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About Augusta herald. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1799-1822 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1806)
*X S > >^3 cross (um appropriated for that blanch of the public service r/>y per cent ! And if this ij a foecimen of the yearly cost of hulk* rotting in the mud, what estimate can you make of the difburfments in rime of aflual war against a powerful maratime fhte when your seventy fours are ready for sea ? This is naked truth. It rests on figures —if it be not true, how comes it that we have parted two appropriation hws to the amount of G* hundred thousand dollars, during the prefeut feflion, to cover the raw deficiencies of thelaft year—almofl the on |v bills that we have parted. Yes, fir, lam for paying one debt off (the coff of a former war) before I enter into another and score up a lec ouj, 1 confefs mylelf to be among the num ber of those politicians (gentlemen nny stile them viftonary if they please) who hailed the President of the United Sta'es as the political M e ffUh, sent to convince an unbelieving world that a debt once funded, might be paid off', without the intervention of a fpunge. If in this I was visionary, at least I was not alone The promise has been large, the nation calls for its performance. Look at the measures of the government, and when you reckon the Louisiana debt, that created under the Britirti treaty and some others, it will appear that you have nearly (cored up as much new debt as you have paid < ff of the old. I speak of princi pal : paying the interest of a debt is not dimin idling it—-and my friend from Pennfvlvania (Mr. J. Clay) muff have taken the interest into his large account of vefterday. The amount of principle redeemed is Jess than 1 3,000,000. If gen'lemen deny this, let them rcler 10 the trralury ftaiements laid before us at the opening of the leffion, or call upon the head of that department to state the amount of debt paid and created, wiihin the Jaft five years. But you will be told, for your money you have value received, at least.—This I freely acknowledge. I would have given the sum for the Delta of the Mitbliippi, if it could not have been honorably acquired for less. Os whom did we purchafe—from Spain who bad wrongfully with held our right <ri depofi ? So far from i', that we tell her (lie has yet to make latisfadion for that injury and infulr; —we bring it into account agaift her—No, fir, we purchased from France, the rightful pro prictor, against whom we then had no ftibjeft of complaint. I am accufcd by the gentleman from Penn sylvania, fMr. Smilie) this I suppose is a fpe cimen ol his candor—(l am reluftant to fay artv thing wltilft he is absent—l am (orry he has fl.ri his fea tj —of dtlignedly parting over one of the most important confiderattons pre fentert by the prrfent fubjeft —the imprejfmcnt ts our teamen. Ami vet what did- that gentle man tell you ? That he himielf (long as he had trefpall don your time) had been com pelled to omit many important things, that he Intended to fay. This realifes the proverb. " One man miv fleal a horse, whilst another mult not look over the hedge.” I will tell the gentleman, if I did omit this topic, I had scarcely thrown myfelf into the carriage that conveyed me borne, before I recwlle&ed and regretted it. The gentleman may Cay what he pleales, but he never had, no ntan ever shall have cause to upbraid me with Hutching from any queltion that may be brought on this floor. Now, fir, let gentlemen lay their hands upon their hearts and answer sincerely if they do believe this resolution has the power to take one American seaman out of a Britiftt fltip of war? Are gentlemen hostile to impediment, and yet friendly to a naval war, to Ivllems which mult eventuate in the introduction ol this fyltenri at home, in the (übverfion of our liberties :—Let them examine the profound argument of judge Foster on this fubjefl. Tlicv will find that Great-Britain is compelled to resort to it, to maintain her naval power and her e.\ tence. And tt is becaule lam oppof ed to refortmg to the fame expedient (for will any man pretend that a great navy can be manned without recurring to it ?) becaule I think it abhorrent to the genius of a free peo ple, that I am against ritflt tig into that naval war, into which gentlemen w iflt to precipitate us. No, fir, you cannot Command Teamen for vour navy, in time of war, without iro prcflmeot —The wealth ol Croesus could not in (lain the expence, and even if (hat objeflion could he rtmoved, the operation by enlist- Oient is too tardy to meet a sudden emergency. If you have difficulty in procuring fcamrn to lerve in the Mediterranean, what will be the case in aw ar against F.ngland. With all their braverv many a man who would willingly meet the corsairs, or even the Dm* ami Mon