A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James
History
A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Campbell, James
Great Britain. Army
I beg, however, to ask, why is Great Britain become, as it were, timid,
or reluctant to declare, that no act nor pretensions on the part of the
United States can give them a right to incorporate British subjects
into their Union without the consent of our Government; and why is it
not made known, by proclamation, or otherwise, all over the world,
that British-born subjects have no right to renounce, and that they
can never be looked upon as having renounced, in whatever part of the
world they may think fit to reside, their allegiance to their Queen;
and that if any of them are taken in arms on land, or upon the seas,
fighting against their countrymen, they shall be tried and condemned as
traitors, and become liable to be punished as such. It may probably be
said, that in case of a war, this would render desperate many thousands
of our seamen now navigating the United States' ships at high rates
of wages, and would cause those in their ships of war to fight with
a halter about their necks. This might, perhaps, be the case at first
with a few of the worthless; but let our seamen be offered the same,
or even higher wages than they can receive in the ships of war of the
States, or in those of any other country, and I cannot, for a moment
believe, that brave men, the descendants of many of those who fought
with Nelson, and our other renowned naval chiefs, will abandon their
country, though it may have shown itself, perhaps, ungrateful to them
or their fathers for former services.
But surely it ought to be high time for us to consider the effects
produced by our now rather too long tried _reciprocal system of
trade_ with other nations, in which I have never heard, that we had
been fairly met, nor do I believe we ever will be met by any of them.
Let us, therefore, lay aside for the moment, the wild, and to the
generality of men, incomprehensible theories, clothed in the mystical
jargon of political economists; and permit me to ask any man of common
sense, where reciprocity is to be found in the commercial intercourse
between Great Britain and the United States? I suppose reciprocity to
mean, in this instance, mutual benefits conferred and received.
A few years ago--and I am not aware of any important change having
since taken place--Great Britain professed her principles as regarded
reciprocity to be,--"To abolish all discriminating duties affecting the
like productions of foreign countries, and in lieu thereof to establish
one uniform Tariff for the whole.
"To reduce that Tariff to the lowest degree, consistent, in
each particular country, with the two legitimate objects of all
duties--either the collection of the revenue, or the protection
absolutely requisite for the maintenance of our own internal industry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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