The second ground of complaint is the aggressions committed on our commerce, contrary to the law of nations, and in violation of every principle of justice. Great Britain assumes to herself the right to interdict to neutral nations a commercial intercourse with the colonies of her enemies, except under such modifications as she has been pleased to prescribe. She justifies the capture of your vessels on the ground of their being engaged in a commerce, during the war, that was not open to them in time of peace. If this principle be once admitted as correct, and carried to the full extent of which it is capable, it will be found, in its consequences, almost wholly to destroy, not only the commerce of this country as a neutral, but that of every neutral nation in the world. You are told you must not in time of war exceed your accustomed traffic in time of peace. What is the consequence? War, in a great degree, destroys the trade which you were accustomed to enjoy in time of peace, as a great part of it becomes contraband of war; and this new principle shuts up all the avenues of commerce that were opened, in consequence of, or even during the war. What commerce, then, let me ask, will be left to the neutral? None, sir, that will deserve the name of commerce. But the reasons advanced in support of this principle, will go still further to show its destructive consequences. One of the reasons given why you must not carry on this trade, is, because it is beneficial to the enemies of Great Britain, as you thereby furnish them with provisions and other articles of merchandise, which relieve them from the pressure of the war, and prevent her from deriving all the benefits she otherwise would do, from her superiority at sea. If there is any solidity in this reasoning it will go the whole length to prohibit you from carrying the productions of your own farms to any nation the enemy of Great Britain. Your provisions, bread stuffs, beef, and pork, are surely as useful for carrying on war as the produce of the West India islands. She has hitherto, it is true, applied this reasoning only to the productions of the colonies, but it will equally apply to those of your own country. Hence, the injustice and absurdity of the principle must appear evident to every discerning and unprejudiced mind. But she has already, in carrying into effect her new principle, gone further than merely to prohibit neutrals from carrying colonial produce directly to the ports of her enemies. She has laid the groundwork to prevent you from carrying to those ports your own productions. Your vessels are seized and condemned for being engaged in conveying to her enemies colonial produce, which has been fairly purchased and paid for by your citizens, brought to this country, and, according to your revenue laws, made a part of the common stock of the nation. If there is a shade of difference in principle between this case and that in which the produce of your own farms should be captured on its way to the same enemy’s ports, it is as flimsy as can be conceived to exist. When your people have purchased the productions of other countries, and fairly paid for them; brought them into your own, and complied with your municipal regulations respecting them, they become neutralized, and as much a part of the common stock of the nation as if they had been raised on your own farms; and the same principle that would inhibit you from carrying these to the ports of a belligerent, would, by parity of reasoning, prevent you from carrying to the same ports the productions of your own farms.
But, Mr. Chairman, let us for a moment inquire whence Great Britain derives the right, according to any known principle of law or justice, to seize and condemn colonial produce, the property of a neutral, in consequence of its being destined for the ports of the parent State, her enemy? Strangers can acquire no rights against each other, in consequence of the domestic regulations relative to commerce, which a power independent of them may choose to establish. Suppose France, by law, in time of peace, should prohibit the importation of colonial produce to her ports, on the continent, except in her own vessels, Great Britain could have no right to capture an American vessel engaged in such trade. France alone could rightfully seize and condemn such vessel for the infraction of her laws; but no other power could have such right. Suppose such prohibitions removed by France during a war, and the trade declared lawful, could Great Britain thereby acquire a right to capture such vessels for being engaged in a trade now declared lawful, which she could not do when it was unlawful? Certainly she would not. Such doctrine would be contrary to the plainest dictates of reason and common sense. She had no right to capture such vessel while the prohibition continued, and she could not certainly acquire the right by such prohibition being removed. The intervention of war cannot alter the case, for the rights of neutrals, except as to contraband, remain the same in time of war as they were during peace. I must therefore consider this principle assumed by Great Britain as a flagrant violation of the law of nations, contrary to every principle of justice, and such as ought not to be sanctioned by this or any other independent nation. If you tamely submit in this instance, she will assuredly push her aggressions still further; encroach on your rights, step by step, as her convenience and interest may require, until she has effectually destroyed your commerce, and monopolized to herself the whole of its profits. That part of our commerce that becomes immediately subject to the operation of this new principle, has been stated as very unimportant, and under the name of the carrying trade, has been ridiculed as not meriting the notice of Government. A very few remarks however will, I apprehend, show that it is not so insignificant as has been represented.In our trade with Great Britain, there is a balance in her favor of nearly twelve millions of dollars. This balance must be paid out of the proceeds of the exports of the United States to other countries. Many of those countries that consume a great portion of our produce, cannot give us specie in return. Our merchants must, therefore, in all such cases, return the produce and manufactures of such countries instead of specie; and, as the quantity of foreign produce and goods thus received exceeds the amount necessary to supply the demands for consumption in this country, it becomes important that this surplus should be carried to other markets, where there is a demand for it, and where specie can be obtained in return. This has heretofore been done by our merchants, by first importing