upon our commerce. Again the wisdom of our Government was called into
action, and again it produced the most happy result. What did they
do? An embassy was despatched to France, redress was demanded, but
the Ministers were not received, nor could be, till a _douceur_--a
tribute--was paid. From a nation which returned such an answer, redress
could not be expected; and there was an end of negotiation. Britain
and France had acted toward us with equal injustice--the disposition
of our Government, its desire of peace, was the same with both. Its
conduct was the same to both, but France would not even hear our
demands. The American Government were at no loss how to act. The
case was a plain one. One nation robs another--that other demands
reparation--prevarication is the reply. It requires no skill to
see, in such a case, that, to coax the offender into reparation is
impossible. Accordingly, our Government did not hesitate as to the
course it should pursue; they did not wait to be spurred on by any
Government to an assertion of their rights; they would not leave it
one moment doubtful whether they had the disposition and the courage
to assert them. They proceeded immediately to annul the French Treaty,
to pass non-intercourse laws; they built ships of war, and sent them
upon the ocean, to protect our commerce. They were not so obstinate but
that they could receive instruction, even from the author of the "Notes
on Virginia," who, in that work, so judiciously recommends a navy.
Our little armament picked up the French cruisers, great and small;
the coast, the sea, was soon cleared of them. And our commerce again
visited every clime in safety.

I will here remark, sir, that, during all this time, the staple
commodities (particularly of the Northern States) suffered no
diminution, but an increase in price. Well, sir, France very soon
discovered that she had nothing to gain, and we nothing to lose by
such a state of things. Even then, when she had some naval power, she
discovered this. She was, therefore, very soon disposed to change it. A
treaty was patched up, in the end, and something like the appearance of
redress provided for.

Now, sir, for the result. A former Administration were able to settle
our differences with Great Britain, although she governed all Europe,
although she was unjust, haughty, and imperious. Now the same thing is
said to be impossible! A former Administration were able, after a fair
negotiation had failed, to bring France, who had then some maritime
power, on her marrow-bones. And now, when she has none, again the
same thing is impossible! How happens all this? Sir, I am afraid your
Administration have committed most capital mistakes. They have been
unwilling to learn wisdom from the experience and success of their
predecessors. I do fear, and I shall be obliged to prove, that, on
the one hand, they have been actuated by, certainly they have never
(following the example of a former Administration) manifested a sincere
disposition to accommodate our difficulties with Great Britain. And,
on the other hand, they have in no instance shown to France that bold
front which, in more unpromising times, brought the terrible Republic
to her senses. These two errors, these wilful, wanton aberrations from
established policy, are the true causes of all our misfortunes. It is
owing to them that we have, if we believe the Administration sincere,
two enemies who are already at war with each other, and we, the only
instance of the kind since the creation of the world, are to step out a
third and distinct belligerent, a sort of Ishmaelite belligerent; our
hand against every nation, and every nation's hand against us. We are
in a situation which defies hope, one in which we have but a single
miserable consolation, that though it promises nothing but ruin, yet
it is so ridiculous, so ludicrous, that we can but smile at it.

These remarks are extorted from me a little out of their order. I
return to the period of the restoration of peace between the United
States and France.

The Administration now (1801) passed into the hands of other men. They
received a country, rich, prosperous, and increasing in prosperity.
A people contented and happy; or discontented only with those who
had been the authors of their prosperity. They received a Treasury
full and overflowing, giving a vigor and a spring to public credit
almost unknown before, and to the reputation of the country a dignity
unsullied; they found us in peace and friendship with all nations,
our commerce whitening every sea, and rewarding agriculture for all
its industry, and every one sitting in peace under his own vine and
fig tree. Our country presented to the animated philanthropist one
uninterrupted display of liberty, of gaiety, and of felicity. Oh!
happy, happy period of our history--never, never, I fear to return.
And, if ever truth dropped from the lips of man, it was when the
nation was declared to be in "the full tide of successful experiment."
Never were the destinies of a nation in more wonderful prosperity
committed to men. That prosperity had been acquired at a price no less
unparalleled, at the expense of the destruction and disgrace of those
whose wisdom and energy had produced it.

The new men, sir, were not required to bring order out of confusion;
that had been done already.

They were not called upon to lay the deep and strong foundations of
national prosperity and happiness; that had been done already.

They were not enjoined to "multiply" the talents committed to their
stewardship; that was unnecessary--they were merely commanded to
preserve them undiminished.

They were not required to create a paradise--but to keep uninjured that
which was committed to their guardianship.

They promised, indeed; they were so rash, in the fulness of their
exultation, as to promise to do more; but folly alone could believe
them; and for breaking this promise I forgive them, for to do more
was impossible. And if they had but preserved unimpaired, if they had
not totally destroyed the inestimable treasures intrusted to them, I
would have endeavored to overcome my resentment, my indignation, and my
despair.

In performance of their lofty promises, in disregard of sacred duties,
what have they done? In what condition do they leave the country,
which, eight years since, "in the full tide of successful experiment,"
fell into their hands? They present to us, sir, the gloomy reverse of
all it was. The people discontented and distressed--all becoming daily
more and more poor--except, indeed, that class of rich speculators,
whose wealth and whose hearts enabled them to prey upon the wants of
their countrymen. The despair and dismay of 1786 are returned! The
prosperity of twenty years is annihilated at one stroke! The sources
of revenue are dried up. The Treasury, indeed, may be now full--but it
must continually diminish--and, without its usual supply, it must soon
be empty. We have still some credit. But how long, sir, can that be
maintained, when it is known that we have no longer the means, allowing
us to possess the disposition, to fulfil our pecuniary engagements?
When you cannot collect a cent upon imposts, and dare not lay a
direct tax, how far you will be able to obtain money on loan, is, to
say the least of it, very questionable. But, I will hasten to finish
the contrast I was about to make. Commerce, sir, has perished, and
agriculture lies dead at her side--for these twin sisters must flourish
or die together. No nation in the world is our friend--our paradise is
becoming a wilderness; our soil is stained with the blood of our own
citizens; and we look around us, in vain, for one solitary benefit to
compensate us for all the dreadful effects of the present system.

Perhaps, sir, I may be answered: "Though all you have said be true,
though our former prosperity exists no longer, it is ungenerous, it
is unjust to impute the change to the agency of the Administration.
What has happened could not be prevented." Though such a rebuke were
reasonable, I will still insist that the Administration, if they
deserve no censure, are certainly entitled to no praise, and can ask
for no confidence. If they have not been the authors of the public
calamities, they have not, like their predecessors, discovered the
ability to prevent them from coming thick upon us. If their hearts are
honest, their heads have not discovered much soundness. No set of men,
however ignorant, however stupid, could have placed the country in a
worse or a more deplorable situation. The truth is plain and palpable.
Judging of the wisdom of the Administration by the result of its
measures, I cannot sing praises to them for their skill and ingenuity
in diplomacy. No, sir; I delight in that diplomacy which makes the
poor rich; which makes industry prosperous; which spreads contentment
through the land, and happiness among the people. I delight in the
diplomacy, whose skill and wisdom can be read in the countenance of
my countrymen, and makes the face of my country the evidence of its
prosperity. I like not, I abhor that diplomatic skill which can be
found only in a book! which has produced nothing but calamity, and
whose praise is written in the blood of my countrymen.

But, sir, how happens it that we still remain under the distresses
occasioned by the belligerents? Is there, indeed, a physical
impossibility of removing them? From Great Britain, and that, too, when
she had the whole continent on her side, we could once obtain justice,
not only for the past, but security for the future. From France, too,
we could once obtain justice, but now we can gain justice from neither.
What change, sir, has occurred in the state of things to produce this
strange impossibility? Our commerce is more an object to Great Britain
now, than it was formerly--and France can oppose to us no resistance
on the ocean. And yet no remedy can be found for our calamities! Sir,
I will not be the dupe of this miserable artifice. What has been done
once can be done again by employing the same means.

The Administration have committed greater errors. They have conducted
all their affairs in such a style as to leave Great Britain no room
to doubt that, when they asked for peace, they wanted it not. To this
cause may be traced all our difficulties, so far as they proceed from
that power. As it regards France, I fear that they have not acted the
proper, the manly part. In short, sir, they have not pursued toward
England the policy which saved us in 1795, nor toward France the policy
which was successfully opposed to French rapacity and French obstinacy
in '93.

I think an error was committed, when, affecting to desire an amicable
arrangement with Great Britain, instead of treating with her as a
nation not to be intimidated, much less bullied, the non-importation
act was passed. For, sir, if she was so proud, so haughty, so
imperious, as some gentlemen delight to describe her, then to bring her
to justice by assuming an attitude of menace, was evidently impossible.
When, therefore, you passed the non-importation act, under a pretence
that it would be a successful auxiliary to friendly negotiation, what
could you expect but to alarm the pride, and the haughtiness, and
imperiousness of that nation? And, doing that, how could you expect an
amicable result? No, sir, it was not, and it could not be expected.
You obtained a treaty indeed--but it was from a Fox Ministry. Yet such
as it was, it was not so good as a Jay's Treaty, and the Executive
rejected it without so much as laying it before the Senate.

In support of the embargo system, gentlemen say, if we suffer our
commerce to go on the ocean, or wherever it goes, it will be crippled
either by France or Great Britain. Although this is not true in the
extent laid down, yet it will hold tolerably true as respects the
European seas. From what gentlemen are pleased to represent as the
impossibility of sailing the ocean with safety, result (say they) the
propriety and necessity of the embargo system. And they say, it is
not the embargo, but the decrees and orders which are the true cause
of all we suffer; that the embargo, so far from being the cause of,
was advised as a remedy for the evils we endure. Well, sir, for the
sake of the argument, be it as they say. Has the embargo answered? Is
there any probability, the slightest indication, that it will answer?
Has it operated, to any perceptible extent, except upon ourselves,
during the twelvemonth it has been in existence? If, then, neither the
remembrance of the past, nor the prospect of the future, gives the
least encouragement to hope, why will gentlemen persist in the system?
And that too, sir, at an expense to their own country so enormous
in amount? Will they go on obstinately amid all the discontents, or
clamors (as gentlemen in very anti-republican language call the voice
of the people) in the Eastern and Northern States? And that from mere
obstinacy--an obstinacy not encouraged by the least glimmering of hope?
If I could be pointed to a single fact, produced by the operation of
the embargo, which would prove that it had any other effect on the
disposition of Great Britain than to irritate--or any other on France
than to please, than to encourage her to a perseverance in that system
of injustice which we pretend to oppose, but to the policy of which
we give all our support with an infatuated wilfulness, and which,
therefore, increases the hostility Great Britain has felt from the
measure--if they could show me, sir, that the embargo will bring either
to terms, I would abandon the opposition at once, and come heart and
hand into the support of your measures. The other day, the gentleman
from South Carolina (Mr. WILLIAMS) almost persuaded me that it ought to
operate upon Great Britain; but I looked and I found it did not, and I
was convinced it would not.

But, have gentlemen reflected that, if all the evils were drawn from
Pandora's box, to vex Great Britain, you could have hit on none so
well calculated to call out all her resistance, and all her obstinacy,
as this same expedient, the embargo! If she yields to us, under the
pressure of such a system, she discloses to us the secret of her
independence! Sir, the embargo is war; it was intended as such against
Great Britain. And she understands its meaning and its character too
well for us to disguise it, under a pretence of its being a mere
precautionary municipal measure. Its efficacy as a coercive measure has
been too often and too loudly boasted of in this House, to make its
real object a secret to her. Nay, in so far as the great and prominent
feature of war is coercion; in so far as war is always intended to
make the adversary yield that which he will not yield voluntarily;
in so far, are the embargo and the non-importation act WAR. Each was
intended to coerce Great Britain to yield to us points which it had
been ascertained she would not yield voluntarily. It was a system of
coercion, a new-fangled sort of philosophical experimental war; novel,
to be sure, in its character, but, to all substantial purposes, war.
Instead of bloodshed, there was to be ink shed--instead of bayonets,
pens--instead of the bloody arena, huge sheets of paper! Whenever Great
Britain shall yield to the coercion of the non-importation, embargo, or
non-intercourse system, she virtually tells the people of the United
States, "we are in your power whenever you choose to make a claim
upon us, whether just or unjust; threaten us with an embargo and a
non-intercourse, and you bring us to your feet." Does any gentlemen
believe, even allowing the pressure of the embargo to be great upon
her, that she can yield, that she can afford to yield? That she can
admit that we have her always perfectly in our power? Sooner would she
give up in battle--sooner would she see her soldiers retreating before
our bayonets; sooner would she see her armies perish under our valor,
than acknowledge herself the slave of this magic wand. Her children
might grow to be men, and she might try the fortune of another day; the
hair of Samson might grow on again, and his strength be renewed; but
in yielding to the chance of the embargo, she places her existence in
our hands, and becomes dependent upon our will for the existence of her
sovereignty. Sir, the King of England cannot, he dare not, yield to our
embargo.