lirurs, would ferl rcluflant to be led to battle against * Bnnfh fleet—and why, fir ? Because, waving other considerations. a great proportion of our teamen are foreigners—natives of Great- Britain, who fttllleel prejudices for their par ent coun rv. Y.s, fir, the charatrier of the American ieamen, like that of the neutral trader, too often eludes our grasp. The mo ment you make war, much more if you resort to impediment, ihe American faiior vamfttes, he becomes a fubjeiS to Denmark with the firft froft, he disappears in a night. But if I did not mifundtrfhnd the gentleman from I’enniyKania, he (aid that 1 had treated the House in a manner of which, fir, I trust 1 am incapable of arting towards anv affembiy, much less one of your dignity. Am i indeed lb ignorant of the feelings of imn ? Os the char ader and comport'ion of this Houle ? No, fir, 1 have spoken of certain projetris and their pro jrflors in language such on'}* as 1 think they de serve, aud in which, claiming the lame liberty w hich that gentleman urges and exufls, I will ever speak of I’ucbab.tm! «r.J f"thiol ft Items. The authors arc no douot itvmfted in diffjf ing the ridiculoua burthen of their disgrace as w idely as polfible. I cannot blame them for it, fir—’(is natural to wifli for partners in our ftume. But the great political fin, for which 1 have been denounced by the gentleman from Penniylvania, is the opinion which I have exprtrtedof a certain book, which fecons to be h *|politica! Bible. Aod, fir, he wouid have k me emtfidered at ao inconsiderate person, who w-ultl not tcrupk to call Locke a dunce, New* > * \ ton a driveller and Franklin a journeyman prin ter ; and in an oracular law he has pronounced that this bock will live when he and I too are laid in our graves. But when he confiders his ow n age, and the frailty of my constitution, he will confefs that he has allowed but a fti >rt span for the existence of his favorite work. But even though it ftiould live when we are wafting in the Glent tomb, there is nothing in my compoGtion that aspires to being considered as its author. Who is the author ? Does the gentleman know ? Must we have femi-official authority, even for a title page ? No, Gr, what ever o’hers may think I have no ambition to have written luch a book as this. I adjure the very idea. Unless my understanding has abandoned me, it involves an abandonment of the very dotririne for which the writer con tends. Sir, the very curlory view which I took of this fubjeit yeltcrdav will compel me into some repetitions, but I must beg to be in dulged in some additional remarks. What is the deflrine ? “ In times of peace among all nations, their commercial intercoorfe is under no other reftriflion3 than what may be imposed Ivy their refpcriive laws, or their mutual compacts.— No one or more nations can justly control the commerce between any two or more of the others. “ When war happens between any two or more nations, a question arifrs, in w hat refpeft it can effeft the commerce of nations not en gaged in the war ? “ Between the nations not engaged in the war, it is evident that the commerce cannot be affefted at all by a war between others. “ As a nation not engaged in the war re mains in the fame relations of amity and of commercial pursuits, with each of the belliger ent nations, as existed prior to the war, it would seem that the war could not affeft the inter course between the neutral and either of the belligerent nations, with the fame freedom as if no war had arisen as the general rule, is fuffi ieotly eftabliftied.” Here is a faint endeavour to eftablifli the principle that free fh : ps make free goods—But the writer, as if dtfpairing of his ability to eff £t it, goes on to fay—“ But in as much as the trade ol a neutral nation with a helliger ent might in certain fpeeial cases ;ffr<ri the fafety of i’s antagooifts, usage founded on the principle of necrlfitv has admitted a few ex ceptions to the g-neral rule”—” usage” foun ded on what ? Reason ?—Right ?—N >, fr, on that law which admits nothing to control it —“ Neceflity,” that cannot stoop to argument. If once you admit that neceflity ought, can, or does eftablifli exceptions to this broad rule, do you not admit all that the Britfli dmririne requires? But, fle, it will be laid that the foie legitimate proof of this neceflity is usage. —But usage must have had a beginning, and the trii&il prote&ion which this argument affords is thrown away by the fubfeqnent admission, that a change in circumstances f“ in the course of commerce ,” for instance) will juftify a departure from eftablilhed maxims, will warrant the com mencement of a new ufuage. As if al! the articles contraband of war, were minutely fpe cified—and by a change in she maxims and implements of war, new and more tecrihle in struments of annoyance ftiould be fabricated ; would they