The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-19 00:00:00

uT,.;ITED STATI3S,

We gave the following important intelliget;ee, 'ought by
the New York packet-ship Sheridan, which arrivod in the
river on Friday morning, in a second edition of our last
uumber. The Occurrences detailed are calculated to increase
the anxiety already felt concerning the issue of the M`Lcod
trial ; and whilst they serve in some degree to add to the
amount of our " Western complicationi," afford at the same
time a clue by which the mystery of these transactions may
be, without ranch difficulty, unravelled. There is a lawless
rabble thirsting for plunder, and ripe for any mischief, on
the one hand, and a weak government, willing, perhaps, but
unable to restrain them, on the other. The proclamation of
Mr. President Tyler is the strongest evidince on the former
point; it establishes that "sundry secret lodges, clubs, and
associations exist on the northern frontle r; that they have
collected fire-arms and other military materials ; and that
their object is to make hostile incursions into our territory ;"
or, in other words, that the old system of "sympathising"
or conspiration on the part of American citizens with the
base and disloyal among our own people, is once more revived
and in full operation. The President issues his proclamation
with a view to deter these parties from pursuing their danger-
ous and nefarious practices, and is entitled to full credit for
being sincerely anxious to put a stop to them ' • but neither
his good faith, nor friendly disposition, nor good sense, it is
lamentable to say, affords any sufficient guarantee to us that
he will be able to accomplish his just and amicable pur-
poses. If the federal government were possessed of due
authority, the existing complication arising out of the arrest
of Mr. M'Leod would never have been heard of, not only
in its more recent, but in its earliest stages ; no " Caroline "
would have been burnt, because an efficient Executive would
have permitted no Caroline to be laden with war-like stores
within the boundary of the Union,—and " sympathising"
would have received its quietus on the very first symptom of
its appearance. Again, could the Executive have prevented
it, we do most potently believe that Mr. M`Leod's confine-
ment would have been but of very short duration, and that
it must now feel very heartily ashamed of the disgraceful
exhibition of impotency which it makes in its own peculiar,
and of the flagitious outrage which it is forced to acknowledge
has been committed in the name of the republic. Arguing
from these premises, we may yet hope, but we must at the
same time greatly fear, that the friendly disposition—if we
may use the phrase—manifested by Mr. Tyler's proclamation
will be able to carry the American government through its
present difficulties. . .

The arrest of Grogan by our soldiers, if the American ver-
sion of the affair inky be in any degree credited, is rather an
untoward circumstance ; not that it can affect by any reflex
operation the perfected and unalterable circumstances of the
case of Mr. M`Leod, but that it may have the effect of in-
flaming the brutal and murderous appetite of the mob, and
of rendering the critical position of the administrative still
more arduous and embarrassing. If any wrong or indiscre-
tion has been committed by our soldiers, they will not be
screened by the authorities ; and as our government has the
disposition, so it unquestionably has the power, to make am-
ple atonement for the injury. On that subject there can be
no just cause of quarrel at present ; the immediate question
is, what is to follow in the event either of Mr. M`Leod be-
ing sacrificed, whether by the process of the ordinary or the
extraordinary—the State, or the Lynch law of the country ;
or his liberation being still delayed after the mockery of trial
to which he has been so insultingly committed, has con-
cluded ?

