In whatever view the embargo presents itself, it appears to me to be fraught with impolicy; it was laid at midnight; that miserable scene was closed under the darkness which suits with it, and under the secret shelter of our own walls. If we are to go to war, you have, instead of warlike preparations and exerting every sinew of national ability, laid an embargo, and obtained just nothing.
The policy of France, as regards Great Britain, is to make a warlike non-intercourse, and we have, by a side-wind, fallen into the measure, adopted and sanctified it; we have abandoned the great highway of nations: our dispute with Great Britain is about commercial rights; we have given them up.
Is this country at that crisis when we shall surrender all those rights her citizens hold most dear? God forbid! I have contemplated upon the embargo, which is hazardous and impolitic, with great pain and anxiety, and I turn my face from it with horror. If there are any who improperly foster and countenance the threatening storm, whatever consequences may follow, they are answerable to their country and their God.
All the advocates of the embargo on this floor have admitted that it was oppressive and a curse. Take away this curse and arm your vessels. It does not follow, as the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Love) supposes, that arming will involve us in a war. When Great Britain finds we resist the French decrees, she will revoke her orders of council. When France sees she cannot bring us into her views, she will revoke her decrees.
Mr. Fisk wished to say a few words on this subject. I am very much surprised, said he, at the expressions of the gentleman last up, and the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Randolph,) yesterday. They expressed sentiments which, if they once take root in this nation, will prostrate your liberties and rights at the feet of foreign Governments. The gentleman who just took his seat has observed, that the subject of impressment was the main block in the way of negotiation. Very true, it was, sir; it goes to the personal liberty and security of your citizens; and if you surrender that right, what do you expect those citizens will say to you? Do you expect they will greet you with, “well done, thou good and faithful servant?” What can the gentleman think when he recollects the sensation displayed at New York on the death of Pierce, in consequence of the exercise by Britain of the right of impressment? Were those tears and lamentations feigned, or were they the sincere effusions of citizens feeling the injury done them, and burning with indignation at seeing their fellow-citizens murdered almost before their face? If we could believe what the gentleman now suggests, we should suppose that the liberties and lives of our citizens were of no value compared with commerce. Why do gentlemen tell us these things? Are they sincere? They cannot weigh life or liberty in the scales with sordid pelf; it is impossible.
It has been observed by the gentleman from Virginia, and it seems to have been intimated by the gentleman from New York to-day, that the question of impressment was by the rejected treaty placed on better ground than ever was expected; that something like security was afforded to the United States; something on which we could rely: and this assertion is brought in with no other view than as a defence of British measures and a crimination of our own. Let us see the language of the British Minister, in order to ascertain the fact. In the letter from Mr. Canning, dated October 22, he says, in answer to our Minister’s pressing this same question for some security, “no engagements were entered into on the part of His Majesty, as connected with the treaty, except such as appear upon the face of it. Whatever encouragement may have been given by His Majesty’s Commissioners to the hope expressed by the Commissioners of the United States, that discussions might hereafter be entertained, with respect to the impressment of British seamen from merchant vessels, must be understood to have had in view the renewal of such discussions, not as forming any part of the treaty then signed, (as the American Commissioners appear to have been instructed to assume,) but separately, and at some subsequent period more favorable to their successful termination.” It would seem, however, from what was observed yesterday, that this was left, though informal, on such a settled basis, that it might have been satisfactory.
If my memory serves me, the Secretary of State says these vexations are greater than ever. The British Government was never serious in making any settlement against this practice. We find, in the first place, that the British Ministers never yielded that right. We find that Mr. Canning, in answer to our Ministers, tells them they were not to consider the late proclamation respecting impressments as any new regulation on the subject; that the proclamation was not considered in that light, but merely as conveying instructions to the British commanders who might be at a loss how to act; that the proclamation had been framed for nearly three months, but never issued until that time. If it had been in existence for three months, it must have been framed at the very time that the attack on the Chesapeake was in view; that was to try the sentiments of this country, and they meant to steer their course by them. Therefore, it is not an instruction given to naval commanders, lest they should mistake their duty from the late incidents, because it was framed before the attack on the Chesapeake took place. It unfortunately happens that the British Government has not, in this case, covered its object.
I am a little surprised to hear gentlemen telling us that arming our merchant vessels would not produce war. Why arm, if they are not to defend themselves? If the belligerents defend their proceedings, will they not resist our vessels arming against their orders? Could it be done without being met by a declaration of war? But the gentleman from New York has told us that if we suffer our merchants to arm, the British would consider it a sufficient token of our resistance to the French decrees, and remove their orders of council. You have seen all the decrees and orders which make innovations on the law of nations, and subject our commerce to plunder. Are those of France the most hostile? Is the aspect of that nation the most hostile? Compare the letter of Champagny, which declares that our vessels shall be held in sequestration depending the measures of this Government, with the note of Canning, as well as the communications from Mr. Erskine, and what was the result? Look at the treaty which our Government is on this floor condemned for not signing, with the note annexed, declaring that if we submit to the decrees of France, His Britannic Majesty would consider himself bound not to observe the treaty. This note contained a threat; but it was nothing to what Mr. Canning, in observing to our Ministers on this subject, says: “His Majesty cannot profess himself to be satisfied that the American Government has taken any such effectual steps with respect to the decree of France, by which the whole of His Majesty’s dominions are declared in a state of blockade, as to do away the ground of that reservation which was contained in the note delivered His Majesty’s Commissioners at the time of the signature of the treaty; but that, reserving to himself the right of taking, in consequence of that decree and of the omission on the part of neutral nations to obtain its revocation, such measures of retaliation as His Majesty might judge expedient, it was, nevertheless, the desire and determination of His Majesty, if the treaty had been sanctioned by the ratification of the President of the United States, to have ratified it on His Majesty’s part, and to have given the fullest extent to all its stipulations.”
