Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 3 (of 16)

by United States. Congress

Friday, February 14.

British Aggressions.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the committee, made on the 5th instant, on that part of the Message of the President of the United States which relates to the violation of neutral rights, and the impressment of American seamen.

The second resolution being still under consideration, as follows:

“2. Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to demand and insist upon the restoration of the property of their citizens, captured, and condemned, on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in time of peace: and upon the indemnification of such American citizens, for their losses and damages sustained by those captures and condemnations: and to enter into such arrangements with the British Government, on this and all other differences subsisting between the two nations, (and particularly respecting the impressment of American seamen,) as may be consistent with the honor and interest of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire to obtain for themselves and their citizens, by amicable negotiation, that justice to which they are entitled.”

Mr. Worthington.—On further consideration of the resolution now before the Senate I confess I feel more opposed to it, and do believe, on the whole, it will be best not to pass it in its present form. The resolution must mean something, or it must mean nothing. It must intend to convey to the President the opinions and advice of this body, or not to convey it. Now, sir, if it is intended to convey to the President the opinion and advice of the Senate, which is certainly my understanding of it, I beg gentlemen to reflect a little before they adopt it. The advice of this Senate I trust will never be given to the President without having the desired effect; and let me add, sir, that from the intimate connection which exists between this and the Executive branch of the Government, I must believe that the President would not feel himself justified, nor would he be willing to take so much responsibility on himself as entirely to reject it. Sir, I could not justify him if he did. We are equally responsible with him in our executive capacity, and can we for a moment believe that he would act contrary to the decided opinion of the Senate, who can at all times control or defeat him by rejecting a treaty made contrary to their advice and opinions? What, sir, is the object of the resolution?

We request the President “to demand and insist upon the restoration of the property of their citizens, captured and condemned on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in time of peace; and upon the indemnification of such American citizens for their losses and damages sustained by these captures and condemnations:” and afterwards “to enter into such arrangements with the British Government, on this and all other differences subsisting between the two nations, (and particularly respecting the impressment of American seamen,) as may be consistent with the honor and interests of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire to obtain for themselves and their citizens, by amicable negotiation, that justice to which they are entitled.”

Mr. Adair.—Mr. President, the motion before the Senate is to recommit the resolution to a special committee. Gentlemen in favor of the resolution as it stands, have called upon us to point out the alterations we wish to make in it, as a cause of commitment; I will do so by stating my objections to it in its present shape. The first resolution on the paper which I hold in my hand, and which met with a unanimous vote of the Senate two days past, contains a mere declaration of their opinion on an abstract principle; to this resolution I fully and freely assent, although I did not vote for it, being that day unwell and absent. But this second resolution, if it is to have any effect at all, is meant to convey an instruction to the President of the United States. It contains a request to him, not only that he will endeavor to obtain an adjustment of our differences by treaty, but that prior to this he will “demand and insist upon the restoration of the property of our citizens captured and condemned on the pretence of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in time of peace; and upon the indemnification of such American citizens for their losses and damages sustained by these captures and condemnations;” that he will enter into arrangements, &c. This, Mr. President, is the part of the resolution I object to. It is going too far. It is circumscribing the powers of the President, and tying him down to a particular point. It is making that the sine qua non, the basis on which alone he is to treat; at least it is doing this so far as an opinion of the Senate, expressed in this way, can do it. It really looks to me, as if, on this particular point of the restitution, we were afraid to trust our Chief Magistrate. I presume there is not a member who hears me, who does not fully believe the captures and condemnations alluded to in the resolution were unjust; that they are an infringement of our rights; and that we are entitled to restitution. But let it be remembered that these condemnations are the solemn decisions of a court of very high authority in Great Britain; a court that, it is well known, acts under the counsels (if not the control) of the cabinet. May we not then reasonably suppose that the British Government are as fully assured (in their own minds) that these condemnations are just and warranted, under the law of nations, as we are that they are unjust and unwarranted; and that they will be as unwilling to acknowledge in the face of the whole world that they have been wantonly robbing us of our property, as we will be to acknowledge that we have paid so much without a cause? It has been well observed by an honorable member from Tennessee, that in forming commercial treaties of this kind, there will be various points to consider, and it may not be necessary to contend for strict justice in every punctilio; arrangements or treaties, when there are existing differences to settle, must always be a bargain of compromise and forbearance; in one point we may give a little, that we may obtain an equivalent in another. So it may turn out in settling our disputes with Great Britain. Why then are we not satisfied with expressing our opinion on the great principle of right; and leave it altogether with our Chief Magistrate to enter into and point out the details?

Messrs. J. Quincy Adams, Samuel Smith, Pickering, Tracy, and Maclay, delivered their sentiments.

The motion to recommit the resolution for the purpose of amending it, was lost—yeas 15, nays 16.

Mr. Worthington then moved to strike out the words in italics, from the second to the eleventh line.

Messrs. S. Smith, and White, opposed the motion, which was disagreed to—yeas 13, nays 16, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Adair, Baldwin, Bradley, Gaillard, Howland, Logan, Maclay, Moore, Plumer, Smith of Vermont, Sumter, Turner, and Worthington.

