The Rhode Island Republican

The sensations which have been excited in England by the executions of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, have also created some alarm in this country. Threats of war are thrown out by their ministerial papers, and we daily hear men, who ought to know the laws of nations better giving in as their candid and solemn opinion that we shall, ere long, be engaged to the arduous conflict. As much as we deprecate war and its consequences, we can truly say, and that without passion; that, if the issue depend on the justice of our cause, we care not how soon the contest commences. Who, that examines with cool and impartial feelings the case of these two men, can for a moment doubt the propriety of the sentence and its execution?--and, to confound those calumniators of our government, Arbuthnot himself acknowledged its justice in the presence of the Court,--nay, on the very page where all this slander and abuse is found, is also found his letter in favor of the Seminole tribe, with which he had intermarried. Taken as they were,--they must have been considered as spies, or as engaged in open warfare. If the former, the case of the brave, but unfortunate Andre as a precedent, if the latter, none can dispute the justice of their doom;--but, in either view, they must appear as allied with, and aiding and abetting the common enemy the whole of which forms but a part of that extensive system which the British government has long since effectually adopted, and pursued. "Even supposing that the accuser swore falsely and maliciously, it was an act which, on the trial, could not have been known to the Court; but so far is it from this, that the long and partial memorial of the father is a direct condemnation of the son. In the fond expectation of rescuing his name from infamy and disgrace, he has furnished decisive proof of his guilt."