Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About Augusta herald. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1799-1822 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1808)
JEEL-ULli—!! 1 -'—l— J— 1 ■■ 1 g-'l."? MR. WHITE’S SPEECH In the senate of ike United States, en Mr. Hill h*use's sosolution to repeal the Embargo laws, • Irovcrr.ber 22, ISOS, AAk. PISSIBbNT, I have lifiened with great pleasure to the gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Pope) who has just now fat down ; but although en tertained with his eloquence have not been con vinced by his arguments. I shall not follow him through the New England memorials, or ! difeufs with him the policy of anon-inter course law, as that is not the qoefiion before the fenvte ; neither ftiaii I join iflue with him as to the apparent expediency of laying an {mbargn at the last ftffion of coegrefs : but I will endeavor to fli.w that the operation of this mcafure upon the country, has been such as now calls most in-periotifly upon this bod}’ to paf3 the resolution before us. The impor tance of this fubjeft is admitted on ail fries, and the anaiety known to exist throughout eve ry feflion, and aimed in every individual of the community, in relation to the decift >n now to be had upon i*, is the foiled evidence of the Acep and unusual degree of interest univerially sett throughout the country, and attaches to the vote we are to give, the hightft rdponfibility. —Such a responsibility I am not willing to meet without afligning some of the reasons that influence my opinion. And this I (hall do the more cheerfully, as I know they will be in conformity with the sentiments of a vafl por tion of those I have the honor to represent. The embargo when laid was admitted to be a nvre experiment, but one which we were ad moniflKd not to rtfift, as it was to do great things for the United States. It was in a few months to reduce the Weft-Tndies to a state of ftarvatinn, and to bring the two great belliger ent powers of Europe to our feet. In the pro phetic language of the Prcfn’ent, it was to “ keep in lafety our merchandize, our vefTels and our featr.en, these efTcntial refourccs; and we are told on all Tides, by the numerous advocates of the measure, that it would speedily biing the French and BritiHi governments to a sense of jufiice. But has it, or is it likely to accom plifli any of these deferable objefls ? I grant you, it has kept our merchandize in safety, if by that was intended to lock up in our barner and store houses, all the produce of our coun try to rot upon our hands. And as to our dis. mantled ark-rnofed vefTrli, they are indeed de caying in safety at our wharves, presenting dai ly to the merchant a melancholy memento of his present or approaching ruin, and forming a fuitablc monument to the memory of our de parted commerce. But where are our Teamen ? Gone fir,—driven into foreign exile in search of lubfittence. The very mcafures that was to preserve them to their country has baniflied them from it, and many of them forever.— Even the vigilance and terrors of our gun-boat navy have not bern fufficitnt to confine and starve them in our ports. But, fir, the most mortifying difappointmenl we have to sustain, i« ih* total indifference with this boasted mcafure of our administration has been treated by both the belligerents. Instead of coercing them to do us just ice, we now know officially that it is neither felt, or thought of in France ; and the Britifli, so far from offering us terms on the fubjeft, will not even ask us to take it off. Here 1 will beg leave to read a short pas sage from Mr. Canning’s letter to Mr. Pinkney, I of the 23d September last, fliewiog must dif linAly the sense and determination of the Bri tifli governor nt on this fubjeft.—“ His Ma jetty (fays Mr. Canning) fees nothing in the err bar go laid on by the prtfnlent of the United States of America, which varies this original and Ctnple state of the question. If conlidered as a measure of impartial hrftility agrinft both the belligerents, the embargo appears to his majesty to have been manifeftty 11 nj ft, as, ac cording to evety principle of joftice, thatredrefs ought to ha-e been fi fl lought from the party originating the wrong : and his majtfty cannot content to buy off that hottiiity with America ought rot have extended to him, at the ex pence of a concilium made not ro America but to France. “ I f , as it has been more generally reprefer tfd by the government of the United States, the embargo is only to be confidtrrd as an inno cent municipal regulation ei hid affefls nette but the United States themselves, and with which no foreign state has any concern ; viewed in this light, his mijefty does not conceive that he has the right or the pretenficn to make any Complaint of it; and he has made none. But in this light, there appears not only no recipro city, but no afligra* ie relation bttwren the re peal by the United S resofa mea we of volnnta \y elf reflrifin.i, and the furrtnder of his majes ty ot bis tight of retaliation agsinft his cue mics.’’