Sir, the charge of foreign influence, and the recrimination of one political party by the other, are unpleasant things. I should rejoice to see the curtain of oblivion drawn over them, and all uniting under the nobler distinction of American.
Foreign Relations.
The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Calhoun.—Mr. Speaker: I understood the opinion of the Committee of Foreign Relations differently from what the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) has stated to be his impression. I certainly understood that committee as recommending the measures now before the House as a preparation for war; and such in fact was its express resolve, agreed to, I believe, by every member except that gentleman. I do not attribute any wilful misstatement to him, but consider it the effect of inadvertency or mistake. Indeed, the report could mean nothing but war or empty menace. I hope no member of this House is in favor of the latter. A bullying, menacing system has every thing to condemn and nothing to recommend it; in expense, it is almost as considerable as war; it excites contempt abroad, and destroys confidence at home. Menaces are serious things; and, if we expect any good from them, they ought to be resorted to with as much caution and seriousness as war itself, and should, if not successful, be invariably followed by it. It was not the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) that made this a war question. The resolve contemplates an additional regular force; a measure confessedly improper but as a preparation for war, but undoubtedly necessary in that event. Sir, I am not insensible of the weighty importance of this question, for the first time submitted to this House, as a redress of our long list of complaints against one of the belligerents; but, according to my mode of thinking on this subject, however serious the question, whenever I am on its affirmative side, my conviction must be strong and unalterable. War, in this country, ought never to be resorted to but when it is clearly justifiable and necessary; so much so, as not to require the aid of logic to convince our reason, nor the ardor of eloquence to inflame our passions. There are many reasons why this country should never resort to it but for causes the most urgent and necessary. It is sufficient that, under a Government like ours, none but such will justify it in the eye of the nation; and were I not satisfied that such is the present case, I certainly would be no advocate of the proposition now before the House.
Sir, I might prove the war, should it ensue, justifiable, by the express admission of the gentleman from Virginia; and necessary, by facts undoubted and universally admitted, such as that gentleman did not pretend to controvert. The extent, duration, and character of the injuries received; the failure of those peaceful means heretofore resorted to for the redress of our wrongs, is my proof that it is necessary. Why should I mention the impressment of our seamen; depredation on every branch of our commerce, including the direct export trade, continued for years, and made under laws which professedly undertake to regulate our trade with other nations; negotiation resorted to time after time, till it is become hopeless; the restrictive system persisted in to avoid war, and in the vain expectation of returning justice? The evil still grows, and in each succeeding year swells in extent and pretension beyond the preceding. The question, even in the opinion and admission of our opponents, is reduced to this single point—which shall we do, abandon or defend our own commercial and maritime rights, and the personal liberties of our citizens employed in exercising them? These rights are essentially attacked, and war is the only means of redress. The gentleman from Virginia has suggested none—unless we consider the whole of his speech as recommending patient and resigned submission as the best remedy. Sir, which alternative this House ought to embrace, it is not for me to say. I hope the decision is made already, by a higher authority than the voice of any man. It is not for the human tongue to instill the sense of independence and honor. This is the work of nature—a generous nature, that disdains tame submission to wrongs.
This part of the subject is so imposing, as to enforce silence even on the gentleman from Virginia. He dared not to deny his country's wrongs, or vindicate the conduct of her enemy.
Only one point of that gentleman's argument had any, the most remote, relation to this point. He would not say we had not a good cause of war, but insisted that it was our duty to define that cause. If he means that this House ought, at this stage of the proceeding, or any other, to enumerate such violations of our rights as we are willing to contend for, he prescribes a course which neither good sense nor the usage of nations warrants. When we contend, let us contend for all our rights; the doubtful and the certain, the unimportant and essential. It is as easy to struggle, or even more so, for the whole as a part. At the termination of the contest, secure all that our wisdom and valor and the fortune of the war will permit. This is the dictate of common sense; such also is the usage of nations. The single instance alluded to, the endeavor of Mr. Fox to compel Mr. Pitt to define the object of the war against France, will not support the gentleman from Virginia in his position. That was an extraordinary war for an extraordinary purpose, and could not be governed by the usual rules. It was not for conquest, or for redress of inquiry, but to impose a Government on France, which she refused to receive; an object so detestable, that an avowal dare not be made. Sir, here I might rest the question. The affirmative of the proposition is established. I cannot but advert, however, to the complaint of the gentleman from Virginia the first time he was up on this question. He said he found himself reduced to the necessity of supporting the negative side of the question, before the affirmative was established. Let me tell that gentleman, that there is no hardship in his case. It is not every affirmative that ought to be proved. Were I to affirm the House is now in session, would it be reasonable to ask for proof? He who would deny its truth, on him would be the proof of so extraordinary a negative. How, then, could the gentleman, after his admissions, with the facts before him and the nation, complain? The causes are such as to warrant, or rather make it indispensable in any nation not absolutely dependent to defend its rights by force. Let him, then, show the reasons why we ought not so to defend ourselves. On him, then, is the burden of proof. This he has attempted; he has endeavored to support his negative. Before I proceed to answer the gentleman particularly, let me call the attention of the House to one circumstance: that is, that almost the whole of his arguments consisted of an enumeration of evils always incident to war, however just and necessary; and that, if they have any force, it is calculated to produce unqualified submission to every species of insult and injury. I do not feel myself bound to answer arguments of the above description; and if I should touch on them, it will be only incidentally, and not for the purpose of serious refutation. The first argument of the gentleman which I shall notice, is the unprepared state of the country. Whatever weight this argument might have, in a question of immediate war, it surely has little in that of preparation for it. If our country is unprepared, let us remedy the evil as soon as possible. Let the gentleman submit his plan; and, if a reasonable one, I doubt not it will be supported by the House. But, sir, let us admit the fact and the whole force of the argument, I ask whose is the fault? Who has been a member for many years past, and has seen the defenceless state of his country even near home, under his own eyes, without a single endeavor to remedy so serious an evil? Let him not say "I have acted in a minority." It is no less the duty of the minority than a majority to endeavor to serve our country. For that purpose we are sent here, and not for that of opposition. We are next told of the expenses of the war, and that people will not pay taxes. Why not? Is it a want of capacity? What, with one million tons of shipping, a trade of near $100,000,000, manufactures of $150,000,000, and agriculture of thrice that amount, shall we be told the country wants capacity to raise and support ten thousand or fifteen thousand additional regulars? No; it has the ability, that is admitted; but will it not have the disposition? Is not the course a just and necessary one? Shall we, then, utter this libel on the nation? Where will proof be found of a fact so disgraceful? It is said, in the history of the country twelve or fifteen years ago. The case is not parallel. The ability of the country is greatly increased since. The object of that tax was unpopular. But on this, as well as my memory and almost infant observation at that time serve me, the objection was not to the tax, or its amount, but the mode of collection. The eye of the nation was frightened by the number of officers; its love of liberty shocked with the multiplicity of regulations. We, in the vile spirit of imitation, copied from the most oppressive part of European laws on that subject, and imposed on a young and virtuous nation all the severe provisions made necessary by