The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-10-26
iGDe GnQulrer.
DkEAM sor or JUSTICE =!

rights. What does the Marquis Wellesley tell
yous What sp2ud he haze said, If they
had any idea OF rclinq,.ishing their nefarf-
Gus Orders and the SYSTEM on which they
are built? >e
He would have told our Minister: !, i'y
- Sir--l have the honor TO acknowledge
the receipt OF your letter. am proud to
see, that France is about to abandoa her
invasions Upon neutral rights. and that from
the 1st of November, her Berli. .and Mi
Ian DEGREES wilt expire. His Majestyis
happy, that it is now in his power to mani.
fest his respect for neutrais by re,hosirs all
those restrictions, which he has adopted on
his part. with such profound regret Let
neutrals enjoy the blessings Which fiow from
their situation. Let the rage of war be con
fined to those only who have plunged into
it. For our own part, we shall cheerfully
pursue the path which justice and the laws
of nations marx out to us. Since France
respects our rights. we too will respect them
Since neutral rights ON the high seas are Sc.
cure from the violation OF our enemy, they
shall be equally secure against. our own re
taliatory measures. Since France revokes'
the paper blockade of our Empire. we will
revoke the blockade of hers, AS the Berlin
AID Milan DEGREES will cease on the Ist of
November. l have the satisfaction to in
form you, that our own orders of May 1906,
of January and Nov. 1907, and April 1909,
and all others, of an analogous description,
qpiW eEhirc on the same day-yet If France
does not execute her promise, this pledge on
our part is to be considered as nulf--and
we shall still exert all. the lawful means
in our own power to wreak our resentment
and our injuries upon the head of our enc
nv" ~
Such would have been the language Of q
minister who was disposed TO do us Justice
this would be all plain and above board
--but certainly such is NOT the style &C. the
most noble the marquis Wellesley" The
terms in which he expresses himself, are
In an eminent degree general, indefinite, and
vague. 49,,
In the first place, he does not say, that the
Orders IN Council are repealed, or that they
will be, even on certain ddU-F> ar from it
Tor they are to be repealed in f4turo, and he
reserves to himself too the right to say here
afer, at what time this futurity will ar.
rive. His present letter is therefore to all
intents and purposes null and void
has not the least virtue in itAScme new
official note will be necessary to 40 parti-
s.uiar thing, whichis here described in such
vague and conditional terms or some order.
in Council, which is to respeal the old and
obnoxious orders, against which we have
protested. 80; ~ =
Next, how pagae are those conditions on
of them is specific, capable of being reduc-
ed to particular dates and facts and the
other general, aud launching into a sea of dis
pntes, not only as to facts. but as TO the iaavs
and rights OF nations. Had the British min
lister paused upon the first clause only-had
hemerely said. that cur Orders will be re
pcaled " svheneUe' the repeal of the French
DEGREES shall have actually taken cffect"-
his saution might have been CONNIE nded, but
10 tar Il re.
Or, had he even gone ON to say 80 long
as the French DEGREES are defunct, our Or
fers-wll be so--but whenever they revive
our own system will arise again. and this
pledge be no longer binding upon us''-there
would have been no scope for ambiguity and
doubts. =
But wher the British Minister" diversions
this modesty when he tacks a general
and sweeping clause to this specific one. by
saying and the Commerce of nentrals shall
have been restored to the condition in which
itstood previously to the PRONUNCIATION of
those DEGREES" lis no longer any room
but for antiquities and snspicions, How
general are these phrases but as far as
they are capable of definition, Nth whaS
farming import do they point out the same
Sronndsaon which his Majesty's s'system"
was originally built
:" The commerce of neutral rations ~
w Nat neutIalS Does lie mean Co COafne
himself to a few of them, or to embrace all ,
Neutrals ADd whom does he thus consiiers
Will he give that appeliatinn to Sweden and
Denmark, and the Hanse Towns as well as
10 the u. States Does he still STYLE the
former TO be neutrals, in the same manner as
the Author ofIVar in Disguise does in it the
ensuing Extracts If he assumes the same
ground, does he mean to demand that these
territories shall be released from the fnHu
ence OF France, and that their Commerce
% shall be restored to the condition in which
at stood previously to the prornugation of
those Decress" shat they shall be AS free to
admit British commerce, ships aud manufac-
lures within their ports, as ever they were,
previous TO the French ascendancy in those
places :. Then, must the u s wait for G. b.
TO DO us Justice. until the French shall respect
the neutrality of Hamburger aud Bremen I
But grant that the expression is used more
particularly in reference to the United states
grant that il should be confined to them
only, still the phrase is an ambiguous one. .
Iho" commerce Of neutral nations NAV
either denote the course of trade itself or
the rights of tradr-----the privileges of
neutral nations.-Ifit be taken in the former
sense, that sense yields us very little conso
lation. For II the orders are to remain in
force, until the United States shall have the
same commerce which they possessed hre-
Utousty Co the PRONUNCIATION ofthose decrees;"
until all the governing powers on the con
tinent of Europe shall please TO admit orr
vessels laden with British propertv or Pri