consul at New York. In order to deliver those dispatches, a boat, with a Lieutenant and eight men in her, was sent on shore. She had scarcely arrived at the landing place, when several hundreds of people, some of them lawyers, assembled on it, and openly invited the boat's crew to desert, telling them, that they were now in a land of li"berty, where they would be protected, "and that that was the time to shake off "the galling yoke of British oppression and "ultimately lead to their pardon; and so "general had been the compassion excited, "that a petition had been presented in their behalf by the Marine Humane Society. "Their execution was in consequence de"layed, and the strictest enquiries instituted, "until the Commander in chief had become "so fully satisfied of the falsehood of the charges, and of the great criminality of "Caton and Tinning, in particular, that "mercy could not, without injury to the "service, be extended to them. Just as "these men were leaving the cabin to as"cend the platform, the whole six, expect"ing to suffer, burst into tears, and, address"ing the reverend gentlemen who attended "them, said " they could not bear to go "out of the world with a lie in their mouths. "That the charges they had stated against "their officers were not true, and had only "been made by them, in hopes to excite compassion." They requested those gen"tlemen to commit to writing, this, their "dying declaration, and they would all "sign it. This was accordingly done, and "having been favored with it, it is with "the utmost satisfaction we communicate "it to the publie. They also at the awful moment of their departure, declared, that they, with the men recommend ed to mercy, had combined to criminate their officers. They asked pardon of their "officers for their injurious conduct in as "persing their characters, and exhibited the "strongest marks of penitence and con"trition." Confession. slavery." The sailors, lured by such an invitation, and emboldened by the number of their new and kind friends, leaped from the boat, and were received, by the malignant host, with shouts of applause. The Lieutenant, however (whose name, I regret, does not appear), pursued them, and intrepidly rushing amongst the civilized savages, seized two of his men; and, in spite of the imprecations and threats that resounded from every quarter, dragged them to his boat, and thus returned to the frigate. But, it soon afterwardsappeared, that this was but the first germ of that mutiny, the seeds of which had been artfully sown on board the frigate, by the Americans. who had been admitted alongside in the pilot and provision boats. Almost the whole of the crew became implicated in a conspiracy, which went to the "We, the undersigned, most solemnly "declare, before the Rev. Dr. Stanser,, and "the Rev. George Wright, as we shall an swer at the day of judgment, that we "have never been tyrannically or ill treated " by Capt. Cochrane, or any of the offi"cers of his majesty's ship Jason; but, on seizing of the ship, and delivering her up "to the Americans." The officers, with a courage and presence of mind, seldom to be met with in such perfection as in the British Navy, frustrated the design, and though the shore was hostile to them, they succeeded, by degrees, in securing the ringleaders. When they had done this, the frigate immediately sailed for Halifax, leaving behind, however, the six seamen, who had been, as above mentioned, invited and protected by the people of New York." This," the Morning Chronicle may say, "is the ac"count given by the enemies of us, advo"cates for America." But, I will give that gentleman an article from an American newspaper, published at Richmond, in Vit the contrary, have always met with good "usage, and have nothing to complain of. "As witness our hands this 12th day of Oct. 1807.-Wm. Caton, Thomas Camp-ginia, on the 24th of July last, just at the bell, Peter Bond,, his mark, Mounsey Tinning, Robert Denen, alias John Matthews, Patrick Brown, X, his mark. - Witness. Robert Stanser, George Wright."--Now. I proceed to state, from the same authority, that which will cicarly shew, that the crime of these unfurtunate men, that their ignominions exit from life, and the injory done, in this case, to our navy and our country, are all to be tributed to the mace, the insolence, and Pikouts, gericans. The ispatches for our time when the desertions from our ships at Norfolk, in Virginia, led to the affair of the Chesapeake; and, without any shuffing and equivocating, let the Morning Chronicle tell me what he and his faction have to say in defence of it.-I must first state to the reader, that, in order to assist our officers, in their endeavours to put a stop to the desertion from the fleet, arising from the base inveigling of the Americans, the inhabitauts of Halifax had associated for the purpose of giving rewards to those who would apprehend deserters. Upon this, the follow ing article, extracted, as above-mentioned, from the American paper, descants, at the same time that it expresses its joy at the desertion which prevails.