Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16)
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Title: Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16)
Author: United States. Congress
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABRIDGMENT OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS, FROM 1789 TO 1856, VOL. 4 (OF 16) ***
ABRIDGMENT
OF THE
DEBATES OF CONGRESS,
FROM 1789 TO 1856.
FROM GALES AND SEATON'S ANNALS OF CONGRESS; FROM THEIR
REGISTER OF DEBATES; AND FROM THE OFFICIAL
REPORTED DEBATES, BY JOHN C. RIVES.
BY
THE AUTHOR OF THE THIRTY YEARS' VIEW.
VOL. IV.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 346 & 348 BROADWAY.
1860.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District
of New York.
TENTH CONGRESS.--SECOND SESSION.
BEGUN AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 7, 1808.
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.
MONDAY, November 7, 1808.
Conformably to the act, passed the last session, entitled "An act to
alter the time for the next meeting of Congress," the second session of
the tenth Congress commenced this day; and the Senate assembled at the
city of Washington.
PRESENT:
GEORGE CLINTON, Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
NICHOLAS GILMAN and NAHUM PARKER, from New Hampshire.
TIMOTHY PICKERING, from Massachusetts.
JAMES HILLHOUSE and CHAUNCEY GOODRICH, from Connecticut.
BENJAMIN HOWLAND and ELISHA MATHEWSON, from Rhode Island.
STEPHEN R. BRADLEY and JONATHAN ROBINSON, from Vermont.
SAMUEL L. MITCHILL and JOHN SMITH, from New York.
JOHN CONDIT and AARON KITCHEL, from New Jersey.
SAMUEL MACLAY, from Pennsylvania.
SAMUEL WHITE, from Delaware.
WILLIAM B. GILES, from Virginia.
JAMES TURNER, from North Carolina.
THOMAS SUMTER and JOHN GAILLARD, from South Carolina.
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, from Georgia.
BUCKNER THRUSTON and JOHN POPE, from Kentucky.
DANIEL SMITH, from Tennessee.
EDWARD TIFFIN, from Ohio.
JAMES LLOYD, jun., appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State
of Massachusetts, to supply the place of John Quincy Adams, resigned,
took his seat in the Senate, and produced his credentials, which were
read, and the oath prescribed by law was administered to him.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary acquaint the House of Representatives
that a quorum of the Senate is assembled and ready to proceed to
business; and that Messrs. BRADLEY and POPE be a committee on the part
of the Senate, together with such committee as may be appointed by the
House of Representatives on their part, to wait on the President of
the United States and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is
assembled.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that
a quorum of the House is assembled and ready to proceed to business;
and that the House had appointed a committee on their part, jointly
with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the
President of the United States and notify him that a quorum of the two
Houses is assembled.
_Resolved_, That JAMES MATHERS, Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper to
the Senate, be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ one assistant
and two horses, for the purpose of performing such services as are
usually required by the Doorkeeper to the Senate; and that the sum
of twenty-eight dollars be allowed him weekly for that purpose, to
commence with, and remain during the session, and for twenty days after.
On motion, by Mr. BRADLEY,
_Resolved_, That two Chaplains, of different denominations, be
appointed to Congress during the present session, one by each House,
who shall interchange weekly.
Mr. BRADLEY reported, from the joint committee, that they had waited on
the President of the United States, agreeably to order, and that the
President of the United States informed the committee that he would
make a communication to the two Houses at 12 o'clock to-morrow.
TUESDAY, November 8.
SAMUEL SMITH and PHILIP REED, from the State of Maryland, attended.
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_To the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States_:
It would have been a source, fellow-citizens, of much
gratification, if our last communications from Europe had
enabled me to inform you that the belligerent nations, whose
disregard of neutral rights has been so destructive to our
commerce, had become awakened to the duty and true policy of
revoking their unrighteous edicts. That no means might be
omitted to produce this salutary effect, I lost no time in
availing myself of the act authorizing a suspension, in whole,
or in part, of the several embargo laws. Our Ministers at
London and Paris were instructed to explain to the respective
Governments there, our disposition to exercise the authority in
such manner as would withdraw the pretext on which aggressions
were originally founded, and open the way for a renewal of that
commercial intercourse which it was alleged, on all sides,
had been reluctantly obstructed. As each of those Governments
had pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure
which reached its adversary through the incontestable rights
of neutrals only, and as the measure had been assumed by
each as a retaliation for an asserted acquiescence in the
aggressions of the other, it was reasonably expected that
the occasion would have been seized by both for evincing the
sincerity of their professions, and for restoring to the
commerce of the United States its legitimate freedom. The
instructions of our Ministers, with respect to the different
belligerents, were necessarily modified with a reference to
their different circumstances, and to the condition annexed by
law to the Executive power of suspension requiring a degree of
security to our commerce which would not result from a repeal
of the decrees of France. Instead of a pledge therefore of a
suspension of the embargo as to her, in case of such a repeal,
it was presumed that a sufficient inducement might be found in
other considerations, and particularly in the change produced
by a compliance with our just demands by one belligerent, and
a refusal by the other, in the relations between the other
and the United States. To Great Britain, whose power on the
ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent with
that condition to state, explicitly, on her rescinding her
orders in relation to the United States, their trade would be
opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy, in case of his
failure to rescind his decrees also. From France no answer has
been received, nor any indication that the requisite change
in her decrees is contemplated. The favorable reception of
the proposition to Great Britain was the less to be doubted,
as her Orders of Council had not only been referred for their
vindication to an acquiescence on the part of the United
States no longer to be pretended, but as the arrangement
proposed, whilst it resisted the illegal decrees of France,
involved, moreover, substantially, the precise advantages
professedly aimed at by the British Orders. The arrangement
has, nevertheless, been rejected.
This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and
no other event having occurred on which a suspension of the
embargo by the Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains
in the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction,
however, to reflect, that in return for the privations imposed
by the measure, and which our fellow-citizens in general
have borne with patriotism, it has had the important effects
of saving our mariners, and our vast mercantile property,
as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive
and provisional measures called for by the occasion. It has
demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation and firmness
which govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of
uniting in support of the laws and the rights of their country,
and has thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations
which, if resisted, involved war, if submitted to, sacrificed a
vital principle of our national independence.
Under a continuance of the belligerent measures, which, in
defiance of laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals,
overspread the ocean with danger, it will rest with the wisdom
of Congress to decide on the course best adapted to such a
state of things; and bringing with them, as they do, from
every part of the Union, the sentiments of our constituents,
my confidence is strengthened that, in forming this decision,
they will, with an unerring regard to the essential rights
and interests of the nation, weigh and compare the painful
alternatives out of which a choice is to be made. Nor should
I do justice to the virtues which, on other occasions, have
marked the character of our fellow-citizens, if I did not
cherish an equal confidence that the alternative chosen,
whatever it may be, will be maintained with all the fortitude
and patriotism which the crisis ought to inspire.
The documents containing the correspondences on the subject
of foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions
given to our Ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before
you.
The communications made to Congress at their last session
explained the posture in which the close of the discussions
relating to the attack by a British ship of war on the frigate
Chesapeake, left a subject on which the nation had manifested
so honorable a sensibility. Every view of what had passed
authorized a belief that immediate steps would be taken by the
British Government for redressing a wrong, which, the more it
was investigated, appeared the more clearly to require what
had not been provided for in the special mission. It is found
that no steps have been taken for the purpose. On the contrary,
it will be seen, in the documents laid before you, that the
inadmissible preliminary, which obstructed the adjustment,
is still adhered to; and, moreover, that it is now brought
into connection with the distinct and irrelative case of the
Orders in Council. The instructions which had been given to our
Minister at London, with a view to facilitate, if necessary,
the reparation claimed by the United States, are included in
the documents communicated.
Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone
no material changes since our last session. The important
negotiations with Spain, which had been alternately suspended
and resumed, necessarily experience a pause under the
extraordinary and interesting crisis which distinguishes her
internal situation.
With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, with the
exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of
Algiers towards our Consul to that Regency. Its character and
circumstances are now laid before you, and will enable you to
decide how far it may, either now or hereafter, call for any
measures not within the limits of the Executive authority.
Of the gun boats authorized by the act of December last, it
has been thought necessary to build only one hundred and three
in the present year. These, with those before possessed, are
sufficient for the harbors and waters most exposed, and the
residue will require little time for their construction when it
shall be deemed necessary.
Under the act of the last session for raising an additional
military force, so many officers were immediately appointed as
were necessary for carrying on the business of recruiting; and
in proportion as it advanced, others have been added. We have
reason to believe their success has been satisfactory, although
such returns have not yet been received as enable me to present
you a statement of the number engaged.
The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the
injustice of the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses
and sacrifices of our citizens, are subjects of just concern.
The situation into which we have thus been forced has impelled
us to apply a portion of our industry and capital to internal
manufactures and improvements. The extent of this conversion
is daily increasing, and little doubt remains that the
establishments formed and forming will, under the auspices of
cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor from
taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitions,
become permanent. The commerce with the Indians, too, within
our own boundaries, is likely to receive abundant aliment from
the same internal source, and will secure to them peace and the
progress of civilization, undisturbed by practices hostile to
both.
The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year
ending on the thirtieth day of September last, being not yet
made up, a correct statement will hereafter be transmitted from
the Treasury. In the mean time, it is ascertained that the
receipts have amounted to near eighteen millions of dollars,
which, with the eight millions and a half in the Treasury at
the beginning of the year, have enabled us, after meeting the
current demands, and interest incurred, to pay two millions
three hundred thousand dollars of the principal of our funded
debt, and left us in the Treasury, on that day, near fourteen
millions of dollars. Of these, five millions three hundred and
fifty thousand dollars will be necessary to pay what will be
due on the first day of January next, which will complete the
reimbursement of the eight per cent. stock. These payments,
with those made in the six years and a half preceding, will
have extinguished thirty-three millions five hundred and eighty
thousand dollars of the principal of the funded debt, being
the whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits
of the law and our contracts; and the amount of principal
thus discharged will have liberated the revenue from about
two millions of dollars of interest, and added that sum
annually to the disposable surplus. The probable accumulation
of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be applied to the
payment of the public debt, whenever the freedom and safety
of our commerce shall be restored, merits the consideration
of Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults?
Shall the revenue be reduced? Or, shall it not rather be
appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers,
education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union,
under the powers which Congress may already possess, or such
amendment of the constitution as may be approved by the States?
While uncertain of the course of things, the time may be
advantageously employed in obtaining the powers necessary for a
system of improvement, should that be thought best.
Availing myself of this, the last occasion which will occur, of
addressing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting,
I cannot omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the
repeated proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves
and their predecessors since my call to the administration,
and the many indulgences experienced at their hands. The
same grateful acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens
generally, whose support has been my great encouragement under
all embarrassments. In the transaction of their business I
cannot have escaped error. It is incident to our imperfect
nature. But I may say with truth my errors have been of the
understanding, not of intention, and that the advancement
of their rights and interests has been the constant motive
for every measure. On these considerations I solicit their
indulgence. Looking forward with anxiety to their future
destinies, I trust that, in their steady character, unshaken by
difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to law, and
support of the public authorities, I see a sure guarantee of
the permanence of our Republic; and retiring from the charge
of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm
persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved country
long ages to come of prosperity and happiness.
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOVEMBER 8, 1808.
The Message and papers were in part read, and one thousand copies
ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate.
A confidential Message was also received, with sundry documents therein
referred to, which were read for consideration.
WEDNESDAY, November 9.
JESSE FRANKLIN, from the State of North Carolina, attended.
FRIDAY, November 11.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that
the House have appointed the Rev. Mr. BROWN a Chaplain to Congress, on
their part, during the present session.
MONDAY, November 14.
JOSEPH ANDERSON, from the State of Tennessee, and ANDREW MOORE, from
the State of Virginia, attended.
WEDNESDAY, November 16.
ANDREW GREGG, from the State of Pennsylvania, attended.
MONDAY, November 21.
_The Embargo._
This being the day fixed for the discussion of the following
resolution, offered by Mr. HILLHOUSE:
_Resolved_, That it is expedient that the act, entitled "An
act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports
and harbors of the United States," and the several acts
supplementary thereto, be repealed; and that a committee be
appointed to prepare and report a bill for that purpose:
Mr. HILLHOUSE opened the debate. When the reporter entered the Senate
chamber, Mr. H. had been speaking for a few minutes, and was then
discussing the effect which the embargo had had upon France, and
the light in which it was viewed by her rulers. He alluded to the
declaration of satisfaction at the measure, contained in a late French
exposé, and made many observations tending to show that it was not a
measure of hostility or coercion, as applied to France.
On England it had little or no effect. Her resources were immense. If
deprived of a supply of grain here, she could obtain it elsewhere. The
Barbary Powers were at war with France and at peace with England, who
might thence obtain wheat in any quantity she pleased. Great Britain,
he said, was a nation with the whole world before her; her commerce
spread over every sea, and she had access to almost every port and
clime. Could America expect to starve this nation? It was a farce, an
idle farce. As to her West India Islands, they raised Indian corn;
all their sugar plantations could be converted into corn-fields, and
would any man say that they would starve because they could not get
superfine flour? Was this a necessary of life without which they could
not subsist? On the contrary, a great proportion of the American people
subsisted on it, and enjoyed as good health as if they ate nothing
but the finest of wheat flour. The moment people understood that they
could not get their necessary supplies from a customary source, they
would look out for it in another quarter, and ample time had been given
to them to make arrangements for this purpose. A man of the first
respectability in the town in which Mr. H. lived, had been there during
this embargo, under the President's permission. What accounts did he
bring? Why, that the trade in corn-meal and live cattle, articles of
great export from Connecticut, and comprising not only the product of
that State, but of parts of the neighboring States, would be entirely
defeated; that, where they had formerly sent a _hundred_ hogsheads of
meal, they would not now find vent for _ten_; and that, from South
America, where cattle had, in times past, been killed merely for their
hides and tallow, cattle in abundance could be procured. Were these
people to be starved out, when they could actually purchase cheaper now
from other places than they had formerly done from us? No; the only
consequence would be, and that too severely felt, that we should lose
our market; the embargo thus producing, not only present privation and
injury, but permanent mischief. The United States would have lost the
chance of obtaining future supplies, they would have lost their market,
and ten or twenty years would place them on the same footing as before.
Mr. H. said the West Indians would have learnt that they can do without
us; that they can raise provisions cheaper on their own plantations
than we can sell them; and knowing this, they would never resort to us.
Though we might retain a part of this commerce, the best part would be
lost forever. The trade would not be worth pursuing; though this might
answer one purpose intended by the embargo, and which was not expressed.
Having considered the article of provisions as important to various
parts of the Union, Mr. H. said he would now turn to another article,
cotton. It had been very triumphantly said, that the want of this
article would distress the manufacturers of Great Britain, produce a
clamor amongst them, and consequently accelerate the repeal of the
Orders in Council. Mr. H. said he would examine this a little, and
see if all the evil consequences which opened on him at the time of
the passage of the embargo law were not likely to be realized. He had
hinted at some of them at that time, but the bill had gone through
the Senate like a flash of lightning, giving no time for examination;
once, twice, and a third time in one day, affording no time for the
development of all its consequences. This article of cotton was
used not only by Britain, but by France and other nations on the
Continent. Cotton, not being grown in Europe, must be transported by
water carriage. This being the case, who would now be most likely to
be supplied with it? Not the Continental Powers who have so little
commerce afloat nor any neutrals to convey it to them; for the United
States were the only neutral which, of late, traded with France, and
now the embargo was laid, she had no chance of getting it, except by
the precarious captures made by her privateers. To Great Britain, then,
was left the whole commerce of the world, and her merchants were the
only carriers. Would not these carriers supply their own manufacturers?
Would they suffer cotton to go elsewhere, until they themselves were
supplied? America was not the only country where cotton was raised;
for he had seen an account of a whole cargo brought into Salem from
the East Indies, and thence exported to Holland, with a good profit.
Cotton was also raised in Africa, as well as elsewhere; and this wary
nation, Great Britain, conceiving that the United States might be so
impolitic as to keep on the embargo, had carried whole cargoes of the
best cotton seed there for the purpose of raising cotton for her use.
Great Britain had possessions in every climate on the globe, and cotton
did not, like the sturdy oak, require forty or fifty years to arrive at
maturity; but, if planted, would produce a plentiful supply in a year.
Thus, then, when this powerful nation found America resorting to such
means to coerce her, she had taken care to look out for supplies in
other quarters; and, with the command of all the cotton on the globe
which went to market, could we expect to coerce her by withholding
ours? Mr. H. said no; all the inconvenience which she could feel from
our measure had already been borne; and Great Britain was turning her
attention to every part of the globe to obtain those supplies which
she was wont to get from us, that she might not be reduced to the
humiliating condition of making concession to induce us to repeal our
own law, and purchase an accommodation by telling us that we had a
weapon which we could wield to her annoyance. Mr. H. wished to know of
gentlemen if we had not experience enough to know that Great Britain
was not to be threatened into compliance by a rod of coercion? Let us
examine ourselves, said he, for if we trace our genealogy we shall find
that we descend from them; were they to use us in this manner, is there
an American that would stoop to them? I hope not; and neither will that
nation, from which we are descended, be driven from their position,
however erroneous, by threats.
This embargo, therefore, instead of operating on those nations which
had been violating our rights, was fraught with evils and privations
to the people of the United States. They were the sufferers. And have
we adopted the monkish plan of scourging ourselves for the sins of
others? He hoped not; and that, having made the experiment and found
that it had not produced its expected effect, they would abandon it, as
a measure wholly inefficient as to the objects intended by it, and as
having weakened the great hold which we had on Great Britain, from her
supposed dependence on us for raw materials.
Some gentlemen appeared to build up expectations of the efficiency
of this system by an addition to it of a non-intercourse law. Mr.
H. treated this as a futile idea. They should however examine it
seriously, and not, like children, shut their eyes to danger. Great
Britain was not the only manufacturing nation in Europe. Germany,
Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, manufactured more or
less, and most of them had colonies, the exclusive supply of whose
manufactures they had heretofore reserved to themselves. While we
had enjoyed the carrying trade, we had supplied the deficiency in
navigation of those nations; and all the inconvenience felt for the
want of it ceased because we stepped in and aided them. This trade had
been cut up, and perhaps it was not a trade which the energies of the
nation should be embarked in defending. Who was there now to supply
all these various colonies that used to be supplied by us? None but
England, the sole mistress of the ocean. Whose products, then, would
Great Britain carry? Would she carry products of other nations, and let
her own manufacturers starve? No; and this exclusion from the colonies
of other manufactures, and leaving her merchants the sole carriers of
the world, produced a greater vent for her manufactures than the whole
quantity consumed in the United States.
