Shall we, said he, from a fear of irritating the French Republic, in a communication with our own Executive, suppress our feelings, or what is worse, suppress the truth? For his own part, he saw nothing in the present business but an expression of feelings naturally excited by the occasion; nothing but a declaration of facts. This being the case, the question was, whether, from fear of irritating the French Government, they should suppress these feelings.
It would be well to consider what would be the consequence of this condescension. He did not think they were warranted in believing that they should put France in a better humor with us by this means. He was sure that gentlemen who were in the last Congress would recollect that the Answer to the Address was reported in very mild terms, from a spirit of accommodation in the committee who formed it, and that it was afterwards pruned in the House with care, yet there had been no amelioration of the disposition of the French towards this country. Instead of inducing them to behave better to us, had it not been with a knowledge of this that they have offered us fresh insult and indignity? Indeed, Mr. Pinckney suggests an idea that this moderation of ours may have been one of the operating causes of sending our Minister from their country. Besides, gentlemen have not pointed out the particular expressions which they consider as irritating in the report. For his own part, he thought the amendment might be considered as more irritating than the draft of the committee. What was the language of the amendment? [He read it.] He gave it as his opinion, that there was more of war and bullying in it than in the original report. It was true the threat it contained was accompanied by an if. Now, all the difference between the draft and the amendment was, that in the former, instead of using the if, they had at once expressed indignation at the insults offered to this country by the French Republic, and given assurances to the Executive that they would repel indignity with indignation.
But, said he, let us, on this occasion, confine ourselves to the real question now before us. We have been informed, said he, by the President, in his Speech to both Houses, of the conduct of the French towards this Government, and have since received the documents upon which this report was founded. He had not yet heard any gentleman justify the conduct of the French. He had heard, indeed, some attempts to palliate or apologize for it, but none to vindicate it. His ideas of these things were, that the French had not only injured us, but added insult to injury; and while he retained this belief, he could not help feeling indignation and resentment. The question before the House was not, Will we resent it? Our actions, better than our words, show our desires for peace. It was a desire in which we were too much interested, to be doubted; yet it was proper that this desire should be accompanied with expressions of our feelings on the occasion. What objections could there be to this? If we were sunk so low, if our fears of the French Republic are so great, that we dare not express what we feel, our situation was become really deplorable. He hoped this was not, nor ever would be the case. He hoped we should cultivate peace with sincerity, but with firmness. For if the French Republic is so terrible to us, that we must crouch and sink before her; if we hold our rights at her nod, let gentlemen say so. And if we are to give up ourselves to her, let it be an act of the Government; do not let us conceal under the appearance of spirit, actual submission. Nations, it was true, might be brought into such a situation as to be obliged to surrender some of their rights to other nations; but when this is done, it should be done with some degree of character. Let it not be done as a confession of guilt. Let us, said he, however, surrender any thing, sooner than the fair fame of our country. He was not a military man, nor did he know how he should act upon such an occasion; but he knew what we ought to do. We ought, rather than submit to such indignity, to die in the last ditch. Why insinuate that the Government had been wrong? was it not enough to submit to injury; shall we not only receive the stripes, but kiss the rod that inflicts them?
Mr. Otis observed, that he was so little accustomed to the mode of conducting a debate in that honorable House, that he hardly knew in what manner to apply his remarks to the subject before the committee. A specific motion had been laid on the table by the gentleman from Virginia, which reduced the true question before them to a narrow compass; but the mover, in discussing his own proposition, had enlarged upon subjects dear to his mind, and familiar to his recollection. In this circuit he had been ably followed by the gentleman from South Carolina, and others; so that the whole subject of the Address to the President, and the reply of the committee, was brought into view, with many considerations that did not belong to it. It was his design to have remained silent until the subject had been exhausted by other gentlemen, and if any remark of an important nature had been omitted, which was not likely to have been the case, he would have suggested such ideas as might have presented themselves to his mind; but a motion having been made for the committee to rise, he would then offer a few observations, not so much for the sake of illustrating the question, which had been done most successfully, but in order to declare his sentiments upon this important occasion. He so far agreed with the gentleman from Georgia, that he believed, upon ordinary occasions, an Answer to the President's Address should be calculated to preserve an harmonious intercourse between the different departments of Government, rather than to pledge either branch of the Legislature, collaterally, upon subjects that would come regularly under their consideration. But the present was not an ordinary occasion, and the situation of the country required that the Answer should not be a spiritless expression of civility, but a new edition of the Declaration of Independence. He expressed his regret that upon this question gentlemen should have wandered into a review of measures and subjects, so frequently examined, so deliberately settled, and which had a tendency to rekindle party animosity. If they would never acquiesce in the deliberate acts of the Government, because their personal sentiments had been adverse to them in the season of their discussion, there could be no end to controversy. For his part he conceived that all party distinctions ought now to cease; and that the House was now called by a warning voice, to destroy the idea of a geographical division of sentiment and interest existing among the people. His constituents and himself were disposed to regard the inhabitants of the Southern States as brothers, whose features were cast in the same mould, and who had waded through the same troubled waters to the shore of liberty and independence. He hoped that gentlemen would, in their turn, think the other part of the Union entitled to some consideration.