- "Richmond, "Virginia, 24th July, 1807.-In this day's "paper, the patriot will read with pleasure, that the spirit of desertion from the Bri"tish fleet prevails to a degree, which "threatens their service with destruction, "The merchants of Halifax, long famed "for their hostility to the independency and "prosperity of the United States, have "formed an association to counteract this temper by rewards, &c. These voluntary instruments of the most oppressive " tyranny, these advocates for human servitude and wretchedness, have offered no "less that 74 dollars a man, to intercept "the victims of power and oppression from "the enjoyment of light and liberty. And yet, notwithstanding these efforts, and the "terrors of punishment, the love of liberty seems to prevail. How long do these Ha"lifax associators calculate upon the enjoy then manacled, and thus carried on board "that little Hell, called a British Man of "War, he will forget that he once was a member of a civilized community? that "he felt, thought, hoped, and loved, with the feelings customary to human beings? "In what situation will the merchants "of Halifax be, if active and open war shall take place between the United States and "Great Britain? Sound policy will dic 14 tate that the British Government should "be deprived of that important station? "The inimical conduct of the inhoitants will decide the question: and the enter prise of our fellow citizens of New England will soon accomplish the object. " "to ship, and our foe will be deprived of "the means of annoyance. These things are hastily submitted to public considera"tion, they will be found to merit notice, "and it is hoped may be productive of be"neficial consequences. It will be strange "indeed, if the United States do not con"tain as many who will open their purse to "promote the happiness of their fellow creatures, as are found in Halifax, who "will give money to make misery mo "wretched."And this is the "mild, "unoffending, and peaceful people," of whom Mr. Senator Mitchell (see the last Register) was speaking for six or seven hours, on the 27th of November last. Here is an openly and publickly made proposition for raising a fund to induce, by the means of rewards, English seamen to desert from the service of their country, and violate their oaths. Come forth, then, Mr. A. B of the Morning Chronicle, or Mr. James Perry, who has published your letters in a pamphlet with a preface of his own, almost, if not quite, as stupid as the letters themselves; come forth, I say, one or both of you, and tell us now, whether "the politicians," and the "calamities of war;" but, answer as this plain question: Do you, who insisted, that the lan guage of the English news-papers, ought to be considered as the language of the English government, allow, that the language of this American news-paper, published under the President's nose, ought to be considered as the language of the American government? Tell us, too, Mr. Morning Chronicle, whether your assertion, that the "Yes, Halifax will be remembered; her number of our seamen, on board of Ameiniquities call aloud for vengeance, and rican ships, was trifling, will still be persisted the violated rights of humanity, as well in, after this American news-paper has, un as national honour, will hasten the blow. strains of exultation, declared, that the de"If these enemies of human happiness and sertion in their habours "threatened our liberty associate for the perpetration of "service with destruction." -Mark the "fiend-like purposes, way may not, why moral philosophy of this " mild, unoffend"ought not, the philanthropists of the "ing, and peaceable people." Because the "United States to associate for contrary merchants of Halifax offer rewards for appurposes? Why not give rewards and prehending deserters, that is to say, for the offer inducements to those who are pent taking of criminals and for the prevention of up in prisons, more detestable than the crimes, the "mild and unoffending peo"realms of Tartarus, to make their escape, "ple' think themselves called upon to "and seek in the land of liberty that asyoffer rewards for the inviting of men to "lum which is offered by a free and bene- commit crimes. They look upon the peo"volent people? By such means the spirit ple of Halifax as their foes; as people me of emancipation will be encouraged theiting chastisement and destruction, because " tidings will fly like lightning from ship " " ey wish to prevent the Americans from inveigling away our seamen, and from destroying the service of our navy. But, this is truly characteristic of them, in whose eyes it is always a crime, worthy of signal vengeance, in any one to presume to defend himself against their roguish or insolent attempts. "Land of liberty!" The name, if you please, but none of the thing; no not half so much as there was amongst the convicts, by whom Virginia was first settled. On board