commercial warfare in which the world had been involved. On the 10th of March the French minister for fo reign affairs presented to the conservative senate an official report, by which all doubt as to the perseverance of the French ruler in the assertion of his extravagant principles was removed. The British government immediately issued a declaration, in which it was stated, that the novel and extraordinary principles to which the French government had recourse, had called for measures of retaliation on the part of England; that the king had always been desirous to exercise his undoubted right with as little injury as possible to the commerce of neutrals, and had at all times professed his readiness to revoke the orders in council, so soon as the decrees of the enemy were fairly repealed, and the commerce of neutral nations restored to its accustomed course.-That the state of Europe in the year 1809 had enabled his majesty to reduce these beneficent views to practice, and to confine the retaliatory measures to France, and the countries on which the French yoke had been most strictly imposed; and his majesty had readily availed himself of so favourable an opportunity for abridging the miseries of war.That the government of the United States had still remained dissatisfied. It had been pretended that the French decrees were revoked, although ample proofs of their execution at a recent period had been brought forward. That the enemy had now, however, laid aside all dissimulation, and had declared that the ships of every power which refused to acknowledge his principles were, to use the language of his code, denationalized. That in addition to the disavowal of the blockade of 1806, and the repeal of the orders in council, he demanded the admission of the prin ciple, that free ships should make free goods; that neutral property in the hands of enemies should be treated as hostile; that arms and warlike stores alone, to the exclusion of ship timber, and other articles of naval equipment, should be regarded as contraband of war; and that no ports should be considered as lawfully blockaded, except such as were invested and besieged, in the presumption of their being taken, and into which no merchant ship could enter with safety. The enemy thus demanded that the established law of nations should be overthrown, that Great Britain should forego the advantages of her naval superiority, and that her commerce should be excluded from every country of the world, to which the influence of France might extend. That, acting on this principle, the enemy did not hesitate to incorporate with his own dominions all states which refused to sacrifice their national honour at his command.-That the provisions of the treaty of Utrecht, which were founded on a voluntary compact, were referred to as evidence of principles which were to be established by force; and that France had thus departed from the very conditions on which the pretended repeal of her decrees had been accepted by America.-That it had, therefore, become the duty of America to relax the measures of severity, which by misconception she had adopted towards Great Britain; and as a proof of the desire of the British government to fulfil its engagements, it was declared that so soon as the Berlin and Milan decrees should be actually and unconditionally revoked, the British orders in council should be considered, without any farther declaration, as at an end; reserving at the same time to the king the most ample powers to re-establish any measures of this kind, should it after wards appear that the repeal by the enemy had been illusory. Such was the just and magnanimous declaration issued by the British government. In England, however, it was considered by the enemies of the orders in council as a reply to the petitions before parliament, complaining of the distresses occasioned by these orders; and it was no sooner issued, than Lord Stanley brought forward a motion in the House of Commons, for referring these petitions to the consideration of a committee of the whole House. There was not much novelty in the arguments by which this motion was supported. With reference to the terms of the declaration, it was asserted that the measures of the French government were neither new nor extraordinary; but had in principle been adopted, although executed with less rigour by England in the years 1739 and 1756; and were precisely such in fact as all independent states had a right to pursue. That the measures of the French government had proved wholly impotent, till they were supported by the retaliatory system to which England had recourse. That the petitions on the table concurred in attributing the distresses of the country to the orders in council; yet the declaration lately issued had announced the resolution of government to abide by its principles, without regard to the general misery which appeared in every district of the country.-That this resolution reduced the measures of the British government, and the prosperity of British commerce, to a dependence on the will of the enemy; and that although it had become impossible to obtain employment for the lower or ders, and the price of provisions was rapidly advancing, there seemed to be no prospect of redress.-In answer to these speculations, it was stated by Mr Rose, who on all occa sions discovered a very accurate knowledge of this subject, that by the Berlin decree, if British goods were found on board of an American ship trading between America and China, they must be forfeited; and that it was, therefore, absurd to talk of the decree as a mere municipal regulation. He observed also, that although the Berlin decree had been in a great measure inoperative until the peace of Tilsit, because the enemy had not till that period the means of enforcing it, yet immediately afterwards the French had marched their troops into all parts of the continent, for the purpose of carrying their system into effect, and the consequences had been immediately felt in the extreme depression of the commerce of this country.