Star.
London, England, 1813-02-19 00:00:00

sion•—titeadlem. Atilitetial 44.1 n the itse
place, the war was net olte bf our bft blakidg-this
Ituntry
.hod nor declared *at, the American,Gos
Veralheht. ;Neff declared this war; atrd they Must
have made .ottt a very strong case in their favour, to
Ittstify .Parliament in eltpressing siisappMbation of
Ministers. Having made these general observations,
he nest proceeded- to remark on the Propositions of
Mr. Russell, the American Charge d'Affaires, both of
which he considered-Ministers as justified in rejects
ing, The proposal of a secret understanding as to
the suspension of impressment; he regarded as pecu-
liarly offensive and objectionable.—The third offer •
' came from Mr. Monroe to Sir J. Warren; and, if
he. understood the letter of the American Secretary,
it said, that there was no remaining difference be-
tween the two countries except on the point of im-
pressment and proposed, that giving up the idea of
armistice or secret understanding, the two Govern-
ments should discuss this point event flagrarrie kilo.
—He entertained a doubt as to the propriety of re-
jecting this offer. We might have seen what plan
the American Legislature offered, to prevent the en-
! trance of our seamen on board their ships; but it
did not follow, that we were bound to accept it.
Indeed, America must be told that this country will
never abandon one jot of her right of search for con-
traband of war, and of claiming her seamen wherever
they are found. • if she imagines that she has a right
to shake off the allegiance of a British subject, by
passing him through certain forms of citizenship, she
must be told, that this is a pretension unjust, de-
grading, and that can never be submitted to.—(Cries
of Hear, hear.) The Nobfe Lord had touched upon
another topic, and that was the mode in which the
war had been conducted by Ministers. Now from all
he (Mr. P.) had read, and all he had heard, he was
convinced that the conduct of the war had cceitri-
buted much more to its continuance than its tenni-
. nation—(Hear, hear.) Was it not evident that the
naval triumphs of the Americans must have contri
buted to strengthen the war party in America ; and
would the Noble Lord say, that the navy of England
• was not competent to sweep from the ocean the tri-
fling force which the Americans possessed ? Upon
the whole, his duty compelled him to vote for the
Address, because were it negatived, the war party
in America would thence derive an encouragement
that might be productive of much mischief. So far
as his influence extended, he should ever support the
great maritime rights on which the security of the
empire mainly depended.
I Mr. A. BARING declined going into any exami-
nation of the Orders in Councl, ou which the Noble
Lord had thought proper to pronounce a panegyric;
but he was inclined to doubt the assertion that Ame-
rica had been influenced by any appearance at Euro-
pean politics to go to war—on the contrary, any wan
who read the papers laid before the House could see
that the Orders in Council were the real cause of war,
; and their repeal, he was sure, would have put an end
to it, it the uniform declarations of Ministers had not
been averse to concession on this head. Another
ground of offence had been the declaration of the Bri-
tish Government, that they would not consider the
repeal of the French Decree quoad America as a suf.
ficiera ground cf repealing the Orders in Council ;
and be appealed to the Honourable Gentleman
op-
posite (Mr. Fosti.: ) whether the Minister's repeal ut
the Orders in Council would not have produced a
prevention of the war ? [The Honourable Gentle-
man next adverted to the question of impressment,
and argued against the abrupt termination of negoci-
, ation, when offers were made by Mr. Russell and
Mr. Monroe.] He did not mean to recommend con-
cession, but there should have been 3 spirit of,conci-
liation, and e'en if there were no more than 1600
American seamen in the British service, America
had a right to demand redress, as Great Britain
would have done under similar circumstan,:es. Tire
Hon. Gentleman took a view of the conduct of the
war, and censured Ministers for not blockading the
American ports which afforded such facilities for
the purpose. He concluded, by contrasting the mi-
litary operations by land, and paying a high compli-
ment to the skid, prudence, and gallantry with Vt 111C11
they were conducted.
Mr. FORSTER said, he was not able to say ex•
actly what might have been the effect on the mind of
Congress, had the account of the repeal of our Orders
in Council reached America previous to the Declara-
tion of War ; but he believed that Government had
not had a sufficient influence to prevent Congress
coming to the decision it had done in favour of war
with this country. The Honourable Gentleman then
adverted to the different Treaties which had taken
place between America and this Count: y ; and ob-
served, that it had always been the policy of the
American Government to keep differences open, that
they might have opportunities of occas:onally irrita-
ting the people of America against this country ; and
in proof of the truth of his opinion, he adduced the
instance of the Chesapeake, which had been kept
alive by the most artlul means, and been made the
subject of dispute from year to year ; and from all
that had taken place on the subject of blockade, &c.
it was iery apparent that there was a strong party in
America who were inimical to the interests of this
' country. This feeling had arisen since the death of
Washington, and since the influence which his name
; carried with it had ,:eclined. There were in Arne-
.
! rica many great men, whose talents would do honour
to this or any other country ; but there were many
to whom it would do us no honour to claim affinity
—many emigrants from Europe, and particularly
from the Sister Kingdom, who were the bitterest ene-
: mies of this country ; and to his knowledge there
were six Irishmen who had seats in the Congress,
• which decided for war with this country. It was in
the New England States alone, that an Englishman
could travel with feelings of satisfaction, and be in-
.clined to view their inhabitants as friends and rela-
tions. In this part of the United States comparatively
little clamour had prevailed against our Orders in
Council, awl no inclination to proceed to extremities
had been manifested ; yet, in the provinces north of
the Hudson, the snipping amounted to 1,4244000'
tons, whilst in those States, where the Orders were
the constant object of complaint, the total amount of
shipping did nut exceed 200,000 tons. He considered
the introduction of the question of impressment at a
moment when all the other differences were in a train
of settlement, as an evidence of the hostile spirit by
which the party he had described were animated. It
was a question which had been before Aiwa) s reserved
for separate negociation, and ought to have been