—Here the Embargo, as s measure of coercion or retxtia ion en our parr is 1 flicialiy trusted bv the Britifli miniflers e»en with ridi cule ; he tauntingly admits, what is unfortu nately too ’roe, that it is a regulation vchick af fects none but the Uuitrd States themselves; and tells us that his majelt* neither does n r means to complabi of i’. And abhough the gtn ie nwn from Kentucky, informs us, he has not met with, yet I have seen a recent report made by a Frtty h miniftcr :o the Emperor, in which the embargo is approved of and applauded, as w hat it reslU is, a to them, and an aft of great fc-f decision curj^rt. — Under all these cirrimift-jjiccs, and ever' gentle man knows the fs&!dj§ft*f|to be cottefi, why in the nan e of H.avth* ecntkn.e it - What bentficial etw can it produce ? country is at this matsent Skediny frcm every pore under if, wUhuifltilurunottft proff>tft ; ni probability of ui!ia,r.tiTfjwjti»'Vguie Jeaft pot fible advantage or fevuajjßvm the measure. And it is no: among difctiuragtng of the circnmftanoes beloog to the present state of thing*, that we are able to make no calculation asto t(ie probable time when w e can or mxv fee ti e end of ihe evils; for upon thelame principle, tiwr embargo is continued now, it may be Bfcmtinued for twenty or for forty years, or at HUP* ft during saewar between the two great con- powers of Europe ; which, I prefumr, no gentleman here expefts will be at an end in the life of the prefrnt Emperor of France, and as long as an Englifliman exists with the means and courage to defend the independence of his country. I am willing to believe, and do believe, w hat the honorable gentleman from Kentucky has just now in substance declared, that the gentle men who supported the Embargo laws at the last feflion upon this floor, supposed they would be speedily produftive of great and beneficial results upon our foreign relations ; that they would bring the two great belligerents, and d pccially England, to just and reasonable terms; and that there would be no occsfun for con tinuing them longer, than until they could be known on the other fide of the Atlantic. But in all this they now fee and know their mis take ; they new know, from the most authen tic sources, that these laws hive produced no alteration either in thmeonduft of France or England in relation to us: that in faft they are applauded t y nr; ana treated wi.h con tempt and dent 1 >y the other, whilfi we are ourfeives the fofftrtng and bleeding viftims of the rack upon which we vainly exptftcd to torture them. \ It is the fate of humanity to err ; the wifefi and the best of men are liable to if. And all we seek of these honorable gentlemen, now, is to come out openly, and acknowledge in the face of the nation, the egregious mistake into which they fell; and unite with ua in redtef flag the injuries, and healing the wounds they have so unnecrifarily it fllfted upon their devo ted country. I make this appeal to them with the more confidence, because I know every gentleman here has too much character and patriotilm to be influenced, by the pruie of opinion, to consistency in political error. I will submit to you, Mr. Prcfiden', w hether we have rot before us fufficient evidence to fliew that the administration themfelvcs are now convinced of the impolicy of this measure: and would willing get rid of it, if they could do fe, confidently with the charafter of infalli bility they wifti to preserve in the public opin ion. 1 deduce this conclusion from the offer they fay they have recently made to the Britifli government, to tike off the embargo, as to them, and continue it again A France, provided they would refund their orders in council. An offer, which if indeed made unincumbered with other terms, is a complete acknowledgement of a conviftion of error on the part of the ad ministration ; because, after they had fubjefted the country to all the deprivations, and ruinous tffefts of the embargo for more than fix months, it was coming to the precise ground we were requested to take in relation to France, by the Britifli government, a year before the embargo was laid, in the famous note of lords Holland and Aocland, to Messrs. Monroe ar>u Pinkney, accompanying the Bririfn trea y fir tned by those gentlemen. Ail they theii asked of us was, that we (hould “ not atquiifce in the palpable violations of our rights direftcrl by the Berlin decree if attempted to be enforced but surely they could not have contemplated! more, than if France did attempt to enforce that decree, we would inferdift all intercourse w ith her, and Continue our commerce with Great-Biitain ; which would be the efftft of the