and retider s more dependant no each other there would be more inter course between the people of the dirfer ent states which would tend to nation alia us and give mure strength and permanency to the american union — to what extent this policy should be carried i am not now prepared to tay a distinction hat ibeen taken between native and foreign commerce or what is more commonly called the carrying trade the policy of encouraging our citizens to participate in the carrying trade it one thing our maritime rights it another the gentlemen in the op position complain that this measure bears peculiarly hard on he commer cial states on the subject of com merce as alt others of national concern i am disposed to consider the u stales at an integer and to forget the lines of partition by which we are separated in to different stales and districts for the purpose of internal government but a the gentlemen have contrasted the commercial with the agricultural states i am willing to meet them 1 had tho't that this measure if its pressure was greater upon one part of the country than another operated more severely upon the growers of cotton than on any other part of the nation and they oug'ht if influenced by pecuniary con siderations to be the first to complain the people t repretent are an agricul tural people and i atk the gentleman of what importance it is to them whe ther their produce in carried in foreign or american vessels i for what are agricultural people now suffering but to maintain our maritime rights f sir we are willing to discard all calculations of profit or pss and make a common cause with our brethren of other states in defence oj our national rights and independence it appears to me tir that the com mercial people ought to be the last to complain our government has im posed discriminating tonnage duties 1 , to give our own vestrls an advantage in dur own ports ov«r foreigners we have remitted the duties on foreign ar ticles imported into the united statea intended for exportation our govern ment hat evinced ever disposition to foster commerce and maintain our maritime rights we are told t hat the people are opposed to this measure to the voice of a free people i shall always bow with reverence but tir it ought to be remembered that in this count rr the will of the majority must prevail it is a fundamental principle of our government and if we are to judge from recent events a great ma jority of this nation are in favor of this mea ure we are informed and it has been intimated on this flour that rrbrllina in the eastern states will be the probable consequence of persever ance in this measure are we to be driven from the course dictated by the publick interest by alarms of thit tort ? are we to be told by a minority that we must recede from the ground we have taken that we mutt admit the government hat not sufficient energy to enforce itt authority or that they will rebel ? vv ill gentlemen inform ut who they are that are prepared to erect the standard of rebellion againtt their own government on the very graves of the brave bostonians who first raited the standard of american independence ? they must be some new people who have obtruded themselves on our shores they cannot be americans i will not think to unworthy of my country men-i believe the american people are generally attached to their govern ment i trust it is but the clamor of the moment which will cease the mo ment the will of the government shall be decisively and constitutionally ex pressed it hat been frequently said that great britain is fighting for the liberties of the world — that she is the only barrier between france and uni versal dominion and therefore that our weight ought to be thrown into the scale of england to assist her in this mighty conflict ii our friendship is necessary to england ought she not to entitle herself to it at leatt do ut justice and respect our rights ? shalt we tubmit to intuits and indignities from tlreai-bruain t indict her ta ve ut fmm subjugation by france \ bhull we admit for a moment that w cannot maintaii our indtptndence ?— the ktrnilcnien in opposition have pro tested against submission ; they h*»e not dcclarrd them«lvea for war it they are fur it 1 h»pe they will avow it s they have proposed no uhtiittiiv i am not prcpart d to say hnw long good policy will jii'tify a continuance of ilia present system ; but sir i am ready to declare hat i will adhere to it until a better can be nubsiituted if it be true at the gentleman from connecticut haa it formed us that the most efficient means of coercing cieat-bntain is to feet her interest and if it be true that our embargo will compel the west india planters to convert their tugar plantations into corn-fields for subsist ence ; if it will produce a scarcity of cotton in great britain or enhance the prl.