The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-10-01
rGbs enquirer.
RICHMOND, Ist OCTOBER.
BRITISH HNcEoAcAnsvrs vrox OUR COMMERCE..


g. An order, we underflnd, was fent to all the OFT
ports fome days ago, intruang our eruzers to de-,
all American veffels, which have on board propertv
not the produce of the United States This order has
been already acted upon and feveral fips have been
topped Laa4on paper of 7.b Of .4pgua.
Such is the paragraph, which has already ex
cited 10 great An alarm among the America an
merchants, and fuch vehement indignation A.
mong all cIaies of citizens. 1t is TO be regretted,
that the order itfef has not reached ne, from
which this paragraph is faid to have been fub-
ttantlaily taken. For we cannot help fuipecting
that 1t embraces much wider circle of operati-
on than the order itIf, and we fufpeet it for the
following reafons:
Bscauie the paragraph which follows it in
the lime paper, explains the intention of the or
der to be, the refraining ofourindreSi trade be-
tween the colonies and the mother country,
through the medium of the United States:
bccanie the letters from the London mer-
chants 10 their correspondents in this country.
centne the proviGons of ,he order to this pre-
ciie object:
Becan'e the cafe Of the T Tex and other vefTels
winch have lately been condemned by the En-
glib courts of admiralty, is founded entirely
upon this affirmed principle of an unlawful
commerce between the colonies and the mother
country:
And becaufe, if their order was as extenGve
IN ITS operation as this paragraph profeiIes it to
be. It would have the effect of fubiecting our
vS'iels to detention and adjudication, IN ough
they were laden even with Britifa manufa 9ures
In fact, according 70 the phrafcoloey OF his pa
rag~aph, not an American yeGsl conld fail on
me nigh ieas, shaving on hoard property mr.
'he produce of the u. S." whether it conIited
OF Hrltih manufactures or of colonial produce
which would not be liable to detention by Bri-
tIlb cruIzers, and adjudication by their courts
Of adj niralty.
1nfesd of fuch an unlimited interference with
orr trade, we fufpeGt that it was the only Inten-
ton OF this order to ntru6t their CRITTERS TO de-
tan all American veiiels bound to an eneny's
colony, and having on board any article Of the
growth or manufacture of nafi5q at zuar with
Great Britain" By referring, lin our preced.
ing columns) 10 MIR. Kings lester of March
1901, TO Lord H1wkefbury on inilar ribie9.
the reader will find that fIch at leaf was the
PraTiee Of the BritinI cruifers at that period &
this forms another reafon for our opinion. that
the London paragraphia has trained the pro-
vliions fthe order beyond its actual import.
But this order, even with this modification.
con'ainsfuch encrolchments upon the Aneri-
can commerce, as cannot but excite the deem
Ell a!irm and Indignation. defultorv view
of this fubie6, will be efficient TO pom, orr the
llJu'tIce OF TINS regulation, aud the difa1vsnta-
geous htuation to which we fha be reduced.
Il has generally been the cutom, when any
ne7o principle is adopted by begerent ma
ton, or when any old one is carried into one,a-
ton, to give 4 previous notice to- the miniaers
refdent of neutral nations, that they may have
It IN their power to put their countrymen on
their guard. When a Port is declared 10 he 10
Rate of blockade, there is always proviion
IN fivonr of fich ve1els az may have left fbe;-
country, before the declaration oe the blorkade
conId have arrived there. But no fiich provi.
BON has been made, in the prefent inRance
A. order has been given by the Britirh govern
ment for OBTAINING our vcGels, laden with Dar.
ticuIar cargoeS and bound Tor particular port,