Thursday, May 25.
Mr. Giles rose.—He said that he had always been against this form of giving Answers, since the time the practice first began; it was derived from the British House of Commons, which was a bad source for precedents. In that House, however, the Speech and the Answer were both known to be the work of the Minister, and treated with great freedom. Mr. G. thought that it would be better to direct the Committee of Rules and Orders of the House, to make one standing Answer, which would serve regularly for all Speeches. This would be an improper time for such a regulation, but though we could not now get rid of a bad habit, it was not necessary to vindicate it. He said, that Mr. Livingston had yesterday taken part of the ground which he intended to take. The question before the House amounted to this: shall we recommend it to the President to place all nations on a level as to commerce, and to remove the inequalities between them? To assist him in deciding this point, he would refer to facts and dates; and, as he did not wish to represent things in false colors, he would be glad to be corrected, if he should happen to go wrong. He would begin at the 1st of February, 1793, when England dismissed the French Minister, and the Republic, in consequence, declared war against her. On the 22d of April following, the President declared this country to be in a state of neutrality, and warned the citizens to observe it. At this time, about the 10th May, M. Genet landed and raised a considerable alarm by commencing an improper correspondence with our citizens. Government from that time took a wrong impression, and acted under the idea of a dangerous French influence in this country. All this was a mistake. Genet was universally reprobated, unless by a few disorderly people, and Government from that trial should have learned to trust us. In consequence of the disturbance that Genet made, many societies entered into resolutions to support government. Even the pulpit reviled Genet. If execration, disappointment, and contempt, could fill up the measure of punishment, he had it. From the arrival of Genet to that of Fauchet, some sentiments were kept alive, and some phrases that he would review. The Friends of Order and the Disorganizers were two of them. Then we had the reign of moderation, but of so frantic a kind, for the short time which it lasted, as to exercise the greatest of despotism over opinion. This order, moderation, and disorganization, were all gone and no more said about them. Among Mr. G.'s constituents, when notice came of the Western insurrection, they were all ready to march in support of Government; instead of calling themselves the friends of order, they proved that they were so. The country remained from this time in a tranquil state till the arrival of Mr. Jay's Treaty. On the 5th of December, 1793, a Message was received from the President, speaking of France in the most friendly terms. In spite of Genet's quarrel there was no misunderstanding with the Republic, and Mr. G. quoted this circumstance to prove that there was no serious difference till the arrival of Mr. Jay's Treaty. Mr. G. said that he would review what was in the mean time passing in Europe. During the summer of 1793, Britain made no less than six treaties with different nations, and one stipulation in each of them was that the contracting parties should stop all provisions going to France, and force all other nations to do so. The first of these treaties was made with Russia, on the 20th of March, 1793: the second was with Spain; the third with Prussia; the fourth with the Emperor; the fifth with Portugal; and the last with the King of the two Sicilies. It was said that France preceded Britain in the order for stopping provisions; Britain did not publicly issue such orders until the 16th of June, 1793; but Britain had, in reality, adopted the practice long before. The French orders fluctuated; but, at one time, the United States were exempted from stoppage, when others were stopped. He then noticed the stoppage of provisions to the West Indies; the Orders of the 6th of November, 1793, and the 8th of January, 1794. In the very short interval between these two dates, France had gone on so fast that Britain found it better to ameliorate the condition of neutral States. During this time, England also made a truce for Portugal with Algiers, and this truce has cost us fifteen hundred thousand dollars, besides what it may cost hereafter. Timber had been promised to be cut for the Algerines, of a kind which this country could not furnish in due quality. Some of it was to be brought so far as from the north-west branch of the Susquehanna. He would pass over Lord Dorchester's speech to the Indians, and the British soldiers and savages joining the tomahawk against our Western frontiers. He mentioned these things, merely to keep them in view. There was something, he said, which he could never think of without surprise. This was a conversation between Lord Grenville and Mr. Pinckney. It was related in a letter, dated the 9th of January, 1794, from Mr. Pinckney. It took notice of Lord Grenville telling Mr. Pinckney the desire which the British Government had of maintaining harmony with the United States, and their readiness to support the Government of this country against a dangerous Jacobin faction who wanted to overturn it. Mr. G. said, that this betrayed more interference on the part of Britain than there ever had been on the part of France. From this time our Government had taken a leaning towards Britain. French influence was only a sentiment which we felt for the sake of liberty, but which was sometimes conjured up as a chimera to serve certain purposes. The United States had a real interest in cherishing the sentiment, which never could be dangerous.
As for British influence, it was a matter much more substantial. That people speak the same language with us, are scattered from one end of the continent to the other, intermarry with us, and have a very great commercial intercourse. Lord Grenville's proposition had led to Mr. Jay's Treaty. As to France trying to engage us in the war, any other nation in the world would be glad to do so. France had addressed the people of America, and was resisted: Britain had addressed our Government; and Mr. G. feared that the latter had not made so firm a stand. While Congress were taking proper measures to check the depredations, Mr. Jay, to the astonishment of mankind, was named Ambassador to England. The Treaty was signed on the 19th of November, 1794. The instructions, Mr. G. had never seen, but if we may judge from the Treaty itself, they were extremely full. For the making of such a Treaty he had never heard a reason, nor had he ever been able to learn one good consequence likely to accrue from it. It had been called an instrument of peace, and its first effect was, that we were summoned to fight with France, Spain, and Holland. One of the articles was that free ships do not make free goods. This was highly injurious both to France and the United States; it implied a breach of the law of nations, because, before you can search for an enemy's goods you must stop neutral ships. This regulation could only be understood as operating against France. If we could not help the practice going on, we should at least have suffered it to stand as it was, without any countenance. All the principal articles of export from the United States were declared contraband, except tobacco, and, indeed, that might be included under the general title of provisions, as people would sometimes be in want of a chew. He spoke of this provision clause as infamous. He referred to Count Bernstoff, Minister of Denmark, who had kept his country in a more honorable situation than perhaps any other in Europe had done during the present war. Mr. G. read the refusal of Count Bernstoff to comply with the British requisition to that effect. During the armed neutrality, the United States had owned that free bottoms should make free goods. Was there any reason since to alter our opinion? He would be glad to hear gentlemen answer if there was any. He had always said that the provision article was unjust to France, and yet on account of the British Treaty we are to plunge into a war before we know whether we are in the right or in the wrong. Gentlemen who had promoted the British Treaty now came forward to support it, but it would now be more manly to declare at once that we cannot do so. In Citizen Adet's complaints, many articles were unjust and trifling, but this was always the case in productions of that sort. Mr. G. then referred to the speech of Barras: he said that Britain still went on robbing and impressing American seamen. Mr. Harper had yesterday said that the impressments were few; but how were we to be certain of that? The men are not allowed to write to us, and Mr. Pinckney informs us that vast numbers of them are in French jails. He had always wondered at our having so few communications on this head from the Executive. A law had passed in this House and in the Senate upon this subject, without any information from that quarter. Gentlemen had allowed that it would be just enough to grant an equality of privileges to every foreign nation; but, Mr. Harper had objected, that if this were granted to France, she would still continue to demand. When she makes an unjust claim, said Mr. G., we should stop; he would not be for going any further. The French had not acted on vague claims; they take neutral and contraband articles; they take the ships, and when they find our seamen on board of British vessels, they threaten to treat them as pirates, and will not allow them to prove that they were impressed.