-.e if by a nonimportation act wo can deprive her of a maiket for a largo portion of her manufacture the pre sent system with the addition of a non importation act if firmly adlierred to and wrll executed may have the de sired effect when i ca«t my eye over these states and obsrrve the free dom and happinesi they ei joy i feel constrained to pause before i consmt to take • step whirh will involve them in the calamities of war when i con aider the peculiar character of the con test between the two great belligerents of europe i feel very unwilling to bo drawn into the vortex le«t the fate of this happy nation may become loo close ly connected with the destiny of one or the other of lhe*e contending poweta at thea^me time that i con-iner it my duty to make war thr least alternative i know the american people would prefer it ralhrr than submit to ■ sacri fice of th:ir national independence — the conduct of he brlligerenu and tht state of our country furnish strong reason for brlirving that ike period is not distant when the alternative must bearcep'rh.ifihcprr'er.i ystrm-hould prove inefficient i hope i have not in the warmth nf debate tinlaied that decorum which he dignity of the se nate requiret to be ob»r rved t cer tainly have not intended it i halt conclude with requesting tfentlrmen to reflect th.it in this hour of diffirul'f and danger unanimity constitutes the basis of cur national security jfovib or rtrgkstktarirbt the wilmington gazette 13th yuar wilmingtok n c tuesday january 3 1809 number g3g public expectation was raised to the moot painful pitch ; and yet one fourth of the time assigned by the consiitu tion for our deliberations haa elapsed anc in what situation does the congress of the united states find itself drbat ing hai has betn termed an abstract proposition v hen the report was made my worthy friend who sits be fore me mr macon with his wonted sagacity saw in that proposition ita entire futility let me not be mista ken—it is not my intention to deny the truth of the proposition murh lesa to vote against it : but my friend from cirolina saw that it was not to l mad the ba«u nf a future coaduct ; that in fact no bill no measure no thine substantial rouid grow out ol it and are we to employ ourselves in thia msnner for the amusement of the gal leries of the public ol georgetown washington and its vicinity when this resolution was introduced by th committee whnne report is now under consideration i regretted it on a varie ty of accounts not only in the utni view as my friend betore me bus takro of it but for other reasons i s^krd myself in the fint puce w when it we have now progressed very f»r in the fourth week of our session we inct here at a time when every man in thii hnu<>e and out of it se«m ed to vie with his neighbour in the ex pression of the opinion that this is a momentous crisis there are frw of us i believe who have influence e nouns at home to avoid the censure of their constituents in case nf a failure in a punctual attendsnee on their duty at the commencement of this session mi randolph speech on iht report the cammitttt an ftrtigm helationi congressional elo^ience mr pi fit's spetch inscnatt en mr hill house's rtn'ulion for railing tht m bd'fq lonc'iuled the gentleman has informed us that croat-britain can be supplied with cot ion from the f.ast-indiet and other countries i will ask the geclleman if great-britain can procure this article from the east-indies and other coun tries in sufficient quantity and on at good terms as from the united slates v sha cannot which i suppose to be the case the mu->t feel our embargo in her manufactures one of the vital sour ces of her strength k prosperity we are told that a non-importation act wo'ld have no effect because it could not be enforced smuggling would be carried n to a very great extent ;— that a non importation act would like all other laws be partially violated was it to he expected — kvcry law is violated hut with due vigilance such a measure eouh be enforced to * very great extent this meaanre would not be effi-ient aays the gentleman because great britain will and * nwliu to her manu factures in new sp*in and south am rica i will ik the gentleman whether south america has not been supplied heretofore with british manufactures to a considerable extent and d«es the gentleman seriously believe that she would find a market in that country for she immense quantity of her manufac tures hitherto consumed in the united states 1 although the gentleman has not in his retolution'to repeal the embargo proposed a substitute he intimated in hi argument that we ought to arm ur commerce against all nations i am not prepared to say that i will ad here to thise-nbargx y*4*fei f tter . can be devised — but befo^t»«mb>are a substitute i m»<tl ihfljtinejr'nowti ii to operate the gentleman must therefore excuse me for propounding a few qnestions to him in relation to this measure i wish to be informed would not such a measure be war with france and g'ea'-bntain or should we not by such a measure put it in the power of the commercial interest to embroil a with hicli nation they plea sed ? it is prohibit tint our merchants would run the risk of fighting their way to the continent of e i rope witu loaned vessels in defi-ince ofthe urtiuli navy ? il is not more prubvile that g britain wmildhave agents in this country to aell licences to our merchants to trade to the continent and would not our merchants lor their own security se retly pifchnse and trade under those licenses if the object of great britain he a commercial monopoly and we re move our embargo would it not be in the power of the hrtti-.li merchants by a secret understanding with and the connivance of their government by a gents and