievement. .

• The confiscation of the debts due .from Ameri-r
can citizens. to British subjects (thee third great
belligerent measure of America) is unquestionabli
more within their poWv. • Bat of this, it Must be
remembered', that it is equally within their power
in peac'e as well as war ; and for, aught that:we
sec, or have-heard, or read of the practice of civi-,
lised nations; would. be equally justifiable. The
hint, however, has, we think, been improvidently
thrown out by America ; for; anticipating as we
do. with no less anxiety than any of our fellow-
subjects, the renewal of commercial intercourse
with the United 'States, we are not without .our

apprehensions that the ,very_ circumstance of such
a measure- as this confiscation of individual debts,
having been in
.contcyplation, may operate here
as a warning against the :extraVagant. length of
credit which our merchalits have been in the habit
of giving to their American correspOndents.
Considering the war on the- part of America, as
a war for commerce, we are not aware what ad-
vantages she designs-to herself from it. - Her trade,
it is true, may be cramped by the present ,state .of,
the European-world : but her exports still amount,
as we learn from Mr. Gallatin, .to more than
forty-five millions of dollars ; and of these exports
more than five-sixths are carried to Great Britain
and her.

(To be continued.)

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