records of the United States; and we appeal to the character of every measure relative to foreign relations, since the adoption of the embargo, in consequence of the violation of neutral rights upon the high seas. The direct object of the Berlin and Milan decrees was the ruin of all trade to British ports-and the object of the Orders in Council was the destruction of all commerce to French ports and ports from which the British flag was excluded.

The offer was made; it was rejected by France, and her depredations increased. Great Britain -accepted the offer, which produced the arrangement with Mr. Erskine.

H. OF R.

for the Punic faith of Great Britain. by those who had approbated his conduct. The solid column was again broken, and we have never had the pleasure since of seeing an undivided front opposed to a foreign foe, which was the case when France was the object of attack. Then Federalists and Republicans were united. After this we assumed a different attitude towards both France and Great Britain; but in the same terms of impartiality, we authorized the The laws laying an embargo, which was the President to say to France, if you will rescind first precautionary measure on the part of the your decrees, violating our neutral rights, we United States, contained a provision by which will revive the non-importation part of the nonthe President was authorized to suspend its oper- intercourse law against your rival Great Britain, ation as to Great Britain upon a repeal of the provided she should not also cease to violate our Orders in Council, and as to France upon an ex-neutral rights by a repeal of her orders; we autinguishment of the Berlin and Milan decrees. thorized the President to use the very same idenThe authority was precisely the same as to either tical language to Great Britain, that if you will Power; the instructions to our Ministers were pre- cease to violate our neutral rights, we will revive cisely the same; the offer to suspend the embargo our non-importation system against your enemy was tendered to both belligerents upon the self- France, provided she should not follow your exsame conditions. This offer was rejected by ample. This was said to France and to Great both nations, and their aggressions continued Britain in the spirit of conciliation and sincerity. Congress, yielding to the clamors of the disaf- France accepts the proposition; but it is rejected fected, repealed the embargo and substituted the by Great Britain, which acceptance on the part non-intercourse, which also contained a dipló- of France, and the extinguishment of her orders, matic provision vesting the President with power so far as they violated our neutral rights, was to suspend its operation as to the belligerents announced by the President's proclamation, and when they should cease to violate our neutral the non-intercourse revived against Great Britrights. ain. Under these circumstances Congress convened, but I looked in vain for resolutions of approbation of the President's conduct. The repeal of the French decrees was doubted, and the gentleman from Virginia was the first to introErskine's arrangement was executed with fidel- duce his resolution to repeal the non-importation ity on the part of the Executive of the United revived against England by the President's procStates. The proclamation which announced the lamation, and with that repeal the proclamation; arrangement suspended the non-intercourse as to and now, when it is not denied by a single indiGreat Britain, and it continued as to France. vidual that the Berlin and Milan decrees are so Under these circumstances Congress convened at modified as to cease to violate our neutral rights, their extra session. It was a new era for oppo- we find the same opposition to measures against sition. The day of jubilee was announced-no Great Britain, and the same opposition to France, gloom, every countenance smiled, every heart as if no arrangement had been made. I might seemed glad; parties were forgotten; war with ask why this opposite conduct under the same France and peace with England dawned upon us. kind of arrangement, growing out of an act of We were all Americans, and the gentleman from Congress, and under the same solemnities of Virginia introduced a resolution approbating the plighted faith on the part of this Government. fidelity of the President in discharging his high Under the arrangement with Great Britain we duties to the nation. A real friend to that indi- are united against France. But under the arvidual who presides over our destinies by our rangement with France we behold disunion consent, I was happy to find his political enemies again-each man takes his party rank. How acknowledging his wisdom, his impartiality, and does this prove partiality to France? Does not his integrity. I knew the President had dis- the charge ill grace the lips of those who oppose charged his trust faithfully. Though I followed these measures? for no man has denied the simin the rear ranks, I did not interrupt this new ilarity in the two arrangements. In the compact order of things. But our retrograde movement with England we agreed to repeal the non-interfrom the embargo to the non-intercourse and course as to her, and continue it as to France, if Erskine's arrangement went to London at nearly she would repeal the Orders in Council; so with the same time; the English Ministry perfidiously France, we agreed to revive the non-intercourse rejected that arrangement which had been exe-against Great Britain if France would cease to cuted on our part, and which was so advanta- violate our neutral rights, leaving all other subgeous to Great Britain; the Orders in Council, jects to negotiation. France was not required as so good a shield for plunder, were considered of a sine qua non to make good the damages for more value than our non-intercourse. I will not spoliations. Nor was Great Britain required as dwell upon the scene this disavowal produced, a sine qua non to relinquish her iniquitous sysnor upon the attempt to censure the President Item of blockade, of impressment, the liberation