-Among the evils which would result from the repeal of the orders in council in the exist ing state of Europe, Mr Rose mentioned, that as the ports of France would then be opened to American commerce, the enemy would easily be supplied with the raw materials, and would be enabled to manufacture them, and to compete with England directly in the markets of South America, and in every other place to which her precarious trade might extend.-That the falling off in the direct trade of this country to America had been, in a great measure, compensated by the increase of our exports to other countries, to which the same commodities had formerly been carried in American ships. A curious fact was also stated by this gentleman respecting the trade of America. Of her exports, amounting annually in value to fortyfive millions of dollars, thirty-eight went to England and, her allies, and only two millions to France and her dependencies, whose friendship the go vernment of America seemed so anxious to cultivate.-But there was no necessity for a protracted debate; the distresses of the country were unques tionably great; the people seemed to look to the repeal of the orders in council as a source of relief; and in such circumstances the ministers did not think of resisting enquiry, but gave their consent to the motion for appointing a committee. A circumstance of an extraordinary nature was about this time communicated by a message from the president of the United States to congress.-The message stated, that while the United States were at peace with Great Britain, a secret agent of the British go. vernment had been employed in certain states, more especially at the seat of government at Massachusets, in fomenting disaffection to the constituted authorities of the country, for the purpose of seducing the southern parts of the Union into a political connection with Great Britain.-The message was accompanied with various documents. The secret agent alluded to was a person of the name of Henry, who pretended to the American government, that he had been employed for the purposes stated in the message, and had been induced to make the discovery, by the refusal of the British government to give him his reward.The documents referred to had been transmitted in a letter from Henry to Mr Munro, the American secretary of state; and in this letter Henry confessed his strong feelings of disappointment and of revenge towards those who had employed him.-The first of the documents produced with the message was a letter from Sir James Craig's secretary to Henry, dated at Quebec in January, 1809, and desiring to know, whether he would undertake a secret and confidential mission to Boston. The second, which was dated February in the same year, contained Sir James Craig's instructions to Henry, in which the latter is desired to form an acquaintance with some of the leading federalists of the southern states, to ascertain their opinions as to the policy of a separation from the Union, and their disposition to avail themselves of the assistance of the British government. In a memorial to Lord Liverpool, which was found among the papers, Henry took credit to himself for the services which he had performed, by influencing the public acts and legisla tive resolutions of the assemblies of Massachusets and Connecticut, by means of which the general government was kept in check, and its hostility towards Great Britain considerably moderated. The memorial was inciosed in a letter addressed to Mr Peele, and claimed a handsome reward from government.-Another of the documents purported to be a letter from Mr Peele, written by desire of Lord Liverpool, in which it was stated, that as the opinion of Sir James Craig respecting the merits and services of Henry had not been received, and as no wish had been expressed by Sir James that the claim should be referred to this country, it had been determined to transmit Henry's memorial to Sir James Craig's successor in the government of North America. The other branches of the correspondence were of little or no importance. The above intelligence no sooner reached England, than a motion was made in the House of Lords by Lord Holland, for copies of the whole correspondence relating to the pretended employment of Henry.-The grounds of this motion, said its supporters, were obvious; a serious charge affecting the honour of the country had been made by the American government, and it was proper to have it investigated. The British ministers had been charged not merely with employing Henry to obtain intelligence on subjects which might be lawfully enquired into, but to induce some of the states of the Union to cast off their allegiance to their lawful government. What would have been the public feeling in England, it was asked, or the conduct of the government, if, while Andreossi was here during the peace of Amiens, he had been detected carrying on a secret intercourse with the malcontents of Ireland; who would have hesitated, if such an event had occurred, to have advised war, unless a satisfactory explanation had been immediately offered? and what bounds should we have set to our resentment against those who had dared to insult the honour, and to intrigue against the peace, of the country? It could afford no defence for the conduct of Sir James Craig, or of the government, (if, indeed, the government had been accessary to these proceedings) that the Americans had been making preparations to invade Canada; for although such a state of things warranted Sir James in taking all proper measures for defence, and even in doing every thing to secure the most correct information, yet it by no means entitled him to attempt the seduction of the American people from their allegiance. The answer made by Lord Liver pool formed a complete vindication of the ministry from the charges which had been so indecently preferred against