The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-03-28
POLITICAL.
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A REPRESENTATIVE IN FRGN
VIRGINIA, TO HIS CONSTITUENTS.
FELLohy- CIgIzENs.
When I last had ne
honor to address yon, at the close Of the first
session ofthe Tenth Congress, / exposed to
you the embarrassing circumstance into
winch our puOlic ;.IFlirs were thrown, by
The hostile acts and cdicts os Great Britain
ana France against our rights. IcXpressed
my satisfaction with the means adopted by
our government TO do us justice, and NY
concurrence iii its measures, as your repre-
sentative IN Congress. l lament that COM
pieta success has not attended the policy
thea embraced, Which l still believe to nave
oeen correct, wise and dignified, and sh ali
ehdeaVor to trace some of the causes of its
partial failure. in the relation ! intend to
give of our political concerns.
During the recess OF Congress, the adn;-
nistr3tlon was earnestly ard sincerely ec-
cnpied IN the attempt To restore to us the
exercise ct cur rights, by appealing to the
Justice and to the interests Of ,he be ,llserent
PAYERS OF europe. A single extract from
the letter of Mr.. Pinkncy to MIR. earning
OF the Esd August, 1903, communicated to
both Houses of Congress by the Presidents
message, on the 9Th November, will suffice
to snbstantiate the assertion, that the admi-
nistration sincerely sought TO reconcile our
differences with Great Britain Mr.. I TX
ne> thus explicitly and uneeuivocally eX-
presses the intention or the President. "I
" have the honor 10 state 10 you, sir, that it
" was The !ntension OF the President, in case
:" Great Britain repealed her orders, as re-
:" gardcd the Uaited States. to exercise the
" power vested in him By the act of the last
:" session of Congress, entitled, can act 10
" authorize the President of the United
:" States, under Certain conditions. to sus-
e" pend the operation of the act laying an
I" embargo en- all Ships and vessels in the
ports and harbors of the United States,
" and the several supplementary acts there
. to, by snspendirg the embargo law and
It's supplements, as regards Great Bril-
. tain.
- am authorised to give you this assur-
" ahce In the most formal manner; and,
trust, that upon impartial enquiry, it will
" Ge found to leave no iaducemcnt TO pcrse-
" yerance in the British orders, &C. j
have been thus particular in quoting the
precise language of orr minister at London,
because its strong and decided expression,
leaves no ground for the charge of i~nsince-
rity, which has been brought by the oppo-
sitionists, in Justification of their unv,ea-
sured hostility to the administration and to
the unGnestionabie Interests Of heir coun-
try. To this accusation OF insincer;ty in
our offers % Great Britain, is added, that
CT undue partially to France. | shall nor
insuttt misunderstanding Of my constituents by
attempting to retute Il calum1y SO manifest
" base and groundless. But, without select
'HS particular passages from the Correspol-
denc2 ct our minister at Paris, | am war.
rantcd to observe, as the mo4t carsorv perusal
VIII evince, that independently Of lis con-
tanning no such offer as that made to Eng
and, its Language generally is stern and for
CHI. e, widely differing from the complaisance
which would imply the existence of an in
proper Partially. A comparison Of the
tone which prevails in the COMMUNICATIONS
OF our ministers at London and Paris, will
exhibit, at a glance, that the former would
be more grateful to the feelings of those tc
whom they were addressed THAI the latter
Bnt these charges were not without tiei;
object ; the opponents Of the adminjstratio
VINO made them, eager to avail themselves
OF the opportunity to excite popular feeling
which the embargo presented, ard consci
Gus that its propriety could not be question.
ed, bat b. first classifying the circumstance
which demanded it, resorted to the exue.
dent OF juStifying the attacks made upor
orr neutral privileges, on the part of Great
Britain, by irhputing to cur government ar
improper bias towards France. The min
iNNCIo u 1ISlI DIlltin NlO not ne lSeiVCS
pretend to view the subject of our differen
ccs in this light, and We have information
that, but for suggestions Of this nature, ana
the commissions of Spain, our Just demand
would have been yielded to by Great Bri.
tair. The sudden return given to the ne
gosiation in June or July, was undoubtedly
in part, occasioned by advices from this
country, by exaggerated accounts of the
discontents against the embargo, and bv :
knowledge that the opposition rested mn,I
OF its hopes on the obstinate refusal of &
britain to relax her orders in council. T'hi,
change in thc temper of the British minis.
try, was so exactly coeval with the arrival
OF Il vessel from this country, as to place
beyond a doubt the fact of jcr having con.
veyed intelligence which influenced their
conduct. BY articles of every kind, prac.
tised with unremitting diligence, in a sec.
tion OF the union where m is more
peculiarly the dependence Of the inhabitant,
than else where, the opposition have so f,I
accomplished their purposes, as to de!ude
come OF their fellow citizens into a belief
that the priYatim of was an ef.
feet OF the embargo, when no truth can, in
fact, be more plainly demonstrated, than
that it was an inevitable result of the Bri-
fish orders in council, and the French de-
icrees. Thus the mere trick of a party. a
%bandoning the paramount consideration OF
the Country's right and honor, to a remote