Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-07-11

.n 80 net tn the essence ofthe arrange
,neut. hut merely as to the time OIL us
rutual execution. And we tne pnp..
sball better understand the matter Wien
the exclamation which we perceive was
cont with the act, and which must nave
hean at least signed by Mr.. Smith, snail
come before us. -, cove Mr.
6 It is a sorrowfal truth, says Mr.
Smith. that the act did not provide LOT
sevor,I obvious cases wherein our mer-
.bants.,, &c. Did he take any steps 70
cause such provision to be introduced =
his official squeamislness prevented MN
from even limiting the case to any memDer
of Congress, yet, as he processes 70 W
for omen and direct recommendation IN all
10 ses nv the Executive, did ne propose OF
hint any such provision to the President
which his office enabled him to do! we
must conclude that he did not; because
he has given sufficient proofs that 40 ON
cial delicacy would have suppressed the
hoast of it which his vanity would nave
nromnted. In this, as in other instances
he contents himself with the merit OF hna,
ING out faults when too lste to amend
them, and foreseeing events after they
have happened.
Mark his eqivocations and evasions on
the French repeal and the Presidents pro-
olamat;on. Sc If the revocation did actu-
ally take place as declared by the proela.
nation, then it became a compact, &C..
Sc Ifhowever the emperor OF the french
did not in fact revoke, as declared by pro-
clamation, the act of May did not become
a compact, &C." Why thus shrink from
an opinion whether the proclamation was
LEGAL and proper OF not Norman would
be safer than Robert Smith in expressing
one or the other of these opinions; Tor ne
could certainly find plenty ofpersens who
could witness his having entertained elthef
or both of them, as the political horizon
varied and the tide of party set.
Many o. our merchants and ship mas
tiers have suffered and still suffer very un-
Justly by French spoliations. They cry
out that the Berlin and Milan DEGREES
are not revoked and Mr.. Smith joins
them in the clamor, thereby confoundlng
the two maritime DEGREES with the NUM-
cipal decree confscatig American pro-
perty which arrived in France, which
had not been restored nor promised to be
restored. This confusion of distinct and
separate facts might be an honest mistake
in them. But Mr.. Smith would not thank
us for supposing it so in him, since he
seems quite as anxious to be thought sa-
eacious as to be thought honest.
This subject deserves some develope-
ment> -
1t has been the practice OF our 60
vernment to distinguish between belli-
gerent maritime edicts violating eur neu-
trail rights, and edicts authorship other
depredations on the property Of our citi-
gems. 1t has even admitted the distinc-
ton, for the time being, between the re-
vocation of them as to the future, and in
demnity for past spoliations committed
under them. They have also kept sepa-
rate from these maritime orders and de-
crees, other wrongs ofvarious sorts aris-
ing some from iniquitous cOnfiscatiOns on
lalu, some liOlU AUS ICuuOiCu ohoWAuA
from their being insidious and ex post
facto, and others uniting both characters,
being unlawful in themselves as well As
insidious and Retrospective.
The French decree Of March, 1910,
which committed such barbarous and ex-
tersive spoliations on our commerce ar
irving in the ports of France, owes its e.
norInity and its turpitude chiefly to its be-
Ing retrospective and ensSaring. With a
previous and sufficient no ice the French
government had a right to modify or for
bid our commerce with France (no trea-
ty restraining it as it pleased. We might
reproach the unfriendliness ofsueh an ex-
ercise of sovereignty, and we might reta-
late in any way deemed proper within
our own rights of sovereignty. But we
could not in strietness arrange such NUM-
cipal spoliations under the head of viola
tons Of our neutral rights, nor of conse-
~ NJ <aI