Berkeley and Jefferson intelligencer. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va.) 1802-1810, 1803-03-18


ders> that have been issued, by the Inten.
dant General, TO eyerydistrict Of the Spa
nish provinces, prohibiting the subjects
Of his Catholic majesty from having any
commerce, dealing, intercourse, or COM
munication whatsoever with the citizens
Of the United States, excluding Us from
their shores for the distance Of two hun.
bred and seventy miles. treating Us like
nation of pirates or . banditti of Robbers,
who they feared sotrust in theircountry:
and this day sir, If . vessel belonging to
a citizen of the u. States, engaged IN q
fair and Il gal trade, was upon the waters
Of the Mississippi, within the Spanish
lines, and in q state Of the moSt extreme
distress, the Spaniard who should yield
her aidor comfort, would doit at the PEE
ril of his life. T. - j..
But why do we conhne ourselves TO the
Mississippi, almost every part of the
world furnishes us with causes Of COM
plant against the Spaniards; scarcely .
mail has arrived fofa year past, that has
not brought US some account of their OUT
RACES upon our commerce. They insult
our national Aag upon every sealswhere
they meet it; they sieze our MERCHANT
men; they plumber our merchants of
.theirPropery they abuse our seamenj
shaekle them with chains, and eensign
them to Dungeons yet honorable
gentlemen cry out peace, peace, when
there is no peace. If this be peace, God
give US war. And pray Mr.. President
what have we done to provoke all this I
We have violated no treaty with his
Catholic majesty, we have injured none
Of his subjects, we have deprecated no
where upon his commerce rather than
offend him, when he has smitten us on one
cheek, with CHRISTIAN meekness, we have
turned the other; he has made no cons
plant against us he has no cause olson.
plant he does not even condescend TO
seek justification for his conduct ;.none
could be found but it originates in de.
hberately formed system Of Insult and
abuse, and he is proceeding step by step,
to ascertain how long the people Of the
q. States win suffer themselves to be
tramPled upon with IMMUNITY. We have
seen him on our lines, wantonly infract
his solemn treaty, and his subjects are at
this moment, under our very eyes, act.
ing in open violation of his best provisi.
ons, BY withholding from our citizens the
all important right it guarantees to them
Of navigating freely the Mississippi. A
right essential to their very existence as a
people, right that can never be ADAM
doned by them but with their lives, nor
yielded by Us but with our national honor.
- If it should be said, sir, that this i'm
portant question will not long be an az
fair Of controversy between the United
States and Spain that Louisiana, New
Orleans, and this usurped claim Of the
Spanish government to the exclusive ma
yisation Of the Mississippi, win soon be
found in other hands that whenever we
may have to negotiate thissubject, either
in the cabinet or the field, II will not be
with his Catholic majesty, but with the
First Consul; not1with king, but with
the king of kings I answex: that in these
insults to our national dignity, we at pre-.
sent know no power but SpainS whatever
agency Bonaparte may have had id this
business, he has been concealed from cur
view. tits Spain at=has violated her
Phghted faith it is Spain that has tramp
led upon the dearest interests Of the u.
States and insulted our government TO
ourfaces without the semblanee of a cause,
and she alone is responsible to US forthese,
outrapes. And under such circumstan.
ees is it becoming, polite, or honorable
in us to treather as a friend and as a neigh
Dor to demonstrate with her on her acts
ofinjustice, and wait till she shall add In
suit to insult, and heap injury upon iniu-
~, or what is perhaps even worse, ifany
thing worse than national degradation can
befal an independent people, till this gol-
den opportunity shall have passed away,
and the faeility'of redress be wrestedfrom
our hands! No Sir, we should now view
her as our open enemy, as having declar-
al t,,,,. os-,snsf ne and H0 I'M ~ go As, s,sxr