The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-01-24 00:00:00

AMERICA.

WASHINGTON, DEC. 7.—Yesterday, in the House of
Representatives, when Mr. PORTI:R called up the
consideration of the Report of the Committee of Fo-
reign Relations, he briefly stated " the objects anti
views which had governed the Committee in their
Report, which he had submitted to the House. The
Orders in Council were of themselves a sufficient
cause of war, with the Committee ; and which causes
were aggravated by the miserable shifts of the British
Ministry, and their authority in that country. Any
man not willfully blind, could see that Britain had
not acted towards them even in a manner which ac-
corded with her own ideas of justice: she captured
under a principle this week, which she did not avow
the next; and if a doctrine so monstrous were sanc-
tioned, she would next trample upon the necks of
their Citizens in the streets. It was the unanimous
' opinion of the Committee, that these encroachments
were such as to demand war, as the only alternative
to obtain justice. Their situation was like a young
' man establishing himself in society, who, if he sub-
muted to indignities in the outset, would have to in-
cur a double expence of time and labour to establish
his lost character. On the carrying trade, the Com-
mittee expressed no final opinion. It was in their
power to harass the resources of Britain, as well
on the ocean as by land ; to carry on a war against
her coast and colonies at their own doors ; and de-
stroy her trade with the colonies, by the number of
privateers which would be fitted out for service.—
They had it in their power to make a conquest of
Canada, which, to Britain, was of the utmost im-
portance; and from whence she had imported arti-
cles of the utmost necessity last year, to the amount
of 600,000,000 dollars, a great deal of which was
for square timber for her navy. They held a sword
over her resources which would cut her to the quick.
It was, therefore, the determination the Committee
to RECOMMEND open war to the utmost energies of
the nation; yet he hoped it would not be entered
ludo prematurely, for the howlings of newspapers. He
knew that many of his friends were for immediate war;
he felt the indignities of their situation as sensibly as
any man in the House, and he would go as far to re-
dress them, when the preliminaries were settled ; but
he did not wish to invite to the feast till the cloth was
laid—till the nation was put into the attitude, and
a war demanded by the crisis."—The Resolutions
were all carried in a Committee of the whole, except
the second, in which the words " ten thousand"
were struck out, with a view to insert a larger num-
ber, which there appeared to be some difficulty in
fixing on ; the lowest proposition was 12,000, and
the highest not exceeding 50,000; it was, however,
agreed to let it remain, so that when the Bill was re-
ported, the House could fill as they saw proper ;
more time would elapse, and they would be better
informed on the subject. (Ten thousand was an idea
quite out of order to mention; they were quite up to
the war-mark.) The Resolutions were afterwards
taken up in the House, and the first carried by Ayes
and Noes, 117 to 11.—Mr. Randolph in the minority.
The second Resolution was then -proposed by the
SPEAKER.—A plea for time was put in by Mr. RAN-
D9LPH and Mr. GOLDSAOROUGII, who said, if they
were to be dragged into a war, it was but reasonable
to give them one night more to reflect on it. The
House then adjourned till this day, at 11.—The
House sat but a very little time to-day, and adjourn-
ed on the motion of Mr. RANnourti, as the Com-
mittee of Investigation wished to have this day for
the examination of persons agreeably to their powers :
unless time was given, as the duty was arduous, it
'would be putting a veto on their proceedings.—The
House of Representatives has determined to recog-
nise formally the independence of South America.

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PUBLIC POLICE.

TO THE EDITOR 1)I,' THE STATESMAN.