This, however, was arguing upon the ground that the United States
would consume none of her manufactures in case of a non-intercourse.
Mr. H. said he was young when the old non-intercourse took place,
but he remembered it well, and had then his ideas on the subject.
The British army was then at their door, burning their towns and
ravaging the country, and at least as much patriotism existed then
as now; but British fabrics were received and consumed to almost as
great an extent as before the prohibition. The armies could not get
fresh provisions from Europe, but they got them here by paying higher
prices in guineas for them than was paid by our Government in ragged
continental paper money. When the country was in want of clothing,
and could get it for one-fourth price from the British, what was the
consequence? Why, all the zealous patriots--for this work of tarring
and feathering, and meeting in mobs to destroy their neighbor's
property, because he could not think quite as fast as they did, which
seemed to be coming in fashion now, had been carried on then with great
zeal--these patriots, although all intercourse was penal, carried
on commerce notwithstanding. Supplies went hence, and manufactures
were received from Europe. Now, what reliance could be placed on this
patriotism? A gentleman from Vermont had told the Senate at the last
session, that the patriotism of Vermont would stop all exportation
by land, without the assistance of the law. How had it turned out?
Why, patriotism, cannon, militia, and all had not stopped it; and
although the field-pieces might have stopped it on the Lakes, they
were absolutely cutting new roads to carry it on by land. And yet the
gentleman had supposed that their patriotism would effectually stop it!
Now, Mr. H. wanted to know how a non-intercourse law was to be executed
by us with a coast of fifteen hundred miles open to Great Britain by
sea, and joining her by land? Her goods would come through our Courts
of Admiralty by the means of friendly captors; they would be brought
in, condemned, and then naturalized, as Irishmen are now naturalized,
before they have been a month in the country.
Mr. POPE said it had been his opinion this morning that this resolution
should have been referred to that committee, but after what had been
said, it was his wish that some commercial gentleman, whose knowledge
of commercial subjects would enable him to explore the wide field taken
by the gentleman from Connecticut, would have answered him. He had
hoped, at this session, after the Presidential election was decided,
that all would have dismounted from their political hobbies, that
they would have been all Federalists, all Republicans, all Americans.
When they saw the ocean swarming with pirates, and commerce almost
annihilated, he had hoped that the demon of party spirit would not
have reared its head within these walls, but that they would all have
mingled opinions and consulted the common good. He had heretofore been
often charmed with the matter-of-fact arguments of the gentleman from
Connecticut; but on this day the gentleman had resorted to arguments
from newspapers, and revived all the old story of French influence,
in the same breath in which he begged them to discard all party
feelings and discuss with candor. The gentleman had gone into a wide
field, which Mr. H. said he would not now explore, but begged time
till to-morrow, when he would endeavor to show to the nation and to
the world that the arguments used by the gentleman in favor of his
resolution were most weighty against it. If patriotism had departed
the land, if the streams of foreign corruption had flowed so far that
the people were ready to rise in opposition to their Government, it
was indeed time that foreign intercourse should cease. If the spirit
of 1776 were no more--if the spirit of commercial speculation had
surmounted all patriotism--if this was the melancholy situation of the
United States, it was time to redeem the people from this degeneracy,
to regenerate them, to cause them to be born again of the spirit of
1776. But he believed he should be able to show that the proposition of
the gentleman from Connecticut hardly merited the respect or serious
consideration of this honorable body. Mr. P. said he had expected
that in advocating his resolution the gentleman would have told the
Senate that we should go to war with Great Britain and France; that
he would have risen with patriotic indignation and have called for a
more efficient measure. But to his surprise, the gentleman had risen,
and with the utmost _sang froid_ told them, let your ships go out,
all's well, and nothing is to be apprehended. Mr. P. said he would not
go into the subject at this moment; he had but risen to express his
feelings on the occasion. He wished the subject postponed, the more
because he wished to consult a document just laid on their table, to
see how the memorials presented a short time ago from those whose cause
the gentleman from Connecticut undertook to advocate, accorded with the
sentiments he had this day expressed for them.
Mr. LLOYD said he considered the question now under discussion as one
of the most important that has occurred since the adoption of the
Federal Constitution. It is a subject, said Mr. L., deeply implicating,
and perhaps determining, the fate of the commerce and navigation of
our country; a commerce which has afforded employment for nearly a
million and a half of tons of navigation; which has found occupation
for hundreds of thousands of our citizens; which has spread wealth and
prosperity in every region of our country, and which has upheld the
Government by furnishing the revenue for its support.
A commerce which has yielded an annual amount of exports exceeding one
hundred millions of dollars; an amount of exports three times as great
as was possessed by the first maritime and commercial nation of the
world at the commencement of the last century, when her population was
double that of the United States at this time; an amount of exports
equal to what Great Britain, with her navy of a thousand ships, and
with all her boasted manufactures, possessed even at so recent a period
as within about fifteen years from this date; surely this is a commerce
not to be trifled with; a commerce not lightly to be offered up as the
victim of fruitless experiment.
Our commerce has unquestionably been subject to great embarrassment,
vexation, and plunder, from the belligerents of Europe. There is no
doubt but both France and Great Britain have violated the laws of
nations, and immolated the rights of neutrals; but there is, in my
opinion, a striking difference in the circumstances of the two nations;
the one, instigated by a lawless thirst of universal domination, is
seeking to extend an iron-handed, merciless despotism over every
region of the globe; while the other is fighting for her _natale
solum_, for the preservation of her liberties, and probably for her
very existence.
The one professes to reluct at the inconvenience she occasions you by
the adoption of measures which are declared to be intended merely as
measures of retaliation on her enemies, and which she avows she will
retract as soon as the causes which occasion them are withdrawn. The
other, in addition to depredation and conflagration, treats you with
the utmost contumely and disdain; she admits not that you possess the
rights of sovereignty and independence, but undertakes to legislate
for you, and declares that, whether you are willing or unwilling, she
considers you as at war with her enemy; that she had arrested your
property, and would hold it as bail for your obedience, until she knew
whether you would servilely echo submission to her mandates.
There is no doubt that the conduct of these belligerents gave rise to
the embargo; but if this measure has been proved by experience to be
inoperative as it regards them, and destructive only as it respects
ourselves, then every dictate of magnanimity, of wisdom, and of
prudence, should urge the immediate repeal of it.
The propriety of doing this is now under discussion. The proposition is
a naked one; it is unconnected with ulterior measures; and gentlemen
who vote for its repeal ought not to be considered as averse from, and
they are not opposed to, the subsequent adoption of such other measures
as the honor and the interest of the country may require.
In considering this subject, it naturally presents itself under three
distinct heads:
1st. As it respects the security which it gave to our navigation, and
the protection it offered our seamen, which were the ostensible objects
of its adoption.
2dly. In reference to its effect on other nations, meaning France and
Great Britain, in coercing them to adopt a more just and honorable
course of policy towards us: and,
3dly. As it regards the effects which it has produced and will produce
among ourselves.
In thus considering it, sir, I shall only make a few remarks on the
first head. I have no desire to indulge in retrospections; the measure
was adopted by the Government; if evil has flowed from it, that
evil cannot now be recalled. If events have proved it to be a wise
and beneficial measure, I am willing that those to whom it owes its
parentage should receive all the honors that are due to them; but if
security to our navigation, and protection to our seamen, were the
real objects of the embargo, then it has already answered all the
effects that can be expected from it. In fact, its longer continuance
will effectually counteract the objects of its adoption; for it is
notorious, that each day lessens the number of our seamen, by their
emigration to foreign countries, in quest of that employment and
subsistence which they have been accustomed to find, but can no longer
procure, at home; and as it regards our navigation, considered as part
of the national property, it is not perhaps very material whether it
is sunk in the ocean, or whether it is destined to become worthless
from lying and rotting at our wharves. In either case, destruction
is equally certain, it is death; and the only difference seems to be
between death by a _coup de grace_, or death after having sustained the
long-protracted torments of torture.
What effect has this measure produced on foreign nations? What effect
has it produced on France?
The honorable gentleman from Connecticut has told you, and told you
truly, in an exposé presented by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs
to the Emperor, that this measure is much applauded: it is called a
magnanimous measure of the Americans! And in a conversation which is
stated to have passed recently at Bayonne, between the Emperor of
France and an American gentleman, it is said, and I believe correctly,
that the Emperor expressed his approbation of the embargo. I have no
doubt that this is the fact; the measure is too consentaneous with his
system of policy, not to be approbated by him. So long as the extreme
maritime preponderancy of Great Britain shall continue, with or without
the existence of an American embargo, or with or without the British
Orders in Council, France can enjoy but very little foreign commerce,
and that little the Emperor of France would undoubtedly be willing to
sacrifice, provided that, by so doing, he could insure the destruction
of a much larger and more valuable amount of British and American
commerce.
It is therefore apparent, that this measure, considered as a coercive
measure against France, is nugatory in the extreme.
What, sir, are, or have been its effects on Great Britain?
When the embargo was first laid the nation were alarmed. Engaged in
a very extended and important commerce with this country, prosecuted
upon the most liberal and confidential terms, this measure, whether
considered as an act of hostility, or as a mere municipal restrictive
regulation, could not but excite apprehension; for most of our writers,
in relation to her colonies, had impressed the belief of the dependence
of the West India settlements on the United States for the means of
subsistence. Accordingly, for several months after the imposition of
the embargo, we find it remained an object of solicitude with them,
nor have I any doubt that the Ministry, at that time, partook of
the national feeling; for it appears, so late as June, that such a
disposition existed with the British Ministry, as induced our Minister
at the Court of London to entertain the belief, and to make known to
his Government the expectation he entertained, that an adjustment would
take place of the differences between this country and Great Britain.
But, sir, the apprehensions of the British nation and Ministry
gradually became weaker; the embargo had been submitted to the
never-erring test of experience, and information of its real effects
flowed in from every quarter.
It was found that, instead of reducing the West Indies by famine, the
planters in the West Indies, by varying their process of agriculture,
and appropriating a small part of their plantations for the raising of
ground provisions, were enabled, without materially diminishing their
usual crops of produce, in a great measure to depend upon themselves
for their own means of subsistence.
The British Ministry also became acquainted about this time (June)
with the unexpected and unexampled prosperity of their colonies of
Canada and Nova Scotia. It was perceived that one year of an American
embargo was worth to them twenty years of peace or war under any other
circumstances; that the usual order of things was reversed; that in
lieu of American merchants making estates from the use of British
merchandise and British capital, the Canadian merchants were making
fortunes of from ten to thirty or forty thousand pounds in a year,
from the use of American merchandise and American capital: for it is
notorious, that great supplies of lumber, and pot and pearl ashes, have
been transported from the American to the British side of the Lakes;
this merchandise, for want of competition, the Canadian merchant bought
at a very reasonable rate, sent it to his correspondents in England,
and drew exchange against the shipments; the bills for which exchange
he sold to the merchants of the United States for specie, transported
by wagon loads at noon-day, from the banks in the United States, over
the borders into Canada. And thus was the Canadian merchant enabled,
with the assistance only of a good credit, to carry on an immensely
extended and beneficial commerce, without the necessary employment, on
his part, of a single cent of his own capital.
About this time, also, the revolution in Spain developed itself. The
British Ministry foresaw the advantage this would be to them, and
immediately formed a coalition with the patriots: by doing this, they
secured to themselves, in despite of their enemies, an accessible
channel of communication with the Continent. They must also have
been convinced, that if the Spaniards did not succeed in Europe, the
Colonies would declare themselves independent of the mother country,
and rely on the maritime force of Great Britain for their protection,
and thus would they have opened to them an incalculably advantageous
mart for their commerce and manufactures; for, having joined the
Spaniards without stipulation, they undoubtedly expected to reap their
reward in the exclusive commercial privileges that would be accorded
to them; nor were they desirous to seek competitors for the favor of
the Spaniards: if they could keep the navigation, the enterprise, and
the capital of the United States from an interference with them, it
was their interest to do it, and they would, from this circumstance,
probably consider a one, two, or three years' continuance of the
embargo as a boon to them.
Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, said he was not prepared to go as largely
into this subject as it merited, having neither documents nor papers
before him. He would therefore only take a short view of it in his
way, and endeavor to rebut a part of the argument of the gentleman
from Massachusetts, and perhaps to notice some of the observations of
the gentleman from Connecticut. He perfectly agreed with the latter
gentleman that this subject ought to be taken up with coolness,
and with temper, and he could have wished that the gentleman from
Connecticut would have been candid enough to pursue that course which
he had laid down for others. Had he done it? No. In the course of
the discussion, the gentleman had charged it upon some one, he knew
not whom, that there was a disposition to break down commerce for
the purpose of erecting manufactures on its ruins. If this was the
disposition of those who had advocated the embargo, Mr. S. said he was
not one to go with them, and perfectly corresponded with the gentleman
in saying that such a plan would be extremely injurious; that possibly
it could not be enforced in the United States; and that, if it could,
merchants would conceive themselves highly aggrieved by it. But the
gentleman's ideas had no foundation. Mr. S. said he had before seen
it in newspapers, but had considered it a mere electioneering trick;
that nothing like common sense or reason was meant by it, and nobody
believed it. The gentleman surely did not throw out this suggestion by
way of harmonizing; for nothing could be more calculated to create heat.
The gentleman last up, throughout his argument, had gone upon the
ground that it is the embargo which has prevented all our commerce;
that, if the embargo were removed, we might pursue it in the same
manner as if the commerce of the whole world was open to us. If the
gentleman could have shown this, he would have gone with him heart and
hand; but it did not appear to him that, were the embargo taken off
to-morrow, any commerce of moment could be pursued. Mr. S. said he
was not certain that it might not be a wise measure to take off the
embargo; but he was certain that some other measure should be taken
before they thought of taking that. And he had hoped that gentleman
would have told them what measure should have been taken before they
removed the embargo. Not so, however. A naked proposition was before
them to take off the embargo; and were that agreed to, and the property
of America subject to depredations by both the belligerents, they would
be foreclosed from taking any measure at all for its defence. For
this reason this resolution should properly have gone originally to
the committee on the resolution of the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr.
GILES.)
Mr. S. said he was not prepared for a long discussion, he should take
but a short view. He would not go back to see which nation had been
the first offender. He was not the apologist of any nation, but, he
trusted, a fervent defender of the rights, honor, and interests of
his own country. By the decrees of France every vessel bound to or
from Great Britain, was declared good prize. And still further; if
spoken alone by any British vessel, they were condemned in the French
prize courts. When a vessel arrived in the ports of France, Mr. S.
said, bribery and corruption were made use of in order to effect her
condemnation. Every sailor on board was separately examined as to
what had happened in the course of the voyage; they were told, you
will have one-third of the vessel and cargo as your portion of the
prize-money, if you will say that your vessel has touched at a British
port or has been visited by a British cruiser. Of course then, by the
decrees of France, all American property that floats is subject to
condemnation by the French, if it had come in contact with British
hands. Were gentlemen willing to submit to this: to raise the embargo,
and subject our trade to this depredation? Yes, said the gentleman
from Connecticut, who was willing, however, that our ships should arm
and defend themselves. Mr. S. said that he had hoped the honorable
gentleman would have gone further, and said not only that he would in
this case permit our vessels to defend themselves, but to make good
prize of any vessel which should impede the trade admitted by the laws
of nations. But the gentleman had stopped short of this.
By the orders in Council, now made law, (said Mr. S.,) all
neutrals--all _neutrals_, this is a mere word _ad captandum_, as it
is well known there is no neutral commerce but American--all American
vessels, then, bound to France, or countries in alliance with her, are
made good prize in the British courts. When bound to any part of the
continent of Europe, or any possessions in Turkey or Asia, they are a
good prize, Sweden alone excepted. We are then permitted to trade--for
it is a permission to trade, since we must acknowledge ourselves
indebted to her for any she permits--we are graciously permitted to go
to Sweden, to which country our whole exports amount to $56,157! This
petty trade is generously permitted us as a boon, and this boon will
be struck off the list of permission, the moment any difference arises
between Great Britain and Sweden. I am aware, sir, that gentlemen will
say this may require explanation. I will give it to them. Great Britain
says you shall not trade to any of the countries I have interdicted
till you have my leave; pay me a duty and then you may go to any port;
pay me a tribute, and then you shall have my license to trade to any
ports you choose. What is this tribute? Not having the documents before
me, I may make an error of a fraction, but in the principle I am
correct. On the article of flour, they tell us, you may bring flour
to Great Britain from America, land it, and, if you re-export it, pay
into our treasury two dollars on every barrel. For every barrel of
flour which we send to Spain, Portugal, or Italy, where the gentleman
from Massachusetts has correctly told us much of it is consumed, little
of it being used in Great Britain or France, you must pay two dollars
besides your freight and insurance. And this tribute is to be paid for
a permission to trade. Are gentlemen willing to submit to this?
On the article of wheat, exported, you must pay in Great Britain a
duty of, I believe, two shillings sterling a bushel, before it can be
re-exported. On the important article of cotton they have charged a
duty on its exportation of nine pence sterling per lb., equal to the
whole value of the article itself in Georgia or South Carolina. This is
in addition to the usual import duty of two pence in the pound. Thus,
if we wish to go to the Continent, we may go on condition of paying
a tribute equal to the value of the cotton, in addition to risk or
insurance. It is generally understood that two-thirds of the cotton
exported by us, may be consumed in England, when all her manufactures
are in good work. On the remaining third the people of the Southern
country are subject to a tribute--on twenty millions of pounds, at the
rate of 17 cents per pound. Let this be calculated, and it will be seen
what tax we must pay for leave to sell that article.
The English Orders had told us we might trade as usual with the West
India Islands; but now, believing no doubt that this Government has
not strength or energy in itself to maintain any system long, what has
she done? Proclaimed a blockade on the remaining islands of France, so
that we are now confined to British islands alone! We are restricted
from trading there by blockade, and what security have we, that if
the embargo be taken off--for I wish it were off: no man suffers more
from it, in proportion to his capital, than I do; but I stand here the
Representative of the people, and must endeavor to act in such a manner
as will best secure their interests; and I pledge myself to join heart
and hand with gentlemen to take it off, whenever we can have a safe and
honorable trade--that, from our submitting to these interdictions, as
a right of Great Britain, she may not choose to interdict all trade,
she being omnipotent, and sole mistress of the ocean, as we were told
by the gentleman from Connecticut. I have seen a late English pamphlet,
called "Hints to both Parties," said to be by a ministerial writer,
to this effect: that Great Britain, having command over all the seas,
could and ought to exclude and monopolize the trade of the world to
herself. This pamphlet goes critically into an examination of the
subject; says that by a stroke of policy she can cut us off from our
extensive trade; that she has the power, and, having the power, she
ought to do it.
