Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση
[ocr errors]

which

that part of the treaty of 1783 was founded, they will acknowledge no boundary whatever; then unquestionably any proposition, to fix one, be it what it may, must be considered as demanding a large cession of territory from the United States. Is the American Government prepared to assert such an unlimited right so contrary to the evident intention of the treaty itself? Or, is his Majesty's

secured to Great Britain, because the command of Quebec becomes interrupted, was not in contem those Lakes would afford to the American Govern- plation of the British Plenipotentiaries who conment the incans of commencing a war in the heart cluded the treaty of 1783, and that the greater of Canada, ard because the command of them, on part of the territory in question is actually unocthe part of Great Britain, has been shewn by ex- cupied. The undersigned are persuaded that an perience, to be attended with no insecurity to the arrangement en this point might be easily made, United States. When the relative strength of if entered into with the spirit of conciliation, withthe two Powers in North America is considered, it out any prejudice to the interests of the district in should be recollected that the British dominions in question. As the necessity for fixing some bounthat quarter do not contain a population of 500,000 | dary for the north western frontier has been mupersons, whereas the territory of the United States tnally acknowledged, a proposal for a discussion on contains a population of more than seven millions; that subject cannot be considered as a demand for that the naval resources of the United States are at a cession of territory, unless the United States are hand for attack, and that the naval resources of prepared to assert that there is no limit to their Great Britain are on the other side of the Atlantic. territories in this direction; and that, availing The military possession of those Lakes is not, there-themselves of the geographical error upun fore, necessary for the protection of the United States. The proposal for allowing the territories on the southern banks of the Lakes above mentioned to remain in the possession of the Government of the United States, provided no fortifications should be erected on the shores, and no armament permitted on the waters, has been made, for the purpose of manifesting, that security and not acquisition of territory is the object of the British Go-Government to understand, that the American vernment, and that they have no desire to throw Plenipotentiaries are willing to acknowledge the obstacles in the way of any commerce which the boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the people of the United States may be desirous of Mississippi (the arrangement by a convention in carrying on upon the Lakes in time of peace. The 1803, but not ratified) as that by which their Goundersigned, with the anxious wish to rectify all vernment is ready to abide. The British Plenipomisunderstanding, have thus more fully explained tentiaries are instructed to accept favourably such the grounds upon which they brought forward the a proposition, or to discuss any other line of bounpropositions contained in their former Note resdary which may be submitted for consideration. It pecting the boundaries of the British dominions in is with equal astonishment the undersigned find North America. They do not wish to insist upon that the American Plenipotentiaries have not only them beyond what the circumstances may fairly declined signing any provisional article, by which require. They are ready, amicably to discuss the the Indian Nations who have taken part with details of them with a view to the adoption of any cluded in the peace, and may have a boundary Great Britain in the present contest may be inmodifications which the American Plenipotentiaries or their Government, may have to suggest if they assigned to them, but have also thought proper are not incompatible with the object itself. With to express surprise at any proposition on the subrespect to the boundary of the district of Maine, ject having been advanced. The American Pleniand that of the North Western frontier of the potentiaries state, that their Government could not United States, the undersigned were not prepared have expected such a discussion, and appear to anticipate the objections contained in the Note resolved, at once, to reject any proposition on this of the American Plenipotentiaries; they were in-head; representing it as a demand contrary to the structed to treat for the revision of their boundary acknowledged principles of public law, tantamount lines, with the statement which they have subse-to a cession of one third of the territorial dominions quently made, that they had no authority to cede of the United States, and required to be admitted any part, however insignificant, of the territories of The proposition which is the United States, although the proposal left it thus represented is, that the Indian Nations, which open to them to demand an equivalent for such have been during the war in alliance with Great cession either in frontier or otherwise. The Ame- Britain, should at its termination be included in rican Plenipotentiaries must be aware that the the pacification; and, with a view to their per boundary of the district of Maine has never been" manent tranquillity and security, that the British correctly ascertained; that the one asserted at Government is willing to take as a basis of an arpresent by the American Government, by which ticle on the subject of a boundary for those nations, the stipulations which the American Government

e direct communication between Halifax and

without discussion.

