The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-11-21


ocean, and we should have maintained the
high character of virtue which the admins
tration OF Jc1erson had established. Madison
has wcvertulhiled the expectations which
we're formed from The school in which he was
bred. and the talents winch in his former sta.
ton he had displayed and the country has
been placed on high ground by the mag
unanimous candor with which h closed and
acted upon the agreement with Mr.. Erskine
the vocs OF Jactfon x the fears of the tind
were alike tremulous. ON the arrival of the
British minister, Mr.. Jackson the taefions,
fearful OF the rejection of AN emissary SO
notorious, and thereby the blasting OF their
! hopes and the Cessation OF their stipentls
the timid~ those wavering beings, whom eve
ry wind disturbs--whom every rumor ruff
Hes, vihrated between the apprehended
dangers Ut the refusal or the reception of
such character: forgetting that just men,
aud virtuous people, never have less TO fear
than from tie 'agency.of men svho are so
NOTORIOUS; it was by the supple. Stimulating,
secret. intriguing inSidioasness of a ListoM,
that Ne were SO long disgraced; 6fcrry,
| SC .ed IN inquity as he was, sould do no
| harm, for he Numbered forth his contumacy
| AS il he had been man of wars purser or a
paymaster; Erskine came with the weight
| OF his fathers reputation, and "a good stock
| of private worth of his own these men were
| known; and their various modes of action
| also; 6utwhen jackson came, the 1ie!gocIafor
Of CohenhaSe,l,, then Indeed it required lit
tie sagacity TO perceive that in the vcrv cf
fort IT Canning ~ slresv contempt nhon as
6y ehfteyiny such an agent, our own go
verpment WAS doubly .ortited in its Justice
and in the confidence OF. the people.
JACKSON has endeavured to- treat; the
American government, with Insult. he ex
pccted it would have eeeh again borne--it
was repellea and Gould he borne no longer
lhe Course pursued equally hon orabie to
Mr.. secretary Smith, AID creditable to tie
virsue and Independence vi our country If
the .eieveiath congress acts bat with equal
dignity. our national character regains wnar
1t nau ost.,.. durore..
All negotiation with the British goverp-
ment at this place is suspended by one OF those
events which we should call extraordinary,
did noS their frequent occurrence for few
years past make them familiar TO us With
out any redress Tor the accumulated wrongs
heaped upon US, or for the bitter indenity
committed by the outrage on the Chesapeake,
u new anu wanton insult has been offered
directly TO our government by minister,
whom the unsuypecting magnaniInity of the
nation trusted would IN truth have turned
out to be messenger of peace. Sent, ex-
pressly as we have been told, to- heal msun
derstandings. occasiored by the acknowledge |
ed mistakes, it not injuries, of his own gov
ernment, he has permitted himself, in Mo- !
lation of the planest dictates Of reason, and |
the clearest precepts of the law of nations !
to offer the grossest insult, in the power III
ingenuity to devise, to the American nation, |
by insinuaring doubt of the Veracity of its |
government. !
Sensible that our countryfen are no ways
deficient in spirit and that foreign injury |!
and insult, SO far from possessing tie power |
10 awe, will only serve to excite 4 Just re
sentiment, we shall abstain from minsterins
fuel 10 a flame which, we risque nothing in |
anticipating, will blaze from one end of The {
nation to the other. II is indeed most mani |
fest that since the inexp!cable disavowal of
the arrangement entered into with Mr.. E...- !
Kline, 1t has required every effort OF mode
ration and wisdom TO keep down the tone OF
the public mind and had the government
chosen with that scene to close all further |
intercourse with Britain, there is no tlsubt !
but that the nation would have gone heart III |
hand with them.
As, however, this case is some what new
III our political annals, we shalt lay before
our readers a few extracts from Nattel, the
most approved writer ON the law of nations. |
and certainly the writer, who from The un
common bepevoenCe of his dispositions of |
ali others is the most cautious in narrowing |
AID circumscribing the causes of collision be. |
tween nations
Book Chap 8, Vattel says -
Every nation, every sovereign, ought TO |
maintain his dignity by Causing the respect |
10 be paid to it which is his due, and espe /.
cially not to suffer that any stain be cast up |
On it. Ii he has then titles and honor that
belong to MIN according to constant custom, /,
ne may require them and he ought to do |
it, on occasions where his glory is concern
ed
" But it is proper to distinguish, between
negligence or the omission of what ought to |
be done according to commonly received |
custom, and positive acts of disrespect and |
insult. The prince may complain of negli !
gencc, and it 1T is not repaired, may consider
it as mark Of bad disposition /: he has |
right to demand, even by force Of arms, the
PREPARATION of an Insult The Car Pc |
ter j. complained in his manifesto against |
sweden, for not having fired the cannon on
his passage to Riga. He might think it /
strange that they did not pay him this mark |
OF respect, and he might complain of it but |
to make this the cause of a war, was being |
extremely prodigal of human blood
Book d, Chap. Z, he says -
" Should a foreign minister offend the |
Prince himself. be wanting in respect to him. |
and by his intrigues raise disturbances in the |
state and Court, the injured prince, from, a |
particular regard to the minister's master. |
sometimes requires that lie should be recall |
led or, If the fault be more heinous the |
Prince forbids him the court, till he receives |