corruption and long growing chicane. If taxes should become necessary, I do not hesitate to say the people will pay cheerfully. It is for their Government and their cause, and would be their interest and duty to pay. But it may be, and I believe was said, that the nation will not pay taxes, because the rights violated are not worth defending, or that the defence will cost more than the profit. Sir, I here enter my solemn protest against this low and "calculating avarice" entering this hall of legislation. It is only fit for shops and counting-houses, and ought not to disgrace the seat of sovereignty by its squalid and vile appearance. Whenever it touches sovereign power, the nation is ruined. It is too short-sighted to defend itself. It is an unpromising spirit, always ready to yield a part to save the balance. It is too timid to have in itself the laws of self-preservation. It is never safe but under the shield of honor. Sir, I only know of one principle to make a nation great, to produce in this country not the form but real spirit of union, and that is, to protect every citizen in the lawful pursuit of his business. He will then feel that he is backed by the Government; that its arm is his arms; and will rejoice in its increased strength and prosperity. Protection and patriotism are reciprocal. This is the road that all great nations have trod. Sir, I am not versed in this calculating policy; and will not, therefore pretend to estimate in dollars and cents the value of national independence, or national affection. I cannot dare to measure, in shillings and pence, the misery, the stripes, and the slavery of our impressed seamen; nor even to value our shipping, commercial, and agricultural losses, under the Orders in Council and the British system of blockade. I hope I have not condemned any prudent estimate of the means of a country, before it enters on a war. This is wisdom, the other folly. Sir, the gentleman from Virginia has not failed to touch on the calamity of war; that fruitful source of declamation, by which pity becomes the advocate of cowardice; but I know not what we have to do with that subject. If the gentleman desires to repress the gallant ardor of our countrymen by such topics, let me inform him, that true courage regards only the cause—that it is just and necessary—and that it despises the pain and danger of war. If he really wishes to promote the cause of humanity, let his eloquence be addressed to Lord Wellesley or Mr. Percival, and not the American Congress. Tell them, if they persist in such daring insult and injury to a neutral nation, that, however inclined to peace, it will be bound in honor and interest to resist; that their patience and benevolence, however great, will be exhausted; that the calamity of war will ensue; and that they, in the opinion of wounded humanity, will be answerable for all its devastation and misery. Let melting pity, and regard to the interest of humanity, stay the hand of injustice, and, my life on it, the gentleman will not find it difficult to call off his country from the bloody scenes of war.
We are next told of the danger of war! I believe we are all ready to acknowledge its hazard and accidents; but I cannot think we have any extraordinary danger to contend with, at least so much as to warrant an acquiescence in the injuries we have received. On the contrary, I believe no war can be less dangerous to internal peace, or national existence. But, we are told of the black population of the South. As far as the gentleman from Virginia speaks of his own personal knowledge, I will not pretend to contradict him; I only regret that such is the dreadful state of his particular part of the country. Of the Southern section, I too have some personal knowledge, and can say that, in South Carolina, no such fears in any part are felt. But, sir, admit the gentleman's statement; will a war with Great Britain increase the danger? Will the country be less able to repress insurrection? Had we any thing to fear from that quarter, which I sincerely disbelieve, in my opinion, the precise time of the greatest safety is during a war in which we have no fear of invasion—then the country is most on its guard; our militia the best prepared; and standing force the greatest. Even in our Revolution no attempts were made by that portion of our population; and, however the gentleman may frighten himself with the disorganizing effects of French principles, I cannot think our ignorant blacks have felt much of their baneful influence. I dare say more than one-half of them never heard of the French Revolution. But, as great, as is the danger from our slaves, the gentleman's fears end not there—the standing army is not less terrible to him. Sir, I think a regular force, raised for a period of actual hostilities, cannot be called a standing army. There is a just distinction between such a force, and one raised as a peace establishment. Whatever may be the composition of the latter, I hope the former will consist of some of the best materials of the country. The ardent patriotism of our young men, and the reasonable bounty in land which is proposed to be given, will impel them to join their country's standard and to fight her battles; they will not forget the citizen in the soldier, and, in obeying their officer, learn to contemn their constitution. In our officers and soldiers we will find patriotism no less pure and ardent than in the private citizen; but, if they should be depraved, as represented, what have we to fear from twenty-five or thirty thousand regulars? Where will be the boasted militia of the gentleman? Can one million of militia be overpowered by thirty thousand regulars? If so, how can we rely on them against a foe invading our country? Sir, I have no such contemptuous idea of our militia—their untaught bravery is sufficient to crush all foreign and internal attempts on their country's liberties. But we have not yet come to the end of the chapter of dangers. The gentleman's imagination, so fruitful on this subject, conceives that our constitution is not calculated for war, and that it cannot stand its rude shock. This is rather extraordinary—we must depend upon the pity or contempt of other nations, for our existence. The constitution, it seems, has failed in its essential part, "to provide for the common defence." No, says the gentleman from Virginia, it is competent for a defensive, but not an offensive war. It is not necessary for me to expose the error of this opinion. Why make the distinction in this instance? Will he pretend to say, that this is an offensive war; a war of conquest? Yes, the gentleman has dared to make this assertion; and for reasons no less extraordinary than the assertion itself. He says, our rights are violated on the ocean, and that these violations affect our shipping, and commercial rights, to which the Canadas have no relation. The doctrine of retaliation has been much abused of late by an unnatural extension; we have now to witness a new abuse. The gentleman from Virginia has limited it down to a point. By his system, if you receive a blow on the breast, you dare not return it on the head, you are obliged to measure and return it on the precise point on which it was received. If you do not proceed with mathematical accuracy, it ceases to be just self-defence; it becomes an unprovoked attack. In speaking of Canada, the gentleman from Virginia introduced the name of Montgomery with much feeling and interest. Sir, there is danger in that name to the gentleman's argument. It is sacred to heroism! It is indignant of submission! This calls my memory back to the time of our Revolution; to the Congress of '74 and '75. Supposing a speaker of that day had risen and urged all the arguments which we have heard on this subject; had told that Congress, "your contest is about the right of laying a tax; and that the attempt on Canada had nothing to do with it: that the war would be expensive; that danger and devastation would overspread our country, and that the power of Great Britain was irresistible." With what sentiment, think you, would such doctrines have been received? Happy for us, they had no force at that period of our country's glory. Had they been then acted on, this Hall would never have witnessed a great nation convened to deliberate for the general good; a mighty empire, with prouder prospects than any nation the sun ever shone on, would not have risen in the West. No; we would have been vile, subjected colonies; governed by that imperious rod which Great Britain holds over her distant provinces.
Mr. Desha said—Mr. Speaker, the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which the resolution now under consideration forms a part, is not what I thought would have been the most advisable to adopt, in order to meet the emergency; not that I was for immediate war, as we are unprepared for that event; but, sir, in addition to the force recommended, and authorizing the arming the merchant vessels, I was for adopting the convoy system. But, sir, as the report is of a character different from the temporizing policy heretofore pursued, and one, if not decisive in itself, which will lead to something decisive; and as I am now perfectly satisfied that it is the intention of the Government to follow it up by ulterior measures, calculated to prove the necessity of these preparatory steps, and as union, under existing circumstances, is all-important, as one of the committee, I am bound to give it my support.
