If England should perish in the awful contest in which she is engaged, Americans know well, that although they should have zealously and efficaciously co-operated in her ruin, they would not be the less obnoxious to the immediate and furious hostilities of the conqueror. They might escape subjugation by their energy, and local advantages;-they might be the Parthians to the new Romans;-but, driven back to the fastnesses of their mountains, or constantly involved in a sangui-i nary war on their coasts, they would probably soon resemble these barbarians in more respects than one.-England however is not destined to fall,-whatever may be the fate of the continent. By maintaining a good understanding with her, we may bid defiance to her antagonist. If our national independence cannot be said to depend necessarily upon her preservation, all besides that is estimable does.-On the other hand, her prosperity is in part bottomed on the friendship of this country, and of the other parts of the world whom she can protect from the "ravening eagles" of France. Every motive of expediency, as well as of honour and of duty, points to a reconciliation with England. Whether in alliance, or at war with the French Emperor, as respects the United States, trade with the continent is equally out of the question. His intentions on this head, have been too unequivocally manifested, to leave a glimmering of hope, even to the most sanguine. If he were disposed to tolerate it as the price of our enlistment under his banners, his condescension would be of little avail, while the British remained the masters of the seas. They would banish our flag from the ocean. Engage in hostilities with them, and you bid adieu to every shred and remnant of commerce:-you involve yourselves in a long and dismal train of domestic calamities. You will soon preserve throughout the world, but one nominal ally, and that a power more inveterately hostile than the one whom you would be combating; more unsafe in its alliance, than the other in its enmity.-Grant that you accelerate or insure by your efforts, the downfal of the latter; you enjoy then as your sole reward, the consciousness of having contributed to the total eclipse of freedom in the other hemisphere, as well as to the certain disorganization of the whole frame of your own political society, if not to the immediate loss of your independence, and of your intellectual dignity.-You achieve no one object for which war can be justifiably or prudently undertaken. If however England should triumph, notwithstanding your co-operation with her antagonist;-if the latter should be foiled,-humbled or overthrown, what will then be your situ e acid at S ped tem ose ares Het stic ation? You will indeed have gained a chance of safety, arising from the very circumstance of the prostration of your ally;you may, after innumerable losses and sufferings, breathe again, and hope to be reinstated in the career of prosperity;-only, however, because you have failed of your original and malignant purpose, and because your intended victim may not have the inclination, and must know it to be incompatible with her true interests, to consummate your ruin, or even to obstruct the progress of your national convalescence. But the prospect of an existence, accompanied by the ignominy and mortification incident to one of this nature, is scarcely less dreadful, than that of being crushed in the gripe of French despotism. Such is the language in which we would now address the people of the United States, on the supposition, that they can remain at peace with England, without a sacrifice of their national honour. We cannot admit or believe that she is disposed to extort this sacrifice, or to pursue a system of measures with regard to the United States, not exacted by her safety, or her own honour, and yet injurious to their rights. If this were the case, we would despair of her cause, of which justice may now emphatically be said to be the main pillar.— Let her dispositions, however, be tested in a manner still untried on the part of our rulers-manfully and ingenuously—in a spirit of liberality and sympathy adapted to the embarrassments of her situation, and to the mighty interests which both nations have at stake, and which, at this crisis, leave no room for the discussion of minor points.-If braggart, artificial politics, and casuistical, diplomatic homilies be discarded on one side,-false pretences and wanton vexations may be relinquished on the other.-An obstinate adherence of both parties to their present doctrines and measures, would seem, in our eyes, a sure indication, that the Almighty Providence had, in his wrath, resolved upon the speedy recurrence of such another era of Gothic darkness and universal slavery as that, during which, according to the faithful description of the poet, "Oblivious ages passed: while earth, forsook |