flipnlation recently proposed. This prop osition from the Britifli government, however, in December, 1806, was spurned with djfdain ; and now when the country is half ruined with the experiment of a perpetual embargo, such as I believe was never before praftifed upon any people, we condescend to beg those very terms, they refufed to grant them. Sir, the truth is, the adininiflration mr.ft now be con vinced that the embargo is injuring none but ourfeives, am) us it must eventually ruin if perfifUd in. I regret too, this propefition is made, because it has fnrniflud to Mr. Canning an opportunity of offering a most Urcaftic in sult to the government of this country. He tills Mr. Pinkney, in reply to it, “that his msjdly would not hesitate to contribute in anv manner in his power to refbre to the com merce of the United States its wonted activity : and it it were pidfible to make any facrifice for the repeal of the embargo, without appear ing to depreciate it as a measure of hostility, he would gladly have facilitated if* removal as a measure of inconvenient reftriftton upon the American people." Jiij n.ejefty! wvuid not belli>ate to contribute in any manner in his power to rettore to the commerce of the Uu tfd States its wonted aftivity, and if it were possible without r.ny facrifice, for the repeal of the em bargo, would gladly facilitate its removal ;* a meal ore of inconvenient reflrifticn upon the Ameri can people. 1 have no faith Mr. President, in the lecurity of this profelfion : but I feel most fcnfibly the feverrty of the sarcasm, as applied to a measure of our own administration, tpxt we were confidently told was to bring England to our own terms. I will now, fir, with the indulgence of rhe fenare, endeavour to examine, as conciftly as correftly as Ism capable of, the operatic! r ■ f the embargo upon the commerce and gener al prolptrity of the United States. According to the last report cf the secretary of the treatu ry, it will be found that the goods, wares and merchandize of foreign growth and manufac ture, exported from ,the United States in rhe year prio. to the firft day of Oftober, 1807, amounted in dollars to g 59,643 558. All the revenue, a'J the natioraj and commercial ttCa'r' that woold have *ritrn from this very axrerfi.e trade, is completely destroyed by the -mbargr.; it is a total loss to the country that can never be recovered. Ir. the fame report, it appears that the goods, ware* sod merchand ic, of demeftic growth and manufafture, the ac tual produce of our own country, exported from tbr U. States in the fame year, amounted in dollars to S 48,699 592. The whole com tnrrcial profits and, ion a I wealth that would k7*e arisen frem and proceeds of tl is in mtnfely vluuable produce, is for the preftnt left to the country, and a large portion of the merchandize, the produce itfelf must be forever loft, if the embargo be long continued. Ail cr nearly all of the prodeft of she fiftieriei, amounting in dollars to £ 2,804,000, as like • wife the agricultural produce ©f the country, a few articles, such as tobacco, cotton, rice, &c. exceptett, which I havenot included in this el timat* amounting in dollars to §18.621,000. making in the whole twenty-one million tour hundred and twenty five thousand dollars that must he forever loft to the fifhcrrran, the far mer and the merchant, beeaufe thev are arti cles of a perifliable kind, such as fifh, whra:, flour, indian meal, flax letd, beef, pork. &c. that will not admit of being kept on hand for a j market. So that if the embargo be now con j tinued, the eoumry in fadt may be laid already J to have fuftaineri a <lear lots, in her native pro • duce only, of more than twen’y-orJe millions <>f dollars by the measure : btfides the dut's that would have arisen from near a million and half of tonnage now idle in our dorks —and the im mense expense of large detachments of militia, regular troops and a fleet of gun-boats >o en force the laws. And'lo obnoxious are thole jaw:, that although to enforce their execution we have blockaded our own ports, and hung our citizen*, they are £1:11 openly refilled by fortft, and seriously endanger the domestic tranquility of the country. But fir, it is to be ofcfsrved, that the aftual loss fuilained during the embargo, is not the only evil arising from it; another more permanent is to be apprehen ded. It will have the cff.A of throwing the commerce of the world into other and different channels of inducing foreign nations to ftek in other countries, what they have heretofore been in the habit of purchasing from us, and what we now deny them. In the Angle article of cotton for instance, we now’, or did export more than fourteen millions of dollars worth annuallv, and principally supplied the Britifli manufaftories with this articles; but it is well known that the foil and climate of the Brazils is equally congenial to the growth of this crop wish our own, and with due attention to the cultivation of it, is capable of fnpplyiog abun dantly all the manufactories of England—Sure ly then I (lull be correct in dating that the embargo is a premium fufficient to stimulate them to this exertion, and to enable them ulti mately to supplant us in the sale of.this very valuable staple of iome of our southern dates. And the intimate connection known at prefen', to exist between the Britifli government and the regency of that country, will greatly aid in producing this result. [To be concluded in our nex/.] Late and Important. 