such foreign produce into our own country, and then re-exporting the same for a market; and by means of this trade alone have they been enabled to discharge the balance against us in our trade with Great Britain. The annual value of imports into the United States amounts to about seventy-five millions of dollars; of this, twenty-eight millions are re-exported to all parts of the world, and of that amount, eighteen millions go to the dominions of Holland, France, Spain, and Italy—the greater part of which is subject to capture by the new principle of the law of nations acted upon by Great Britain. This is the carrying trade, sir, which gentlemen have considered so unimportant as not to merit the attention of Government. Instead of estimating this trade at $850,000, as gentlemen have done, being the net revenue derived therefrom, (and which is not considered as paid by citizens of the United States,) it may fairly be estimated at nearly eighteen millions, or about one-fourth of the whole of your imports, nearly in the proportion of eighteen million to seventy-five. For if your merchants are not permitted to re-export the surplus foreign produce to those markets where there is a demand for it, it will remain on their hands and rot in their storehouses. This would also sink the price of your own produce, as there could not be a sufficient demand for it, because your merchants would not receive in return foreign produce. Your trade must, therefore, be diminished nearly in the proportion before stated. I ask gentlemen if this trade is cut off, how your merchants are to get specie to meet the balance in favor of Great Britain of twelve millions of dollars? If this cannot be done, your imports must diminish in proportion as the means of remittance fail, and your revenue must also feel the shock, and suffer in the same proportion as your importations are lessened. This is a view of the subject which I presume deserves at least the serious consideration of gentlemen, and I beg of them to pause before they agree to relinquish, without a struggle, this portion of our national rights—for, if you submit in this instance to the interdiction imposed by Great Britain of carrying colonial produce to the ports of her enemies, she will assuredly advance her pretensions, as already stated, still further, and insist on the right to prohibit you from supplying them with your own; and it may fairly be asked, on the ground she has taken, where is the difference between sending colonial produce to her enemies and sending your own produce? The quantum of injury to her, and of benefit to them, will be the same; and she will have nearly the same right to prohibit in the one case as in the other. This shows the necessity of taking some decisive step that will convince Great Britain that we are determined not to submit to these aggressions; that will tell her, in firm and manly language, thus far you may go, but not farther. On this subject, also, our Government has remonstrated to that of Great Britain without effect. No satisfactory arrangements could be obtained, and there is no greater prospect of an amicable adjustment of our differences with that nation at this moment than there was a year ago, nor have I any idea that we shall find ourselves in a better situation in this respect, one, two, or three years hence, if we tamely acquiesce, than we now are. There is, therefore, no ground for delay; we can derive no benefit from it; this is the time we ought to act, the most propitious that is likely to present itself.
But, it is insisted, this measure will produce war; I consider it entirely in the nature of a commercial regulation, and such as cannot, as already stated, give any just cause of war. But, it is asked, will Great Britain inquire whether it is, or is not, just cause of war? Will she not consider it so, because it is against her interest? If gentlemen will have it that Great Britain has abandoned every principle of justice, it is vain to expect she will, on any occasion, be governed by reason, or motives of propriety, in her conduct toward us; if she is totally regardless of common right, and governed by her interests alone, she waits only a more favorable opportunity to give our commerce a more deadly blow; and it is, therefore, high time to withdraw ourselves from all connections with her. But, I am not prepared to go this length; I cannot believe a great nation, who holds a dignified rank among the powers of the earth, would expose herself to the indignation and derision of the world, by abandoning all respect for justice and public right. I must believe she still retains some regard for her national honor; and, if not for her honor, she does for her interest: all that she could say, with any color of justice, would be, that she has the right to adopt other regulations on her part to counteract yours. Let us inquire into the effect of such regulations. She may say, your produce shall not go to her colonies, her islands, or any of her dominions. If she takes this measure, she will prepare the most effectual scourge for her own subjects. She will reduce the inhabitants of those islands not only to a state of starvation, but force them at length, in all probability, into insurrection. We have already witnessed the complaints of those people to the mother country. We have seen the picture they have drawn of their sufferingsand distress, and their declarations that they cannot exist without the produce of the United States. How, then, shall Britain retaliate? She cannot do it effectually without injuring herself more than she will you. Hence, I am clearly of opinion, the adoption of proper measures on our part—of measures similar to that before you—would be likely to produce the desired effect in the conduct of Great Britain toward us.
It has, Mr. Chairman, been observed by a gentleman from New York, (Mr.Masters,) that national animosity produced the resolution before you. I regret that such an idea should be expressed on this floor. I know of no such animosity, but I believe, on the contrary, if a national partiality exists in this country, it is in favor of Great Britain; not that I believe such partiality criminal; but Great Britain being the parent country, speaking the same language with ourselves, and so many of her subjects becoming citizens of this country, there is naturally felt a degree of attachment towards the people of that nation. If these feelings do not go too far, they are laudable; but in regard to a national animosity to Great Britain, I do not believe it exists in this country, at least to any considerable extent. If gentlemen mean that this animosity exists against tyranny, I hope it will eternally exist, so long as its cause exists.