TUESDAY, November 22.
_The Embargo._
Mr. MOORE said the gentleman from Connecticut had asked if the embargo
had been productive of the consequences expected to result from it
when passed? Had it not been more injurious to the United States than
to foreign nations? It is certainly true (said Mr. M.) that it has
not been productive of all the effects expected by those who were its
advocates when it passed, but it has not had a fair experiment. The law
has been violated, and an illicit commerce carried on, by which the
belligerents have received such supplies as to have partially prevented
its good effects.
The publications throughout the United States, and thence in England,
that the embargo could not be maintained, have induced the belligerents
to believe that we wanted energy, and that we are too fluctuating
in our councils to persevere in a measure which requires privations
from the people. Under these circumstances, it appears to me that the
embargo has not had a fair trial. I have ever been of opinion that
the only warfare which we could ever carry on to advantage, must be
commercial; and, but for evasions and miscalculations on our weakness,
we should before this have been suffered to pursue our accustomed trade.
It has been asked whether the embargo has not operated more on the
United States than on the European Powers? In estimating this, it will
be proper to take into consideration the evils prevented, as well as
the injury done by the embargo. If the embargo had not passed, is it
not certain that the whole produce of the United States would have
invited attack and offered a bait to the rapacity of the belligerent
cruisers? If a few have accidentally escaped them, it is no evidence
that, if the embargo had not been laid, the whole would not have
been in the hands of the belligerents. That both belligerents have
manifested hostilities by edicts which prostrated our commerce, will
not be denied by any gentleman. Great Britain, on a former occasion,
passed an order, sent it out secretly, and before our Minister was
officially notified, it was in full operation. Their late orders
included all our commerce which was afloat. Was it not to be expected
that such would have been the policy of Great Britain in this case, and
such our proportionate loss, if the embargo had not been laid, and thus
snatched this valuable commerce from their grasp?
WEDNESDAY, November 23.
_The Embargo._
Mr. CRAWFORD said that one of the objects of the gentleman from
Connecticut was, no doubt, to obtain information of the effects of the
embargo system from every part of the United States. This information
was very desirable at the present time, to assist the Councils of the
nation in an opinion of the course proper to be pursued in relation
to it. A Government founded, like ours, on the principle of the will
of the nation, which subsisted but by it, should be attentive as far
as possible to the feelings and wishes of the people over whom they
presided. He did not say that the Representatives of a free people
ought to yield implicit obedience to any portion of the people who may
believe them to act erroneously; but their will, when fairly expressed,
ought to have great weight on a Government like ours. The Senate had
received several descriptions of the effects produced by the embargo
in the eastern section of the Union. As the Representative of another
extreme of this nation, Mr. C. said he conceived it his duty to give
a fair, faithful, and candid representation of the sentiments of the
people whom he had the honor to represent. It was always the duty of a
Representative to examine whether the effects expected from any given
measure, had or had not been produced. If this were a general duty,
how much more imperiously was it their duty at this time! Every one
admitted that considerable sufferings have been undergone, and much
more was now to be borne.
Gentlemen have considered this subject, generally, in a twofold view,
(said Mr. C.,) as to its effects on ourselves, and as to its effects
on foreign nations. I think this a proper and correct division of the
subject, because we are certainly more interested in the effects of
the measure on ourselves than on other nations. I shall therefore thus
pursue the subject.
It is in vain to deny that this is not a prosperous time in the United
States; that our situation is neither promising nor flattering. It is
impossible to say that we have suffered no privations in the year 1808,
or that there is a general spirit of content throughout the United
States; but I am very far from believing that there is a general spirit
of discontent. Whenever the measures of the Government immediately
affect the interest of any considerable portion of its citizens,
discontents will arise, however great the benefits which are expected
from such measures. One discontented man excites more attention than a
thousand contented men, and hence the number of discontented is always
overrated. In the country which I represent, I believe no measure is
more applauded or more cheerfully submitted to than the embargo. It has
been viewed there as the only alternative to avoid war. It is a measure
which is enforced in that country at every sacrifice. At the same time
that I make this declaration, I am justified in asserting that there is
no section of the Union whose interests are more immediately affected
by the measure than the Southern States--than the State of Georgia.
We have been told by an honorable gentleman, who has declaimed with
great force and eloquence against this measure, that great part of the
produce of the Eastern country has found its way into market; that
new ways have been cut open, and produce has found its way out. Not so
with us; we raise no provisions, except a small quantity of rice, for
exportation. The production of our lands lies on our hands. We have
suffered, and now suffer; yet we have not complained.
The fears of the Southern States particularly have been addressed by
the gentleman from Connecticut, by a declaration that Great Britain,
whose fleets cover the ocean, will certainly find a source from which
to procure supplies of those raw materials which she has heretofore
been in the habit of receiving from us; and that having thus found
another market, when we have found the evil of our ways, she will turn
a deaf ear to us. By way of exemplification, the gentleman cited a
familiar example of a man buying butter from his neighbors. It did not
appear to me that this butter story received a very happy elucidation.
In the country in which he lives there are so many buyers and so
many sellers of butter, that no difficulty results from a change of
purchasers or customers. Not so with our raw material. Admitting that
Britain can find other markets with ease, there is still a great
distinction between this and the gentleman's butter case. When a man
sells butter he receives money or supplies in payment for it. His wants
and wishes and those of his purchasers are so reciprocal, that no
difficulty can ever arise. But Great Britain must always purchase raw
materials of those who purchase her manufactures. It is not to oblige
us that she takes our raw materials, but it is because we take her
manufactures in exchange. So long as this state of things continues,
so long they will continue to resort to our market. I have considered
the gentleman's argument on this point as applied to the feelings of
the Southern country. No article exported from the United States equals
cotton in amount. If then we are willing to run the risk, I trust no
other part of the United States will hesitate on this subject.
Another reason offered by the gentleman from Connecticut, and a
substantial one if true, is, that this measure cannot be executed. If
this be the case, it is certainly in vain to persevere in it, for the
non-execution of any public law must have a bad tendency on the morals
of the people. But the facility with which the gentleman represents
these laws to have been evaded, proves that the morals of the evaders
could not have been very sound when the measure was adopted; for a man
trained to virtue will not, whatever facility exists, on that account,
step into the paths of error and vice.
Although I believe myself that this measure has not been properly
executed, nor in that way in which the situation of our country might
reasonably have induced us to expect, yet it has been so far executed
as to produce some good effect. So far as the orders and decrees remain
in full force, so far it has failed of the effect hoped from it. But
it has produced a considerable effect, as I shall attempt to show
hereafter.
In commenting on this part of the gentleman's observations, it becomes
proper to notice, not an insinuation, but a positive declaration that
the secret intention of laying the embargo was to destroy commerce; and
was in a state of hostility to the avowed intention. This certainly
is a heavy charge. In a Government like this, we should act openly,
honestly, and candidly; the people ought to know their situation,
and the views of those who conduct their affairs. It is the worst of
political dishonesty to adopt a measure, and offer that reason as a
motive for it which is not the true and substantial one. The true and
substantial reason for the embargo, the gentleman says he believes,
was to destroy commerce, and on its ruins to raise up domestic
manufactures. This idea, I think, though not expressly combated by
the observations of the gentleman from Delaware, (Mr. WHITE,) was
substantially refuted by him. That gentleman, with great elegance and
something of sarcasm, applied to the House to know how the Treasury
would be filled in the next year; and observed that the "present
incumbent of the Presidential palace" would not dare to resort to
a direct tax, because a former Administration had done so and felt
the effects of it, insinuating that the present Administration did
not possess courage enough to attempt it. Now, I ask, if they dare
not resort to a direct tax, excise laws, and stamp acts, where will
they obtain money? In what way will the public coffers be filled? The
gentleman must acknowledge that all our present revenue is derived from
commerce, and must continue to be so, except resort be had to a direct
tax, and the gentleman says we have not courage enough for that. The
gentleman from Connecticut must suppose, if the gentleman from Delaware
be correct, that the Administration seeks its own destruction. We must
have revenue, and yet are told that we wish to destroy the only way in
which it can be had, except by a direct tax; a resort to which, it is
asserted, would drive us from the public service.
But we are told, with a grave face, that a disposition is manifested to
make this measure permanent. The States who call themselves commercial
States, when compared with the Southern States, may emphatically be
called manufacturing States. The Southern States are not manufacturing
States, while the great commercial States are absolutely the
manufacturing States. If this embargo system were intended to be
permanent, those commercial States would be benefited by the exchange,
to the injury of the Southern States. It is impossible for us to find a
market for our produce but by foreign commerce; and whenever a change
of the kind alluded to is made, that change will operate to the injury
of the Southern States more than to the injury of the commercial
States, so called.
But another secret motive with which the Government is charged to have
been actuated is, that this measure was intended and is calculated
to promote the interests of France. To be sure none of the gentlemen
have expressly said that we are under French influence, but a resort is
had to the exposé of the French Minister, and a deduction thence made
that the embargo was laid at the wish of Bonaparte. The gentleman from
Connecticut told us of this exposé for this purpose; and the gentleman
from Massachusetts appeared to notice it with the same view.
Now we are told that there is no danger of war, except it be because
we have understood that Bonaparte has said there shall be no neutrals;
and that, if we repeal the embargo, we may expect that he will make
war on us. And this is the only source from whence the gentleman could
see any danger of war. If this declaration against neutrality which
is attributed to the Gallic Emperor be true, and it may be so, his
Gallic Majesty could not pursue a more direct course to effect his own
wishes than to declare that our embargo had been adopted under his
influence. And unless the British Minister had more political sagacity
than the gentleman who offered the evidence of the exposé in proof of
the charge, it would produce the very end which those gentlemen wished
to avoid--a war with Great Britain; for she would commence the attack
could she believe this country under the influence of France. I would
just as much believe in the sincerity of that exposé, as Mr. Canning's
sincerity, when he says that his Majesty would gladly make any
sacrifice to restore to the commerce of the United States its wonted
activity. No man in the nation is silly enough to be gulled by these
declarations; but, from the use made of them, we should be led to think
otherwise, were it not for the exercise of our whole stock of charity.
Now, I cannot believe that any man in this nation does believe in the
sincerity of Mr. Canning's expressions, or that Bonaparte believes
that the embargo was laid to promote his interest. I cannot believe
that there is any man in this nation who does candidly and seriously
entertain such an opinion.
The gentleman from Massachusetts says it is true that a considerable
alarm was excited in England when the news of the embargo arrived
there; that they had been led to believe, from their writers and
speakers, that a discontinuance of their intercourse with this country
would be productive of most injurious consequences; but that they were
now convinced that all their writers and statesmen were mistaken, and
that she can suffer a discontinuance of intercourse without being
convulsed or suffering at all. To believe this requires a considerable
portion of credulity, especially when the most intelligent men affirm
to the contrary. In the last of March or the first of April last, we
find, on an examination of merchants at the Bar of the British House of
Commons, that the most positive injury must result from a continuance
of non-intercourse. It is not possible that our merchants on this
side of the water, however intelligent they may be, can be as well
acquainted with the interests of Great Britain as her most intelligent
merchants. This alarm, however, the gentleman has told us, continued
through the spring and dissipated in the summer. It is very easy to
discover the cause of the dissipation of this alarm. It was not because
the loss of intercourse was not calculated to produce an effect, but
it proceeded from an adventitious cause, which could not have been
anticipated--the revolution in Spain; and there is no intelligent man
who will not acknowledge its injurious effects on our concerns. No
sooner did the British Ministers see a probability that the struggle
between the Spanish patriots and France would be maintained, than they
conceived hopes that they might find other supplies; and then they
thought they might give to the people an impulse by interesting the
nation in the affairs of Spain, which would render lighter the effects
of our embargo. This is the cause of the change in Mr. Canning's
language; for every gentleman in the House knows that a very material
change took place in it in the latter part of the summer. If then
the embargo has not produced the effects calculated from it, we have
every reason to believe that its failure to produce these effects
has been connected with causes wholly adventitious, and which may
give way if the nation adheres to the measure. If, however, there be
any probability that these causes will be continued for a long time,
we ought to abandon it. I am not in favor of continuing any measure
of this kind, except there be a probability of its producing some
effect on those who make it necessary for us to exercise this act
of self-denial. When I first saw the account of the revolution in
Spain, my fears were excited lest it should produce the effect which
it has done. As soon as I saw the stand made by the Spanish patriots,
I was apprehensive that it might buoy up the British nation under
the sufferings arising from the effects of their iniquitous orders,
which, compared with the sufferings which we ourselves have borne,
have been as a hundred to one. If there be evidence that the effects
of this measure will yet be counteracted by recent events in Spain,
I will abandon it, but its substitute should be war, and no ordinary
war--I say this notwithstanding the petitions in the other branch of
the Legislature, and the resolutions of a State Legislature which have
lately been published. When I read the resolutions, called emphatically
the Essex resolutions, I blush for the disgrace they reflect on my
country. We are told there that this nation has no just cause of
complaint against Great Britain; and that all our complaints are a mere
pretext for war. I blush that any man belonging to the great American
family should be so debased, so degraded, so lost to every generous and
national feeling, as to make a declaration of this kind. It is debasing
to the national character.
How are these orders and decrees to be opposed but by war, except
we keep without their reach? If the embargo produces a repeal of
these edicts, we effect it without going to war. Whenever we repeal
the embargo we are at war, or we abandon our neutral rights. It is
impossible to take the middle ground, and say that we do not abandon
them by trading with Great Britain alone. You must submit, or oppose
force to force. Can arming our merchant vessels, by resisting the whole
navy of Great Britain, oppose force to force? It is impossible. The
idea is absurd.
By way of ridiculing the embargo, the gentleman from Connecticut, in
his familiar way, has attempted to expose this measure. He elucidated
it by one of those familiar examples by which he generally exemplifies
his precepts. He says your neighbor tells you that you shall not trade
with another neighbor, and you say you will not trade at all. Now
this, he says, is very magnanimous, but it is a kind of magnanimity
with which he is not acquainted. Now let us see the magnanimity of
that gentleman, and see if it savors more of true magnanimity than our
course. Great Britain and France each say that we shall not trade with
the other. We say we will not trade with either of them, because we
believe our trade will be important to both of them. The gentleman says
it is a poor way of defending the national rights. Suppose we pursue
his course. Great Britain says we shall not trade to France; we say
we will not, but will obey her. We will trade upon such terms as she
may impose. "This will be magnanimity indeed; this will be defending
commerce with a witness!" It will be bowing the neck to the yoke.
The opposition to taxation against our consent, at the commencement
of the Revolution, was not more meritorious than the opposition to
tribute and imposition at the present day. I cannot, for my soul,
see the difference between paying tribute and a tacit acquiescence
in the British Orders in Council. True, every gentleman revolts at
paying tribute. But where is the difference between that and suffering
yourself to be controlled by the arbitrary act of another nation? If
you raise the embargo you must carry your produce to Great Britain and
pay an arbitrary sum before you can carry it elsewhere. If it remains
there, the markets will be glutted and it will produce nothing. For it
appears, from the very evidence to which I have before alluded, that at
least four-fifths of our whole exports of tobacco must go to England
and pay a tax before we could look for a market elsewhere, and that
out of seventy-five thousand hogsheads raised in this country, not
more than fifteen thousand are consumed in Great Britain. Where does
the remainder usually go? Why, to the ports of the Continent. I ask,
then, if the whole consumption of Great Britain be but fifteen thousand
hogsheads, if an annual addition of sixty thousand hogsheads be thrown
into that market, would it sell for the costs of freight? Certainly
not. The same would be the situation of our other produce.
The gentleman from Delaware (Mr. WHITE) has said, that, by repealing
the embargo, we can now carry on a safe and secure trade to the extent
of nearly four-fifths of the amount of our domestic productions. There
is nothing more delusive, and better calculated to impose on those
who do not investigate subjects, than these calculations in gross. If
the gentleman will take the trouble to make the necessary inquiries,
he will find that instead of Great Britain taking to the amount he
supposes of our domestic productions, she takes nothing like it. It
is true that a large proportion of our domestic exports is shipped
ostensibly for Great Britain; but it is equally true that a very large
proportion of these very exports find their way into the continental
ports. For the British merchants in their examination before the
House of Commons, already alluded to, say that three-fourths of their
receipts for exportation to the United States have been usually drawn
from the Continent; and that even if the embargo was removed and the
Orders in Council were continued, they must stop their exportation,
because the continental ports would be closed against American vessels;
because their coasts swarm with English cruisers, the French must know
that the American vessels attempting to enter have come from an English
port. That they had facilities of conveyance to the Continent prior to
the Orders in Council, the merchants acknowledged; and when requested
to explain the mode of conveyance, they begged to be excused. No doubt
every gentleman has seen these depositions, or might have seen them,
for they have been published in almost every paper on the Continent.
They have opened to me and to my constituents a scene perfectly new.
They tell you that the Berlin decree was nothing. Notwithstanding that
decree, they had a facility of conveying produce into the continental
ports; but the Orders of Council completely shut the ports of the
Continent against the entrance of American vessels. On this point there
was no contrariety of opinion; and several of these merchants declared
that they had sent vessels to the Continent a very few days before the
date of the Orders of Council. This clearly shows that any conclusion
to be drawn from the gross amount of exports must be fallacious, and
that probably three-fourths ought to be deducted from the gross amount.
This statement of the gentleman from Delaware, which holds out to
the public the prospect of a lucrative trade in four-fifths of their
exports, will certainly have a tendency to render them uneasy under
the privations which they are called upon to suffer by the iniquitous
measures of foreign nations. Although the statement was extremely
delusive, I do not say that the gentleman meant to delude by it. This,
however, being the effect of the gentleman's assertion, I am certainly
warranted in saying that the evidence of the British merchants
who carry on this trade, is better authority than the gentleman's
statements.