0 " NEW-YOIK, DEC. J. On Saturday night arrived here the British packet Manchester, capt. Davies, with the October mail. She failed from Falmouth on the 12'h of O&ober. By the packet the editors of the New-York Gazette have received London papers to the ioth of Oftober, thirteen days later than our former accounts. Our readers will perceive by the extra&s which we have given that Gen. Blake has re captured Bilboa after a severe battle with the French—the latter loft 2000 men killed and wounded, and 3000 prisoners, with a great part of their baggage loft—Napoleon has prohibited the introdo&ion of all colonial produce com ing into France from Holland and Spain, by a decree of the 6:h of September. Buonaparte left St. Clcud on the 23d of September, and was to have an interview with the emperor Alexander at Erfurth : it was said that theem ptror of Aufttia and King of Prufßa were invi ted to he of the party —Sir Arthur Wellefly and Gen. Ferguson with their ftaff, had returned to England from Portugal j and the Ruffian fleet from Lifb.m had arrived in England. The ex pedition under Sir David Baird failed from Fal mouth on the g;h of October. The famous Horne Tooke, died in England the beginning of O&ober. By the Packet we have received a copy cf Gen. Prevoft’s speech to the Aflembly of the province of Nova Scotia, wherein he fays— “ That in obedience to his M-jefty’s com mands he should fliortly proceed on a particu lar foreign service ; and that in his absence the duties of his office would devolve on the Hon. Alexander Croke.” From this speech wt have copied the follow ing important passage : “ When I turn my thoughts to the affairs of this province, I find much to congratulate you upon:—We can now fully and fairly esti mate the effects of the Embargo, so long and so rigorously imposed on tfie commerce of the United States, by the government of that coun try. The manner in which their general re ftriCfions of trade has been carried into execu tion, leaves no doubt as to the real cbjeCf in tended to be accomplished by it. Theprojtft has totally failed ; and the British nation has derived fufficient experience from the measure, ■ ' be convinced, that her colonies and com merce can be as little effected by the Embargo of America, as by the blockading decrees of France. New sources ha.se been resorted to with success, to supply the deficiencies produ ced by so sudden aomterrugjhpmgof commerce, and the *aft iocreafe of fcfjd exports of I tins province proijßc is a j measure well adapted to promote the n ;<v .-nil of his Majcfty’s North American co lonics.” ' - - * EfT 27. A letter from an Cot ton’s fleet, fays—“ \Wfrc more in the dark in Portuguese politicks are. Capt. Hol fam dined a fe w days agtFwiih general Junot. He has made us flare with an account of the princely magnificence of the general’s house. Every room is hung with crimson velvet and gold fringe. All the generals are covered with gold lace and fta& of different order*. The dinner was served up in gold plate of immense weight.—Captain Holfam w*s plentifully fer ved'-with the richest wines, and ail bis ex pressions were most closely watched. Sir C. Cotton did not choose so commit bimfelf but tent Capt. Holfam. We cannot conceive that Sir Charles will fuffer the plundered proper!? ?o be lent to France. No convention can ju'.ti iy it. Our con mantling tffners wouk* sub jtft tbrmfelves to equal deuftatioh as ihe French ; lor is not be that ptimits, as bad as he that commits, the crime ?” CORRUNNA, fCTOBER I. Burges was evacuated on the sad ull. by the French, after fpikir.g their artillery, ard de firoying their powder. The next operation will be ay.ainft St. Sebaflian. Fnirt the fit na tion of affairs, a great battle mutf fnon take place, uniefs the Fttnch retire altogether. Reinforcements ere pouring in upon Blake’s army every day. To-morrow we expeft i 30,000 troops, rarf of which are Enghfli ; and leme from Portugal are on tbe'r wav to join him. Tbe arch :fhop of 1 oltdo (D ( n Louis de Bourbon, nephew to Charles the IV. and cousin to Ferdinand) wiil, it is thought, be elefied regent of the kingdom. Ihe Conde de Fiorida Bianca, who had. been chooien ad inte rim, is a man greatly attached to the Engifb. The Spar.ifh troops under the Marquis