TWELFTH CONGRESS.—FIRST SESSION. PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.[13] (continued 2)

But the outrages and injuries of England, bred up in the principles of the Revolution, he could never palliate, much less defend them. He well remembered flying with his mother, and her new-born child, from Arnold and Phillips—and how they had been driven by Tarleton and other British pandoors from pillar to post, while her husband was fighting the battles of his country. The impression was indelible on his memory—and yet (like his worthy old neighbor, who added seven buck-shot to every cartridge at the battle of Guilford, and drew a fine sight at his man) he must be content to be called a tory by a patriot of the last importation. Let us not get rid of one evil (supposing it to be possible) at the expense of a greater—mutatis mutandis. Suppose France in possession of the British naval power—and to her the trident must pass should England be unable to wield it—what would be your condition? What would be the situation of your seaports and their seafaring inhabitants? Ask Hamburg, Lubec. Ask Savannah. What, sir! when their privateers are pent up in our harbors by the British bull-dogs, when they receive at our hands every rite of hospitality, from which their enemy is excluded, when they capture within our own waters, interdicted to British armed ships, American vessels; when such is their deportment towards you, under such circumstances, what could you expect if they were the uncontrolled lords of the ocean? Had those privateers at Savannah borne British commissions, or had your shipments of cotton, tobacco, ashes, and what not, to London and Liverpool, been confiscated, and the proceeds poured into the English Exchequer—my life upon it! you would never have listened to any miserable wire-drawn distinctions between "orders and decrees affecting our neutral rights," and "municipal decrees," confiscating in mass your whole property. You would have had instant war! The whole land would have blazed out in war.

And shall republicans become the instruments of him who had effaced the title of Attila to the "Scourge of God!" Yet even Attila, in the falling fortunes of civilization, had, no doubt, his advocates, his tools, his minions, his parasites in the very countries that he overran—sons of that soil whereon his horse had trod; where grass could never after grow. If perfectly fresh, Mr. Randolph said (instead of being as he was—his memory clouded, his intellect stupefied, his strength and spirits exhausted) he could not give utterance to that strong detestation which he felt towards (above all other works of the creation) such characters as Zingis, Tamerlane, Kouli-Khan, or Bonaparte. His instincts involuntarily revolted at their bare idea. Malefactors of the human race, who ground down man to a mere machine of their impious and bloody ambition. Yet, under all the accumulated wrongs, and insults, and robberies of the last of these chieftains, are we not in point of fact about to become a party to his views, a partner in his wars?

But before this miserable force of ten thousand men was raised to take Canada, he begged them to look at the state of defence at home—to count the cost of the enterprise before it was set on foot, not when it might be too late—when the best blood of the country should be spilt, and naught but empty coffers left to pay the cost. Are the bounty lands to be given in Canada? It might lessen his repugnance to that part of the system, to granting these lands, not to those miserable wretches who sell themselves to slavery for a few dollars and a glass of gin, but in fact to the clerks in our offices, some of whom, with an income of fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars, lived at the rate of four or five thousand, and yet grew rich—who perhaps at that moment were making out blank assignments for these land rights.

He would beseech the House, before they ran their heads against this post, Quebec, to count the cost. His word for it, Virginia planters would not be taxed to support such a war—a war which must aggravate their present distresses; in which they had not the remotest interest. Where is the Montgomery, or even the Arnold, or the Burr, who is to march to Point Levi?

He called upon those professing to be republicans to make good the promises held out by their republican predecessors when they came into power—promises which, for years afterwards, they had honestly, faithfully fulfilled. We had vaunted of paying off the national debt, of retrenching useless establishments; and yet had now become as infatuated with standing armies, loans, taxes, navies, and war, as ever were the Essex Junto. What republicanism is this?

Wednesday, December 11.

Foreign Relations.