Sir, discovering no disposition on the part of Britain to relax in her Orders in Council, to cease her oppression, or to make restitution for the damages we have sustained; but, on the contrary, a manifest disposition to persist in her lawless aggressions, it therefore becomes necessary not to depend any longer on countervailing restrictive systems, but to adopt something of a character more energetic, and more congenial to the wishes of the American people. Sir, while I thought there was the most distant probability of obtaining justice by peace measures, I was an advocate for peace; but, sir, when I see not the least prospect of a revocation of her destructive Orders in Council, of the releasement of our impressed countrymen, a relinquishment of the principle of impressment, nor restitution for damages, I am for assuming a war attitude—consequently shall vote for the report of the committee, because I believe the force there contemplated will be an efficient force, and adequate to the purposes intended, to wit, the subjugation of the British North American Provinces.
Sir, to enumerate the aggressions committed on our rights by Britain, the depredations on our commerce, the murder and impressment of our countrymen, and the indignities offered our flag, would be taking up your time unnecessarily—particularly, sir, as those enormities must be recent in the mind of every member present; and as it is time to lay aside the war of words and proceed to actions, I shall not detain you long with any remarks of mine.
Sir, remonstrances against atrocities have been made in vain; experience has taught us nothing can be expected from negotiations. We have been negotiating for fifteen or twenty years, at an enormous expense, say nearly half a million of dollars, and the causes of which we complained have regularly increased; insult has been heaped upon injury, we have suffered ourselves to be buffeted, kicked, and treated with all kind of indignities with impunity. Yes, sir, insult has been the result of all late attempts at negotiation; for instance, sir, Mr. Roset was sent for no other purpose than to gull the Government, and because Erskine was disposed to do us justice in part, he was recalled and disgraced. The conduct of the Copenhagen gentleman, Mr. Jackson, demonstrated that he was sent for the purpose of bullying the Government. And pray, Mr. Speaker, what has Mr. Foster been sent for? why, sir, in my opinion, for no other purpose than to operate as an opiate on the Government; to lull us to sleep. As a proof of which, about the commencement of the session, a session convened by proclamation, which was naturally calculated to agitate the public mind, he comes forward with offers of reparation as he calls them, but which in my estimation is no more than a patch, calculated to cover one corner of the wound the nation received, in that wanton and dastardly outrage, the attack on the Chesapeake; but, sir, in his soporifics I trust he will be disappointed. I have no hesitation in saying, that when the letters from this Minister to our Government are examined by the people, that independent of the arrogance bordering on insolence, in which they are couched, so characteristic of that nation, they will have a different effect from that of conciliation; the illiberal and disingenuous demands made preliminary to the revocation of the Orders in Council, will have a tendency to rouse the public mind; they will be looked on with an indignant frown by all real Americans.
Sir, we have been constantly annoyed, assaulted openly and insidiously; we have been plundered, oppressed, and insulted; we thought it preferable to forbear while forbearance was possible, than to plunge into the evils of war, to redress the evil of plunder and partial and dastard-like courage; we judged it better to abandon the wealth which the afflictions of the world held out to the avidity of commercial speculation, and consequently withdrew from the ocean, by the adoption of the embargo—a measure of all others the best calculated to meet the then emergency, and which would, I have no hesitation in saying, have produced the desired effect if we had have had firmness enough to have adhered to it, and virtue and patriotism enough to have enforced it. But, sir, partyism was our ruin; it proved that we had as much to fear from our domestic enemies as our foreign foes, and apparently the greatest evil we had to apprehend was in falling a victim to our own political dissensions, occasioned by the deeply-laid plans of our deadly foe, Britain. Sir, during embargo times our domestic enemies, encouraged by a proclamation issued under the authority of the King of England—I say, sir, those minions of royalty concentrating in the East, talked of the violation of laws as a virtue, they demoralized the community by raising the floodgates of civil disorder; they gave absolution to felons, and invited the commission of crimes by the omission of duty. But, sir, the day of retribution is (I trust) not far distant, when those among us who to gain the favor of our enemy have betrayed their country, will sink into insignificance and contempt; the wages of iniquity will not shield them from due infamy.
Mr. Troup rose to make an effort to put an end to the debate; a debate in which the great mass of the House were enlisted on one side, against the solitary gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) on the other; and declared that he would call for the previous question if it was persevered in.
Mr. Macon considered the present, from the turn the debate had taken, the most important question which had come before the National Government for many years past, because it was evidently discussed as a war question, though the real question before the House, if adopted, did not declare war. It was not now a question by what means or by whose measures the nation was brought into its present situation; it must, however, be satisfactory to all, that the Administration has done every thing that could have been expected, to avoid the present crisis, and to keep the nation at peace. If the British Government would cease to violate our neutral and national rights, our difficulties would be at an end. It was no longer a question about the colonial carrying trade—that was at an end; because Great Britain might now be considered as possessing all the West India Islands, and as we have now neither sugar nor coffee to carry, she has determined to execute with rigor her unjust orders against our carrying the productions of our own soil to any market except her own, or that of her allies. This is attacking the best interests of the country; indeed, it is taking the profits of both planter and merchant. Hence, none of our exports bring a price by which we can live, except flour; and that would be no better than any other article of export, was it not that Great Britain and her allies, Spain and Portugal, want it for the support of their armies; it is their wants, and the great difficulty of getting their wants supplied anywhere else, that keeps up the price of wheat.
Notwithstanding these were his sentiments, he thought it would be going too far to consent, by the vote he was about to give, that he pledged himself to vote for any measure which the Committee of Foreign Relations might hereafter bring forward, when he did not intend to vote for all the resolutions contained in the report which was now under consideration. Our affairs must now command the serious attention of every man in the nation. We must either prepare to maintain the right to carry our produce to what market we please, or to be content without a market; to attempt another negotiation would be useless; every effort has been made in that way that could be made. Indeed, no one has yet said that he wished another. He was as desirous of peace as he ever was; and if any plan shall be proposed by which the peace of the country can be preserved, and the right to export our native produce maintained, he should still prefer it to war; but if no such plan can be devised, he was willing to go to war for that right. He was also willing to declare the points to the nation for which we went to war, and rather than not succeed, he would carry it on for fifty years, and longer if necessary. He felt no hesitation in declaring, that he would not go to war to encourage the nation, or any part of it, to become manufacturers, (and it may not be amiss to observe that, from the day that this report was laid on the table, we have heard nothing about manufactures;) nor would he go to war for the purpose of building a navy. He mentioned this, because he had heard a good deal said of late about increasing the fleet and building seventy-fours. If, therefore, it was to be a war either to encourage manufactures or to build a fleet, he should be opposed to it; he would rather remain as we are awhile longer, bad as our situation is, than to stick these two set-fasts to the back of the nation, neither of which it could ever get clear of. A peace in Europe might free us from our present embarrassments, but from the other, once established, we can never expect to get free.