not fall under the head of con traband ? And is it not deinonftrable that a diretri trade to France, in gun-powder, or anv other article contraband ol war, would be less beneficial to her and less injurious to Iter ene my, than the colonial trade nowindifpute—and is not (according to this writer's acknowledge ment) the lefler principle involved in the great er ? Am I therefore the apologist of England ? I scorn to boast of my patriotism :—it is indi genous. And when lam reduced so low as to plead to the charge of want of iqve to my country, of natural affuriion to my birth place my pride will tell me to bid you farewell, to go home and hide my shame. Am I the apol ogist of Bri'ain, becaule your cattle has been wtakly defended, or treacherously betraved ? I No, fr, this “ Examiner ts Iter apologist. I have not minutely diffeflrd the work—-There was no occasion for it. It is something like the edifice we inhabit. ’Tis hardly worth while to be examining friz-s and cornices and architraves and stucco work, when you know the foundation to be rotten, whilst the building is tumbling about our ears and we are obliged , to fe<*k reluge tn another. It is not, indeed, , Gr, worth w bile to consult the orders of archi teflure in a miserable card house of an argu men', which the firft puff of wind must de molish. ■••Vlilli Sir, the admiflion, that a change of circmr- Ibnces will juftifv a departure from the eflat»- liih:d maxims amongst nations, was an unne cellary and fatal conceHicn not called for bv the nature of the cale—What is “ the course of commerce,” now ? Totally changed in a few Hiort years, The marine of France, Spain and Holland, whether for the purpofc of trade •>r war, is no more. They have no longer navigation, or navy. Again, amongrt a load ot quotation* from Grotius, and Puffendorf, and thr Lord knows w ho, we are told it is the dun f the neutral tooblerve the ftriehft im pertiahty “ to behave him'elf alike to both thr beiigerent parties.” But is it to bthave alike to both parties to carrv for him who cantio carry tor hitnlelf, to throw the AC sis of neutrality over a commerce which he can no longer pro red to lave him all the danger, expense and | rtfk of con »oy and war insurance. This is a hollow, Delphic reciprocity :—reciprocity to the ear, but not to the fente. It you carry contraband, or attempt to enter a blockaded port, you are liable to capture. Why? Be cauiejuft fied by neceilitv. As to the motives of the neutral merchant, they are out of the quelfion. Hiso no doubt like that of every other trader under the fun, is gain. He hr, is too often the mere emphemeron, the but terfly of the dav, who does not care one far tiling wheth*r von are at war with this or that nation, with E -gland or with France, provided he esn get good returns. His bulinefs is to post his books and balance the ledger, and whether be deals with the subjects of a white emperor or a biack one, of ficnsparte f w j falines,’tis all one to him. No uou > » is the right of the nentrsl to P ur,uc ’ B . will, he ought to pursue his can mlereft. it is the right of a belligerent (as conceded y this writer) to enquire how iar tuc 1 p comes into colhfion with his intere s an fafety. The motive of the neutral may not behoftility to either party engaged in war, but his own benr fit. This however wi notin fluence the belligerent ration, who takes up the quertion foleiy with a view to its tfkft on itfelf. What wijl Great Britain fay '—that the exigency exift‘—it has occurred jiaguinie i'-llt, that the neceliity admits of no delay, that you yourselves have abandoned the queition in dispute, and even if you have not, tha. (he cannot consent to fit down quietiv, and be extirpated from the face of nations, out of com plaiiance to grotius or Bynkerfhock, or in de ference to the unknown author of this pam phlet, although he fliould exceed Bacon in gen ius, or Newton in intenhty of thought. I must defend myfrlf, the knife is at my throat I have no more time for argument, but if you insist upon it I will fight you. Sir, I have tri ed, but I could not get through this work, I found it so wire drawn —the thread so fine that I could neither fee nor feel it, —such a tan gled cobweb of contradiftiom that I was obliged to give it up. The firff thing that struck me on opening it was the peculiar infe licity with which it had surrendered the mat ter in dispute. And if this appeared at once, to my unlearned eyes, do gentlemen suppose it will not be detested on the other fide of the Atlantic.—That it will receive no abler exami nation there, than the feeble and cursory one that I have given it. And after ai!, what does it contain ? A remedy for the evil ? No, a formal declaration that we are diseased.