The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Richard M. Johnson said he rose to thank the committee for the report which was offered to the House, and the resolutions which were recommended; though the measures fell short of his wishes, and, he believed, of public expectation. The ulterior measures, however, promised by the committee satisfied his mind, and he should give the report his warm support. The chairman had given the views of the committee. The expulsion of the British from their North American possessions, and granting letters of marque and reprisal against Great Britain are contemplated. Look at the Message of the President. At a moment least to be expected, when France had ceased to violate our neutral rights, and the olive branch was tendered to Great Britain, her orders in council were put into a more rigorous execution. Not satisfied with refusing a redress for wrongs committed on our coasts and in the mouths of our harbors, our trade is annoyed, and our national rights invaded; and, to close the scene of insolence and injury, regardless of our moderation and our justice, she has brought home to the "threshold of our territory," measures of actual war. As the love of peace has so long produced forbearance on our part, while commercial cupidity has increased the disposition to plunder on the part of Great Britain, I feel rejoiced that the hour of resistance is at hand, and that the President, in whom the people has so much confidence, has warned us of the perils that await them, and has exhorted us to put on the armor of defence, to gird on the sword, and assume the manly and bold attitude of war. He recommends filling up the ranks of the present military establishment, and to lengthen the term of service; to raise an auxiliary force for a more limited time; to authorize the acceptance of volunteers, and provide for calling out detachments of militia as circumstances may require. For the first time since my entrance into this body, there now seems to be but one opinion with a great majority—that with Great Britain war is inevitable; that the hopes of the sanguine as to a returning sense of British justice have expired; that the prophecies of the discerning have failed; and, that her infernal system has driven us to the brink of a second revolution, as important as the first. Upon the Wabash, through the influence of British agents, and within our territorial sea by the British navy, the war has already commenced. Thus, the folly, the power, and the tyranny of Great Britain, have taken from us the last alternative of longer forbearance.

Mr. J. said we must now oppose the farther encroachments of Great Britain by war, or formally annul the Declaration of our Independence, and acknowledge ourselves her devoted colonies. The people whom I represent will not hesitate which of the two courses to choose; and, if we are involved in war, to maintain our dearest rights, and to preserve our independence, I pledge myself to this House, and my constituents to this nation, that they will not be wanting in valor, nor in their proportion of men and money to prosecute the war with effect. Before we relinquish the conflict, I wish to see Great Britain renounce the piratical system of paper blockade; to liberate our captured seamen on board her ships of war; relinquish the practice of impressment on board our merchant vessels; to repeal her Orders in Council; and cease, in every other respect, to violate our neutral rights; to treat us as an independent people. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) has objected to the destination of this auxiliary force—the occupation of the Canadas, and the other British possessions upon our borders where our laws are violated, the Indians stimulated to murder our citizens, and where there is a British monopoly of the peltry and fur trade. I should not wish to extend the boundary of the United States by war if Great Britain would leave us to the quiet enjoyment of independence; but, considering her deadly and implacable enmity, and her continued hostility, I shall never die contented until I see her expulsion from North America, and her territories incorporated with the United States. It is strange that the gentleman would pause before refusing this force, if destined to keep the negroes in subordination—who are not in a state of insurrection as I understand—and he will absolutely refuse to vote this force to defend us against the lawless aggressions of Great Britain—a nation in whose favor he had said so much.

But, he has a dislike to the Canadian French, French blood is hateful to him. I have no doubt but the Canadian French are as good citizens as the Canadian English, or the refugee tories of the Revolution; nor have I any doubt but a great majority of that vast community are sound in their morals and in their politics, and would make worthy members of the United States.

