Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1812-06-26
Whole N o. esq.

inviting opportunity for accomplishing an OBJ
iect so important to the United States. andt>
profsssed so often to be the desire of beth thofh
belligerents, was made known to the Il. 'nsh&
government. AS that government ada itS4A
that an actual application OF an adequate 10, ZEN
is necessary to the existence ola legsl bloc N
ade, and it was notorious, that If such q forceN
had ever been applied, its long discontinuance &
had ennulled the blockade in question, there 4
could be no sufficient objection on the part Of !
Great Britain to a formal revocation of IL; I
and no imaginable objection to a declaration ]
of the fact that the blockade did not exist. |
The declaration would have been consistent
with her avowed principles Of blockade, and
| would have enabled the United States to d.
msnd from France the. pledged repeal Of her
DEGREES either with success, in wnich case
the way would have been opened for a gene
raj repeal of the belligerent edicts or with
out success, in which case the United States
would have been justified in turning their
measures exclusively against France. The
British government would, however, neither
rescind the blockade nor declare its nor. exis.
tence nor permit its non existence to be in
terred and affirmed by the American plenipo-
Tertiary. On the contrary. by representing
the blockade TO be conp,enended in the or.
ders in council. the United States were COM
PEELED so to regard it in their subsequent pro-
c~eedings.
There was a period when a favorable
| change in the policy OF the Brisisd cabinet,
was Justly considered as established. The
minister plenipotentiary OF his Britannia ma
jesty here proposed an adjustment Of the diff
terences more Immediately cndangering the
harmony of the two countries. Tn PROPOSE
ton was accepted with promptitude and cor
diality corresponding with the invariablc pro.
LESSONS ofthis government. A foundation APP
peared to be laid for a sincere and lasting re-
cancellation. The prospect, however, quick
ly vanished. The whole proceeding was disa-
vowed by the British government without any
explanations which could at that time repress
the belief, that the disavowal proceeded from
a spirit of hostility to the commercial rights
and prosperity of the u. s. And it has since
come into proof, that at the very moment.
when the public minister was holding the
language Of friendship and inspiring conf
dsnce in the sincerity Of the negotiation with
which he was charged, a secret agent Of his
government was employed in intrigues, hav-
ing for their object a subversion Of our go
yernment. and a dismemberment of our hap
Ply union.
In reviewing the conduct Of G.. Britain to-
wards the u. States our attention is necessa-
rily drawn to the warfare just renewed by the
savages on one of our extensive frontiers a
warfare which is known to spare neither age
nor sex, and to be distinguished by features
peculiarly shocking to humanity. II is diff
cult to account for the activity and combina-
tons which have for som time been devel-
opine themselves among tribes in the con
slant intercourse with British traders and
garrisons, without connecting their hostility
with that influence ; and without recollecting
the authenticated examples of such interposi.
tions heretofore furnished by the officers and
agents of that government.
Such is the spectacle of injuries and inaig-
mites which have been heaped on our coun-
try and such the crisis which its unexampled
forbearance and conciliatory efforts have not
been able to avert. 1t might at least have
been expected, that an enlightened nation, ii
less urged by moral obligations, or invited
by friendly dispositions Oh the part Of the II.
States would have found in its true interest
alone, a sufficient motive to respect their
rights and their tranquility on the high seas
that an enlarged policy would have favored
that free and general circulation OF commerce,
in which the British nation is at all times in
terested, and which in times of war is the hest
alienation of its calamities to herself as we'll
as the other belligerents and mere especial
Nv that the British cabinet would not, for the
sake Of a precarious and surreptitious inter-
! course with hostile markets., have perseyered
in a course Of measures which necessarily put
at hazard the invaluable market Of . great
and growing country, disposed to.cultivate the
mutual advantages Of an active commerce.
Other councils have prevailed. Our modes
ration and Cancellation have had no other eff
feet than to encourage perseverance,, and to
enlarge pretensions. We behold our seafar-
ing citizens still the daily victims of lawless
violence committed on the great common and
highway Of nations, even in sight OF the coun-
- - -, - -~o+au we hnhafI