of their own "little "hells," they can flog as much as they please. When their cutter, "the Revenge" was at Falmouth, the town was, every day, annoyed with the cries of their flogged sailors, several of whom deserted to the shore; but, just the contrary of their own practice, were taken and sent on board again.This that I have cited, is by no means a solitary instance. I could fill this sheet with paragraphs, from American papers, none of them much less atrocious than the one I have selected. It is the language, not of an obscure individual, but of a considerable part of the leaders in the country. How vain, how stupid, how idiot-like is it, then, in us, to hope, that they are to be won by concession! Fifteen years of concession on our' side and of insolent encroachment on their side have we already endured, to our pecuniary cost and to the disgrace of our character. No more of these years we have, I hope, to endure; and, indeed, I am not afraid of it; for, I suspect, that the article, which I have inserted below, entitled "the Maniac's Politics," comes from one of the ministry, and I am sure, that the writer of that incomparable piece of satire sees all the question, relative to America, in its true point of view.- -The Morning Chronicle and his faction (for they are not to be separated) continually ring in our cars the evil consequences which will attend a war with America. I say, and, I think, I have proved, that no evil consequences to us, would arise from such a war; but, supposing there should? What has that to do with the dispute? Are we, merely because we shall lose by a war, to accede to the demands of Mr. Jefferson? If so, why not accede to any other demands that he may think proper to make? The argument is wonderfully comprehensive. It embraces all possible cases; and, if our ministers were so foolish and base as to listen to it now, they would very soon have to listen to it again.If the outs should try this question; in parliament, they might bid the walls of St. Stephen's farewell at the close of the discussion; for I am very much deceived, if they would find one man in the whole country, some merchants and manufacturers and the American fund-holders excepted, who would not, from that hour, hold them in abhorrence. The whole of the English nation, from the highest to the lowest, now see the Americans and their conduct as they are. You will meet with no disinterested man, who en tertains, or affects to entertain, any alarm at their threats. Amongst the women, and down to the very children, they are held in contempt, as a very satisfactory proof of which, I here quote the verses under the picture of "PRESIDENT JEFF," whom the Twelfth-cake sellers selected as one of the droll characters for the diversions of those hours of English festivity, the evening of the sixth of January. "See President Jeff sits in deep contemplation, "O'er politic plans that relate to our nation; "Whate'er the conclusion, we rest with reliance, "Old England can hold all her foes in defiance," Would that Jefferson could see the image engraven at the top of these verses! I thank Mr. Kerr most heartily for it. Delicious as his cake was, "President Jeff" was still more delicious.--Trifling as this circumstance is in itself, it is an indication of public feeling, which the Whigs, after all, are not foolish' enough to hold in contempt. From the latest intelligence, that has been received from America, it appears, that the ever-famed non-importation act was to go into effect in the middle of December; but, I wish the reader to bear in mind, that, in the prohibitions of this act, cloth and woollens and hardware are not included. It must be evident, however, that the execu ting of the act will alarm the merchants there, and will put a stop to their orders. It will produce a state of things not much un like war; but, if our ministers hold firm, the act will be repealed in nine months' time. There is, of course, a stock of goods in hand sufficient to last about a year, espe cially as the autumnal importations have, in all probability, been made with a view to the probable ensuing interruption of trade. This stock of goods will go on rising in price, and, of course, the consumption will become more economical. From these natural capses the stock in hand will be made to last a year, perhaps, with the suffering of great inconve nience; and, upon this calculation the Congress hope to bring us to their terms. But, as was observed in the last Register, they have all along been reckoning upon wrong impressions. When they passed their act, Napoleon was in a fair way of conquering Prus sia; when they issued their proclamation and sent their demand of satisfaction, in conse quence of the affair of the Chesapeake, they were full of the intelligence of the peace of Tilsit; when Mr. Monroe left England, the American merchants and fund-holders were beginning to clamour, and to form their Corresponding Societies. Thus, at every stage of their progress, they have been