But, open the sacred pages of the Journals of the Congress of 1774-'75—that Congress which commenced, and conducted to victory, the American Revolution. Upon the pages of the first volume (from page 54 to 100) we will find letters addressed to the inhabitants of Canada and the province of Quebec, containing the language of affectionate respect, and, in the warmth of patriotism, inviting them to unite against British tyranny, to make the cause of quarrel common, and to enter into the union of the States on the principles of equality. The encroachments of Great Britain are depicted in the most vivid colors, and then they say "we shall consider the violation of your rights a violation of our own, and you are invited to accede to the confederacy of the States." Thus, the patriots of the Revolution styled the inhabitants of the British provinces friends and fellow-sufferers in 1774: although then but a handful of men compared to their present numbers, and only ten years had elapsed from their first incorporation with the British dominions; and nothing but the want of physical power and means prevented their independence in 1776. The misfortunes of our arms at Quebec, and in that quarter, are well known. These overtures of the Old Congress did not stop here. After the Articles of Confederation had been adopted, the door was left open for the reception of the Canadas, and the hope was not lost until British arms riveted the chains of slavery upon them, which at that time could not be broken. Now, sir, these people are more enlightened, they have a great American population among them, and they have correct ideas of liberty and independence, and only want an opportunity to throw off the yoke of their taskmakers.

Let us not think so meanly of the human character and the human mind. We are in pursuit of happiness, and we place a great value upon liberty as the means of happiness. What, then, let me ask, has changed the character of those people, that they are to be despised? What new order of things has disqualified them for the enjoyment of liberty? Has any malediction of Heaven doomed them to perpetual vassalage? Or, will the gentleman from Virginia pretend to more wisdom and more patriotism than the constellation of patriots who conducted the infant Republic through the Revolution? In point of territorial limit, the map will prove its importance. The waters of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi interlock in a number of places, and the great Disposer of Human Events intended those two rivers should belong to the same people.

But it has been denied that British influence had any agency in the late dreadful conflict and massacre upon the Wabash; and this is said to vindicate the British nation from so foul a charge. Sir, look to the book of the Revolution. See the Indian savages in Burgoyne's army urged on every occasion to use the scalping-knife and tomahawk—not in battle, but against old men and women, and children; in the night, when they were taught to believe an Omniscient eye could not see their guilty deeds; and thus hardened in iniquity, they perpetrated the same deeds by the light of the sun, when no arm was found to oppose or protect. And when this crying sin was opposed by Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords, the employment of these Indians was justified by a speech from one of the Ministry. Thus we see how the principles of honor, of humanity, of Christianity, were violated and justified in the face of the world. Therefore, I can have no doubt of the influence of British agents in keeping up Indian hostility to the people of the United States, independent of the strong proofs on this occasion; and, I hope it will not be pretended that these agents are too moral or too religious to do the infamous deed. So much for the expulsion of Great Britain from her dominions in North America, and their incorporation into the United States of America.