contracted in 1795, subject, however, to modifications. After the declaration, publicly made to those Indian Nations, by the Governor-General of Canada, that Great Britain would not desert them, could the American Government really persuade itself that no proposition relating to those Nations would be advanced; and did Lord Castlereagh's Note of the 4th November, 1813, imply so great a sacrifice of honour, or exclude from discussion every subject, excepting what immediately re. lated to the maritime questions referred to in it? When the undersigned assured the American Plenipotentiaries of the anxious wish of the British Government that the negociation might terminate in a peace honourable to both parties, it could not have been imagined that the American Plenipotentiaries would thence conclude that his Majesty's Government was prepared to abandon the Indian Nations to their fate, nor could it have been foreseen that the American Government would have considered it as derogatory to its honour to admit a proposition by which the tranquillity of those Nations might be secured. The British Plenipotentiaries have yet to learn, that it is contrary to the acknowledged principles of public law to include Allies in a negotiation for peace, or that it is contrary to the practice of all civilized nations to propose that a provision should be made for their future security. The Treaty of Grenville established the boundaries between the United States and the Indian Nations. The American Plenipotentiaries must be aware, that the way which has since broken out has abrogated that treaty. Is it contrary to the established principles of public law for the British Government to propose, on behalf of its Allies, that this treaty shall, on the pacification, be considered subject to such modifications as the case muy render necessary? Or, is it unreasonable to propose, that this stipulation should be amended, and that on that foundation some arrangement should be made which would provide for the exist-sibility of breaking off the negociation altogether. ence of a Neutral Power between Great Britain and the United States, calculated to secure to both a longer continuance of the blessings of peace? "So far was that specific proposition respecting the Indian boundaries from being insisted upon in the note, or in the conference which preceded it, as one to be admitted without discussion, that it Ghent Sept. 9, 1814.-"The undersigned have would have been difficult to use terms of greater had the honour to receive the note of his Britannic latitude, or which appeared more adapted, not only Majesty's Plenipotentiaries, dated the 4th instant. not to preclude but to invite discussion. If the If, in the tone or substance of the former note of the bases proposed could convey away one third of the undersigned, the British Commissioners have perterritory of the United States, the American Go-ceived little proof of any disposition on the part of vernment itself must have conveyed it away by the Grenville Treaty of 1795. It is impossible to read that treaty without remarking how inconsistent the present pretensions of the American Government are, with its preamble and provisions. The

boundary line between the lands of the United States and those of the Indian Nations, is therein expressly defined. The general character of the treaty, is that of a treaty with independent nations; and the very stipulation which the American Plenipotentiaries refer to, that the Indian nations should sell their lands only to the United States, tends to prove that, but for that stipulation, the Indians had a general right to dispose of them. The American Government, has now for the first time, in effect declared that all Indian Nations within its line of demarcation are its subjects, living there upon sufferance, on lands, which it also claims the exclusivo right of acquiring, thereby menacing the final extinction of those nations. Against such a system, the undersigned must formally protest. The undersigned repeat, that the termus on which the proposition has been made for assigning to the Indian Nations some boundary, manifest no unwillingness to discuss any other proposition directed to the same object, or even a modification of that which is offered. Great Britain is ready to enter into the same engagements with respect to the Indians living within her line of demarcation, as that which is proposed to the United States. It can, therefore, only be from a complete misapprehension of the proposition that it can be represented as being not reciprocal. Neither can it, with any truth; be represented as contrary to the acknowledged principles of public law, as derogatory to the honour, or inconsistent with the rights of the American Government, nor as a demand required to be admitted without discussion. After this full exposition of the sentiments of his Majesty's Government on the points above stated, it will be for the American Plenipotentiaries to determine, whether they are ready now to continue the negociations; whether they are disposed to refer to their Government for further instructions; or lastly, whether they will take upon themselves the respon

The undersigned request the American Plenipotentiaries to accept the assurances of their high consideration. (Signed) GAMBIER, HENRY GOULBURN, WILLIAM ADAM."