reckoning and acting upon what was gone by, here, without at all affecting the spirit of the coun try; and, at the very moment when they are supposing themselves able to awe us into compliance by commercial restrictions, we are deliberating within ourselves, whether it would not be a good thing for England, if all commercial connection with them were, for ever, pot an end to. Mr. Munroe, too, who is notoriously a partizan of France, and who, for the best of all reasons, is a bitter enemy of England, would not be very likely to make representations, calculated to check the presumption of his countrymen. In short, until they heard of the affair of Copenhagen, they looked upon us as upon the eve of bending down before Napoleon and his maritime coalition; and this notion of us emboldened them to go so far, that they are now ashamed to retract. They must do something, they perceive; they must make a shew of war; but, if they are wise, they will sneak out of it as soon as possible; for woe be unto them, if once any considerable naval force be sent across the Atlantic.— Their advocates here, of whom the Morning Chronicle is the trumpet, are continually reminding us.of the quantity of cloth we send to America and of cotton we receive from America. We have given our reasons for believing, that this exchange is of no advantage to England. We have, I think, fully proved, that it is of no advantage. Nevertheless, without any attempt to answer our arguments, these advocates repeat, with rather increasing weight of emphasis, their cuckoo-like admonitions. But, again I say, supposing us to lose by a war with America, will the Morning Chronicle say, that we ought to accede to the demands of the Americans? That is the question for him to answer. The Americans make demands upon s. They begin a quarrel. They demand, first, that we should suffer them to inveigle our seamen on board their ships, merchant slips as well as others, and that we should give up our right to search for such seamen. Second, they demand, that, when once the said seamen, or any other subjects of the king, have received from them a bit of paper (price nine pence) which they call a certiticate of citizenship, we shall acknowledge them as Americans, and, if we take them in the act of fighting against us, shall consider them merely as prisoners of war. Third, that we should allow them to favour our enemy by conforming to his maritime decrees hostile to us, and that we should pass' no maritime decrees, or orders of council, hostile to him, or, at least, that we should not make them conform to such orders, in like manier as they had conformed to his decrees; in other words, that they shall be permitted to hold our hands behind us, while Napoleon comes in front and knocks us on the head. They demand, in short, that the king of England should put his hand and seal to a treaty, acknowledging, that America, has, under the garb of neutrality, a right to do her utmost to destroy the English navy, and to assist France in all het hostile measures against England. But, taking the deinands without any commentary, will the Morning Chronicle say, that the ministers ought to submit to those demands, rather than go to war? I want a direct answer to this question. I have long applied for, but can never obtain it. There is nothing more mean than to persevere in making representations of the evils of war; in harping upon the loss of trade, and the distress that will arise from it; in winding up always with a cant about "desperate politicians," urged on by "their blind passions;" without ever meeting the question, whether the demands of the enemy ought to be submitted to. "According," says this shuffling gentleman, in his paper of Tuesday last, "According to the apprehen"sions of the An.erican merchants, an em"bargo will be immediately laid on the "American shipping in our harbours. In"deed, the best informed persons are con"vinced, that a war between this country "and America is certain. This opinion is "justified by the conduct of ministers." What conduct? Good or bad? Why do you not strike?"Willing to wound" you are; but you want the courage to give the blow. You, perceive, perhaps, that it would recoil upon the late ministers; and thus, divided between hope and fear, you content yourself with an equivocal insinua tion When approaching war is the subject, the first question to ask is this: is our cause just? The next is: will the probable evils of war be less than the probable evils of preserving peace upon the terms demanded by the enemy as the price of a continuation of peace? If both these questions be answered in the affirmative, the conclusion necessarily is, that war ought to take place. In that case, or until these questions have. been discussed, it is sheer nonsense to run on in a strain of lamentation about the evils of war; aud, when the questions have been way, as would prevent the possibility of their making new demands, and, underhand, aiding the cause of our enemy in Europe. This, if