" We conceive that beyond all doubt "—says a Lonflon
contemporary—" the government and people of the United
States must be held responsible for the life of this British
subject. If the government be so feeble, so timid, or so dis-
organised that it cannot enforce the law, and vindicate its
peace, among its own people; the foreign state, outraged by
reason of such imbecility or incapacity, must visit, without
hesitation or delay, the penalty of such abject infirmity or
collusive felony, one or the other, on that government."
There will be no dissent from this opinion,—and therefore
it is we say, that the relation of war and peace at this moment
does not depend so much on the feeble wishes, or inefficient
good dispositions, of a powerless Executive ; but upon the
passions or caprice of that many-headed monster whice is the
virtical ruler in the State. Let our subject who has suffered
such cruel indignity, and in whose person the country to
which he belongs has been deeply dishonored, be lynched
by the mob, or lynched with the forms of a court of justice,
or let him any longer endure a wrongful imprisonment; it is
not for us to inquire, or to know by whose error, or weak-
ness, or aggression the crime is committed, and the deed
done; it is on the part of the republicans a national offense,
and as such must be atoned for. They have had notice which
they have not attended to, and by the fact of that neglect
become responsible for whatever consequences follow from it.
Most devoutly is it wished that the casus belli may not arise
in that aggravated form which would make war inevitable ;
but if such should unhappily not prove to be the case, then it
will certainly be a matter of strong consolation that Britain
has not assumed a hostile attitude, or risen in her might to
vindicate her wrongs, till the wrong was clearly established
and made manifest in the sight of all men. If the magis-
trate may not " bear the sword in vain" towards the culpable
and disobedient placed under his authority, most assuredly
he is justified in defending his people against injuries sought
to be inflicted on them by others, or in obtaining redress
and indemnity for them if actually committed. If America
provoke a war, on her head be the consequences ; we have
not sought it. We demand from her a British subject whom
she detains unlawfully. In that detention she has already
committed a great crime, and flagrant offence towards this
nation • should she consummate it by depriving the indivi-
dual of life, or by still refusing to set him at liberty, we can-,.

not see how our Sovereign, as the legitimate protectress of
her people, can do otherwise than vindicate their rights by
demanding satisfaction from, or inflicting chastisement upon,
the guilty authors of such an outrage. War is a great evil, a
scourge, a curse, a pest ; but a war undertaken in such a
cause, and for such an object as this, would, as it appers to
us, have at least justice on its side. We now give the intel-
ligence received by the Sheridan, as it appeared in our second
edition of Friday.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Government
of the United States that sundry secret lodges, clubs, or as-
sociations exist on the Northern Frontier ; that the members
of these Lodges are bound together by secret oaths ; that
they have collected fire-arms, and other military materials,
and secreted them in sundry places ; and that it is their pur-
pose to violate the laws of their country, by making military
and lawless incursions, when opportunity shall offer, into
the territory of a power with which the United States
are at peace ; and whereas it is known that travelling agita-
tors, from both sides of the line, visit these Lodges, and har-
,
rangue the members in secret meeting, stimulating them to
illegal acts ; and whereas the same persons are known to levy
contributions on the ignorant and credulous, for their own
benefit, thus supporting and enriching themselves by the
basest means ; and whereas the unlawful intentions of the
members of these lodges have already been manifested in an at-
tempt to destroy the lives and property of the inhabitants
of Chippewa, in Canada, and the public property of the Bri-
tish government there being ; now therefore, I, John Tyler,
President of the United States, do issue this my proclama-
tion, admonishing all such evil-minded persons of the con-
dign punishment which is certain to overtake them ; assur-
ing them that the laws of the United States will be rigor-
ously enforced against their illegal acts ; and that if in any
lawless incursions into Canada, they fall into the hands of
the British authorities, they will not be reclaimed as Ame-
rican citizens, nor any interference made by this govern-
ment in their behalf.

And I exhort all well meaning but deluded persons
who have joined these Lodges immediately to abandon
them, and have nothing more to do with their secret meet-
ings, or unlawful oaths, as they would avoid serious conse-
quences to themselves. And I expect the intelligent and
well-disposed members of the community to frown on all
those unlawful combinations and illegal proceedings, and to
assist the Government in maintaining the peace of the
country against the mischievous consequences of the acts of
these violators of the law.
Given under my hand,at thecity of Washington, the twenty-
fifth day of September, A.D. one thousand eight hun-
[L.s,] Bred and forty-one, and of the independence of the
United States the sixty-sixth.

JOHN TYLER.

By the President :
DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State.