But, Mr. Chairman, I hope we shall not cherish animosity against France, any more than against Great Britain. Nor do I wish us to cherish partiality for either. There was, I believe, sir, a time when the people of this country felt a generous impulse in favor of the French nation. The flame of liberty that issued from the bosom of America, during the Revolution, had kindled up anew in France, and promised for awhile to illuminate the whole world. The American people rejoiced at the prospect, and felt a generous sentiment of enthusiasm towards those who appeared to be advocating the cause of liberty and the freedom of man. But I am not prepared to say, that their flame has continued to burn, or that the expectations it created have been realized; but I may, I presume, say, there is no ground to believe that this nation entertains a criminal animosity against or partiality for either Great Britain or France. The same gentleman has observed, what I admit is too true, that Great Britain governs the commerce of the world. This, however, is the strongest reason that could be advanced, against a tame submission to every act of aggression which that Government may choose to commit on your commerce, unless, indeed, you are willing to acknowledge a national pusillanimity, and an inability to resist injury. If we are unable to oppose Great Britain on the ocean, and she will persist in her unjust violation of our rights, let us withdraw from all connections with her—confine ourselves within the limits of our territory, and live independent of her luxuries and her commerce, on the productions and manufactures of our own country.
To conclude my remarks on this subject, I will briefly repeat, that I am decidedly of opinion, the conduct of Great Britain is such, in impressing our seamen, and capturing merchant vessels, on the ground of their being engaged in a trade with her enemies, not open to them in time of peace, is manifestly unjust and unauthorized by the laws of nations. I conceive we have an undoubted right, without giving just cause of war, to regulate our own commerce, and to say from what nations we will, or will not, import articles of consumption; and what description, and under what circumstances. I also believe it our duty at this time to adopt some decisive measure on the subject, that will evince to Great Britain our determination to resist aggression, and to maintain our rights. I would, sir, prefer a measure in which we could, and would persevere, unless it should be found our interest to change it—a measure that would be least likely to paralyze our revenue or affect the agricultural interest. With this view, I would prefer, in the first instance, imposing additional or discriminating duties on certain specified articles, imported from Great Britain; such as would give the preference to other European markets. Or, if more agreeable to the majority of this House, I would concur in interdicting the importation of such articles. And if this should not prove effectual, I would take still stronger ground. I would prohibit the importation of all merchandise, the growth or manufacture of the British dominions. And, should it become necessary, I would cut off all intercourse with that nation; which would effectually starve her West India islands, and compel her to come to just terms, or abandon her colonies to distress and ruin. These measures I am willing to take, and support in succession, as the occasion may require; and in doing so I shall act under the conscientious and perfect conviction that they are for the good of the nation; that they are necessary to vindicate the injured rights and insulted honor of my country; and that country will, I am confident, in this, justify my conduct.
Mr.Jackson.—My conviction of the importance of this subject will plead my apology for the trespass I shall make on the time of the committee. I purpose to take a rapid review of the points in discussion between this country and Great Britain, and to touch lightly upon the arguments of gentlemen, who have contended that it is better to surrender them than to assume an attitude of resistance, or to adopt measures perfectly pacific for the purpose of producing a relaxation of the arbitrary systematic attacks upon our neutral rights; for, with one or two exceptions, the objections adduced go to sanction the opinion that the commerce in question ought to be abandoned; and that this Government ought not to do any thing to protect it. The measure presented to the consideration of this committee is calculated to produce a redress of the grievances complained of with so much justice. First, the capture of our vesselssailing on the high seas, in strict observance and obedience to the law of nations; and, secondly, the impressment of our seamen,bona fidecitizens, protected by the flag of the nation. While we are discussing the proposition of resorting to a remedy to redress these evils, we are met by gentlemen who deny that it is right to do any thing. First, because the Executive has not recommended any particular measure; and, secondly, because the trade under consideration is fraudulent, and the citizens impressed are the subjects of Great Britain.
With regard to the first allegation, that the Executive has not recommended any specific measure, was it not objected under a former Administration that the Executive interfered improperly in legislative measures? Congress possesses the constitutional power of declaring war, and should the Executive recommend a declaration of war to us, I presume we should hear much of the Executive attempting an undue and indecent influence over our legislative powers; for, judging by the past, I have no doubt that whenever such a recommendation shall be made by the Executive, it will be opposed by the same persons who now call for his recommendation, and express dissatisfaction at his withholding it.