de la Romana arrived off this island la ft night, and have been ordered for Santander 2nd Biibca. MADRiD, SLFT. 1 7. Gen. Cuefta is named commander in chief of the army of Arragon and Caftilc, at the re queff of Gen. Palafox- Major-gen. Lord Wil liam Bentictk arrived here the day before yes erday. The houses and remaining effe&s of those who went away with Joseph Napoleon, and other persons devoted to the French, have been seized by order of the government. ST. SKLASBIAN, SEPT. $. The day before yesterday a Spaniard arrived here, who left Paris nine days ago ; they fa y there are no troops in that city but the guards of honor, which he saw reviewed by Napoleon, and that in his whole pailage from that capital* to Bayonne he did not meet more than 7 or 800 men ; yet the French papers, lying, as uiual, fay that zoo,ooo men conveyed in 10,000 car riages are on their way to Spain. REYNOSA, SEPT. 2. We have received intelligence that the 4'h division of our army, under the command of the Marquis of Poruzgo, had entered Bilboa, after a strongly contested adfion of three hours sgainii 2000 French, a number of whom were killed, and the rest escaped to Vittn ria. On our fide we had fomt wounded. W» have taken the greater part of the baggage of Maflhrado, who was with that division of the French, and made his escape with them* To morrow we expert the particulars. NEWBURY PORT, November 22. Extrafl of a letter Jtom a Mania of Congress , received in this town , dated “ Washington, Nov. ia. “ I regret I have it not in inv power to give you more agreeable intelligence relative to our public affairs; but I deem it a duty to give my ccnftitucnts fitch information as I, have in so momentous a orfis. I have believed for near h a year pall, that the United States could not . continue in * wi.i. France during the war between England and that nation —I am now confirmed in this opinion beyond all doubt—lt wili ;v>t Sow be denied that the French Em per cur has declared that •we mult either be his “allies cr enemies” and that the government have been in pcffdlion of this information for many months. The letter of Mr. Armstrong of the 28 nos August lartf, fhttws how hopeless he attempts to negociate. You may rely upon the faft and Jlate of the declaration of Buonaparte. Will the United States choose u war with Great-Britain ? Every sensible man will fay not —and Buonaparte has fixed the alternative ; and he has got into his policlfion one hundred million of francs, which he holds as a pledge to compel us to follow his wishes. Nothing can be more treacherous and dishonest than his condu&—but he is a man who knows no laiy bat his own will, and the laws of honesty and morality make no part of his code.—With Great-Britain we might easily make a fet'.lensent of all matters of our country—-at lead itappesrs so to me—and the idea of coercing Great-Brit ain by our embargo is the most idle imaginable, and fliculd it be continued until all our feapott towns are oeftroyed, and the inhabitants be come beggars, it will not alter the case an iott —it is folly in the extreme, in my opinion, to tuppofe the contrary. “ With regard to England, the bone of con tention is the crjers in council—and the ob jeftion is that they make the United State* tributary to Great-Britain. This paying trib ute founds as it ought, very dilagreeable to our ears. “ No man would more ftrenuoufiy objeft to paying tribute than I should—and the trib ute paid to the Barbary powers was always de tellable to me, though perhaps the best thing the government could o*o. But let us examine how the operation would be as to paying trib ute to Great-Britain if the embargo were off; That government fays, France is blockaded, but if you come to certain ports of my domin ion, you may then go to France, upon paying a duty upon certain article*.—but you (hall not go direst Hfefrance, so long as her decrees are in force for blockading my dominions. The thing to be coropained of, is the blockading decree, the other if it could be carried into es- J fe<S,*it isTPyelaxatioo, but the whole of this inoperative, for it is certain that no I vOTfel can go from England to France—and fas I have before ftaied) a war with France is ievitable—even if we may not now be (aid to be at war with her. “ We are therefore under no necessity of paying tribute, and the orders in council as to us, mull be merely nominal where then is the policy or wildom to be contending about 2 pundiiio (for it can be called nothing better) when our commerce is at flake, and we fight with such inefluient weapons? We may 00 on impoverishing ourselves until the deftrudtion of our whole commerce is inevitable, and still be as far from the end proposed as we were at firft. The opinion I formed iaft winter of the only fafe course we can pursue, remains utifha ken—or rather I aat cor.tkmed in ia by fuble quent events.”