[ocr errors]

THE AMERICAN TO THE BRITISH COMMISSIONERS.

the AmericanGovernment, for a discussion of some of the propositions advanced in the first note, which the undersigned had the honour of receiving from them, they will ascribe it to the nature of the propositions themselves, to their apparent incompa

to the present time, the American Government has been always willing to make, peace, without obtaining any cession of territory, and on the sole condition that the maritime questions might be satisfactorily arranged. Such was their disposition in the month of July, 1812, when they instructed Mr. Russell to make the proposal of an armistice; in the month of October of the same year, when Mr. Monroe answered Admiral Warren's proposals to the same effect; in April, 1813, when instructions were given to three of the undersigned, then appointed to treat of peace, under the mediation of Russia; and in January, 1814, when the instructions under which the undersigned are now acting, were prepared.

The proposition of the British Plenipotentiaries is, that in order to secure the frontiers of Canada against attack, the United States should leave their own without defence: and it seems to be forgotten, that if their superior population, and the proximity of their resources give them any adyantage in that quarter, it is balanced by the great difference between the military establishments of the two nations. No sudden invasion of Canada by the United States could be made, without leaving on their Atlantic shores, and on the ocean exposed to the great superiority of the British force, a mass of American property, far more valuable than Canada. In her relative superior force to that of the United States in every other quarter, Great Britain may find a pledge much more efficacious for the safety of a single vulnerable point, than

tibility with the assurances in Lord Castlereagh's | the United States, been the declared object of their letter to the American Secretary of State, proposing Government. From the commencement of the war this negociation, and with the solemn assurances of the British Plenipotentiaries themselves, to the undersigned at their first conferences with them. The undersigned, in reference to an observation of the British Plenipotentiaries, must be allowed to say, that the objects which the Government of the United States had in view, have not been withheld. The subjects considered as suitable for discussion were fairly brought forward in conferences of the 9th ult. and the terms on which the United States were willing to conclude the peace, were frankly and expressly declared in the Note of the under signed, dated the 24th ultimo, It had been confidently hoped that the nature of those terms, so evidently framed in a sincere spirit of conciliation, would have induced Great Britain to adopt them as the basis of a treaty and it is with deep regret that the undersigned, if they have rightly under* stood the meaning of the last Note of the British Plenipotentiaries, perceive that they still insist on the exclusive military possession of the Lakes, and on a permanent boundary and independent territory for the Indians residing within the dominions of the United States. The first demand is grounded on the supposition, that the American Government has manifested, by its proceedings towards Spani, by the acquisition of Louisiana, by purchase of Indian lands, and by an avowed intention of permanently 'annexing the Canadas to the United States, a spirit of aggrandisement and conquest, which justifies the demands of extraordinary sacrifices from them, to provide for the security of the British Possessions in America. In the observations which the under-in stipulations ruinous to the interests and degrad signed felt it their duty to make on the new demands of the British Government, they confined their animadversions to the nature of the demands themselves; they did not seek for illustrations of the policy of Great Britain in her conduct, in various quarters of the globe, towards other nations, for she was not accountable to the United States. Yet the undersigned will say, that their Government has ever been ready to arrange in the most amicable manzer with Spain, the questions respecting the boundaries of Louisiana and Floridas, and that of indemnities acknowledged by Spain due to American citizens. How the peaceable acquisition of Louisiana, or the purchase of lands within the acknowledged territory of the United States, both made by fair and voluntary treaties for satisfactory equivalents, can be ascribed to a spirit of conquest dan gerous to their neighbours, the undersigned are altogether at a loss to understand, Nor has the conquest of Canada, and its permanent annexation to

