The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1812-12-24

Ia This had been done, sir if this measure,
so strongly recommended by me, had been a.
dopted idsn, we should nov have seen our
| ports crowded with American ships to take a.
way 'odr manufactures, instead OF hearing OF
hundreds 9t, American privatcers cruizing a.
gains, oura mmcrcc.
The Co@fier and Times newspapers, two
OF the mq corrupt in England, mako certain
remark3yhpon the paragraph which havo
| quotcd)Fom the American dcm-official prints
| and ofthcsc remarks embrace assertions and
| nq| IS that are false, it is necessary, or, at
le91b II may be useful, TO put the matters of
which they treat in fair light.
The CourSr has this paragraph .--Hcrcs
then, is an open avowal, that nothing will sat-
isiy the American government but the adams
donmens Of the righf Of search, and the ac-
acknowledgements Of the principle, that free
ships make free goods. Perish Me idea Of
heace, if il rs only 10 Be made on such ferms.
Yet this the American government calls "an
anxious desire to accommodate all differ.
cnces upon the most reasonable conditions 70
The Times says :--" In this philippe re-
dress isnot only claimed for the supposed
wrongs inflicted by this country, but it is de.
clared, that the /" American flag mus. in /u-
fnre sec,re all thar suiis under if.' This is
Of Bonaparte, that free ships make free
goods" 1t that principle be maintained by
the American government, and supported by
the American Legislature, we see not the
slightest prospcU OF = speedy termination Of
hos,ilitcs."
Thus, then, these good hirclngs arc for
war, rather than give up what they call the
"rigM Of search" They are hardly 60 stu
pid US not TO know, that tho Americans do not
contend for our abandonment Of tie right Of
search, in the usual sense Of the words
they must know that, es far as to search ships
at sea (or rather to pisit them) has been sane
toned by the usuages Of nations, tho Amcri-
cans arc ready to submit TO it but, sir, this
right OF search is very different indcct from
that OF which these good hired writer's are
speaking.
There is right Of search, or of visit, ac-
knowledgcd by all the nations Of Europe.
When nation is at war, she clamst The khs
TO visit all neutral merchant ships at sea, in
order 10 see that they do not assis, her enemy
by carrying warlikc stores0r troops Tor MIN |.
and If she find them thus taxing part with her
enemy If she find them thus transgressing
the gcncrl usage of cations, the seizcs thcmy
as indeed she has just cause 10 do, seeing that
they are in fact engaged in war against her.
And the right of visiting them, to see whether
they be thus transgressiog, has been, by US,
called Ms right Of search. We have con,cn-
dcd for, and have, for some time past, been
able TO maintaip, on extension OF this right TO
the goods ojrfhe enemy found in neutral ships
though il is TO be observed, that our ally, Russ
sia, and our ally, Sweden, az we'll as Denmark
and Holland, in all times, have contcnded a.
gainst this right But what have these to do
with the searching Of which the Americans
complain They complain not that we seize
con,rabapd Of war on board their vessels not
that we con6scate ships or cargoes where
there are cnemy's troops or encmy's goods
but that we stop their vessels upon the high
seas, and that there we TAKE OUT OF THEM
WHATEVER PERSONS WE PLEAsE. This is
what they complain of and the fact is per-
fcc,ly notorious that we have in this way taken
many thousands of persons out Of American
ships, carrying on their trade quietly from ono
part OF the world 10 cnothcr.---It is notorious
that many Of the persons thus seized were ci.
tzens and natives Of America that they
have been taken on board of our ships of war;
that they have been kept there for years; that
they have been taken to all parts Of tho
world that many Of them have been wonndA
ed, many lost their limbs, and many killed in
service which they abhorred, being com-
PEELED to fight against those with whom they,
had no quarrel.
There is no man Of any consideration, who
will attempt TO say, that this is right. It
must, Of necessity, have created deep rooted
III will against us in America, where the sea-
faring people are not class Of individuals
who have neither house or home, and whose
state is desperate. A vessel, in America, is
often manned by people all living in the samo
village and, the impressmcnt, the banish-
mcni, the destruction of one, must be fetby
The whole, and by the whole ueighborhood
also. Hence the heart burnings in Amcrica
against England. The coniscstion Of ships
and cargoes, under the orders in council, to-
pethcr with the dreadful distress 10 the cap