The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-01-09 00:00:00

single point from expressing my surprise;
that, as a condition, preliminary even to a •stlspen.
slots of hostilities, the .covernsnetil of the United
States should have thoeght fit to demand, that the
Bridals Government should desist from its ancient.
and accustomed practice of impressing British seamen
from the. merchant ships of a foreign State, simply,
on the assurance that a. law shall hereafter be passed,
to prohibit the employment of (Wish seamen in the
public or commercial service of that State. The British.
Government now, as heretofore, is ready to receive
.. from the Government of the United States, and ami-
cably to discuss, any proposition which professes tn.
have in yiew.either to check abuse in exercise of the
practice ofimpressment, or to accomplish, by means
less liable to vexation, the object for which impress-
ment hers hitherto been found necessary; but they
contiot consent to, suspend the exercise of a right
' upon which the naval strength of the empire mainly •
depends, emit they ire fully convinced that mein'
can be devised, and wilt be adopted, by which the
Object, to be obtained by the exercise of that right,
can be efecteellY secured. I have the honour to be,
Sir. your most obedient humble servant." .
Thisseffer, you will perceive came from the Pre-
sident; How false then, to tMcharge, that he went
to war to assist Napoleon I.4(fliat had been true, he,
of course, would
,have propoatnt no armistice. lie
would have been tuitions to avoid all means of re-
conciliation. But, on the contrary, he is. the first
to make an effort to put an end to the war ; and,
eve'. in the case of impressment, to tender volunta-
rily a measure calculated' (o remove our apprehen-
sions on the score of our seamen. Ido not know
how an English Secretary of State may have been
able to look a Republican Ministerin the face, while
. the former was asserting, that the strength of Eng-
land mainly depended on the exercise of the right of
• impressing its own subjects ; but, be that as it may,
the President here tendered a measure to render that
impressment unnecessary, unless it was still meant to
impress the Repablicans.
The Republic having failed in this endeavour to
restore peace, she made another attempt, the suc-
ceeding month, as will be seen by the letter of Mr.
Monroe to Sir John B. Warren, and which letter it
is of great importance to peruse with attention. Af-
ter the opening of his letter, he proceeds thus :-
46 I am instructed to inform you, that it will be very
satisfactory to the President to meet the Bt itish Go-
vernment in such arrangements as may terminate,
without delay, the hostilities which now exist be-
tween the United States and Great Britain, on con-
ditions honourable to both uations.—To accomplish
this great object, it is necessary that the interest of
imPressrnent be satisfactorily arranged. He is willing
that Great Britain should be secured against the evils
of which she complains. He seeks, on the other
hand, that the citizens of the United States should,
be protected against a practice, which, while it
degrades the nation, deprives. them of their right
RS freemen, takes them by force frihn their families
and their country, into a foreign set vice, to fight the
battles of a Foreign Power,, perhaps against their
own kindred and country.-1 abstain from entering
in this communication into other grounds of Oilier.
Cores. The Orders in Council haiiiig been repealed
(Kith a reservation ant. impairing a corresponding
right on the part of the United States), and no
blockades tevived or instituted in their stead, and
an understanding being obtained on the subject,of
linpresament, iu the mode herein proposed, the Pre-
sident Is willing to agree to a cessation of hostilities,
with a view to arrange, by treaty, iu a more distinct
and ample manner, and to the satisfaction of both
pieties, every other subject of controversy.—l will
only add, that if there be no objertion to an accom- ;
nitglation of the difference relating to impressment,
in'the mode proposed, other than the suspension of
the British claims to impressment during the armis- ,
lice, there can be none to proceeding, without the ar-
thistice, to an immediate discussion and arrangement
of an article on that subject. This great question
being.satisfactorilyntijusted, the way will be oven
either for an armistice, or ant other course leading
most'converilenlly cad expeditiously to a general pa-
cilication."•
' This offer, too, was rejectetc! What more was i
the President to do unless he, at once, allowed, that
we had a eight to impress on. board American ships..
iWas this offer to be attributed to a wish to aid Na-
poleon ? How execrable, then, has been the con-
duct
of those who have Been labouring to make the
people of England believe, that "Mr. Madison went
to war to aid Napoleon ! What'wretches must those
be, who have called him the tool of the fallen
6 6 despot ?" What impudent men, those who have
accused him of attackitig ut in the dark, like an as-
sassin? The man, who, the oilier day, uttered that
expression, ought to have had his lips smashed upon.
his teeth. Every effort,. short of opening the Re-,,
publican ships to English press-gangs, was, it appears
to me, made by the President to prevent the war, and
to put an end to the war after it was begun.
It is asserted most roundly, Lord Castlereagh's
letter to Mr. Russell, that " to impress British sea-
men from the merchant ships of a foreign State is the
ancient and accustomed practice of the British Go-
vernment." It has often been thus said, but never
has been attempted' to be proved. I have never read
of any such practice ; I have never heard of
,any
such practice ; and; I defy any one, to cite in any
book on the law of nations any record of such a
practice, or any maxim or principle to warrant it.
I have thrown down this challenge 50 times, and 1 it
has never been taken tip. But, we did pot stop with
this practice. We impressed native Republicans.
Mr. Madison says• that we impressed thousands of
them. The President tenders us a law, to be agreed
on by us as well as him, to prevent our seamen from
serving on board of the Republican ships; and this,
even this, does not satisfy us.—He wishes to 'put,..an I
end to the war in this way, even at a time when he
is accused of having declared it for the 'purpose of '
aiding Napoleon ; and still the hirelings of the Lon-
don press call him " the tool of Napoleon ;" while
other miscreants accuse him of having attacked us *ln
the dark, like an assassin.
Seeend, the causes of the continuance of tfie War.
—But, how came the war not to cease when the war
In Europe ceased ? This is the most interesting part
of the subject. The professed object of the war,
on tlarpart, was to make the Americans submit to
our practice of impressment, alleging that thatjarac-
lice was ueceuary to the preset:saga of our mari.

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