But, sir, he has not told us that he considers our embargo hostile
to him; nor has our Government ever told him that it was; such a
declaration has never been put to paper. No, sir; when you look into
the correspondence, it would seem that the embargo was never intended
as a coercive measure, nor even understood so by Great Britain. Every
thing on both sides is conceived in a sincere spirit of "friendship."
Our non-importation act, our proclamation, our embargo, are all
acts of friendship and kindness toward Great Britain, for aught we
find there. And Great Britain issues her Orders in Council in a
reciprocating spirit of amity toward us. She is not offended with our
non-importation act, nor our embargo. Not at all. Her orders are not
intended to harm us. She means nothing in the world, but simply to
retaliate upon France--and she is sorry that almost the whole force
of the blow falls upon us, but it is unavoidable. She, by the laws
of nations, has as perfect a right to retaliate upon France as we
have to make our innocent municipal regulations--and she is full as
sorry that her retaliation system should wound us, as we are that
our municipal regulations should incommode her. Sir, this diplomatic
hypocrisy (begun, I acknowledge, by us) is intolerable. Sir, there
is not one word of truth in the whole of it, from beginning to end.
The plain state of the case is this: Anterior to the non-importation
act, the British Treaty had expired--there were points of dispute,
particularly concerning the impressment of seamen, which could not
be adjusted to the satisfaction of our Government. In this state of
things, either we ought to have gone to war, or we ought not. If we
had intended to do so, stronger measures should have been resorted to
than a non-importation act. If we had not intended to do so, the act
should never have been passed. Those who passed it could have but one
of two objects in view; either to coerce Great Britain to the terms we
demanded--or, by vexing and irritating her, to raise up in due time
an unnecessary fictitious quarrel, which (as this country is known to
be extremely sensitive of British aggression) might ultimately end
in a real old-fashioned war. No men could have been so weak as to
calculate upon the first result. As to the other, the wisdom of the
calculation is pretty strongly proved by the situation in which we
now find ourselves. Sir, this is the whole mystery--and it must be
explored--it must be exposed. We must understand the real character of
our controversy with Great Britain--the real character, intent, and
aim, of the different measures adopted by us and by her, before we
can hope to heal the wounds our peace has received, or to restore the
prosperity we have been unnecessarily made to abandon. I know, sir, how
difficult it is to overcome matured opinions or inveterate prejudices;
and I know, too, that, at this time, the individual who shall venture
to lay open "the bare and rotten policy" of the time, makes himself the
butt of party rancor, and strips himself to the unsparing "lacerations
of the press." But these are considerations too feeble to deter me from
my duty.

[Mr. G. appearing much exhausted, and Mr. QUINCY having intimated to
the House that Mr. G. suffered under a pain in the side, moved for an
adjournment. The SPEAKER inquired whether Mr. G. yielded the floor? Mr.
G. replied, he had himself little inclination to continue his remarks,
but the House appeared so eager to hear him, (a laugh,) he hardly knew
what answer to make. However, he said, he would give the floor. The
House then adjourned.]

The object, sir, of our present deliberations is, or ought to be, to
relieve our country from the distresses under which it groans; to do
this, we should be prepared to legislate with a single eye to the
welfare and happiness of the nation. It is of the first necessity that
we should deliberate with calmness, if we mean to apply an effectual
remedy to the diseases of the State. In the remarks which I had the
honor to make yesterday, I was constrained to draw a contrast between
the measures and prosperity of former times and those of the present
times. Under circumstances of the same character, we were formerly
able to overcome our misfortunes. Now we are not. And I did this for
the purpose of impressing upon the House an opinion, that if the
Administration had practised upon the principles of their predecessors,
all had been well; or, that if retracing their steps, or relinquishing
the path of error and misfortune, they would still be the learners of
wisdom and experience, it would not even now be too late to retrieve
the affairs of the country. If I know my own heart, I did not make the
comparison from any invidious purposes; but merely to turn the minds of
gentlemen back to former times; that they might reflect upon the perils
and calamities of those times, and the means by which an end was put
to them; but in doing this, I could not avoid paying the tribute of
deserved praise and of sincere gratitude to the men under whose agency
we prospered abundantly. In contrasting the conduct of the present with
that of the former Administration, I meant to subserve no purposes of
party. Nay, sir, I could have much desired to have been spared the
necessity of presenting that contrast before the nation. I could have
wished to have avoided these references, lest I might excite party
feeling in others; lest I might appear to be governed by them myself.
But truth could not be attained by any other course, and I have been
compelled to take it.

The first resolution, contained in the following words, was divided, so
as to take the question first on the part in italic:

    "Resolved, _That the United States cannot, without a sacrifice
    of their rights, honor, and independence, submit to the late
    edicts of Great Britain_--and France."

The question was then taken on the first clause of this resolution, and
carried--yeas 136, nays 2.

The question being about to be put on the remaining part of the
resolution, viz: on the words "and France"--

The question then recurred on the second member of the first
resolution; and the same being taken, it was resolved in the
affirmative--yeas 113, nays 2.

The main question was then taken that the House do agree to the said
first resolution as reported to the Committee of the Whole, in the
words following, to wit:

    "_Resolved_, That the United States cannot, without a sacrifice
    of their rights, honor, and independence, submit to the edicts
    of Great Britain and France:"

And resolved in the affirmative--yeas 118, nays, 2.

SATURDAY, December 17.

A division of the question on the resolution depending before the House
was then called for by Mr. DAVID R. WILLIAMS: Whereupon, so much of the
said resolution was read, as is contained in the words following, to
wit:

    "_Resolved_, That it is expedient to prohibit, by law, the
    admission into the ports of the United States of all public or
    private armed or unarmed ships or vessels belonging to Great
    Britain or France, or to any other of the belligerent powers
    having in force orders or decrees violating the lawful commerce
    and neutral rights of the United States."

The question then recurring on the first member of the original
resolution, as proposed to be divided on a motion of Mr. D. R.
WILLIAMS, and hereinbefore recited, a division of the question on the
first said member of the resolution was called for by Mr. GARDENIER,
from the commencement of the same to the words "Great Britain," as
contained in the words following, to wit:

    "_Resolved_, That it is expedient to prohibit, by law, the
    admission into the ports of the United States of all public or
    private armed or unarmed ships or vessels belonging to Great
    Britain."

The question being taken that the House do agree to the same, it was
resolved in the affirmative--yeas 92, nays 29.

A farther division of the question was moved by Mr. ELLIOT, on
the said first member of the resolution, on the words "or France,"
immediately following the words "Great Britain," hereinbefore
recited: And the question being put thereupon, it was resolved in the
affirmative--yeas 97, nays. 24.

And on the question that the House do agree to the second member of the
said second resolution, contained in the words following, to wit:

    "Or to any other of the belligerent powers having in force
    orders or decrees violating the lawful commerce and neutral
    rights of the United States:"

It was resolved in the affirmative--yeas 96, nays 26.

The question then being on the residue of the said resolution contained
in the following words:

    "And, also, the importation of any goods, wares, or
    merchandise, the growth, produce, or manufacture, of the
    dominions of any of the said powers, or imported from any place
    in the possession of either:"

The question was taken, and resolved in the affirmative--yeas 82, nays
36.

The main question was then taken that the House do agree to the said
second resolution, as reported from the Committee of the whole House,
and resolved in the affirmative--yeas 84, nays 30, as follows:

    YEAS.--Lemuel J. Alston, Willis Alston, jun., Ezekiel Bacon,
    David Bard, Joseph Barker, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb,
    William Blackledge, John Blake, jun., Thomas Blount, Adam
    Boyd, John Boyle, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William
    Butler, Joseph Calhoun, George W. Campbell, Matthew Clay,
    Joseph Clopton, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, Joseph Desha,
    Daniel M. Durell, John W. Eppes, William Findlay, Jas. Fisk,
    Meshack Franklin, Francis Gardner, Thomas Gholson, jun.,
    Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, Isaiah L. Green, John Heister,
    William Helms, James Holland, David Holmes, Benjamin Howard,
    Reuben Humphreys, Daniel Ilsley, John G. Jackson, Richard M.
    Johnson, Walter Jones, Thomas Kenan, William Kirkpatrick, John
    Lambert, John Love, Nathaniel Macon, Robert Marion, William
    McCreery, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thos. Moore,
    Jeremiah Morrow, John Morrow, Roger Nelson, Thos. Newbold,
    Thomas Newton, Wilson C. Nicholas, John Porter, John Rea of
    Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Matthias
    Richards, Benjamin Say, Ebenezer Seaver, Samuel Shaw, Dennis
    Smelt, John Smilie, Jedediah K. Smith, John Smith, Henry
    Southard, Richard Stanford, Clement Storer, John Taylor, George
    M. Troup, James I. Van Allen, Archibald Van Horne, Daniel C.
    Verplanck, Jesse Wharton, Robert Whitehill, Isaac Wilbour,
    David R. Williams, Alexander Wilson, and Richard Wynn.

    NAYS.--Evan Alexander, John Campbell, Epaphroditus Champion,
    Martin Chittenden, John Culpeper, Samuel W. Dana, John
    Davenport, jun., Jas. Elliot, William Ely, Barent Gardenier,
    John Harris, Richard Jackson, Robert Jenkins, James Kelly,
    Philip B. Key, Joseph Lewis, jun., Matthew Lyon, Josiah
    Masters, William Milnor, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin,
    jun., Josiah Quincy, John Russell, James Sloan, L. B. Sturges,
    Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Jabez Upham, Philip Van
    Cortlandt, and Killian K. Van Rensselaer.

And on the question that the House do concur with the Committee of
the Whole in their agreement to the third resolution, in the words
following, to wit:

    _Resolved_, That measures ought to be immediately taken for
    placing the country in a more complete state of defence:

It was unanimously resolved in the affirmative.

On motion of Mr. GEORGE W. CAMPBELL,

_Ordered_, That the second resolution be referred to the committee
appointed on so much of the Message from the President of the United
States, at the commencement of the present session, as respects our
relations with foreign powers, with leave to report thereon by way of
bill or bills.

On motion of Mr. GEORGE W. CAMPBELL,

_Ordered_, That the third resolution be referred to the committee
appointed, on the 8th ultimo, on so much of the said Message from the
President of the United States as relates to the Military and Naval
Establishments, with leave to report thereon by bill, or bills.

MONDAY, December 19.

                        _Miranda's Expedition._

Mr. LOVE called for the order of the day on the report of the committee
on the subject of the thirty-six persons confined in Carthagena, South
America. The following is the resolution reported by the committee:

    _Resolved_, That the President of the United States be
    _requested to adopt the most immediate and efficacious means
    in his power to obtain_ from the Viceroy of Grenada, in
    South America, or other proper authority, the liberation
    of thirty-six American citizens, condemned on a charge of
    piracy, and now held in slavery in the vaults of St. Clara, in
    Carthagena, and that the sum of ---- dollars be appropriated to
    that purpose.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS moved to postpone the consideration of the subject
indefinitely. Negatived--50 to 36.

The House then went into a Committee of the Whole on the subject--39 to
33.

Mr. LOVE moved to amend the resolution by striking out the words in
italics, and inserting "authorized to request."--Carried, ayes 54.

Those gentlemen who supported this resolution in the debate were
Messrs. LOVE, LYON, BACON, NELSON, SLOAN, and WILBOUR. Those who
opposed it were Messrs. D. R. WILLIAMS, TAYLOR, SMILIE, MACON, and
SOUTHARD.