He could not agree with the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Troup) that the House ought now, by the previous question, to put an end to the debate; on the contrary, he wished every member might have full time to deliver his sentiments on this great question; for his part, he wished to hear the opinions of those who lived on the Eastern frontier; he was gratified that several of the members of the Western had favored the committee with theirs. He expressed this wish, because the part of the country which he represented was in the middle country, about the same distance from the mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, in no danger of being surprised or injured by any plundering party; but if the House was to do that which the gentleman from Georgia seemed to desire, it would do no good; because if our object be to invade Canada, it can scarcely be expected that this could be done with our utmost exertions by regular troops, hereafter to be raised, sooner than June or July. Hitherto, our proceedings have been carried on not only with good humor, but with great urbanity also; to stop the debate, might have a tendency to change this, which no one would regret more than the gentleman himself. Before we raise an army, and provide it with every thing necessary for marching, we have much to do. We have now no Washington to command, and since the days of Joshua, I have read of no such man; such men do not appear every century, and a thousand years will hardly produce one. It is quite probable, except the Commander-in-chief, as good or better appointments may be now made, than were made at the beginning of the Revolution; because there are now more men of experience in the country than there were at that time; and, also, because the men of talents and experience are much better known to the National Government now than they then were; besides the selection of officers, the wagons, carts, and provisions, are to purchase, and almost every other article necessary for a marching army. It may not be improper here to remark, that this is not a Government of confidence; and that, before we go too far, we ought, by some means or other, to know who is to command the army. There cannot be much difficulty in this, especially as every department of the Government seems willing to raise a force adequate to the purpose for which it is wanted. And here, sir, permit me to say, that I hope this is to be no party war, but a national war, in which every person in the nation may have a fair chance to participate in the honor and glory to be acquired in the field of battle, and in defence of the rights of his country. Such a war, if war we shall have, can alone, in my judgment, obtain the end for which we mean to contend, without any disgrace.
Foreign Relations.
The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee of Foreign Relations.
Mr. Dawson.—When we are about to take a step, to assume an attitude which must change all our foreign relations, and may produce a change in our political character, it becomes us to summon all our wisdom—to collect all our moderation and firmness, and to unite all our energies and exertions. It becomes us to be "neither rash nor diffident," or, to use the language of one of the greatest men who ever lived in the tide of times, "Immoderate valor swells into a fault, and fear admitted into public councils betrays like treason." Such, sir, is the situation of the United States at this moment. We are about to take such a step—every sentiment therefore which can be offered demands its proportion of public attention, and renders that apology from me unnecessary, which, on any other occasion, common propriety would justify.
After the select Committee on our Foreign Relations had made their report, it seemed to me to be their particular duty to give to this House a full exposition of their present and ulterior views and objects, and of those of the Administration, as far as they had ascertained them, founded on the information which, it is presumed, they possessed. For this I waited with patience, and have listened with attention and with pleasure—it has been given with promptness, with ability, and with candor; and with that perspicuity which frees the mind from all doubt as to the course which, in their judgment, we ought to pursue. And it now rests with us, sir, to determine whether we shall sanction their recommendation—whether we shall adopt those measures necessary and preparatory to a war in which it is probable our country will be engaged. Sir, in the course of my political life, it has been my duty to meet and to decide on some of the most important questions which have been agitated in our public councils, and deeply involving the best interests of our country; these duties I have performed with fidelity and without fear, and I pledge myself never to depart from that line of conduct; and, sir, at no period of my life, nor upon any occasion, have I met any question with more serious deliberation and more undaunted firmness than I do the present.
For several years past I have been an advocate for the adoption of every measure, the object of which was to place our country in a complete state of defence, and prepare us to meet any state of things. I have thought, and do think that preparatory and vigorous measures are best calculated to maintain the dignity and secure the peace and happiness of our country—that to be prepared to meet danger is the best way to avert it. These preparations have not been carried to the extent which I have wished—and yet, sir, I am far from thinking that my country is in that feeble state which some gentlemen seem willing to represent it. I feel myself authorized to state, that we have all the necessaries; all the implements; all the munitions necessary for a three years' close war against any force which any power can send to this continent.
All that we want, are men. No, sir, pardon the expression—all which we want is an expression of the will of the nation. Let this House, let the constituted authorities declare that will—let them declare "the Republic to be in danger," and thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow-citizens will rally round the standard of their country, resolved to support her rights, avenge her wrongs, or perish in her ruin. Yes, sir, should that awful moment ever arrive, which may Heaven avert!—should we be forced into a war in the defence of our just rights, I trust and believe that there is not a man in the nation, whose situation will permit, who will not be ready to march at his country's call. No man more devoutly prays for peace than I do; no man deprecates large standing armies in the time of peace more than I do. I consider them the bane of society and the danger of republics; but, sir, as peace, honorable peace, is not always at our command, they must be resorted to in time of war.
Mr. Nelson protested against the doctrine that in the vote he was about to give he should pledge himself to the support of whatever ulterior measures the Committee of Foreign Relations might choose to adopt. He was sensible that he should hazard the censure of his associates in the Republican cause by the observations he proposed to submit. Nay, his Republican friends might have the audacity to denounce him as an apostate, but the people had intrusted him with their dearest rights and interests, and he was resolved to pursue these according to his best judgment, regardless of the strictures of friends, and of the contumacious abuse of the press. Proscription should have no influence on his conduct. And hence he must express his astonishment at those gentlemen who had threatened the House with the previous question, when they themselves admitted the vast importance of the subject under discussion. Tacitus informs us that even the semi-barbarian Germans, when war was to be decided on, took two several occasions to debate upon it—one, when they were in the full possession of their natural faculties; and, second, when they were excited by extravagant circumstances. But in these enlightened days it seems that we are to decide this all-important question without debate! He begged gentlemen to divest themselves of passion. It was not a time to bow to the influence of improper feelings. They ought calmly and coolly to meet the subject. They were to decide upon a question which was of no momentary nature. If they did go to war, it would be a lasting war; and he agreed with the gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. Troup,) that if war-speeches were necessary to bring the House to the sticking point, it was much too soon to begin war.
He proposed to consider these resolutions as a measure of hostility, according to the views of its advocates, and then as a measure of defensive preparations, agreeable to the spirit of Executive recommendation, which was favorable to peace. What were the objects of the war? To establish our neutral rights, to exempt our seamen from imprisonment, the repeal of the Orders in Council, and of the blockades, and the security of the American flag. What would be the effects of war, the tocsin of which was for the first time sounded through the land? Our country had been blessed by Providence with more than thirty years of peace and plenty. The habits of the people were pacific. The trifling hostilities with England were of no consequence. But now the yeomanry of the country were to be called to arms as if our own territory were to be invaded. He sympathized with the sufferings of his impressed and incarcerated fellow-citizens; but would a territorial war exempt them from impressment? Would it establish our neutral rights? Certainly not. The way to enforce these rights was by a great maritime force, which the nation were incompetent to raise and support.