ing to the honour of America. The best security for the possessions of both countries will, however, be found in an equal and solid peace; in a mutua! respect for the rights of each other, and in the cuftivation of a friendly understanding between them, If there be any source of jealousy in relation to Canada itself, it will be found to exist solely in the undue interference of traders and agents, which may be easily removed by proper restraints. The only American forts on the Lakes known to have been at the commencement of the negociation held by British force are Michillimackinac and Niagara. As the United States were, at the same time, in possession of Amherstburg and the adjacent country, it is not perceived that the mere occupation of those two forts could give any claim to his Britannic Majesty to large cessious of territory, founded upon the right of conquest; and the undersigned

(To be continued.)

Printed and Published by G. HOUSTON: No. 192, Strand; where all Communications addressed to the Editor are requested to be forwarded,

VOL. XXVII. No. 8.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEB. 25, 1815.

225]

[Price 1st

[226

To the Knights Grand Crosses, Com | BULWARK man, seems to have been manders and Companions of the Orders applied to by this BULWARK Spaniard of the BULWARK and the HEN-in preference to the Government here, RIADE, lately assembled in full Chapter, at HERTFORD, in New England. GENTLEMEN,

Botley, 22 Feb. 1815.

though one would have thought, that he would fly to his old friends to be received with open arms. Mr. WHITBREAD has made several very eloquent speeches upon the subject; but, to say the truth, As your occupation appears to have they have produced but little effect upon been suddenly put an end to by the me, and this for two reasons: First, peace, which our Government has had these Bulwark men fought and wrote for the wisdom to make with yours, it may Ferdinand; they called every one a traiamuse and please you to be informed how tor and a miscreaut, who did not wish the glorious work of deliverance proceeds for the restoration of the ancient family, in Europe. I was highly delighted to the venerable institutions. In the course perceive, that you were very careful to of their proceedings, they levelled their avail yourselves of the aid of the Cossack swords and their pens against the lives Priesthood, during your late delibera of all those, who wished not to be deli tions. The long prayers, which it was vered; they drew forth the sweat and resolved those gentry should put up, two blood of their country against him who or three times a day, was not the least had put down the Monks and the Inquiinteresting part of your measures. It sition; they persecuted every man, whe must glad your hearts to hear, that the acted as if he dreaded the deliverance Pope, the Jesuits, all the Monks (except of Spain. In their turn they are persein disorganized France) have been not cuted; they are sent to jails and galleys; only delivered, but fully re-established by and, you will please to observe, that they the efforts of the BULWARK; and that, suffer this from those for whom they had in Spain, the HOLY INQUISITION has fought, in whose behalf they had perse been so completely delivered “from the cuted others, and are delivered up, too, "fell grasp," as Mr. RANDOLPH calls it, by an English fiovernor. I think, may of Napoleon; that it is now under the it please your Knighthoods, that this paternal sway of "Ferdinand the beloved," as suitable, as fit, as exemplary, as any in full vigor of operation for the support human occurrence can well be.-My of "Social Order, and of ancient and other reason for taking little interest in venerable establishments." In this the fate of these men, is, that I feel more operation, it has laid hold of-who, think for persons in our English, Scotch, and you? Why of those men, who, for se- Irish jails. The patriot, who is sent to veral years, were fighting and writing the galleys, was charged with the crime for" Ferdinand the beloved!" that is to of LIBEL. Ile, it is acknowledged say, for the BULWARK against the de- wrote a letter to the beloved Ferdinand, stroyer of venerable institutions. Some advising him to adopt a new government of these "Patriots," as they were called, in Spain; that is to say, to consent to a having taken refuge in our fortress of revolution, that horrid thing, which is so Gibraltar, have been given up by our contrary to those ancient and venerable Governor to the beloved Ferdinand, institutions, to restore which so much whose Government has sent one of them blood and money has been expanded; to work in the galleys for ten years. and for the restoration of which you have Another of them has escaped to England, so long and so fervently prayed through where his cause has been espoused by the nose, with your eyes turned up toMr. WHITBREAD, who, though not awards the ceiling. Now, while there a

