DEBATES ON THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL.
On the 5th of February Mr. Perceval, the chancellor of the exchequer, moved that the orders in council should be referred to the committee of ways and means. The opposition took this opportunity of declaring that we ought not to retaliate by such measures; that these orders were unjust, and would do as much mischief as the Berlin and Milan decrees; that they were as contrary to justice as to policy; and that they went to violate both the law of nations and the municipal law of England. On the other hand it was argued, that we had a right to retaliate upon the enemy his own measures; that if he declared we should have no trade, we had equal right to declare he should have none; and that if he proclaimed British manufactures and colonial produce good prize, we were justified in doing the same with respect to France. This was inculcating the old worldy maxim of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;” and ministers were supported in their line of policy by a large majority. Subsequently, a bill, brought in by the chancellor of the exchequer, for regulating the orders in council, as they affected neutrals, was carried through both houses. This had reference to the differences between England and America; and it was followed by a bill for regulating commercial intercourse with the United States, which was intended to give time for making some amicable arrangements with the Americans; continuing at the same time another act without which trade could not have been carried on with England in American vessels.