a letter from the American ambassador, Mr. Pinckney, and is dated on the 23d of August: to which the right hon. gent. gives no answer, good or bad, until the 24th day of Sept. Why did he delay his answer? Was he aware of what he was doing for France by that delay; for it afforded time to France to conciliate America? Why did he do this? Because, he says, time must be given to find whether France will revoke her decree or not. Now it would have been better for us that France should have refused to do so, because it would have secured to us the benefit of that inestimable blessing to this country-peace with America. We should then have been relieved from all apprehensions of a rupture with the United States. Well, says the right hon. gent. but this must not be done, because then we shall appear to make concessions to France. How so?-Why, the right hon. gent. insists that we cannot agree to any proposition made by America, for rescinding our Orders in Council, unless France shall consent to revoke her decrees. Now, by this principle, and by this doctrine, we are, and must for ever remain, at the mercy of France. We can never rescind our Orders in Council unless France shall consent to revoke her decree! that is, in other words, saying, that while France is perverse we must be obstinate, even though it directly militates against our interest, and against all rational policy and propriety of political conduct. This may suit the sentiments and feelings of the right hon. gent. but will it be an answer to the starving manufacturers of this country? Will he be able to satisfy them for their hardships because he is afraid of making what he calls concessions? Will this be an answer to those who complain of the price of bread, depending so much, as it at this moment does, on the want of importation of flour? The tone and essence of the letter of the right hon. gent. is, in fact, a mere descant on the ability of this country, to persist in whatever she thinks right. That is pretty good nonsense to talk to any body, at any time, but most of all it is nonsensical to talk such nonsense to America, towards whom we have before been in the habit of using our vain boasts and empty threats, although we afterwards felt their lamentable consequences. I well remember when former ministers talked towards America as the right hon. gent. does now. And this is a point on which he will have much

to answer to his country-I say he will have to answer-for I am persuaded, that nothing that ever was written in this country produced such unfavourable effects on the sentiments of America, as the letter of the right hom gent. to Mr. Pinckney.. Indeed the very style of the letter is such that nobody can read it without feeling that it is calculated to goad an independent mind almost to madness. And here let me intreat the right hon. gent. to re-. flect on the effect which it has already produced in America: and let us remember too, that the sentiments of such a meeting as the Congress of America, whenever they are expressed, must be taken to be genuine, for in America there is no influence of the crown to give a false colour to majorities. There majorities must be taken to be genuine. Now, the lamentable effect of this letter was to produce a unanimous Vote in Congress, where, on reading, it, there was one general expression of indignation throughout the whole assembly. As to what the right hon. gent. has said respecting the distinction which America has made between our ships of war and those of France: and the complaint on which he dwelt so forcibly, on the partiality of America towards France, in the instance of admitting her ships of war whilst ours were excluded he has totally forgotten, that this exclusion is the consequence of the outrage committed on the Chesapeake, and had nothing whatever to do with our Orders in Council. The Americans having no such cause of complaint against France, had no pretext for excluding her ships of war. As neutrals, the Americans could not refuse admission to the ships of war of France. France would naturally demand the reason for the exclusion of her ships, which as none could be assigned, must be construed into an act of hostility. To England America says, until reparation shall have been made for the outrage committed on the Chesapeake, your ships shall find no admission to our waters. This, sir, has nothing to do with the Orders in Council or the question of the Embargo, and is but perplexing the subject unnecessarily. It has been said that the Embargo in America was laid on before our Orders in Council were known in America-this I apprehend to be a mistake; for, in the National Intelligencer, an American Paper of the first respectability and authority, a report of a Committee of Congress, renders it clear that our Orders in Council were known there before the

Embargo was laid on, and it will be in the recollection of the house, that a merchant of the first respectability, who was examined at the bar, stated, that he had transmitted intelligence of the Orders in Council to America the very day that they were known in this country. The result of the letter of the right hon. gent. to Mr. Pinckney, has been to induce America to renew her Embargo in a manner which we could not have thought she would have done under any circumstances whatever, for she has not only renewed that Embargo, but reconciled a great majority of her people to the continuance of it. In a word, America has had the courage and the virtue to sacrifice her interest to her honour and independence; she has cut off between this country and America all intercourse whatever. This, sir, is the situation into which England is reduced by the insulting letter of the right hon. gent. and no man living (as it appears to me) ever did or could do by accident-for we have the right hon. gent.'s own authority that he did not design it-so much mischief by one letter as he has done by this. Is it not deplorable, sir, that for the sake of a few pointed periods, and well-turned sentences, any individual, how exalted soever his station, should do such incalculable mischief as the right hon. gent. has done by that letter? He has wounded the mind of America to such a degree that we have made her consent to an act by which she voluntarily sacrifices her commerce; but this she does, rather than submit to the dictation of the right hon. gent. She has in a spirit of resentment, deprived herself of her own trade, by her own deliberate act.

