The Statesman.
London, England, 1813-08-02 00:00:00

'THE -STATESMAN;

r •

of that power could not have failed to prevent. 'Ve
have already expressed our sentiments on this .erfo-
jeet. The naval force of Britain on tlie./tmericati
waters ought to have been a decided overmatch far.
Hthat of America. If it had been' so, the disasters•
that have taken place in Canada would have been
,preveuted, and all the distress endured by the loyal
inhabitants of that country would have been spared
them. Our Ministers are themselves conscious of
this : and it is this consciousness alone which fully
explains their reluctance to lay before the public ally
account of occurrences which redound so much to
their disgrace, as defeats and losses which the most
moderate portion of good sense on their' pert.would
have prevented.
How fully the opinion of the peo-
ple of Canada coincides with our own• upon this sub-
ject is rendered manifest by the following extract
FROM TILE QUEBEC GAZETTE, OF THE JUNE.
" The greatest fault of the English Government
has been the want of sufficient exertion to preserve
her superiority on the lAkes, without which it is
is impossible to preserve a chain of settlements ex-
'tending six or seven hundred miles along these Lakes
and the River St. Lawrence, and through which
;.there is no communication for military purposes by
land. Tke fOrce of the Americans now acting against
tipper Canada; is. at least quadruple to ours ; but
with till 'Wien., and a decided superiority on the
bakeartlAqueonld-have bee* linable to acquire any
important advantage in that quarter." 1
New York Papers to the 20th ult. have been re-
ceived in Dublin ; the accounts rendered of their
contents by the Irish. Journals is as follow ; they
are stated to be extremely important but are vo-
luminous:—
" It appears that General DEARBORN had carried
into immediate effect the orders of the Secretary of
War, under the act which empowered the President to
have recourse to a system of retaliation, in case the
naturalized citizens of Atnerica should be subjected,.
when made prisoners, to the laws of a State which had
exiled them, or which they had voluntarily abandoned
for ever. General DEARBORN had committed, in
pursuance of those orders, twenty-seven British sub-'
jects to close custody, on whom it was provisionally
determined to inflict the severest retaliation ! Those
phpers likewise contain the official account of the
capture of Fort George. They also communicate
some official intelligence respecting the attack made
on the American army, on the 6th of June, by Gen.
VINCENT. They say, that the American advanced-
guard had been surprised, and that after a severe
conflict, during which their artillery had been taken
and retaken several times, they retired to the main
body at Fort George."
If the Americans should really carry into act, the
determination here spoken of, it will be productive
!of conseqUences at which humanity shudders. Be-
-I.oreen nations at war' Ob. -nth other, any dispute
as to the laws of war is deeply to be deplored, as the
Icm:sequences of such dispute is too likely to be that
one violation of them, will give rise to another, till
I at length the ,hostile scene loses every feature of hu-
manity and refinement, and is transformed into a ruth-
i•
less' conflict of brutal savages, and becomes a horrid
spectacle of indiscriminate and unrelenting massacre
land slai:ghter. The law of nations we believe fully to
'; recognise the principle that allegiance is indelible.
'And upon this principle, the natives of England are
1 at every period of their existence forbidden to carry
i arms against their natire country. • The Americans
will probabli, therefore, not suffer this dispute to
• proceed to the dreadful extremity to.which it would
4 lead. We cannot, however,, but remark, that the
principle cannot he worth contending for in the esti-
: oration of any good Government. Because the ad-
! vantages which every good Government must bestow
upon its subjects, is, without the interventioe of any
1 positive law, a sufficient security for.the stability
.of
their voluntary allegiance. At any rate, it must be
obvious that severity ought to be employed, to punish
any infraction of this law, only in a degree hu-
inanely and justly apportioned to the circumstances
-gaf aggravation or extenuation which accompany the
commission of the crime.

Letterchave been received from llamburgh to the
17th -tilt. by the way of GOttenburgh. It appears
from them, that upon the payment of a certain por-1
lion Of the contribution of 40 millions of francs, the
merchants had, at the recommendation of DAvousr,
sent three of the most respectable of their body to I
BoxApAn-re, in the hopelof obtaining a remission of
the remaining instalments. They had returned, how- '
ever, without having been admitted (lien to an audi-
ence ; and previous to their departure, it was intimat-
ed to them, that it was only upon the full and prompt
payment of the contribution, that they could hope
to obtain their own pardon and that of their con-
stituents. This answer plunged the unfortunate
Bamburghers into• the deepest despair; as their con- I
forming to the mandate of theio tyrant would
reduce them to the most abject state of poverty.—
The wholes of the male population, without distinc- I
tion, continued to be employed in constructing mili-
tary works round the city, and in forming a bridge
from Ilamburgh, across the Elbe to 'llarburgh. The.
same measures of sweeping severity were exercised
against the inhabitants of Bremen and Lubeck ; and
the sons of the most opulent merchants were forced.!
to enrol themselves in the Imperial garde d' Elite;'
to equip themselves at their own istpence, and to
contrikute yearly WO francs towards the support of
the corps. ,
Mr:Mts.; our late Minister at the Court of Sar-
Ada, and ISMAiti GinitALTAR, charged on a Mission
froM the Podia of I,:oyeir, landed from the Lenia-
Mots at Portsmouth ou Friday evening.
It is rumoured that the Bishop of LINCOLN rill
be translated to the vacant See of London.