But it is asserted this trade is fraudulent, and it is dishonorable to protect it. So much has been said and written on this subject, that it is altogether useless to combat the arguments urged on this floor; for it is not because a celebrated pamphlet, without an author, has been written on the subject on this side of the water, vindicating the fairness and legality of the trade, or as gentlemen will have it, surrendering the question at the threshold, or because another equally celebrated has been written on the other, declaring it “War in Disguise,” that we will consent to be concluded on the question, as they are all free game, and ought to pass for nothing unless their arguments carry conviction to the mind. The question resolves itself into the consideration whether this trade is fraudulent or not. Can we exchange our productions with the colonies of the belligerent nations—bring here theirs, and carry any surplus beyond our wants to other nations? I conceive that we can; common sense sanctions the opinion. Gentlemen, however, say we cannot. That the property is not changed, but still belongs to the original owner of it, and that our neutral flag fraudulently covers the enemy’s property. But gentlemen deal in a mere coinage of the fancy when they say so. I demand their proofs; they will not accept our opinions; and I with equal propriety reject theirs. How will they show that this is not our property? It is said that a want of capital is a proof of it; but, on investigation, it will be found, that the American capital is fully adequate to the carrying on this trade. Do not we find our merchants engaged in the trade to the East Indies, which requires a capital of three and four hundred thousand dollars, and if the trade to the West India islands be equally profitable, is it not to be presumed that they will likewise engage in it? If this property does not pass by the transfer, as we contend it does, it may be maintained that a horse sold in the open market will be subject to an execution subsequently issued against its previous owner; nay, even that the executor of such owner may sue for and recover it. But this argument shakes every principle involved in commerce to its foundation; its origin is traffic, which induces one man to exchange the surplus beyond what is necessary to him, for that which is necessary, and was the surplus of another; and if the property is not changed by this traffic, nothing is safe, every thing is afloat, and no man knows to whom any property belongs which may happen to be in his possession. Such a doctrine must destroy all commerce at a single blow. But, say gentlemen, Great Britain indulges us in pursuing the honest carrying trade. I disclaim the position. How can she be said to indulge us with a right sanctioned by the law of nations; a right inherent in every independent nation? I contend that the trade to which I have just alluded, is as just and honest as any other trade of this country afloat on the ocean.
Great Britain not only imposes on our trade the restriction which interdicts our carrying the products of the colonies of her enemies to the mother country, after incorporating them with our own stock, but she disallows all trade with her enemies in time of war not permitted in time of peace. The gentleman from Virginia argues this is correct. He says Great Britain has a preponderance on the ocean, and inquires whether we have a right to check it by supplying her enemy with any thing necessary to relieve his wants. This is going farther than “War in Disguise;” than the time-serving Sir William Scott, who sometimes recollects that he is called on to expound the law of nations as a judge, and at others only to register the orders of the King and Council; or any other man in England. Does not this strike at the root of the whole trade of our country? There is no nation at war that is not more or less supported by our products; they drive from us the means of subsistence, and the carriage of them, it seems, is to be prohibited because Great Britain has a preponderance on the ocean, and can starve out her enemies if we are not permitted to carry to them. Great Britain says you shall not carry on a trade in time of war not permitted in time of peace. She seizes our vessels; inverts the natural principle of evidence; throws theonus probandiof showing that this trade then prosecuted was carried on in time of peace, on the owner of the property, and thus our whole trade afloat is exposed to hazard and vexatious interruptions. But, in defiance of this rule set up by herself, Great Britain opens in war her own islands, whose trade is shut up in time of peace. Test then her principle by her practice. It will not becontended that she connives at a fraudulent trade, or justifies it as lawful with herself, when she declares the same trade relatively to her enemies illicit and subject to condemnation. If then she is not governed by narrow and unjust views, she cannot contend that that is right when it respects herself, which is wrong in relation to another. She has yielded that question by opening her ports in war which were shut in peace, and has made, even if there existed a previous doubt, this trade lawful. But, not confined to going this length, she carries on that trade herself which she denies to us; thus adding another to the numerous outrages committed upon us. If we acquiesce in this doctrine, advocated by Great Britain, sanctioned by her admiralty courts, and enforced by her cruisers, I ask if we shall not violate that honest neutrality which compels us to treat all nations alike? The great principle of a neutral nation, as defined by the law of nations, is, to treat the belligerents with equal impartiality, and not to favor one at the expense of another. By acquiescing in the doctrine that renders this part of our trade liable to capture, we make ourselves a party on the side of one of the nations engaged in war.
This colonial trade is not only lawful, but it is beneficial to the merchant and also the farmer. Gentlemen have attempted to draw a distinction between the mercantile and the farming interests. I shall by and by expose the fallacy of their reasoning; but, at this time, I will confine my remarks to proving that this trade is not only beneficial to the merchant but likewise to the farmer. The colonies from which this trade is derived are fed exclusively from this country—to them we carry our provisions and receive in return their productions. It is not our interest to receive money, if they had it, because we should lose the profit on the return cargo. If we were not at liberty to purchase beyond the consumption of our country, the extent of our exports would be diminished in the same ratio, for not having money to pay for our provisions they could not purchase them. The consequence would be that the trade would fall into retail hands, and the loss would reverberate on the farmer, the demand for his productions would be diminished, and they would rot in our warehouses. This shows that the farmer is as deeply interested in the trade as the merchant.