The gentlemen who opposed the resolution, among other objections,
contended that an agreement to the resolution would but involve the
Government in difficulty without answering any good purpose; that
it would in fact be aiding the attempt of a certain party to prove
that the General Government had some connection with this expedition
originally, which it certainly had not; that the facts set forth in
the petition were wholly unsupported by evidence; that these persons
had engaged themselves in a foreign service; that they had become weary
of the privileges of freemen, and had entered into a hostile expedition
against a foreign country, and, in so doing, had been taken, condemned
for piracy, and immured as a punishment for that offence; that the
British Government, having been at the bottom of this business, was
the proper power to release these persons, and indeed had applied
to the Spanish commander for the purpose; that even were the United
States bound by the laws of justice or humanity to intercede for these
persons, they knew not to whom to make application, and would probably
meet with a refusal, perhaps a rude one, if any judgment could be
formed from the present situation of our affairs with Spain; that if
gentlemen wished for objects on which to exercise their humanity, they
might find them in the lacerated backs of our impressed seamen, without
extending it to criminals. In reply to an observation of Mr. LYON,
that if we did not get these men Great Britain would do so, and employ
them to extend her naval force, Mr. MACON replied, if she did, she was
welcome to keep them; but she was in the habit of supplying her navy
with seamen from our vessels, without the trouble which the acquisition
of these men might occasion her.

In reply to these objections, and in support of the resolution, the
humanity of the House was strongly appealed to. It was urged that the
Government could in nowise be involved by an appeal to the generosity
of the provincial government; that these men had not wilfully committed
piracy, but had been deluded under various pretences to join the
expedition; that they had joined it under a belief that they were
entering into the service of the United States; that, even admitting
them to have been indiscreetly led to join the enterprise, knowing
it to be destined for a foreign service, yet, that they had been
sufficiently punished by the penalty they had already undergone; that
it was wholly immaterial what inference any persons might draw from
the conduct of the United States in this respect, as to their concern
with the original expedition; that such considerations should have no
weight with the House; that if these poor fellows were guilty, they had
repented of it; and Mr. NELSON quoted on this point the Scriptures,
to show that there should be more joy over one sinner that repenteth,
than over ninety and nine who have no need of repentance. In reply to
an intimation that it was not even ascertained that they were American
citizens, Mr. BACON observed that one of them had been born in the same
town in which he was, and was of a reputable family.

The resolution was negatived by the committee--49 to 31.

The committee rose and reported the resolution, which report the House
agreed now to consider--ayes 57.

The question of concurrence with the committee in their disagreement to
the resolution, was decided by yeas and nays, 50 to 34.

On motion, the House adjourned.

TUESDAY, December 20.

A new member, to wit, JOSEPH STORY, returned to serve in this House,
as a member for the State of Massachusetts, in the room of Jacob
Crowninshield, deceased, appeared, produced his credentials, was
qualified, and took his seat in the House.

WEDNESDAY, December 21.

                      _Captain Pike's Expedition._

On motion of Mr. J. MONTGOMERY, the House resolved itself into a
Committee of the Whole, on the bill making compensation to Z. M. Pike
and his companions.

[The first section of this bill grants to Captain Pike and his
companions a certain quantity of land. The second section allows them
double pay during the time they were engaged in exploring the western
country.]

Mr. STANFORD moved to strike out the first section of the bill; which
was negatived--53 to 38.

The second section was stricken out--42 to 35.

A considerable debate took place on this bill, in which Messrs.
MONTGOMERY, LYON and ALEXANDER supported the bill, and Messrs. MACON,
DURELL, STANFORD and TALLMADGE opposed it.

The bill being gone through, was reported to the House.

SATURDAY, December 31.

                  _Division of the Indiana Territory._

Mr. THOMAS, from the committee appointed on the thirteenth instant, to
inquire into the expediency of dividing the Indiana Territory, made a
report thereon; which was read, and committed to a Committee of the
Whole on Monday next. The report is as follows:

    That, by the fifth article of the ordinance of Congress for
    the government of the Territory of the United States Northwest
    of the river Ohio, it is stipulated that there shall be formed
    in the said Territory no less than three, nor more than five
    States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia
    shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, shall
    become fixed and established, as follows:

    The Western State shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the
    Ohio, and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash
    and Post Vincennes, due north, to the Territorial line between
    the United States and Canada, and by the said Territorial line
    to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi.

    The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the
    Wabash, from Post Vincennes to the Ohio; by the Ohio, by a
    direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami,
    to the said Territorial line, and by the said Territorial line.

    The Eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct
    line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said Territorial line:
    _Provided, however_, and it is further understood and declared,
    that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so
    far to be altered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it
    expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States
    in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east
    and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of
    Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States shall have
    sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be
    admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United
    States on an equal footing with the original States, in all
    respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent
    constitution and State Government: _Provided_, the constitution
    and government so to be formed shall be republican, and in
    conformity to the principles contained in these articles;
    and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest
    of the Confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an
    earlier period, and when there shall be a less number of free
    inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand.

    By the aforesaid article, it appears to your committee that the
    line fixed as the boundary of the States to be formed in the
    Indiana Territory is unalterable, unless by common consent;
    that the line of demarcation, which the Wabash affords between
    the eastern and western portion of said Territory, added to
    the wide extent of wilderness country which separates the
    population in each, constitute reasons in favor of a division,
    founded on the soundest policy, and conformable with the
    natural situation of the country. The vast distance from the
    settlements of the Wabash to the present seat of Territorial
    government, renders the administration of justice burdensome
    and expensive to them in the highest degree. The superior
    courts of the Territory are, by law, established at Vincennes;
    at which place suitors, residing in every part of the
    Territory, are compelled to attend with their witnesses, which,
    to those who reside west of the Wabash, amounts almost to a
    total denial of justice. The great difficulty of travelling
    through an extensive and loathsome wilderness, the want of food
    and other necessary accommodations on the road, often presents
    an insurmountable barrier to the attendance of witnesses;
    and, even when their attendance is obtained, the accumulated
    expense of prosecuting suits where the evidence is at so remote
    a distance, is a cause of much embarrassment to a due and
    impartial distribution of justice, and a proper execution of
    the laws for the redress of private wrongs.

    In addition to the above considerations, your committee
    conceive that the scattered situation of the settlements over
    this extensive Territory cannot fail to enervate the powers of
    the Executive, and render it almost impossible to keep that
    part of the Government in order.

    It further appears to your committee, that a division of
    the said Territory will become a matter of right under the
    aforesaid article of the ordinance, whenever the General
    Government shall establish therein a State Government; and
    the numerous inconveniences which would be removed by an
    immediate separation, would have a direct tendency to encourage
    and accelerate migration to each district, and thereby give
    additional strength and security to those outposts of the
    United States, exposed to the inroads of a savage neighbor,
    on whose friendly dispositions no permanent reliance can be
    placed.

    Your committee have no certain data on which to ascertain the
    number of inhabitants in each section of the Territory; but,
    from the most accurate information they are enabled to collect,
    it appears that west of the Wabash there are about the number
    of eleven thousand, and east of said river about the number of
    seventeen thousand, and that the population of each section is
    in a state of rapid increase.

    Your committee, after maturely considering this subject,
    are of opinion that there exists but one objection to the
    establishment of a separate Territorial Government west of the
    river Wabash, and that objection is based on the additional
    expense which would, in consequence thereof, be incurred by
    the Government of the United States. But, it is also worthy of
    observation, that the increased value of the public lands in
    each district, arising from the public institutions which would
    be permanently fixed in each, to comport with the convenience
    of the inhabitants, and the augmentation of emigrants, all of
    whom must become immediate purchasers of these lands, would far
    exceed the amount of expenditure produced by the contemplated
    temporary government.

    And your committee, being convinced that it is the wish of
    a large majority of the citizens of the said Territory that
    a separation thereof should take place, deem it always just
    and wise policy to grant to every portion of the people of
    the Union that form of government which is the object of
    their wishes, when not incompatible with the constitution of
    the United States, nor subversive of their allegiance to the
    national sovereignty.

    Your committee, therefore, respectfully submit the following
    resolution:

    _Resolved_, That it is expedient to divide the Indiana
    Territory, and to establish a separate Territorial Government
    west of the river Wabash, agreeably to the ordinance for the
    government of the Territory of the United States northwest of
    the river Ohio, passed on the 13th day of July, 1787.

Mr. THOMAS, from the same committee, presented a bill for dividing the
Indiana Territory into two separate governments; which was read twice
and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next.

A motion was made by Mr. WYNN, that when this House adjourns, it will
adjourn until Tuesday morning, eleven o'clock: And the question being
taken thereupon, it was resolved in the affirmative--yeas 60, nays 45.

MONDAY, January 9, 1809.

Another member, to wit, JOHN ROWAN, from Kentucky, appeared, and took
his seat in the House.

                         _Naval Establishment._

The amendments of the Senate to the bill sent from the House for
employing an additional number of seamen and marines, were taken up.
[The amendments propose the immediate arming, manning, &c., all the
armed vessels of the United States.]

Mr. G. W. CAMPBELL expressed a hope that the House would disagree to
the amendments. The President was already authorized by law to fit out
these vessels, whenever, in his opinion, the public service should
require it; and the expense which would attend them was a sufficient
argument against it, if no urgent occasion existed for their service,
which he believed did not.

Mr. STORY entertained a very different opinion from that of the
gentleman from Tennessee. In case of war there must be some ships of
war of one kind or other; and it would take six months at least to
prepare all our ships for service. At present they were rotting in
the docks. If it were never intended to use them, it would be better
to burn them at once than to suffer them to remain in their present
situation. He believed if out at sea they might be useful and would be
well employed. Why keep them up at this place, whence they could not
get out of the river perhaps in three weeks or a month? He believed
that a naval force would form the most effectual protection to our
seaports that could be devised. Part of our little navy was suffered
to rot in the docks, and the other part was scarcely able to keep the
ocean. Could not a single foreign frigate enter almost any of our
harbors now and batter down our towns? Could not even a single gunboat
sweep some of them? Mr. S. said he could not conceive why gentlemen
should wish to paralyze the strength of the nation by keeping back our
naval force, and now in particular, when many of our native seamen
(and he was sorry to say that from his own knowledge he spoke it)
were starving in our ports. Mr. S. enumerated some of the advantages
which this country possessed in relation to naval force. For every
ship which we employed on our coasts, he said, any foreign nation must
incur a double expense to be able to cope with us. The truth was, that
gentlemen well versed in the subject, had calculated that it would
require, for a fleet competent to resist such a naval force as the
United States might without difficulty provide, four or five hundred
transport ships to supply them with provisions, the expense of which
alone would be formidable as a coercive argument to Great Britain. He
wished it to be shown, however small our naval force, that we do not
undervalue it, or underrate the courage and ability of our seamen.

Mr. COOK followed Mr. STORY on the same side of the question. He
compared the nation to a fortress on which an attack was made, and
the garrison of which, instead of guarding the portal, ran upon the
battlements to secure every small aperture. He thought their attention
should first be directed to the gates, and that a naval force would be
the most efficient defence for our ports.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS called for the yeas and nays on the amendments.

Mr. SMILIE said that raising a naval force for the purpose of resisting
Great Britain, would be attacking her on her strong ground. If we were
to have a war with her on the ocean, it could only be carried on by
distressing her trade. Neither did he believe that these vessels of
war would be of any effect as a defence. They did not constitute the
defence on which he would rely. If we had a navy, it would form the
strongest temptation for attack upon our ports and harbors. If Denmark
had possessed no navy, Copenhagen would never have been attacked. The
only way in which we could carry on a war on the ocean to advantage,
Mr. S. said, would be by our enterprising citizens giving them
sufficient encouragement. Were we to employ a naval force in case of
war, it would but furnish our enemy with an addition to her navy. He
hoped the House would disagree to the amendments of the Senate and
appoint a committee of conference.

Mr. DANA said that the amendments sent from the Senate presented a
question of no small importance to the nation. Without expressing
any opinion on the question, it appeared to him to be at least of
sufficient importance to be discussed in Committee of the Whole. Coming
from the other branch of the Legislature, and being so interesting to
the nation, he wished that it might be discussed fairly and fully; and,
therefore, moved a reference to a Committee of the Whole.

Messrs. DANA, TALLMADGE, and STORY, urged a reference to a Committee of
the Whole on account of the great importance of the subject, on which a
full discussion would be proper; and Messrs. MACON, G. W. CAMPBELL, and
HOLLAND opposed it, because the seamen proposed by the original bill
were now wanted, and the subject of the amendment was already referred
to a Committee of the Whole in a distinct bill. Motion lost, 58 to 55.