The gentleman from Virginia says we are identified with the British in religion, in blood, in language, and deeply laments our hatred to that country, who can boast of so many illustrious characters. This deep-rooted enmity to Great Britain arises from her insidious policy, the offspring of her perfidious conduct towards the United States. Her disposition is unfriendly; her enmity is implacable; she sickens at our prosperity and happiness. If obligations of friendship do exist, why does Great Britain rend those ties asunder, and open the bleeding wounds of former conflicts? Or does the obligation of friendship exist on the part of the United States alone? I have never thought that the ties of religion, of blood, of language, and of commerce, would justify or sanctify insult and injury—on the contrary, that a premeditated wrong from the hand of a friend created more sensibility, and deserved the greater chastisement and the higher execration. What would you think of a man, to whom you were bound by the most sacred ties, who would plunder you of your substance, aim a deadly blow at your honor, and in the hour of confidence endeavor to bury a dagger in your bosom? Would you, sir, proclaim to the world your affection for this miscreant of society, after this conduct, and endeavor to interest your audience with the ties of kindred that bound you to each other? So let it be with nations, and there will be neither surprise nor lamentation that we execrate a Government so hostile to our independence—for it is from the Government that we meet with such multiplied injury, and to that object is our hatred directed. As to individuals of merit, whether British or French, I presume no person would accuse the people of the United States of such hatred to them, or of despising individuals, who might not be instrumental in the maritime despotism which we feel; and this accounts for the veneration we have for Sidney and Russell, statesmen of whom the gentleman has spoken; they are fatal examples why we should love the British Government. The records of that Government are now stained with the blood of these martyrs in freedom's cause, as vilely as with the blood of American citizens; and certainly we shall not be called upon to love equally the murderer and the victim. For God's sake let us not again be told of the ties of religion, of laws, of blood, and of customs, which bind the two nations together, with a view to extort our love for the English Government, and more especially when the same gentleman has acknowledged that we have ample cause of war against that nation—let us not be told of the freedom of that corrupt Government whose hands are washed alike in the blood of her own illustrious statesmen, for a manly opposition to tyranny, and the citizens of every other clime. But I would inquire into this love for the British Government and British institutions, in the gross, without any discrimination. Why love her rulers? Why kiss the rod of iron which inflicts the stripes without a cause? When all admit we have just cause of war, such attachments are dangerous, and encourage encroachment. I will venture to say, that our hatred of the British Government is not commensurate with her depredations and her outrages on our rights, or we should have waged a deadly war against her many years past. The subject of foreign attachments and British hatred has been examined at considerable length. I did not intend to begin that discussion, but I will pursue it, and though I make no charge of British attachments, I will, at all times, at every hazard, defend the Administration and the Republican party against the charge of foreign partialities—French or Spanish, or any other kind, when applied to the measures of our Government. This foreign influence is a dangerous enemy; we should destroy the means of its circulation among us—like the fatal tunic, it destroys where it touches. It is insidious, invisible, and takes advantage of the most unsuspecting hours of social intercourse. I would not deny the good will of France nor of Great Britain to have an undue influence among us. But Great Britain alone has the means of this influence to an extent dangerous to the United States. It has been said that Great Britain was fighting the battles of the world—that she stands against universal dominion threatened by the arch-fiend of mankind. I should be sorry if our independence depended upon the power of Great Britain. If, however, she would act the part of a friendly power towards the United States, I should never wish to deprive her of power, of wealth, of honor, of prosperity. But if her energies are to be directed against the liberties of this free and happy people, against my native country, I should not drop a tear if the fast-anchored isle would sink into the waves, provided the innocent inhabitants could escape the deluge and find an asylum in a more favorable soil. And as to the power of France, I fear it as little as any other power; I would oppose her aggressions, under any circumstances, as soon as I would British outrages.

The ties of religion, of language, of blood, as it regards Great Britain, are dangerous ties to this country, with her present hostile disposition—instead of pledges of friendship they are used to paralyze the strength of the United States in relation to her aggressions. There are other ties equally efficacious. The number of her commercial traders within our limits, her agents, &c., the vast British capital employed in our commerce and our moneyed institutions, connected with her language, ancestry, customs, habits, and laws. These are formidable means for estranging the affections of many from our republican institutions, and producing partialities for Great Britain. Now I shall attend to the charge of partiality in our measures towards France. It is an insinuation not founded in fact, and can only exist in the imagination of those who may insinuate it. We are not driven to mere declarations—the truth of the assertion is bottomed upon the statute records of the United States; and we appeal to the character of every measure relative to foreign relations, since the adoption of the embargo, in consequence of the violation of neutral rights upon the high seas. The direct object of the Berlin and Milan decrees was the ruin of all trade to British ports—and the object of the Orders in Council was the destruction of all commerce to French ports and ports from which the British flag was excluded.

