The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-05-21
THE E.NQUIR Err.
RICHMOND. MAY 81, 1908.
THE EMBARGO.

" E1Src Ce anv friend OF ms country, who
is yet for one moment disposed to doubt the
prepriety or the policy of the embargo, LEI
him refer to the speech Of LORD HOLLAND
in the House of Lords, published in this days
paper
"Not less than seUentv.fpe merchant
vessels belonging to the subjects of the Uni
ted States-seizcd and brought into the
several ports of Great-Britain, manu- of
7vhfch qvere condemned, and all detain ed
in the course of one fortnight, even before
the Orders in Council were issued"! IL
From this memorable fact let this calcua-
ton be made If so many were carried into
British ports in one fortnight, how many Amc-
rican vessels would have been captured and
confiscated, these last sic months, By British,
French and Spanish cruizcrs-and consc-
quently how MANY vessels have been prcser
we'd from depreciation BY our Embargo, This
one argument alone is sufficient to establish
its advantages beyond the possibility of
doubt.
How many frivolous arguments have been
eni,,,o,~a tiis occasion
There are some, the old standard oppo-
nents of this administration, who have at
tempted to attribute to it all the blame and
reproach of the Embargo. But on what
ground? Did Mr.. Jefferson confer on Bona
parte the sovereignty of Europe. Did he
enable him to enact the decree of Berlin
the ostcn sibie cause of the British Orders of
Council! Did he enact those orders? Did he
pass the Decree of Milan? go
There are other men who erf,ress an at
taehment to the Embargo, that still affect TO
ascribe its existence to the rejection of the
late Treaty. And how? If this treaty had
been ratified with the Official Note attached
to 1T by the British Commissioners Note
which should alone have withheld the sig
nature OF our own-the British government
would have been authorised, on any pre-
tence which they might have chosen to trump
up, and their jealousy of our CONNIE rciai pros
perity would have readily supplied onc-to
resort to countervailing measures, in case
they should pretend that the u. S. had sub
mitted to the blockading DEGREES of France.
what would have been our situationS We
now know what those countervailing mea-
sures would have been. The late Orders of
Council are those 'Countervailing measures.
If the treaty had been adopted, we should
have been bound hand and foot at the altar of
the british Admiralty, while our commerce
would have been Frustrated by these counter
vailing orders, . Our only salvation woul d
have been in this very Embargo. .'.t... rs.
And what expedient would the enemies ofthe
Embargo recommend in it's place Wars But
is there a friend of his country, who COM
pares together the evils ofthese two systems,
that can prefer the boundless expenditure of
blood and treasure which war would produce,
to the most extravagant computation of evils
arising from temporary suspension OF our
trade 80, - $3.50. 7t;..l-.,, $50 -.
Or is there n prudent statesman whntwill
consent TO expose our vessels and property
on the high seas to British capture and con-
iscation?
d" Or is there undetermined patriot, who
would rather drive trade to Great Britain,
and trade to the continent covered by .Bri-
fish liCence and loaded with British taxati-
on, with all the disgrace which such imposi-
lions would create, and all the risksof war
with France, than abandon the high seas
and European commerce, until our, dignifed
neutrality shall recall the people of Europe
to sense of justice ,, K.
This state of Things has its limits . .,@
,rNever has a nation been more complete
ly deceived, about the tone or feelings of ano7
ther, than the people of England have been,
respecting the feelings and energy of the A.
meriCan nation. O.. &C.. .a
The twelve london papers before us, do
not contain a single extract from an Ameri-
can democratic print. They are clogged
with all the most eXtravagant of the federal
misrepresentation in the federal prints, and
With the still more extravagant misrepre-
sensations of letters addressed by British con-
suls or merchants to their deluded CORES
pondents in England. There is not sim
gle paragraph in these papers, which is
written by genuine AmericaH-There is
not single one, which brcsthcs the predomi-
nant spirit of this country, & which displays
to the, deceived subjects vi britain, the pat
riotic cheerfulDcss with which the people of
the Unitcd States will bear. all the evils s
| the embargo, and the fortitude w tn which
they are determined to resist the encroach-
nevis of the British government
The British ministry too have Joined in
this holy plan OF deceiving the people Of Bri-
tain They have made every exertion to
persuade them. in opposition to every fact,
that their Orders of Council had not pro-
duced our Embargo; and to misrepresent
| the. astonishing sensation, which these Or
ders have diffused over this country. Hear
Lord Hawkesbury himself in the House
of Lords, on the 29th March -" He could
assure their Lordships, that no Sucb disa-
greeable sensation was occasioned in Amer
lea by the PRONUNCIATION of these Orders in
Council--there was good reason to believe
that America must shortly have hrohe,
sense Of tic o7vn intereSt"--And vet this no.
bic lord hesitates not to avow, in the face of
his nation, that he had obtained this infor-
nation "by means Of his official situation"
The ministry have attempted to sooth the
public anxiety too, by the most cxtravaeant