But the advocates of immediate war said that if they could not obtain their objects by direct hostility on the ocean, they could do it by a succedaneum—by the exercise of the lex talionis in an indirect way. After issuing letters of marque, they would resort to the invasion of the enemies' territorial provinces. He contended that this would be inefficacious, and maintained that to convert our merchants into privateers would be to turn them loose upon the seas as highway robbers. They would not be competent to carry on a war in this way. They would have abandoned their peaceful pursuits; they would accept a fraternal embrace of French subjects; fight side by side with them, and submit themselves to the will of the French Emperor. However scrupulous gentlemen might now be, when the hour of danger came they would accept the alliance of France. The national interests would be identified with those of the European continent. We should adopt the continental system, in which our liberties and independence would be jeopardized.
He deprecated the invasion of Canada as an act of foreign conquest. We could not suppose that Great Britain would slumber over our occupation of it, and where should we find a stationary force able to keep possession of it as a conquered province? Admit it as a sister into the Union, we dare not abandon it at the peace, and therefore we could not give it back for the restoration of our maritime rights. But suppose that Great Britain should be brought to her knees, (and this was all the most valiant of us would ask,) what have we to expect, if the power and the commerce of England should be thrown into the arms of France, from the high, the mighty, the imperial Napoleon? Would he respect us more than England would? They both follow their own interest, as we ought to follow ours. What would be the effect of this war upon ourselves?
He feared a war, not from a puerile fear of its expenses or of death, but from a manly dread of the consequences of this war, which must last as long as England had a ship at sea, or a man to man it. It must link us to the destinies of continental Europe; it would place us under complete foreign influence and foreign dominion; it would change our political institutions. The sages who framed the constitution, and illumined it by their commentaries, had predicted that it would not suit to stand the shock of war. The Republic would be ruined by war. We do not want courage. The Revolution had shown proofs of the greatest valor ever exhibited by human nature. But few circumstances besides invasion would justify war. It would strengthen the Executive arm at the expense of the Legislature. The Chief Magistrate would have to carry on the war. He would, upon the plea of necessity, change our appropriations from one object to another. The constitution would be sapped. The legislative power would be destroyed. He cared not for the prices of cotton and tobacco as compared with the constitution. War would introduce a slavish subordination among the people. They would lose their republican simplicity and their republican independence. They would neglect their homespun for the military plume and the gilded epaulette. Their morals would become depraved. Love of idleness, extravagance, and neglect of the dull pursuits of common life, would take place. The desire would again prevail of acquiring large fortunes by aid of invasion, at the expense of the war-worn soldier whose fruits would be taken away for a mere song, as they had been at the close of the Revolution. Cupidity would be introduced, and pervade the public mind.
I have made these remarks, Mr. Speaker, to repel the declarations of gentlemen, that to vote for this resolution would pledge me to embark in war. If war is necessary, I would not shrink from it, big as it is with calamity and ruin. It will be the duty of Government to obviate some of its evils.
I am in hopes, too, sir, that I have been so fortunate as to check the intemperance of the youth of my country. They will excuse me. I trust we may not be led away by the ardor of youth or of old age. I shall vote for the increase of the regular force, to go hand in hand with my friends, even in a war, if necessary and just. I have not made this speech to prove that I am against war.
Mr. Findlay said he had frequently observed members, after a question had undergone a very tedious discussion, say that if the yeas and nays had not been called they would not have spoken on the question, but these having been called, they must assign the reasons for their votes. He did not approve of that principle, because if it was to be reduced to practice every member would speak to every such question, and there would be no end of the debate. However, on this question, though he thought it had been sufficiently discussed, yet he deemed it proper to express a few thoughts, not so much to give the reasons for the vote he designed to give, as to explain the principles on which he designed to give his vote. He designed to vote for the resolution before the House, but not surely for the same reasons or with the same determined views that some honorable members have expressed. He would not dwell on the tyrannies and robberies of either the more ancient or modern despots or Governments, of the old world, but confine himself to such as had a direct relation to the question depending before the House.
That the aggressions and bad faith of the British Government, and the recommendations of the Executive, were the foundation of the resolutions before the House, was admitted by all that have spoken on the question. In order to be understood he would take a concise retrospect of our relations with Britain since nearly the commencement of the present Government of the United States.
During the First Congress an Indian war was commenced on our western frontier, and conducted as usual with savage ferocity; but, believing that it only resulted from the combination of a few tribes, our defensive measures at first were weak, and our first attempts unfortunate. But it soon became such a tedious and expensive war as to require for several years the exertion of all our resources. It had at last a fortunate conclusion; but during its progress our Government and the citizens were fully convinced that the Indians were encouraged and supported by the British Government.
We all knew that for several years past Indian councils have been convened by British agents, who influenced them by presents, and employed them as emissaries to excite the peaceable Indians in our own territories to go to war against our new and dispersed settlements. It would be infidelity to doubt the truth of the Indians having received their arms, &c., from British agents, and though these British allies have got a check in the late engagement, yet it also has cost us dear. We have no ground to conclude that the danger is over; revenge is the predominant passion of savages, and though we have not such unequivocal proofs of the British in the present instance exciting the Indians to war, and supplying them for that purpose, as we had in 1793, when President Washington received a copy of Lord Dorchester's speech to the Indian tribes, encouraging them to war against our settlements, and promising them a co-operation of the British force—the copy of which gracious speech several members yet in Congress saw at that time, and every member has heard of it—through a kind Providence that co-operation was prevented by the defeat of the British armies in Europe. Though we have not at present such explicit proofs that the Indians at present are acting as British allies, yet we have as much proof as the nature of the case can afford, and it would be very unwise if we did not act accordingly.
From the above view of the subject, if we had no other cause, I deduce the expediency of increasing our regular force agreeable to the recommendation of the President and of our committee. I think more has been said about taking Canada than was necessary. It is true, that during the same Indian war, it was the opinion of our most sage politicians that we never could be secure against Indian war till we had possession of Canada, and by that means have it in our power to cut off the communication between foreign nations and the Indians on our frontiers and in our own territory. They said that neither our revenue, our credit or population would at that time justify the attempt; but that we were rapidly increasing in population and all other resources, while the nations of Europe are wasting their own strength, but the time was fast approaching when we must repel national insults or surrender our independence. This was said particularly with respect to the impressment of our seamen. At the commencement of this outrage, never committed by any other nation but Britain, the public mind was very sensibly affected by it, but time and the frequent repetition of the injury seems to have rendered the public feelings callous. This put him in mind of what he had sometimes observed, that when the savages scalped a few families on the frontier, the whole country was terribly alarmed, but that after the savage butchery had continued and extended itself for some time, the sensibility seemed to abate. This had been evidently the effect of the continued impressment of our seamen.