Mr. MACON observed, that the immediate expense of this arrangement, if
agreed to, would be at least five or six millions of dollars, and but
four hundred thousand were appropriated by the bill. When he compared
this bill with the report of a select committee made to the House of
Representatives, he said he was astonished. A part of that report was
a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, in which the very number
(two thousand) contained in the bill as it went from this House, was
desired. Mr. M. adverted to the observation of Mr. STORY, that it would
cost Great Britain as much to keep one frigate as it would cost us to
keep two. He thought the expense would be about equal. The expense
of the transportation of provisions would be counterbalanced by the
difference of expense between the pay of the British and American
seamen, the latter being double of the former generally. He objected
to this bill from the Senate because no estimate accompanied it. He
thought they would go far enough if they gave the departments all that
they asked. This House had indeed as much right to judge of the force
requisite, as any other department; but he did not wish to be called
upon to supply a deficit in the appropriation, which never failed to
occur even in the ordinary appropriations for the Navy Department.
Give the four hundred thousand dollars asked for, and the deficit in
the appropriation will be at least ten times the amount of the sum
appropriated.

Mr. COOK contended strenuously in favor of a naval force. He detailed
the advantages which would accrue to the nation from a few fast
sailing frigates. He said they were essentially necessary to defence.
He expatiated on the difficulty with which any foreign power could
maintain a force on our coast.

Mr. HOLLAND did not profess to have much knowledge on this subject, but
he said it did not require much to overthrow the arguments of gentlemen
on the subject. What defence a few frigates would be to the extensive
coast of this country, he could not understand. There certainly never
had been a time when this country should rely on a maritime force as a
sufficient protection. Indeed, he said, if we had fifteen or twenty or
more sail-of-the-line, he should hesitate much before he would go to
war with Great Britain, because these would undoubtedly be lost. Our
power of coercion was not on the ocean. Great Britain had possessions
on this continent which were valuable to her; they were in the power
of the United States, and the way to coerce her to respect our rights
on water, would be attacking them on land. He said he certainly did
not undervalue the disposition and prowess of our seamen; and it was
because he valued them, that he did not wish them to go into an unequal
contest, in which they must certainly yield. Gentlemen might understand
naval matters; but it was no reason that they should therefore
understand the efficiency of a naval force. There was sufficient
evidence in history to warn the United States against it.

Mr. TROUP said he rose but for the purpose of stating facts which
struck him as being applicable to the subject before the House. He
referred chiefly to an extract of a letter written to himself and
published in the paper of to-day. [Mr. T. then read the extract which
appeared in the National Intelligencer on the 9th instant.] In addition
to these facts, letters had been received, in the course of this
morning, containing further particulars, which he begged leave to state
to the House. After the officer (commander of a British armed vessel)
had been forced on board his vessel, and while lying in our waters and
within our jurisdiction, he had fired several shots at pilot-boats,
passing and repassing, had been very abusive, and threatened the town
with what he called vengeance; and, in addition to these facts, letters
had reached Savannah from Liverpool, giving satisfactory information
that vessels of fifteen or twenty guns had been fitted out for the
purpose of forcing a cotton trade with South Carolina and Georgia.
This information, Mr. T. said, came from unquestionable authority.
And it was because he was unwilling that the people of this country
should longer submit to the abuse of British naval officers; because
he was unwilling that they should be exposed to the insolence of
every British commissioned puppy who chose to insult us; because he
was unwilling that armed vessels should force a cotton trade, when
every man knew that nine-tenths of the people of Georgia would treat
as traitors the violators of the embargo; it was for this reason that
he was disposed to vote for the amendments from the Senate. The great
objection which had been taken to them was the expense which they would
produce. Economy, Mr. T. said, was a good thing in time of peace; but
if this contracted spirit of economy predominated in our war councils,
if we were forced into a war, so help him God, he would rather at
once tamely submit our honor and independence than maintain them in
this economical way. If we went to war, we ought not to adopt little
measures for the purpose of executing them with little means; neither
should we refuse to adopt great measures, because they could not be
executed but with great means. It was very true that, in war as well as
in peace, calculation to a certain extent was necessary; but, if they
once resolved on an object, it must be executed at whatever expense.
He was no advocate for standing armies or navies, generally speaking;
but, in discharging his duties here, he must be governed by the
circumstances of every case which presented itself for his decision,
and then ask himself, Is it wise, politic, and prudent, to do this or
omit that? He said he would never go back to yesterday to discover what
he had then said or done, in order to ascertain what he should now do
or say. Political conduct must depend on circumstances. What was right
yesterday might be wrong to-day. Nay, what was right at the moment he
rose to address the House, might, ere this, be palpably wrong. Conduct
depended on events, which depended on the folly or caprice of men;
and, as they changed, events would change. It might have been a good
doctrine long ago that this country ought to have a navy competent to
cope with a detachment of the British navy; it might have been good
doctrine then, but was shocking doctrine now.

At that time England had to contend with the navies of Russia, Denmark,
France, Holland, Spain, &c. Now England was sole mistress of the ocean.
To fight her ship to ship and man to man, and it was impossible that
gentlemen could think of fighting her otherwise, if they fought her
at all, we must build up a huge navy at an immense expense. We must
determine to become less agricultural and more commercial; to incur
a debt of five hundred or a thousand million of dollars, and all the
loans and taxes attendant on such a system, and all the corruption
attendant on them. He should as soon think of embarking an hundred
thousand men for the purpose of attacking France at her threshold, as
of building so many ships to oppose the British navy. It was out of the
question; no rational man could think of it. But that was not now the
question. It was, whether we would call into actual service the little
navy we possessed. It was not even a question whether we would have a
navy at all or not. If that were the question, he would not hesitate
to say that even our present political condition required a navy to
a certain extent, to protect our commerce against the Barbary Powers
in peace, and in time of war for convoys to our merchantmen. He only
meant a few fast-sailing frigates, such a navy as we have at present,
for the purpose of harassing the commerce of our enemies also. He
therefore thought our present naval force ought to be put in service.
As far as the appropriation ($400,000) would go, it would be employed;
but if Congress should hereafter see cause to countermand or delay the
preparation, they would have it in their power to do so by refusing a
further appropriation.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS said it was his misfortune to differ with gentlemen
upon all points on the subject of the navy. He was opposed to it from
stem to stern; and gentlemen who attempted to argue in favor of it as a
matter of necessity, involved themselves in absurdities they were not
aware of. When money had been appropriated for fortifications, there
had been no intimation that it would be necessary to prop them up with
a naval force. If our towns could not be defended by fortifications, he
asked, would ten frigates defend them? The gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. STORY) had even gone so far as to say that a single gunboat could
sweep one-half of our harbors. If a single gunboat could now sweep
most of our harbors, Mr. W. said he should like to know what eleven
hundred and thirty vessels of war could do, even when opposed by our
whole force of ten frigates! The gentleman from Massachusetts had said
it would be cheaper to keep these vessels in actual service than in
their present situation. Mr. W. said he supposed that the gentlemen
meant that they would rot faster in their present situation than if
they were at sea. He said he was for keeping them where they were, and
would rather contribute to place them in a situation where they would
rot faster. Mr. W. combated the arguments that employing the navy would
afford relief to our seamen, and that the maintaining a navy on our
coast would be more expensive to an European power than the support of
a larger naval force by us. And he said we should never be able to man
any considerable fleet except the constitution were amended to permit
impressments, following the example of Great Britain.

The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. STORY) had said that except we
begun with this bill, and got his fast-sailing frigates, we should
never regain our rights. If that were really the case, Mr. W. said he
was ready to abandon them. He considered that the sort of maintenance
of our rights adverted to by the gentleman from Massachusetts, would be
destructive to those rights. Gentlemen must have forgotten that when
Hamburg was in the greatest state of prosperity, she did not possess
even a single gunboat. Why! there was not wealth enough in this whole
nation, if every one were to carry his all, thus to maintain our rights
against the navy of Great Britain. If we were carried into a war, and
every thing really seemed to be tending that way, we must rely upon
the enterprise of our citizens; and that, when set at liberty, would
be found more desperate than the navy of any country. When we arrived
at the end of the Revolutionary war we had but one frigate, and the
best thing we ever did was to give that one away. The State of South
Carolina had not yet got clear of the curse. She embarked one frigate
in the general struggle, and she had not rid herself of the debts
incurred by it yet. Private enterprise must be depended upon. The
people from the Eastward had shown in the last war what they would do.
When vessels were loaded with sugar they would fight like bull-dogs for
it. He recollected a story, he said, of one of our privateers being
beat off by a Jamaica man, whom they attacked. The captain not liking
to lose the prize, and finding his crew disheartened, told them she was
full of sugar. "Is she?" said they, "by G--d; let us at them again."
They scarcely ever failed in their enterprises.

In allusion to the case at Savannah, Mr. W. regretted that an insult
should be offered to the people of the country. The insult at Savannah
had by this time been redressed, he had no doubt. He had no information
to induce him to believe so, but the knowledge that the sloop-of-war
Hornet was stationed off Charleston, and of course cruised near the
place. The Hornet was perfectly adequate to drive any vessel of twenty
guns out of our waters. She was one of the best vessels of the United
States, and as well officered as any. [Mr. TROUP observed that the
Hornet was off Charleston. Now, he wanted a frigate at Savannah.]
Mr. W. said that Savannah was the very place where gunboats would
be perfectly effectual. He meant to make no reflection against the
proposer of the gunboat system, but he did against those who had
only given one-half of the system, and omitted the other--the marine
militia. And now, when an attack was menaced at Savannah, gentlemen
wanted a frigate! If nine-tenths of the people were opposed to the
evasions of the embargo law, Mr. W. said it would not be evaded. The
evaders would be considered as traitors--as the worst of traitors. As
to preparing a force for the protection of navigation, the gentleman
from Georgia must well know that the whole revenue of the United States
would not be competent to maintain a sufficient number of vessels to
convoy our merchantmen.

Mr. W. concluded by saying, that he wished the nation to be protected,
and its wrongs to be redressed; but when he reflected that at Castine
the soil had been most abominably violated, he could not view the
insults in our waters as being equal to it; for, said he, touch the
soil and you touch the life-blood of every man in it.

Mr. DURELL considered the present subject as one of the most important
which had been introduced at this session. It would indeed be
difficult to reason gentlemen into a modification of a principle to
which they were opposed throughout; but he trusted that this House was
not generally so disposed. He believed that a large majority of the
House were at the present moment in favor of embargo or war, because
the House had been so distinctly told by a committee on our foreign
relations, that there was no alternative but submission; and almost
every gentleman who had the honor of a seat within these walls, had
committed himself on the subject, either to persevere in the embargo
or resort to war. What would be the object of a war? Not the right of
the soil, not our territorial limits, but the right of navigating the
ocean. Were we to redress those wrongs, those commercial injuries, on
the land? Not altogether, he conceived. Would it be good policy, he
asked, to let our means of carrying on war on the ocean rot in our
docks, and not make use of them? These vessels would also be useful as
a defence. Why then should they not be manned and put in readiness for
service? It was said that we could not cope with the British navy. Mr.
D. said this argument proved too much, if it proved any thing. If he
did not feel perfectly comfortable in a cold day, should he therefore
divest himself of all clothing? Why send out the sloop of war Hornet,
alluded to by the gentleman last up--why rely upon it for redressing
the insult at Savannah, if naval force was useless? It was no reason,
because Great Britain had more vessels than we, that we should not
use what we had. Indeed, those gentlemen who objected to naval force,
appeared to be mostly from the interior, and of course could not
properly estimate its value.

Mr. SAWYER was wholly opposed to the amendments from the Senate. The
objection to this particular increase of naval force on the score
of expense, was not to be disregarded. He called the attention of
gentlemen to the state of the Treasury. The expense of this system
would be three millions; and when this sum was added to other sums
which would be requisite if measures now pending were adopted, it would
render it necessary for Congress now to borrow money on the credit
of posterity. The expedient of direct taxation would not be resorted
to. It had already been the death-blow to the political existence of
one Administration. This Government, he said, was founded on public
opinion, and whenever the approbation of the people was withdrawn, from
whatever cause, the whole superstructure must fall.