The gentleman from Virginia has called the military regular forces mercenaries. If by this appellation any reproach or degradation is intended, its justice and propriety is denied. In times like the present, when dangers thicken upon us, at the moment when we are compelled by most wanton tyranny upon the high seas, and upon land may be added, to abandon our peaceful habits for the din of arms, officers and soldiers in this country are governed by the noble feelings of patriotism and of valor. The history of the world may be ransacked; other nations may be brought in review before us, and examples of greater heroism cannot be quoted, than shall be performed in battle by our officers and soldiers, military and naval and marine. The deeds of their ancestors would be before them; glory would animate their bosoms, and love of country would nerve the heart to deeds of mighty fame. If, therefore, there should not be a diminution of respect for those who entertain an opinion so degrading to our army, it should at least be understood that such opinions do not lessen the confidence due to those who faithfully serve their country, and who would lay down their life for it. This reflection brings to memory the late memorable conflict upon the Wabash. Governor Harrison pitched his tents near the Prophet's town; and although this fanatic and his followers collected, and the American forces were anxious to finish the work by an open and daylight engagement, if there was a necessity to resort to arms, their impetuous valor was easily stayed, when they were informed that the white flag of peace was to be hoisted next morning, and the effusion of blood was to be spared. But in the silent watches of the night, relieved from the fatigues of valor, and slumbering under the perfidious promises of the savages, who were infuriated and made drunk by British traders, dreaming of the tender smile of a mother, and the fond embraces of affectionate wives, and of prattling children upon their knees, on their return from the fatigues of a campaign!—the destroyers came with the silent instruments of death, the war club, the scalping knife, the tomahawk, and the bow and arrow; with these they penetrate into the heart of our forces—they enter the tents of our officers—many close their eyes in death—it was a trying moment for the rest of our heroes, but they were equal to the dreadful occasion. The American forces flew to arms; they rallied at the voice of their officers, and soon checked the work of death. The savages were successively and successfully charged and driven until daylight, when they disappeared like the mist of morning. In this dreadful conflict many were killed and wounded on both sides; and the volunteers and the regiment under Colonel Boyd acted and fought with equal bravery and to their immortal honor. The volunteers from Kentucky were men of valor and worth—young men of hopeful prospects, and married men of reputation and intelligence, governed by no mercenary views—honor prompted them to serve their country. Some of these fallen heroes were my acquaintances, my friends: one not the least conspicuous lived in my district—Colonel Owens; Colonel Daviess, a neighbor. You, Mr. Speaker, know the worth of some of these men; and I regret that you are not in my place to speak their praise. So long as the records of this transaction remain, the 9th of November will not be forgotten, and time shall only brighten the fame of the deeds of our army, and a tear shall be shed for those who have fallen. But the loss will not be felt by the public alone: the friends of their social hours will regret their loss; the widow will mourn her disconsolate situation; the orphan shall cry for the return of his father in vain; and the mother carry her sorrow to the grave. Let this ornamented hall be clothed with the symbols of mourning, although our army proved victorious in war; and to their memory let a monument be erected in the hearts of a grateful country.

Mr. Wright.—Mr. Speaker, I must beg the indulgence of the House while I deliver my opinion on the subject now under consideration, the most important that has been submitted to the Congress of the United States. I, sir, shall take the liberty of varying the question from the honorable member from Virginia, (Mr. Randolph,) who yesterday considered it a question of peace or war. I shall consider it as a question of war or submission, dire alternatives, of which, however, I trust no honest American can hesitate in choosing, when the question is correctly stated and distinctly understood. The gentleman from Virginia contends that it is a dispute about the carrying trade, brought on us by the cupidity of the American merchants, in which the farmer and planter have little interest; that he will not consent to tax his constituents to carry on a war for it; that the enemy is invulnerable on the "mountain wave," the element of our wrongs, but should they violate the "natale solum," he would point all the energies of the nation and avenge the wrong. Was that gentleman stricken on the nose by a man so tall that he could not reach his nose, I strongly incline to think his manly pride would not permit him to decline the conflict. Sir, the honorable member is incorrect in his premises, and, of course, in his conclusions. I will endeavor to convince him of this, and shall be gratified if I can enlist his talents on the side of a bleeding country. Sir, the violations of the commercial rights of which we complain do not only embrace the carrying trade, properly so called, but also the carrying of the products of our own soil, the fruits of our own industry; these, although injurious only to our property, are just causes of war. But, sir, the impressment of our native seamen is a stroke at the vitals of liberty itself, and although it does not touch the "natale solum," yet it enslaves the "nativos filios"—the native sons of America; and, in the ratio that liberty is preferable to property, ought to enlist the patriotic feelings of that honorable member, and make his bosom burn with that holy fire that inspired the patriots of the Revolution.