The Herald says that the organization of these
lodges and secret societies is very extensive and per-
fect, and then proceeds to give the following particu-
lars, which are designated as a shameful violation of
neutrality. If there be any truth whatever in the nar-
ration, which we very much question, the men en-
gaged in the transaction were merely volunteers, and
altogether unauthorised in their proceedings.

ANOTHER ATROCIOUS INVASION OF THE AMERICAN
SOIL BY THE CUT-THROAT BRITISH SOLDIERY.—By a
letter from Alburgh we learn that another atrocious invasion
of our territory has been perpetrated by our amiable neigh-
bours, the British. On Sunday night last, a party of twelve
British soldiers, fully armed, crossed over into Alburgh,
Vt., from Canada, in three waggons. They then proceeded
to the house of Mr. Brown, which is situated four miles
this side of the lines, who is brother-in-law of Colonel Gro-
gan, one of the political refugees of 1838, and who has re-
sided upon this side ever since. This was about mid-
night. The brave band of British midnight assassins then
stealthily entered the house with bayonets fixed. A portion
of them proceeded to the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Brown,
and with bayonets at their throats threatened them with in-
stant death in case they made the least noise. The others
went to the bed where Col. Grogan was sleeping, seized, gag-
ged and bound him hand and foot, thrust a bayonet through
his leg, another into his side, and in this horrible state, nearly
destitute of clothing, he was hurried into a wagon and driven
off into Canada. These are the circumstances of this infer-
nal affair, from a source entitled to the fullest confidence.
Colonel Grogan is an American, but for a few years pre-
ceding the outbreak of 1837, he resided on Caldwell's Manor,
some two or three miles from Alburgh, on the Canadian side.
An enthusiastic republican, he early in the contest became
an object of suspicion and hatred to the loyalist cut throats of
Canada. In the winter of 1838, the British soldiery sur-
rounded his house, drove his helpless wife and children to
this side of the lines, on foot, through the inclemency of a
Canadian winter, burned his house, and plundered and hid
waste his property, to the amount of upwards of 6,000 dols.
They will now complete their vengeance by murdering him
on the testimony of some perjured scoundrels, such as Bri-
tish gold never fails to procure.
The people now have some of the fruits of Mr. Webster's
truckling subserviency to English insolency. The murderer
M'Leod, who boasted that he assisted to massacre unarmed
American citizens, came voluntarily into the State against
whose peace and dignity the atrocious crime was committed,
and boasted of his participation it. He was arrested like
any other criminal, and ordered to trial before the State
Courts. The British Minister demanded his release. Mr.
Webster, our federal British Secretary of State, is very sorry
his power cannot reach the case. If the matter was left to
him, he said he would take the greatest pleasure in surrender-
ing up this wholesale murderer of American citizens. What
further license can the British ruffians ask, than is thus
given them by our Secretary of State, for any deed of
murder, or kidnapping, which their hellish passions may
prompt them to commit. The Canada Tories very well
know the powers that he will never trouble them.

If this alleged outrage took place at all, there are
not the slightest grounds for supposing it was com-
mitted with the sanction of the British authorities.
The account is written in a tone of exaggeration which
leads us to have some doubts of its truth, but that Bri-
tish magistrates connived at it is utterly absurd and
improbable. We can afford to bear the abuse of the
angry loco focos much better than they will bear the
chastisement our arms will inflict upon them in a cer-
tain contingency.
The New Era of the 27th contains the names of the
Jurygiomopdrwomvheeodn 1: v
candid,er e t o try
and M
intelligent. Leo d , an
and who, it says, are all
interesting
tee
r2e6stth questioni.ng
to the
The money market was brisker, and prices generally
Marge amount of specie was recewed on
The of the corn trade was becoming very
n
Cand a sof must
becoming
be o ura
first resource,
states . The Herald states that the
rst resource, as that country is
capablean immense grain-growing one
with proper
theencouragema been brutally d firm
murder
encouragement.
Scatchard and Adams,
pprinters,Ndaewmsl,,oof
York,
hof the name of J. C. Colt had been arrested on s.
3.
usAp i
cpieorns oonf

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