Mr.Jackson.—I admitted, in its fullest latitude, the aversion of the American people to go to war for light and transient causes. They will sedulously foster peace; they will bear and forbear much; viewing war as the scourge of the human race, every honorable exertion will be made by them to avert it; but there is a point of degradation and insult beyond endurance which no nation can advance to without feeling the vengeance of United America. We have tested this truth by experience. Look to the Revolution, sir, when the noble spirit of the times braved the terrors of treason, misery, and death, rather than tamely submit to the accumulated wrongs that were heaped upon us. I have too much respect for my country to believe that any attempt to rob us of a single right which we then secured by one of the noblest struggles recorded in the annals of the world, would be tamely surrendered. But it is said the spirit of the nation has been roused by the impositions of the newspapers, influenced by the rapacity of the merchants. No, sir; it is by seeing its rights and the rights of its citizens trampled on—prostrated by a lawless banditti on the ocean, respecting no law but their own interest—acknowledging no rights between them and the tyranny of the seas. Is the capture of our seamen, and vessels, and cargoes on the ocean, an imposition? No, sir; it is a fatal reality, witnessed by the miseries and bankruptcies of thousands; and when an honest burst of indignation is re-echoed from the remotest corners of the Union, we are gravely told that we must make a distinction between commerce and agriculture, which it is alleged exists in fact, and cannot be lost sight of. Let us examine this doctrine. The merchant purchases the produce of the farmer, his beef, and pork, and every surplus which he has, and traverses every sea in search of a market for it; the price abroad produces competition at home; the profits to the merchant being always nearly the same, and by this competition the farmer receives a premium proportionate to the demand abroad; but take away this rivalship at home by abandoning your merchants to the depredations of every freebooter—for, if you once pronounce that they are to be abandoned, every sea and shore will be infested by them—and you compel him to quit the ocean, to employ his capital on land, and our farmers will be obliged to take whatever price foreigners coming into our ports may choose to give, and to purchase the productions of other countries from them at whatever price they may choose to ask. The interests of agriculture and commerce are, therefore, intimately connected: but another expedient is resorted to. It is said a distinction is to be kept up between the Northern and Southern interests, and this measure will operate on the South alone. Sir, we ought to know nothing of local interests or geographical divisions, when the rights of an American citizen are invaded; we ought only to know it and feel it as Americans. Did the North use other language when the navigation of the Mississippi was destroyed by withholding the right of deposit at New Orleans? No, sir, with honorable feelings, their only solicitude was how they should most effectually restore and preserve it. Let us then act with sentiments of the same noble liberality when the pressure of wrongs is most immediately felt by them, but which must and will operate uponus also, for no measure can affect the rights of this nation that will not sensibly injure every part of the Union. If our commerce is disturbed, if our rights on the sea are cut off one by one, and such is the tendency of the present measures of Britain, what will become of our cotton and tobacco? Will they not rot on our hands, or be sold at the price of those who may be pleased to come and purchase them? If commerce languish, agriculture will languish likewise, for one is the handmaid of the other. But, say gentlemen, the value of the trade interrupted by the piratical conduct of Britain, is not worth contending for, is not worth the risk of the present measure, or the hazard of war. I hope, however, we shall not estimate national wrongs by pounds, shillings, and pence. I hope that, when our rights are invaded, we will all be united, not in calculating the cost, but in adopting measures to insure redress. But gentlemen say these aggressions will only last during the war. Sir, the war in Europe, for the last fifteen years, has been almost unintermitted. Were you to hold this language to an individual, and say to him, you are denied free ingress or egress to or from your own mansion, and console him by adding, you can bear with your wrongs, they will last only during your lifetime; he would spurn you from him with indignation. Look at the state of the European world, at its situation for twenty years past, and say what chance have you of peace? I hope our rights will not be thus permitted to be trampled on with impunity, under such a pretext. I hope to see some systematic measures adopted to meet Great Britain, who appears to have formed a deliberate plan to inflict all the injury in her power on this people, whom she looks upon as her most dangerous rival. This step, which she has taken, is a link in the great chain of vassalage, a colossal stride towards effecting that plan which has for its object the dominion of the seas. If we yield one right, as well established as the right to breathe the vital air, it is weak in us to imagine Great Britain will stop here. This would be as contrary to her genius as the genius of this Government is to war.
I consider the aggressions which Britain has made upon our trade alone, a sufficient stimulus to induce us to do something. But when I refer to the three thousand seamen she holds in miserable bondage, I consider the destruction of this trade as but a drop in the ocean compared with them. But, on this subject, horrid as it is, I find some gentlemen are the apologists of Britain! One gentleman observes that, inasmuch as her own subjects are in our employ, she has a right to take from us an equal number. But there is no analogy between the cases. The act of her subjects in entering into our service is voluntary, while our citizens are kept in her service by violence. Some of our own citizens reside in Britain, and yet we never dreamed of complaining, because she has not banished them from her bosom. No man in his senses can say that Britain is justified in keeping our citizens in slavery, on the ground that we employ her subjects in our service.