of our seamen, and a remuneration for captures and condemnation-these topics were left to negotiation.

The British Minister has insinuated that we have suffered our commerce to be moulded by France to the annoyance of the British trade, and attempts have been made to conjure up the idea of an alliance with France against Great Britain, because we have made arrangements with France that our neutral rights shall be regarded. The idea of an alliance is as idle as it is unfounded. Thank Heaven we are under no obligations to any Power to go to war, nor to continue that war after the objects for which we contend shall be accomplished. The non-importation law is the cause of complaint with Great Britain, and she knows if the Orders in Council and her blockade of May were repealed, that our non-importation law would cease to operate against her. But instead of this, sir, every day our merchant ships fall a prey to the Orders in Council, and we are menaced with retaliation for the non-importation, which does not capture and condemn British ships and cargoes, but prevents the importation of British property into our markets.

DECEMBER, 1811.

and disgusting recital to others; but considerations of this kind should not induce an omission of duty. Great sensibility has existed against the wanton capture and condemnation of our vessels and cargoes. An inroad upon the colonial trade produced universal clamor; spirited complaints were forwarded, with pledges of honor and property to oppose the robbery. But the number and enormity of these aggressions have blunted the feelings of sensibility, or the backwardness of the Government has induced the sufferers to moan their loss without an appeal to our justice. The newspapers have become vehicles of complaint, and the only noters of British piracies, and the office of State is no longer troubled with reading the cold details. But to lump this business: about twenty-eight years have elapsed since the commencement of the British spoliations. Suppose the vessels and cargoes captured and condemned within that period contrary to public law could be collected together in the Potomac, it would present to the mind a striking evidence of the justice of our complaints; you would find it difficult to find safe anchorage for these vessels from the Eastern Branch to Alexandria-ten miles distant, and the brick wall In the year 1777 the United States entered which encloses the navy yard would not furnish into a treaty of alliance with the King of France; a sufficient warehouse for the property; and to the first article binds the parties to make the carry on this supposition, if a convocation of the cause of quarrel a common cause. The inde-real sufferers in these aggressions could be effectpendence of the United States is the guarantee of the second article, and the eighth binds the parties to continue the war until peace should be restored with each nation, and a treaty was to be made by common consent alone. This is an example of an alliance, such a one as I hope we shall never have with France in the present undefined and bloody conflict of ambitious domination. I never wish to see an alliance with any nation. It is known to the world that we have nothing to do with the European wars; and England knows that if she ceases to violate our neutral rights, commercial intercourse would be restored, and that her many transgressions would be left to further negotiation; that, however, would not be the only requisition if left to my vote. The gentleman has also adverted to that part of the President's Message which speaks of our relations with France. France is no doubt unfriendly in her rigorous municipal regulations; the President has recommended retaliation, and who will refuse to take those measures? I shall not, Mention has also been made of the riot at Savannah; that transaction has two sides to it. I have read both of them; I fear something is rotten in Denmark. I will not judge, however, before the facts are correctly known.

But in the zeal to speak of French insult and injury, it was to be regretted that the talents of the gentleman from Virginia were not engaged upon the subject of our impressed seamen and commercial aggressions by Great Britain. He must not be surprised if these subjects should

be omitted.