Mr. Roberts observed he should offer no apology for rising so late in this discussion, as the short time for which he was about to ask attention would not justify it. The eloquence and talents which had been so abundantly exhibited on this occasion, would not admit of more than a concise expression of his opinion, without subjecting him, justly, to the charge of presumption. When the report now under consideration came first before the House, I was, said he, of the number of those who were disposed to decide upon it without debate. I have frequently been in the minority on the question of adjournment, from a wish to reach the question on the resolutions. Under these impressions I confess I viewed the challenge, or rather the invitation, given by the gentleman from Tennessee, (Mr. Grundy,) "to debate this subject now, if it was to be debated at all," more as the impulse of an ingenuous mind, preferring, on all occasions, an open course, than the dictates of prudence or necessity. Nor was it till after the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Macon) had invited and urged discussion, that I became disposed to join in opinion with them, the correctness of which the debate of this day has very much strengthened.
By the adoption of this report, we are entering on a system of operations of the utmost national moment; the effects of which the wisest amongst us cannot fully foresee, and on which we have no choice but to act. The discussion has already elicited opinions, which it is well to know exist; and the more so, since some of them admit the holders to vote for the report, while they allow them to be adverse to the measures which are necessarily to follow it. A little time may be well spent in comparing sentiments in this stage of the business, as it may be conducive to celerity of movement in the sequel, and give more certain effect to the measures which must ultimately be followed.
Every political community must, of necessity, possess rights, which it may enjoy independently of, and in common with, every other. One of those rights is an uncontrolled jurisdiction over its own territory. It has long ago been found necessary for nations to settle by convention on the great scale where the limits of territory shall cease, and where the high seas shall commence. This convention, or law, has determined that the ships of neutrals shall be a part of the national territory; so long as they are careful to preserve a pacific character. Through the intervention of vessels navigating the high seas, nations in amity are enabled to overcome the want of proximity, and all the purposes of trade and commercial intercourse may thereby be extended, as well to the inhabitants of the remotest corners of the earth, as to those only divided by a geometrical line. An attempt to interrupt this intercourse by a third nation, is so serious an act of hostility and wrong, as not only always to justify, but to demand, resistance. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) has said the Government would not, on a former occasion, go to war, when their trade, which consisted in carrying the produce of one foreign country to another, was annoyed and cut up; and why not, he says, be pacific now, as well as then? While I agree that our national rights extend to both alike, admitting, however, every Government to make her own municipal regulations, I must be allowed to consider our direct export and import trade much better worth contending for, than what has been denominated our carrying trade. The cultivators and owners of the soil have never shown any disposition to fight for the latter trade; and for a very plain and consistent reason. War is sure to bring on its train of evils and expense; and where it is obvious that these will amount to more than the loss of the exercise of a right in its nature of but transitory use and minor interest, a free people may with propriety refuse to hazard them for its support. It is not for such a people to war for a speculative right or an empty name. The carrying trade, it must be owned, was profitable in exercise, but it was a profit that could be given up without vital prejudice to the national interests. Not so with our fair export trade. To yield this would be absolute recolonization. It must not only affect us in the great resources of national strength, but it must break the spirit of our citizens, and make them infidels in the principle of self-government. It would, at the same time, add means and facilities to the aggressing nation to multiply her outrages. Give up the export trade to Great Britain, and you will next be required to give up the coasting trade, and to admit her navigation act to as complete operation in our bays and harbors, as it now has round the limited shores of the British isles. The spirit of commercial monopoly she has so pertinaciously manifested, proves that her ambition craves more than her means can aspire to. The wrongs she has long been and still is committing towards these States, have assumed a character that imperiously calls for a resistance, made by all for the benefit of all.
I cannot with some gentlemen doubt the sufficiency of this Government to conduct a war. However congenial a state of peace may be to a Republic, the Constitution of the United States must have been framed with a view to war as well as peace. The members of the grand convention had almost all been active characters in the Revolutionary war. On the subject of war they were certainly more than mere theorists. Honest apprehensions have, too, been entertained in times back of the Government being too strong; I think, however, that we may look with well-grounded confidence for complete sufficiency in it; without being alarmed at the reverse of the picture. While the power of declaring war is vested in Congress; while levies and supplies are within its control; while a check on the appointing powers is vested in the Senate, and a periodical termination of the President's office exists; the Executive arm, though sufficiently untrammelled for necessary and useful command, is effectually paralyzed as to the exercise of power to affect or change the free features of the Government; unless indeed the representation should become utterly corrupt, an event no one can believe possible. I feel much satisfaction at this moment in seeing a man at the head of the Government who had a conspicuous concern in framing the constitution, and whose official duties have since closely connected him with the administration of Government under it. In the Message out of which the report before you has sprung, not the slightest doubt is discoverable of the efficiency of our institutions to sustain us under every exigency that may overtake us. My own reflections on this subject (and they have neither been light nor transitory) have neither served to alarm nor intimidate. I repose in safety on the saving maxim, "never to despair of the Republic."
Mr. McKee.—Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House, at this late hour of the debate, with reluctance; but the importance of the question must be my apology.
Some gentlemen, in felicitating themselves on account of the temper of the House, evidenced by the determination to adopt vigorous measures against England, have expressed a regret that measures of a similar character had not been resorted to long since.
In this sentiment I cannot agree. In reviewing past times, we cannot but perceive that it has been the desire of the Government to avoid being involved in the war with which Europe has been so long desolated, and by dealing out justice to the belligerents, respectively, with an impartial hand, to preserve our neutrality, permitting our citizens peacefully to pursue their private avocations, reaping the rich harvest arising from our neutral commerce.
This was certainly a wise policy, and the distinguished success with which it was attended is a clear evidence of its wisdom and propriety. Why, then, should it be condemned? Have any people ever acquired individual wealth with so much rapidity; or have any been more happy in the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity than the people of the United States? None. The wish of the late and the present Administrations was to continue this state of happy prosperity as long as it was practicable, by making acts of wrong and vexation of a minor sort, growing out of the violence of the times, the subject of negotiation, rather than a cause of war. And, is this course of policy now to be condemned, and regrets entered up that we have not been at war years ago?
At the opening of the session of Congress, in December, 1809, after the disavowal of Erskine's arrangement, when our relations with England assumed a more unfavorable aspect than at the close of the summer session, the Committee on Foreign Relations, with a desire to preserve our neutrality, presented to the House a measure usually termed Macon's bill, No. 1; a measure which it is now known was approved by the Administration, and had the sanction even of a higher authority, (if such there be.) This measure was calculated in its operation to present serious difficulties to those nations by whom the rights of our neutral flag were disregarded; and, at the same time, it left open to the enterprise of our citizens those channels of trade, not included within the scope of the orders and decrees of the belligerents, as they then stood; a commerce as extensive and valuable as we can expect to enjoy in times of general peace. It was, however, opposed, and successfully, too, by war speeches. It fell, and by its fall the Administration were driven from their ground, and the hopes of maintaining much longer the neutrality of the United States also fell with it. This unfortunate event was succeeded by the act of May, 1810. By this act, the belligerents were invited, in a new form, to withdraw their orders and decrees; promising, on our part, in case either of them should accept the invitation thus given to both, to put in force the non-importation sections of the non-intercourse law against the party persevering in their orders or decrees for three months after their adversary had accepted the invitation thus given. The law of May, 1810, was enacted with a hope that the terms thereby offered to the belligerents, respectively, would induce the one or the other to accept them, and withdraw their orders or decrees. And an expectation was also entertained, that if one of the parties could be induced to relinquish their orders or decrees, the other party would follow the example; and, if this just expectation should be met by a perseverance of either of the parties in their orders or decrees, after their adversary had accepted the invitation thus given, it would test the sincerity of the various and repeated declarations made by them, respectively, that their orders and decrees, affecting our commerce, were reluctantly issued in their own just defence.
