Star.
London, England, 1808-04-26 00:00:00

navigating states, how happens there to be such ex-
treme sympathy for American seamen at Washing-
ton ? Especially in Gentlemen from the . interior
States, which have no seamen, or from thole Atlan-
tic States, whose native seamen bear a very small
proportion to those of New England ? In fact, the
causes of complaint are much fewer than are preten-
ded. They rarely occur in the States whose seamen
*are chiefly natives. The first merchant in the United
States, in answering my late inquiry about British
impressments, says, " Since the Chesapeake affair,
we have had no cause of complaint. I cannot find
one single instance where they have taken one man
out of a merchant vessel. I have had more than
twenty vessels arrived in that time, without one in-
stance of a man being taken by them. Three Swedes
were taken out by a French frigate. I have made
inquiry of all the masters that have arrived in this vi-
cinity, and cannot find any complaint against the
British cruizers."
Can Gentlemen of known hostility to foreign
merce in our own vessels—who are even willing to
annihilate it—(and such there are)—can these Gen-
tlemen plead the cause of our seamen because they
really wish to protect them ? Can those desire to pro-
tect our :earner'' who, by laying an unnecessary em-'
bargo, expose them by thousands to starve or beg t
One Gentleman has said (and I believe does not stand
alone), that sooner than admit the principle that
Great Britain had a right to take her own subjects
from our merchant vessels, he would abandon com-
merce altogether ! To what will every man in New
England and of the other navigating States, ascribe
such a sentiment ? A sentiment which, to prevent the
temporary loss of five men, by impress, would re-
duce fifty thousand to beggary ? But for the embargo
thousands depending on the ordinary operations of
commerce, would now be employed. Even under
the restraints of the Orders of the British Govern-1
ment retaliating the French Imperial Decree, very
large portions of the world remain open to the com-
merce of the United States. We may yet pursue our
trade with the British dominions, in every part of the
globe—with Africa, with China, and with the Colo-
nies of France, Spain, and Holland. And let me
ask, whether in the midst of a profound peace, when
the powers of Europe, possessing colonies, would, as
formerly, confine the trade with them to their own
bottoms, or admit us, as foreigners, only under great
limitations, we could enjoy a commerce much more
extensive than is practicable at this moment, if thej
embargo were not in the way ? Why then should it be
continued ? Why, rather, was it ever laid ? Can
those be legitimate reasons for the embargo, which'
are concealed from Congress, at the moment when
they are required to impose it ? Are the reasons to
be found in the dispatches from Paris ? These have
been moved for—and the motion was quashed by the
advocates for- the embargo. Why are these dis-
patches withheld by the Executive ? Why, when all
classes of citizens anxiously inquire " For what is
the embargo laid ?" is a satisfactory answer denied ?
Why is not Congress made acquainted with the actual
situation of the United States in relation to France ?
Why, in this dangerous crisis, are Mr. Armstrong's
letters to the Secretary of State absolutely withheld,
so that a line of them cannot be seen ? Did they con-
tain no information of the demands and intentions
the French Emperor ? Did the Revenge sail from
England to France, and there wait three or four
weeks for dispatches of no importance ? If so, why,
regardless of the public solicitude, are their contents
so carefully concealed ? If really unimportant, what
harm can arise from telling Congress and the Nation
sOcially, that they contain nothing of moment to the
safety, the liberty, the honour, or the interests of the
United States ? On the contrary, are they so closely
locked up, because they will not bear the light ?
Would their disclosure rouse the spirit of the people,
still slumbering in blind confidence in the Executive?
Has the French Emperor declared that he will have
no neutrals ? Has he required that our ports, like
those of his vassal States in Europe, be shut against
British commerce ? Is the Embargo a substitute—a
milder form of compliance with that harsh demand,
which, if exhibited in its naked and insulting aspect,
the American spirit might yet resent ?—Are we still
to be kept profoundly ignorant of the declarations and
avowed designs of the French Emperor, although
these may strike at our liberty and independence ?
And, in the mean time, are we, by a thousand irrita-
tions, by cherishing prejudices, and by exciting fresh
resentments, to be drawn gradually into a war with
Great Britain ? Why, amidst the extreme anxiety of
the public mind, is it still to be kept on the rack of
fearful expectation, by the President's portentous
silence respecting his French dispatches ? In this con-
cealment there is danger. In this concealment must
be wrapt up the real cause of the embargo. On any
other supposition it is inexplicable.
I am alarmed, Sir, at this perilous state of things ;
I cannot repress my suspicions • or forbear thus to
exhibit to you the grounds on which they rest. The
people are advised to repose implicit confidence in
the National Government ; in that unbounded, con-
fidence lies our danger. Armed with that confidence
the Executive may procure the adoption of measures
which may overwhelm us with ruin, as surely as if
he had an army at his heels. By false policy, or by
inordinate fears, our country may be betrayed and sub-
jugated to France, as surely as by corruption. I
trust, Sir, that no one who knows me will charge it
to vanity when I say, that I have some knowledge of
public men and public affairs ; and on that knowledge
and with solemnity I declare to you, that I have no
confidence in the wisdom or correctness of our public
measures : that our country is in imminent danger :
that it is essential to the public safety that the bend
confidence in our rulers should cease ; that the State
Legislatures should know the facts and reasons on
which important general laws are founded ; and espe-
cially that those States, whose farms are on the ocean, and
whose harvests are gathered in every sea, should imme-
-1
diately and seriously consider how to preserve them. In
all the branches of Government, commercial infor-
mation is wanting ; and in "'this desert" called a
city, that want cannot be supplied. Nothing but the
sense of the commercial States, clearly and emphati-
cally expressed, will save them from ruin.
Are our thousands of ships and vessels to rot in
our harboUrs ? Are our sixty thousand 'seamen and
fishermen to be deprived of employment, and, with
their families; reduced to want and beggary ? Are
our hundreds of thousands of farmers to be com-
pelled to suffer their millions in surplus produce, to
perith on their hands ;*that.the President maismake