object; 2d, the definition of blockade; 3d, the reduction of the list of contraband; 4th, the enlargement of our trade with hostile colonies. The negotiation opens, and what is done? With industry and exertion our Minister was unable to bring the British Cabinet to any amicable arrangement. Lords Hawkesbury, Harrowby, Mulgrave, and Mr. Fox, succeeded each other, and every attempt to negotiate was in vain. Each of them brings expressions of good will and good disposition towards the United States, and a wish for amicable arrangement. But these professions and dispositions evaporate in invitations to the country and the city--in promises and procrastinations. To-day we are amused with a conversation at the foreign office, which animates with a lively hope--to-morrow hope is swallowed up in despair--and the third day announces some new injury. Affairs on the continent now call the attention of the British Ministry, and with every disposition of good will there must be a pause. In this amicable pause business required that our Minister should go to Old Spain; but upon his return to England, what astonishment seized his mind at the sad spectacle the changing scenes presented. Under the old rule of '56, and other interpolations upon public law, our merchant vessels are swept from the bosom of the ocean without notice, by British cruisers, and carried into British ports for condemnation. But why this change? A coalition had been formed in the North against France. British gold effected it. Russia and Austria had combined against France, and here the hopes of England rested.