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

an experiment on our patience and fortitude, and on
the towering pride, the boundless ambition, and nz.
yielding perseverance of the Conqueror of Europe
Sir, I have reason to believe that the President
contemplates the continuance of the embargo, until
the French Emperor repeals his Decrees, violating, as
well his treaty.with the United States as every mu.
tral right ; and until Britain thereupon recalls her
retaliating orders !—By that time we may Lave mi.
ther ships nor seamen ; and that is precisely the poi
to which some men wish to reduce us.—To see the
improvidence of tkis project (to call it by no harsher
name, and without adverting to ulterior views), let us
look back to former years.
_ _ _

Notwithstanding the well-founded complaints of
some individuals, and the murmurs of others ; not.
withstanding the frequent executive declarations of
maritime aggressions committed by Great Britain ;
notwithstanding the outrageous decrees of France and
Spain, and the wanton spoliations practised and ein.
cuted by their digitizers and tribunals, of which we
sometimes hear a faint whisper, the com;nerce of the
United States has hitherto prospered beyond all ex.
ample. Our citizens have accumulated wealth ; and
the public revenue, annually increasing, has been the
President's annual boast.
The facts demonstrate, that though Great Britain,
with her thousand ships of war, could have destroyed
our commerce, she has really done it no essential in-
jury : and that the other belligerents; heretofore re-
strained by some regard to national law, and limited
by the small number of their cruizers, have not ia-
fiicted upon it any deep wound. Yet in this full tide
of our success, our commerce is suddenly arrested ;
an alarm of war is raised ; fearful apprehensions are
excited ; the merchants in particular, thrown into a, •
state of consternation, are advised, by a voluntary
embargo, to keep their vessels at home. And what
is the cause of this mighty but mischievous alarm ?
We know it in its whole extent. It was the unauths.
rised attack of a British naval officer on the Ameri.
can frigate Chesapeake, to search for and take some
deserters known to have been received on board, who
had been often demanded, and as often refused to be
delivered up. As was efpected by all considerate
men, and by the President himself (as I have before
observed), the British Government;oa the first infor-
mation of the unfortunate event (and without wait-
ing for an application) disavowed the act of its offi-
cer—disclaimed the principle of searching national
armed vessels—and declared its readiness to make
suitable reparation, as soon as the state of the case
should be fully known.
Under such circumstances, who call justify this
alarm of war ? An alarm which greatly disquieted
the public mind, and occasioned an interruption of
commerce extremely injurious to our merchants and
seafaring citizens.
I will close this long letter lay stating all the exist-
ing jerdenctr—for there are no cause: for a war with
Great Britain,
1. The British sbips of war, agreeably to tight claimed and ex.
ercised for ages—alight claimed and exercised during the whole
of the administration of Washington, of Adams, and of Jefferson
—continue to take some of the British fermi found on braid of
our merchant vessels, and with them a small'number of ours
from the impossibility of always distinguishing Englishman flora
Citizens of the United States. On this point our Governmett
well know that Great Britain is perfectly willing to adopt any ar-
rangement than can be devised, which will secure to her service
" the seamen who are her own subjects," and. at the same tip ie
exempt ours from impressment.
2. The merchant vessels of France, Spain, and Holland, being
driven from the ocean, or destroyed, the commerce of those coun-
tries with one another, and with their colonies, could no loam
be carried on by themselves. Here the vessels of neutral nations
came in to their aid, and carried on nearly the whole of the com-
merce of those nations. With their seamen thus liberated from
the merchant service, those nations, in the present and preceding
wars, were enabled to man their ships of war; and the neutral
vessels and seamen supplying their places, became, in fart, though
not in name, auxiliaries of war. The commerce of those nation%
without one armed ship on the sea appropriated for its protection,
was intended thus to be secured under neutral flap—while the
merchant vessels of Great Britain, with its numerous armed ship*
to guard them, were exposed to occasional captures. Such a mute
of things Great Britain has resisted, not in the present only, but
in former wan; at least as far beck m that of 175 i. And she has
claimed and maintained a right to impose on this commerce some
limits and restraints ; because it was a commerce which was de!.
tried by those nations to neutrals in time of peace--because it was
a commerce of immense value to the subjects of her enemies-7and
became it filled their treasuries with money to enable them to
carry on their wars with Great Britain.
3. The third and only remaining pretence for war with Great
Britain, is the unfortunate affair of the Chesapeake—whirh having
been already stated and explained, I will only remark here, thst
it is not to be believed that the British Government, after being
defeated as before-mentioned, in its endeavours to make repara-
tion in London, for the wrong done by its servant, would have
sent hither a Special Envoy to give honourable satisfaction, but
from its sincere desire to close this wound, " if our own Govern-
ment would suffer it to be healed."
Permit me now to ask, what man impartially view-
ing the subject, will have the boldness to say there
exists any cause for plunging the United States intso
a war with Great Britain ? Who that respects his re-
putation as a man of common discernment will say
it ? Who that regards the interest and welfare of his
country will say it ? Who then can jUstifY, who find
an excuse for a course of conduct which has brought
our country into its present state of alarm, embar-
rassment and distress ? For myself, Sir, I must de-
clare the opinion, that no free country was ever be-
fore ao causelessly, and so blindly thrown from the
height of prosperity, and plunged into a state of
dreadful anxiety and suffering. But from this de-
graded and wretched situation, it is not yet too late
to escape. Let the dispatches from our Minister in,
France be no longer concealed. Let the President
perform the duty required of him by the constitu-
tion ; by giving to Congress full information of the
state of the union in respect to foreign nations. Above
all, let him unfold our actual situation with France.
Let him tell us what are the demands and proposals
of her Ruler. Had these been honourable to the United
States, would not the President have been eager to
disclose them ? That they are of an entirely different
nature, that they are-dishonourable, that they are tsar
nous to our commercial interest, and dangerous to our liberty
and indepensknce, we are left to infer.
I hope, Sir, that the nature and magnitude of the
ssubject will furnish a sufficient apology for the length
and style of this letter. Perhaps some may deem it
presumptuous thus to question the correctness of the
proceedings of our Government. A strong sense of
duty, and distressing apprehensions of national ruin,
have forced the task upon me. To some, the senti-
ments' which, in the sincerity of my heart, I have el.
pressed, may give offence—for often nothing offends
so much as TRUTH. Yet'do I not desire to offend any
num. But when I see 'the dangerous extent of Ese•
cutive infiuenci ; when I 'ice the Great Council of the
Nation called ou to enact laws deeply affecting the