Virginia Argus

From the National Intelligencer.

In our last paper we had the high satisfaction of communicating to the public the official arrangements entered into by our government and that of G. Britain, by which an acceptable reparation has been made for the attack on the Chesapeake, and the British orders have been rescinded so far as they respect the U. States.

On these happy results, together with the consequent renewal of amicable intercourse between the two nations, we most sincerely congratulate our fellow citizens.

On the mutual benefits that will now flow from such an intercourse it is unnecessary to dilate. They have been universally felt and acknowledged by all classes of our people, and would never, for a moment, have been suspended, but for reasons irresistibly imperious. These reasons it were futile, and might, perhaps, be pernicious to dwell upon. Let us indulge the hope that the past sources of animosity may be dried up, and that, in future a sense of common interest, mutually realized, will serve to unite the two nations in bonds of growing strength; such bonds as are created by an interchange of commodities by which each is benefited; not by those political alliances, which are as fatal to the happiness, as they are repugnant to the spirit of a free people.

It is, moreover visionary to cherish the hope, that this result may dissipate the delusion, so diligently propagated, that those who administer the general government are actuated by feelings hostile towards commerce and Great Britain? If this delusion can be dispelled, we may rationally expect, in addition to peace with the foreign world, what is infinitely more valuable, a greater degree of harmony among ourselves. When it shall be distinctly realised that these honorable arrangements have been secured by the wise measures of the administration, and when the connection between those measures and the confirmation of our commercial rights shall be perceived, the absurdity of the calumny will be evident, and it will be admitted that the administration has been as sincere in its professions of regard to commerce, as it has been successful in shielding it from danger, until it could be opened to the advantage of those who pursued it. Those, who have ignorantly ascribed those motives, will, if honest, hereafter refrain from a similar act of injustice, and those who have been deceived will withhold their confidence from men who have thus flagrantly abused it. The people will be generally taught the important lesson of respecting their government, and will in this way most effectually command for it the respect of foreign nations. Universally realising that our interest consists in union, we shall be united, and, if united, we must be happy.

By these arrangements four ends are accomplished.

1. Adequate reparation for the attack on the Chesapeake.

2. An abrogation of the British Orders.

3. A renewal of commercial intercourse.

4. A renewed attempt to settle all sources of difference between the two nations.

With regard to the reparation offered for the attack on the Chesapeake, it is, we believe, substantially the same with that demanded by our government, and may therefore, be considered as entirely satisfactory.

With respect to the abrogation of the British Orders, and a renewal of commercial intercourse—as the latter was offered by our government on the adoption of the former by the British government, the measure ought also to be viewed as satisfactory.

The remaining proposition to adjust all sources of difference between the two nations by sending a minister to the United States, after the substantial measures by which it is preceded, promises a favorable issue. The preceding negociation having been conducted at London, it evinces on the part of the British government, a becoming respect for ours, to send a minister here, and to make this place the seat of the negociation.

We cannot close these remarks without observing, that the celerity with which these arrangements have been made, and the rigid secrecy which attended them, are equally honorable to both parties, and furnish the best pledges for the satisfactory adjustment contemplated by the extraordinary mission to this country.