The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1812-07-01


Cabinet of Great Bril1ln rcsortcd, at length
to the sweeping system Of bsockades, under
the name of Orders in Council, which ha.
been moulded and managed, as might bes
suit its political views,ils commercial jealou
sizes, or the ayidity OF British cruizers.
To our remonstrances against the cempli
Gated and transceDdant injustice CT this inno
vation, the irSt reply was that the order:
were reluctantly adopted by Great Britain az
a necessary lctaalion on DEGREES oil her enc
my prociaiming a general blockade ct the
British isles, at time when the naval forcS
Of that enemy dared not 10 issue from hi!
own ports. Sine was reminded, without effect
that heY own prior b'cckades, unsupported b!
an adequate naval force actually app!ied anc
continued, were bar to this plea ; that exc
cuted edlcts against millions of our properly
could not be retaliation on edicts, confessed.
ly impossible TO be executed that retaliation
to be Just should fall on the party setting the
guilty example, not on az innocent party
which was not even Chargeablc with an ac-
quiescence in II.
When deprived Of this flnsy veil for q
prohibition Of our trade with her enemy, by
the repeal OF his prohibition Ct our trade with
Great Britain, her cabinet, instead OF cor
responding repeal or practical di.con,inu-
ancc of It's orders, formally avowed a deter
mina,ion 10 persist in them against the Uni
Ted States, until the markets Of her enemy
should be laid open 10 British products thus
asserting an obligation on neutral power 10
require one beligefent to encourage, by It's
internal regulations, the trade OF another bel
ligerent oontradictng her own practices to
bctraying the insinccri,y OF those professions
whica incuicaled belief that, having resort
ed to her orders with regret, she was anxious
TO find an occasion for pctting an end TO them
Abandoning still more all respect for the
neutral rights OF the United States, and for
its own consistency, the British government
now demands as prerequisites 10 repeal OF
its orders, as they relate TO the United States,
that Formally should be observed in the re-
peal OF the French DEGREES nowisc necessary
10 theig tcrrina,ion, nor eXempliGed by
British usage and .ha, the French repeal,
besides including that portion Of the decrees
which operates within q territorial Jurisdiction
as well as tia, which operates Oh the high
seas against tho commerce Of the u. States,
should not be single special repeal In rela-
ton TO the u. States but should be extended
10 whatever other neutral nations unconnect-
cd with them may be affected by those &C.
Gees. And as an additional insult, they are
called on ior formal dIsavowal of conditions
and pretensions advanced by the French gov
eminent, for which the u States are so far
from having made themselves responsible,
that, in Official explanations, which hare been
published 10 the world, and in co'respon-
dence of the American minister al London
with the British minister for Foreign Affairs,
such responsibility was explicitly and en-
phatically disclaimcd.
]: has become indeed sufficiently certain
that the commerce Of the y. States is to be
sacrificed, not as interfering with the belig-
erent rights oil G.. Britain, not as supplying
wants of her enemies, which she herself sup
plies but as interfering with the monopoly
which she coyets for her own commerce and
navigation. She carries cn war agains, the
lawful commerce OF friend, that she may
the better carry on commerce with an enc
my, IA commerce polluted by the iorgeries
and perfumes which are for the most part the
only passports by which it can succeed.
Anxious to make every experiment short
of the last resort OF injured nations, the y.
States have withheld from G. Britain, under
successive notifications, the benefits of
free intercourse with tLeir market, ths loss
Of which could not but outweigh the profits
accruing from her restrictions Of our com.
merce with other nations. And 10 entitlc
these experiments 10 the more favorable con-
sidoration, they were SO framed as to enable
her to place her adversary under the exclu-
sive operation of them. To these appeals
her government has been equally iDheXiblc,
as IT willing 10 make sacrifices of every sort,
ra,h>r than yield to the claims of justice or
renounce the errors OF false pride. Nay,
so far were the attempts carried to overcome
the attachment vt The British Cabinet TO its
unjus, edc,s, that it received every encour-
agement, within the competency of the ex-
ecutivc branch of our government, to expect
Ihai a rencAl of them Monld be followed hv "a