Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-04-20
Pfobabi iIity of War with England.

Among rejecting men. the opir
ION is gradually gaini ng ground thai
III the event of general Europea
war, thiF country may be drawn int
the conflict; notwit thstanding op
great an xiety to rem lain neutral
This opinion is bas ed, principally
upon the recent decll ration Of LorC
CLAREND on to the Riga merchants
that Russian produce in neutral yes
sells will be consider ed lawful prize
II This is but a revival of one of The
odious rights asserted by Great Brit
ain in the famous Ord ers in Council
of 906+ I, and which finally brought
on the war, of 1912 Under such
eircpmsta ances, it may not be out ot
place helIe to recur I'd that war, and
the higl handed measures of Great
Britain which made it unavoidable.
In 1896, Great Bri tain, to annoy
and cripple France, with whom she
WAS them at war, decla red the whole
lcpast of France, from Brest to the
Elbe, in state Of b Hlockade. Ma
lp poleon retaliated by his Berlin de-
Tcree, declaring the i british Isknd nds
Hin state of blockade. In 1907,
tGreat Britain issue d other Or
ders in c puncil, declari ng the who olo
continent in a state Of blockade. =
This lastHpaper blocka{l Re by the Brit
ish government was nj pet by Napo-
Icons Milan decree. These orders
in council declared all neutral yes
sells going to and fro from the bar
bors Of France and he allies lawful
prizes, except such as | ad cleared, or
touched at an English port; while, oD
the other hand, Napol cons DEGREES
declared alI neutral VESSELS that hadso
touched d an English Hort OF submit
ted tob be searched by an English crui-
ser, lawfal prizes, and subjected Brit
ish goods to confiscation wherever
found. These conflicting and unjust
DEGREES threatened olr comme rec
with destruction. and aroused the III
digHation Of our people to the high
est pitch. Fortunately /, the navy of
France, at that time, was small, and
the practical enforcement Of her de-
clees afflicted US but little. They
were, moreover, revoked, so far as
ourrightsIwere concerned 4,inlSl and
the revocation ante-dat ed November /
lst, 1910. But Great Britain was
the chief maratime power Of the /
globe, and able to enforce her de-
crees in every sea accessible 10 our
vessels. She did so wi thout moder-
alton, and the consequences we're
truly disastrous to our infant and .
struggling commerce. In his late
work on the war of lSl 2, Mr.. HEAD
LEY thus 1speaks Of the effects pro- {
duced on our people by the enforce
ment of these DEGREES:
"gThosd orders in Council seemed, .
at first, to preclude the possibility Of
an amicable adjustment of Difficult
ties The country was on fire from
New Orleans. Cries of
distress, in the shape of memorials +
to Congress, came pour ling in from
every sea port in the Union. Plum
dered merchants invoked the in ter
position Of the strong rm Of po wer
to protec their rights, and dem and
indemnity for losses IL at beggared
their fortunes. Scorn hnd rage at
this, bold high-handed robbery, filled
every bosom, and the nation tr EN-
bled on the verge Of war. Jefer-
son, however, sent MIR. Pinckney as
envoy extraordinary to co operate
with Mr. Monroe, our minister to
lin forming treaty which
should recognize our maratime
rights"
a tre4ty was agreed upon, but it
was so unsatisfactory that the Presi-
dent did not submit it to Congress.
Retaliation was then resolved upon,
and in 1907, an embaTgo was laid
upon all American vessels and mer-
chandize. b ut this M measure was
found, in the end, to be more disas-
trous to us than to Great Britain or
Fran ce. 1t was, therefore, speedily
and the non-int tercourse law
substituted, prohibiting all inter-
course with these two countries
France, as we have said, repealed her
decree, so far as they are related to
us, in 1911; but after various and