But admit, for the sake of argument, and on no other ground would I
admit it, that these gross statements are correct; and that, at the
time the embargo was adopted, these Orders in Council notwithstanding,
the trade of the United States could have been carried on to this
extent. What security have we, if the embargo had not been laid, after
submitting and compromitting the national dignity and independence,
that the British aggressions and Orders in Council would have stopped
at the point at which we find them? Have we not conclusive evidence to
the contrary? Are we not officially notified that the French leeward
islands are declared by proclamation in a state of blockade? And do
we not know that this is but carrying into effect a report of the
committee of the British House of Commons on the West India Islands, in
which this measure is recommended, and in which it is stated that His
Britannic Majesty's West India subjects ought to receive further aid by
placing these islands in a state of blockade? I can see in this measure
nothing but a continuation of the system recommended last winter in
this report, and published--for the information of the United States, I
suppose.
If the embargo should be repealed, and our vessels suffered to go out
in the face of the present orders in Council and blockading decrees and
proclamations, Mr. C. said, they would but expose us to new insults and
aggressions. It was in vain to talk about the magnanimity of nations.
It was not that magnanimity which induced nations as well as men to
act honestly; and that was the best kind of magnanimity. The very
magnanimity which had induced them to distress our commerce, would
equally induce them to cut off the pitiful portion they had left to us.
In a general point of view, there was now no lawful commerce. No vessel
could sail from the United States without being liable to condemnation
in Britain or France. If they sailed to France, Mr. C. said, they were
carried into Britain; if they sailed to Britain, they were carried into
France. Now, he asked, whether men who had any regard to national honor
would consent to navigate the ocean on terms so disgraceful? We must be
cool calculators, indeed, if we could submit to disgrace like this!
The last reason offered by the supporters of the present resolution,
Mr. C. said, may properly be said to be an argument _in terrorem_. The
gentleman from Massachusetts says, by way of abstract proposition, that
a perseverance in a measure opposed to the feelings and interests of
the people may lead to opposition and insurrection; but the gentleman
from Connecticut uses the same expressions as applicable to the
embargo. It may be a forcible argument with some gentlemen, and most
likely may have had its effect on those who intended it to produce an
effect on others. But I trust that this House and this nation are not
to be addressed in this way. Our understandings may be convinced by
reason, but an address to our fears ought to be treated with contempt.
If I were capable of being actuated by motives of fear, I should be
unworthy of the seat which I hold on this floor. If the nation be
satisfied that any course is proper, it would be base and degrading
to be driven from it by the discordant murmurs of a minority. We are
cautioned to beware how we execute a measure with which the feelings
of the people are at war. I should be the last to persist in a measure
which injuriously affected the interest of the United States; but no
man feels more imperiously the duty of persevering in a course which
is right, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of a few; and though I
may regret and respect the feelings of these few, I will persist in
the course which I believe to be right, at the expense even of the
Government itself.
Mr. MITCHILL said he was not prepared to vote on the question of
repealing the embargo laws, in the precise form in which it had been
brought before the Senate. There was as yet a want of information; for
certain additional documents, expected from the Executive, had not yet
been communicated, and the select committee to which the part of the
Message concerning the foreign relations of the country was lately
referred, had not brought forward a report. He would have been better
pleased if the proposition had been so framed as to have expressed
indignation at the injuries our Government had received from foreign
nations. Then he would cheerfully have given it his concurrence. But
now, when those who are willing to do something, though not exactly
what the motion proposes, are made to vote directly against a removal
of the existing restrictions upon our commerce, their situation is
rather unpleasant; indeed, it is unfair, inasmuch as they must either
give their assent to a measure, to the time and manner of which they
may be averse, or they must vote negatively in a case which, but
for some incidental or formal matter, would have met their hearty
approbation. He could, therefore, have wished that the question had
been presented to the House in such terms as to afford an opportunity
of expressing their sense of the wrongs our nation had endured from
foreign Sovereigns, and of the restrictions laid upon American commerce
by their unjust regulations, as well as on the further restrictions
that, under the pressure of events, it had been thought necessary for
our own Legislature to impose.
I now come to the year 1806, an eventful year to the foreign commerce
of our people. An extravagant and armed trade had for a considerable
time been carried on by some of our citizens with the emancipated or
revolted blacks of Hayti. The French Minister, conformably to the
instructions of his Government, remonstrated against this traffic as
ungracious and improper; and under an impression that our citizens
ought to be restrained from intercourse with the negroes of Hispaniola,
Congress passed an act forbidding that altogether. This was the second
time that our Government circumscribed the commercial conduct of its
citizens. It was also during this year that memorials were forwarded
to the Executive and legislative branches of our Government by the
merchants of our principal seaports, stating the vexations of their
foreign commerce to be intolerable, and calling in the most earnest
terms for relief or redress. These addresses were mostly composed with
great ability; it seemed as if the merchants were in danger of total
ruin. Their situation was depicted as being deplorable in the extreme.
The interposition of their Government was asked in the most strenuous
and pressing terms; and your table, Mr. President, was literally loaded
with petitions. The chief cause of this distress was briefly this:
These citizens of the United States were engaged during the war in
Europe, in a commerce with enemies' colonies not open in time of peace;
by this means, the produce of the French West Indies was conveyed under
the neutral flag to the mother country. Great Britain opposed the
direct commerce from the colony to France through the neutral bottom.
The neutral then evaded the attempt against him by landing the colonial
produce in his own country, and after having thus neutralized or
naturalized it, exported it under drawback for Bordeaux or Marseilles;
this proceeding was also opposed by the British, and much property was
captured and condemned in executing their orders against it. Their
writers justified their conduct by charging fraud upon the neutral
flag, and declaring that under cover of them a "war in disguise" was
carried on, while on our side the rights of neutrals were defended with
great learning and ability in a most profound investigation of the
subject.
This same year was ushered in by a proclamation of General Ferrand,
the French commandant at St. Domingo, imposing vexations on the trade
of our citizens; and a partial non-importation law was enacted against
Great Britain by Congress about the middle of April. But these were not
all the impediments which arose. Notices were given to the American
Minister in London of several blockades. The chief of these was that
of the coast, from the Elbe to Brest inclusive, in May. And here,
as it occurs to me, may I mention the spurious blockade of Curaçoa,
under which numerous captures were made. And lastly, to complete the
catalogue of disasters for 1806, and to close the woful climax, the
French decree of Berlin came forth in November, and, as if sporting
with the interests and feelings of Americans, proclaimed Great Britain
and her progeny of isles to be in a state of blockade.
Hopes had been entertained that such a violent and convulsed condition
of society would not be of long duration. Experience, however, soon
proved that the infuriate rage of man was as yet unsatisfied, and had
much greater lengths to go. For early in the succeeding year (1807),
an order of the British Council was issued, by which the trade of
neutrals, and of course of American citizens, was interdicted from the
port of one belligerent to the port of another. And in the ensuing
May, the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems, with the interjacent coasts
were declared by them to be in a state of blockade, and a similar
declaration was made on their part to neutrals in regard to the
straits of the Dardanelles and the city of Smyrna. But these were but
subordinate incidents in this commercial drama; the catastrophe of the
tragedy was soon to be developed. "On the 22d of June, by a formal
order from a British Admiral, our frigate Chesapeake, leaving her port
for a distant service, was attacked by one of these vessels, which had
been lying in our harbors under the indulgence of hospitality, was
disabled from proceeding, had several of her crew killed, and four
taken away." Immediately the President by proclamation interdicted
our harbors and waters to all British armed vessels, and forbade
intercourse with them. Under an uncertainty how far hostilities were
intended, and the town of Norfolk being threatened with an immediate
attack, a sufficient force was ordered for the protection of that
place, and such other preparations commenced and pursued as the
prospect rendered proper.
In furtherance of these schemes, a proclamation was published, holding
all their absent seamen to their allegiance, recalling them from
foreign services, and denouncing heavy penalties for disobedience. The
operation of this upon the American merchant service would have been
very sensibly felt. Many British born subjects were in the employ of
our merchants, and that very Government, which claimed as a British
subject every American citizen who had been but two years a seaman in
their service, refused to be bound by their own rule in relation to
British subjects who had served an equal term on board the ships of
the United States. But this was not all. The month of November was
distinguished by an order retaliating on France a decree passed by her
some time before, declaring the sale of ships by belligerents to be
illegal; and thus, by virtue of concurrent acts of these implacable
enemies, the poor neutral found it impossible to purchase a ship either
from a subject of Great Britain or of France. That season of gloom was
famous, or rather infamous, for another act prohibiting wholly the
commerce of neutrals with the enemies of Great Britain, and for yet
another, pregnant with the principles of lordly domination on their
part, and of colonial vassalage on our, by which the citizens of these
independent and sovereign States are compelled to pay duties on their
cargoes in British ports, and receive licenses under the authority of
that Government, as a condition of being permitted to trade to any part
of Europe in possession of her enemies.
This outrageous edict on the part of Britain was succeeded by another
on the side of France, equalling, or if possible, surpassing it in
injustice. In December came forth the decree of Milan, enforcing the
decree of Berlin against American trade; dooming to confiscation every
vessel of the United States that had been boarded or even spoken to by
a Briton, and encouraging, by the most unjustifiable lures, passengers
and sailors to turn informers. The abominable mandate was quickly
echoed in Spain, and sanctioned by the approbation of His Most Catholic
Majesty. It has been executed with shocking atrocity. In addition to
other calamities, the property of neutrals has been sequestered in
France, and their ships burned by her cruisers on the ocean.
Such, Mr. President, was the situation of the European world, when
Congress deemed it necessary to declare an embargo on our own vessels.
Denmark and Prussia, and Russia, and Portugal, had become associated or
allied with France; and, with the exception of Sweden, the commerce of
our citizens was prohibited, by the mutually vindictive and retaliating
belligerents, from the White Sea to the Adriatic. American ships and
cargoes were declared the prize and plunder of the contending powers.
The widely-extended commerce of our people was to be crushed to atoms
between the two mighty millstones, or prudently withdrawn from its
dangerous exposure, and detained in safety at home. Policy and prudence
dictated the latter measure. And as the ocean was become the scene
of political storm and tempest, more dreadful than had ever agitated
the physical elements, our citizens were admonished to partake of
that security for their persons and property, in the peaceful havens
of their country, which they sought in vain on the high seas and in
European harbors. The regulations, so destructive to our commerce,
were not enacted by us. They were imposed upon us by foreign tyrants.
Congress had no volition to vote upon the question. In the shipwreck of
our trade, all that remained for us to do, was to save as much as we
could from perishing, and as far as our efforts would go, to prevent a
total loss.
I touch, with a delicate hand, the mission of Mr. Rose. The arrival
of this Envoy Extraordinary from Britain was nearly of the same date
with an order of his Government, blockading Carthagena, Cadiz, and
St. Lucar, and the intermediate ports of Spain, and thereby vexing
the commerce of American citizens. The unsuccessful termination of
his negotiation has been but a few months since followed by a refusal
on the part of his Government to rescind its orders, that work so
much oppression to our commerce, on condition of having the embargo
suspended in respect to theirs. And the French Ministry has treated
a similar friendly and specific overture, from our Executive, with
total disregard. In addition to all which we learn, from the highest
source of intelligence, that the British naval commander at Barbadoes
did, about the middle of October, declare the French leeward Caribbean
Islands to be in a state of strict blockade, and cautioning neutrals to
govern themselves accordingly, under pain of capture and condemnation.
THURSDAY, November 24.
_The Embargo._
Mr. GILES addressed the Senate:
Mr. President: Having during the recess of Congress retired from the
political world, and having little agency in the passing political
scenes, living in a part of the country, too, where there is little or
no difference in political opinions, and where the embargo laws are
almost universally approved, I felt the real want of information upon
the subject now under discussion. I thought I knew something of the
general objects of the embargo laws, and I had not been inattentive to
their general operations upon society, as far as I had opportunities of
observing thereupon.
When I arrived here, and found that this subject had excited so much
sensibility in the minds of many gentlemen I met with, as to engross
their whole thoughts, and almost to banish every other topic of
conversation, I felt also a curiosity to know what were the horrible
effects of these laws in other parts of the country, and which had
escaped my observation in the part of the country in which I reside. Of
course, sir, I have given to the gentlemen, who have favored us with
their observations on both sides of the question under consideration,
the most careful and respectful attention, and particularly to the
gentlemen representing the eastern section of the Union, where most of
this sensibility had been excited. I always listen to gentlemen from
that part of the United States with pleasure, and generally receive
instruction from them; but on this occasion, I am reluctantly compelled
to acknowledge, that I have received from them less satisfaction and
less information than usual; and still less conviction.
It was hardly to have been expected, Mr. President, that after so
many angry and turbulent passions had been called into action, by
the recent agitations throughout the whole United States, resulting
from the elections by the people, to almost all the important offices
within their gift, and particularly from the elections of electors for
choosing the President and Vice President of the United States, that
gentlemen would have met here perfectly exempt from the feelings which
this state of things was naturally calculated to inspire. Much less was
it to have been expected, sir, that gentlemen who had once possessed
the power of the nation, and who, from some cause or other, had lost
it; (a loss, which they now tell us they _but too well remember_, and
I fear, might have added, _too deeply deplore_,) gentlemen too, sir,
who at one time during the electioneering scene had indulged the fond
and delusive hope, that through the privations necessarily imposed upon
our fellow-citizens, by the unexampled aggressions of the belligerent
powers, they might once more find their way to office and power, and
who now find themselves disappointed in this darling expectation--it
was not at all to be expected, sir, that these gentlemen should now
appear here, perfectly exempt from the unpleasant feelings which
so dreadful a disappointment must necessarily have produced. It was
a demand upon human nature for too great a sacrifice; and however
desirable such an exemption might have been at the present moment, and
however honorable it would have been to those gentlemen, it was not
expected.
But, sir, I had indulged a hope that the extraordinary dangers and
difficulties pressed upon us by the aggressing belligerents, attended,
too, with so many circumstances of indignity and insult, would have
awakened a sensibility in the bosom of every gentleman of this body,
which would have wholly suppressed, or at least suspended, these
unpleasant feelings, until some measures, consulting the general
interests and welfare of the people, could have been devised, to meet,
resist, and if possible, to subdue the extraordinary crisis. But,
sir, even in this hope, too, I have been totally disappointed. I was
the more encouraged in this hope, when upon opening this debate the
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. HILLHOUSE) seemed sensible of this
sacred obligation, imposed by the crisis; when he exhorted us, in
conducting our deliberations, utterly to discard the influence of party
spirit. It would have given me great pleasure, sir, if the gentleman
had afforded us a magnanimous example of a precept so admirably suited
to the present state of things. But in this too, sir, I have been
unfortunately disappointed. That gentleman's observations consisted
almost exclusively of retrospective animadversions upon the original
objects and horrible effects of the embargo laws, without seeming to
think it was worth his attention to favor us with any reflections
upon the prospective course of measures which the people's interests,
the public safety, and general welfare, so imperiously demand. That
gentleman represented the embargo laws as mere acts of volition,
impelled by no cause nor necessity; whilst the British orders, and
French edicts, were scarcely glanced at, and certainly formed the least
prominent feature of his observations. He represented these laws as a
wanton and wicked attack upon commerce, with a view to its destruction,
whilst he seemed scarcely to have recollected the extraordinary dangers
and difficulties which overspread the ocean--indeed, sir, he described
the ocean as perfectly free from dangers and difficulties, unruffled
by any storms, and that we had nothing to do but to unfurl our canvas
to the wind, that it would be filled with prosperous gales, and wafted
to the ports of its destination, where it would be received with open
arms of friendship and hospitality. I wish, sir, with all my heart, the
gentleman could but realize these dreaming visions; their reality would
act like a, magic spell upon the embargo laws, and dissipate them in a
moment! But, alas! sir, when we come to look at realities, when we turn
our eyes upon the real dangers and difficulties which do overspread
the ocean, we shall find them so formidable, that the wisdom of our
undivided counsels, and the energy of our undivided action, will
scarcely be sufficient to resist and conquer them. To my great regret,
sir, we now see, that the United States cannot even hope to be blessed
with this union of mind and action, although certainly their dearest
interests demand it.
Mr. President, perhaps the greatest inconvenience attending popular
governments, consists in this: that whenever the union and energy
of the people are most required to resist foreign aggressions, the
pressure of these aggressions presents most temptations to distrusts
and divisions. Was there ever a stronger illustration of the truth
and correctness of this observation than the recent efforts made
under the pressure of the embargo laws? The moment the privations,
reluctantly but necessarily imposed by these laws, became to be felt,
was the moment of signal to every political demagogue, who wished
to find his way to office and to power, to excite the distrusts of
the people, and then to separate them from the Government of their
choice, by every exaggeration which ingenuity could devise, and every
misrepresentation which falsehood could invent: nothing was omitted
which it was conceived would have a tendency to effect this object.
But, Mr. President, the people of the United States must learn the
lesson now, and at all future times, of disrespecting the bold and
disingenuous charges and insinuations of such aspiring demagogues. They
must learn to respect and rally round their own Government, or they
never can present a formidable front to a foreign aggressor. Sir, the
people of the United States have already learnt this lesson. They have
recently given an honorable and glorious example of their knowledge in
this respect. They have, in their recent elections, demonstrated to
the nation and to the world that they possess too much good sense to
become the dupes of these delusive artifices, and too much patriotism
to desert their Government when it stands most in need of their support
and energy.
The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. HILLHOUSE) has made the most
strict, and I had almost said, uncharitable scrutiny into the objects
and effects of the embargo laws, in the delusive hope, I presume,
of obtaining a triumph over his political adversaries. I propose to
follow the gentleman, in a fair and candid comparison of information
and opinions upon this subject; and I shall do so in the most perfect
confidence, that whenever a thorough examination of the objects and
effects of the embargo laws shall be made known, and the merits of the
measure fully understood, that there is not a man in the United States
who will not applaud and support the Administration for its adoption,
who has the uncontaminated heart of an American throbbing within his
bosom.
Sir, I have always understood that there were two objects contemplated
by the embargo laws. The first, precautionary, operating upon
ourselves. The second, coercive, operating upon the aggressing
belligerents. Precautionary, in saving our seamen, our ships, and
our merchandise, from the plunder of our enemies, and avoiding the
calamities of war. Coercive, by addressing strong appeals to the
interests of both the belligerents. The first object has been answered
beyond my most sanguine expectations. To make a fair and just estimate
of this measure, reference should be had to our situation at the time
of its adoption. At that time, the aggressions of both the belligerents
were such, as to leave the United States but a painful alternative
in the choice of one of three measures, to wit, the embargo, war, or
submission. I know that this position has not been admitted, though but
faintly denied in the discussion. I shall however proceed upon this
hypothesis for the present, and in the course of my observations will
prove its correctness by the statements of the gentlemen in favor of
the resolution.