them by the American government. His lordship stated, that the employment of Henry by Sir James Craig had not been authorised by the government ; nor was it even known at home that such a person had been employed, till many months after the transactions were concluded. It was necessary, however, to attend to the situation in which Canada was at that time placed with respect to the government of the United States. In consequence of the embargo act, great heat and clamour prevailed in America at the time; that country assumed a very warlike and menacing attitude; not only were defensive measures adopted, but on the 25th of November the governor of Boston received orders to hold 10,000 men in readiness to march at a moment's notice; a circumstance which was quite notorious, and often mentioned in the public prints. This army could have but one object-the invasion of Canada; and such accordingly was the impression on the mind of Sir James Craig, which many other circumstances, and particularly the sudden enrolment of 50,000 volunteers by the government of the United States, tended to confirm. Mr Erskine, the minister then resident in America, had also entertained the same suspicions; and had sent an express to Sir James Craig, informing him that Canada or Halifax was to be immediately attacked. Such were the circumstances in which Sir James was placed, at a moment too when the separation of some of the states, in the event of a war, had become the subject of general speculation. Sir James had already received communications from Henry, a person who professed to be well acquainted with the sentiments of the people of the southern states; and whatever falsehoods and exaggerations might have been industriously propagated, the object of the governor of Čanada in sending Henry into the United States was not to excite discontent, but to obtain information, which, in the event of hostilities, might have enabled him to avail himself of the prevalent temper and disposition of the people in these states. As a proof that the instructions of the governor, such as they were, had reference only to a state of hostilities, it was mentioned that no sooner did Sir James Craig hear that the points in discussion had been adjusted, than he sent orders to Henry to return.--Ministers had been most anxious to caution Sir James against the employment of individuals, who might disturb the har. mony subsisting betwixt Great Britain and America; and the conduct of Lord Liverpool, in recommending Henry for a reward, had been influenced entirely by a wish to make him a fair remuneration for his ser vices, without intimating any opinion as to the policy of the mission which had been entrusted to him.-It was agreed by all parties that the conduct of the American ruler, who, without requiring explanation, or giving any notice to the British ministers, had at once laid the papers before congress, was in the highest degree indelicate and unbecoming; and as there was no reason to suppose that any charge existed against the British government, parliament, it was said, ought to leave the management of this affair to ministers, and to reject a motion which could lead to no discoveries of any importance. The motion was accordingly rejected by a large majority. The hostile disposition which had already been indicated by the Americans towards this country in so many different ways, began now to discover itself with still greater violence; and it was evident, that, although some degree of fear and hesitation still prevented the immediate declaration of war, this last act of folly had become nearly inevitable. A resolution was proposed to congress to seize all British goods in America, to detain all British subjects, and to issue letters of marque and reprisal against British property in general: and it was expected that these measures of hostility would soon be followed by a still more unequivocal declaration of the resolutions of government. An American general was dispatched to Detroit to take the command of 8000 men, whose destination for the invasion of Canada was no longer concealed. Strong remonstrances were, however, presented by many respectable towns and corpo preserva rate bodies interested in the tion of amity with England; and it is probable that this spirit alone repressed for a time the eager desire of Mr Madison and his party to precipitate hostilities. A circumstance in the meantime occurred, than which nothing could more strongly mark the bad faith of the French government in its transactions with America, and which of itself ought to have changed entirely the line of policy on which the government of the United States had now resolved. A dispatch was received from Paris by the American envoy in London, announcing the formal revocation by the French government of the Milan and Berlin decrees, so far as regarded America; and how much soever the singular perfidy displayed in this transaction may astonish every upright mind, this revocation, although communicated in the year 1812, was dated as far back as April 1811. No doubt could be entertained that this official notification had been extorted from the French government in consequence of the British declaration, that so soon as the French decrees should be repealed the British orders in council should also cease. After having for two years therefore refused any explanation, or official document even to America, Buonaparte came forward in May 1812, with a decree antedated to the 11th of April, 1811; and that decree, even referring to the year 1810, from which period it was said that these notable edicts, in so far as the interests of America were concerned, had been repealed. So gross an insult as this on the good faith and honour of nations was perhaps never offered by any go vernment. The committee appointed to enquire into the orders in council, after the most anxious and laborious researches, had now closed its investigations; and a motion was made by Mr Brougham |