Star.
London, England, 1812-02-20 00:00:00

hostility against the nations to which they belong ;
and the sparks of indignant resentment thus excited,
are by reciprocal recrimination, made to kindle the
flames of increasing anger, or of WAR WITHOUT
D/SGUISe.

But in offering brief considerations, on the Political
and Commercial Relations of Great Britain and he-
land with America ; he may indulge the hope, that
if he fails in producing any good effect, he may be
forgiven for the attempt.
The sword has been twice drawn ; first, in the ac-
tion between the Leopard and the Chesapeake; and
again in that between the President and Little Belt ;
but, thanks to the temper of both Governments, the
scabbard is not yet thrown away. The officers and the
seamen of both nations, with a courage that would
do honour to each nation in a better cause, are ready
to stand to their guns with lighted matches, and to
wait with more impatience than the cause requires
for the word of command, to I, fire away !" And
what are we to expect from each rencounter but that
victory over a brother will be the poor reward, some-
times of superior discipline, but more generally of
superior numbers and weight of metal ; when it will
be small consolation, that to the honour of human
nature the tears of compassion may flow over slaugh-
tered and wounded, but not fallen foes, equally as
over slaughtered and wounded messmates and friends.
The age of miracles is gone ! and the age of chi-
valry is not yet so far revived, after eighteen years of
toil in'the tented fields of Europe and more distant
climes, as to indulge the vain hope of subjugating
America ; and such being the present attitude of the
United Kingdom and the United States, it is natu-
ral to enquire, for what we are to fight ?
I shall be told by one, that we are to fight for the
honour of our flag, and of our country ; and I do not
dispute the defence of the one or of the other to be a
legitimate cause of war ; but I cannot admit that ei-
ther nation would gain additional honour to their
flag or to their arms by a war, to arise from commer-
cial jealousy, where fair, liberal, and honourable
competition ought to subsist ; or to originate in ag-
gressions alledged by each against the other, which
it is anxiously to be desired may be healed by nego-
ciation, and with the least injurious delay; although
we might acquire the proud triumph of making
Commodore Rodgers pass under the yoke !
Another will tell me that we are to go to war for
peace. But how ? are we to conquer the Peninsula
for Ferdinand VII. and the House of Braganca, in
the United States of America, as we conquered Ca-
nada in Germany, during the seven years war ? If
we can do so, I will deny that the age of chivalry is
gone : but are we to be sa confident of success as to
dismiss every apprehension that Canada, which we
purchased at so dear a rate, may by the chance of
war slip into other hands ?
I will, however, to shorten this argument with the
advocates for war on both sides of the Atlantic, agree
that we shall on each side be combating for peace ;
and that each nation will attain this object, whether
by wading ancle deep or knee deep in blood, accor-
ding to the stale but true maxim, that war produces
poverty, poverty peace.
A third will tell me that we are to go to war with
the United States of America, and fight for the Or-
ders in Council. My answer to this will be very
short, that 1 hope not : a principal object of the Or-
ders in Council, was to defeat an alledged 44 war in
disguise, or the frauds of the neutral flags ;" and as
by the conquest of Java we have put an end to the
frauds of the neutral flags in carrying and covering
the colonial produce of the enemy, I am at a loss to
know what frauds the neutral flags can now commit
against this country, except smuggling guineas out
of the kingdom, or smuggling French brandy or
other articles into this country ; two branches of traf-
fic connected indeed, although the former has been
pretty well completed already, powerfully assisted by
those very Orders in Council, as some of my friends
alledge, with arguments that make me almost, if not
altogether, a proselyte to their opinion ; and the latter
branch of traffic will ever be better managed by our
own smugglers than by all the neutral flags under
the sun.

If I was to dare look backwards, to dare the at-
tempt of breaking a lance with the Author of War
in Disguise, and to review with him the plan on
which the war has hitherto been conducted, I should
be inclined to request his assistance to solve a doubt
as a Civilian, which has ever baffled my scepticism to
get over; and I shall state it as a case for his opinion.
Suppose this kingdom to be at peace with all the
world ; France and Spain to repossess severally colo-
nies in the West Indies, and to be at war against
each other—the one power to acquire a maritime su-
periority, and to drive the flag of the other out of the
water, hors de combed—the power discomfited at sea
to open her ports to all the world for supplies of ne-
cessaries to the mother country and the colonies—
lumber, clothing, and other articles not contraband
of war ; I enquire, first, by what law of nations could
the merchants of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow,
or the manufacturers of Manchester, Leicester, and
Paisley be restrained from engaging in such new field
of commerce ?
And, second, supposing an Imperial Decree or an
Order of Council from the power possessing the ma-
ritime ascendency, to interdict such commerce, be-
cause not allowed by the enemy in times of peace,
and to seize British vessels and cargoes employed in
that new trade ; by what logic would the subjects of
this kingdom be convinced, that such capture of Bri-
tish ships and cargoes was not a violation of the law
of nations, and a legitimate cause of war ?
But as this question is gone by, so far as respects
the colonial commerce of our enemies, by the capture
of Java, it can no longer be a bone of contention be-
tween Great Britain and the United States of Ame.
rica ; (unless the United States in the true spirit of
chivalry should meditate the reconquest of Java as
the dominion of an ally, by recognizing the Empe-
ror of France in that capacity since the revocation of
the Berlin and Milan Decrees), the case may be put
on the shelf, for future decision, or ad Grew: Ka-
lendas.

With an anxious desire for the peace, for the pro-
sperity, for the holiour of two free and powerful kin-
dred nations, I will earnestly say to both Govern.
meats, " keep peace, and ensue it ; improve it by good
offices ; cement it by good will I" and to the people of
both nations, will earnestly and affectionately say,
" S:rs, ye are brethrea why do ye wrong one to
another?"
;fiveTpod, December 31) 1111 f t

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