The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-10-07

mercial rigbtsf has ventured to juitify all the
meafures againft neutral trade, which England
has taken, and almoft all fhe may yet adopt,
by the fweepiug and unwarranted afIerton, that
the neutral ftates having FRI lubmfIively allow
cd tie enemieS Of Britain to encroach on'their
commercial riehts, Britain has, by natural rea-
Ion, and the law Of nations, claim to excrcife
hmilar Entertainments We are forty to re-
mark, that Epgih aggrefIion upon neutralrights
has been 70 long and variou1y continued, that
her friends have forgotten the commencement,
and the mott important incidents. We fhalI
therefore endeavor to af1ift their recolle6tions.
1t will be found, by recurrence to the Britifh
fate papers and annual regilters, that in the
year 1879, while England was at peace with all
the world, ihe began this injurious work by de-
tanning neutrals, as well al fea as in her own
ports, laden for France with proyiGons, with
her own bale goods, and with neutral produce
and manufactures ; and that as this nenGrony
act was againf the law of nations, numerous
treaties, and her own municipal laws, the Brit
ith miniitry of that day were obliged to fhelter
| themteIves under an act of indemnity. They
continued this lawlefs and injurious conduct till
the French declaration of war in Feb. 1898, fet-
ting, in time Of peace, an evil and snprecedent-
ed example TO all nations, and to future times.
After the war with France had taken place, the
Britifh government formed feparate and fuccef
live conventions with Rufiia, Spain, Prufiia, and
Auitria, " to flop and compelt aNnemraI fhips
bound to or freighted for France, either to fail
back or enter fome neutral port" 1t will be
obferved, therefore, that before the prefent al
lies of France violated, in 1905 and s, the neu-
trail rights in conjunction with her i'm the rage of
war, England had led them into fuch deliberate
violations IN the calm OF peace in 1892, and'in
war in 1898, in conjunction with herfelf. If
Prufiia is in theie bad practices now, England,
1t ieems, taught them to her many years ago,
and took pains to draw Denmark and Holland
into the fame Legitimate conduct. Neutral
vefielS were unlawfully detained and taken, in
numerous inftances, by G. B. and her friends,
avowedly to inure the general trade, and diff
turb the interior peace of France by the awful
miferies OF famine. We might obierve, Incl
dentally, that the dfmemberment of France
and eTen diSafing a farm of gopernment to her
were explicit objects of the treaties of Pilnitx6
and Pavia, aud of the Britifh minifefto of DC
tober, 1909. Tbefe are the very outrages of
which England now complains againft France
We leave to themfelves the fettlement of thoie
mutual complaints, wnIcn they however ought
| to adult before we embark in war on the fide
OF either. 1t is not remembered, that the Eng
lifh, government thought it proper to wage war
with Rufiia, Auftria, or Pruiia for their parti-
ton of Poland, or for their late repartition of
the German empire, under the name of " IN
6ensnitieJ,' in which operation all thefe powers
parteok- Ncr did the eiector of Hanover ever
depart from a" fubmiifive" neutraity.-Why,
then, fhould America plunge into the abyfs of
an awful and unprecedented war, which fhe
abhors, for reafons which have not heretofore
moved the eleetor and king to war in Hanover
| or England
But to return to neutral rights. In January,
| 1898, the Prufiians, then acting with England,
drove from the Hanfe towns all the French A.
gents, who were buying provilions for France,
as they now drive away TIE dealers in EngHb
goods. In this England Imported Prufia, by
topping fhips bound from the Hanfe towns TO
France. In the month Of June, 1898, FneIand
lflued her famous exerutive order for dcfroyipq
all the neutral trade with France, without even
pretending to act on theprinciple of blockade,
or to be forced by necefiity. The language of
the treaty with Rufiia, &c. on which lord Gren-
vile avowed to Mr.. t. Pinckney, that thofc
June orders were founded, was this ."To n.
mite all the efforts of Eng land and Ruiia TO nre-
vent all other powers not implicated in this war
(neutrals) from giving, directly or iadireG7ly any
| protection whatever, i'll coniequcnce OF their
neutrality, to the commerce OF France, upon the
feas or in their ports"
| In the fame year, 1893, it was declared. bv
Pruf1ia and Aufria, then allies of England, thai
the ordinary benefits ofneutra ntercourfe with
! France, was not to be allowed; and the Briti6,
mnilter at Genoa proclaimed, that TO be men,
ter Ito preferve the peace of our own nation)
was TO be an accomplice with France. In the
cafe of Tufcany, things were carried 70 far bv
Great-Brtan, that her minifer, Lord Heryey.
made known by letter to the Tufcan prime
minifer, that the continuance of his ROYAL maj
ter'S neutrality (his country's peace) would de-
pend upon the opinions of the powers combin-
ed with England aganft France, including
Pruliia, of whom the Enelli writers now bit
terly complain for violating the neutrality of
the Hanfeatic towns. Lord Hervey addre(ied
public letter to the minifter of Ruiiia if, TUT.
cany, declaring that the neutrality of Tufcany
was incompatible with the deiigns and intereh
of Europe, and zVoHId be Quilted by fbe,p in a
manner more fuitable to their war plans,
| On the 9th of November, 1898, the Englifh
government made Ferret order of the king and
council, and fent it (qvitbom notiee to any neu-
trail miniter) to all their flips of war, ordering
the feizure of all neutral veIels having on board
the produce of the French colonies, or proyifi-
ons, dry goods, or other fuppes for thole CO.
iones. A cargo of A. fifth, /. corn, lumber.
French produce and manufactures, and other
articles, could always be carried from our ports
to the French colonies, and mola1es, rum, &c.
could alwaysin peace, be brought back Here
our own neutral produce, our own neutral pro-
perty, in our own neutral lhps, in an eRabIiihed
peace trade under the well known arret of An
gut, 1884, procured by Prefdent Jefferfon.
was cut up without the leaf ceremony or no.