To attempt an enumeration of these aggressions would be a laborious task to me-a painful

ed, a great multitude would animate this desert city. The list of bankruptcies should likewise be produced; you would bring the sufferers from every part of the United States.

In this group we should see every kind of importing, wholesale and retail merchant-the farmer who raised the produce, the mechanic who worked up the raw material, the ship owners, the shipcarpenter and his numerous host of journeymen, the creditors of each class; and at the heels of these people you might introduce the constables and sheriffs with their executions, and the tax gatherers; and if silence was supposed to be ordered for the complaints of each class to be heard, we should find in the commercial class a distinguished orator from Boston, pleading the cause of the merchant; so from New York, one from Bal. timore, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Thus British aggressions would be visually and mentally unfolded to the view, and doubts could no longer be entertained of its enormity.

But a stranger to these outrages would be surprised to be told, that this was a secondary class of injuries; upon which the subject of impressment should be introduced to his view. About twenty years have elapsed since the commencement of this infernal practice-this outrage upon the honor of our flag, and this attack upon the personal liberty and personal security of American citizens.

The number of native and naturalized seamen impressed from our merchant vessels and seduced from our merchant service, cannot be estimated at less than fifty thousand during this period of twenty years, and retained in bondage during life, or who have escaped by desertion or the interference of our Government. The condition of

these fifty thousand men has been more intolerable than that of the malefactor in the penitentiary or work-house. Who could detail the misery of these men? Who could number the stripes inflicted upon their naked skin at the yard-arm by a second lieutenant or midshipman? Who could enumerate the ignominious scars left by the cat-o-nine-tails? This scourge, this infamous practice, does not fall alone upon the unfortunate tar, the hardy seaman-convoke the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children of these victims of maritime despotism, and hear from them their tale of sorrow, and let an hundred pens record their sighs and groans which are now given in vain to the idle wind.

But to close this scene, the death of Robert Howell will show the connexion of this infamy with national honor.

It is well authenticated that a number of American citizens were serving on board the British ship-of-war the Little Belt, during her engagement with Commodore Rodgers-that these men, upon refusing to fight against their own country, were menaced with death-that during the engagement a certain Robert Howell of New York was wounded with a cannon ball, his whole thigh was shot off-that just before his death, while in the act of sending to some relation some token of remembrance, a British officer inquired how he did that Howell replied and told him he was dying, and said "see to what you have brought me, to force me to fight against my brothers; my own countrymen have taken my life through your means." Let the curtain drop and hide the body of Howell from our sight!

H. of R.

in review before us, and examples of greater heroism cannot be quoted, than shall be performed in battle by our officers and soldiers, military, and naval, and marine. The deeds of their ancestors would be before them; glory would animate their bosoms, and love of country would nerve the heart to deeds of mighty fame. If, therefore, there should not be a diminution of respect for those who entertain an opinion so degrading to our army, it should at least be understood that such opinions do not lessen the confidence due to those who faithfully serve their country, and who would lay down their life for it. This reflection brings to memory the late memorable conflict upon the Wabash. Governor Harrison pitched his tents near the Prophet's town; and although this fanatic had his followers collected, and the Amercan forces were anxious to finish work by an open and day-light engagement, if there was a necessity to resort to arms, their impetuous valor was easily stayed, when they were informed that the white flag of peace was to be hoisted next morning, and the effusion of blood was to be spared. But in the silent watches of the night, relieved from the fatigues of valor, and slumbering under the perfidious promises of the savages, who were infuriated and made drunk by British traders, dreaming of the tender smile of a mother, and the fond embraces of affectionate wives, and of prattling children upon their knees, on their return from the fatigues of a campaign!-the destroyers came with the silent instruments of death, the war club, the scalping knife, the tomahawk, and the bow and arrow; with these they penetrate into the heart of our forces-they enter the tents Thus twenty-eight years have elapsed, and the of our officers-many close their eyes in deathonly remedy which we have attempted against it was a trying moment for the rest of our heroes, these crying enormities has been negotiation and but they were equal to the dreadful occasion. The remonstrance, and so far from producing any bene- American forces flew to arms; they rallied at the ficial effect, Great Britain has made new innova- voice of their officers, and soon checked the work tions and urged new pretensions, until the neutral of death. The savages were successively and rights of the United States are entirely destroyed. successfully charged and driven until day-light, Let it not be forgotten, that for the abuses enume- when they disappeared like the mist of morning. rated war is not alone, urged, but those practices In this dreadful conflict many were killed and now continue and are put in more rigorous exe-wounded on both sides; and the volunteers and the cution. We would agree to suffer the injuries inflicted for the sake of peace; but no principle of piracy is relinquished, nor is any abuse changed, and the United States are now the victims of this desolating system. May the wrath of this nation kindle into a flame and become a consuming fire! Though slow to anger, may her indignation be like the rushing of mighty waters and the volcanic eruptions of Hecla !

