The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1813-03-09

therefore binding upSa all states. From the
penalties of this cole no nation was TO be
exempt which did not accept it, not onl,
{ as the rule oi iss own conduct but as :, law,
the observance OF which IL was also re-
qnred to enforce upon G. p.
In maa,fes,o ACCOMMODATING Their dc.
c'arat'on OF hostiiities, in addition Ia the
former complaints against the orders in
Council, long list of grievances was bro't
forward; SOME trivial III themselves, others
which had Been mutually adjusted. but none
OF them such as were ever bei,.r.. alledgeS!
BY the American government, 10 De grounds
iN war. rs it TO throw additional ol.stn
cies III the way OF peace, the American
Congress ar the same time passed 4 Law
prohibiting all intercourse with G Brit am
OF such tenor. as deprived the Executive
government, according to the. PRESIDENT
own construction oftllat act, of al power of
restoring the relations of friendly inter
course between the tIso states, so far at
least as concerned their commercials inter
course, until congress s,topid isc-assemble
The President OF the U. S. has, it is true,
since proposed to G.. 3. an aruistice not.
| however, on the admission that the cause
OF war hitherto relied on was removed i:
but on condition, that G. B. IS prelimina-
ry step, should do away a cause of war,
now brought forward as such for the first
time; namely, that she should abandon
the exercise Of her, undoubted right of
search, to take from American merchant
vessels British 'seamen, the natural born
subjects of his Majesty and this concession
was required upon the mere assurance that
laws would be enacted by the Legislature
OF the u. >. to prevent such seamen from
entering into their service but independent
or the objection to an exclusive reliance on
a foreign state, for the conservation of SO
vital an interest, no explanation was, or
could be afforded by the agent. who was
charged with this overture, either as to
the main principles upon which such laws
We're TO be founded, or as to the pro-
visions which it was proposed they
should contain. This proposition having
been objected to, second proposal was
mace, again offering an armistce, provided
the British government would secretly sti-
pulate to renounce the exercise of this
right IN 3 treaty of peace. An immediate
and formal abandonment of its exercise as
preliminary TO cessation of hostil,ies, was
not demanded but his. Royal Highness
the Prince Regent was required, in the
name and on; The behalf of his Majesty, Sc
crety to abandon what the former overture,
had proposed to him publicly to concetle.
This most offensive proposition was also
rejected, being accompanied as the former
had been by other demands of the most ex-
eeptIonabie nature, and especially of in
demnity for all American vessels detained
and condemned under tire orders in coun-
Gil, or under what were termed illegal
biockades--a compliance with which de-
mands, exclusive OF all otter objections,
would have amounted to an absolute surren-
der OF the rights on which those orders and
biockades were founded. Had the Ameri-
can government been sincere in represent
ing the orders in council as the only subject
OF difference between G. Britain and the u
States, calculated to lead to hostlities it
might have been expected, so soon as the
revocation of those orders had been official
iy made known to them, that they would
have spontaneously recalled their "letters
OF marquee" and manifested disposition
Immediately to restore the relations of
peace and amity between the two powers
But the conduct of the government of the
y. States by no means corresponded with
such reasonable expectations. The, orders
IN council of the Esd of June, being officially.
communicated in America, the government
OF the u. ,. saw nothing in the repeal of the
orders in council which should Of itself res
tore peace, unless G.. b. were prepared in
the first instance substantially to relinQuish
the right OF impressing her own seamen,
when found on board American merchant
ships The proposal of an armistice, and
vi q Tepedl OF ire restrictive
measures on both sides, subsequently made
by the commanding officer of his majesty's
naval forces on the American coast, were
received in the same hostile spirit by the
government of the ". s. The suspense
on of the practice of impressment was in
sisted upon, in the correspondence which
passed on that occasion, as a necessary pre-
limiuary - a cessation Of hos,ilties Ne
gociatlon, it vas stated, must take place
without any suspension of the exercise Of
that right; and also without any aymistice
being concluded but z. -. was required
pre- viqusy to agree. without any knowledge
ot the adequacy of the system which could
be substituted, TO negotiate upon the basis
OF accepting the legislative Regulations OF
"A foreign state, as the sole equivalent for
the exercise of a right, which she has felt
TO be essential TO the support Of her mari
;,r'v i,vver.
1t America, by demanding this preimi-
nary concession, intend to deny the validity
OF that right, in that denial G.. h. Cannot
acquieSce nor will she give countenance
to such preteusion, by acccding TO its sus.
pension, much less toits abandonment, as a
basis Oh which 10 treat. If the American
government has devised. or conceives it
can devise, regulations, which may safely
be accepted by G. britain, as n substitute
Tor the exercise of the right in question, it
is Tor them TO bring forward such Il plan for
Consideration. The Briish Government has
never attempted to exclude this question
from amongst those On which the two state
might have to negotiate: 1t has. ON the