The Statesman.
London, England, 1813-08-24 00:00:00

ANIRICAN WAR.

...

TA TILE EDITOR OE THE. STATESSIA%
sift,—The celebrated and judicious Vattel is the
Chrpters which treat of unjust war,* in his book upon
the law of nations, holds up to severe reprobation,
retaliation, and condign punishment, the prince,
power, and people, who are its authors, sinews, and
insfruments. It is a fair deduction, that he inveighs,
i►► the bitterest terms, against all barbarous modes of
prosecuting such a war, as by the conflagration of
c 1 ies, the devastation of countries, and the massacre
of men, women, and children. And lie says, that
tie aggressed have n right to retaliate in any manner
and measure they may think proper; the obvious
tacit inference of which, seems to be, that the ag.
gressor cannot retaliate in a similar manner
without adding to his offence and incurring ad?'
ditiottal chastisement ;—that is, lie cannot ill nature
reason and law, after having committed the first of-
fence and aggravated it b% his enormities, be justi.
fi•d in encreasine; his ab initio injustice and his sub-
sequent measures of cruelty. It ►would, indeed, be
strange icasouiug to say, that what was vitiated in
tilebeiiiiiing can change i:s character and become
right puru pussu, by the mode of defence forced
upon and a►topt►d by the aggressed, and which may
be the only one in tlieir power. For w4at, in the
name of common sense, is the difference between the
nature of such an unjust att.ick of one nation upon
another, and that of a personal assault and battery.
There is, however, a great disproportion in the de-
gree of criminality, inasmuch as an assault and bat-
tery originates in an ignoraat individual, and is sel-
dom terminated by death; whereas the unjust attack
or a uation is supposed to be sanctioned by the
wisest heads of the country, and carries with it
destructio►► of every species, and misery of every kind.
Who aen still grant every means of defence and
a :nn% a nee in the case of an assault and battery, and
deati it in that of a national attack ? It is surely
enough to ba►e st►ted the principles of one of the
It'st publicists to manifest the absurdity of such a
conclusion.

However painful the task, and grating to the feel-
ingc of national pride, yet it is necessary to bring
the co..duct of the British Government, in its former
unnatural, and its present fatriciial war with America,
to the test of these principles. We all should know,
that the former was occasioned by an attempt to tax , '
America without its representative co-operation and
consent ; and that in so doing, the Government
either manifested an ignorance of our constitution,
or, which was most likely,a treasonable and criminal
&lire for its subversion, and to substitute in its
place an oligarchy, which has been since com-
pletely effected. America would not relinquish
tie noble station assigned her by the love of
freedom and Providence ; she scorned to receive
in the place of her birth-right, representation,
taxation, and tyranny,—truly British ; while
the mother country might have been taking
lessons from degenerate France, she boldly refused
to give op the rights and privileges of an integral
part of the British Empire. Armies after armies
were sent to entree her, and the cruel aid of the sa-
vage was bribed into the unnatural contest. The
lawful weapons of warfare were observed, in many
instances, to give place to, and in others to be the
harbingers of, and pioneers for, the conflagration of
cities, the devastation of countries, and the ruthless
and indiscriminating butchery of the Indian with the
tomahawk and sell ping knife.

The burning of Norfolk, in Virginia, and Esopns,
in the State of New York, and many other places;
the cruel and predatory warfare of the traitor Aa-
r:m.l), in Virginia and the South ; hut, above all, the
midnight murder of a party of Americans, asleep in a
barn in Penn,ylvaisia, by one of our commanders; and
that of our Indian ally. of men, women, and chil-
dren, its every stage and prouess of the war, inflamed
the Americans to a further determined and successful
resistance. If this resistance were marked in its
progress, in many instances, with severe reprisals,
their lattice could not be doubted, as measures of
self defence to end the evil, by intimidating their
infuriated eticmy iuto a less unhallowed mode of
warfare, and more conformable to the laws of na-
tions; but this dues not appear to have been the
cage f.

At least I never heard of any instances of cruel,
bit %RP-merited reprisal, on the part of the Ame-
rieans. And this can only be accounted for upon
tl e obvi‘.us ground, that as men of sense, they dis-
dained to disgrace a g )od cud by even the appearance
of Tillainot3 means, which history and our own ex-
perience inform us are uniformly employed in a bad
cause. The sweet charities of life, no doubt, came
in aid of this virtuous moral restraint, for they could
not forget their relation,hip to the Mother Country ;
and in their unextinguisheile fondness they called it
the war of the Government, and not of the People.
Indeed, there were men amongst them, and the im-
mortal FRANKLIN was of the number, whoarnrmed,
that the barbarous mode of carrying on the war did
more to reconcile America to the idea of indepen-
dence, than all the writings and speeches of their
statesmen and orators. I, myself, have witnessed
this doming fondness for the mother country, trans.

• V ,h. HO find IDA.

In order to perpetuate the rernerahrlore of the area mode
nart..re, there were litoldings in Norfolk (1 think
iii ;k1)115), ani •he Court-ha:4e in FJopus, whit h were bin; in
M.)l. a th- e:r I soitablr inteription—oe ,4 /Deja-
ce:*—sornteuttA of their Vandal destroyer!.