—Sir, we wanted no ghost to icil us that. It requir ed no extraordinary exertion of learning, or genius, to fliew, that we bad indeed, delicatt lubjefts of difference with Great-Britain ; —the question is how fliall they be adjusted. We warn the opinion of the doftor, on the mode of treatment, and don’t choose to be referred to theapotliecary, because the luperior does not choose to r.fk his reputation in a dubious case. A gentleman from Penniylvania has told us that Great-Britain is our commercial rival. But does not the gentleman know that the very term implies a cor-relative. That if file is vour commercial rival, yon are her commer cial rival also. This is the very view that I have tjecn endeavouring, to take of the fubjtft, to impress on the committee ; to warn the na tion again ft being drawn into a war of com mercial rivaifinp. Sir, when men fall out about worn, n they are not apt to call in fomc learned Ur.ftor to decide the dispute—they yield to feeling or inftmft—juft fowith nations, commercial nations eipeciaily differing on inttreft, which is their inftinft.—And would gentlemen wifli to excite this young nation, as vet in the gristle, to a forcing contest with Grear-Biitain, in the full strength of manhood ? I speak of foreign war. The will and ability to defend ourselves is one thing,—to aft 3 000 miles off, mother. Thev may rely as much as they please upon the French emperor’s ma king a separate peace with the continent, to the exclusion of Great-Britain. If fhc puts out her strength. you wili feel it. This propo rtion will fubjtft her to all the evils of an American war without any of the concomi tant advantages. Andean you expeftatame aiquiefcence on her pan ? If her minister be not a bastard ; if he has one drop of the blood of Chatham in his veins he will die contending for the liberties of his country foonerthan surrender her independence. He will do it. No fir, whatever I may think of the vices and corruptions of the government of that country, I must applaud her intelli gence and spirit, must acmire her ability, wjldom and strength. [Concluded in our next ] From the National Intelligencer. APRIL 23. The two Houses of Congress brought their fittings to a close on Monday night at about eleven o’clock, when an adjournment took place to the fi ft Monday in December. The Getting of Monday was continued from ten o’clock in the morning until eleven in the evening with onlv the intermiflion of one hour. Too much business was tranfafted to enable us to give a detail of it in this paper. The moll important measures adopted were, The paftage of a bill for continuing until the end of the next feflion the Mediterranean fund, disconncflcd from the repeal of the fait tax, the Senate having acthearJ to their dilagreemem to the last objeft of the bill. The paftage of the naval peace eftablifliment bill. The p.nflhge of % biii for the temporary relief of Hamet Caramalii, allowing him 2,400 dol lars. The paftage of the bill icr the payment of all the witnefles fumtnoned on the trial of Judge Chafe—the Houle of Representatives having receded from their amendment. The indefinite postponement of the report of the committee of enquiry on the official conduft of Gideon Granger, Puft Master Ge neral. But that business, w hich excited mull at tention, mingled with, perhaps, becoming w armth, was the presentation by Mr. Qjincy of two memorials, one from Samuel G. the other from William Smith, of the city ol New-York. The memorials are verv long, and give a minute detail of the circumstances alierfged to have attended the expedition of Miranda ; acknowledge the participation of the memo rialifts in the enterpize ; and declare it to have been their imprelfion that the expedition was countenanced by the implied fauftion of the Prefjdent and Secretary of State. The memo rialifts further complain of the unjust and illegal proceedings of the circuit court of New- York. The memorials are couched in lan guage uncommonly acrimonious, and aferibe to the public agents unworthy am 4 , impure mo tives. After the reading of thef* memorials an in terfiling debate ensued, whose length forbids ils insertion in this day ’s paper. We fliall only, at present, attempt a brief tketch, reserv ing its full detail for a future paper. Mr. Lyon reprobated the flyle and contents of the petition, and moved that the petitioners ftiould have leave la withdraw their petition. Mr. Williams, of New-York, inveighed in terms of strong indignation againfl the nature and tendency of the attempt, he pronounced it unprecedented, while a prosecution was coiant 'mdue, lor the accused to come forward, and attempt to wrest their case from a legal tribu nal; declared his total difbelief of the charges* criminating the executive, and spoke with the greatest empbafis of the enormity of the effort of men thus fitnated to disseminate suspicion with regard to the motives of the executive government, and laid it was ridiculous to ima gine that any legislative