Those also who preferred war to the preservation of our neutrality, and by whom Macon's bill was rejected, would be relieved from the embarrassment of going to war with two of the most powerful nations in the world, or of selecting which of the two should be made our enemy, at a time when we had just cause of war against both. The fixed and determined hostility of one of the parties towards the United States would be (as it certainly now is) most clearly proved; and thereby our measures of hostility rendered the more necessary, and more likely to receive the unanimous approbation of the American people.
My opinion, therefore, is, that it was wise to preserve our neutrality as long as possible, making an appeal to force the last reluctant resort; and, inasmuch as the majority of Congress, in 1809, resolved to change the peaceful character of this country, the intervening period has been employed in a last effort to avert the calamities of war; the result of which has relieved this Government from any liability to the charge of partiality to either of the belligerents, by compelling one of them, by their own act, to present themselves as the object of our just hostility.
Mr. Stanford said, as the resolution before the House contemplated an additional army, and from the avowal of its friends, involved in it the question of peace or war, he felt the desire to assign the reasons of his vote upon so important a subject. He was the more disposed to do so as he should probably find himself in a very small minority upon the question. He was not flattered, he said, with using arguments which would convince others; but for himself he felt their force strong enough to fix his mind against the measure. If he were to vote, he said, for the proposed army, he should vote inconsistently with all his former opinions and principles upon the subject, and he never could think of acting a part inconsistent with himself, and that more especially when all his experience had gone to confirm his first impressions, his honest prejudices against standing armies. Such establishments had always proved the bane of free Governments, and he could not see how we were to get along with them, and remain, as he believed we were, the freest and happiest people upon earth.
But, sir, we are told war is to be declared in certain events, and that the army proposed is to invade and take the Canadas. We are then to pass out of the limits of the United States and wage a war of the foreign offensive kind! If such was the contemplated use of this army when raised, he was still the more opposed to the measure. He was against the war itself, and the policy of it, and could by no means yield his vote to bring it about. That there were sufficient cause of war, he was ready to acknowledge, and he was not disposed in any the least degree to palliate the offences of Great Britain, or that of any of the other belligerents, committed on the persons and property of our citizens. All of them had deserved war at our hands, but we had at no time since the commencement of our present Government seen it our interest or policy to give into it, in the open and declared form, nor that of any other form, except that of a quasi character which happened under Mr. Adams's administration. The question never had been whether we had or had not cause of war, but whether the true interest of the United States did not, under all circumstances, call aloud upon us to cherish peace, and to avoid war and its evils as the last of the alternatives before us; and this, said Mr. S., he would be able to show was the Republican doctrine, as well in the old minority times as since that minority grew into a majority.
The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) had made a direct appeal to the Republican party, and endeavored to rally and unite them in this, to them at least, new doctrine of war. If the appeal of the gentleman had any reference to him, he would beg leave to deny some of his positions. He had himself had some small share to act in the political scenes of '98-9, and he was glad to find from the gentleman's declaration that he had joined in the "clamor" of the day, to pull down the then Federal Administration for the unjustifiable war which they had gone into with France. Mr. S. said he knew he had joined in it most heartily. He believed he then acted right in all he did to supersede that Administration, and he still believed he was right. The best interests of the country forbade the war, and so the people determined, when ultimately they came to decide the question. That party thus ousted by the public voice, the present Republican majority was brought in upon their own professions of better principles, the love of peace and economy. But now, forgetting our old professions under a French crisis, we had raised the cry of war under a British one, and nothing short of it was to save our honor. Mr. S. declared if there was any difference in the causes of war then and now, he thought it turned most decidedly in favor of the former period, since the more intolerable outrage in the case of the Chesapeake had been at length atoned for. What were the facts? French decrees existed at that time against your rightful commerce—he spoke of the arrêttes or decrees of the French directory—these had the same practical effect on our maritime neutral rights that the British orders have now. French cruisers waylaid the mouths of your harbors, and captured your vessels; and the first successful act of the United States after the quasi-war commenced, was, the taking of one of these cruisers in the mouth of one of our harbors.
But, said Mr. S., the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) tells us it is a principle of honor in a nation, as in an individual, to resist a first insult. If such doctrine is to be admitted, when should we have had a moment's peace? From one or the other belligerents of Europe, since their late wars commenced, we have never been without just complaints against them for some violation of our neutral rights, and of course must have taken an early share in their wars. The truth is, we cannot liken, nor will the similitude hold good between an individual's honor, or his sensibility to it, and that of a nation's. A single impressment or capture may be well admitted to form a ground of reprisal and war; but we should have been a ruined country long ere now, if, under the existing circumstances of the world, and belligerent Europe, we had yielded to this quickness of sensibility, and had gone to war for a first and single instance of aggression from either of the belligerents. The same gentleman argues that every thing now calls upon us to make a stand; that there was no danger to our liberties in a standing army of twenty or thirty thousand men, and that all admitted there was justifiable cause of war, and he believed it had now become necessary. This was declaiming, Mr. S. said, very handsomely upon the subject of war, he would agree; and he very well recollected we had heard the same doctrines precisely, and he thought he might be permitted to say, a strain of declamation, at least equally handsome, upon the same subject, and from the same State, in 1798-'9.[17] Mr. S. contended as the then doctrines of war, (and it must be admitted the causes of it were also alike in their character,) it was fair to expect that in due time public opinion would come to be the same in both cases.
But, Mr. S. said, he could not perceive how the present, of all others, had become the necessary and accepted time for war with Great Britain. The attack on the Chesapeake frigate had been lately atoned for, to the satisfaction of our Government; and, he trusted, had not been so done as to aggravate the crisis of affairs between the two countries. If calculated to do so, our Government could not have received it. The impressment of our seamen was a just complaint against the British Government; but it commenced under the Administration of General Washington, and no one would say he was less sensible to national honor and independence than ourselves. Under all the circumstances of that cause of complaint, he did not think it a cause sufficient for him to depart from the neutral ground he had assumed; nor was the annoyance of our commerce less vexatious in his time than since. In like manner, under Mr. Adams's Administration, the same complaints existed, though in that of the latter, not, perhaps, to the same degree; and, under the eight years of Mr. Jefferson's Administration, the same state of things continued, certainly with an increased degree of violence, to which was also added the more aggravating insult upon the Chesapeake. Mr Jefferson had never been suspected of partiality for Great Britain, and then, indeed, the accepted time had come for a war with that Government; all parties were united, and pledged themselves to support him in the war. The pulse of the nation beat high for it. But he felt, because he knew, that peace was the best interest of his country, and forbore to call Congress together. He had always admired the man; but, upon that occasion, he felt more than a sentiment of admiration toward him. When, at length, wrongs had thus accumulated, and called for some system of counteraction and resistance till negotiation could be farther tried, the embargo was resorted to in preference to war; and, when that was done away, a system of non-intercourse was substituted, and to that again succeeded the present alternative law of the same kind; the non-importation system which has grown out of this with Great Britain has not been tried one whole year yet. If gentlemen will have it that this is the accepted time for war, how has it happened that we have not had it before? Our Councils may be presumed to have been as sensible to aggression, and as patriotic to redress it, as we now are.
