GENERAL HISTORY. 



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OT Russia ; and in his opinion the 

 cause of the war was solely in the 

 orders of council ; and he appealed 

 to Mr, Foster, the late ambassador 

 to that country, and now sitting 

 in the House, whether an earlier 

 repeal of these orders would not 

 have prevented the war. Now, 

 however, the subject of impress- 

 ment was the only obstacle to 

 peace, and a most important one it 

 was. He was sensible how much 

 the safety of the country would be 

 endangered by a surrender of the 

 right without a sufficient substi- 

 tute, and was aware of the great 

 difficulty of finding such a substi- 

 tute. He thought, however, that 

 Mr. Russell's proposal ought to 

 have been rejected in a more con- 

 ■ciliatory manner, and the door not 

 to have been shut against future 

 iiegociation, with a phrase about 

 maritime rights. The noble lord 

 had stated that there were about 

 1,600 American seamen in our 

 -service, but had not noticed that 

 there were at least ten times as 

 many of British seamen in the 

 service of America; which he men- 

 tioned, to show that it was even 

 more for our interest than for that 

 of America, to court negociation 

 on this point. He observed, that 

 though there might be only 1,600 

 American seamen detained for life 

 in our navy, it was no captious 

 ground of complaint: it was a 

 matter not to be settled by a ba- 

 lance of numbers, nor ought it to 

 be regarded in that light. He then 

 adverted to the conduct of the 

 war, and held that with our naval 

 establishment we ought to have 

 blockaded the whole American 

 coast. 



Mr. Faster then rose, and in re- 

 ply to the appeal of the last sneak- 



er, said, that he could not affirm 

 that the revocation of the orders 

 in council previously to the com- 

 mencement of hostilities, would 

 have had the effect of averting 

 them. Their repeal might have 

 weighed something with the go- 

 vernment, but he did not think 

 that the government was suffi- 

 ciently master of the congress to 

 be able to do what it thought most 

 beneficial for the country. He 

 could not agree with the opinion 

 of the hon. gentleman, that there 

 was no party in America friendly 

 to France : the revolution had 

 made a strong impression there ; 

 and although the subsequent turn 

 of affairs might have detached the 

 better part from them, they were 

 yet a powerful party. There was 

 also an anti-anglican party, who 

 took every opportunity to foment 

 animosity against Great Britain 

 There were no fewer than six 

 United Irishmen in the Congress 

 distinguished by their inveterate 

 enmity to this country'. Mr. F. 

 made many observations on the 

 state of parties in America, and 

 on its effect in producing the 

 measures which had led to hostili- 

 ties. The war, he said, was carried 

 in Congress by that rancorous fac- 

 tion against the English, who per- 

 suaded others to join them through 

 fear that a difference might break 

 up the democratic party ; and in 

 the senate the war measure was 

 carried by the opponents of go- 

 vernment, who were desirous of 

 making it unpopular. 



Mr. IVhithread was glad to have 

 heard from the hon. gentleman 

 that neither Mr. Monroe nor Mr. 

 Maddison seem.ed to him to be 

 actuated solely by a spirit of hos- 

 tility towards this country. Tho 



