[32] The allusion was to Mr. Liston, the British Minister, accused of complicity with Senator Blount, of Tennessee, in a scheme to send an expedition against the Spanish province of West Florida, in breach of our neutrality, Great Britain and Spain being then at war, and the United States at peace with both. Mr. Blount was expelled the Senate for his part in that affair, but it was only the beginning of the enterprises which ended twenty years afterwards in adding both East and West Florida to the United States. These provinces were geographically appurtenant to the American Union, and their possession essential to its political system. The desire for their acquisition was natural, and efforts to obtain them incessant, until the acquisition was made.
[33] The call was made with a view to the final vote on the Provisional Army Bill, and the way in which the absentees were accounted for—one sick and the rest on leave—was highly creditable to the members.
[34] Whereas, armed vessels sailing under authority, or pretence of authority, from the Republic of France, have committed depredations on the commerce of the United States, and have recently captured the vessels and property of citizens thereof, on and near the coast, in violation of the law of nations, and treaties between the United States and the French nation: Therefore,
Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, and he is hereby authorized, to instruct and direct the commanders of the armed vessels belonging to the United States, to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United States, to be proceeded against according to the laws of nations, any such armed vessel which shall have committed, or which shall be found hovering on the coasts of the United States, for the purpose of committing depredations on the vessels belonging to citizens thereof; and, also, to retake any ship or vessel, of any citizen or citizens of the United States, which may have been captured by any such armed vessel.
[35] At this period it was the custom of Congress to have the funerals of members in the morning or evening, before the meeting, or after the adjournment of the Houses.
[36] I allude to my painful residence here, as a political cipher.
[37] The general consent with which this answer was voted was honorable to the House, and advantageous to the character of the country. Besides depredations on our commerce, there was, at that time, a course of studied indignities to the United States from the French Government, then having the form of a Directory, of which Barras was President, and Talleyrand Foreign Secretary. These indignities were marked and systematic; of which the speech of Barras to Mr. Monroe when he had his take-leave audience—the refusal to receive his successor, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and insolent threat to commit him to the police as a mere foreigner in Paris—the subsequent refusal to receive both himself and Judge Marshall, sending them out of the country, and endeavoring to divide the embassy—intriguing to extort a bribe, and to obtain a loan in violation of our neutrality—and not only proclaiming but acting on the assumption that we were a divided people, (French and British,) and that a devotion to one or the other of these powers, and not a sentiment of American nationality, was the sole rule of our policy. The unanimity of the answer to the President's Speech was a proper reply to all this outrage and insult. And the re-echoed declaration of protection "to the sacred rights of embassy," was not only just in itself, and called for by the occasion, but was due to the personal characters, the dignity and decorum of the two repulsed Ministers, (Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall,) as well as to their official station and the nation they represented.
[38] Then in a state of successful revolt against France, but her independence not acknowledged.
[39] A strong expression, but justified by what had been seen in St. Domingo.
[40] This whole debate abounds with valuable information on the condition of the French West Indies—political, commercial and historical—during the period of the French Revolution. Toussaint, Santhonax, Polverel, Victor Hugues, Hedouville, Rigaud, Deforneaux, were household words fifty years ago; and words of portent in their day, and giving shape to events of present import—though hardly known now.