Star.
London, England, 1813-08-11 00:00:00

AMERICAN PAPERS.

EflOil TEC NATIONAL INTILLIGCNCiII
WASHINGTON, JUNE 18.
The House of Representatives are engaged in an
interesting discussion of Mr. Webster's call on the Pre-
sident for information relative to the Duke of Bas-
sano's 4eclaration, that the predecessor of. Mr. Bar-
low hadtbren advised of the repeal alleged to have
been decreed at the time it was said ,to be decreed ;
and that-.through the French Minister here, our Go-
vernment was immediately after advised of the re-
peal.
We are indebted to a friend for the following
sketch of Mr. Grosvenor's speech in the House on
Thursday last :
Mr. GnOsysNott having stated the ground he
shojeld take, said, he might displease some, but he
should make no personal attack ; at the same time,
. he should add, that any threats or menaces from
others would pass by as the idle wind. He wasnot to
be deterred from speaking his sentiments freely. Will
Gentlemen, he asked, la collect.the call upon Presi-
dent Washington for information and papers respect-
ing the British treaty ? In that call were not the
papers particularly enumerated, such as the instrue- '
tions of the Minister, the correspondence, &c. ? It
is true, the President refused to comply with the call
of the House, on the ground that they had nothing.,
to do with the treaty-making power. On that refu-'
sal, the House passed a resolution, declaring, that,
they were not bound to assign their reasons for
making a call for papers, or to specify the purposes
to which those papers, if granted, were to be applied,
Mr. Grosvenor then contended, that it was not inde-
corous to make the call in the way proposed by the,
resolution now under consideration. He said, he
did verily believe, that the suppression or conceal-
ment of this decree had produced the present disas.'
trous war. He next pointed out the ground which this
Government had taken, in 1808, against both belli-
gerents ; and said, it had neverbeen abandoned until
the tyrant of the world had shuffled us into the war,
which he did, by deceiving and imposing upon the
President, with the aid of the Non-Intercourse law,
that Pandora's box from whence had sprung all our'
difficulties. When the Act which is termed a Revo-
cation of the Berlin and Milan Decrees was commu-
nicated to the British Government, what did they
say ?—That it aas only a freomise to revoke at a fn-
. ture day ; and that they distrusted the truth of the
Duke of Cadore's declarations. Mr. Grosvenor then
examined at length the correspondence between our
Minister and the French Minister on the subject of this
pretended repeal, and contended that the Berlin and
Milan Decrees were not revoked at the time we re-
quired Great Britain to repeal her Orders in Council.
—lle called the attention of the House to the cone-
, spondence between Mr. Pinckney and Lord Welles-
' lcy, and between Mr. Munro and Mr. Faster ;in the
whole of which correspondence the subjact of im-
pressment was bat eiy mentioned. The great bone
of contention v, as the Orders in Council. I am,
therefore, convinced, I,e observed, that if they had
been repealed, we should not have had war. The
Gcniternan from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun)
says, that the declaration of the Prince •Regent is an
evidence that they would not have been repealed.—
Now 1 contend, that there is nbt a word in that
declaration to justify. such an opinion. But 1
will not, in reply, use the language which the
Gentleman from South Carolina has used, and which, I
without explanation, would have been indecorous.l
He contended, that the examination before the House
of Commons had no influence in producing the repeal
of their Orders in Council ; but that the repeal was
the result of their system of policy, and the pledge
they had given; and, therefore, he asserted, that if
the French Decree had not been shamefully sup.
pressed, the Orders in Council. would have been re-
pealed, and the war would have failed.. If under
all these circumstances, Mr. Russel did receive
this decree and suppress it, is he not entitled to the
execration of the American people ? If Mr. Munro
received it, and kept it concealed, is there a niche in
the temple of infamy sufficiently infamous for him ?
And, if the President received it and suppressed it, is
there any punishment sufficiently severe, or commen-
surate with his crime ? I say there l's not. It may be
asked, do I believe this to be the fact ? I answer, no.
Poorly as I think of the Administration, I do not
believe them capable of such a base act; a compli.
cated crime, composed of all the attributes of mur.
der, turpitude, and treason. I have other objects in
view. It is not important what I believe. The ho-
nour of my country, my native country, is assailed. I
wish to see it defended. Honour is a plant which
will not. flourish, but in the bright day. It will wither
and die when obscured by a cloud. I wish to see
my country come out, as I verily believe she will,
' pure, unsullied, and untarnished. Suspicions are en-
tertained by some. It may be said they are weak and
deluded—be it so : those suspicions ought to be re-
! to .ved. We ought nor, passively, to subniit to the
lashes of the Tyrant of the world, I do not believe
' any President of the United States would consent to
do it; nor will I believe it, until I shall have heard
the declaration from his own mouth. If ever that
• should be the case, then, may we erase from our his-
tory the names of Warren, Montgomery, , and
Washington—then may we blot from our escutcheon
the Eagle that proudly ornaments it.

HOUSE OF REPRESEVATIVES, JUNE 11.
NATURALIZATIOIi LAWS.
On the motion of Mr. Ftsx, of New-York, the
House resumed the consideration of the Bill to amend
the Naturalization Laws.
Mr. Baawzia. rose to say, he had waved for the
present his intention of proposing amendments to this
• Bill t but he wished to give notice, that he should not
in this, but in the next Session of Congress, propose
a radical change of our Naturalization Laws. He
thought it was the duty of Congress to repeal the laws
of naturalization, or amend them in such a manner
as to dry up the sources of collision with foreign
Powers, which those laws, as they now stand, might
afford. These provisions he should propose in the
present Session, if he thought they would now receive
the mature investigation which they merit. He had
considerable objections to the bill before the House,
as it now stood ; unless they were removed, he must
acme against it. The principal objection was, that it
would give to the numerous class of foreign mer.

ehithts, who have beet ordered &MIS the seaports, the I
advantage of availing themselves of all the benefits of
citizenship, and the protection and privileges they
convey, by merely declaring an ir.tention to become
citizens. Whiluthe government his rendered it itn.
possible for foieign seamen to become citizens of the'
United States,. he felt great reluctance to extend the
benefits of naturalization to those who should seek
naturalization merely in the way of trade, to enable
them to acquire wealth amongst us with the greater
facility.
Mr. SHEPHERD said, it was a fact which came
within his knowledge, that many persons had been
naturalized since the date of the declaration of war,
viz. the 18th of June last. It was right, he thought,
that those persons should be secured in the privilege
of citizenship, without the additional trouble of re-
newing their oath, &c. He therefore moved an
amendment, the object of which was to declare all
such naturalizations as valid as if made before that
day.—For ehe motion 57—Against it 73.