But, Mr. Speaker, said Mr. S., opposed as he was to the idea of the United States becoming one of the belligerent nations—to the linking our destinies with those of the European Powers; to the taking any share in their present conflicts, if his country once determined upon it, he would not then hesitate to vote any force, or other means to bring it to as speedy and as happy an issue as possible: until then he should preserve his own consistency; and contribute in no way to bring about that state of things which, he believed, would prove most ruinous to his country.
Mr. King.—Mr. Speaker, I should not have troubled this House with any remarks of mine, had it not been for the observations which have just fallen from my colleague from North Carolina. I shall not attempt, sir, to follow that gentleman in the history which he has given of the progress of party in this country, but shall content myself with stating, that, in our sentiments, we entirely differ; his is the doctrine of submission; yes, sir, the most abject submission; mine, I trust, is not. I am in favor of the resolution now on your table. I am aware, sir, of the many important considerations which will naturally suggest themselves to the mind of every real friend of his country, when he views the consequences which may result from the adoption of the measure now contemplated. When, sir, the habits of a nation, ingrafted, as it were, in its very nature, are about to be departed from; when the destinies of the country are about to be launched on an untried ocean, and when the doubt is about to be solved, whether our Republican Government is alike calculated to support us through the trials and difficulties of war, and guide us in safety down the gentle current of peace, I am aware, sir, that we should pause and ponder well the subject; that we should divest ourselves of those warm feelings which most generally take possession of our minds on viewing the unjust prostration of the rights of our country. Sir, that interest which I feel, in common with others, on the decision of a question of such magnitude and importance, will, I trust, induce this House to bear with me a moment, while, in a few words, I explain the motives by which I am actuated in giving my decided approbation to the resolution now under consideration. If, sir, I were merely to turn my attention to the local situation of that portion of the country which I have the honor particularly to represent; its extensive and exposed seacoasts, combined with its present commercial advantages; I should, without hesitation, give my vote to the proposed measure. But, sir, as in my individual capacity, I feel at all times willing to make not only pecuniary sacrifices, but to expose my person in vindicating the rights and interests of my country, in my Representative capacity, I will undertake to say, that my constituents will do no less. Sir, the demon Avarice, which benumbs every warm emotion of the soul, has not yet gained the ascendency in the South: the love of country animates every breast, and burns with inextinguishable ardor. Sir, they feel in common, I trust, with a great majority of every portion of this Union, the degradation of our country, in submitting for a moment longer to the dishonorable terms proposed directly or indirectly by the British Government. Mr. Speaker, I hold it to be correct, that, in discussing a subject of such importance, a view of the various matters necessarily connected with it, will not be considered irrelevant: but, sir, I will not weary the patience of this House with a detail of injuries, unparalleled in the history of former times, wantonly inflicted on a nation which manifested to the whole world her sincere desire to support the neutral stand which had been taken at the earliest period of her Government, and most tenaciously adhered to. We have carefully avoided, Mr. Speaker, any participation in that system of politics which has convulsed and distracted the European world. We have restricted ourselves in the full enjoyment of our rights, lest by strictly enforcing them, we might produce a collision with any nation, however little her conduct might be guided by the principles of equity. Sir, we have borne with injury, until, in the language of your committee, forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. We have remonstrated, we have appealed to the justice, to the interest, of the two great contending powers of Europe; every effort proved abortive; our calls for justice were drowned in the declaration that their measures were merely retaliatory, and not intended to interfere with neutral rights; thus, sir, the matter rested, when specific propositions were submitted to each. Yes, sir, by an act which has placed the impartiality of our country beyond the reach of suspicion, we demanded of each the revocation of her obnoxious edicts as the only means of preserving our friendship. We all know what has been the consequence: France has met our advances, has embraced our propositions. Great Britain not only refuses a repeal on her part, but, while she affects to lament the effects produced on neutral rights, takes the most effectual methods to render them perpetual. Sir, blindness and ignorance itself can no longer be deceived by British policy.
We have been told, sir, that this will be a war for the support of the carrying trade; let me here remark, and I wish to be distinctly understood, as avowing my determination never to give a vote, so long as I have the honor of a seat on this floor, which will involve this country in a war, for the recovery or support of this extraneous species of commerce. I believe I shall not be incorrect when I assert, that nine-tenths of this country never did and never will derive the smallest benefit from it. But, sir, the right to carry in our own ships the produce of our own country to any quarter, not thereby violating the laws of nations, or contravening legitimate municipal regulations, is one which I never will yield; for, sir, in doing so, we paralyze the industry of our citizens; we give a fatal blow to the best interests of our country. Yes, sir, we yield the principle, we invite to further encroachments. Our country, sir, is agricultural, but so intimately blended with commerce, that the one cannot long exist unaided by the other. Sir, I will not yield an inch of ground, when, by so doing, I destroy an essential right of my country—or sap the foundation of that independence cemented by the blood of our fathers. We were told by a gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Randolph,) a few days since, that we have sufficient cause for war. I ask you, then, sir, why do we hesitate? Shall we always yield? Shall we always shrink from the contest? The adoption of this resolution is the touchstone—by it we rise or fall. We have been asked, Mr. Speaker, why not lay upon your table a proposition to go to war? It is there, sir; it is contained in this resolution; the moment we give it our sanction we declare our fixed resolve to render effective the force contemplated to be raised. Yes, sir, unless Great Britain manifests a disposition speedily to do us justice—by her acts, sir, not by her words. The gentleman from Virginia calls upon the Representatives of the seacoasts, of the slaveholding States, and asks if they are willing to say to England "we intend to go to war with you." Does the gentleman mean to excite our fears for the loss of our property? As one of the many on this floor who stand in the situation mentioned by that gentleman, I step forth to declare for myself and my constituents, that, when loss of national honor is placed in the scale, and attempted to be balanced by pecuniary interest, we will, without hesitation, kick the beam. But, sir, we are now contending for the restoration of our rights, the deprivation of which strikes at the very foundations of our prosperity. Sir, to us, it matters little whether our cities tumble into ruin by desertion for want of employment, by poverty produced by British wrongs and aggression, or, in vindicating the cause of our country, fall by a quicker process. Sir, I have no fear of invasion, and, therefore, have no fears arising from the black population, which strikes with so much horror on the sensitive mind of the gentleman from Virginia. For my country, Mr. Speaker, I lament its existence; I view it as the bane, the curse of the land, and most sincerely, sir, do I wish that a second Moses could take them by the hand, and lead them in safety to a distant land, where their cries would never more strike on the ear of sympathy.