Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.). United States. Congress
never shrink from their constitutional responsibility in any case; and, last of all, in a case of so high and solemn a character as the one under consideration.
This course of conduct is essentially due to the Executive. The President ought to know whether, with the indispensable co-operation of Congress, he ought to proceed with dignified moderation and intelligence to assert and maintain the rights, the honor, and the interests, of the American people; or whether, for the want of that co-operation, he shall with shame and confusion of face be compelled to retrace his steps, and leave to Congress to abandon these high attributes of the nation, and, with their degradation, to record their country's ruin and disgrace. No, sir, it is not possible that an American Congress does exist, or can ever exist, that would not spurn from themselves every vestige of an idea that they could be brought, under any circumstances, to perform so degrading and dishonorable a task. It is imperiously demanded by the dignity and candor of Congress itself. What, sir, shall the exercise of one of the highest constitutional functions of Congress be brought into question, and every individual in the nation engaged in expressing an opinion on it; and shall Congress alone stand aloof, for fear of incurring a responsibility imposed on them by the constitution? Shall Congress stand by as idle spectators, and see a contest before the people, between the President and a foreign Minister, and feel no interest and take no share in such an unprecedented scene, especially when one of their highest constitutional functions may be affected by it! No, sir. Congress must speak – Congress must act. Congress never can shrink from its constitutional responsibility. It is due to the dignity – it is demanded from the candor – of Congress.
Above all, sir, it is important to the United States as a nation, that the Congressional will should be proclaimed upon this delicate and solemn occasion. It is of importance, it may be of the last importance, to the United States, that Great Britain should know, before she decides upon this subject, what is the Congressional will in relation to it. Whether she will be called upon to act against an united, harmonized Government and people – or whether she shall have for her prey, a divided people and a discordant Government.
Do you believe, Mr. President, that the conduct of Great Britain would be very different under these different conditions of the people and Government of the United States? Let me ask you this question, sir: would you not, sir, if you were Prime Minister of Great Britain, consulting her interest alone, pursue a very different course of conduct under this different state of things? Let every gentleman put the question to himself; and the answer of every one would be the same. Why then, sir, do we not unanimously take the ground here which, if we were called upon to act in an opposite hostile character, would most certainly deter us from persevering in that hostile character against the United States? Sir, if there had been any doubt upon this subject, our late experience ought to have removed it; for, sir, I have no hesitation in saying, and with pain at heart I shall be compelled to show it in the course of this debate, that, in my judgment, our present embarrassments are too much to be ascribed to our former manifestations of indecision, to our unfortunate dissensions and divisions. Sir, whenever I approach this sorrowful and awful subject, my heart feels as if it were bleeding at every pore, when I am compelled to reflect, and to believe, that this our beloved and happy country may shortly become a bleeding victim, from wounds – if not inflicted by the hands of her own sons, at least by their unhappy divisions and dissensions. Yes, sir, with a full knowledge of what is past, and strong presages of what is to come, is it not deplorable to be compelled to think, that, in a very few months, perhaps in a still shorter time, American blood must be shed, to repel the hostile spirit of Great Britain, now rendered too manifest to every understanding; and worse than all, sir, to wash away the stains of our own unfortunate divisions and dissensions; and is it not wonderful, as it is deplorable, that the virtuous and patriotic American people, and sometimes called the most enlightened in the world, with the experience of the horrible consequences, through all ages, of the divisions of a people amongst themselves, should permit themselves from the same cause, to fall a prey to the same inevitable calamities?
Look, Mr. President, through all history, from the first dispute between Cain and Abel, down to the late disastrous dissensions between the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty, and find if you can, sir, a single instance of a people who gained any advantage from dissensions among themselves, and especially, sir, when they carried them so far, as to join a foreign against their country's standard! I believe, sir, not one solitary instance of this kind stands recorded. Nor is it possible or practicable in any state of human affairs – because in all cases, the foreign interference in the internal concerns of its neighbors is always for its own and never for its neighbor's benefit. With these monitory lessons before our eyes, and a full conviction of their truth upon our hearts, is it not wonderful, that we should voluntarily give up ourselves victims to the same calamities? But, sir, gentlemen may ask, where is the remedy? How can we make a sacrifice of our own opinions? Sir, the case is a plain one. Let gentlemen exercise their opinions and persevere in their arguments at all times respecting our internal concerns, as well before as after the measures are adopted; let them, respecting our foreign relations, urge their arguments with a zeal proportioned to the magnitude of the subject; they will be pleasurably received, and respectfully considered; but after the Government has taken its attitude against a foreign nation, it would be going too far to desert its standard, and to join that of the enemy. It is then time for opinion to pause and reflect, whether any consequence can be worse, or more disgraceful, than joining a foreign against its country's standard? Whether it would not be better, more patriotic, more virtuous, to support your country even in a supposed unwise course of policy, than to join a foreign standard, and use it to correct and change the course of policy thus disapproved?
Sir, in a contest between your own and a foreign nation, it never can be wrong to join the standard of your own country; nor right to join the standard of your enemy. Then, sir, here is a rallying point. It is a plain and obvious one. No understanding can mistake it. No heart can disapprove it. It is our own Government. Let that be the rallying point. There never can be a more propitious moment than the present for casting into oblivion all former irritations and dissensions. There can never be a plainer case presented to the human understanding. There never were more urgent considerations in favor of the course recommended. Whether we respect their repulsive effects upon British hostility or their harmonizing effects among ourselves, they appear to me to be equally strong and persuasive. May I not then, sir, indulge the pleasing hope, that the resolution before you will be received as the signal of unanimity in Congress, and joyfully hailed in that character through the whole of this great and extended country? Sir, does it not manifest a strange perverseness in the human character, for us to observe that, when it is perfectly at our option, we should choose to distress and injure ourselves by irritations and resentments, rather than delight ourselves with union and harmony and mutual good offices? Especially, sir, when the latter choice would command the respect, if not excite the alarm of our enemy. For, sir, do you believe that if Great Britain saw the strong arm of this nation stretched out to oppose her unjust spirit of hostility, guided in all its operations by one undivided will, she would so readily encounter its powerful influence, as if she saw it paralyzed in all its efforts from the want of a unity of will and action? No, sir, we undervalue our energies and importance, if we were to suppose that her conduct would be the same in both of these situations; or that she is at all indifferent to the course of conduct now to be pursued by us. Let us then all unite, sir, in this proposition, and disappoint her mistaken calculations upon her influence in this country. I verily believe, that union is all that is wanting to appease her hostile spirit towards us. But perhaps, sir, every gentleman present will admit, and it appears to me that no human being can deny, that if the facts stated in the resolution be supported by the correspondence upon which it is founded, that then every gentleman would readily assent to the resolution. But, sir, it is possible, although it appears to be scarcely possible, that some gentlemen may doubt whether the facts stated in the resolution be supported by the correspondence or not. This I admit is a fair though delicate inquiry, and I will therefore immediately proceed to the examination of that question – and I beg the most critical attention of the Senate in the course of the investigation.
I will now proceed, Mr. President, to inquire whether the facts stated in the resolution are supported by the correspondence upon which it is founded? In performing this task, I propose to read the whole of the correspondence which I conceive bears any material relation to the subject of the resolution, and no