secret partners in the united states to curry on the very trade to the continent which great-britain in tcrdicu ta us ? i have been led to make tlior enquiries by reading the memori al of the merchants of baltimore pre sented to the government in i sos re specting neutral trade and which was aigned by men of alt parties in which ii it positively charged lh.it the object f great-britain in lurrattlng our trade was to crippb american commerce and promote her own and that she granted licenses to neutrals to carry on he trade which shu interdicted i will read it : •• it has been said that by embarking in the colony trade of either of thebel huerents neutral nations in some sort interpose in the war since they a sist and serve the brlligeient in whose trade they i o einsark it is a sufficient answer tothis observation that the same course of reasoning would prove that ■ eiurau ought to discontinue all trade whatsoever with the parlies at war a continuance of their accustomed peace iraje assists and serves the belligerent with whom it is continued ; and if this sect were sufficient to make a trade un neutral and illegal the be»t established knmt useful trefl'uk vould of course become so but great-britain supplies jm wiifeauviier answer to this nation that our interference in the trade ofthe colonial of her enemies it unlawful because they arc ktnr/tted by it it il known that he lime trade it and long hat been carried on by british subjects and your memorialists feel themselves bound to state that according to ati thentick information lately received the government of great-britain does at this moment grant licenses to neu tral veaseu taking in a proportion of their cargoes there to proceed on tra ding voyages to the colonies of spain fiom which she would exclude us upon the condition that the return cargoes shall be carried to great britain to twell the rains of her merchants and to rive her a monopoly of the com merct ofthe world this great belli gerent right then upon which to much has been supposed to depend sinks into an article of barter it is u«ed not at ■ hostile instrument wielded by a war like state by which her enemies are to be wotim'ed or their colonies subdued but as the kelfiih means of commercial artfrandittinent to the impoverishment mmi ruin of her friends ; as an engine by which great britain is to be lifted to a vast height of prosperity and the trade of neutral crippled and crushed and destroyed acr.'irclint to the course of reason a dnp'edby the gentleman from connec ticut the object ol great-britain in blockading the continent is not tostarve it it mutt therefore be to seture to her self the benefit of all the commerce carried on wi'li the continental powers in such a state ol things while those who were trading under the licenses of fo'eign governmentt,were making their fortunes the honest americans who would not consent to degrade their country by navigating the ocean under the protection of any government but thfir own would be plundered by buth baligeftnts if we are ts consider the linrtlhcnt nations as pirates no lunger bound by those pr.nciples of public law to which civilised nations have hitherto subscribed and are prepared to pur chase riur rights on the teas let us do it as a nation by paying them a sum in pros and thereby placing our citizens on equal ground we are told that we can carry on a considerable com merce with countries not within the scope of he decrees or orders of the belligerent this argument isaprcinut and captivating ; let us examine it ; for i felt as much soliritude as the gentle men in opposition to remove this em bargo whenever it can be done with propriety on this as well a on the sub ject of an armed commerce the gentle man will pardon me for requesting in formation it we remove our embargo as to portugal and other places to which our trade is not interdicted and by • law declare that our citizens shall trade only to hose countries permitted by the brlligerents would not that be submission to her orders and decrees and if we ope n ntlr ports and restrict our commerce to those countries could we ever after hope for a relaxation of the orders of council ? would not g britain have every inducement to per petuate such a state of things which would afford to her the benefits of com merce without its inconveniences ? the gentleman from connecticut has infor med us that the object of the adminis tration in adopting the present sys tem is to put down commerce and promote manufactures if the admin istrition as any concealed motive lor this measure i am a stranger to it it is well kmwn that it has been a fuvorite object with the present administration tn pay the public debt and it would be strange indeed that it ahould pursue a system which cuts off our only aource of revenue this conjecture of the gentleman is too improbable to require a serious tefutstinn on the policy of promoting manufactures i shall make but few remarks ns it will hereafter be a subject of distinct consideration i have supposed that it would be sound policy in this government to diminish in some degree the inducements now held to our citizens to embark in foreign commerce and induce them to vest their money in the interior the in create of manufactures would lessen our dependence en foreign nations