uch blockade was ever attempted at such 
     
     season of the year. 
     
    

    
     At one time we had two squadrons to 
     
     etch the fleet in the Texel and the 
     
     cheldt, one of which was usually at an 
     
     char in Hosely Bay, and the other at 
     
     nchor25 miles from the land, with a brig 
     
     [a frigate occasionally looking into those 
     
     rts as the batteries would allow her; and 
     
     is was sufficient at that time, as the large 
     
     hips can Only leave the Teer at spring 
     
    
   
   
    
     de. 
     
     ‘ I! ministers are anxious to get at the real 
     
     We of public feeling respecting the un— 
     
     atural war now impending, let them ask 
     
     e underwriters at Lloyd’s, or the mer- 
     
     hants of the exchange, anal they will find 
     
     at these matter of fact individuals are 
     
     00 obtruse to discover the advantage Eng- 
     
     and can obtain by giving up her valuable 
     
     rade with Holland. for the chances of a 
     
     cure frontier to France. The committee 
     
     tLloyd’s' have applied to the Admiralty 
     
     or information respecting the measures 
     
     overnment had resolved on for the pro- 
     
     ection of Biitish property now afloat, and 
     
     n reply have been informed, that direc- 
     
     ions tor duly securing the safety of such 
     
     ad been given. Convoy is to be appoint- 
     
     d immediately for the protectiou of ves- 
     
     ls sailing, and all tends to show that the 
     
     'ruggle is not expected to be of short du- 
     
     tion. 
     
     There are many here however, of opi- 
     
     ion, that the first gun fired will be attend- 
     
     by such fearful consequences that the 
     
     dministration of Earl Grey will be unable 
     
     Ostand against it, and that a centest, in 
     
     hich victory \will be dishonor, and defeat 
     
     rreparable disgrace, can only ultimately 
     
     ntail exccration and dismissal upon its 
     
     agectors. 
     
    

    
     uwneemxa. —'l‘he New-York Stand- 
     
    

    
     has the following paragraph :— 
     
     There is a report afloat, connected with 
     
     .0 Holland and. Belgian business, that ex- 
     
     iles a good deal of attention and interest. 
     
     tis said. and believed, that the Dutch 
     
     barge has instructions or authority to is- 
     
     ie Letters of Marque against English and 
     
     rench commerce to vessels sailing from 
     
     merican ports on the news of the first 
     
    

    
     le proceedings by the combined pow- 
     
     rs—the capturing ofa ship, or the firing 
     
     “Egan. The co'nnissinns will probably 
     
     0 Gazerly sought for. and Baltimore clip- 
     
     ers fitted out with Hutch crews may be got 
     
     eadi’ for sea ii a very short time. Such 
     
     mensure as this n) tld hardly have been 
     
     outdo-l on by the Convention ofLoudon, 
     
     at it is s.) natural and feasible that the 
     
     robalulity of its adoptiOn is evident, and 
     
     V a] hate given rise to the report. It ap- 
     
     are I first in the Albion, a weekly paper 
     
     f the highest standing, the editor stating 
     
     bat be has it on sutficient authority to 
     
     al'faat his laying it before the public. It 
     
    

    
     cult to conceive a course more likely 
     
    
   
   
    
     =‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN 
     
    
   
   
    
     than the arming these privateers to bring 
     
     on a serious war. 
     
    

    
     The number of passengers, who have 
     
     arrived at New-York during the past year 
     
     from foreign ports, exceeds 40,003. 
     
    

    
     The following remarks are from Bell’s 
     
     Messenger, relative to British policy to- 
     
     wards Portugal and Holland : , 
     
    

    
     Portugal has been one of our greatest 
     
     consumers for the last Century and a half ; 
     
     not only does she take all our manufac- 
     
     tures, and much of our raw produce, such 
     
     as tin, lead, iron and copper ; but, being 
     
     at the very gates of Spain, a country ofri- 
     
     gid, fiscal prohibition, she has the means 
     
     of introducing a great quantity of our raw 
     
     goods and manufactures into that kingdom. 
     
    

    
     Alate traveller in Spain. of much ob- 
     
     servation, has told us that the whole trade 
     
     ofthat country is nearly all contraband, 
     
     and that English manufactures enter it on 
     
     every part, notwithstanding the jealous 
     
     and duenna-like vigilance of a military 
     
     custom-house and excise. But do we not 
     
     run the risk of destroying our trade both 
     
     with Spain and Portugal by upholding the 
     
     civil war now raging in the latter country, 
     
     instead of suffering it to expire as it soon 
     
     would do, if left to itself? 
     
    

    
     It is hardly to be denied that our present 
     
     professed neutrality is amere farce. ‘ e 
     
     whole Thames below Deptford, is as it 
     
     were, the doekyard of Don Pedro, and 
     
     money is borrowed on his account, and 
     
     troops openly enlisted for him, almost by 
     
     heat of drum, under the Treasury windows 
     
     of Whitehall. 
     
