ISll.] 
Slale of Public Affairs in September. 
273 
AMERICA'. 
O Britons! when will ye practice wis- 
flom? When will ye avail yourselves of 
your dear-bought experience? All your 
passions are once more craftily called 
into play, in order to involve you in the 
cause of a weak and narrow-minded ad¬ 
ministration, and unless you exert the 
energies of your intellects, and forthwith 
petition for the removal of these men, 
you will be plunged into a ruinous, com¬ 
plicated, and interminable war with 
America ! That country happily i» un¬ 
der the dominion of reason, and mo¬ 
deration has hitherto marked ail her 
steps—peace is therefore at present per¬ 
fectly compatible with your honour, if 
you are willing to maintain it, and if you 
are not madly atid wantonly resolved on 
war with all the world, as though reason 
and justice were only to be found in 
these Islands ? We have not room to 
discuss this question at length as it de¬ 
serves, but we are sorry to say that tlie 
arguments to this date, are in favour of 
America; and that, if a war is the con¬ 
sequence of the present petty disputes, 
we shall hereafter feel ashamed of its 
origin, and wish, as we have often done 
before, that passion and pride had had 
less influence over us in its commence¬ 
ment. 
Ti)e following article, which bespeaks 
the feelijtgs of the American people, has 
been copied from a Philadelphia paper, 
of the 5th of August, and deserves at¬ 
tention in England. 
“ Tee cup /r/a//.—The long impending ire, 
the smothered hatred, the disguised war, 
w'bich assumed so many aspects, which has 
ultimately plundered and promised redress, 
and professed justice only to vary the forms 
cf injustice, which has oppressed the com¬ 
merce, corrupted the morals, insulted the 
dignity, and violated the rights of this free 
and independent nation—v/hich has mur¬ 
dered our people, and carried thousands into 
the most oaious ot all bondage, at length as¬ 
sumes an aspect less treacherous, because a 
more open and determined hostility. 
“ Great Britain at length avows her In¬ 
justice, and once more menaces cur inde¬ 
pendence.—From the seat of the United 
States’ government, and from England, we 
at the same moment have received advices 
which corroborate each other, and determine 
the fact, that Great Britain has resolved to 
make war upon us. 
f fha Phiiadelphia paper then mentions the 
arrival ot the Russel, from Liverpool, with 
an account of the condemnation ot the ship 
Fox, and other vessels.] 
“ Sucli is the substance of the information 
t)y the arrival of the Russel at New York.-'w 
MoNTaiv Mag. No. iT8. 
Prior to the receipt of these advices, we had 
received authentic information of the course 
already pursued by Mr, Foster, at Washing¬ 
ton. Upon his first arrival we had suggested, 
that five or six weeks would determine whe¬ 
ther the ‘ intents’ of the Pritish govern¬ 
ment were ‘ wicked or charitable.? The 
youth and incons?quence of this gentlem.iii 
* had induced an opinion, that he was intended 
to be one of those messengers whom Pope 
Sixtus V. described by the smoothness of 
th eir chins, better adapted to convey S///ce 
doux than rescripts^to partake of a carnival 
than to announce boisterous war; we sup¬ 
posed him sent, like some of his predecessors, 
to intrigue, or like otliers, to amuse or abuse, 
cur government.—Kammond, Liston, Mer¬ 
ry, Erskine, Rose, Jackson, and IMorler, had 
in succession been employed upon this mis¬ 
sion ; and upon considering their course of 
conduct, it w-as not easy to believe, that this 
young gentleman w'as to be the agent of 
a policy more auspicious. The distresses in 
wiiich the detestable nature of British policy- 
had involved that nation, induced some to 
believe that necessity had taught her j-jstice; 
and the coming of Foster was, with a cre- 
dulity which has never been diminished by 
disappointment or by reason, considered by- 
thousands as the final measure which was la 
heal all former wounds, and put a stop to 
future injuries. 
“ Others, and .we among this class, be¬ 
lieved, that, as he could not have been 
person selected, if any thing like substantial 
justice was to be done, his mission was to 'be 
only a business of ammtnient and procras:;-’ 
nation— he was to make no distinct pro- 
m.lses, but to carry on a discussion of con¬ 
tingent propositions, and to give aid to 
Messrs. Pickering and Co. in their under¬ 
takings. It appears that we had mistaken 
the character of the. mission, and that tbe 
minister’s valet w’ould have executed the 
service upon which Foster was sent, with 
as much slfiH and as much good manners -aS. 
the diplomatist himself. Mr. Foster has 
fallen nothing sliort of the insolence cf one 
of his predecessors, in the style and pare 
which he has assumed, a-'.d he has exceeded 
him in personal indecorum, and even per¬ 
sonal rudeness. Mr. Foster, besides pre¬ 
senting some acrimonious representations on, 
the subject of the rencontre with the Little 
Belt, also undertook to demand categorically, 
that theUnited States should repeal, wichpaC 
delay, the non-importation law; and thaC 
they should also demand of France the repeal 
of her decrees as they appl eo to En.gland. 
** On I he subject of the Little Belt, our 
government displayed an alacrity to give ths 
most satisfactory expUnaiids. and it is pre¬ 
sumed did so ; but on the subject of tlie non- 
impertatiua law, it was replied, that acts of 
legislation belonged to the congress of the 
United States, w'hich would meet in Nov=rn. 
hsr, and it would be with that body to a..: in 