The gentleman from Virginia has called the military regular forces mercenaries. If by this appellation any reproach or degradation is intended, its justice and propriety is denied. In times like the present, when dangers thicken upon us, at the moment when we are compelled by most wanton tyranny upon the high seas, and upon land may be added, to abandon our peaceful habits for the din of arms, officers and soldiers in this country are governed by the noble feelings of patriotism and of valor. The history of the world may be ransacked; other nations may be brought |

regiment under Colonel Boyd acted and fought with equal bravery and to their immortal honor. The volunteers from Kentucky were men of valor and worth-young men of hopeful prospects, and married men of reputation and intelligence, governed by no mercenary views-honor prompted them to serve their country. Some of these fallen heroes were my acquaintances. my friends: one not the least conspicuous lived in my districtColonel Owens; Colonel Daviess, a neighbor. You, Mr. Speaker, know the worth of some of these men; and I regret that you are not in my place to speak their praise. So long as the records of this transaction remain, the 9th of November will not be forgotten, and time shall only brighten the fame of the deeds of our army, and a tear shall be shed for those who have fallen.. But the loss will not be felt by the public alone: the friends of their social hours will regret their loss; the widow will mourn her disconsolate situation; the orphan shall cry for the return of his

father in vain; and the mother carry her sorrow to the grave. Let this ornamented håll be clothed with the symbols of mourning, although our army proved victorious in war; and to their memory let a monument be erected in the hearts of a grate ful country..

DECEMBER, 1811.

the American merchant pays three per cent. on the duties to the United States, obtains the profits on the freight of thirty millions of dollars, and furnishes a market for American productions to the same amount. The honorable gentleman from Virginia said, that that little spot in Maryland, Baltimore, which was well fortified and secure from an attack, had unbounded influence; "that the lords of Baltimore" governed the Representatives of Maryland in their votes on this subject. No, sir, every district of Maryland solPower, and I have no doubt will approve the votes of their members on this floor, "to prepare for war." or for war itself, rather than submission. Baltimore, by the industry and commercial enterprise of her citizens, has grown out of the sea into a great commercial city, has diffused the benefits of commerce into every section of the State, by making a great demand for the produets of our soil and industry, and a consequent increase of price, whereby every foot of land in Maryland is made more valuable, and whereby the interest of every part of the State is identified with theirs; for this she is justly entitled to our respect. But, sir, she has no occasion to infuse her patriotic fire-so pre-eminent in the case of the Chesapeake-into the Representatives of Maryland. They know the wishes of their constituents, and will most certainly obey them.

