The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-01-11
From the Philadelphia Ledge
WAR WITH ENGLAND.

From the Philadelphia Ledger
WAR WITH ENGLAND.
Mr. Adams, who accuses Mr.. c.. J. Ingersoll and
other members Of the House of seeking war with
England, seems 10 deprecate such event as the
greatest calamity which could befall the United
States and in deprecatng such contingency, he inti-
mates that peace should be maintained, even BY the
sacrifice Of Oregon We have great respect for many
opinions Of Mr.. Adams. We admit that his histori.
cal knowledge is extensive and minute that many OF
his views are comprehensive and statesmanlike and
that his integrity and patriotism are above reproach
But with all these excellencies, he sometimes makes
g. eat mistakes, and persists in them most obstnatey.
He is much disposed to entertain projects for The
time, TO which he devoes all his energies, still as
great at any period Of his life and though in his
devotion TO projects he is generally right he is some
times both wrong and wrong headed, TO degree tru
ly extraordinary in man of his capacity learning
| and experience. Once he was bitter enemy Of
England, and poured his whole soul inio his country
or late years he has sailed on the opposite tack in
fected with violent AnglO-mania; and under this
new impulse, he seems sometimes ready to aban-
don the vital interests Of his country, as to CON-
init outrages upon common sense. We remem
Der his ridiculous lecture on the British attack
upon China, delivered in the Tabernacle at New
York in the winter Of lS4l a lecture in which,
after laying down landmarks the right Of nations to
self government, and their duty 10 promote the inte
rests of each other, he to draw, concur
sions necessar y flowing from these premises, the
right of Britain to invade Chm, b. cause il attempted
to restrain its subjects from poisoning themselves with
OPIUM the duty Of China TO trade with other nations
whnlever might be it, views Of its interest, and
the light Of Britain TO force China, through ire and
sword into foreign trade All who ex,ected son, a.
thing oisbinS from M, Adams On his occ,s;on
were sratif,d beyond their homes, And after he.
holding this upon national The rgb. Of
humanity and common sense, nobody can be aston
ished at seeing Mr.. Adams in a crusade against hs
own country, for the benefit Of England
dams ia 10 III En, l~,I h.
most serious of cslnmites ThoronobIv as we ,bbor
wars Of all kinds deeply MS VI should ismen, war
between our own and ,ny countrv and greatly a, our
co.plrv would su fer in w,r with Ensiand ,ye can
imay sill greater ca,.mit,cs than sncb coI;s;on :
We can imagine war with France Russia
Prussia and Austria combnetJ as a mucb more seri
Gus CALAMITY We can even Imagine civil war
as repIete with horrors tenfold greater We can
even imag;n. a series of prrsent snb,,iss;on. 10
England, that would induce a war at last as a much
more scriou, calamity than war 10 cbeck avyressoo
on the threshold Though we do not regard war be-
tween the IT, States and the great power, of Continen.
tai Europe as within probabilities vet if il should
occur our commerce besides the hostility of these
continental bcIIig.rants would becomc the nrey
of English privatcers. sailing under their com
missions But in a war with England we should
find friends instead of enemies in the contipen.
tai power. and therefore should be exposed 10 Bri-
tsh depreciation only. In war with England our
commerce would suler fiom the British navy AID
pryatcers But British commerce would suffer as
much or more from our navy and prissteers We
must remember that in our last war with Britain,
when no other European nation bad any navy, and
when British shls OF war and privateers covered the
ocean, and our own navy was much wesker than il
is at present the baa nee Of misc ef 10 Commerce be-
| tween the two nations was much in our favor What
then, might we expect now when we are compare
lively much stronger W. must also remember tina,
IN this war our national energies were expended ia
| fruit.ess attempt to conquer Canad, by marching
through widernesscs against hostile population; md
that now with our Northern frontier donsely settled
and with large majority Of the Canadian population,
both French and English in our favor we could
conquer all the British North American colonies in
| forlnighi
| Then IT. with such great odds against u.s. we tn
umphed ~ the last war; as We did in the Revolution
with inca ns stili more insignificant why should we
apprchend destruction from British war nowl Our
i only ss-silsblc point is the South which IL only
ssilsble through its colorcd population, with fes
coIored regiments from the Wcss Indies But even
supposng RsAt improbabiliiy, general seTvilc in
sur ec,ioD IN any State, its almost instant sup
preston would teach The British how little ,bs y
could rely for success such contingencies.
The white population of the South, and Of the great
free States contiguous, Peonsylvana Ohio, lodinns,
Illinois, would soon prove the futiy OF any British
hopes IN that quarter Therefore, 40 far as success
on land, and balance oil mischief on the ocean, arr
concerned, we sec no prospect oil our annihiaton N
awar with England
i But Mr. Adams would regard war with England
greater calamity Than the sanrihce OF Oregon Let
US examine this position war with Eaglsnd will