Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, between his Britannic Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal, Papers relative to the Annexation of Holland to France, Papers relative to the Repeal of the Berlin and Milan Decrees, Statement of the Goods, Wares, and Merchandise exported from the United States, during the year ending 30th Sept. 1810, Summary of the Value and Destination of the exports of the United An Inquiry into the past and present Relations of France and the United States. Ἓν δέ τι κοινὸν ἡ φύσις τῶν εν φρονέντων ἐν ἑαυτῇ κέκτηται φυλακτήριον, ὃ πᾶσι μέν ἐσιν ἀγαθὸν καὶ σωτήριον, μάλισα δὲ τοῖς πλήθεσι πρὸς τὰς τυράννες. Τί ἔν ἐςι τ8το; Απιςία. Ταύτην φυλάττετε· ταύτης ἀντέχεσθε· ἐὰν ταύτην σώζητε, ἐδεν δεινὸν μὴ παθητε. Τί εν ζητεῖτε; ἔφην· ἐλευθερίαν; Εἶτ ̓ ἐχ ὁρᾶτε Φίλιππον ἀλλοτριωτάτας ταύτῃ καὶ τὰς προσηγορίας ἔχοντα; βασιλεὺς γὰρ καὶ τύραννος ἅπας, ἐχθρὸς ἐλευθερία, καὶ νόμοις ἐναντίος. Οὐ φυλάξεσθε, ἔφην όπως μή, πολέμε ζητόντες ἀπαλλαγῆναι, δεσπότην εὕρητε. "There is one common bulwark with which men of prudence are naturally "provided; which is the guard and security of all people, particularly of tree "states against the assaults of tyrants, and that is distrust. Of this be mindful; "to this adhere, and you will be protected from disaster. Is it liberty that you "seek? And do you not perceive that nothing can be more hostile to this than "the very titles of the man; every despot is an enemy to liberty and a contemner "of laws. Will you not then be careful, lest while ye seek to be freed from war, "ye find yourselves his slaves." Demost. against Philip. IT is correctly asserted in some of our newspapers that a serious alarm has been kindled in the breasts of many of our most enlightened men by the late extraordinary and unexpected news from France. The letter of the fifth of August from the French minister to general Armstrong is fitted to strike dismay into every intelligent and patriotic American who reflects upon the history of our past relations with France and England, and upon the gross delusions which prevail among us with respect to the character and views of these two powers. This rapid transition on the part of the French emperor from a language of contempt and menace to one of admiration and friendship, wears a most portentous VOL. I. A aspect, and is to be viewed as the most dangerous of all the modes of attack, as the most skilful of all the evolutions which he could have devised in the real and implacable war which he wages against this country. There, lurks in the honey which he now presents to our lips a most deadly venom, and although we may not be able to comprehend all the motives and the entire scope of his present policy, we may be assured that his new decree is intended to produce a train of consequences which may involve our destruction. We consider it as the first duty, as the immediate,—the personal, the highest interest of every man among us, whose faculties qualify him for the purpose, to toll the alarmbell without delay, and to summon the American public to an attentive consideration of the steps which they are now invited to take by the French government. A person acquainted only with the series of outrages which Bonaparte has committed upon us during the last three years, with the tenor of his previous language,-and with his characteristic habits and passions, would be disposed to ridicule all apprehensions such as those which we now profess to entertain, on the ground, that a declaration of love. from him to this nation, must necessarily appear to every description of politicians, in the light either of a pleasant burlesque, or of an insulting mockery. But to one who knows all the circumstances of our condition, and the variety of interests and prejudices which conspire among us to second the designs of Bonaparte, no fears will seem extravagant, and no admonitions superfluous. We can discover, already, melancholy symptoms of the success which may attend this new decree, although it is, without doubt, a tissue of the most impudent falsehoods and the most contumelious irony that any state-paper ever embraced, or that any enemy, however insolent or insidious, ever dictated. At its first appearance the predominant party was exhilarated beyond measure, and our merchants were generally credulous enough to suppose that the golden era of an unshackled and universal trade was about to be revived. A little reflection since has damped the expectations of both. The merchants, prone as they must be to credit the possibility of any state of things conformable to their seeming interests and their eager wishes, lose confidence as they reflect upon the contradictions which it is necessary to reconcile, before any reliance can be placed upon the declarations, or any positive opinion be formed concerning the intentions, of Bonaparte. The well meaning members of our majority, whose infatuation on the subject of France extends only to a most extravagant admiration as well as panic-fear of her power, were perplexed by the duplicity of the language, and somewhat disgusted with the grossness of the flattery, which are but too apparent, even to their own eyes, in this diplomatic billet-doux. But the active and designing spirits,-those who, either from treachery or blindness are so industriously labouring to convert our mild republic into a furious democracy, and our free country into a province of France, exulted in the opportunity which this new vicissitude seemed to afford them, of ripening the popular discontents against England, and of confirming their own dominion. They saw at once the utility of the crisis for their elections, and the immense advantage to be obtained over their antagonists by affecting to credit the benevolent professions of Bonaparte. The same belief is to be imposed upon the multitude; and they are then, before the sequel is known, to be represented as the saviours. of the country, in having thus, as it were, miraculously charmed down his antipathies. The chief source of elation for them, and the most important consideration for the public, is the tendency of the new decree to widen the breach between this country and Great Britain. It is notorious that there is not wanting here a multitude even of intelligent men so strangely infatuated as to desire a war with England, and to hail, almost with transport, every incident calculated to promote that object. To many, the destruction of the land of our forefathers would be the most satisfactory of all public events, and in the estimation of not a few, the great modern drama could have no other catastrophe more conformable to the interests of the United States. Should Great Britain now refuse to abandon her system of blockade,-from which we are, for many reasons, inclined to suppose that she will not depart, and which our demagogues are very far from wishing to see relinquished, no efforts will be omitted,-no passions or prejudices left unassailed, that may reconcile the public mind to the most desperate of all measures-a war with that power. The country has been more than once drawn to the brink of this fatal precipice, and it is now sanguinely expected, that we will cast ourselves headlong into the abyss. Such is the doctrine which is already urged in the democratic gazettes, and we must confess that we are not without our fears with regard to its success. Unless the majority be enlightened on this question, and roused to a just sense of the dangers to which they will be exposed by any form of alliance with France, our |