Sir, the carrying trade—by which I mean the carrying articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of a foreign clime—except articles contraband of war—is as much the right of the American people as the carrying the products of their own soil, and is not only secured by the law of nations, but by the positive provisions of the British Treaty. To us, sir, it is an all-important right. We import from the West Indies, annually, property to the amount of forty millions of dollars, for which we pay in the products of our own soil; of this, ten millions only are consumed in the United States, and the surplus thirty millions are exported to foreign countries, on which the American merchant pays three per cent. on the duties to the United States, obtains the profits on the freight of thirty millions of dollars, and furnishes a market for American productions to the same amount. The honorable gentleman from Virginia said, that that little spot in Maryland, Baltimore, which was well fortified and secure from an attack, had unbounded influence; "that the lords of Baltimore" governed the Representatives of Maryland in their votes on this subject. No, sir, every district of Maryland solemnly protests against submission to any foreign power, and I have no doubt will approve the votes of their members on this floor, "to prepare for war," or for war itself, rather than submission. Baltimore, by the industry and commercial enterprise of her citizens, has grown out of the sea into a great commercial city, has diffused the benefits of commerce into every section of the State, by making a great demand for the products of our soil and industry, and a consequent increase of price, whereby every foot of land in Maryland is made more valuable, and whereby the interest of every part of the State is identified with theirs; for this she is justly entitled to our respect. But, sir, she has no occasion to infuse her patriotic fire—so pre-eminent in the case of the Chesapeake—into the Representatives of Maryland. They know the wishes of their constituents, and will most certainly obey them.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Virginia has declared that, if he could believe that the late massacre of the troops, in the attack on Governor Harrison by the Indians, under the Prophet, was the effect of British agency, he would unite with us, heart and hand, and personally assist to avenge the bloody deed. I feel a confidence, that if the gentleman will attend to the circumstances of this case, and take a retrospective view of the conduct of the British Government, he will feel no doubt of the fact. I will take the liberty of pointing the gentleman's attention to some of the prominent features of that government, which will go far in establishing that fact. When Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, in 1775, found it necessary to quit the seat of government, and go on board the fleet for safety from the Revolutionary vengeance of the patriots of Virginia—at a period, too, when the Americans were suing for justice by their humble petitions to the King and Parliament; and when that Chatham, the gentleman from Virginia has so highly extolled, was the advocate of our violated rights—Dunmore issued a proclamation inviting the negroes to his standard; to cut the throats of their masters; and promised them a pardon. This fact I know, from having presented that proclamation to a court at Northampton in Virginia, to induce them to commute the punishment of death, passed on some of the victims of his perfidy, to working in the mines; which they did. I will next remind the gentleman of the speech of Lord Dorchester to the Indians after the peace, in which he advises them to use the tomahawk and scalping-knife, whereby numbers of the inhabitants of the frontiers, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, were sacrificed. This was the cause of the Indian war that shortly after took place. This fact was attested by the newspapers of the day, which had universal credit.