Sin,—Much praise is due to Mr. SHERID I.N for la
Speech in Parliament on our defective Police, and fly!
increase of crime. Mr. GRAHAM deserves all that
has been said of him, and, no less vigilant than at-
tentive, may really be said to be the only efficient
Magistrate we have. It was well known at the time
the seven Police Offices were established, in 1792,
that the. prevention of crime, and the security of the
lives and fortunes of his Majesty's subjects were less
in the contemplation of Mr. PITT and of Mr. DUN•
DAS, titan the patronage they afforded. Twenty-one
Magistrates, at 4001. per annum each, all of them
indigent, and servilely devoted to the Minister, gave
influence, indeed, to the Crown, but no security to
the Metropolis. These, with their treasurer, Mr.
REEVES, clerks, constables, &c. whose salaries have
since been raised, consume no iettonsiderable
portion of the public revenue ; and it is really
fall time that men, occupying situations so im-
portant, should not be capable of discharging
the trust reposed in them, but better employed. than
in granting warrants for breaches of the peace, and
attending to the dirty squabbles of the lowest orders
of the people--the very refuse of society ; but, Sir,
this general depravity that has burst forth on a sud-
den, with uncommon and declared ferocity against
us, is not altogether the result of inactivity in
_an
ignorant and indigent Magistracy—it flows in a
great measure from the misconduct an bad example
of the higher orders, a, Lord COCHRANE and Sir
FRANCIS BURDETT very properly remarked: and iu
confirmation of their judicious observation, it
may not be improper to enquire of those dame,
who do not seem to know the value either of time
or character, how they think their servants employ
their time while their masters and mistresses are
squandering their property, and sometimes the
property of others, at clubs and routs ?—One of
those indefatigable card-players, who does not
know the luxury of passing an evening at home
the whole winter, except once or twice when her
rooms are thrown Open for her friends, as she
calls them, boasted to me lately, that she had
been at three parties, and might have been at a fourth,
in one night—that though she was seldom in bed before
two, she made it a practice never to be later than
five ; and as this mode of existence prevails very
generally at the west end of the town, and in this
parish (Mary-le-bonne) I leave you to judge, Sir,
of the morals of servants, who may be said to par-
take of this senseless vagrant life of extensive folly
and disreputable dissipation. I ask you, for the
Lady to whom I allude could not give me an answer
without blushing, how you think the servants on
these pisidatory excursions (I mean the coachmen
I and footmen) are occupied, while their mis-
tresses are at the card-table ; and in what man-
ner the abigails at home amuse themselves in the
I absence of the rest of the family ? These ques-
tions have no affinity to an impertinent desire to
enquire into the little histories of private families.—
No, Sir) the question relates solely to morals, and to
the fair inferences which may be drawn from women
of fortune, no matter how these fortunes were ac-
quired, gadding about from square to square, and
from house to house, paying idle ceremonious visits in
the forenoons, which ought to be devoted to the in-
struction of their daughters, and to the management
of their domestic concerns, while at night they are
flying,as soon as the clock strikes eight or nine, when
they ought to be preparing for supper and bed, to
card parties, to " undo or be undone." I knew a
poor dame of quality, mere attached to her title
than her character, with scarcely pence enough to Cud
her bread and cheese for dinner, frequenting routs
for no other purpose than to hear herself announced,
and whose meanness being equal to her pride, always
engaged some servant, unknown to his master, to come
and take her home in his master's carriage before the
horses were put up. Let your Readers peruse tl is
letter with attention, and put to themselves the ques-
tions I have put to you, and they will find in an an-
swer to those question a solution for the profligacy
and dishonesty that prevails amongst the lower orders
of the people, and which Mr. PERCEVAL, who, as a
lawyer, must have been benefited by the vices of the
age, treats as a matter of course, in much the same
easy manner in which he had the impertinence, or ra-
ther indecency, to justify Ministers for selling bo-
roughs and bringing a spurious breed into Parlia-
ment. I wonder how this Gentleman would like a
spurious breed to be brought into his family ; and
surely, Sir, our House of Commons should be pre-
served as chaste as our wives, whatever a corrupt
Administration may say to the contrary,

A FRIEND TO PEACE AND GOOl
Harley-street, Jan. 19. 1812.

COMPARATIVE VELOCITIES.—ACCOrdiI
Bradley, an undulation of light reaches
.from the sun (a distance of 191,43'
1,010,771,520 feet), in one second of
motion eeZound Is found to be 1130 feet
period. The velocity of lightning is
English miles in a second; and that of
which tears up trees and carries buildings
is 100 miles in an hour. According to the
' tion of Cepede, the great northern whale
rate of thirty-three feet in a second, at ,
might go round the globe, in the direction
equator, in 564, hours or forty-seven days ;
is so inferior in the velocity of his movements,
to traverse a space equal to the circumference
globe, would cost him three hours of hard •
every day for seven years.

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