a war take place, our minis ters have it completely in their power to effect, and the effecting of it would immorta (perhaps unjustly) always suspected of having a strong bias in favour of the Americans. argued by one party, coming to a conclusion that war ought to take place, it is downright brazen impudence in the other to persevere in his lamentation, without attempting to auswer the arguments, by which it has been maintained, that the probable evils of war would be less than the probable evils of prelize even the Duke of Portland, whom I have serving peace upon the enemy's terms. I wish the reader to bear in mind, that the demands of America, relative to the har- -The "New Amphyctionic Council " bouring and protecting of our seamen, were talk big, and big they will talk for a while. made long before the Orders of Council were They will pass laws for the making of candreamt of. It was made two years ago, or non foundries, for purchasing arms and amthereabouts, and has been urged, in stronger munition, for raising millions of men, for and stronger language, exactly as Napoleon erecting fortifications, and for building ships, has advanced in his conquests. It is a de- But, they neither will nor can do any of mand upon us to surrender the exercise of a these. From the report of a late debate,, it great maritime right; to surrender what we appears, that a motion being made for armdeem essential to the maintenance of ouring the militia, a member said, that the minaval superiority. The Americans, there-litia were 600,000 in number, and that, at fore, are the aggressors. They say, we 6 dollars a man, the sun, required would be will have this of you; you shall give up the 3,600,000 dollars. He might have said exercise of this right, or we will make you, three times that sum; for 18 dollars, that by a war. This view of the matter ought to is £4. 1. O., will not equip a private foot be constantly before us. It is not we, or soldier with arms and accoutrements, in our late or present ministers, who have been America; therefore, to arm the militia picking a quarrel with them. It is they who would cost more than the whole of a year's have been picking a quarrel with us; who revenue, leaving nothing wherewith to pay have been taking advantage of what they the interest upon the national debt, not to regarded as our embarrassments, to extort mention the " American navy," and the from us, in a moment of alarm, that which fortifications, and the other expenses of should be the lasting disgrace and final ruin the year, including the wages of the memof our country. Talk of a peace, indeed! bers of Congress. Yet, the motion passed What terms of peace should we have to ex- without a division; and so it would, if it pect from Napoleon, if Mr. Jefferson, by had been for arming the inhabitants of the his non-importation act, could scare us unto moon. The member who suggested doubts a compliance with his demands?—I re- as to the possibility of arming the militia, peat, that I do not wish for a war with observed, that they ought to have something America, though I am convinced it would better than the mop-sticks, with which they produce good to England. The blowing were at present armed. This was no figure down of my neighbour's trees would do me of speech. It was the representation of a good by letting the rays of the sun in upon real fact. I have seen part of the rabble my garden, and in removing a daily in- which they call their militia; and, with the creasing annoyance; yet, it would be mean exception of the officers, I never saw one of and wicked in me to wish to see them blown them with a bit of iron, in any shape, in down. But, if he were to avail himself of his hand, the whole thing being a mere bur the shelter of the branches of his trees slily lesque. Mr. Randolph, the wise author of to let stones drop down upon my head; I the motion, said, that the far greater part should think myself justified, not only in of the militia had arms of their own; alpunishing him for his base and unprovoked luding, I suppose, to the Birmingham fowl. maliciousness, but in going, as far as the ing pieces, which they use most dexterousLaw would allow, to deprive him of the ly in the killing of squirrels and birds. If means of gratifying his malice in future. these are replaced by muskets, the muskets Upon the same principle, if the Americans must go from England, or, at least, from will leave us no alternative but that of war or Europe; and, if war take place, how a surrender of our rights; if they will insist are they to go?But, the best of it is, apon going to war, unless they are permit. that, in a war against us, this famous milifed to hold our hands while France knocks tia will be of no use; for we shall not, I us on the head; then I would gladly see hope, be silly enough to attempt "expeditheir government demolished, and their tions" against them. An order from the Adpountry divided and parcelled out in such a miralty to take, burn, sink, and destroy, wich |