With regard to this treaty, I have no idea of entering into its merits. The gentleman from Virginia, yesterday, seemed to be extremely anxious to justify the treaty. He might have postponed its defence until it was before us, or at least until it was assailed. I will observe that, whatever might have been the intention of our Ministers, they placed the United States in a very disagreeable situation, obliging them to declare that they had no right to negotiate such a treaty. It has given occasion to Mr. Canning to say, “some of the considerations upon which the refusal of the President of the United States to ratify the treaty is founded, are such as can be matter of discussion only between the American Government and its Commissioners; since it is not for His Majesty to inquire whether, in the conduct of this negotiation, the Commissioners of the United States have failed to conform themselves in any respect to the instructions of their Government.” He then goes on to animadvert on the conduct of the American Ministers. Had they kept within the real limits of their own instructions, they never would have given occasion for this reflection on them.
On the score of informal negotiation it will be recollected that from the earliest days of the Government to the present time, the subject of impressment has been pressed upon the British Government, not only in times of war, but in times of peace. If there were in reality any foundation for the charge on our Government, of having sacrificed the interest of, or lost a security to, our seamen, by a rejection of this informal article, it will be only necessary to recur to the correspondence between our Ministers and the British Commissioners, and it will be found that not only formal, but informal articles were such as we ought not to have accepted; that reasonable concessions on our part were offered for the sake of accommodation and refused; that the Treaty of 1794 was, in some measure, proposed as the basis, but was not accepted by the British Ministry. Let me ask the gentleman for a single moment what were the terms offered in this treaty, which he regrets that the Government did not accept? Independent of its exceptionable provisions, it was accompanied by a note which contains a reservation to the British Government to regulate its own proceedings, and leaves us but two alternatives—either to declare war against France, or suffer the British Ministers to rule us. What do they offer us now? If we will trade as they please, and pay them a duty on all our exports, we may carry on our commerce. Is it possible that any man who professes himself an American could accede to this? The spirit of 1776, refusing to pay a duty of two per cent. on tea, would certainly not now yield that for which they then contended, and become again tributary to the British Government. This is not all. Even this admired treaty, which the gentleman from Virginia so much regrets, allows us to trade to the colonies if we will pay tribute. Was it not easily discoverable that two, three, four, or five per cent. would be laid upon the trade, and virtually prohibit us from carrying on this commerce altogether? It was better than prohibition: but if we would not tax it, they would prohibit it altogether. What right had they to demand this? Certainly none, and yet gentlemen wish to raise the embargo, to embrace these regulations, open all our ports to this fettered commerce, and will not place it in the power of the Executive to suspend the embargo. I am a little astonished that gentlemen who consider the embargo as the heaviest curse which could befall this nation, should be against any measure for removing its pressure. But so it is. Here permit me to say that I admire the flexibility of the gentleman’s sentiments. It must be well known to every gentleman in the House, that a gentleman from Virginia, in combating measures which were then carried into effect, as the non-importation law, said, that if we take measures at all, they should be strong measures; none of your milk-and-water measures, but an embargo; which would be an efficient measure. This same gentleman, at the present session, exclaims against the Executive influence which produced the embargo. At this very session we cannot forget the scramble between him and another gentleman in this House, (Mr. Crowninshield,) as to who should have the honor first to propose the measure; he even urged expedition in the measure, as he had a bill ready prepared. In the course of deliberation on the subject, he urged it as the only thing which could promote the national interests; and persisted in this, till one of his colleagues informed us of the effect which it would have upon Britain. He then rose and told us that he had done with the measure; that the measure was partial—not unconstitutional—that it was a new invention; that it was expressly aimed at Great Britain, and this was the great objection. But now we are told that the British Government will ask nothing better of us than giving up the carrying trade. But, unless the gentleman can prove that they are the carriers for their enemy and for us, he will find it difficult to prove that it favors England. Really I am at a loss to see the difference between the proposed measure and that which the gentleman so long since supported for authorizing the President of the United States to suspend the non-importation law. But the gentleman disclaims the influence of precedents. The gentleman has another objection—that it proceeds from a recommendation from the Executive. The gentleman took the liberty to pay a compliment to the President of the United States for declining a re-election; but he expressed great resentment against those States which solicited him to retain his station. I consider this as the highest mark of respect for the course pursued by the present Administration. But it seems, although totally irrelevant to the subject under discussion, the gentleman from Virginia has undertaken to question the motives of all who have joined in the request. The man who has the vanity and arrogance to suppose that he is superior to all mankind, may boast of his republicanism, but he possesses none. I envy him not his sensations. It will be recollected that the constitution has not denied the right of a President, for two successive terms, again to be elected. The legislatures, then, did not travel out of their constitutional course, and it would have been as modest in the gentleman from Virginia—to say no more of it—to have let the subject alone.