The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-03-28

IL " hdpiS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. III udViuS uCcutu |
England. The access to the ouiy market
for the largest portion ofour tobacco. is then
compile ,ely shut, as far as the British navy
Is competent, TO effect that object. Were
we, indeed. permitted to enter the ports OF
the continent, after paying "a duty of three
dollars per hundred in England, it is evlen.
that M commodity could support n tax so
diSproportionate to It's value. Cotton,
whose primary market for considerable
quantities. Is likewise the continent OF Eu-
rope. must SO far be in the same situation,
and it finds its ultimate market OH The con
%cinent, in the form Of manufactures, TO a
great extent. Wheat, one of The primo; pal
products ct The middle states, is deprived
by the British orders, Of the markets Of
Spain and Portugal, for the recen; intclli-
gence from III sc countries, leaves little
doubt oft'ieii being again in possession of
ne French. and consequently, subject to the
m,erdictiun OF the orders in council. We
may. 1T Is trne. continue to export flour to
some az the West India Islands. and to ports
Of South America, but where shall we dis
pose Of the coffee, sugar., sc. which we re-
lceive IN exchange, that may Cnain after
supplying the demand for consumption in
this country To the fisheries of the east,
no better prospect is presented than TO ag-
rieuiture ; the great market for fish is the
$500 So. ~ OHi
is injured by every cause which obstructs
the unres,rained pursuit of ; to
the loss or the CARRYING trade, is supcrad
ded the. impossibility of transporting our
native products OF our own soil. For it is
nor IT, be presumed, that we will incur the
Idle expence OF shipping produce in defiance
OF the conviction, that it. can never reacn 4
market where its price night remunerute
us. If we SUBMIT tamely to such oppression
we shall crit the disgrace and ruin IN
which we shall be invoked. This, I will not,
| cannot believe will happen i; the resent
mcnt OF my countrvmen may De suspended
in twenty five years the American peo-
pie cannot have lost All love of country, all
public spirit and regard to national charac
ter. l have the utmost confidence they will
assert and maintain their country's rights &
independence.
There is not, I trust, an American who
will tamely submit. to this humiliating CD.
preston, who will suffer the fruits ii MS la
Dor to perish OIL his hands. or 60 to swell
the Golfers of a proud and insolcnt nation.
without making a brave effort to repe. the
asgressor. If the man exists, so base AMI
Sordid as to admit the idea Of averting snch
iusolence by submission, to him l would say,
submission will not save you it will cover
YOU with disgrace, it will overwhelm you
With ruin. The implacab!e jealousy of our
| growing wealth, of orr rapidly Using com
rnefcc, threatening at no distant dav, to rival
on her own element. the mistress IF the ocean,
can never be appeased bv any partial sacri
hce. We must immediate TO the Jealous ter
rors OF Great Britain, our wealth, our in
I%ustrv, and above all, our enterprise; or
we must resolve to defend them, like men,
conscious OF their ineStimable value we
must not deceive ourselves with any expcc-
| t,n ~ .I,a. r-a, H., ....,x - -.
val. Dur real offence consists in the very
possession of those things of which she, as
'et pretends only to regulate the exercise !;
mile we are Industrious, commercial & en-
cerprizing, Great Britain will never Cease
to be cur bitter foe.
These are facts of immense consequence.
they ought to be we'll understood, an acquain.
lance with them should be widely diffused
The refeXion that Great Britain owes to
her maritime supremacy, The undue elevate
On she maintains among the nations of the
world, her conviction that she can sustain it,
but by perpetuating her monopoly of com
merce, the plain evidence afforded by our
rapid progress, that we are fast intruding
on her dominion of the seas, are incontesti
bic grounds Of belicf, that she never will pa
ticntly submit to have her power abridged
by our commercial advancement. If Great
Britain had not checked our Career, i'm a
few years the number of our ships, and what
is still more important, the humber of our
seamcn, would have been equal TO her own.
This she saw, and was determined to pre-
vent (; she awaited herself of her maritime
power, to crush our aspiring commerce, and
we delude ourselves it we imagine she will
ever suffer it TO revive with her consent. II
remains for US to embrace the Only means
by which the consequences of this interest
ed hostility can be averted, to make a firm
and manly resistance. Our evident rcluc
lance to abandon the peaceful situation which
we have maintained since the close of our
revolutionary war, with equal honor and
advantage, has certainly encouraged the
British to persevere in a system of attack
upon our rights, which might ultimately ar
rest the progress. whence they had reason TO
dread an issue unfavorabie to their over
wesning maritime pretensions. If we shew
them that our patience o~finjury is exhaust
ed, and that we are, at length, determined
to support our rights, by an exertion of our
strength, they will be obliged to choose be-
tween a war, which will add too much to the
burdens they already support. and an all
mission OF claims whose justice they cannot
contest.
Although, in the preceding sketch of our
public affairs, / have shewn the intimate al
lance of our honour with our interest, and
that at the present crisis, to vindicate the
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