Mr. WRIGHT.-Mr. Speaker, I must beg the indulgence of the House while I deliver my opinion on the subject now under consideration, the most important that has been submitted to the Congress of the United States. I, sir, shall take the liberty of varying the question from the hon-emnly protests against submission to any foreign orable member from Virginia, (Mr. RANDOLPH,) who yesterday considered it a question of peace or war. I shall consider it as a question of war or submission, dire alternatives, of which, however, I trust no honest American can hesitate in choosing, when the question is correctly stated and distinctly understood. The gentleman from Virginia contends that it is a dispute about the carrying trade, brought on us by the cupidity of the American merchants, in which the farmer and planter have little interest; that he will not consent to tax his constituents to carry on a war for it; that the enemy is invulnerable on the "mountain wave," the element of our wrongs, but should they violate the "natale solum," he would point all the energies of the nation and avenge the wrong. Was that gentleman stricken on the nose by a man so tall that he could not reach his nose, I strongly incline to think his manly pride would not permit him to decline the conflict. Sir, the honorable member is incorrect in his premises, and, of course, in his conclusions. I will endeavor to convince him of this, and shall be gratified if I can enlist his talents on the side of a bleeding country. Sir, the violations of the commercial rights of which we complain do not only embrace the carrying trade, properly so called, but also the carrying of the products of our own soil, the fruits of our own industry; these, although injurious only to our property, are just causes of war, But, sir, the impressment of our native seamen is a stroke at the vitals of liberty itself, and although it does not touch the "natale solum," yet it enslaves the "nativos filios"-the native sons of America; and, in the ratio that liberty is preferable to property, ought to enlist the patriotic feelings of that honorable member, and make his bosom burn with that holy fire that inspired the patriots of the Revolution.

Sir, the carrying trade-by which I mean the carrying articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of a foreign clime-except articles contraband of war-is as much the right of the American people as the carrying the products of their own soil, and is not only secured by the law of nations, but by the positive provisions of the British Treaty. To us, sir, it is an all-important right. We import from the West Indies, annually, property to the amount of forty millions of dollars, for which we pay in the products of our own soil; of this, ten millions only are consumed in the United States, and the surplus thirty millions are exported to foreign countries, on which

Mr. Speaker, I hope if the gentleman from Virginia will not defend the carrying of foreign articles, he will defend the carrying the products of our own soil, a right most disgracefully violated. When our own citizens have been carrying provisions-the produce of their own soil, in their own ships-to feed the armies of England, and her allies on the continent of Europe, they have been captured on their homeward bound passage, on their own coast, and condemned in a British Court of Admiralty. If this does not inspire him, yet I am not without hopes that when he reflects on the impressment of our native American seamen, while carrying the products of our own industry to market, thousands of whom, at this moment, are languishing under the ignominious scourge, on board the infernal floating castles of Great Britain, he will feel like an American, devoted to avenge their wrongs. He has said, that if Great Britain had an agency in exciting the Indians to the massacre of the troops under Governor Harrison, he would avenge it. Sir, can he then feel less bound to avenge the slavery and death of American impressed seamen, committed directly by Britons themselves, than the death of citizens by the savages through a British agency? I should like to hear him exercise his logical talent in the discrimination of these cases, which, however profound, would, I presume, be ineffectual to that purpose. Sir, the impressment of American seamen is of ancient date. The outrage was remonstrated against by our WASHINGTON, and by every Adminstration since, and every diplomatic energy, in every Administration, exerted to put a stop to this infamous practice, in vain.

Mr. Speaker, I ask honorable gentlemen if we are not bound by the most solemn ties to protect our seamen by all the lawful means we possess? I have ever considered that protection and allegiance were reciprocal obligations-the counterparts of each other; that the protection of the citizen in his liberty was secured to him by the Constitution, and every member of the Government bound by oath to support that Constitution, securing to him that right. I ask, should an impressed American seaman who had been for seven years under the lash, and whom we had, during that time neglected, be indicted for high treason when found, with our enemies, in arms against us should he plead specially that fact, would it avail him? And if it would not, how can we neglect to protect him in his liberty, secured by the social compact which we are bound by oath to execute? Mr. Speaker, it is well known that my sympathies have always been enlisted for this hardy and valuable class of our fellow-citizens, who, though poor, yet as "honest tars," proverbially, in a peculiar manner are entitled to our protection.

