Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1812-04-13
WAsHINcroN City. Apri

OF this nation. Bali. inner.
WAsHINGToN CITY, April 9.
We understand Gen. Dearborn has ac-
ceptcd the command of the army destined
for the north, and is making arrangements
for raising, concentrating and organizing
the troops of the additional military cstab-
lishmcnt.
WILLIAM HULL, Esq. now Governor
of the territory of Michigan, is appointed a
Brigadier-Generali in the army Of the Unit
ed States. Nat. Int.
That an important crisis has arrived in
the United STATES is seen by every one: that
it has been unavoidable is equally certain:
and that 1t may be made to terminate with
honor advantage to Republican government
cannot admit of doubt. We draw this coll
clusien from firm belief that our councils
will be wisely and honestly administered in
every branch of the government, and that
the people still possess those virtues and en-
orgies which were so cmiently displayed in
cur Revolution.
The Embargo now laid is a measure
whose true character cannot be mistaken.
1t is not war, nor does it inevitably lead to
war. But if that result is avoided, however
much TO be regretted, it is evident that it
with the belligerents, on the various Sc griev-
Gus wrongswhich this country has received
from them.
Among the advantages to be derived from
this measure are the following: 1t secures
from pillage the vessels that are now in port !:
it warns the commanders OF those who are
abroad, to return home for safety; and it
gives notice to foreign powers, that the pc
ROD has arrived, when the manifold wrongs
which we have received from them must
be redressed.
1t would be dishonorable, and might be ru-
| nous, if, without redress of our wrongs,
war did not promptly follow the expiration
of the embargo. No other alternatives left
| to our choice. Every other expident has
been tried, and failed. A new and more So
Tenn position is now taken, which must be
| maintained. We cannot rctrace cur steps
| and abandon, perhaps foVcyer, our most i'm
| portant rights. Nor can we rest longer at
| the point a. which we now pause. We must,
without redress Of wrongs, advance, and
| war is the next step. 1t would be folly in
the extreme to attempt to disguise from our
selves the true character OF the present en-
| barge. 1t is not an engine TO be welded in
negotiation. From the privations to which
! it may expose the beligerents nothing ought
to be expected. Ii relied on in that sense
only, it is known thatit would fail 1t is a
measure of precaution, intended principally
| as warning to our own people, of the nature
| OF the Crisis which has arrived, & of the con-
sequences into which it may lead If pro-
/ doees any salutary effect with the bellige-
| rents, or with either, il must be by announc-
! ing 10 them, that, the u. States, dsdainlng
longer TO submit to dishonor, have resolved
to accept the other alternative which they,
| by SO many acts of injustice, have forced OH
| them.
! Great Britain took the lead in the career
of violence and injustice. Every stage OF the
| present war has been marked by some act
! which evinced the distinguished hostility of
her government TO this country. She has
impressed our seamen from OF board our
own vessels, and held them in long and OPP
pressive bondage. She has Intercepted our
lawful trade with nations with whom we
were at peace. She has violated our jurs-
diction; insulted us on our coast and IN our
harbors, and finally usurpcd the absolute
| dominion ofihe sea, forbidding ourcommerce
with all nations with whom it does not suit
her to allow it, and allowing it to none with
whom she is not herself permitted TO trade.
She has even set up the extravagant and
unheard Of pretension that we should be-
come the fraudulent vehicles of her COM
merce, the carriers of her manufactures to
the ports other enemies, as the condition on
which we should trade there at all. Had
VIC submitted to these expressions, we should
haze sunk into a more degraded state than
that OF her colonies. Deprived of the pro-
hts which belong TO dependent possessions,
our sovereignty would have served only to
expose IN more striking light our humia-
ton and weakness.
France has exhibited, in her conduct to-
wards neutral powers, the Counterpart to
THIS disgusting picture; she has been emu
lous, ~ nlsdccds, Of the renown Of her great
! political compcer. II she has done less harm
at sea, 1t was because her means were infe-
i'or to those of her rival. She declared the
| British Islands aud all the British doininions
IN state Of blockade, when she had not q
single ship on the ocean and whenever her
cruizcrs could escape from her ports, their
Course has been marked with the desoia,iorl
OF our unprotected commerce. But for the
want Of power on the ocean, and the failure
o. that full measure of waste of neutral trade
which mas characterised the conduct Of G