Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.). United States. Congress
at every pore. This, surely, sir, is one of the most extravagant effects that could have been ascribed to these laws by the frantic dreams of the most infatuated passions. Bloodletting is the last effect that I ever expected to hear ascribed to this measure. I thought it was of the opposite character; but it serves to show that nothing is too extravagant for the misguided zeal of gentlemen in the opposition. I have cast my eyes about in vain to discover those copious streams of blood; but I neither see nor hear any thing of them from any other quarter. So far from the United States bleeding at every pore, under the embargo, it has saved them from bleeding at any pore; and one of the highest compliments to the measure is, that it has saved us from the very calamity which the gentleman attributed to it; but which, thanks to our better stars and wiser counsels, does not exist.
Mr. President, the eyes of the world are now turned upon us; if we submit to these indignities and aggressions, Great Britain herself would despise us; she would consider us an outcast among nations; she would not own us for her offspring: France would despise us; all the world would despise us; and what is infinitely worse, we should be compelled to despise ourselves! If we resist, we shall command the respect of our enemies, the sympathies of the world, and the noble approbation of our own consciences.
Mr. President, our fate is in our own hands; let us have union and we have nothing to fear. So highly do I prize union, at this awful moment, that I would prefer any one measure of resistance with union, to any other measure of resistance with division; let us then, sir, banish all personal feelings; let us present to our enemies the formidable front of an indissoluble band of brothers, nothing else is necessary to our success. Mr. President, unequal as this contest may seem; favored as we are by our situation, and under the blessing of a beneficent Providence, who has never lost sight of the United States in times of difficulty and trial, I have the most perfect confidence, that if we prove true to ourselves, we shall triumph over our enemies. Deeply impressed with these considerations, I am prepared to give the resolution a flat and decided negative.
Friday, November 25
John Milledge, from the State of Georgia, attended.
Wednesday, November 30
Mr. Pickering. – Mr. President: I am aware, sir, of the consequences of advancing any thing from which conclusions may be drawn adverse to the opinions of our own Administration, which, by many, are conceived to be indisputably just. Merely to state these questions, and to mention such arguments as the British Government may, perhaps, have urged in their support on her side, is sufficient to subject a man to the popular charge of being under British influence, or to the vulgar slander of being a "British tory." He will be fortunate to escape the accusation of touching British gold. But, sir, none of these things move me. The patrons of the miscreants who utter these slanders know better, but are, nevertheless, willing to benefit by the impression they may make on the minds of the people. From an early period of my life I was zealously engaged in every measure opposed to the attempts of Great Britain to encroach upon our rights, until the commencement of our Revolutionary war; and during its whole continuance, I was uninterruptedly employed in important civil or military departments, contributing all my efforts to bring that war to a successful termination.
I, sir, am not the advocate of wrong-doers, to whatever country they belong, whether Emperors, or Kings, or the Administrators of a Republic. Justice is my object, and Truth my guide; and wherever she points the way I shall not fear to go.
Great Britain has done us many wrongs. When we were Colonies, she attempted to deprive us of some of our dearest birth-rights – rights derived from our English ancestors, rights which we defended, and finally established, by the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary war. But these wrongs, and all the wounds of war, were intended to be obliterated and healed by the treaty of peace, when all enmities should have ceased.
Great Britain wronged us in the capture and condemnation of our vessels under her orders of 1793, and she has made reparation for these wrongs, pursuant to a treaty, negotiated on practical principles by a statesman who, with liberal views and real candor, sought adjustment and reparation.
Monday, December 12
Mr. Giles, from the committee appointed the 11th of November last, on that part of the Message of the President of the United States which relates to the embargo laws, and the measures necessary to enforce due observance thereof, made a further report, in part, of a bill to authorize and require the President of the United States to arm, man, and fit out for immediate service, all the public ships of war, vessels, and gunboats of the United States; and the bill was read, and passed to the second reading.
The bill is as follows:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to cause to be fitted out, officered, manned, and employed, as soon as may be, all the frigates and other armed vessels of the United States, including gunboats; and to cause the frigates and armed vessels, so soon as they can be prepared for active service, respectively to be stationed at such ports and places on the seacoast as he may deem most expedient, or to cruise on any part of the coast of the United States, or territories thereof.
"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of carrying the foregoing provision into immediate effect, the President of the United States be, and is hereby, authorized and required, in addition to the number of petty officers, able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys, at present authorized by law, to appoint, and cause to be engaged and employed as soon as may be, – midshipmen, – corporals of marines, – able seamen, – ordinary seamen and boys, which shall be engaged to serve for a period not exceeding – years, but the President may discharge the same sooner, if in his judgment their services may be dispensed with; and to satisfy the necessary expenditures to be incurred therein, a sum not exceeding – dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, and shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated."
Saturday, December 17
The credentials of Michael Leib, appointed a Senator by the State of Pennsylvania, were presented and read, and ordered to lie on file.
The Senate resumed the bill making further provision for enforcing the embargo.
Mr. Goodrich rose, and addressed the Senate as follows —
Mr. President: This bill, making further provision for enforcing the embargo, requires all our attention. We are not on ordinary business. An embargo for an indefinite period, over a great country like ours, abounding in rich staples and domestic products, and carrying on in its own vessels an extensive and profitable commerce, is a phenomenon in the civilized world. We are about entering on the second year of this novel measure, and even in defiance of the lessons which experience teaches, that without producing any beneficial results, it is embroiling the choicest interests of the nation. On foreign powers it has made no impression, and its ruinous effect on our own country, we see in the waste of private property and public revenue; in the discontents of our citizens; in the perplexed state of the public councils, and the increasing difficulties that are fast gathering round the Government. The friends of the embargo say, that it has been evaded and violated, but that when strictly enforced, it will compel foreign nations to respect our rights. Under these impressions, the system is to be maintained. To enforce it, the powers of the Government are to be put in array throughout our country, especially in places where discontents are manifested; and an extension is to be given to that system of arbitrary seizures of vessels, goods, merchandise, and domestic products, on suspicion of their being intended for exportation, which came in with the embargo laws, and has attended their execution.
In all this, sir, I see nothing that is to conciliate the conflicting opinions and passions of our citizens, and restore concord amongst them. I see nothing that will invigorate the public councils, and resuscitate the dormant spirit and resources of the nation. To me it seems that the Administration, without presenting to public view any definite object or course, are pressing forward our affairs into a chaos of inextricable difficulties. And I cannot but regard this bill as holding a prominent place among