H. OF R.

vocate of our violated rights-Dunmore issued a proclamation inviting the negroes to his standard; to cut the throats of their masters; and promised them a pardon. This fact, I know, from having presented that proclamation to a court at Northampton in Virginia, to induce them to commute the punishment of death, passed on some of the victims of his perfidy, to working in the mines; which they did. I will next remind the gentleman of the speech of Lord Dorchester to the Indians after the peace, in which he advises them to use the tomahawk and scalping-knife, whereby numbers of the inhabitants of the frontiers, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, were sacrificed. This was the cause of the Indian war that shortly after took place. This fact was attested by the newspapers of the day, which had universal credit.

These cases go to prove that the principles that ought to govern civilized nations have, at all times, been totally disregarded by the officers and agents of that Government. After these cases, we shall feel little hesitation in believing there was a British agency in the case of the massacre. Sir, we all recollect the capture of the Phila-by the Prophet's troops on Governor Harrison's delphia by the Turks, and we can never forget detachment, when the circumstances relied on how the news of so many of our fellow-citizens are duly considered. At the late great council being subjected to Turkish bondage, in a moment with Governor Harrison, the chiefs of many so electrified the sympathies of the American peo-tribes were convened, all of whom, except Teple that a squadron was, without delay, despatched to the Mediterranean, and a large sum of money voted for their ransom. But, sir, the murder of Pierce, in our own waters; the killing of our citizens in the Chesapeake; the hanging of Wilson in cold blood, taken out of that ship by violence; and the very recent case of the American citizen impressed into the "Little Belt" and compelled to fight against his own countrymen, and who was killed in that action, are fresh in our recollection. And if these outrages, which cry aloud for vengeance, do not animate you, I fear the sacred fire that inspired your fathers in the Revolution is nearly extinguished, and the liberty of their degenerate sons in jeopardy.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Virginia has declared that, if he could believe that the late massacre of the troops, in the attack on Governor Harrison by the Indians, under the Prophet, was the effect of British agency, he would unite with us, heart and hand, and personally assist to avenge the bloody deed. I feel a confidence, that, if the gentleman will attend to the circumstances of this case, and take a retrospective view of the conduct of the British Government, he will feel no doubt of the fact. I will take the liberty of pointing the gentleman's attention to some of the prominent features of that Government, which will go far in establishing that fact. When Dunmore, Governor of Virginia in 1775, found it necessary to quit the seat of government, and go on board the fleet for safety from the Revolutionary vengeance of the patriots of Virginia-at a period, too, when the Americans were suing for justice by their humble petitions to the King and Parliament; and when that Chatham, the gentleman from Virginia has so highly extolled, was the ad

cumseh, the Prophet's brother, in their speeches avowed their friendly dispositions, and devotion to peace with the United States. Tecumseh, who, with a number of his tribe, came from Fort Malden, in Canada, declared his hostile intentions against the United States, left the council with that avowed intention, and returned again to Fort Malden. Shortly after this, the Shawanees assembled a large body in arms in the Indiana Territory, under the Prophet, and committed the assault on the troops of Governor Harrison, though they have paid for their temerity. This, I trust, connected as it is with the immorality and extraordinary pretensions of that Government at this crisis, will satisfy, not only the gentleman from Virginia, but this House, of a British agency in the case.

But to divert our attention from the wrongs of which we complain, the gentleman from Virginia tells us that our own restrictive system has undone us; that our cotton is reduced to seven cents, and our tobacco to nothing. Sir, there are now no restrictions to the exportation of these articles, and if that had been the cause, on its removal the effect would have ceased with it. No, sir, we are to look for the cause of the reduction of the prices of our cotton and tobacco in the political and commercial history of Europe. The price of cotton depends on the demand for the manufactures of that article; the English-made cottons depended on the continental markets, from which the British manufactures are excluded. The price of tobacco never was materially varied by the consumption in England, but depended on the foreign demand from Great Britain, which, by their exclusion from the continent, is almost entirely arrested. Sir, if we examine, with candor, the