enquiry could be made on the verv last day of the fefiicn. Mr. Quincy rose to explain. He said he deemed it his duty to present the memorials, declaimed ail intention to caff a cenlure on the adrmniftration ; but he thought, considering the fails alledged by the memorialifls, it was proper to make an enquiry; and r*Jed that from circumllances known to gentlemen on the floor, the executive had been advised of the fitting out of the Leander time enough to have prevented her failing, Mr. Quincy was followed by Meffcrs. Smi lie, and Rhea of Tennetfee, who delivered opinions nearly the lame with those of Mr. Williams. Mr. Jackson then rose, and pronounced the memorials a ttffue of falfehoods and calumnies bafelv intended to defame the government, and denied that the executive had pofltlfed ,«he in formation dated by Mr. Quincy. After a few remarks from Meffers. Mum ford, Mailers, and Bidweli, Mr. Early offered the following refoiution. Resolved, That the charges contained in the memorials of S. G. Ogden and William Smith are, in the opinion of this House, unsupported by any evidence which in the lead degree criminates the executive government of this country —that the said memorials appear t« have been presented at a time and under cir cumdances insidiously calculated to excite un just suspicions in the minds of the good people of this nation against the existing adtniniftra tion of the general government —and that it would be highly improper in this House to take any step which might influence or pre judice a caul'e now depending in a legal tribu nal of the U. S.—therefore, Resolved, that said memorials be by the Clerk of this Houle return ed to those from whom they came; Mr. Clark required the previous question, which was taken by Yeas and Nays, as follows} “ shall the main question be now put”—Yeas 74—Nays 15. NEW-YORK, April 21. Capt. Vose, of the Alexander from London,- informs us that on the 7th of March, in lat -49, long. 12, he spoke a British frigate, and was informed that the Bred fleet had been al! taken. This frigate was out two days from Plymouth, bound to her station, We prelume that the above squadron is that mentioned in a London paper of the 25th of February, which the British government re ceived advice of having failed from Bred a few days previous to that date. It confided of four fail of the line and a corvette. Admiral Thornborough, with five fail of the line, had failed from Cawsand bay in pursuit of them. Or—the above squadron may be that seen by the Naid frigate arrived at Falmouth the 4th of Feb. which confided of 9 fail of the line. When the Naid loft fight of them, an Eng lish squadron was in fight of the lame force, under the command of Sir R. Strachan. Extra/7 of a letter from New Orleans, dated March 10, to a gentleman in Philadelphia. “ In our last we mentioned that the naviga tion of the Mobile had been closed by the Spaniards againtl the Americans ; since then, the mail from Fort Stoddert has arrived, and the rider reports that Governor Foalk was at Mobile with 300 men repairing the fortifica tions, and that he (the rider) was stopped and carried before the governor, who informed him, that he was determined not to permit the United States’ post topafs through his Catholic Majesty’s dominions by land or water: we therefore apprehend that the Natchez mail will be stopped at Baton Rouge, and if so, it must cross the river below Ibberville, and again from the mouth of the Red River to Pinckneyville : this must neceffariiy occasion delay and risk of 1 mifearriape. til l IVUI a logv t “ Things with the Spaniards appear to be approaching fad to a rupture, and we are en tirely defcncelefs: the few miferabie (keleton companies of volunteers, are inefficient for the lecurity of the city from our internal foes, whilst we have nothing efT&ive to oppose any attempt the Spaniards may make. The temp- # tation is great, and the booty here will be im mense ; the two banks alone contain upwards of a million and a half of dollars in specie, and the quantity of merchandize is great. On all these points the Spaniards are perfectly inform ed.” Extiafl of a letter from the Pofi-Majier at Knv Orleans, to ii:> friend in Philadelphia, dated March 18, 1806. “ Governor Foalk. who commands in Pen sacola and its depenoencies, has fotbidden Mr. White, the person who carries the Mobile trail to land or bring a mail by water through any of his Spanilh Majesties Dominions. I wai ted- *n Gov. Claiborne who adviied me not to fend a mail by that route. If we are not permitted to carry our mail through the domin ions of his majesty, we shall for a while be ai great inconvenience, as our mail cannot go by land farther than Point Coupee. You as well as myfelf, know the fituarion of the country ; however, I will do my bell for the public good —You cnay red allured that the conaminicaiioa