H

so many men in our jails for writing Ji- favour of this law, tell us, or, rather, tell bels; while I recollect that so many Gen- the Parliament, that our farmers cannot tlemen were sent from Scotland to Botany sell so cheap as those who pay no tythes, Bay, on the charge of attempting a revo- poor-rates, and, comparatively, very lution in our Government; and, while I little in taxes of any sort. What is this hear no word from Mr. WHITEREAD in but attacking tythes, one of the most their behalf, that gentleman must excuse ancient and venerable institutions in the me, if I am very little moved by his elo- whole world! and these are Bulwark quence, great as it is, in behalf of these men, too, who petition in these terms! Spaniards. There is a Mr. LOVELL,who In France they have not been able to has been in our jail of Newgate about restore tythes; or, in your language, to four years and a half. His offences deliver the country from the want of were, copying a short paragraph from a tythes. They have not been able to restore country paper relative to the operation of the gabelles, the corvées, the feudal the PROPERTY TAX, and publishing courts, laws and rights, nor have they another paragraph, or letter, relative to yet seen a Monk in France since the the conduct of the Transport Board to-days of Brissot. They have put up the wards French prisoners of war. He Bourbons; but, they have not put down might be in error in both instances; but, the code Napoleon.-At the same time his affidavits shewed, that he was the I am reminded of an occurrence that will author of neither publication; that he give you both pleasure and pain: I mean copied one, inadvertently, from a country the attempt to assassinate Napoleon by newspaper, and that he did not examine the hand of some hired villain. It will the other with sufficient care. He was give you pleasure that a villain has been sentenced to eighteen months imprison- found to attempt the deed, and pain to ment for each, and was fined besides; know that it has not succeeded. Your and he is now in jail, where he has been manifesto has excited a great deal of for a year and a half, wanting ability to anger in our Bulwark newspapers, one of his fines. Mr. HOUSTON is suffering which observes, that it was "hoped and two years imprisonment and fine for a "expected, that the Hertford Delegates book on religion. Away, then, with the "would have declared a separation of the complaints of Don Carrea and Don Puig- “ union at once.” On the other hand, you blanc and all the Dons in the universe, are held in the utmost contempt. You 'till Mr. Lovell and Mr. Houston and had courage to menace,but not enough to others find somebody to feel and to strike.--If any of you were, however, to speak for them.It will vex you very do here what you have actually done in much to know, that the French revolution America; that is, to endeavour to overawe has produced remarkably beneficial the King and Parliament, you would be consequences to the country. It is now hanged, have your bowels ripped out acknowledged, and even proclaimed, by and flung in your faces, have your bodies our Bulwark newspapers, that France cut in quarters, and the quarters placed has greatly improved in agriculture, at the king's disposal.----How foolish during what is called her state of that would make Henrigde men look! disorganization, though we were told Yours to command, by these same newspapers, and by our insipid and hireling Mr. WALSH, that Napoleon had left none but old men, women, and children to cultivate the land. These poor, feeble creatures have got the land into such a fine state, that we are compelled to resort to a law to protect our farmers against their corn, in which article they undersell us in our own markets. The truth is, that, in addition to this great improvement in the state of France, the Bulwark war has left us a load of taxes, which the land cannot pay without high prices. The petitions, which have been presented in

WILLIAM COBBET T

THE BUDGET.

This is now a most interesting topic. I shall, therefore, insert the Budget-Speech at full length, and when I have so done, I shall offer thereon such remarks as appear to me likely to be useful.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in calling the attention of the Committee to the Financial measures of which he had given notice, stated that the House was aware that the Property Tax would ex

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »