The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-17 00:00:00

,Tn\tAN
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'To abstain from enforcing those rights was not the
abandonment of them. So to argue was as mach as
I to say, were he to have the right of welkin over his
neighbour's close, he must never abstain from ex-
ercising his right, otherwise he must abandon it al-
together. [Bear, hear:] If thiy were tube com-
pelled to the constant exercise of them, they ttould
no longer be rights hut duties. If they were to ab-
stain from the exercise of them after a certain solemn
t•protest; therreigke.be resuntedet erty fotare period:
Xhongb.he did not deny the right to blockade even
the whole Oontinent of Europe, he did deny our
right to do it with limitations, w't'► a view • of in-
..creasing our own trade by underhand means. In
considering what sort of commerce it was that had
been sacrificed to all these whimsies, he had been dra wit
some hat aside by the main point. The American trade
had been of thirteen millions value to this country,
yet had we sacrificed such an addition as this trade
brought to our revenue ! By the proceedings of our
Government there had been sacrificed a certain mar-
ket, not one of uncertainty, like the markets of the
President of the Board of Trade. The North Ame-
rican market was one of thirteen millions value—of
certainty, and one for which it would not be dig-
cult to suit with a proper cargo. It was a market
that must of necessity be of increasing value. It
might be increased to twenty millions. Here were
no bad debts—the returns were sure. It was of sure
and increasing value to this country, because the
Americans were given to agriculture, anti we ere
given to manufactories.. Bat they seemed to have
. too, much contempt for the. American people, or
rather to bear them some grudge ior certain -events
which it would be much better to forget than to re-
member • or possibly they were not pleased with the
unadorned structure of democratic Government in
the United States. Yet had we sacrificed thirteen
' millions by cutting oti the trade of North America ;
and could the Right Hon. Gentleman find any outlet
for a thirteenth, or even a thirtieth, partof trade to
• that amount to any part of the Continent, the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade would be in the greatest
: delight. Downing-street and Duke's-place would
, then be in the greatest uproar. Nothing would be
. heard but the Justling of Treasury clerks. There
would be dispatches, address* and circulars visible
in all directions. They woultr hear of speeches hair-
iag be. made at Lloyd's, by Naval Officers; of
addresses to the Right lion. Gentleman from City
Baronets, and cargoes of Licences would be returned
for the compliment. Then would forgery and per-
jury flourish in the noon-day sun 'of Court intlu-
. eace ; then would the licensing system assume new
life; then would they hear of valuable slips of the
pen worth fifteen thousand pounds, and of other
happy inadvertencies; for there was something so
peculiarly happy in the constitution of the Right
lion. Gentleman's mind, that his very errors and
blunders were of the greatest value ! [Hear! and much
laughter.] Thus it appeared, that it was unfortt-
nate in the extreme, to err with the President of the
Board of Trade.—[Hear, hear!]—in condemning
the present systeT of commercial policy, be could
not lnit deeply lament the continuation of that infa-
tuation and folly which dictated it. It crippled our
trade, and promoted the marine of France—an event
that this country could not .lesire. He had men-
' tioned these facts merely to chew the House that they
1! ought to pause ere they would allow themselves to
be impelled to measures, the consequences of which
might be of so severe a nature. Bet was not the
alarm sought to tl„e raised with respect to the manner
in which concession would be regarded in America
as totally inconsistent with our national spirit ?-
1 hluch.more room was there for dreading that folly
which was now in progress to the extietction of our
own manufactures. The persons who preached up
those idle fears to be entertained from the growing
spirit of America, were, by a strange inconsistency,
the very persons who built their case on the insignifi-
cance of any manufacturing competition into which
;.the Americans could enter, while they magnified the
danger arising. from French and German industry.
France, in the apprehension of those Gentlemen,
was effectually to rival us with the assistance of
America, and losing sight of so truly formidable an
assistant, we must be anxiously occupied in warding
° off the danger arising from laces and cambrics, and
the other trumperies of French commerce. But he
I was willing to leave it to the House to decide which
was most to be dreaded, the principal or the assist-
; ant in this apprehended invasion of our commercial
interests. For his own •part, he apprehended little
from the arts of the enemy, but he must confess he
!did apprehend something from his arms ; and if we
were to contend with him on the Peninsula, it
was obvious that conciliation towards America
would much increase our resources for the
purpose. lie would call to the recollection of
the House the vast sums which had been al-
ready expended he this contest, and the warm-
ly anticipeted consequences which were expected to
flow from it. It was now the opinion of many, an opi-
nion, however, in which he did not very sanguinely
• concur, that we should now make one grand. and
vigorous e4fort to terminate this contest ; but if this
opinion were founded in wisdom, it would at least
, be allowed that we were 'not acting wisely, or pro-
moting the success of the plan, by multiplying our
enemies, by making it neeessary for us, while we at-
tacked the French in front, to 9estain the assault of
America upon our flank. If we did persist ip a
feeling of hostility towards America, while we per-
severed in the warin the Peninsula, the consequence
would be, 'that we should have to supply Canada
with troops from Portugal, and Portugal with bread
from England.—[fleor, hear, hear !]—But then it
would be said, were we, because placed in circum-
stances of difficulty, to bow down and yield to the
Americans ? Unquestionably mot ; he would be the
last man to propose any thing like national humi-
liation ; but when the circumstances in which we
were placed were duly considered—when the high
character was considered which we had obtained, not
merely by valour, but by reiterated victory, why
then, he would say, that resting on that character
we could afford to conciliate America. Whatever
else we might have fkiled 'to attain by the war, it
had at least been fruitful in honour, it had en-
circled us with glory. He would point out
conciliation towards America- as the best use we
.could make of the lofty advantage we had hence do-
rived: be would counsel in every different spirit from
those persons who unstarialued on; achievemtnits,

.1111

who eonsiclered is as a peopli,,l!oulevo.t.iel
Ito
h
arts of life, whose fanic was
it
military upstarts, and who the w
imacefid
; atmpituy::
si individual d
ti America,iv.rssed
itulnurajeclwea:sth
lun‘ul
alduslthit'ihrarel(ul,l7e r 41::tiered to
'•re " 71'
gained from our
gr[e teas
ata
vt
language of so I,u •
world
I fn;th the olive branch i:l the Itlh(), d,an in
v. thea - el: ica d world.
talk jeatomay and of America, he could seas
refrain from the stfonget express'ioti of '• .11
navy of which could not -Ilse ..a.f.orrethiLlia:e:':lo';i:a:'
I single vessel of that which formed our
tion. Jealousy towaids Ain"
and bulwarks. Jealousy f
whatever be the ambition which imecded h.
or the resou;;:es by which she was .11
0 a re r t, f,;
be rendered harmless by the vast distance
rs
frontsvas tecuili t h Anda
10 .stloriuslid
vireo
a,,deter.c
•susartitn., woit:(1
ed
iation
tbiyonr(norl ifteicuispi;a tlitioemwancnoktitjautrieddbunpt i
little to winhaaq.
the achi.‘vornents of our an.
t h
had already urged. To
cestors at Ramillies and Blenheim. wevtvelrei,titielag
for the treaty of Utrecht, a treaty which,
promoted the infamous Slave Trade, haul
had
been laded
the execrvions of every age which
cthce2.e reed. sullhatf!"th(eliigillorerilottola I,l7:o6l(l4CCS;M:ft.lC".orilinolul:dathtda
Tatavera, if an honest and open trade could be new
. safely substituted for the meet) and :eiteful traffic i y
tI
atovplvob•tlizlidie.cecoierlra:tiehltecadeltilitmeinadhiloncissttgophettiatal:te:l)trs•
I,:srt,trivoidist)
lehivavootivattuill,cseil
imputed
oeg;:aot.itcinouluNyiritil
boat
. .1.
to his i!le
o
I Ike
taunting W.) to tde
ofhrt fears a,i,,
: would treat it with that utter disregard of which at
would be worthy. The lion. Member then moved)
that
e
dPirst:rnecAseicnidtheusgmteallieti stating,
atdhldei nr
Address be
111.Eafapt er tesetiuhr'ici stheir:(lfnti House
b;
csaodßu.Ytrayi enquired, thati into
ne s ttrh6l.l.
stilt of their enquiry had induced them to believe that it was
. chiefly owing to the Orders in Council of 1807 and FO9, that at
`, the same time that they assure his Royal Ilizhnes3 of their dire
; that the Maritime Rights of the country should be maiataikrd
uni.nsaired, they recommended the revocation of those Order,
as 4irious to the country, and an unjust infringement of the
right of neutral Powcm"
I Mr. Rail!: noticed the precipitancy with which
the lion. and Learned Gent. had hurried on the dis.
cussion, attd stated that he came to it uapreparod,
not having been able to digest the voluminous
deuce, although lies had applied himself to it inces.
