The Sun.
London, England, 1812-01-13 00:00:00

go :lung accustomed, and I,vlth the value of .which
you were so well acquainted ; that constitution,
with very little. alteration or amendment, you had
the wisdoM to adopt ; and the'more,there is of Eng-
lish essent in it, the greater chance it- has of free-
dom, of solidity, and of permanence.
Your commerce, therefore, your liberty, and your
laws, are all of British origin ; and for the sWeets
of literature, the accompaniMents of commerce
and of liberty, you, are also indebted to' the same
parent isle. ,
From England, the seat of the arts and of the
muses, the soil of, the brightest science and the pro-
foundest learning, you have at all times obtained the
seeds of clasaie lore,arid the.fruits of general lcnow-
ledge ; when you were children, titular the imme-
diate saperintendance of that Most respectab!e
ther, she afforded, you, .with. parental solicitude, all
the pre-eMinent advantages of an English education ;
to the truth of this, your many colleges, all•- of
which, I believe, were foebded while you were
lonists, can give undotibted evidence you 'were at
no time kept in ignorance, you drafik at the Pierian
spings of Britain with a free welcome, and to those
springs you owe- all the blessings 'of literature thet
have hitherto benefitted or adorned your country
since the day of its iudependenee ; at this hour you
cannot, nay, I am sure you would not, pride your-
selVes upon any work of literary distinction, the me-
rit and success of Which could not be traced Co your
existence as Englishmen ; what, would' induce you
to relinquish't hat right Which' you undoubtedly pos-
sess, of sty ling the mighty authora of British litera-
ture your fellow-coutitrymen ? in the mother tongue
which you now speak, they wrote with elegance and
sublimity, they are now your preceptors and your
patterns ; and it will be well for you, if for ages to
come, they, Or suchlike men of English hearts and
understandings, are at all times your standards of li-
terary excellence. I would disoitm you as serung
from Britons, if I thought you cherished' not the
feelings of brotherly love for a Shakespeare, a Nth-
top, or a Newton, a Pope, an Addison, t..r. a John-
son—they were all Englishmen ; and do you not,
Americans, feel an honest pride in the reflection that
they had the same national bloodit hat is now fl :wing
in your own veins? When you were colonies of Bri-
tain, there were men among you, and not a few,who
gave evident proof of tie etlicicy of British litera-
ture in the refineMent and polish of the American
mind, 0! these men, the agitation and turbulence of
your Revolution drove some from your shores, many
remained in,ahe laud, and became conspicuous in the
annals of the revolutionary Contest, but Ihe genius
and the talents of all of them, in whatever sphere
they Fho,ne, were of English origin, Sand owed their
value and their eminence to no other Source what-
ever ; your Franklin, your Adams, your Hamilton,
and your Ames,'were burn and bred under the flag
and Government of your parent country, and I chal-
lenge,you to produce their superiors among those of
more modern tame, who have been nurtured undei
the authority and influence of your free and inde-
pendent dominion ; if you have no superiors to
ihese,where will "ou find an equal to your Wash-
ington ?
Your country, I have no doubt, contains a re-
apeaable proportion of wise. and good men, but I
will venture the assertion, that the wisest and the
best among you are those who nourish that, 'regard
for. Englishmen which Englishmen nourish for
Americans ; at the present awful period of Euro-
pean Convulsion, permit me then,, Americans, to
inquire, whether if your interest, pecuniary or po-
litical, should ever so imperiously demand it, you
could from your hearts oppose the present glorious
cause of that country, from which you have derived
the inestnoable blessings 4 have enumerated, and
with which you have been so long filially connect-
ed; fOrtunately for you, however, and you know
-itaybur closest interest, upon every ground of poli-
tical and commercial consideration, would require
you to take that side of the momentous struggle to
which principle and honour, and eitfeiition, ought
to lead you against the most rigorous force of inte-
rest.
If it be your interest to live in comfort and in
safety, to have yobr property secured, and your per-
sons prOte6led against abuse, .assault, and oppres-
sion, if it be your interest to preserve that com-
merce, without which I affirm, in defiance of the
th..a)retical fancies of some of your late rulers, you
cannot exist as a nation, if it be your interest to be
wise and wealthy, to be religious and moral, to he
good and great, could undr the wing of that coun-
try which has the power and the inclination to shel-
ter you : beware of offending her beyond the reach
of forgiveness and reconciliation.
You have frequently and of late tortured her pa-
tience, and put her indulgence to the severest test,
if your infatuation or your imprudence should make
you a prey to the machinations of her enemy, let
nut his artifice cajole you into a rupture with a ceun-
try, which he knows you'ought to love, but which
is the avowed ohje6l 61 his dread and envy.
In those-days of revolutionary trouble, which are
yet fresh in your remembrance, the wailare that
was then cart ied on by ihe parent state, .against her
revolting colonies, was not a system of confirmed
hostility; it was a measure of necessity, commenced
with rehictanee, and pursued with distrust and de-
licacyo—The British nation was by no means unani-
Mous in the undertaking; you were the objects of
affection with some, and of compassion with others,
for many considered your cause as their own, and
many view our complamts—ehe just result of ri-
gorous and oppressive treattnent.
But, 'Americans, if the sword of your nation be
once drawn against the power of Britain in the pre-
sent contest, remember that it is not the cry of in-
dependence that calls you tothefight ; Englishmen,
in the heat and tumult of a war, which they have
long sustained for the freedom of the world, and in
which they have bren worried and mortified by the
defection of their allies, Will wonder what could
have brought you to the battle; they Will impute
your hostility- to an unnatural and'ill-grounded pre-
tereace for the cause of their bitterest enemy, and
will consider you as -enlisted under his banner from
the most unpardonable of all motives7-that- of ag-
grandizing yourselves at the expence of their down-
fall ; while van) would be your hope, and ruinous
to you the 'attempt in so gad a puisud. And what
possible views of interest could lead you to the
side of our opponent? France, withali the united
srrength of her European vassals, cannot ex-