If a man has a protection, she says it is fraudulent and tears it to pieces; and if he has not a protection, she declares that conclusive proof that he is not an American citizen. It is very much to be regretted that the law requiring those protections ever passed; and that we had not asserted the right to protect every man sailing under our flag, except the enemies of a belligerent nation. Three thousand of our citizens now groan under this abject slavery! This number have presented their claims to your Government. Besides which, many more are carried from sea to sea, and from one country to another, without being ever able to make their cases known to you. In vain do they endeavor to forward their complaints—an inexorable tyranny denies them the indulgence. It is fair then to infer that the whole number is twice that I have stated, and it really appears to me as if our sensibility were lost in the magnitude of the injury. If there were but a single case of this species of oppression presented to us, it would be more affecting and effective. Draw the picture of a single victim, the only son of aged parents, their staff, the prop of their age, their pride and only support; he toils and labors to obtain a venture, with the pleasing prospect of quadrupling his little capital—they follow him, when ready to leave them, with tears and blessings to the water side, where he embarks; and in a few hours the lessening sail is lost to their view on the bosom of the wide-expanded ocean. They return to their cottage and implore a beneficent God to protect their darling; they count the days of his absence, and when, according to the usual course of events, the period of his return is drawing to a close, each hour awakens new fears and new solicitude. By and by the vessel anchors in its port—they fly to embrace him—but, alas! he is not there—he was, off the harbor’s mouth, robbed of his all, impressed by the British, and carried into worse than Algerine slavery—for with those he would only be compelled to work for his master, whilst these make him work, and fight, under a lash more cruel than the barbarian bastinado, and a despotism more unrelenting than the slave driver’s exercise. Their golden dreams are vanished with the recital. The soul shrinks back upon itself; they cast a long and wishful look upon the ocean, and with tottering steps reach their once peaceful, happy home—but no peace, nor happiness, welcomes their return. Hope lingers for awhile, and cheers their drooping spirits—it directs their appeal to the Government, which the old man fought and bled in the field to establish, upon the basis of universal justice, and whose principles he impressed on the mind of his child. Year after year it is deaf to their cries; it sits down and calculates the cost of asserting its rights, with the nicety of a ledger-keeper, and decides in favor of a pusillanimous acquiescence, because the balanceof dollars and cents is struck in its favor. Poverty approaches with rapid strides—their last dollar is laid out to procure the means of subsistence; too proud to beg, and too infirm to labor, they know not how to avert their fate; the little plans they have formed without the means of execution, fly like meteors before them—nature is making a mighty struggle with adversity, when it is announced that their boy fell beneath the thousand lashes which were inflicted on him for attempting his escape; and Death, kindly interposing his friendly arm, grants a respite from their miseries! Does not such a case demand our attention? It is not at all comparable to that of many others. Add to the scene which I have feebly portrayed, the distraction of a tender wife, manacled and confined in the cold damp cells of a lunatic hospital—her children bound out by the parish, and all their prospects of life nipped in the bud, occasioned by the impressment of the husband and the father—and then tell me do we violate the principles of the constitution, which declares that it is made to provide for the common defence and general welfare, by vindicating those measures which are well calculated to procure redress? This were indeed to play such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make even angels weep! Shall we, in the Tripoline war, to rescue from bondage three hundred Americans, perform, through the agency of some of our citizens, acts of perseverance, address, and heroism, unsurpassed in the annals of ancient or modern times, at the sacrifice of the lives of many brave men, who, with some of those that survived the conflict, will be enrolled by a grateful country upon the list of the favorite sons of the American nation—when as many thousands are groaning under the cruel oppression of Great Britain, and crying to us for succor, without exciting or producing one manly exertion!
The House again resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union—Mr.Gregg’s resolution still under consideration.
Mr.Leib.—From the course which has been pursued for several days, I am induced to move that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union be discharged from the further consideration of this resolution, and that of the gentleman from New Jersey. Without entering into the merits of the resolution, I will confine myself to stating the reasons on which I make this motion. I did expect, when this subject first came under discussion, to have heard something respecting its merits; that a comparison would have been drawn between the advantages and disadvantages likely to ensue to the United States from its adoption, instead of which I found my colleague sailing round the coast without examining its tendency or bearing. He told us it was pacific, and, in the same breath, said it struck a dagger into the vitals of Great Britain. If, Mr. Speaker, I were to strike a dagger at you, would you not consider it a hostile act? And yet this measure is said to be pacific, and it is represented as having no tendency to war. When this measure was first proposed, I was in favor of it; I was impelled by my feelings against Great Britain, whose injuries I sensibly felt. But I have since listened to the arguments adduced in its favor by my colleagues. What are they? Did they speak of its profits and loss; did they show that it would be advantageous to this country? Instead of this they talked of national honor. But, on this subject, I agree with the poet:
“Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”
“Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”
“Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”
I am not disposed to be a duellist for national honor. I am disposed to view this as a question of profit and loss; and if the loss will be greater than the gain, to reject it; and it is because I think that the United States will incur more loss than profit by it, that I wish to get rid of it. I believe it will have a warlike aspect, and therefore I am against it. I have no idea of fighting all the world. I hope, from the course which this discussion has taken, and from the conviction which it has produced of the inability of the United States to carry this measure into effect, that we will enter on the discussion of some other measure more likely to be effectual. I am willing to get rid of this resolution in the easiest way, and I therefore move you to discharge the committee from its further consideration.