Before the recommendation of the measure, the laudable and provident
circumspection of the Administration had obtained tolerably correct
estimates of the amount and value of the ships and merchandise
belonging to the citizens of the United States then afloat, and the
amount and value of what was shortly expected to be afloat; together
with a conjectural statement of the number of the seamen employed in
the navigation thereof.
It was found that merchandise to the value of one hundred millions of
dollars was actually afloat, in vessels amounting in value to twenty
millions more. That an amount of merchandise and vessels equal to
fifty millions of dollars more, was expected to be shortly put afloat,
and that it would require fifty thousand seamen to be employed in the
navigation of this enormous amount of property. The Administration was
informed of the hostile edicts of France previously issued, and then in
a state of execution, and of an intention on the part of Great Britain
to issue her orders, the character and object of which were also
known. The object was, to sweep this valuable commerce from the ocean.
The situation of this commerce was as well known to Great Britain as
to ourselves, and her inordinate cupidity could not withstand the
temptation of the rich booty she vainly thought within her power. This
was the state of information at the time this measure was recommended.
The President of the United States, ever watchful and anxious for the
preservation of the persons and property of all our fellow-citizens,
but particularly of the merchants, whose property is most exposed
to danger, and of the seamen whose persons are also most exposed,
recommended the embargo for the protection of both; and it has
saved and protected both. Let us now suppose, for a moment, that
the President, possessed of this information, had not apprised the
merchants and seamen of their danger, and had recommended no measure
for their safety and protection; would he not in that case have merited
and received the reproaches which the ignorance or ingratitude
of merchants and others have so unjustly heaped upon him, for his
judicious and anxious attentions to their interests? It is admitted
by all, that the embargo laws have saved this enormous amount of
property, and this number of seamen, which, without them, would have
forcibly gone into the hands of our enemies, to pamper their arrogance,
stimulate their injustice, and increase their means of annoyance.
I should suppose, Mr. President, this saving worth some notice. But,
sir, we are told that instead of protecting our seamen, it has driven
them out of the country, and into foreign service. I believe, sir, that
this fact is greatly exaggerated. But, sir, suppose for a moment that
it is so, the Government has done all, in this respect, it was bound to
do. It placed these seamen in the bosoms of their friends and families,
in a state of perfect security; and if they have since thought proper
to abandon these blessings, and emigrate from their country, it was
an act of choice, not of necessity. But, what would have been the
unhappy destiny of these brave tars, if they had been permitted to
have been carried into captivity, and sent adrift on unfriendly and
inhospitable shores? Why, sir, in that case, they would have had no
choice; necessity would have driven them into a hard and ignominious
service, to fight the battles of the authors of their dreadful
calamities, against a nation with which their country was at peace.
And is the bold and generous American tar to be told, that he is to
disrespect the Administration for its anxious and effectual attentions
to his interests? for relieving him from a dreadful captivity? Even
under the hardships he does suffer, and which I sincerely regret,
every generous feeling of his noble heart would repel the base attempt
with indignation. But, sir, the American seamen have not deserted
their country; foreign seamen may and probably have gone into foreign
service; and, for one, I am glad of it. I hope they will never return;
and I am willing to pass a law, in favor of the true-hearted American
seamen, that these foreign seamen never should return. I would even
prohibit them from being employed in merchant vessels. The American
seamen have found employment in the country; and whenever the proper
season shall arrive for employing them on their proper element, you
will find them, like true birds of passage, hovering in crowds upon
your shores.
Whilst considering this part of the subject, I cannot help expressing
my regret that, at the time of passing our embargo laws, a proportion
of our seamen was not taken into the public service; because, in my
judgment, the nation required their services, and it would have been
some alleviation to their hardships, which the measure peculiarly
imposed upon them, as a class of citizens, by affecting their immediate
occupation; and the other classes, as well as the public Treasury,
were able to contribute to their alleviation; and I am willing to do
the same thing at this time. Indeed, its omission is the only regret
I have ever felt, at the measures of the last Congress. I like the
character--I like the open frankness, and the generous feelings of the
honest American tar; and, whenever in my power, I am ready to give, and
will with pleasure give him my protection and support. One of the most
important and agreeable effects of the embargo laws, is giving these
honest fellows a safe asylum. But, sir, these are not the only good
effects of the embargo. It has preserved our peace--it has saved our
honor--it has saved our national independence. Are these savings not
worth notice? Are these blessings not worth preserving? The gentleman
from Delaware (Mr. WHITE) has, indeed, told us, that under the embargo
laws, the United States are bleeding at every pore. This, surely, sir,
is one of the most extravagant effects that could have been ascribed
to these laws by the frantic dreams of the most infatuated passions.
Bloodletting is the last effect that I ever expected to hear ascribed
to this measure. I thought it was of the opposite character; but it
serves to show that nothing is too extravagant for the misguided zeal
of gentlemen in the opposition. I have cast my eyes about in vain to
discover those copious streams of blood; but I neither see nor hear any
thing of them from any other quarter. So far from the United States
bleeding at every pore, under the embargo, it has saved them from
bleeding at any pore; and one of the highest compliments to the measure
is, that it has saved us from the very calamity which the gentleman
attributed to it; but which, thanks to our better stars and wiser
counsels, does not exist.
Mr. President, the eyes of the world are now turned upon us; if we
submit to these indignities and aggressions, Great Britain herself
would despise us; she would consider us an outcast among nations; she
would not own us for her offspring: France would despise us; all the
world would despise us; and what is infinitely worse, we should be
compelled to despise ourselves! If we resist, we shall command the
respect of our enemies, the sympathies of the world, and the noble
approbation of our own consciences.
Mr. President, our fate is in our own hands; let us have union and
we have nothing to fear. So highly do I prize union, at this awful
moment, that I would prefer any one measure of resistance with union,
to any other measure of resistance with division; let us then, sir,
banish all personal feelings; let us present to our enemies the
formidable front of an indissoluble band of brothers, nothing else is
necessary to our success. Mr. President, unequal as this contest may
seem; favored as we are by our situation, and under the blessing of a
beneficent Providence, who has never lost sight of the United States
in times of difficulty and trial, I have the most perfect confidence,
that if we prove true to ourselves, we shall triumph over our enemies.
Deeply impressed with these considerations, I am prepared to give the
resolution a flat and decided negative.
FRIDAY, November 25.
JOHN MILLEDGE, from the State of Georgia, attended.
WEDNESDAY, November 30.
_The Embargo._
Mr. PICKERING.--Mr. President: I am aware, sir, of the consequences
of advancing any thing from which conclusions may be drawn adverse to
the opinions of our own Administration, which, by many, are conceived
to be indisputably just. Merely to state these questions, and to
mention such arguments as the British Government may, perhaps, have
urged in their support on her side, is sufficient to subject a man to
the popular charge of being under British influence, or to the vulgar
slander of being a "British tory." He will be fortunate to escape the
accusation of touching British gold. But, sir, none of these things
move me. The patrons of the miscreants who utter these slanders know
better, but are, nevertheless, willing to benefit by the impression
they may make on the minds of the people. From an early period of my
life I was zealously engaged in every measure opposed to the attempts
of Great Britain to encroach upon our rights, until the commencement
of our Revolutionary war; and during its whole continuance, I was
uninterruptedly employed in important civil or military departments,
contributing all my efforts to bring that war to a successful
termination.
I, sir, am not the advocate of wrong-doers, to whatever country
they belong, whether Emperors, or Kings, or the Administrators of a
Republic. Justice is my object, and Truth my guide; and wherever she
points the way I shall not fear to go.
Great Britain has done us many wrongs. When we were Colonies, she
attempted to deprive us of some of our dearest birth-rights--rights
derived from our English ancestors, rights which we defended, and
finally established, by the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary
war. But these wrongs, and all the wounds of war, were intended to be
obliterated and healed by the treaty of peace, when all enmities should
have ceased.
Great Britain wronged us in the capture and condemnation of our vessels
under her orders of 1793, and she has made reparation for these
wrongs, pursuant to a treaty, negotiated on practical principles by a
statesman who, with liberal views and real candor, sought adjustment
and reparation.
MONDAY, December 12.
_Enforcement of the Embargo Laws._
Mr. GILES, from the committee appointed the 11th of November last, on
that part of the Message of the President of the United States which
relates to the embargo laws, and the measures necessary to enforce
due observance thereof, made a further report, in part, of a bill to
authorize and require the President of the United States to arm,
man, and fit out for immediate service, all the public ships of war,
vessels, and gunboats of the United States; and the bill was read, and
passed to the second reading.
The bill is as follows:
"_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America, in Congress assembled_, That the
President be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to
cause to be fitted out, officered, manned, and employed, as
soon as may be, all the frigates and other armed vessels of the
United States, including gunboats; and to cause the frigates
and armed vessels, so soon as they can be prepared for active
service, respectively to be stationed at such ports and places
on the seacoast as he may deem most expedient, or to cruise
on any part of the coast of the United States, or territories
thereof.
"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That, for the purpose of
carrying the foregoing provision into immediate effect, the
President of the United States be, and is hereby, authorized
and required, in addition to the number of petty officers,
able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys, at present authorized
by law, to appoint, and cause to be engaged and employed as
soon as may be, ---- midshipmen, ---- corporals of marines,
---- able seamen, ---- ordinary seamen and boys, which shall
be engaged to serve for a period not exceeding ---- years,
but the President may discharge the same sooner, if in
his judgment their services may be dispensed with; and to
satisfy the necessary expenditures to be incurred therein, a
sum not exceeding ---- dollars be, and the same is hereby,
appropriated, and shall be paid out of any moneys in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated."
SATURDAY, December 17.
The credentials of MICHAEL LEIB, appointed a Senator by the State of
Pennsylvania, were presented and read, and ordered to lie on file.
_Enforcement of the Embargo._
The Senate resumed the bill making further provision for enforcing the
embargo.
Mr. GOODRICH rose, and addressed the Senate as follows--
Mr. President: This bill, making further provision for enforcing the
embargo, requires all our attention. We are not on ordinary business.
An embargo for an indefinite period, over a great country like ours,
abounding in rich staples and domestic products, and carrying on in
its own vessels an extensive and profitable commerce, is a phenomenon
in the civilized world. We are about entering on the second year
of this novel measure, and even in defiance of the lessons which
experience teaches, that without producing any beneficial results, it
is embroiling the choicest interests of the nation. On foreign powers
it has made no impression, and its ruinous effect on our own country,
we see in the waste of private property and public revenue; in the
discontents of our citizens; in the perplexed state of the public
councils, and the increasing difficulties that are fast gathering
round the Government. The friends of the embargo say, that it has been
evaded and violated, but that when strictly enforced, it will compel
foreign nations to respect our rights. Under these impressions, the
system is to be maintained. To enforce it, the powers of the Government
are to be put in array throughout our country, especially in places
where discontents are manifested; and an extension is to be given to
that system of arbitrary seizures of vessels, goods, merchandise,
and domestic products, on suspicion of their being intended for
exportation, which came in with the embargo laws, and has attended
their execution.
In all this, sir, I see nothing that is to conciliate the conflicting
opinions and passions of our citizens, and restore concord amongst
them. I see nothing that will invigorate the public councils, and
resuscitate the dormant spirit and resources of the nation. To me
it seems that the Administration, without presenting to public view
any definite object or course, are pressing forward our affairs into
a chaos of inextricable difficulties. And I cannot but regard this
bill as holding a prominent place among the measures leading on that
unfortunate issue.
This bill bears marks of distrust entertained by the Government of
the people, or a considerable portion of them, and of the State
authorities; it places the coasting trade under further and vexatious
restraints, as well as its general regulations under the control of the
President. It intrenches on the municipal polity of the States, and
the intercourse of the people in their ordinary business. And, what
above all will wound the public sentiment, for the accustomed and mild
means of executing the laws by civil process through the tribunals of
justice, it substitutes military powers to be called out and exercised,
not in aid, but in place, of the civil authorities.
The coasting trade is placed under the regulation of the President by
this bill:
1st. Collectors may refuse permission to put a cargo on board of any
ship, vessel, or boat, in any case where they have their own personal
suspicions that it is intended for foreign exportation, and in every
case which may be comprehended within the scope of any general
instructions, issued by command of the President. But there is a
proviso as to coasting vessels uniformly employed in the navigation of
bays, sounds, rivers, and lakes, which shall have obtained a general
permission.
2d. General permissions may be granted to the last-mentioned vessels,
under such general instructions as the President of the United States
may give, when it can be done without danger of the embargo being
violated, to take on board such articles as may be designated in such
general permission or permissions.
By these general instructions, the President may prescribe the kind and
quantity of exports from, and imports into the individual States, and
from and to the particular districts within a State. He may suspend
them in part or in whole.
The power of issuing general instructions now proposed to be given
to the President by law, he exercised in the recess of Congress,
and in my opinion, without law. The Governor of Massachusetts was
authorized to give certificates, or licenses for the importation
of flour into that State; and, under general instructions from the
President, without personal suspicion of his own, the collector at
Charleston, in South Carolina, detained a vessel; which called forth
the independent exercise of the judicial power of the circuit court
in that State, to control the President's instructions. I am sensible
the Administration and its friends have an arduous task in executing
the embargo; difficulties beset them on every side; difficulties
inherent in the measure itself, and not to be overcome by accumulating
rigorous penalties, and an extension of the Executive power. The power
to regulate commerce is vested in Congress, and by granting it to the
President, do we not transfer to him one of the most important and
delicate of the legislative powers? What State would have adopted the
constitution, if it had been foreseen that this power would be granted
to any man, however distinguished by office?
The sections I have considered, principally affect merchants and
seafaring men in their business, at stores, custom-houses, about
wharves, ships, and vessels. But other sections take a wider range, and
intrench on the ordinary concerns of the great body of the people, by
the powers they give for unreasonable and arbitrary searches for, and
seizures of their property.
Collectors of the customs throughout the United States, by the tenth
section, are empowered to take into custody specie, or any articles
of domestic growth or manufacture, under these circumstances, when
deposited in unusual places, in unusual quantities, in places where
there is reason to believe they are intended for exportation in
vessels, sleighs, or other carriages, or in any manner apparently
on their way towards the territories of foreign nations, or a place
whence such articles are intended to be exported. And, when taken into
custody, they are not permitted to be removed without bonds being given
for their being relanded in some place whence, in the opinion of the
collector, there is no danger of their being exported.
Without warrant founded on proof, from suspicion only, may this
unbounded license be exercised. Our houses, heretofore our castles, and
the secure abodes of our families, may be thrown open to the visits
of collectors to search for and seize our money and goods, whenever
instigated by suspicion, prejudice, resentment, or party spirit.
No place is to be protected; the people may every where be exposed,
at home, on the way, and abroad. Specie and goods thus seized without
warrant, and on suspicion only, are not to be removed unless and
until bond with sureties shall be given for landing or delivering the
same in some place of the United States, whence, in the opinion of
the collector, there shall not be any danger of such articles being
exported. These provisions strike at the vital principles of a free
government; and are they not contrary to the fourth and sixth articles
of amendments to the constitution? Are not these searches and seizures,
without warrant, on the mere suspicion of a collector, unreasonable
searches and seizures? And is not a man thereby to be deprived of
property without due process of law?
The military may be employed by such person as the President may have
empowered. He may designate, at certain places in the States, persons
to call out such part of the land or naval forces of the United States,
or of the militia, as may be judged necessary. Those will be selected
who are most convenient and in all respects qualified to act in the
scenes to which they may be called. In these appointments the Senate is
to have no concurrence. They are to be Presidential agents for issuing
requisitions to the standing army, for militia, and not amenable to
any tribunal for their conduct. Heretofore a delicate and respectful
attention has been paid to the State authorities on this subject. The
requisitions of the General Government for the militia have been made
to the Governors of the States; and what reason is there for taking a
different course to enforce the embargo?
Under our present system have not insurrections been suppressed,
rebellions quelled, and combinations and resistance against lawful
authority overcome, by the force of the General Government in
co-operation with the State Governments? Is not the authority of
the marshals competent to the execution of the laws? I see no cause
for these arrays of the military throughout the country, and the
unrestrained license that is to be given to its operations. It is a
fundamental principle of a free government, "that the military be kept
in subordination to the civil power," and never be put in motion until
those be found incompetent to preserve the public peace and authority.
But, by the provisions of this bill, these Presidential agents may
call out the standing army or militia, or part of them, to follow in
the collector's train, to seize specie and goods in houses, stores,
and elsewhere, and generally for executing the embargo laws. And
even the public peace, so far as respects the suppressing armed and
riotous assemblages of persons resisting the custom-house officers in
the exercise of their duties, it would seem can no longer be confided
to the States, and it is thought necessary to surround custom-house
officers with bands of the standing army or militia.
The bill before us is bottomed on a report of the Secretary of the
Treasury. How often were his strenuous remonstrances, and those of
the chairman of the committee who reported the bill, (Mr. GILES,)
formerly heard against the extension of the Executive patronage and
influence; the interference of the General Government in the local
policy of the States, and, the ordinary concerns of the people; and,
above all, against standing armies? Then no such Executive prerogatives
were claimed as this bill contains; no such attempts made as here are
made for intrenchments on the internal policy of the States, and the
ordinary concerns of the people; and then our army, small in comparison
with the present establishment, was kept aloof from the affairs of the
State, and the persons and property of the citizens. Our country was
happy, prosperous, and respected. The present crisis is portentous.
Internal disquiets will not be healed, nor public sentiment controlled,
by precipitate and rash measures. It is time for the public councils
to pause. This bill, sir, ought not to pass. It strikes at the vital
principles of our republican system. It proposes to place the country
in a time of peace under military law, the first appearance of which
ought here to be resisted with all our talents and efforts. It proposes
to introduce a military despotism, to which freemen can never submit,
and which can never govern except by terror and carnage.
TUESDAY, December 20.
_Enforcement of the Embargo._
Mr. GILES said, I am sensible that I owe an apology to the Senate, as
chairman of the committee, for not having made an exposition of the
objects and principles of the bill, reported for consideration, at an
earlier stage of the discussion. This omission has not in the smallest
degree been influenced by any apprehension, that these principles are
indefensible; but, in some degree, from a desire to screen myself,
as much as possible, from intermixing in discussions; a task which
is never agreeable, but is at present peculiarly distressing and
afflicting to my feelings. I also thought that the session had already
been sufficiently fruitful of discussions intimately connected with the
bill before us; and that the public interests, at this time, required
action. I know, too, sir, that I owe an apology to the Senate, for the
great number of amendments which, under their indulgence, has been
made to this bill after it was first presented to their consideration.
But, sir, you will find some apology in the intrinsic difficulty
and delicacy of the subject itself, and also in the disposition
manifested by the committee, to give to the objections made by the
opponents of the bill, that respectful attention to which many of
them were certainly entitled, and to accommodate its provisions, as
far as possible, to the views of those gentlemen. After every effort,
however, to effect this object, it still appears that the bill presents
temptations for addressing the popular sensibility too strong to be
resisted by gentlemen in the opposition. They have, accordingly,
with great zeal and ability, described the provisions of the bill as
dangerous and alarming to the rights and liberties of the people.
This, sir, is the common course of opposition, and applies to every
strong measure requiring the exercise of much Executive discretion. I
think, however, I shall be able to show that there is no new principle
contained in the provisions of that bill; but that every provision it
contains is amply justified by precedents in pre-existing laws, which
have not been found to be so destructive to the rights of the people,
as gentlemen strenuously insist similar provisions in this bill will
be, if they receive the sanction of law. In performing this task, I
shall bring into view only such parts of the bill as have been objected
to by gentlemen, presuming that, as their objections have evidently
been the result of great industry and deliberation, all other parts of
the bill remain unobjectionable. I shall also, perhaps, avoid some of
the observations respecting minute details; apply my remarks generally
to principles; and thus bring my observations and replies into as short
a compass as possible.
The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. GOODRICH) commenced his remarks
by declaring the embargo to be a permanent measure, deprecating its
effects, as ruinous at home and ineffectual abroad. These observations
have been repeatedly made by others, and already replied to by several
gentlemen, as well as myself; and I am strengthened in the correctness
of those replies by all the further reflections I have been enabled
to bestow upon them. This part of the subject will, therefore, be
passed over without further notice, except to remark, that perhaps
one of the causes of the inefficacy of the measure abroad, has been
the unprincipled violations of its provisions at home; and the great
and leading object of the present bill is to prevent such violations.
Upon this part of the subject I am happy to find that one of its most
strenuous and judicious opposers (Mr. HILLHOUSE) has candidly informed
the Senate, that the provisions of the bill are admirably calculated
to effect that object--and if in their practical operation they should
realize the character anticipated by that gentleman, I shall feel no
regret for that portion of labor I have bestowed upon them. Indeed, I
shall congratulate the committee as well as myself in having been so
fortunate as to find a competent remedy for so great an evil.
The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. GOODRICH) informs us, that
the public councils are pressing on to measures pregnant with the
most alarming results. I hope the gentleman is mistaken in his
apprehensions, and I should have been much pleased if the gentleman had
been good enough to point them to a better course; but, sir, he has
not done so, nor has any gentleman on the same side of the question.
Indeed, sir, it would give me great pleasure to do something that would
be agreeable to our Eastern friends; but, unfortunately, amidst all the
intrinsic difficulties which press upon us, that seems to be not among
the least of them. The gentlemen themselves will not explicitly tell us
what would produce the effect--and I am inclined to think that nothing
short of putting the Government in their hands would do it. Even this
would not be exempt from difficulties. The gentlemen from that part
of the United States are nearly equally divided among themselves
respecting the proper course of measures to be pursued, and there is
an immense majority in every other part of the United States, in favor
of the measures proposed; we are therefore surrounded with real and
intrinsic difficulties from every quarter, and those of a domestic
nature are infinitely the most formidable, and most to be deprecated.
Indeed, sir, under present circumstances, the administration of
the Government cannot be a pleasant task; and, in my judgment, it
requires a great effort of patriotism to undertake it, not on account
of external pressures, but on account of internal discontents,
stimulated, too, by so many artful intrigues. But for these unfortunate
circumstances, every gentleman would feel an honorable pride in
contributing his efforts to devise measures for repelling foreign
aggressions, and he would court the responsibility attached to his
station. I would not, Mr. President, give up a scintilla of that
portion of the responsibility which the crisis imposes on me. Indeed,
sir, to have the honor of bearing my full share of it, is the only
inducement I have at this moment for occupying a place on this floor.
Without that consideration I should now be in retirement. But when I
turn my eyes upon internal divisions, discontents and violations of
law, and am compelled to think of measures for their suppression, it
produces the most painful sensations and distressing reflections.
The great principle of objection, the gentlemen tell us, consists
in the transfer of legislative powers to the Executive Department.
This is an old an abstract question, often heretofore brought into
view, and leads to endless discussion. I think I shall be able to
show that the bill introduces no new principle in this respect, but
only applies an established principle to new practical objects. The
general principle of the separation of departments is generally
admitted in the abstract; but the difficulties in this discussion
arise from applying the principle to practical objects. The great
difficulty exists in the attempt to fix on the precise boundary
line between legislative and Executive powers in their practical
operation. This is not possi-[1] You might attempt the search for the
philosopher's stone, or the discovery of the perpetual motion, with
as much prospect of success. The reason of this difficulty is, that
the practical objects and events to which this abstract principle is
attempted to be applied, are perpetually varying, according to the
practical progression of human affairs, and therefore cannot admit of
any uniform standard of application. This reflection might have saved
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. LLOYD) the trouble of reading to
us the constitution or bill of rights of Massachusetts, in which the
principle of separation of departments is very clearly and properly
laid down, and which will be very readily assented to in the abstract,
but which forms no part of the question in dispute. It cannot,
however, escape observation, that this principle is not laid down,
even in the abstract, in the Constitution of the United States; and,
although it is the leading principle of the constitution, and probably
was the principal guide in its formation, it is nevertheless in several
respects departed from.
This body partakes essentially both of the legislative and Executive
powers of the Government. The Executive Department also partakes of
the legislative powers, as far at least as an approbation of, and a
qualified negative of the laws extend, &c. I make these observations,
however, not in derogation of the general principle of the separation
of powers among the several departments, so far as is practicable, but
merely to show that there must necessarily be some limitations in its
practical operation. Perhaps the best general rule for guiding our
discretion upon this subject will be found to consist in this: That
legislation ought to extend as far as definition is practicable--when
definition stops, execution must necessarily begin. But some of
the particular provisions of this bill will furnish more precise
illustrations of my opinions upon this question; it will, therefore, be
waived until I shall come to their consideration.
I will now proceed to examine the more particular objections urged
against the detail of this bill. Its provisions respecting the coasting
trade are said to be objectionable in the following respects:
First objection: The penalty of the bonds required, is said to be
excessive. To enable us to decide correctly upon this point, the object
proposed to be effected, and the penalty required, should be considered
in reference to each other. The object is to prevent, by means of
coasting vessels, domestic articles from being carried abroad. Flour,
for instance, to the West Indies. The price of that article here is
less than five dollars; in the West Indies it is said to be thirty
and upward. The penalty of the bonds required is six times the amount
of the value of the vessel and cargo. Is any gentleman prepared to
say a smaller penalty will effect the object? I presume not. Indeed,
the committee were disposed to put it at the lowest possible point,
consistently with an effectuation of the object; and probably it is
rather too low for that purpose. As to the penalty, according to the
tonnage of vessels, it is believed no alteration in the existing
laws is made in that respect. These penalties will appear the more
reasonable, when it is recollected, that through the indulgence given
of the coasting trade, most of the violations of the embargo laws have
been contrived and effected.
Second objection: The collectors may be influenced by party spirit in
the exercise of their discretion. It is hoped that this will not be the
case, and if it were, it would certainly be much to be regretted. It
may, however, probably happen, and is one of the inconveniences of the
system.
Third objection: The high penalties of the bonds will drive many
persons of small means from their accustomed occupations. They will
not be able to procure the competent security for their prosecution.
It is not to be presumed that this will be the effect to any great
extent. If the owner is known to be honest, and has in view legal and
honest objects, I have very little apprehension of his not being able
to get the security required. But here the question recurs, are these
apprehended inconveniences of such a nature as to render it necessary
to abandon a great national object, for the accommodation of a few
individuals who are affected by them? Is the last effort to preserve
the peace of the nation, to be abandoned from these considerations? I
should conclude, certainly not.
The next objections are made to the seventh section of the bill, which
provides that stress of weather, and other unavoidable accidents at
sea, shall not be given in evidence in a trial at law to save the
penalty of bonds given as security against the violation of the embargo
laws. It is known that, through pretexts derived from this permission,
at present, most of the violations of these laws have been committed
with impunity--it is, therefore, important to the future execution of
the laws, to take away these pretexts. But it is objected that this
regulation manifests a distrust of oaths. It does, of what is called
custom-house oaths; their violation is already almost proverbial; it
does not, however, produce nor encourage this profligacy; it takes
away the temptation to it. It is further said, it impairs the trial by
jury--very far from it; the trial by jury still exists; this provision
only regulates the evidence to be produced before the jury. Gentlemen
state particular hardships which may take place under this regulation.
It is easy to state possible hardships under any general regulation;
but they have never been deemed sufficient objections to general
regulations producing in other respects beneficial results. This bill,
however, contains a provision for relief in all cases of hardships
under the embargo laws. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to
grant relief in all such cases. This power, vested in the Secretary,
is also objected to. It is said to manifest a distrust of courts, and
to transfer their powers to the Secretary of the Treasury. Whatever
may be my distrust of some of the courts of the United States, I can
say that consideration furnished no inducement to this provision. It
is a power not suited to the organization of courts, and it has for
a long time been exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury without
being complained of. Congress proceeded with great caution on this
subject. On the third day of March, 1797, they first introduced this
principle into their laws in relation to the collection of the revenue;
and, after an experiment of nearly three years, on the eleventh day
of February, 1800, they made the law perpetual. This will appear from
the 12th section of this bill, which merely borrows this provision
from pre-existing laws. It introduces no new principle whatever. This
doctrine is carried still further, by an act passed the 3d of March,
1807, in the eighth volume of the laws, page 318:
"An Act to prevent settlements being made on lands ceded to the
United States, until authorized by law.
"And it shall moreover be lawful for the President of the
United States to direct the Marshal, or officer acting as
Marshal, in the manner hereinafter directed, and also to
take such other measures, and to employ such military force
as he may judge necessary and proper, to remove from lands
ceded, or secured to the United States by treaty, or cession
as aforesaid, any person or persons who shall hereafter take
possession of the same, or make or attempt to make a settlement
thereon, until authorized by law."
Here the President is authorized to use the military force to remove
settlers from the public lands without the intervention of courts; and
the reason is, that the peculiarity of the case is not suited to the
jurisdiction of courts, nor would their powers be competent to the
object, nor, indeed, are courts allowed to interfere with any claims
of individuals against the United States, but Congress undertakes
to decide upon all such cases finally and peremptorily, without the
intervention of courts.
This part of the bill is, therefore, supported both by principle and
precedent.
While speaking of the distrust of courts, I hope I may be indulged in
remarking, that individually my respect for judicial proceedings is
materially impaired. I find, sir, that latterly, in some instances,
the callous insensibility to extrinsic objects, which, in times past,
was thought the most honorable trait in the character of an upright
judge, is now, by some courts, entirely disrespected. It seems, by some
judges, to be no longer thought an ornament to the judicial character,
but is now substituted by the most capricious sensibilities.
WEDNESDAY, December 21.
_Enforcement of the Embargo._
Mr. POPE spoke in favor of the bill.
And on the question, Shall this bill pass? it was determined in the
affirmative--yeas 20, nays 7, as follows:
YEAS.--Messrs. Anderson, Condit, Crawford, Franklin, Gaillard,
Giles, Gregg, Kitchel, Milledge, Mitchill, Moore, Pope,
Robinson, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of
Tennessee, Sumter, Thruston, Tiffin, and Turner.
NAYS.--Messrs. Gilman, Goodrich, Hillhouse, Lloyd, Mathewson,
Pickering, and White.
WEDNESDAY, December 28.
The VICE PRESIDENT being absent by reason of the ill state of his
health, the Senate proceeded to the election of a President _pro
tempore_, as the constitution provides; and STEPHEN R. BRADLEY was
appointed.
FRIDAY, January 6, 1809.
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, jun., appointed a Senator by the General
Assembly of the State of Ohio, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
resignation of JOHN SMITH, and, also, for six years ensuing the third
day of March next, attended, and produced his credentials, which were
read; and the oath prescribed by law was administered to him.
TUESDAY, January 10.
JAMES A. BAYARD, from the State of Delaware, attended.
MONDAY, January 16
The credentials of MICHAEL LEIB, appointed a Senator by the Legislature
of the State of Pennsylvania, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
resignation of SAMUEL MACLAY, were read, and ordered to lie on file.
THURSDAY, January 19.
MICHAEL LEIB, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of
Pennsylvania, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the
Honorable SAMUEL MACLAY, attended, and the oath prescribed by law was
administered to him.
TUESDAY, January 24.
_Foreign Intercourse--the Two Millions Secret
Appropriation--Florida the object._
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_To the Senate of the United States_:
According to the resolution of the Senate, of the 17th instant,
I now transmit them the information therein requested,
respecting the execution of the act of Congress of February 21,
1806, appropriating two millions of dollars for defraying any
extraordinary expenses attending the intercourse between the
United States and foreign nations.
JANUARY 24, 1809.
TH. JEFFERSON.
The Message and documents were read, and one thousand copies thereof
ordered to be printed for the use of the two Houses of Congress.
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate, so far as
the same is not complied with by the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury of the 20th instant, the Secretary of State
respectfully reports, that neither the whole nor any portion of
the two millions of dollars appropriated by the act of Congress
of the 21st of February, 1806, "for defraying any extraordinary
expenses attending the intercourse between the United States
and foreign nations," was ever authorized or intended to be
applied to the use of either France, Holland, or any country
other than Spain; nor otherwise to be applied to Spain than
by treaty with the Government thereof, and exclusively in
consideration of a cession and delivery to the United States of
the territory held by Spain, eastward of the river Mississippi.
All which is respectfully submitted.
JAMES MADISON.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Jan. 21.
MONDAY, January 30.
The VICE PRESIDENT having retired, the Senate proceeded to the election
of a President _pro tempore_, as the constitution provides; and the
Hon. JOHN MILLEDGE was appointed.
THURSDAY, February 2.
The credentials of SAMUEL WHITE, appointed a Senator by the Legislature
of the State of Delaware, for six years, commencing on the 4th of March
next, were read, and ordered to lie on file.
TUESDAY, February 7.
_Examination and Count of Electoral Votes for
President and Vice President._
Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, from the joint committee appointed to ascertain
and report a mode of examining the votes for President and Vice
President, and of notifying the persons elected of their election, and
for regulating the time, place, and manner, of administering the oath
of office to the President, reported in part the following resolution,
which was read and agreed to:
_Resolved_, That the two Houses shall assemble in the Chamber
of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday next, at 12
o'clock; that one person be appointed a teller on the part
of the Senate, to make a list of the votes as they shall be
declared; that the result shall be delivered to the President
of the Senate, who shall announce the state of the vote, and
the persons elected, to the two Houses assembled as aforesaid;
which shall be deemed a declaration of the persons elected
President and Vice President, and, together with a list of the
votes, to be entered on the Journals of the two Houses.
_Ordered_, That Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, be appointed teller on the part
of the Senate, agreeably to the foregoing resolution.
A message from the House of Representatives brought to the Senate "the
several memorials from sundry citizens of the State of Massachusetts,
remonstrating against the mode in which the appointment of Electors
for President and Vice President has been proceeded to on the part of
the Senate and House of Representatives of said State, as irregular
and unconstitutional, and praying for the interference of the Senate
and House of Representatives of the United States, for the purpose of
preventing the establishment of so dangerous a precedent."
The message last mentioned, referring to the memorials of sundry
citizens of the State of Massachusetts, was read.
_Ordered_, That the message and memorials lie on the table.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that
the House agree to the report of the joint committee "appointed to
ascertain and report a mode of examining the votes for President and
Vice President, and of notifying the persons elected of their election,
and to regulate the time, place, and manner of administering the oath
of office to the President," and have appointed Messrs. NICHOLAS and
VAN DYKE tellers on their part.
WEDNESDAY, February 8.
The two Houses of Congress, agreeably to the joint resolution,
assembled in the Representatives' Chamber, and the certificates of the
Electors for the several States were, by the President of the Senate,
opened and delivered to the tellers appointed for the purpose, who,
having examined and ascertained the number of votes, presented a list
thereof to the President of the Senate, which was read, as follows:
Key:
James Madison. = JMn
George Clinton. = GC
C. C. Pinckney. = CCP
James Monroe. = JMe
John Langdon. = JL
Rufus King. = RK
+---------------+--------------+-------------------------+
| STATES. |For President.| For Vice-President. |
| +----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+
| | JMn| GC| CCP| GC| JMn| JMe| JL| RK|
+---------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+
|New Hampshire | --| --| 7| --| --| --| --| 7|
|Massachusetts | --| --| 19| --| --| --| --| 19|
|Rhode Island | --| --| 4| --| --| --| --| 4|
|Connecticut | --| --| 9| --| --| --| --| 9|
|Vermont | 6| --| --| --| --| --| 6| |
|New York | 13| 6| --| 13| 3| 3| | |
|New Jersey | 8| --| --| 8| | | | |
|Pennsylvania | 20| --| --| 20| | | | |
|Delaware | --| --| 3| --| --| --| --| 3|
|Maryland | 9| --| 2| 9| --| --| --| 2|
|Virginia | 24| --| --| 24| | | | |
|North Carolina | 11| --| 3| 11| --| --| --| 3|
|South Carolina | 10| --| --| 10| | | | |
|Georgia | 6| --| --| 6| | | | |
|Kentucky | 7| --| --| 7| | | | |
|Tennessee | 5| --| --| 5| | | | |
|Ohio | 3| --| --| --| --| --| 3| |
+---------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+
|Totals | 122| 6| 47| 113| 3| 3| 9| 47|
+---------------+----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+
The whole number of votes being 175, of which 88 make a majority.
Whereupon the President of the Senate declared JAMES MADISON elected
President of the United States for four years, commencing with the
fourth day of March next; and GEORGE CLINTON Vice President of the
United States for four years, commencing with the fourth day of March
next.
The votes of the Electors were then delivered to the Secretary of the
Senate; the two Houses of Congress separated; and the Senate returned
to their own Chamber.
