Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1812-10-23

source VI N0dlltl, Hills Gh4 - SAPSChC0 ~
any rational man.
Fellow Citizens, we can lay our hands up
on our hearts, and call upon heaven to attest
our truth and sincerity, when e say, that
we would cheerfully, and without one word
of complaint, pay taxes to the utmost extent
of our ability, if We deemed the war, to carry
on which they are imposed, either necessary
or polite. But deening it as we do, an I'M
necessary, impohtic and ruinous war, we
consider the payment of the enormous taxes
which will be necessary to carry it on, a hard
ship and a grievance. Taxes are a necessary
evil-and, when they are imposed for legiti-
mate purposes, freemen should disdain to
murmur at them. But when the comforts OF
the poor man are abridged-when his effects
are seized and sold by the tax gatherer-when
he and his family are turned out. houseless
and moneyless, to encounter tbs bufetings of
adversity-when misery is brought home to
the hearths ana fresides of thousands and
tens of thousands-when a II these evil things
are brought about in order to raise money
for a war, engendered in folly, carried on by
imbecihty, and leading to disgrace and ruin
then, every true patriot, every lover of his
country, should raise his indignant voice a
gainst the authors of these evils. All these
calamities will be the inevitable consequence
OF retaining, four years longer, in power, The
authors of this war.
We have asserted that the war against G..
Britain is unnecessary and impolitic. We will
exhibit, as briefly as possible, some of the
reasons which have led us to this conclusion.
The causes for the war against G. Britain,
assigned by the administration, are the i'm
pressment of seamen from on board our mer-
chant ships, the practice of Great Britain in
relation to blockades Of the ports of her enc
mics, and the orders in council. The British
government claims and exercises the right
of visiting neutral merchant vessels on the
high seas, and of taking from them native
born British subjects. 1t is undeniabie, that
IN enforcing this pretension, the subaltern of
fcers of the British navy have committed ma
ny outrages. Native Americans have in a
multitude of instances been impressed and
carried off, under the p~retence that they were
British subjects. But a complaint to the Bri-
tlsh government, accompanied with evidence
OF their being native Americans, has always
produced the restoration of these unfortunate
men. 1t is moreover a notorious fact, that
the impressment Of American seamen has,
Tor three years past been much less frequent
than it formerly was, and that tie British 60
vefnmcnt has repeatedly expressed its wiling
ness to enter into a friendly arrangement on
this subject. An arrangement was actually
made In 1905, which was deemed satisfactory
by Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney our minis
ters in London. But it was haughtily and
Peremptorily rejected by Mr.. Jefferson. TIE
practice of impressment, when at its highest
pitch of abuse, was not deemed a sufficient
cause for war, by Washington, the father of
his on1nkr, %Ia ctraa,n,x0 nccarfop nf a.
rights.
On the subject of blockades, the British
government advances no pretensions which
have not been fully recognized and admitted
by the administration. This is a fact which
appears from the documents communicated
by the President to congress, The two go
vernments precisely agree as to what consti-
tutes a legitimate blockade. And our only
complaint is that the British have been guilty
OF some abuses in practice.
Ofhow little importance these two matters
of difference were formerly deemed by the
administration, may be collected from the
TACT, that Mr.. Madison in 1909 formed an ar
r%angcment with Mr.. Erskine, the British mi
mister, by which a friendly intercourse was
restored between the two countries, solely on
the ground that he (Mr. Erskine) promised
the repeal of the orders in council, and salts
faction for the attack on the Chesapeake fri
gate. The subjects of British blockades and
British impressment we're deemed too unim-
portant to prevent an amicabls accommodate
on. If they were oftoo little Importance to be
taken into consideration in the arrangement
OF 1909, they cannot surely be deemed suilici-
ent causes of war in 1912.
But the British orders in council are alls-
ged by the administration as the principal
ground of the war. And what are these or
dsrs e-ln 1906 France prohibited ~neutrals
from trading With Great Britain, under pc
nalty of capture and confscation. One year
after, in 1907, Great Britain, having repeat
edly, and in vain, called upon our govern
ment to resist this sncroachment on our neu-
trail rights, adopted similar measure she