The Address of the President disclosed, for the contemplation of the committee, a narrative of facts, and of the existing causes of controversy between the French Republic and ourselves; the overtures for reconciliation, which were to be repeated by attempts to negotiate, and the measures of defence that might be proper, in case negotiation should fail. The injuries sustained by us were of a high and atrocious nature, consisting in the capture of our vessels, depredations upon the property and persons of our citizens, the indignity offered to our Minister; but what was more aggravating than the rest, was, the professed determination not to receive our Minister until the complaints of the French should be redressed, without explanation and without exception—until we should violate treaties, repeal laws, and do what the constitution would not authorize, vacate solemn judgments of our courts of law. These injuries should not be concealed. He did not wish, however, to indulge in unnecessary expressions of indignation, but to state in plain and unequivocal terms the remonstrances of injured friendship. If any man doubted of the pernicious effects of the measures of the French nation, and of the actual state of our commerce, let him inquire of the ruined and unfortunate merchant, harassed with persecutions on account of the revenue, which he so long and patiently toiled to support. If any doubted of its effects upon agriculture, let him inquire of the farmer whose produce is falling and will be exposed to perish in his barns. Where, said he, are your sailors? Listen to the passing gale of the ocean, and you will hear their groans issuing from French prison-ships. Such were the injuries, and such the requisitions of the French nation; and he defied the ingenuity of any gentleman to draw a comparison between the Directory and the British Parliament, in favor of the former; and insisted that the demands of Charles Delacroix were upon a parallel with those of Lord North. He enlarged upon the analogy of the circumstances attending the pretensions of the British Government to bind us, when we were colonies, and of the French to subjugate us, now we are free and independent States. He thought it expedient to cultivate the same spirit of union, and to use the same firm and decided language. He regretted that questions should be agitated upon this occasion, which had been formerly the cause of party spirit and dissensions; and did not believe that the immortal men who framed the noted instrument which dissolved the charm of allegiance and shivered the fetters of tyranny, condescended to differ about verbal criticisms and nice expressions, through fear of giving offence; nor that it was incumbent upon the members of the committee to repress the assertion of their rights, or smother a just and dignified expression of their susceptibility of insult, because the French had been once our friends, or because the commencement of their revolution was a struggle for liberty. There was a time when he was animated with enthusiasm in favor of the French Revolution, and he cherished it, while civil liberty appeared to be the object; but he now considered that Revolution as completely achieved, and that the war was continued, not for liberty, but for conquest and aggrandizement, to which he did not believe it the interest of this country to contribute.
Wednesday, May 24.
William Smith, from Pinckney district, South Carolina; Samuel Smith, from Maryland; John Allen, from Connecticut; and William Findlay, from Pennsylvania, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats.
Answer to President's Speech.
The House again went into Committee of the Whole on the Answer to the President's Speech, and Mr. Nicholas' amendment being under consideration,
Mr. Swanwick opened the debate. He lamented the loss of time which was generally experienced at the opening of every session in debating the Answer to the Speech of the President, when, perhaps, business of the first moment called for immediate attention. It was much to be wished that committees appointed for this purpose would confine themselves to the instructions which were given to them on the occasion, which were in general terms, viz: "to prepare a respectful Address, assuring the President that the House will take into their serious consideration the various important matters recommended to their attention." If Answers were drawn in general terms, conformably to these instructions, he thought very many of the embarrassments which they now experienced would be avoided, and every member would be left at liberty to pursue such measures as appeared to them right, when they came before him in the ordinary course of business unclogged by any creed which he might have been called to assent to before he had an opportunity of considering the subjects it contained. It also often occasioned much warmth in debate, and served to divide the House into two parties on the very threshold of their business. This could not possibly have any good effect, but the contrary; he should therefore be happy to see the practice simplified or abolished altogether.