On motion, by MR. SMITH of Maryland,
_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested
to cause to be delivered to JAMES MADISON, Esq., of Virginia, now
Secretary of State of the United States, a notification of his election
to the office of President of the United States; and to be transmitted
to GEORGE CLINTON, Esq., of New York, Vice President elect of the
United States, notification of his election to that office; and that
the President of the Senate do make out and sign a certificate in the
words following, viz:
_Be it known_, That the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, being convened at the city
of Washington, on the second Wednesday in February, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nine, the
underwritten, President of the Senate _pro tempore_, did, in
presence of the said Senate and House of Representatives, open
all the certificates and count all the votes of the Electors
for a President and Vice President of the United States.
Whereupon, it appeared that JAMES MADISON, of Virginia, had
a majority of the votes of the Electors as President, and
GEORGE CLINTON, of New York, had a majority of the votes of
the Electors as Vice President. By all which it appears that
JAMES MADISON, of Virginia, has been duly elected President,
and GEORGE CLINTON, of New York, has been duly elected Vice
President of the United States, agreeably to the constitution.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the
seal of the Senate to be affixed, this ---- day of February,
1809.
And that the President of the Senate do cause the certificate aforesaid
to be laid before the President of the United States with this
resolution.
TUESDAY, February 21.
The credentials of JOSEPH ANDERSON, appointed a Senator for the State
of Tennessee, by the Executive of that State, from and after the
expiration of the time limited in his present appointment, until the
end of the next session of the Legislature thereof, were presented and
read, and ordered to lie on file.
_Franking Privilege to Mr. Jefferson._
The bill freeing from postage all letters and packets to Thomas
Jefferson was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of
the Whole; and no amendment having been proposed, on the question,
Shall this bill be engrossed and read a third time? it was determined
in the affirmative.
_Non-Intercourse._
Mr. TIFFIN, from the committee, reported the bill to interdict the
commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain
and France, and their dependencies, and for other purposes, correctly
engrossed; and the bill was read the third time, and the blanks
filled--section three, with the words _twentieth_ and _May_ in two
instances.
On motion by Mr. BRADLEY, the words, "or being pursued by the enemy,"
were stricken out of the first and third sections, by unanimous consent.
Mr. LLOYD addressed the Senate as follows:
Mr. President: When the resolution on which this bill is founded was
brought forward, I had expected it would have been advocated--as a
means of preserving peace--as a menace to the belligerents, that a more
rigorous course of conduct was about to be adopted towards them, on the
part of the United States, provided they continued to persist in their
injurious decrees, and Orders in Council--as giving us time to prepare
for war--or as a covert, but actual war, against France and Great
Britain.
I feel indebted to the honorable gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. GILES,)
for not only having very much narrowed the consideration of this
subject, but for the open, candid, and manly ground he has taken,
both in support of the resolution and the bill. I understood him to
avow, that the effect must be war, and that a war with Great Britain;
that, notwithstanding the non-intercourse attached to this bill,
the merchants would send their vessels to sea; those vessels would
be captured by British cruisers; these captures would be resisted;
such resistance would produce war, and that was what he both wished
and expected. I agree perfectly with the gentleman, that this is the
natural progress, and must be the ultimate effect of the measure; and I
am also glad, that neither the honorable Senate nor the people of the
United States can entertain any doubts upon the subject.
I understood the gentleman also to say, that this was a result he had
long expected. Now, sir, as there have been no recent decrees, or
Orders in Council issued, if war has been long looked for, from those
now in operation, I know not what excuse those who have the management
of our concerns can offer to the people of the United States, for
leaving the country in its present exposed, naked, and defenceless
situation.
What are our preparations for war? After being together four-fifths
of the session, we have extorted a reluctant consent to fit out four
frigates. We have also on the stocks, in the navy yard and elsewhere
scattered along the coast, from the Mississippi to the Schoodick, one
hundred and seventy gunboats, which, during the summer season, and
under the influence of gentle western breezes, may, when in commission,
make out to navigate some of our bays and rivers, not, however, for
any effectual purposes of defence, for I most conscientiously believe,
that three stout frigates would destroy the whole of them; and of the
enormous expense at which this burlesque naval establishment is kept
up, we have had a specimen the present session, by a bill exhibited
to the Senate, of eight hundred dollars for medical attendance,
on a single gunboat for a single month, at New Orleans. If other
expenditures are to be made in this ratio, it requires but few powers
of calculation to foretell that, if the gunboats can destroy nothing
else, they would soon destroy the public Treasury.
We have also heard of a project for raising fifty thousand volunteers,
which has, I believe, been very properly stifled in its birth, and we
have appropriated, during the present session, one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars towards the erection, repairing, and completion of our
fortifications. A sum about equal to the expenditure of the British
Government for six weeks, or two months, on a single fortress in the
Province of Canada, and which sum, with us, is to put into a state
of defence, against the naval power of Great Britain, an exposed and
accessible maritime frontier of two thousand miles in extent!
In contemplating war, it is also proper to advert to the state of
the Treasury. Under such an event, and with any serious preparation
for war or actual prosecution of it, the present funds would soon be
exhausted. How soon cannot be stated, because the amount of them cannot
be accurately ascertained. A part, and a considerable part, of the
money now on hand, does not belong to the public. It is the property
of the merchants; it is deposited in the Treasury as in a bank, to be
checked for, whenever that commerce, which Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes
on Virginia, most emphatically says, our country _will have_, shall be
again reopened.
And thus situated, what are the projects offered for replenishing
the public coffers in future? It is the duty of the Secretary of the
Treasury to develop the resources of the nation, and to point out new
sources of supply, whenever the usual channels are impeded. He has
designated three modes. The first, if executed, embraces, in my view,
and I am sorry to say it, a marked violation of the public faith. It
is the suggestion of stopping drawbacks on merchandise, which, in many
instances, the merchants, from a reliance on the stability of your
laws, and the integrity of the Government, have imported expressly for
exportation, and not for domestic use or consumption in this country,
and which exportation you have prevented them, alike contrary to their
inclinations and their interests, from making for a longer period than
ever was known or endured in any other nation.
The second project is one which, in my opinion, would do little honor
to the genius of any man. It is a sweeping project for doubling, at
the moment, the duties on every description of imported merchandise,
on which a duty is now payable. Without notice to the merchant,
without inquiry, without discrimination, without distinction between
the necessaries of the poor man and the luxuries of the rich one;
between the indispensable raw materials of the manufacturer and the
useless decorations of fashion. By which, bohea tea and Madeira wine,
brown sugar and cosmetics, coaches and carpenters tools, are all, by a
single stroke of the pen, raised in the same ratio; and a duty of 100
per cent. on the present rates, without favor or affection, equally
recommended to be imposed on the whole of them.
The third project is certainly not a novel one; it is simply that
of shifting the burden off our own shoulders on to those of our
successors: it is that of borrowing money on loans.
I have been, sir, among those who have respected the intelligence and
acuteness of the Secretary of the Treasury. I have thought the office
very ably filled; nor has my estimation of his talents been diminished
from the few personal conferences I have had with him since I have been
in this city; but if his fame rested on no firmer a basis than the
reports made to Congress the present session, in relation to enforcing
the embargo laws, and to our fiscal concerns, then an infant's breath
might easily burst the bubble. At any rate, it may very truly be said,
that if such are our preparations for commencing, and our resources for
continuing a war, they are those which will serve neither to inspirit
ourselves, nor to frighten our enemies.
If we are to have war, with whom is it to be prosecuted--not in terms
I mean, but in fact? Certainly not with France. Her few possessions
in the West Indies have probably, by this time, ceased to belong to
her, and between her European territories and the United States a gulf
intervenes, a power is interposed, which neither the Emperor of the
West nor the King of the two Americas can either fathom or resist.
It then appears, if we are to have war, it is to be a covert war with
the two belligerents, but in reality an actual war with Great Britain
alone, and not a war with both France and Great Britain, as the face of
this bill seems to import.
If this be the determination of our Government, and the war is to
commence at a future day, and not instantly, what is the course which
policy would dictate to this country to pursue? Certainly not a
prohibition of the importation of her manufactures. A long period of
years must elapse before we can furnish for ourselves many articles
we receive from her even of the first necessity, or those which,
from habit, have become such to us. We should, therefore, sedulously
endeavor, not only to guard against exhausting our present stock, but
to adopt every means in our power to replenish it.
It would be expedient to throw wide open the entrance of our ports
for importations, to overstock as much as possible the United States
with British manufactures. This would procure for us a double
advantage; it would promote our own accommodation, by giving us the
means of commencing and prosecuting war with fewer privations, and
it would powerfully tend to unite the interests of a certain class
of the inhabitants of that country with our own--for, as the mass of
importations from Great Britain are made on long credits, should a war
ensue before such credits are cancelled, it is obvious that, until the
conclusion of the war, those debts could not be collected, and this
circumstance alone, to a certain extent, might operate as a preventive
check to war, or, at any rate, would secure in the bosom of the British
nation a party whose interests and feelings would be intimately
connected with a speedy return of peace.
By adopting a non-intercourse antecedent to a state of war, our own
stock of supplies becomes exhausted, the British merchants have time
and notice given them to collect, or alienate, by assignment, their
debts in this country. A warning is given them to buckle on their
armor; their good disposition towards us is not only changed, but
embittered, and the very persons who, in the one case, might possibly
prevent a war, or be instrumental in effecting the restoration of
peace, would, in the other, probably be among the most willing to
rush into the contest, from the impulse of temper, and from the
conviction that their own circumstances would not be deteriorated by
its consequences.
A non-intercourse would also be attended with great hazard and
disadvantage. It would be as well understood by others as by ourselves;
it could alone be considered as the precursor of war; and the blow
would be struck, not when we were prepared, but when our opponents were
ready for the contest; and should this bill go into operation, it is
very possible that during the ensuing summer, some of our cities may
exhibit heaps of ruins and of ashes, before expresses could convene at
the seat of Government even the heads of our departments.
Another evil would arise, and that a permanent one; whether a
non-intercourse eventuated in war or peace, it would materially and
adversely affect both the habits of the people and the revenue of the
State. Many of the articles which are now imported from Great Britain
are indispensable for our comfort, and some of them for our existence.
The people cannot do without them: the consequence must be, that,
instead of being regularly imported, the articles will be smuggled into
this country, and thereby the price not only becomes greatly enhanced
to the consumer, but the duties are wholly lost to the Government.
Hitherto, the revenue of the United States, arising from impost, has
been collected with a degree of integrity and punctuality highly
honorable and unexampled in the history of commercial nations. This
successful collection of duties has not however been effected by the
employment of swarms of revenue officers, spies, and informers, as in
other countries; it has been infinitely more effectually secured, by
an honorable pride of character, and that sentiment of affection which
was naturally excited in the hearts of freemen towards the Government
of their choice, and a Government under which, in the main, they have
experienced much prosperity. But barriers of this description, like
other high-toned sentiments of the mind, being once broken down, can
with difficulty be restored, and the chance of materially impairing
this, in reality, "cheap defence of nations," should, in my opinion, of
itself, afford a sufficient reason for the rejection of all measures of
doubtful policy.
In a country nearly surrounded by, and everywhere intersected with
navigable waters, encompassed by a frontier beyond the ability of ten
Bonapartean armies to guard, and inhabited by a race of men unrivalled
for hardihood and enterprise, and at present in a state of poverty, the
temptation of great prices will be irresistible--for there is no truism
in morals or philosophy better established than the commercial axiom,
that demand will ultimately furnish a supply.
There are, undoubtedly, periods in the history of a nation, in
which a contest would be both honorable and indispensable, but it
should ever be the result of great deliberation, and in an extended
republic, perhaps, of necessity. That government is most wise and most
patriotic, which so conducts the affairs of the nation over which it
presides, as to produce the greatest ultimate good; and when a nation
is attacked at the same time by two assailants, it is no reflection on
its honor or its bravery, to select its opponent; and on principles of
reciprocity, independently of those of interest, the first aggressor
would undoubtedly be entitled to the first notice.
Who then has been the first aggressor? I answer, France. The Berlin
Decree is in a great measure the cause of our present difficulties.
In justification of France in doing this, I know gentlemen resort to
the convention between Russia and Great Britain in 1793, to prohibit
a supply of grain to France; but this is by no means sufficient
justification to France, even without referring to a decree to the same
effect issued in May of the same year by France, while she was ignorant
of the secret stipulation between Russia and Great Britain.
For a long period, and among most of the maritime nations of Europe,
the right of inhibiting a supply of provisions to an enemy, was tacitly
acquiesced in, or expressly admitted. This practice existed even
so long ago as the Mithridatic war, and has probably been followed
up, without an interval at any one time of fifty years, from the
commencement of the Christian era to the present day. This attempt,
therefore, of Great Britain to injure France, formed no excuse for
France to attempt to injure Great Britain by violating the commerce of
the United States.
On the 31st of December, 1806, the British Government formally
notified the American Government, that Great Britain would consider an
acquiescence in the Berlin Decree on the part of neutral nations, as
giving to her (Great Britain) the right to retaliate in the same way
against France.
Had the American Government, at this period, manfully and explicitly
made known its determination to support our rights at all hazards, I
have no belief that our present difficulties would ever have existed.
In May succeeding, advices were received of French privateers, under
this decree, depredating upon American vessels in the West Indies; and
during the same month the ship Horizon, in distress, was thrown by the
act of God on the French coast, and was seized under the same authority.
In November, 1807, the British, in conformity with their notice,
issued their retaliating order. A prior Order in Council of January,
1807, had been issued, but this only affected vessels trading between
different ports of France, or between ports of France and her allies;
a trade always obnoxious to suspicion, and one which during war must
ever be expected in a great degree to be restricted, and which is also
interdicted by a standing law of the French Government, passed in 1778,
and confirmed by the present Emperor.
Then followed in succession, on the part of France, the Milan and
Bayonne decrees. The last of which dooms an American vessel to
condemnation from the exercise of a right universally acknowledged to
belong to belligerents, and one which the neutral has no possibility of
preventing, that of being spoken with by an enemy cruiser, which from
her superior sailing there was no possibility of avoiding. In point of
principle, this is the most outrageous violation of neutral rights ever
known, and this, too, took place under the existence of a treaty made
within a few years by the same person who issued these very decrees.
While with Great Britain we have no treaty, and whose orders are
expressly bottomed upon and limited in duration by the French decrees,
and issued after having given twelve months' notice of her intention to
oppose them in this way, and the Orders in Council are even as yet not
co-extensive in principle with the French decrees.
I have, in taking this brief view, confined myself exclusively to the
decrees and orders of the two Governments, without adverting to other
causes of complaint on either side. I consider myself as warranted in
doing this, from the American Government having explicitly taken this
ground, and made known that, on the removal of the decrees and orders,
it would, on our part, remove the embargo, and restore the accustomed
intercourse between the two countries.
From this consideration of the subject, it irresistibly follows, that
France was the first aggressor on us, in issuing her decrees--that in
point of principle, they are much more outrageous violations of right
than the British Orders in Council--that the latter originate from, and
co-exist only with the former, and that France should of consequence be
the first object of our vengeance.
The effects of a war with one or the other nation, would be as
distinctly perceptible. With France it would make no difference to us.
For as long as she continues her decrees, commerce with her could not
be prosecuted--no man would be mad enough while her coast is lined,
and the ocean covered with British cruisers, to send his vessel to
France, where she would meet with certain condemnation for being even
seen and spoken with by a British frigate. With France, therefore,
the actual difference arising from passing this bill, and declaring a
non-intercourse, would be next to nothing.
With Great Britain the effects would be reversed. No one now doubts
her ability or disposition to carry her orders into effect, nor her
preparation to extend the theatre of war. If we commenced war upon
France, as she would be the common enemy of both nations, there is
no doubt in my mind that our differences with Great Britain would be
favorably settled, that the commerce of the world, excepting as it
respects France and her allies, would be again open to us, and that
a trade, which has hitherto employed nearly seventy millions of our
capital, might be again accessible to the industry and enterprise of
our citizens.
Reverse this picture, admitting that you have a war with Great Britain,
what will be its consequences? If your citizens are united, you can
capture Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; when you have effected
this, what remains next to be done? You have reached the _ne plus
ultra_ of your ability. Thenceforward your ports are hermetically
sealed. Privateering, from the convoy system adopted by Great Britain,
could not be successfully prosecuted; no food for enterprise remains,
and thus you would remain, five, ten, or fifteen years, as the case
might be, until the wisdom and good sense of the nation predominated
over its passion, when an accommodation would be made with Great
Britain, following her example with regard to her West India conquests,
restoring the captured provinces, enriched by American population and
industry, and giving us perhaps a treaty still less favorable than the
much execrated instrument of 1794, which, bad as it was said to be, has
proved a _cornucopia_ of wealth to our country, if it produced nothing
less than a thirteen years' peace, and which, to my view, is vastly
preferable to its abortive successor of the year eighteen hundred and
six.
The question was now taken on the passage of the bill, and determined
in the affirmative--yeas 21, nays 12, as follows:
YEAS.--Messrs. Anderson, Condit, Franklin, Gaillard, Giles,
Gregg, Howland, Kitchel, Leib, Mathewson, Meigs, Milledge,
Mitchill, Moore, Pope, Robinson, Smith of Maryland, Smith of
New York, Smith of Tennessee, Thruston, and Tiffin.
NAYS.--Messrs. Bayard, Crawford, Gilman, Goodrich, Hillhouse,
Lloyd, Parker, Pickering, Reed, Sumter, Turner, and White.
So it was resolved that this bill pass, and that the title thereof be,
"An act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United
States and Great Britain and France, and their dependencies, and for
other purposes."
FRIDAY, February 24.
_Additional Duties._
The bill, entitled "An act for imposing additional duties upon all
goods, wares, and merchandise, imported from any foreign port or
place," was read the third time as amended.
Mr. LLOYD moved to postpone the further consideration of this bill
until the first Monday in June next; and addressed the chair as follows:
Mr. President: After the observations which I have before made, sir,
on this bill, and the detailed consideration which was given to it
yesterday, I should not again rise, were the subject not a commercial,
and an exceedingly important one; nor is it now my intention to make
more than a few remarks, and these the Senate will probably think
entitled to more than usual respect, when I inform them they will
principally be, neither my own, nor wholly accordant with my opinions.
This bill can only be advocated upon the ground that a war is about
to ensue, and that, to prepare the public Treasury to sustain the
prosecution of such war, this proposed duty is necessary. My purpose
is to cite some authorities to show that neither the one nor the other
is either expected or necessary; and the authorities I shall adduce
to prove this, are those to which the Senate is accustomed to pay the
highest respect.
[Here Mr. Lloyd quoted from Mr. Gallatin's Treasury reports, to
show that he deemed loans preferable to taxes if war ensued,
and that there was revenue enough until the next winter.]
Now, sir, it is clear, from the showing even of this honorable
gentleman whose calculations are received with so much respect here,
that whether there is peace, war, or embargo, our resources are yet
abundant to carry us on, at least until the next winter; and as we are
to meet again in three months, it follows that the present undigested
project must be worse than useless.
To all this mass of evidence and authority against both the necessity
and policy of laying this duty, I have only to add a few observations
to show that it will, in its operation, be both unequal and unjust.
It is well known that permanent duties, except on their first
imposition, are paid by the consumer; but whenever duties are to be
of short duration, as in the present instance, or until the stocks of
merchandise prior to the assessment of the duty are run off, the price
does not rise in ratio with the duty, and that, of consequence, the
whole, or part of the duty, is thus much of loss to the merchant. This,
in a degree, cannot be avoided, nor is it even a subject of complaint,
where due notice has been given of the intention to lay the duty; but
if it be imposed without notice, or giving time for preparation, then
the interest of the merchant is sacrificed.
The basis of all commerce is calculation; what calculation can be found
for distant enterprises when the data are perpetually shifting? If a
merchant rests on the stability of the laws of the Government, and
sends away his vessel, and on her return finds a new duty of 50 per
cent. imposed, which, for the circumstance of it, the consumer does not
pay, his whole calculations are defeated, and he pockets a loss instead
of a profit for his industry.
Commerce is very probably as well understood in England as any where.
In that country new duties on imports are imposed with great caution;
whenever contemplated, the subject is generally a long time under
consideration, sometimes hanging over from one session to another. The
Ministry make it a point frequently to consult committees of merchants
from most of the principal seaports in the kingdom. The result is,
the subject is well considered; and, when the duties are imposed,
they are submitted to with cordiality and cheerfulness. Mr. Pitt,
in the latter part of his life, always adopted this mode. He did not
think it condescension to consult merchants on subjects with which
they were better acquainted than himself. In the early part of his
administration, I have understood, he rashly imposed some additional
and heavy duties on imported merchandise; the consequence was, the
revenue diminished, and smuggling increased. With his characteristic
vigor he determined to stop it, and lined the coast with luggers,
revenue cutters, and frigates; still the revenue did not increase.
He consulted the merchants--they told him the articles were taxed
beyond their bearing; he manfully retraced his steps, and took off the
additional duty--and immediately smuggling did not pay its cost--his
luggers, cutters, and frigates, became useless, and the revenue
advanced to its ancient standard. This is one among many memorable
instances that might be adduced to show that an unwise augmentation of
duties is very far from producing an increase of revenue.
There is another view of the subject on which I shall say a few words.
This new duty will operate as a bounty to monopolizers, forestallers,
and speculators. Gentlemen are not aware of the avidity with which
mercantile men have regarded the proceedings of this session. I am
told that, within half an hour after the question was taken, about
a fortnight since, in the other House, ten expresses started for
different parts of the United States. It is notorious that English
and West India goods, and most articles of foreign merchandise in
the United States, have been bought up by speculators; it is now in
the hands of a few persons; by passing this law, you discourage new
importations, and enable the present holders to grind the poor, by
extorting high prices for the articles they hold, from a want of
competition in the market. From all these views of the subject, and
from the sentiments I have quoted from the President, Mr. Gallatin, and
General Smith, it is apparent that this measure is unwise, unnecessary,
and impolitic.
I am unwilling, sir, to take up the time of the Senate; but, however
unavailing may be the efforts of my friends and myself, I wish to have
it recorded that I was neither ignorant of the very injurious operation
of this bill upon my constituents, nor unwilling to endeavor to prevent
it. I therefore ask the indulgence of the Senate, that the ayes and
noes may be taken when this question is decided.
And on the question, it was determined in the negative--yeas 10, nays
19, as follows:
YEAS.--Messrs. Bayard, Bradley, Gilman, Hillhouse, Lloyd,
Mitchill, Parker, Pickering, Reed, and White.
NAYS.--Messrs. Anderson, Condit, Crawford, Franklin, Gaillard,
Gregg, Howland, Kitchel, Leib, Meigs, Milledge, Moore, Pope,
Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Tennessee,
Sumter, Thruston, and Turner.
On motion, by Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, the further consideration of the
bill was postponed to Monday next.
FRIDAY, March 3.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that
the House disagree to the first and fourth amendment of the Senate
to the bill, entitled "An act further to amend the several acts for
the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy
Departments, and making appropriations for the support of the Military
Establishment and the Navy of the United States for the year 1809;" and
they agree to the other amendments to the said bill.
_Oath of Office to the President elect._
The PRESIDENT communicated to the Senate the following letter from the
President elect of the United States:
CITY OF WASHINGTON, March 2, 1809.
SIR: I beg leave, through you, to inform the honorable the
Senate of the United States, that I propose to take the oath
which the constitution prescribes to the President of the
United States, before he enters on the execution of his office,
on Saturday the 4th instant, at twelve o'clock, in the Chamber
of the House of Representatives.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
JAMES MADISON.
The Hon. JOHN MILLEDGE,
_President pro tempore of the Senate_.
_Five o'clock in the Evening._
_Adjournment._
Mr. MITCHILL, from the committee, reported that they had waited on
the President of the United States, who informed them that he had no
further communications to make to the two Houses of Congress.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary notify the House of Representatives that
the Senate having finished the business before them, are about to
adjourn.
The Secretary having performed that duty, the Senate adjourned without
day.
EXTRA SESSION.
_The President of the United States_
_to ----, Senator for the State of ----_:
Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the
Senate should be convened on Saturday, the fourth day of March
next, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in the
city of Washington, on that day; then and there to deliberate
on such communications as shall be made to you.
TH. JEFFERSON.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 1808.
SATURDAY, March 4.
In conformity with the summons from the President of the United States,
the Senate assembled in the Chamber of the House of Representatives.
PRESENT:
JOHN MILLEDGE, from the State of Georgia, President _pro
tempore_.
NICHOLAS GILMAN, and NAHUM PARKER, from New Hampshire.
TIMOTHY PICKERING, from Massachusetts.
CHAUNCEY GOODRICH, from Connecticut.
ELISHA MATHEWSON, from Rhode Island.
STEPHEN R. BRADLEY, from Vermont.
JOHN SMITH, from New York.
AARON KITCHEL, from New Jersey.
ANDREW GREGG, from Pennsylvania.
JAMES A. BAYARD, from Delaware.
PHILIP REED, from Maryland.
WILLIAM B. GILES, from Virginia.
JAMES TURNER, and JESSE FRANKLIN, from North Carolina.
THOMAS SUMTER, and JOHN GAILLARD, from South Carolina.
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, from Georgia.
BUCKNER THRUSTON, and JOHN POPE, from Kentucky.
DANIEL SMITH, from Tennessee.
EDWARD TIFFIN, from Ohio.
JOHN LAMBERT, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of
New Jersey for six years, and SAMUEL SMITH, appointed a Senator by the
Executive of the State of Maryland, attended, and their credentials
were read.
JAMES LLOYD, junior, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the
State of Massachusetts, attended, stating that he was elected, but not
in possession of his credentials.
JOSEPH ANDERSON, from the State of Tennessee; RICHARD BRENT, from the
State of Virginia; JAMES HILLHOUSE, from the State of Connecticut;
MICHAEL LEIB, from the State of Pennsylvania; RETURN J. MEIGS, from the
State of Ohio; JONATHAN ROBINSON, from the State of Vermont; SAMUEL
WHITE, from the State of Delaware, severally attended.
The oath required by law was administered to the Senators above
mentioned, in the six years' class, respectively, except to MR. BRENT.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES attended, and communicated the
following
ADDRESS:
Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered
authority, I avail myself of the occasion now presented, to
express the profound impression made on me by the call of my
country to the station, to the duties of which I am about to
pledge myself by the most solemn of sanctions. So distinguished
a mark of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate and
tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would, under
any circumstances, have commanded my gratitude and devotion,
as well as filled me with an awful sense of the trust to be
assumed. Under the various circumstances which give peculiar
solemnity to the existing period, I feel that both the honor
and the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly
enhanced.
The present situation of the world is, indeed, without a
parallel, and that of our own country full of difficulties. The
pressure of these, too, is the more severely felt, because they
have fallen upon us at a moment when the national prosperity
being at a height not before attained, the contrast, resulting
from the change, has been rendered the more striking. Under
the benign influence of our Republican institutions, and the
maintenance of peace with all nations, whilst so many of them
were engaged in bloody and wasteful wars, the fruits of a just
policy were enjoyed in an unrivalled growth of our faculties
and resources. Proofs of this were seen in the improvements
of agriculture; in the successful enterprises of commerce; in
the progress of manufactures and useful arts; in the increase
of the public revenue, and the use made of it in reducing the
public debt; and in the valuable works and establishments every
where multiplying over the face of our land.
It is a precious reflection that the transition from this
prosperous condition of our country, to the scene which has
for some time been distressing us, is not chargeable on any
unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any involuntary errors
in the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass
on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the
true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing
justice; and to entitle themselves to the respect of the
nations at war, by fulfilling their neutral obligations with
the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor in the
world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned;
posterity, at least, will do justice to them.
This unexceptionable course could not avail against the
injustice and violence of the belligerent powers. In their
rage against each other, or impelled by more direct motives,
principles of retaliation have been introduced, equally
contrary to universal reason and acknowledged law. How long
their arbitrary edicts will be continued, in spite of the
demonstrations that not even a pretext for them has been given
by the United States, and of the fair and liberal attempt to
induce a revocation of them, cannot be anticipated. Assuring
myself, that, under every vicissitude, the determined spirit
and united councils of the nation will be safeguards to its
honor and its essential interests, I repair to the post
assigned me with no other discouragement than what springs from
my own inadequacy to its high duties. If I do not sink under
the weight of this deep conviction, it is because I find some
support in a consciousness of the purposes, and a confidence in
the principles which I bring with me into this arduous service.
To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations
having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere
neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer, in all
cases, amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of
differences, to a decision of them by an appeal to arms;
to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, so
degrading to all countries, and so baneful to free ones; to
foster a spirit of independence, too just to invade the rights
of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to
indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not
to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the
States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support
the constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in
its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights
and authorities reserved to the States and to the people, as
equally incorporated with, and essential to the success of, the
general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the
rights of conscience or the functions of religion, so wisely
exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve, in their full
energy, the other salutary provisions in behalf of private
and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press; to
observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the public
resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to
keep within the requisite limits a standing military force,
always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the
firmest bulwark of Republics; that without standing armies
their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones
safe; to promote, by authorized means, improvements friendly
to agriculture, to manufactures, and to external as well as
internal commerce; to favor, in like manner, the advancement
of science and the diffusion of information, as the best
aliment to true liberty; to carry on the benevolent plans which
have been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our
aboriginal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness of
savage life, to a participation of the improvements of which
the human mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized
state;--as far as sentiments and intentions such as these can
aid the fulfilment of my duty, they will be a resource which
cannot fail me.
It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which
I am to tread lighted by examples of illustrious services,
successfully rendered in the most trying difficulties, by
those who have marched before me. Of those of my immediate
predecessor it might least become me here to speak. I may,
however, be pardoned for not suppressing the sympathy with
which my heart is full, in the rich reward he enjoys in the
benedictions of a beloved country, gratefully bestowed for
exalted talents, zealously devoted, through a long career, to
the advancement of its highest interest and happiness.
But the source to which I look for the aids which alone can
supply my deficiencies, is in the well-tried intelligence and
virtue of my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those
representing them in the other departments associated in the
care of the national interests. In these my confidence will,
under every difficulty, be best placed, next to that which
we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and
guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the
destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously
dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound
to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our
fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.
After which, the oath prescribed by law was administered to the
_President of the United States_, by the Chief Justice.
The President of the United States then retired, and the Senate
repaired to their own chamber.
_Ordered_, That Messrs. ANDERSON and BAYARD be a committee to wait on
the President of the United States, and notify him that the Senate are
ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to make to
them.
MONDAY, March 6.
FRANCIS MALBONE, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of
Rhode Island, for six years, commencing on the 4th instant, attended,
and produced his credentials, which were read.
The credentials of RICHARD BRENT, appointed a Senator by the
Legislature of the State of Virginia, for six years, commencing on the
4th instant, were read.
The oath required by law was administered to Messrs. BRENT and MALBONE,
respectively.
On motion, by Mr. ROBINSON,
_Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Senate be authorized to pay,
out of the contingent fund of this House, to George Thomas, Walter
Reynolds, and Tobias Simpson, the sum of fifty dollars each, in
addition to their annual compensation.
Mr. ANDERSON reported, from the committee, that they had waited on the
President of the United States, who informed them that he should this
day make a communication to the Senate.
Soon after, a communication was received from the President of the
United States, submitting sundry nominations to office, which were
mostly confirmed.
TUESDAY, March 7.
_Adjournment._
After the consideration of Executive business, Messrs. BAYARD and
REED were appointed a committee to wait on the President of the
United States, and notify him that, unless he may have any further
communications to make to them, the Senate are ready to adjourn.
Mr. BAYARD reported, from the committee, that they had waited upon
the President of the United States, who informed them that he had no
further communications to make to them. Whereupon,
The Senate adjourned without day.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Missing line.
TENTH CONGRESS.--SECOND SESSION.
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES
IN
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, November 7, 1808.
This being the day appointed by law for the meeting of the present
session, the following members of the House of Representatives
appeared, and took their seats, to wit:
_From New Hampshire_--Daniel M. Durell, Francis Gardner,
Jedediah K. Smith, and Clement Storer.
_From Massachusetts_--Ezekiel Bacon, Joseph Barker, Orchard
Cook, Richard Cutts, Josiah Deane, William Ely, Isaiah L.
Green, Daniel Ilsley, Edward St. Loe Livermore, Josiah Quincy,
Ebenezer Seaver, William Stedman, Jabez Upham, and Joseph B.
Varnum, (the Speaker.)
_From Rhode Island_--Isaac Wilbour.
_From Connecticut_--Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John
Davenport, jr., Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis
B. Sturges, and Benjamin Tallmadge.
_From Vermont_--Martin Chittenden, James Elliot, and James Fisk.
_From New York_--John Blake, jr., John Harris, Reuben
Humphreys, William Kirkpatrick, Gurdon S. Mumford, Samuel
Riker, John Russell, Peter Swart, John Thompson, James I. Van
Allen, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, and Daniel C. Verplanck.
_From New Jersey_--Adam Boyd, William Helms, John Lambert,
Thomas Newbold, James Sloan, and Henry Southard.
_From Pennsylvania_--David Bard, Robert Brown, William Findlay,
John Heister, William Hoge, William Milnor, Daniel Montgomery,
jr., John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea, Matthias Richards, John
Smilie, Samuel Smith, and Robert Whitehill.
_From Maryland_--Charles Goldsborough, William McCreery, John
Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, and Archibald Van Horne.
_From Virginia_--Burwell Bassett, William A. Burwell, John
Clopton, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, James M. Garnett, Peterson
Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, David Holmes, John G. Jackson, Joseph
Lewis, jr., John Love, John Morrow, Thomas Newton, John Smith,
Abram Trigg, and Alexander Wilson.
_From Kentucky_--Joseph Desha, Benjamin Howard, and Richard M.
Johnson.
_From North Carolina_--Willis Alston, jr., William Blackledge,
Thomas Blount, John Culpeper, Nathaniel Macon, Lemuel Sawyer,
and Richard Stanford.
_From Tennessee_--George W. Campbell, John Rhea, and Jesse
Wharton.
_From South Carolina_--Lemuel J. Alston, William Butler,
Joseph Calhoun, John Taylor, and David R. Williams.
_From Georgia_--William W. Bibb, and George M. Troup.
_From Ohio_--Jeremiah Morrow.
_From the Mississippi Territory_--George Poindexter, Delegate.
Two new members, to wit: NATHAN WILSON, returned to serve in this
House as a member for New York, in the room of David Thomas, who
hath resigned his seat, and THOMAS GHOLSON, jr., returned to serve
as a member from Virginia, in the room of John Claiborne, deceased,
appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House.
And a quorum, consisting of a majority of the whole number, being
present, a message was received from the Senate, informing the House
that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to
business; the Senate have appointed a committee on their part, jointly
with such committee as may be appointed on the part of this House,
to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that
a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any
communications he may be pleased to make to them.
The oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United
States was then administered to Mr. NATHAN WILSON and Mr. GHOLSON, by
Mr. SPEAKER, according to law.
_Ordered_, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform them that a
quorum of this House is assembled, and ready to proceed to business;
and that the Clerk of this House do go with the said message.
The House proceeded to consider the resolution of the Senate for the
appointment of a joint committee of the two Houses to wait on the
President of the United States and inform him that a quorum of the two
Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication he may
be pleased to make to them: Whereupon, the House agreed to the said
resolution; and Mr. MACON, Mr. QUINCY, and Mr. MCCREERY, were appointed
the committee on their part.
Mr. MACON, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President
of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is
assembled, reported that the committee had performed that service; and
that the President signified to them he would make a communication, in
writing, to this House, to-morrow at twelve o'clock, by way of Message.
TUESDAY, November 8.
Several other members, to wit: from Pennsylvania, JACOB RICHARDS; from
Virginia, MATTHEW CLAY, and WALTER JONES; and from South Carolina,
ROBERT MARION, appeared, and took their seats in the House.
A new member, to wit, SAMUEL SHAW, returned to serve in this House as
a member from the State of Vermont, in the room of James Witherell,
who has resigned his seat, appeared, produced his credentials, was
qualified, and took his seat in the House.
A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have
resolved that two Chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed
to Congress for the present session, who shall interchange weekly; to
which they desire the concurrence of the House.
The House proceeded to consider the foregoing resolution of the Senate,
and it was agreed to.
The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Governor of the
State Of Pennsylvania, enclosing a letter to him from JOSEPH CLAY, the
Representative for the district composed of the city and county of
Philadelphia, and county of Delaware, in the said State, containing
his resignation of a seat in this House; also a proclamation of the
said Governor, and a certificate of the election of BENJAMIN SAY, to
serve as a member for the said district and State, in the room of the
said Joseph Clay; which were read, and referred to the Committee of
Elections.
WEDNESDAY, November 9.
Another member, to wit, ROBERT JENKINS, from Pennsylvania, ap
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