Mr. S. dwelt at some length on the disadvantage of loans. He said,
if this nation was destined to raise a navy for the protection of
commerce, it should have begun earlier, in the year 1793, when such
outrageous violations had been committed on our commerce. The expense
of such an establishment would have far exceeded the amount in value
of captures made since that period. He concluded, from a number of
observations which he made on this subject, that, on the score of
the protection of trade, it would not be proper to fit out a navy.
This proposition, he said, was the mere entering-wedge. The system
was either unnecessary, or would be wholly futile in practice. Our
seamen would cost us at least double of what is the expense of her
seamen to Great Britain; and it required her utmost exertions to
pay the interest of the enormous debt with which her unwieldy navy
had saddled her. He therefore certainly thought that an attempt to
justify it on the score of profit would not succeed. He deprecated the
extension of Executive patronage, which would result from an increase
of the Naval Establishment. Need he go back, he asked, to the time
when the black cockade was necessary, in some parts of the country, to
secure a man from insult from the officers of the navy? He wished to
limit the Executive patronage; to adhere closely to the maxims of our
forefathers. By sending out a navy, too, he said, we should volunteer
to support the ascendency of the British navy, become the mere jackals
of the British lion. Mr. S. went at some length into an examination of
the former Administration in relation to a navy. There was nothing, he
observed, in the nature of our Government, or of our foreign relations,
to require a navy. If we could not carry on foreign commerce without
a navy, he wished to have less of it and more of internal commerce,
of that commerce which the natural advantages of the country would
support between different parts of it. If we were to build a navy for
the protection of foreign commerce, we should throw away our natural
advantages for the sake of artificial ones. He was in favor of the
embargo at present. There was more virtue in our barrels of flour as
to coercion than in all the guns of our navy; and we had lately given
our adversaries a supplementary broadside, which he hoped would tell
well. Mr. S. stated the origin and progress of navies at some length,
commencing with the Republic of Genoa. Our chief reliance as to defence
must be on our militia. So little did Great Britain now rely on her
navy for defence of her soil, that she had called upon every man in
the country to be at his post, if danger came. Other nations might
be justified in supporting a naval force, because they had colonies
separated from them by the sea, with whom they were obliged to have
means of intercourse, but we had not that apology for a navy. Mr. S.
concluded his observations, after speaking near an hour, not, he said,
that he had gone through the subject; but, as it was late in the day,
he yielded the floor to some other gentleman.

Mr. J. G. JACKSON said, that gentlemen should not be influenced,
in discussing the present question, by a belief that they were now
discussing the propriety of raising a naval force for offensive
purposes. This was not the question. It was only whether, at this
crisis, the House would employ a little force for the purpose of
resisting attacks made on our territory at home. The gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. WILLIAMS) had said that an attack on the soil
touched the life-blood of every man in it. Yes, Mr. J. said, it did;
whether the invasion was on our jurisdiction, on land or water, it
touched equally the life-blood of the nation. He would as soon resist
an attack on our territorial jurisdiction on sea as on land. It made
no difference with him whether a foreign frigate came up to the piles
of Potomac bridge and fired over into the town, or whether its crew
came on shore and assaulted us with the bayonet. The territory, he
said, was equally invaded in either case. Were we not to resist Great
Britain because of her 1,130 sail of armed vessels? This would amount
to a declaration that we must succumb to her, because she could at
any time send a squadron sufficient to destroy our naval force at a
single blow. This was the tendency of the argument. Mr. J. said it
would be more honorable to fight, while a single gun could be fired,
notwithstanding her overwhelming force. This mode of reasoning had a
tendency to destroy the spirit of the people. He would never consent
to crouch before we were conquered; this was not the course of our
Revolutionary patriots, and he trusted it was one which we should not
follow. He would rather, like the heroic band of Leonidas, perish in
the combat, although the force of the enemy was irresistible, than
acknowledge that we would submit. This naval force was not, however,
intended to cope with the navy of Great Britain, but to chastise the
petty pirates who trespassed on our jurisdiction; pirates, he called
them, because the British Government had not sanctioned their acts.
It had not justified the murder of Pierce, or asserted the right of
jurisdiction claimed by an officer within the length of his buoys, &c.,
because, if she had, it would have then been war. For this reason he
wished our little pigmy force to be sent on the ocean, notwithstanding
the giant navy of Great Britain. Some gentlemen had opposed this on the
score of expense. Our most valuable treasure, Mr. J. said, was honor;
and the House had almost unanimously declared that it could not submit
without a sacrifice of that honor.

SATURDAY, January 21.

                            _Extra Session._

On motion of Mr. SMILIE the House resolved itself into a Committee of
the Whole on the bill to alter the time of the next meeting of Congress.

Mr. J. G. JACKSON moved to strike out the "fourth" Monday in May, and
insert the "last," stating as a reason, that as the Virginia elections
took place in April, the Representatives could not arrive here in time.

Mr. MACON wished a division of the question so as first to strike out,
with a view to insert "September," instead of May. The motion to strike
out was negatived--62 to 35. It was supposed that this question tried
the principle of the bill.

The committee rose and reported the bill.

Mr. D. WILLIAMS moved to strike out May for the purpose of inserting
"September."

Mr. MILNOR hoped the motion would not be agreed to. If the new Congress
could commence its session on the 4th day of March next, he said
he should think it extremely proper that it should do so. And, if
he could think that the majority would fix an earlier day than the
fourth Monday of May for the meeting, he should vote for the present
motion. He agreed with gentlemen that this was a momentous crisis;
that the country was in a situation of extreme difficulty and danger.
It appeared to him, therefore, that Congress, who were the guardians
of the public welfare; to whom were confided the destinies of the
nation, so far as the nation could control them, should be constantly
in session, till a more favorable state of affairs took place. It was
possible, but was it probable that any event would occur to alter our
situation for the better? There was no hope that the belligerents
would recede from their injurious restrictions on our commerce. It
was not probable that any thing would occur which would do away the
necessity of an extra session. The present Congress having determined
to persevere in the embargo and the present system of measures a while
longer, the peace and welfare of the country required that a different
system should be adopted. The present had been sufficiently tested, and
would never produce those effects anticipated from it. It was proper
that an early opportunity should be given to the next Congress to
approve the present system, or give it up and adopt some other in its
stead.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS said he was opposed to Congress coming here at the
time proposed. Why should they come here then? He wished some one to
answer, and let him understand why they were coming. In his opinion
there was every possible objection to such a procedure. On the fourth
day of March, a new President comes into power. Is it not presumable
that the President would choose to have some communication with our
Ministers abroad before the meeting of Congress? Could any man say that
it was not proper that he should have it? Mr. W. said he hoped that
the President would send special messengers, unfashionable as that
policy was. If you are willing to wait for a declaration of war till
the fourth Monday in May, will there be any necessity of declaring it
before the first Monday in June or July? You have suffered the public
mind to assuage in its resentment, and I very much doubt, that before
a full experiment be made of the embargo, it will be wholly allayed.
It has been said through the nation, and indeed avowed on this floor,
that the Administration does not wish for peace. Having failed to take
hold of the affair of the Chesapeake for a declaration of war, you have
nothing now to give the people that interest which I hope they always
will have in a declaration of war. Suppose you were to send special
Ministers, and they were to be treated as our Ministers to France were
under a former Administration, would not this treatment make every man
in the nation rally around you? Would it not prove beyond doubt that
the Administration was sincere in its wishes for peace? Undoubtedly it
would. Why are your Ministers now loitering in foreign Courts? With a
hope of accommodation, sir, I would send other Ministers there, and if
they failed of immediate accommodation, would order them all home. If
they are compelled to return, you will have the whole nation with you,
which you must have when you go to war.

Mr. J. G. JACKSON replied to Mr. WILLIAMS. The gentleman had asked
emphatically why Congress should convene here in May. Occurrences of
every day, said Mr. J., are presenting themselves in such a way as
to render it highly important and necessary that some other ground
should be taken. Are we to adhere to the embargo forever, sir? I have
said, and again say, that a total abandonment of the ocean would be
submission. I think, by passing this bill, we give the nation a pledge
that it shall be the _ne plus ultra_, which shall give to foreign
nations time to revise their conduct towards us, and will give them
time to consider whether or not they will have war with us. The
gentleman wants a special mission. Sir, are we to continue in this
state any longer? Shall negotiation be spun out further? No man can
doubt the capacity of our Ministers abroad, and their disposition to
represent their Government correctly. The doors are shut in the face
of our Minister at the Court of St. James, and worse than shut at the
Court of St. Cloud--for, from the latter, contemptuous silence is all
the answer we have received, if indeed silence can convey an answer.
Are we to renew negotiation, then, when every circumstance manifests
that it would be useless? Need I refer to what took place the other
day--I allude to the publication of a letter by Mr. Canning, in a
highly exceptionable manner, through Federal presses, or presses more
devoted to the interests of that country than any other? One universal
burst of indignation accompanied the publication of that letter in this
House. And are we, under such circumstances, to renew negotiation by
extra missions? I conceive that the cup of negotiation and conciliation
is exhausted to the dregs, and that we should but further degrade
ourselves by sending further extra missions. It has been stated to me
that a proposition had actually been reduced to writing by a member of
this House the other day for sending away foreign Ministers and calling
our Ministers home, and I am sorry that the proposition was not offered
to the House, for, under present circumstances, it might not have been
improper to have adopted it.

Mr. SMILIE said, if there were no other reason, the present suspension
of commerce, and discontents at home, were sufficient reasons for
calling Congress earlier than the first Monday in December. When the
new Administration should come into office, it was proper that they
should have an opportunity of meeting Congress as early as possible. It
was his opinion that, at the next session, a change of measures would
take place. What would be the substitute for the present measure he
could not say; but, at this time, he must say that he could see no way
of avoiding war. With regard to extra missions, he really had no idea
of a measure of that kind. If there should be any other means to secure
the interest and honor of the nation but war, he hoped in God that it
would be adopted, but he did not now see any such prospect.

Mr. RHEA, of Tennessee, said it was of no importance in the
consideration of the present question what the next Administration
should think or do. He wished that there could be an understanding with
foreign nations for our good, but he much doubted such a result. He
would not undertake to say whether war, or what other measure, ought to
be adopted at the extra session; but, it was his opinion, that Congress
ought to meet, and he should vote against every proposition going to
defeat the object of the bill. Although this nation had not immediately
retaliated the attack on the Chesapeake, would any man rise on this
floor and say that the act of dishonor was done away because the House
refused immediately to avenge it? He believed not; and, as long as
it remained unatoned, it was cause for this nation to act. The only
question for the House now to determine was this: Are there reasons to
induce gentlemen to believe that a meeting of Congress is necessary on
the fourth Monday of May next? As it appeared to him that such reasons
did exist, he said he was bound on his responsibility to vote for the
bill.

Mr. DURELL asked if gentlemen meant to continue the embargo forever. He
believed somewhat in the doctrine that an explosion might take place
under it in a certain portion of the country. Gentlemen said an extra
session was, therefore, necessary to save the nation. Mr. D. asked
if the nation was to be saved by long speeches? He had seen almost
two whole sessions of Congress pass away, the one of six months, the
other of three, and the nation in the same situation still, and still
told, in long stories, from day to day, that it was in a critical
situation. He had no idea that the nation was to be saved by much
speaking. He did firmly believe, that more than forty-eight hours would
not be necessary to pass all laws to meet the impending crisis. If a
declaration of war was thought proper, this would be sufficient time
for it; if an extraordinary mission, as suggested by the gentleman from
South Carolina, forty-eight hours would be time enough for the House to
decide on recommending it. The present was a state of suspense, from
which the nation ought to be removed, and he was unwilling to prolong
this state by the passage of the bill.

Mr. BURWELL said he was one of those who would vote for an earlier
meeting of Congress than usual. In Great Britain, in whose government
there were some features approximating to ours, there was always an
uneasiness, lest the Parliament should not meet often enough. Whence
could be the objection to Congress meeting at an earlier day? If
the public sentiment was not then prepared for war, it would not be
adopted. It appeared to him that an early session, instead of producing
mischief, would essentially contribute to tranquillize the minds of
the people. If peace was attainable, we must have peace; but if not,
we have no choice but war. The gentleman from South Carolina suggests
the propriety of sending a special mission, said Mr. B. Let me ask him,
if Administration should not take this course, whether it would not
be perfectly proper that Congress should be in session? Certainly it
would. With respect to a special mission, Mr. B. said he was perfectly
at a loss to conceive what could be the nature of any proposition which
could be made to Great Britain. A proposition had already been made to
her, in effect, to go to war with her against France, and insultingly
refused; for no other interpretation could be made of the offer to
suspend the embargo, if she would rescind her Orders in Council, except
Mr. Canning chose to misunderstand everything that could be said.
Unless gentlemen would point out some new proposition, which could
be made to Great Britain or France, he could not see the propriety
of the course recommended. As to the continuance of the embargo, Mr.
B. said it seemed to be perfectly well understood by every man, that
when the Government determined on that course, it did not determine to
persevere in it eternally. If it could be made manifest to him that any
particular favorable consequence would be produced by postponing the
session beyond the fourth Monday in May, he might be induced to accede
to it. As to the disposition of the Administration to preserve peace,
could the gentleman conceive it possible to remove the impressions of
those who were determined not to be convinced? This nation had sued for
peace, but in vain; they had offered to give up almost every thing in
contest, if Great Britain would yield a thing which neither Mr. Canning
nor any other member of the British Government ever said they had a
right to do, and which was only justified on the ground of necessity.
There was therefore no plausibility in the assertion that peace had not
been earnestly sought for.

