The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1812-03-06

nit,ee gave the subject, a. they say, dis
passionate consideration, it is incomp, chen
,.biy singular, that they could not lind ex-
Iress;ohs too, somewhat more dispassona.e
IMAM the following, and many others. II
VIC have not rushed to the field of battle.
like the nations who arc led by tho mad am
oition OF Single CHEF. or by the avalice OF
corrupted court, 1t has not proceeded from
fear ut war, but from cur love of Justice
and humanity" Now, in the first instance.
to say. in less turgid language, that they
have only been prevented from going to war
ny their love or Justice /; or in other words,
tnat they have only not gone to war, because
theyhad nojust cause ogoto war about, is
not saying much in favor of their humanity !;
O. IN the next. our Court may be corrupt C.
nough but that corruption is at least If no
thing else is. the result of municipal reeula-
tons among ourselves; and therefore, forms
no part OF a dispassionate enquiry upon fo-
regn affairs by a committee of the American
congress. -, - = 80,
Upon the allegation, that the French e.
diets are a Justification of our retaliatory
F." orders, the committee thus rcasons-"A AS
" IT the law of nations, founded ON the eter-
nal rules of justice, .could sanction prin-
ciple, which, II ,engraftcd into our mu-
" nlcipal code, would excuse the crime of
" one robber, upon the sole plea, that the
/" unfortunate object Of his rapacity was al
SO victim to the injustice of another"
we viii here ask of any, we will not say i'm
partial person, but even of any we'll informed
one, though of principles hostile to our inter-
ests, whether this is, by similitude, a Just &
opposite description of our plea Whether it
is not. lntruth, wholly the reverse Sswhether
thelanguageinwhich tits conveyed is not high
y irritable and infiammatory, rather than
calm and" dispassionate s' Do we claim
has robbed her Is it not, on the contrary,
the sole foundation Of all our retaliatory, or
ders, that France should not be able to in
FJure us through America? With the reb5e-
ry or plumber to which the u. S. have been
subjected by Bonaparte, we have no concern;
1T rs only to prevent his warning upon G. b.
In a way hitherto prohibited by the laws Of
nations, that we have issued and enforced
our obnoxious edicts. America is, as it were
a neutral house between two hostile neigh
DORIS II our antagonist enters and pillages
the peaceful mansion, and then retires, we
lament the wrong inflicted and sustained !;
out not being the direct sufferers, we do NO
more; 1t is only when he seeks, through the
intermediate premises, reach and ruin our
domain, that We step forth, as we have IA
right, and endeavor to drive him from the
contiguous buiiding-with some injury GER
tainly; to neutral owners but from which
We aie, Ciedriy, no gamers
We come now to the most important point
Oh TINS document, as it relates to future dis
cusslons, and one upon which we cannot help
feeling afraid that @. B. may carry her pre-
tensions too far 1t is said in the document
before us that we have insisted through
our accredited Minister ,(Mr. Foster,) that
the repeal of the orders in Council mustbe pre-
coded, not only by the practical abandonment
OF the DEGREES OF Berlin and Milan, SO far as
they infringe the neutral rights of the u S. !;
but ey remuneration ON the part of France
OF the whole OF her system of. commercial
warfare against G.. b. of which those de-
crees originally formed a part" We have,
IN addition to the preceding, learned else
where, and more especially from a letter
with some appearance of authority, original
ly inserted inithis paper, that our Cabinet
wishes America to insist upon Boraparte's
receiving colonial produce into France, when
IL mas oy purchase or barter become the pro-
Perty OF American citizens and that the
penalty ct Americas failure in obtaining this
concession from France, will be, at least, the
continuance OF our orders in council, even
should the Berlin and Milan DEGREES be ac-
tually withdrawn and perhaps some mea-
sure OF more severe nature. r
we suspect we shall not be justified Ell
ther In eXacting such a condition, or in inflic-
tinS snch punishment or the refusal of it.
1t appears to us, that an independent natl
on mas, either IN peace or war, a full right,
In the way OF municipal regulation, to close its
ports, IN part, or wholly, against the produce
OF any quarter of the globe. Bonaparte has
right to refuse the native productions of
America, IT he plcases; and much more,
those which are only imported into the Uni
ted States HE may decline accepting her
cotton, tor the sake of encouraging the
growth OF that article in the south of France
and on the same plea Tor indeed, without
any plea whatever) he may prohibit the
admission OF sugars, being disposed to encou-
rage the extraction of them from beat root.
Neither has procedure of this nature ever
hitherto been considered as an act of HOSTILE
ty; because 1T is notorious, that when nations
who have long been at war have concluded
their differences by treaty Of peace, yet
commercial relations between them are not
formally resumed till second treaty to that
effect--has'takeh place. And why Because
each nation still retains in its hands, even
after 1t has laid down the musket, the pow
CIR OF excluding the commodities of its late ad
versary and OF bargaining, oy refusing to
bargain, for their admission by a counter
saihng omission of IT'S own. The refusal,
therefore, OF foreign. commodities may be un
friendly but it nevertheless results from
natural power vested in every sovereignty.
tor the internal government of its own at
tairs.-:-it may be punished by other king
doms with reciprocal and similar rcstricti
ons ; but can never in the first instance, BE
made the just grounds Of war.