The yeas and nays were then taken on discharging the Committee of the Whole from the further consideration of Mr.Gregg’s resolution, and were—yeas 24, nays 101.
The question was then taken on discharging the committee from Mr.Sloan’s resolution, by yeas and nays—yeas 26, nays 98.
The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.
The Chairman put the question on considering Mr.Gregg’s resolution, on which the committee divided—yeas 47, nays 70.
Mr.J. Claymoved to consider the resolution offered by himself, and that of his friend from Maryland, (Mr.Nicholson.)
Mr.Mumfordsaid: Mr. Chairman, it is with great diffidence I rise to speak on this question. I am a merchant, unaccustomed to speak in a public body. But, sir, when I see the dearest interests of my country unjustly attacked by a foreign nation, I must beg the indulgence of this committee while I express my sentiments on the serious aspect of our foreign relations. Sir, I do not wish to extenuate the conduct of any nation. I have no predilection for one foreign nation more than another. I shall endeavor to speak the language of an independent American.
Sir, I had indulged the hope that the ninth Congress of the United States had assembled to deliberate on the momentous affairs of theircountry as Americans; but, sir, it gives me pain, and I regret extremely, to see gentlemen so far forget the interest of their own country in defending the pretended rights of others. That there should be a difference of opinion respecting our own regulations, was to be expected, but when your lawful commerce is attacked by what the honorable gentleman from Virginia so emphatically terms “the Leviathan of the Ocean,” and attacked, too, contrary to their own acknowledged principles, as laid down in the correspondence between your late worthy Minister, Mr. King, and the British Minister, Lord Hawkesbury, I beg leave to call on the Clerk to read that part of the Boston memorial which relates to that correspondence. [The Clerk read the article.]
I shall now commence my observations on our unfortunate fellow-citizens in British bondage; and in answer to the honorable gentleman from Maryland, whom I very much respect, I do frankly acknowledge that amongst all the petitions presented to you by the merchants of the United States, there is not one word about our impressed seamen, Salem and another port excepted. But, sir, I beg leave to inform this committee, and that honorable gentleman, that before we enter our vessels at the custom-house, we are called upon to witness the recording of this tale of human woe before a notary public, stating all the seamen impressed during the voyage. This is immediately transmitted to the Secretary of State, for the correctness of which I refer you to the documents from that department now on your table. Sir, is it decorous, is it candid, is it liberal, is it respectful to the committee to impute such unworthy motives to the merchants as we have heard expressed on this floor? They are men, sir; and I believe candor will allow them their share of sensibility, and that they sympathize for suffering humanity as much as a planter, a farmer, a lawyer, or any class of the community. Sir, I feel as much as any man for the sufferings of this meritorious class of citizens, having been an eye-witness to the barbarous treatment inflicted by the officers of the British Government on one of them. He was lashed to a scaffold on the gunwale of a boat, and whipped from ship to ship, until he had received five hundred lashes. What was the consequence? He expired the next morning. What was his crime? He had been impressed into their cruel bondage, and had endeavored to regain his liberty! We are asked, what is the remedy for this outrage? There is but one, sir. Demand satisfaction for the past, and in future make your flag protect your citizens, at least on the high seas, the common high road of all nations. Your merchants can insure their property against this “Leviathan of the Ocean;” but there is no alternative for the poor sailor, he is inevitably doomed to cruel slavery.
I now come to speak of foreign nations. We are told that the American merchants cover Spanish property. This may be the case. I believe it; but it is to a very limited amount. The Spanish merchants have little capital at present to dispose of. Their Government owes them considerable sums of money, and the paper currency of that Government is at such a discount (I believe from 40 to 50 per cent.) that they are not able to extend their commerce, if they were ever so much disposed to do so.
Respecting the French merchants, a great proportion of them in France are bankrupts, in consequence of heavy taxes, contributions, forced loans, and all the impositions of imperial ingenuity. That country depends not on commerce for her revenue; she collects one hundred and twenty millions of dollars per annum, of which twelve millions only are levied upon commerce, being but ten per cent, on the whole revenue. Their merchants have it not in their power to extend their business for want of a capital, which is a fact that will be acknowledged by all commercial men. They are by no means the favorites of the Emperor; he grants them no indulgences, of which the late transactions at the national bank are a sufficient evidence.
Respecting Holland, every person conversant in business knows the cautious calculation of the Dutch merchants; they trade very little on their own account in time of war, but are constantly soliciting the American merchants to make consignments of property to sell on commission. And yet we are told in that oracle, the celebrated pamphlet, “War in Disguise,” that France, Spain, and Holland carry on the war against Great Britain with property covered by Americans! Will any rational man believe them?