Mr. G. W. CAMPBELL said that if nothing occurred between this time and
the time proposed by the bill for the next meeting of Congress, which
would particularly render a change necessary, he was yet of opinion
that it would be then necessary to change our situation; for this
reason: that at that period, time sufficient would have elapsed to give
us information as to what ground Great Britain would take, after she
had heard of the position which Congress had maintained. After that
ground was taken, Congress would know how to act. I never voted for
the embargo as a permanent measure, said Mr. C., nor did I ever use an
expression which would authorize such a supposition; nor do I suppose
that any other gentleman entertained such an idea. As to a special
mission, I should as soon think of sending a special messenger to the
moon as to Great Britain or to France, for the cup of humiliation is
exhausted already, and I will never put it in their power to offer us
another cup.

Mr. MACON said he had not intended to have said any thing, but that the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. BURWELL) had broached a doctrine which he
did not approve--that this Government was like that of Great Britain.

Mr. BURWELL explained that he had said that the Governments were, in
some of their features, alike.

Mr. MACON said that the reason of the fear in Great Britain that the
Parliament would not meet often enough, was extremely obvious. The only
voice which the people had was in the House of Commons, and they wanted
them to be always in session, to keep the King and nobility off from
them. In Great Britain the King dissolved Parliament at his pleasure.
Here, he said, there was no power to dissolve Congress. Indeed, there
was no similarity in the two Governments. He said he had no fear of any
mischief being done by Congress meeting earlier; but he was opposed
to their meeting earlier, because they would do more good by staying
away. Could any man say what would take place between this day and the
third of March? And yet the House were now called on to determine on
an extra session. He was for giving such time, after the deliberations
of the present session closed, as that Great Britain might see what
we had done, and consider whether she would retract or go to war, for
if she did not retract, war must be the consequence. Mr. M. said he
would give every opportunity for peace; he would not be for hurrying
the matter. He had no opinion that Congress being in session would have
any effect on the people. The cry of an intention to destroy commerce
was not to make him do a single thing which he would not otherwise do.
No man can believe that we who raise produce should wish it to lie on
our hands, as is now our situation. It is maritime rights for which we
contend. For these we planters are making sacrifices, and we know it.
As to the grower it is immaterial in point of interest into what ship
or wagon his produce goes; but he is contending for the interests of
his mercantile brethren. A great deal has been said about repealing
the embargo to put an end to discontents. Let gentlemen beware of it,
lest in trying to please everybody, they please nobody. Let us do what
is right, that is the only ground for us to take. Whenever we begin to
temporize, that principle is abandoned. I disagree with the gentleman
from Tennessee as to the expediency of continuing the embargo; I do not
believe that it would be inexpedient to try it beyond May. I believe
we ought to try it beyond September. This is my opinion. What effect
do gentlemen expect that the embargo will have had in May? Not more
than at this moment. While every day from that time till September, it
will be more and more effectual. I never voted for it as a permanent
measure; but my opinion was, as I stated it, that it might be necessary
to hold on to it for one, two, or three years. I might be wrong, but
this was my opinion then, and I have not changed it. As to an extra
session, I have never thought of it; but I am willing to leave it to
the Executive. It has been so suddenly suggested, however, that I would
not undertake to decide positively on the subject. I should rather
incline to let them send to us now; we have sent to them long enough.
As to the people being tired of the embargo, whenever they want war in
preference to it, they will send their petitions here to that effect.
When gentlemen from the Eastern States say, that the people there
are tired of it, perhaps they speak correctly. As to all the talk of
insurrections and divisions, it has no effect on me. When the sedition
law was passed under the former Administration, it was said that the
people would not bear it. I thought then as now, that the elections
would show their disapprobation, and that they would manifest it in
that way alone. When the people are tired of the embargo, as a means
of preserving peace, they will tell you so, and say, "Give us war!"
But none have said so; and yet, sir, I know well that myself and some
others are blamed for our adherence to this measure. I can only say,
that it is an honest adherence. I do believe that the continuance
of that measure, with the addition of a bill now on your table,
(non-intercourse bill,) is the best thing you can do; and if I thought
that Congress would declare war in May, I should be much more averse to
meeting then than I am now; but I do not believe it will.

The question was now taken on the motion of Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS to
strike out the words "fourth Monday in May," and lost.

No other amendment being offered to the bill, it was ordered to be
engrossed for a third reading. The bill being brought in engrossed, a
motion was made that the same be read the third time to-morrow: and the
question being put thereupon, it passed in the negative.

A motion was then made by Mr. SMILIE, that the bill be now read the
third time; and the question being taken thereupon, it was resolved in
the affirmative.

The said bill was, accordingly, read the third time: Whereupon, Mr.
SPEAKER stated the question from the chair, that the same do pass? And,
the question being taken, it was resolved in the affirmative--yeas 80,
nays 26.

MONDAY, February 6.

                        _Presidential Election._

Several petitions having been presented, in addition to those
heretofore stated, against the mode in which the late election in the
State of Massachusetts was conducted--

Mr. BACON offered the following resolution:

    _Resolved_, That the Clerk of this House do carry to the
    Senate the several memorials from sundry citizens of the
    State of Massachusetts, remonstrating against the mode in
    which the appointment of Electors for President and Vice
    President has been proceeded to on the part of the Senate
    and House of Representatives of said State, as irregular and
    unconstitutional, and praying for the interference of the
    Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, _for
    the purpose of preventing the establishment of so dangerous a
    precedent_.

Mr. J. G. JACKSON said he saw no objection to the resolution, or even
to going farther than it proposed. The constitution had declared that
the election of Electors in each State should be held in such manner
as the Legislature should direct; and, he said, he never could consent
to the doctrine that any set of men, without the authority of law,
could make an election of Electors. He believed that the case was not
provided for; and as the present case could not vary the general result
of the Presidential election, gentlemen appeared not to be disposed to
interfere in it. But, he hoped it would operate on the House to induce
them to consider the propriety of providing some mode of hereafter
distinguishing between legal, and illegal or surreptitious election.

Mr. VAN HORNE moved to strike out the words in _italic_, as he
understood them as committing the House to express an opinion on the
subject of the petitions. Motion lost--yeas 18.

_Opening and Counting the Electoral Votes for President and Vice
President._

Mr. NICHOLAS offered the following order:

    _Ordered_, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform them
    that this House is now ready to attend them in opening the
    certificates and counting the votes of the Electors of the
    several States, in the choice of a President and Vice President
    of the United States, in pursuance of the resolution of the two
    Houses of Congress of the 7th instant; and that the Clerk of
    the House do go with the said message.

Mr. RANDOLPH said it had sometimes been the case, he did not say it
had been the practice, that this House had met the other branch of the
Legislature in their Chamber, for the purpose of counting the votes; in
which cases, very properly indeed, this House being in the Chamber of
the Senate, the President of that body had taken the chair. Mr. R. said
he now understood that it was proposed, without any vote of this House
for the purpose, that the President of the Senate was to take the chair
of this House; that the Speaker was to leave the chair, to make way
for the President of another body. To this, he, for one, could never
consent. I conceive, said he, that such a proceeding would derogate,
very materially, from the dignity, if not from the rights of this body.
I can never consent, Mr. Speaker, that any other person than yourself,
or the Chairman of the Committee of the whole House, should take the
chair, except by a vote of the House. I hope, therefore, that this
matter may be well understood. I conceive it to be a respect which we
owe to ourselves, and to the people, whose immediate representatives we
are, never to suffer, by a sort of prescriptive right, the privileges
of this House to be in anywise diminished, or its dignity to fade
before that of any other assembly of men whatever.

Mr. NICHOLAS said he was as unwilling as any other gentleman to
surrender the privileges of the House. When assembled as the House
of Representatives, he agreed that none but the Speaker should take
the chair; but, on the occasion of counting out the votes, he did not
consider the House of Representatives to be formed as a distinct body.
In meeting on this occasion, he said, it always had been usual, since
the establishment of the Government, for the Vice President of the
United States, or the President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, to take
the chair. There was, also, a propriety in this course, because, by
the constitution, the Vice President is to open the votes. For twenty
years the practice had been that the President of the Senate presided
in joint meeting.

Mr. NICHOLAS moved, in order to do away any difficulty in this case,
that when the members of the Senate were introduced, the Speaker should
relinquish the chair to the President of the Senate.

Mr. DAVENPORT supported this motion. He had no doubt of the propriety
of the President of the Senate presiding at a joint meeting, more
especially, as he was the person designated by the constitution for
counting out the votes.

Mr. RANDOLPH said that if this course were taken, the Senate ought to
be notified of this act of courtesy on the part of the House; if not,
it might appear that the President of the Senate took the chair as a
matter of right. He said he knew that, to many persons, matters of this
sort appeared to be of minute importance, but in every thing touching
the privileges of this House, as it regarded the claims of the other
co-ordinate branches of the Government, he would stickle for the ninth
part of a hair. It was well known that, in England, the privileges of
the Commons had been gained inch by inch from the Kings and Nobles by
a steady perseverance; and that man must have very little knowledge of
mankind, indeed, who was not persuaded that those privileges might be
lost, as they were gained, by gradual and imperceptible encroachment on
the one hand, and tacit yielding on the other. This was not a matter of
great consequence in itself; but power always begot power. It was like
money, he said; any man could make money who had money. So any man, or
body of men, who had power, could extend it. I have no objection, said
Mr. R., very far from it, to the constitutional exercise of the powers
and privileges of the Senate. Let their President count the votes, sir;
there is a very good chair for him in which the Clerk now sits. But,
on what principle is he to come into the House with the consciousness
that he has a right to throw you out of the chair, sir, and take
possession of it? I have no idea of suffering a man to come through
those folding-doors with such a sentiment. If he comes into this House,
he comes from courtesy, and cannot assume your chair, Mr. Speaker, as
a matter of right, but as a favor. And, if the President of the Senate
takes possession of your chair as a favor, it ought to be announced to
the Senate as such; for, the mere vote on our side amounts to nothing,
provided that he, and the body over whom he presides, come into this
House under the knowledge, (without an intimation from us,) that you
are to leave your chair, and he is to take possession of it.

Mr. SMILIE observed that there was no fear of the privileges of this
body being encroached upon by any other, for there was a written
constitution, prescribing the powers of each body; and, at the same
time that it was proper to be careful of their own rights, he said
the House should be careful not to infringe on the rights of the
other body. In respect to this question, there was a case in point.
In one instance while Congress sat at Philadelphia, the Senate had
come into the Representatives' Chamber to count out the votes, and
the President of the Senate had taken the chair as a matter of right.
We, said Mr. S., are sitting as a convention of the two Houses, for
a special purpose, viz: to count out the votes. Who is properly the
presiding officer in this case? Unquestionably the officer directed by
the constitution to open the votes. And I consider the Speaker of the
House, on this occasion, as acting in the same capacity as any other
member of the House.

After some further observations on the subject from Messrs. MASTERS,
LYON, and MACON, the motion of Mr. NICHOLAS was agreed to--yeas 98.

Mr. RANDOLPH then moved that the Senate be acquainted, by message, of
this arrangement. Agreed to--yeas 73.

The resolution first offered by Mr. NICHOLAS was then agreed to.

On the suggestion of Mr. VAN DYKE, it was agreed that the members
should receive the Senate standing and uncovered.

The time for counting the votes having arrived, the members of
the Senate, preceded by their Sergeant-at-Arms, entered the
Representatives' Chamber, Mr. MILLEDGE, the President _pro tempore_,
took the Speaker's chair, and the members took their seats on the right
hand of the chair. The tellers were ranged in front, and the Clerks
of each House on the right and left of the tellers. The President of
the Senate opened the electoral returns, one copy of which was handed
to the teller of the Senate, Mr. S. SMITH, who read it; the tellers
of the House, Messrs. NICHOLAS and VAN DYKE, comparing the duplicate
returns handed to them.

When this business, which occupied about two hours, was concluded, the
tellers handed their report to the President of the Convention, who was
proceeding to read it, when

Mr. HILLHOUSE observed that the returns from one of the States appeared
to be defective, the Governor's certificate not being attached to it.
He thought that this might be as proper a time to notice it as any.

Nothing farther being said on the subject, however, the President of
the Senate read the following statement of the votes, as reported by
the tellers:

    (For the statement of the votes see Senate proceedings of the
    same day, _ante_, p. 27.)

THURSDAY, February 9.

                           _Non-Intercourse._

Mr. TAYLOR said it would be recollected that, in the course of the
public business of this session, a resolution reported by a committee
on our foreign relations arising out of a motion of a member from North
Carolina, for the purpose of interdicting commercial intercourse with
such belligerents as had in force decrees or edicts against the lawful
commerce of the United States, had been agreed to and referred to the
same committee, who had reported a bill for non-intercourse. This bill
in fact, however, comprised but one-half of the whole subject embraced
by the words "non-intercourse." The bill as reported to this House
provided for the non-importation of the goods, wares, and merchandise,
the growth and manufacture of these particular countries. That (said
he) may be readily accounted for, from the circumstance that the House
was then actually engaged in passing a law for the enforcement of the
embargo, the committee therefore having only in view the other part of
the question, so as to complete a non-intercourse. After that bill was
reported, a gentleman from Tennessee, (Mr. RHEA,) in order that the
whole might be incorporated into one, offered a resolution for that
purpose. I did think it unnecessary at that time; but as the course of
business seems to look towards a repeal of the embargo, in order that
the whole subject of non-intercourse may be incorporated in the bill
before the House, I move that the Committee of the Whole be discharged
from the consideration of the bill, and that it may be referred to a
committee, in order that it may be made in fact what the title imports
it to be, completely, a bill for non-intercourse between this country
and those nations having in force decrees affecting our neutral rights.

The Committee of the Whole was discharged from the further
consideration of the bill, ayes 72.

The effect of the votes of this day, is to refer to the Committee on
Foreign Relations, composed of Messrs. G. W. CAMPBELL, NICHOLAS, BACON,
TAYLOR, FISK, J. MONTGOMERY, MUMFORD, CHAMPION, and PORTER, the several
propositions for the repeal of the embargo, for arming the merchant
vessels, for non-intercourse, for excluding armed vessels from our
waters, and for declaring the first capture made in violation of the
neutral rights of the United States to be a declaration of war, &c.,
with leave to report by bill.

The chief argument in favor of this general reference was, that these
propositions might be merged in one bill which should present a general
system, and thus render less complicated the proceedings of the House
on these resolutions. The main arguments against it were, that it would
destroy all that had already been done in Committee of the Whole, and
probably present a system at length to the House which would not be
approved, and thus produce no other effect at this late period of the
session than to protract discussion; and also that it would encourage
that speculation now going on in the mercantile towns, and be ruinous
to many men of moderate capitals who had embarked their all in the
purchase of produce, in the certainty that the embargo would be raised
on the 4th of March.

TUESDAY, February 14.

                          _Additional Duties._

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill
for imposing additional duties on all goods, wares, and merchandise
imported into the United States.

[This bill provides "that an additional duty of ---- per centum on the
permanent duties now imposed by law upon goods, wares, and merchandise,
imported into the United States from foreign ports or places, shall
be laid, levied and collected upon all goods, wares, and merchandise,
which shall, after the thirty-first day of January, 1809, be imported
into the United States from any foreign port or place; _and a farther
addition of ten per centum shall be made to the said additional duty
in respect to all goods, wares, and merchandise, imported in ships or
vessels not of the United States_; and the duties imposed by this act
shall be levied and collected in the same manner, and under the same
regulations, mode of security, and time of payment, respectively, as
are already prescribed by law, in relation to the duties now in force
on the importation of articles imported from any foreign port or place.
That this act shall continue in force until the first day of April,
1810, and no longer: Provided that the additional duties laid by this
act, shall be collected on such goods, wares and merchandise, as shall
have been imported previous to the said day."]

WEDNESDAY, February, 15.

                           _Non-Intercourse._

On motion of Mr. NICHOLAS, the House resolved itself into a Committee
of the Whole on the bill for interdicting commercial intercourse
between the United States and Great Britain and France, and for other
purposes.

Mr. MILNOR moved to strike out the first section of the bill, with a
view to try the principle of the non-intercourse system. In support of
this motion, he alleged the impossibility of carrying the system into
effect; for he conceived that the embargo had been ineffectual from the
impossibility of carrying it into complete effect, and the proposed
system would be as difficult to enforce. He thought that it would be
impossible to carry a non-intercourse system into effect, as long as
vessels were permitted to go to sea. He had many other objections to
this bill, among which were these: that, although it raised the embargo
only in part, the permission to vessels to go out, would render the
provision for a partial embargo nugatory; that, if the bill were to
pass in its present shape, it was to be doubted whether any revenue
officer of the United States would understand the duty enjoined on
him by it; that a time only two days previous to the meeting of the
next Congress was fixed upon as the day upon which the non-importation
should go into operation, and thus the bill appeared to manifest a
distrust of that Congress, who certainly would be more competent than
the present Congress to decide on its propriety at that time; that a
non-intercourse between these countries, would but compel our citizens
to pay a double freight to and from the entrepôt, without producing
any other effect than injuring our own citizens; that goods from these
countries, although their importation were interdicted by law, would be
introduced nevertheless; that the extent of the territory and seacoast
of the United States was so great that all efforts to interdict the
importation of goods must be ineffectual, for they would be introduced
contrary to law; thus depriving the United States of the revenue which
would be derived from them, if their importation were permitted by
law. Rather than accept this system, Mr. M. thought it would be better
that this country should remain yet longer under the pressure of the
embargo, which he had no doubt must be repealed early in the next
session.

Mr. QUINCY entered at considerable length into an examination of
the system of coercion on foreign nations, by means of commercial
restrictions. The idea of the efficacy of this system, he traced to
a deeper root than any Administration under this Government. It was
an error of the American people, originating in a period antecedent
to the Revolution; it grew out of our colonial regulations. It began
to be a favorite belief with the people, antecedent to the year 1760,
and was then fostered by the patriots of that day, the idea being
also encouraged by the patriots of England. Mr. Q. entered into a
comparative statement of the exports from and imports to Great Britain
from America at two different periods, viz: the nine years preceding
the year 1775, and the nine years succeeding it, with a view to show
that the average imports into Great Britain from all the world,
during the nine years' peace with this country, amounted to about
one-thirteenth more than the average imports during the same period of
war; and the exports diminished, nearly in the same proportion. From
his statements on this head and a comparison of the present relative
situation of the two countries, Mr. Q. drew the inference that this
supposed means of coercing the European powers, did not exist. He
deemed it peculiarly unfortunate that a confidence in this power of
coercion had so long existed, as it had prevented the United States
from making preparations which they otherwise might have made. He hoped
the idea would now cease. In relation to our present situation, he
recommended a plain remedy, comprised in two words: "Follow nature."
What did she first dictate for remedying any complaint? The removal
of all obstructions on her operations. Mr. Q. therefore recommended
the removal of the embargo, the repeal of the non-importation act,
and the abandonment of the non-intercourse system. He wished "peace
if possible; if war, union in that war;" for this reason, he wished
a negotiation to be opened unshackled with those impediments to it
which now existed. As long as they remained, the people in the portion
of country whence he came, would not deem an unsuccessful attempt at
negotiation to be cause for war; if they were moved, and an earnest
attempt at negotiation was made, unimpeded with these restrictions,
and should not meet with success, they would join heartily in a war.
They would not, however, go to war to contest the rights of Great
Britain to search American vessels for British seamen; for it was a
general opinion with them that if American seamen were encouraged,
there would be no occasion for the employment of foreign seamen. A
removal of the embargo, without adopting any other measure, until the
event of negotiation had been tried, Mr. Q. said, would first prevent
any collision with the belligerents which might tend to embarrass
negotiation; and, secondly, would give an opportunity to the country
to ascertain what would be the practical operation of these orders and
decrees, on our commerce; and give an opportunity to the next Congress
to shape its measures according to their actual effect. If commerce did
not suffer, the knowledge of this fact would supersede the necessity
of any other measure, and peace would follow of course; if, on the
contrary, a general sweep was made of all the property afloat, it would
unite all parties in a war. Mr. Q. concluded a speech of two hours in
length, by lamenting the state of the country, and invoking the spirit
which "rides the whirlwind and directs the storm," to guide the nation
to a happy result.

Mr. NICHOLAS replied to the observations of Mr. QUINCY on the subject
of the legal opposition to the embargo laws in Massachusetts. He said
if the laws of the nation were to be resisted in the manner in which
he lamented to say that he saw it contemplated in one part of the
community, it became the duty of this Legislature to meet it; it was
not compatible with their duty to shrink from it. He could not consent
that thirteen or fourteen States should submit to one. As men vested
with certain powers by the constitution, Congress could not transfer
the powers to any State Legislature or to any town. In relation to
negotiating with measures of coercion in existence, Mr. N. asked, when
did the violations of our rights commence? So long ago that the precise
time could not be fixed. When did our coercive measures commence? In
1806. Mr. N. noticed the negotiators during whose Ministry abroad these
injuries had commenced, and continued. Mr. King, Mr. Monroe, and Mr.
Pinkney, all honorable men, had successively represented the United
States in Great Britain. And could any thing be gathered from any thing
they had ever written or said, to induce a belief that this Government
had not acted with sincerity? There was the most conclusive evidence
to the contrary. Mr. N. said, he would ask nothing of Great Britain or
France that would tend to sacrifice their honor; and he wished, when
gentlemen dwelt so much on the regard of foreign nations for their
national character, that they would respect a little the character of
our own country.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS said he had been decidedly in favor of issuing
letters of marque and reprisal at once; he believed it would have cut
off all that fungus matter now deteriorating the body politic--for the
people of New England were as patriotic as any, and when the choice
was between their own and a foreign country, they would cling to their
own. It was the hot-bed politicians who stirred them up; and it was
necessary to do something promptly to put an end to their intrigues.
Mr. W. disliked the non-intercourse system throughout. If he could
not get war, or a continuance of the embargo, he wished, inasmuch as
Great Britain and France had each interdicted us from going to the
other, to declare that neither their armed nor unarmed ships should
contaminate our waters. This was a system which required no exertion
of patriotism to carry into effect, which could excite no animosities
between the North and South. In relation to the non-intercourse, he
believed that it could not be enforced, and used a variety of arguments
to show that it could not. If it could be enforced, he believed it
would be prodigiously partial. If the embargo was to be taken off, and
war not to be substituted; if the nation was to submit, he wished to
do it profitably. If the embargo were raised as to a single spot, it
was raised entirely to all effectual purposes. Then let your vessels
go, said he, without let or hindrance; let them go and be burnt; your
merchants will then feel that the embargo was a shield spread over
them, and will come back to your protection, like the prodigal son,
and unite like brethren in the common cause. Mr. W. said, his plan was
to interdict the entrance of our ports to belligerent vessels, armed
or unarmed, and lay a tax of fifty per centum on their manufactures.
Great Britain must, then, either go to war or treat with us. If she was
inclined to go to war in preference to revoking her Orders in Council,
let her do so. But he was inclined to believe that she would treat.
If she seized our vessels, however, the effect would be inevitable.
Division amongst us would be done away, all would unite heart and hand
in war. Mr. W. replied to a number of the observations of Mr. QUINCY,
particularly in relation to his position that all obstructions ought to
be removed with a view to negotiation. He asked, what security had the
United States, if they did all this, if they submitted to such abject
humiliation, that Great Britain would treat? Was it to be expected that
she would treat more liberally with us, when we solicited as slaves,
than she would while we magnanimously contended for our rights? The
gentleman from Massachusetts, when repeating his creed, had forgotten
a part, viz: "Unfurl the banners of the Republic against the imperial
standard!" This would complete a project he had lately seen proposed
from the East; and, as to its application, coinciding with the wishes
over the water, would be just such a project as Mr. Canning might
dictate. "Revoke your proclamation, remove the embargo," and "unfurl
the republican banners against the imperial standard." Mr. W. concluded
a speech of an hour and a half in length, with giving notice that he
should move to amend the bill, when the present motion was decided,
by striking out all that part of it relating to non-intercourse, and
inserting a provision interdicting the entrance of our harbors to any
vessels of Great Britain and France, and imposing an additional duty on
all goods imported from those countries.

When Mr. W. concluded, the committee rose, and obtained leave to sit
again.

THURSDAY, February 16.

                          _Additional Duties._

The House resolved itself into a committee of the Whole, on the
bill for imposing additional duties on all the goods, wares, and
merchandise, imported into the United States.

The bill was amended so as to take effect "from and after the passage
thereof."

The proposition offered by Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS, when the bill was before
under consideration, was withdrawn.

Mr. COOK renewed the proposition, viz: to confine the duties to be
increased, to goods imported from Great Britain and France, and the
colonies of either; and spoke an hour and a half in support of his
motion, and in opposition to the non-intercourse system. He was
in favor of discriminating duties, because he was opposed to the
non-intercourse, which he considered the best means of depressing
our navigating interest and advancing that of Britain; because the
produce of the United States would be carried to some place of depot
in the vicinity, and thence be carried to Europe in British bottoms,
while a large proportion of American shipping would be inactive. He
thought that, under the arming system, we could trade with at least as
much honor and with much more profit than under the non-intercourse
system. He contended that the non-intercourse system was precisely
calculated to destroy that moral principle which had heretofore so
strictly enforced our revenue laws; that the system of restriction
was partial, operating so equally on the people of the South, that no
individuals particularly suffered from it, while in the North and East
individuals were ruined by it, and thus a general distress produced;
that it would be the most discouraging act to the mercantile interest,
ever passed by the Government, for it would throw the trade in all
the produce kept in the country by the embargo into foreign hands at
the expense of the American merchant; that the system could not be
enforced with so extensive a frontier and seacoast as we possess; that
it was a measure calculated to produce irritation on foreign nations,
without having the least coercive effect; that it was a political
suicide, without the consolation of company in it. Mr. C. was, with his
constituents, in favor of further negotiation, and a firm assertion of
our rights, which, if refused to be acknowledged, he would maintain. It
was high time to abandon visionary schemes and impracticable projects,
and to pass good, plain, common sense laws. He believed that this
discrimination of duties and arming our merchant vessels would be such
a law. He spoke more than an hour and a half.

Mr. C.'s motion was negatived by a very large majority. The committee
then rose, and reported the bill.

The amendments made in Committee of the Whole were severally agreed to
by the House; and, on the question that the bill be engrossed for a
third reading, Mr. LIVERMORE called for the yeas and nays. There were
for it 85, against it 27.

                           _Non-Intercourse._

The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the
bill for interdicting commercial intercourse.

Mr. MILNOR'S motion for striking out the first section being under
consideration--

Mr. NICHOLAS rose and addressed the Chair as follows:

Mr. Chairman: I shall not conceal or disguise my opinion; it has been
and continues to be, that when the embargo shall cease, war will be
the only proper and honorable course for this country to pursue, if
reparation shall not have been made for the injuries we have received.
Under this conviction, I proposed a resolution limiting the duration
of the embargo, and authorizing, at the same time, the issuing of
letters of marque and reprisal. I trust, sir, I shall be pardoned for
expressing the deep regret and affliction I feel for the failure of
a measure so important in my judgment, to the best interests of my
country. I voted for the embargo as a precautionary and as a coercive
measure. In its first character, its wisdom must be admitted by
all. Its effects as a coercive measure would, I believe, have been
equally certain, if the misconduct of some of our own people, and
the revolution in Spain, had not impeded its action. Unless we were
determined to persevere in our claims for redress, and to assert our
rights, the embargo, even as a measure of precaution, was unnecessary.
It gave no protection to our property abroad, it gave it no security
on its way home, it only preserved it after its return. When the
injuries of which we complain were inflicted, our choice was between
submission and resistance. We determined to resist, and commenced our
resistance by laying an embargo, with the hope that it might of itself
induce the belligerents to do us justice; and if this expectation were
disappointed, that we might prepare for war, by preserving in our own
possession our essential resources--men and money. If resistance was
not our determination, I do not hesitate to say, that the embargo was
unwise and unnecessary. If we intended ultimately to abandon our rights
without another effort, we should have suffered less both in reputation
and in property, by immediate submission, than by now receding from the
ground we have taken. I do not believe that a single supporter of the
embargo looked to it as the last resort of this country. For myself,
I disclaim the impression, and declare that I was ready to abandon it
for war, when its primary objects should be attained, and its coercive
power fairly tested. I have stated that I considered the return of our
citizens, the security of our property, and the employment of time
in preparation for war, as the great and more certain effects of the
embargo. All these advantages we have derived from it. I believe it
is time to change our measures, and to place our future reliance upon
Providence, and upon the energies and valor of our citizens. Upon this
point, however, I think with a minority. There has been a vote of this
House against immediate war. Under these circumstances what ought I to
do? I must either vote against every expedient which falls short of
what I deem the most proper course, or assent to that which accords
most with what I think right. If it were my individual concern, I
should certainly rely upon my own judgment: but when every thing dear
to my country is at stake, I cannot justify to myself a pertinacious
adherence to a proposition already rejected by a great majority, which
would hazard the loss of a measure, the best, in my opinion, that
can be obtained. After having offered what I thought the best, and
seen it rejected, I think with the gentleman from South Carolina,
that I am at liberty, and that it is my duty, to unite with others in
support of attainable measures which appear to me to be conducive to
the interest of the country. The bill upon your table appears to me to
be such a measure. It maintains our attitude towards the belligerents
better than any measure which I have heard proposed, and if it be not
the most effectual resistance, at least, it is not submission. It
continues our solemn protest against their violations of our rights;
it takes new, and in some respects, stronger grounds against them.
It excludes from our waters, ports, and harbors, all their vessels,
public and private; it excludes from our country all their products
and manufactures; and forbids our citizens to debase and degrade their
country by a commercial intercourse which would stain and pollute them
with the payment of an ignominious tribute to a foreign nation. It
reserves the great question to be decided by the next Congress, which
will be informed of the wishes of the American people; who can best
determine how far they will submit to have their rights trampled on,
at the will and pleasure of foreign nations. By keeping the question
open for their discussion, I have the utmost confidence that our
rights, honor, and independence, will be maintained. The gentleman from
Pennsylvania asked yesterday, why not repeal the embargo laws, and
provide for the enforcement of this system by a new law? In addition
to the reasons I have stated, I will mention another, which has great
weight. We are told that one of the States of this Union is about to
pass a law, imposing penalties on persons employed in the execution
of those laws within that State. I will never consent, under these
circumstances, to adopt any measure which might wear the aspect of
yielding to a threat like this. No man laments more sincerely than I
do, that the Legislature of any State should take such a step, but I
think it of the utmost importance that the Government of the United
States should maintain its authority, and that it should be ascertained
whether its measures may at any time be embarrassed by the Legislatures
of one or more States, or its laws annulled by their authority. Such
could not, I believe, have been the impression either of the people
or of the States when the General Government was formed; and if this
conduct be persevered in or submitted to, it will, in effect, supersede
the Government, and must speedily terminate in its dissolution. I
hope and trust that the wisdom and patriotism of the Legislature of
Massachusetts will not permit such a law to be enacted. Otherwise,
I do not doubt that the people at the Spring elections, will choose
men solicitous to heal, by every means within their power, the wounds
inflicted on the constitution. It is a painful duty to notice this
subject. I have ever been devoted to the Union of the States. I would
cherish and support it at every hazard, and would sacrifice to its
preservation every thing but the rights and liberties of one section,
in compliance to the wishes of another. On such conditions it would
be vassalage, not union. To yield in the present instance, would be
yielding the Government to a minority. It is not practicable, however,
to act upon the subject during the present session, nor do I wish it.
I have the utmost confidence in the people of Massachusetts, and have
no doubt but that their good sense will apply the proper corrective. If
they do not, it will then remain for the other States, after giving to
the subject the solemn and deliberate consideration which it merits, to
decide whether they have a Government or not, whether it is compatible
with their happiness and interests to preserve a Government whose acts
are binding on them only who are willing to obey them; whether they
will submit that the public officers of the United States shall be
punished for the faithful performances of their duty.

I have confined my observations within as narrow limits as possible.
It is not now necessary to speak of our injuries, of the necessity of
resistance, nor even of the superior advantages of any particular mode
of resistance; for it is, I believe, a very prevalent opinion in this
House, as well as with the nation, that we have already deliberated
enough, and that it is incumbent on us to act. I will, therefore, very
briefly notice some objections I have heard to the bill. It is urged
that our products will find their way to Great Britain and France,
but certainly to Great Britain, by circuitous routes, and that we
shall derive less profit from them on that account, than if a direct
intercourse were permitted. This cannot be denied, nor is there a man
who would not prefer a free trade with the whole world, if it could
be enjoyed upon equal and honorable terms, to a commerce so limited
and shackled as ours is at this time by the belligerent edicts. The
question is not now how we can most advantageously avail ourselves of
a momentary commerce, but how we can assert the national sovereignty,
and best secure the permanent interests of the United States. No
gentleman, I presume, will contend that it is better for us to permit
a disgraceful intercourse with any nation, than to endure a temporary
privation, until we can trade on fair and honorable terms. Gentlemen
cannot delude themselves with any expectation of advantage from the
commerce now allowed to us. The two most valuable products of this
country must ruin and beggar those interested in their culture--I mean
cotton and tobacco. It is well known that the quantity of tobacco
annually produced, is fully equal to the annual consumption, and that
we have now two crops on hand; while the edicts of Great Britain and
France are continued, it would be folly to cultivate this plant, and it
is more or less true of every other product of our soil. If we were at
war with these nations, our products would reach them through the same
circuitous channels into which they will be forced by this law, but
certainly that consideration would not be deemed a good argument for
permitting direct intercourse with our enemies. As to the difficulty
of excluding their products and manufactures, it is very possible that
we may not be able to do it entirely, but I am satisfied that we shall
do it essentially. The great avenue through which British goods can be
most easily smuggled into this country is Canada, and that, I doubt
not, will soon be closed if the edicts be not rescinded. The present
state of things cannot long continue; I have no hesitation in saying
that it ought not, and that the next Congress must either abandon the
contest, or resort to more effectual means for the maintenance of our
rights than commercial restrictions and prohibitions. The gentleman
from South Carolina, whose eloquence I admire, and whose patriotism
I honor, speaks of this measure as submission, and considers that
which he proposed as resistance--not indeed as the measure of his
choice, but as the one which is next to it in his estimation. It
must be obvious to the House, and I am sure it will be equally so to
the gentleman himself, that if his system would be resistance, the
course indicated by the bill has in that view superior merit. The
gentleman acknowledges the principal advantage of his plan to consist
in this, that it would deprive British vessels of the transport of
our produce; if it can be shown that this object will be accomplished
more effectually by the bill in its present form than by the proposed
alteration, it is fair to expect for it his support. If this plan were
adopted, Great Britain would regain her full share of the transport of
our produce by augmenting the duties in favor of her own bottoms to
an amount that would be an indemnity for a short voyage, by opening
the port of Halifax, and another port at St. Mary's, to our vessels,
and all that would then remain to our own vessels would be the profits
of the coasting trade from our harbors to those ports of deposit.
If I believed this course the most honorable and effectual mode of
resisting, I would willingly embrace it; but, sir, I can never consent
to any plan by which a direct commercial intercourse is to be produced
between this country and Great Britain and France, while their edicts
continue in force. Nor will I ever abandon the hope and belief that
my countrymen possess the manly spirit of independence, the honorable
pride and character which will disdain to barter for gold, or for a
miserable fragment of commerce, those rights which were purchased by
the valor and the blood of their fathers.

The question was taken on striking out the first section of the bill
and negatived--yeas 24.

SATURDAY, February 18.

Another member, to wit, MARMADUKE WILLIAMS, from North Carolina,
appeared and took his seat in the House.

                    _Clarkson's History of Slavery._

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from Thomas P. Cope,
offering to the acceptance of Congress, in behalf of the American
Convention for promoting the abolition of slavery and improving
the condition of the Africans, lately assembled in the city of
Philadelphia, a book, entitled "Clarkson's History of Slavery," which