Nays.—Messrs. Adams, Anderson, Bayard, Gilman, Hillhouse, Kitchel, Mitchill, Pickering, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Tennessee, Thruston, Tracy, White, and Wright

Mr. Thruston moved to postpone the resolution, for the purpose of previously taking up and acting upon the third, which prohibits the importation into the United States of a variety of articles, the growth, produce, or manufactures of Great Britain, after the —— day of —— next, unless equitable arrangements shall be made between the United States and Great Britain.

This motion was lost—yeas 13.

Messrs. Israel Smith and Bradley then spoke against agreeing to the resolution. The principal ground taken by them was that it became the Senate to take stronger ground, and to adopt vigorous measures, before they requested the Executive to resume negotiation.

Mr. Tracy advocated the resolution. He did not think negotiation exhausted. He thought it became the Senate to make one further attempt towards negotiating our differences, before a resort was had to warlike measures. The President would be enabled to take this step, by the Senate, who were a branch of the war-declaring power, expressing their support of the measures he had taken, at the same time that they requested a renewal of the negotiation.

Mr. Moore moved to strike out the words “and insist;” which motion prevailed.

Mr. Worthington said that, so modified, he should vote for the resolution.

Mr. Kitchel observed that he was sorry to intrude upon the patience of the Senate at that late hour; but the observations of the gentleman who had just sat down induced him to beg their indulgence for a few moments. The gentleman, in the course of his observations, seems to have made two propositions as the ground of his objection, viz: that the resolution now under consideration contains a censure upon the President, as not having done his duty in negotiating; and that by passing it we are going to sacrifice the honor and interests of the United States and its citizens.

Mr. President, I would ask in what manner we shall do either? How shall we censure the President? He has negotiated until there appears no prospect of obtaining that justice to which we are entitled; and he has now submitted the matter to Congress to pursue such measures as shall appear to them prudent.

And what are we about to do? Sir, we have already unanimously passed one resolution, in which we say that the capture and condemnation of the vessels and cargoes of our citizens is an unprovoked violation of our independence, and an aggression upon the property of our citizens. And if that declaration is correct what are we to do further? Are we, upon the strength of that declaration, to sit down and fold our hands together, and expect Britain to do us justice, or are we to declare war? Sir, are we prepared at this moment to declare war? Will it be wise? Will it be prudent, without one effort to avoid it, with all its horrors of blood and destruction? Are the people now prepared to meet it, without our making one more attempt to negotiate? Will they say we have acted wisely? I believe not. Sir, we are one component part of Congress, who have the sole power of declaring war; and by this resolution we are going to say to Britain—not by ourselves, for we are not by the constitution authorized to speak to foreign nations in this way; but we are about to request the President, in our behalf, and in our name, and in the name of the whole people of the United States, to say to Britain—you have injured us by your unprovoked aggressions, and we demand satisfaction. We can bear these insults no longer; therefore, make us compensation for past injuries, and do us justice in future; and we are willing still to be friends. Wherein does this censure the President? He has pursued negotiation until he finds it unavailing. We now ask of him to make one last effort in our behalf, before we appeal to the last resort of war, and I trust we shall arm him with power that will give energy to this last negotiation. And wherein are we going to sacrifice the honor of the United States or the interests of the citizens? Does it sacrifice our honor to endeavor to settle our differences in an amicable way, rather than to fly to arms and deluge the earth with blood? Will it fix a stigma upon us in the eyes of any rational men or nations? I believe not. And how are we going to sacrifice the interests of our citizens? Do we do it by demanding justice for them of Britain? I believe that they themselves will not view it in that light, when they see it followed by the third resolution, which I hope will be passed. And, indeed, had it not have been for the expectations of that resolution being carried into effect, in such a manner as to give energy to this, I should have withheld my vote from the first. But, under the full expectation that the third resolution will pass, and as I do not believe it contains any censure upon the President, and as I believe it will do honor to the United States and will have a tendency to secure reparation to our citizens, I shall cheerfully give it my vote.

Messrs. Logan and Pickering spoke in favor of the resolution, and Mr. Israel Smith against it; when, after some verbal amendments, the question was taken upon it, by yeas and nays, and the resolution carried—yeas 23, nays 7, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Adams, Anderson, Baldwin, Bayard, Gaillard, Gilman, Hillhouse, Howland, Kitchel, Logan, Maclay, Mitchill, Moore, Pickering, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Tennessee, Tracy, Turner, White, Worthington, and Wright.

Nays.—Messrs. Adair, Bradley, Plumer, Smith of Vermont, Stone, Sumter, and Thruston.

So it was Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to demand the restoration of the property of their citizens captured and condemned on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in a time of peace; and the indemnification of such American citizens, for their losses and damages sustained by these captures and condemnations; and to enter into such arrangements with the British Government, on this and all other differences subsisting between the two nations, (and particularly respecting the impressment of American seamen,) as may be consistent with the honor and interests of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire to obtain for themselves and their citizens, by amicable negotiation, that justice to which they are entitled.