    

    
     Can this then be neutrality ? Is‘this 
     
     that impartiality which we profess: viz. 
     
     that ofleaving the two rival candidates for 
     
     the throne to fight for the prize by their 
     
     own unassisted strength, and with their 
     
     own proper resources. 
     
    

    
     But we ask, what must be the conse- 
     
     quence ofsuch a proceeding as the pre- 
     
     sent undisguised support given to one of 
     
     the competitors ? Will it fix Don Pedro 
     
     upon the throne of Portugal ; will it tend 
     
     to establish liberal institutions ; to dispos- 
     
     sess Don Miguel ; and to convince the be- 
     
     setted and bigotted people of the Peninsula 
     
     of the folly of upholding their old abuses, 
     
     -their church—their conVents, and other 
     
     monastic establishments ? No such thing. 
     
     All that we now do is to heap new fuel 
     
     upon the flames, and to prolong a sangui- 
     
     nary contest, which (after a trial had once 
     
     been made under all possible advantages, 
     
     and found unsuccessful) it was our duty to 
     
     have discouraged. 
     
    

    
     Whatever the result of Don Pedro’s pos- 
     
     session of Oporto may be, we are satisfied 
     
     that it can never seat him upon the throne, 
     
     but through years of civil wars and long 
     
     protracted contests. It is admitted that 
     
     there is an adverse feeling in the people a- 
     
     gainst Don Pedro ; that the priests who 
     
     lead on the pe0ple, are opposed to him; 
     
     and that the whole aristocracy of the coun- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     205 
     
    
   
   
    
     try reject him with one voice, as unworthy 
     
     of their confidence. What chance of suc- 
     
     cess therefore has be but by acourse of 
     
     prolonged civil war ? Strange, it may be 
     
     said, that the Portuguese people prefer 
     
    

    
     Miguel to Pedro ; but there is no account- 
     
    

    
     ing for taste ; so 11‘ is. 
     
    
   
   
    
     UNITED—STATES. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A letter trim: Carieston says:—“ Our citizens 
     
     bandy epithets of abuse, and charges of treson 
     
     and talk farmiliarly of shedding one another’s 
     
     blood, and we are every instant in danger of 
     
     civil commotion among ourselves.—The storm 
     
     nearly broke out on the reception of the Pre- 
     
     sident’s proclamation. Some of the young 
     
     nullifiers proposed to burn the President in 
     
     effigy. The Union party determined to preo 
     
     vent it. The prompt interference of the city 
     
     authorities, civiland military, suppressed the 
     
     measure in the bud, and our community was 
     
     saved from a scene of carnageg’ 
     
    

    
     Strange as it may seem, says the Journal of 
     
     Commerce, we doubt whether there be a state 
     
     in the union in which the question being fairly 
     
     put to the people, they would not vote against 
     
     the Tarifl‘. The cause of this is plain to those 
     
     inclined to see it, and is nothing less than this, 
     
     that in no state are a majority of the people 
     
     benefitted by the Tariff. The labouring classes, 
     
     after all the logic which has been expended to 
     
     prove whatacapitai thing it is for them to 
     
     pay four dollars for two dollar cloths, and 
     
     eight cents for {our cent sugar, do not exactly 
     
     see through it. Tm matter is not ms-le plain 
     
     enoughfor their comprehension. They come 
     
     to the same conclusion, b the short process 
     
     of common sense, which the most profound 
     
     minds have come to by laboured deductions. 
     
     from masses of facts. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Jamn‘ra.—We have been favoured by Capt. 
     
     Ross, with a file of Jamaica papers, down to 
     
     the 10th Dec. Some progress appears to have 
     
     been made by the Governor anl Assembly, in 
     
     the agreeable game of cross purposes, which 
     
     they were playing at the last accounts. We 
     
     quotea paragraph rel itive to a new cause of 
     
     contention that appears to have ariseuz—Af. S. 
     
    

    
     “ The Massage of Elrl .Vlilgrave, to the 
     
     House of Assemblv, on Friday, denying the 
     
     Crnnznittee ofthe House the right ofexaininin‘ 
     
     witnesses on oath, some vhat astonished the 
     
     lieges, as such a right hal never been doubted. 
     
     until GeneralCirmicliael the Commander of 
     
     the Forces. prohibited the officers under his 
     
     command, from divulging nnoith. the cause! 
     
     ofthe munity in the 2! West lulia Regiment. 
     
     We have taken some pains to lay a history of 
     
     this case before our readers; an! we lament, 
     
     that ata m moot like the present. the Etecu- 
     
     tive and th . Assembly are likely to come into 
     
     collision on a point so vital to the int -rests of 
     
     the Comtry, and so important t i the rights of 
     
     our Constituents; and as itis inn inssihle that 
     
     either can abandon apoint, at which they are 
     
     so decidedly at issue. we have no doubt tho 
     
     Governor will be under the painful necessit 
     
     of promguing the House, until his Majesty 
     
     pleasure be known; and should it he at variance 
     
     with the rights of the House, dissolution after 
     
     dissolution must he the consequence.” " 
     
    

    
     His Majesty’s Government has consented to 
     
     relieve the island from the paynent of the- 
     
     troops for three years.