These cases go to prove that the principles that ought to govern civilized nations, have, at all times, been totally disregarded by the officers and agents of that Government. After these cases, we shall feel little hesitation in believing there was a British agency in the case of the massacre by the Prophet's troops on Governor Harrison's detachment, when the circumstances relied on are duly considered. At the late great council with Governor Harrison, the chiefs of many tribes were convened, all of whom, except Tecumseh, the Prophet's brother, in their speeches avowed their friendly dispositions, and their devotion to peace with the United States. Tecumseh, who, with a number of his tribe, came from Fort Malden, in Canada, declared his hostile intentions against the United States, left the council with that avowed intention, and returned again to Fort Malden. Shortly after this, the Shawanees assembled a large body in arms in the Indiana Territory, under the Prophet, and committed the assault on the troops of Governor Harrison, though they have paid for their temerity. This, I trust, connected as it is with the immorality and extraordinary pretensions of that Government at this crisis, will satisfy, not only the gentleman from Virginia, but this House, of a British agency in the case.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that the gentleman from Virginia should ascribe to gentlemen of the West, a disposition for war, with a view to raise the price of their hemp; or to the gentlemen of the North, with a view to raise the price of their beef and flour. These, sir, are selfish motives, and such I cannot for a moment believe will be taken into consideration; they will, with every other section of the Union, unite in deciding it on its merits.; they will count the wrongs we have sustained; they will reflect that the honor, the interest, and the very independence of the United States, is directly attacked; they will, as guardians of the nation's rights, agreeably to the advice of the Administration, "put the United States into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crisis, and correspondent with the national spirit and expectations;" they will prepare to chastise the wrongs of the British Cabinet, which the President tells us, "have the character as well as the effect of war, on our commercial rights, which no independent nation can relinquish." They will decide with the President, the Executive organ of the nation's will, "that these wrongs are no longer to be endured." They will decide with the Committee of Foreign Relations, "that forbearance longer to repel these wrongs has ceased to be a virtue," and, I hope they will decide with me, that submission is a crime; and, sir, if they will examine a document on that table, I mean the returns of the twelfth Congress, and compare them with the eleventh, they will find nearly one-half of the eleventh Congress removed. This, sir, may correctly be considered as the sentence of the nation against the doctrine of submission; it is certainly an expression of the nation's will, in a language not to be misunderstood, and too serious in its application not to be respected. We have also, sir, the expression of Maryland, through her Senate, who unanimously approved the spirited resolutions introduced by the late Governor, who did not suffer his exposed situation, so alarming in the opinion of the gentleman from Virginia, to deter him from doing his duty. We have also, sir, the resolutions of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, an honest test of their non-submission principles. Mr. Speaker, I cannot forbear the remark that, while the gentleman from Virginia ascribes to the West and to the North interested motives, he confesses that the situation of the blacks in the State he represents, impressed as they are with the new French principles of liberty, and their desire for the fraternal hug, are seriously to be feared; that these new principles have been taught them by the peddlers from the East, who, while they sell their trinkets, inculcate these doctrines. He suffers his fears for the State he represents, in the event of a war, on account of the blacks, to interest him; and had he not told us that, if the "natale solum" was touched, or that, if there was a British agency in the late attack on Governor Harrison, he would go to war, I should have been ready to conclude that, as the state of the blacks would be a permanent objection, no cause could occur that would induce him to go to war.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Virginia says he expects to be charged with being under British influence; however, he disregarded it. I assure him I shall not be one of his accusers; I believe him governed by himself, and influenced by pure American motives, and that, if he saw the subject as I do, his bosom would burn with the same sacred fire to avenge our wrongs; and were I to hear him charged in his absence with British influence, I should repel it, notwithstanding he has told us, in a prideful manner, that he had descended from British ancestors; that, from a Shakspeare he had formed his taste, from a Locke, his mind, from a Chatham, his politics, from a Sydney his patriotism, from a Tillotson his religion. Mr. Speaker, had I been that honorable member, I should have boasted a nobler line of ancestry; I should have claimed my descent from the beardless Powhatan, and the immortal Pocahontas; and I should have taken as models, from my own State, a Henry for my eloquence, a Jefferson for my politics, a Washington for my patriotism, and a Madison, or rather the Oracles of Revolution, for my religion. But, sir, I am myself so much a Roman, that I can truly say, in their language,

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.

Thursday, December 12.

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.

Friday, December 13.

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?