By this time, America has shut herself out of communication with the rest of the world; and by that act will be enabled hereafter to choose her own condition. The industry and active powers of her citizens will be directed to fresh pursuits; her maritime habits will be diverted from peaceful commerce to predatory attacks on the ships of England. Then will those Englishmen who now treat the offensive power of America with scornful contempt alter their tone; and especially such of them as may happen to be concerned in that trade which particularly exposes our merchantmen to attack-I mean that to the West Indies. But it seems we have an inexhaustible resource for all our continental disastrous disappointments. What if Bonaparte do conquer Spain, have we not then the whole of South America thrown open to

our commerce? Can it be, that the right hon. gent. forgets that war with North America will expose our intercourse with the Spanish colonies in the southern division of that great continent, to dangers so great, so numerous, and so incessant, that the risk will raise the premium of insurance to an amount that will render the trade not worth pursuing. No man could adventure, under such circumstances, with any hope of deriving a competent profit from so precarious a trade. The subject of our situation with America is of the last importance to the country, and deserves the most serious attention of this house. In quarrelling with America we have certainly committed an egregious error, and to endeavour to correct that error, without loss of time, is true wisdom. The opinion of the right hon. gent. however, has, it seems, suffered some relaxation in consequence of a resolution of Congress, which has been made known to him subsequent to the date of his letter-by which resolution the ships of war of belligerents in general are to be excluded from the waters of America. "There is no rational price," says the right hon. gent. " that I should not pay for an adjustment of this dispute, consistently with the national ho¬~ nour. The Americans have come to a point, not in the most gracious way certainly, but they have come to it; by which they treat us on a footing of exact equality with France. I cannot say that all difficulties are thereby adjusted; but I do say, that the main difficulty is removed towards our arriving at an adjustment."-I do not wish to ask for any improper information on this or any other subject; but I think, on this occasion, I am entitled to ask the right hon. gent. whether he has made any communication of the alteration of his sentiments to the government of America. Į hope he has. But if in that hope I am incorrect, let not a moment be lost in making such communication. If it has not already been made, I think he has been most culpably negligent of his duty. For the temper of the American Congress is manifest, and their resentment at the letter of the right hon. gent. is deeply rooted. As to the common place observations of those who have repeated, until they have established in their own minds the verity of that folly, that England can do without the rest of the world-they are easily disposed of. England has done, can do, and is doing wonders, but she cannot perform impossibilities. bilities. It is impossible she can long

hold her present rank in the scale of nations without commerce, and if she has the misfortune to be at war with America, her commerce will be greatly endangered. I have thought much and deeply upon these subjects, and it has appeared to me to be my duty to call the attention of the house to them. I recommend them also to the most serious attention of his Majesty's ministers. But above all let me express a hope, that if hereafter any offers should be made by America, they will be received in a more conciliatory manner; and in a better temper than they have hitherto been, and with prompt and perfect readiness to treat in the sincere and true spirit of peace for a reconciliation of all differences between two Empires, which the identity of customs, language, laws, and religion, ought ever to hold in the strictest bonds of amity. As to the address, I have no wish to oppose any part of it. It has of late been the general practice of ministers, in deference to the general feeling of the house, so to word the speech from the throne, as not to provoke any division on the address. This principle has not perhaps been sufficiently attended to in the present instance. I shall hereafter have occasion to touch on various topics embraced in this address, but for the present I shall rest satisfied with what I have already offered.

Mr. G. H. Rose had not intended to trouble the house with any observations upon this occasion, and should have contented himself with a silent vote, if it had not been for certain observations, which had been thrown out by the right hon. gent. who had just sat down, with respect to the question between America and this country. That right hon. gent. had stated, that the British Orders in Council of the 11th Nov. 1807 had been the cause of the American embargo; and, in support of that statement, quoted an assertion to that effect, contained in a late report from a committee of the American Congress, and the evidence of a respectable gentleman at the bar of the house last session, shewing, that he had communicated, by letter to America, the intention of the British government, to issue such Orders in Council. As to the first ground of the right hon. gent.'s statement, he had only to observe, that it had been declared, in the American legislature, by one of the most respectable members of that body, eminently distinguished for his eloquence, his attainments, and patriotism, Mr. Randolph, that,

in the report alluded to by the right hon. gent., a ground totally false had been assigned for the embargo, when it was stated to have been produced by the British Orders in Council. It could not be supposed, that that very distinguished member of the American representative could have forgotten the grounds assigned for a measure, in the discussion of which he had taken a conspicuous part. As to the gentleman whose evidence at the bar had been referred to, he made no doubt that he was a gentleman of respectability; though he was inclined to question the fact of his having been able to communicate to any person in America any intelligence respecting the Orders in Council, which could have reached America before the passing of the Embargo Act. To this point he could speak with some confidence, because he had proceeded on a mission to America in that year, and when he sailed from this country on the 11th or 12th of Nov. 1807, he had not known of the Orders in Council. He arrived in the American waters on the 27th Dec. and on the 10th Jan. following at Washington. At the time he reached the American waters, no more recent intelli. gence had been received, than that brought by the vessel in which he sailed, nor had any ship arrived but one from Glasgow that had sailed from that port, two days later than the date of his sailing from England, which, however, did not bring as recent intelligence as he had. No letter, consequently, could have been received, communicating the Orders in Council. The statement of the gent. at the bar might be true, but it did not appear whether his letter had reached America, or when. He had also to add, that, from the time when he arrived in America, to the time of his departure in April 1808; he had never heard the Orders in Council assigned as the ground of the Embargo, and he was convinced it had never been so stated in the debates, with closed doors, wherein the Embargo measure was discussed previous to its passing. The first time he had heard such a statement made, was, when on his return to England he learned the proceedings in parliament upon the Orders in Council.

The Hon. Ashley Cooper stated in justification of the Ordnance Department, that it was not from any neglect in this department, that any deficiency of ordnance appointments had been feit in the expedition to Portugal, as every necessary supply could have been instantaneously afforded,