I now come to Great Britain, sir; not one word has been said about property covered for her. She is immaculate; she is innocent; she can do no wrong. I have good authority for this last expression. The King says so, and others repeat it. Sir, immediately upon the coalition being formed on the continent of Europe, she seized upon your unsuspecting commerce, and surprised it with new principles and new doctrines in her Courts of Admiralty, which operated with her ships of war in the same manner as though they had actually received orders from the Lords of the Admiralty (how insidious! but they understanddecoy) to capture and bring in all American vessels bound to enemies’ ports; and if by chance any of them escape their fangs, after a mock trial, they are compelled to pay enormous charges, from five hundred to six hundred guineas, and sometimes more. This operates as a premium to carry in all your vessels, knowing beforehand they will have nothing to pay; for, although you gain your cause, you must pay the costs. This, sir, discourages your cautious and best merchants, and they are thus compelled to abandon and decline pursuing a lucrative and lawful traffic.
If there be any property covered for Great Britain, I have every reason to believe, from facts I will state to the committee, that it appertains almost exclusively to some British merchants, lately adopted citizens of the United States, for they take good care to keep all theirbusiness in their own hands. They are the honest merchants who own the honest vessels we have heard so much about, and they are engaged in exporting cotton, tobacco, and other produce of our country. Why should they have the preference? it will be asked. I will not tell you what I do not know, (as has been said in this committee,) but I will tell you what I do know. Sir, the real American merchants cannot enter into competition with them. They have their particular friends in England, who are interested, and will of course give them the preference. By a variety of ways they obtain all the freights, to the exclusion of your vessels. Sir, we are often compelled to take in ballast alongside of those very ships who have full freights engaged. Thus, sir, the real American merchant is the dupe of these honest adopted British citizens. These are your slippery-eel merchants, so justly denominated by the honorable gentleman from Virginia, whose acme of mind I much admire. They were indeed, sir, so slippery in some of your districts, that it was found necessary to pass a law excluding all of them who resided in foreign countries from owning any ship or vessel belonging to the United States; for a number of them, after having made fortunes out of your neutrality, had slipped off to Great Britain to spend the money and the remainder of their days. And in order that we might not compromit our neutrality in this deceptive business, our National Legislature has been careful to pass a law in the first session of the eighth Congress, dated 27th March, 1804, to correct the abuse, which has in some measure put a check to it; and yet we are emphatically told that it is only coffee, sugar, and East India goods that are guilty of the sin of interfering with British merchants, those monopolizers of the commerce of the whole world.
I mention these facts, sir, to vindicate the character of the real American merchants; it will stand the test with that of any other nation in the world. Sir, look at your revenue system, examine all the records of your district courts, see how very few fines and forfeitures they have incurred, and then compare them with any class of citizens you please, and you will, I am confident, Mr. Chairman, exculpate them from such disingenuous reflections as have been animadverted upon in this committee. Sir, they make it a point of honor to discourage smuggling, knowing the whole revenue of their country to depend upon that fidelity which they have never ceased to inculcate. I cannot but persuade myself that, on mature reflection, gentlemen will not withhold from that class of the community the protection guaranteed to them by the constitution of their country. It is a fact well known to this committee that the Federal Constitution, under which we now hold our seats in this House, grew out of the great inconveniences we then experienced in our commercial affairs with foreign nations. Surely they are not outlawed. I trust not, sir. I hope better treatment from the hands of my country.
I now come to the true history and the cause of the aggressions of Great Britain. It is very difficult to trace her in all her ramifications of fraud on your neutrality and of injustice on your commerce. Sir, when the present continental coalition was concluded, the “lords of the ocean,” with that colossus the East India Company, the merchants trading from London to the continent of Europe, the West India merchants, and some of our honest adopted citizens from Great Britain, all agreed with common consent to be in the fashion; and they formed a coalition against your commerce, and ordered a book to be written, in which they took a conspicuous part, called “War in Disguise.” This was truly on their partwar in disguise, and the first act of hostility they commenced upon your unsuspecting commerce; and I hope they may ultimately meet the fate of all other coalitions, at least as far as respects our country. They had ordered, as all coalitions do, a large supply of ammunition; one hundred thousand copies of this instrument of death to your commerce were distributed, at sixpence each, to all parts of the British dominions, in order that your property might be plundered for the use of the naval commanders, who could no longer find any other property on the ocean. This book says, “they must retire on a handsome competency at the close of the war,” no matter from whom it is taken.
Next comes the East India Company, that colossus of mercantile avarice, whose monopoly draws into its vortex all the demand for East India produce in Europe. Your lawful commerce to those markets interfered with them, and was considered incompatible with this monopoly, and must be doomed to destruction.
Next come the merchants trading from London to the continent of Europe. They attend the public auctions, purchase your condemned vessels and their cargoes, procure a license from their Government, and send the same cargo on their own account to the very market your own citizens intended it for.
I now come to some of those honest adopted British merchants; and in order to elucidate that subject, I will beg leave to read a copy of a letter from one of the first houses of respectability in London, said to be in the confidence of the Minister: