Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.). United States. Congress
the first section, to be inserted after the word "assembled:"
"That the provisions of the two first sections of the act, entitled 'An act to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France, and their dependencies, and for other purposes, shall extend to all public armed ships and vessels of all foreign nations, and the same shall be, and are hereby, continued and made permanent, subject, nevertheless, to any modifications and regulations which may hereafter be made by treaty."
Mr. G. said he felt himself constrained to move this amendment at this time, because he found it impossible to avoid a consideration of the subject involved in it, although he had heretofore hoped that it would not necessarily pass in review during the present session. He said this necessity arose from the limitation of these sections of the act at the last session. The connection of these sections with the commercial non-intercourse system, was contrary to his opinion at that time; he then wished the subject to be taken up and acted upon in a separate bill, and made the permanent law of the land. His opinion then gave way to the respect he felt for the opinion of others. This will appear from the resolution he then moved, "to extend the interdiction to the public armed ships and vessels of all foreign nations." In consequence of connecting that subject with the general commercial non-intercourse, and limiting its duration with that act, it was now rendered a very delicate question. His proposition, however, was, to do now, what it was right to have done at the last session. He said that the proposition was founded upon the principle, that the United States had as absolute and unqualified a right to exclusive jurisdiction over the marine leagues usually attached to independent nations, as to their territorial jurisdiction, and as a consequence from that principle, foreign nations had no more right to send armed ships within our acknowledged marine jurisdiction, than they had to send an army within our territorial jurisdiction. This proposition is, therefore, merely municipal, formed upon an unquestionable right, and it is dictated by the same spirit of impartiality as that which dictated the original non-intercourse law. Indeed, it appeared to him the only impartial course now left us, as it respects the belligerents. It ought to preserve the most perfect impartiality, which, Mr. Canning so justly tells us, "is the essence of neutrality."
Mr. G. said it could not escape observation, that, in the overtures made by the British Cabinet for the revocation of the Orders in Council of the 7th of January and the 11th of November, the obligation to protect our neutral rights against France, heretofore offered on the part of our Government, in case of her perseverance in her hostile edicts, had been entirely overlooked, or unconditionally dispensed with. He said he derived much satisfaction from this liberal conduct on the part of the British Government, because it manifested a confidence in the honor and firmness of our Government, which must be peculiarly gratifying to every American; but it rather increased than lessened the obligation to persevere in protecting our neutral rights against French aggressions, if they should be persevered in, contrary to his expectation.
The motive or ground of resisting the aggressions of France cannot, under this overture, be mistaken. In the former case, it might have seemed as if the resistance was dictated by a stipulated obligation to Great Britain to make it in this; it can only be dictated by a just sense of our own honor, character, and interests, which is left perfectly uncontrolled by the British overture. As this latter motive is the more honorable, it ought to be the more scrupulously adhered to and enforced. He had no hesitation in saying he had uniformly been influenced by this motive alone, entirely disconnected with any stipulated obligation to Great Britain; and under this influence, alone, he would be found at all times as ready to resist the aggressions of France, as he had at any time been those of Great Britain, if they should, unfortunately, be persevered in; but, at the same time, he wished to take away every pretext for such perseverance, by persevering in a conduct of the strictest and most scrupulous impartiality toward all the belligerents.
At the last session he had supposed, under the general interdiction of all foreign armed vessels, some regulations and modifications, as exceptions from the general rule, might be made by law, but further reflection had satisfied him that the preferable mode was by treaty.
He would state two or three reasons for this preference:
1. It will tend to avoid collisions with all foreign nations. Regulations made by law might not suit the views of foreign nations, whereas their consent would be necessary in treaties.
2. It will give us the aid of a stipulated obligation on the part of the foreign nation making the treaty, to enforce the arrangement. In the case of Great Britain this consideration is of great importance. Its importance results from the strength of her navy, compared with the weakness of ours.
3. By treaty we may obtain what the lawyers call a quid pro quo. We may want, at some future time, the use of some British ports, which she would readily give for the use of ours. He said he would act liberally with her in this respect; and, he believed, considering Great Britain now at war, and the United States at peace, it would rather accelerate than retard the expected negotiation. He said he was as much opposed to throwing any impediment in the way of the expected negotiation as any gentleman in the United States.
Great Britain cannot, and will not complain. The municipal right now proposed to be carried into effect, is admitted by Great Britain in its broadest extent, and will not be disputed by Mr. Canning at the present moment. This will appear from Mr. Canning's declarations in the debates of the last session of Parliament. He said he did not know whether it was correct to read newspapers in evidence, to ascertain the opinions and expressions of the speaker, but if the Senate would be content with this species of evidence, contained in a Ministerial paper, he would read it for their information. Mr. G. then read the following extract of Mr. Canning's speech, taken from a British Ministerial paper:
"At the time the application for a compromise had been made by the American Government, there was an order in force excluding British ships of war from the American ports, while French ships of war were admitted into them; and, consequently, if the terms offered by America had been accepted, our commerce would have been permitted to America without a ship of war to protect it, while the French commerce would be excluded, at the same time that French ships of war would be admitted if they could succeed in getting there. The ports of America would become nests for French privateers against British commerce. As to the tendency of the measures in agitation in America, he could afford the right honorable gentleman some consolation, by assuring him that they would not have all the ill consequences he seemed to apprehend. A circumstance appeared by the report of the committee of Congress, though clothed in hostile language, which, if made known to His Majesty's Government in amicable terms, might have led to the acceptance of the terms proposed. The circumstance he alluded to was the resolution for excluding from American ports the ships of war not of Great Britain, but of the belligerents. The Americans, in their character of neutrals, had unquestionably a right to exclude the ships of war of both belligerents from their ports, but could not confine them exclusively to those of one of the belligerents without a violation of that impartiality which is the essence of the neutral character. Yet, when that proposition should be disposed of, the whole of the difficulty would not be surmounted, as much would still remain to be accommodated. Another point, in which fault had been charged upon his conduct with respect to America, was his having stated that the system would not be given up while the smallest link of the confederation against Great Britain existed."
It will be observed that two important conclusions may be deduced from these observations: 1. That the exercise of this municipal right is unquestionable. 2. That Mr. Canning's objection to its former exercise by proclamation was to its limitation, not its extension.
His objection is to its exercise against Great Britain exclusively and not against her enemies. At the time of making his speech, Mr. Canning thought the interdiction was extended to all the belligerents; in which case, so far from complaining of its exercise, he says it would furnish an inducement to an accommodation, and his instructions to Mr. Erskine were, no doubt, given under this expectation. This was the ground taken by the report of the committee of the House of Representatives, in the last session, and the Senate went further, by extending the interdiction to the public armed ships of all foreign nations; those of peace as well as those of war. This gave the transaction more strongly the character of a mere municipal regulation.