Mr. Pope asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill more effectually to protect the commerce and coasts of the United States; and the bill was read, and passed to the second reading.
Tuesday, June 9.
Rhode Island Resolutions.
Mr. Hunter presented the resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, instructing their Senators and Representatives in Congress, to use their endeavors to avert the evils of war, to put our maritime frontier in a state of defence, and for the repeal of the embargo and restrictive system; and the resolutions were read.
New York Memorial.
Mr. Smith of New York, presented the following petition of sundry inhabitants, merchants, and others, of the city of New York, praying that the embargo and non-importation laws be continued as a substitute for war against Great Britain:
To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, the memorial of the subscribers, merchants, and others, inhabitants of the city of New York, respectfully showeth:
That your memorialists feel, in common with the rest of their fellow-citizens, an anxious solicitude for the honor and interest of their country, and an equal determination to assert and maintain them.
That your memorialists believe that a continuation of the restrictive measures now in operation will produce all the benefits while it prevents the calamities of war. That when the British Ministry become convinced that a trade with the United States cannot be renewed, but by the repeal of the Orders in Council, the distress of their merchants and manufacturers, &c., their inability to support their armies in Spain and Portugal, will probably compel them to that measure.
Your memorialists beg leave to remark, that such effects are even now visible; and it may be reasonably hoped that a continuance of the embargo and non-importation laws a few months beyond the fourth day of July next, will effect a complete and bloodless triumph of our rights.