! santty. The Right Hon. Getit. then proceeded to
comment on the speech of the Ron. Gent. on ue
evidence, and to give such an answer to the case :rs it
appeared to him require. In doing this, the Right
lion. Gent. expressed himself so inaudibly, that we
could not distinctly hear him, in fact, he was, in
certain respects, quite unintelligible. lie observed
at the outset, that the Hon. Gent. haul stated the va-
rious distresses of the labouring poor. To that
statement he had subscribe:l—he had uever deuicd it,
and, though he had been charged with treating these
distresses loosely, yet those who knew him tout,
knew that it was repugnant to his feelings so to do.
Ile had never heard of or seen the distresses of any
individual, but he felt for his situatioa. It wat
therefore an act of injustice to his character to
pine to him unworthy actions. The lion. Gent.
had stated, that those distresses were broughs on be
' the state of commercial objects—that assertion to
' (Mr. R.) had always denied to be founded in fact.
fhe Orders in Council were intended as a measure
of retaliation against the common enemy, who had
declared, that this country should not Le permitted
'to send a ship to the ports of the Continent. The
efftiet of them was not such as described. The Hot).
Gent. had asserted, that those who contended in fa.;
your of the Orders in Council, had not prodared
i3ny witnesses to support their necessity, or to show
they were not prejudicial to the commerce of the
! country. A prevalent notion he knew had gone
abroad upon that subject, and it was natural to sup.
I pose that if the labouring manufacturers were totally
those
so,int
whom
wtohnelyd placedri rise in
aconfidence,mtssand d
thatatnhde fart
was
repeal; the opinion bad taken such, deep root, that
it was impossible to convince them to the contrary.
Under these circumstances, was it 'singular that no
material evidence had been produced ? In truth, it
was dangerous for the manufacturers themselves to
fceoeml e forwardn
g many anttiedrct eksatiiiftys,t
who
ht Int e9ctohlettrr:
irsye.
wouldlV ithhta!:.iat
appeared at the bar, were disinclined to come tor.
ward for fear of disobliging the manufacturers wit?
whom they were connected, nor did they like to
fend their correspondents in America. As to smiled
the distresses particularized by the Hon. Gent. there
was no evidence of the existence of distress in the
West Ititlitig. The conversation respecting the In-
spector... General-of five Customs was unworthy that
Gentleman, and the fact was not as stated; it war
LlBtotaerrdlyofuncturusteo.—msN,
oro ityhartsottLenounaldrdbnefliTevreadetlhvieteaili(tet
authorise a fallacious account to be laid before the
ecruse, merely 'for the purpose of swelling the
amount of the Exports and Imports. How stood
the fact ? Why thuS: a merchant had made an entry
or at least his clerk had dot's it for him, of a qui
tity of goodsi less in value than they actually we-
This error would have subjected him to the total lc,
of the goods. and therefore he was desired to amv,
his entrv, which he accordingly did. Ip truth, t!:,
return of the amount of the exports and imports,
formed as fair a criterion of the value of the com-
merce as any thing could do. The Honourable Gev-
tletnan was nearly correct as to the exports to Am'
rich, when he stated them at about twelve
eleven millions; the only question was, whe
between
therthd
they were on an average annually bet
trade would be purchased too dearly by the suspeve,
sion of the Orders in Council ? Ile had talked to
n v
• shoharitiwh treated
r strongead ierdes
tPk"e
evidencetevidence
dneto mannertahte tele' which
t bar;rry , aelPON(dYNiilhiree:
.I%Erc9o°lnuss
as
also
isth
wasew thatcatledas
~totthhaer
quence ofd some of the articles sent to
Sfaoitit:dh Aprrnneterlicpaailityethepeatrpoanretno,.t.:
41d va
the world not being such as were in use. One 66.
tiemin had sent out stockinis which
.thtty