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io-rtr Asereisedj appea. GfTapv i
; justice and ‘policy’ of tfic two
t belligerent pp\; era, wliip.a arc
.■ enuilvtiviC each o'thcr in a viola
on of both. The president counts
£n your endeavors to give to this ap
peal all the effect possible with the!
British .government. General Arm
strong will be doing the same with
that of France. The relation in which
a revocation p’ its unjust decrees by
either vyill place the United States to
the other is obvious, and ought to be
a.motive to the measure,’proportioned
to the desire which has been manifes
ted by each to produce collision be
tween the United S .‘es audits adver
sary, and w hich must be equaiiy felt
bv each, to avoid one. with itself.
** Should the French government i
revoke so much of its decrees as vio
late our neutral rights, or rive exnia
nations and assurances having the like
effect, and entitling it therefore to a re
moval cf the embargo, as it applies to
Trance, it will be impossible to view
a perseverance of.Grcatßritain in her
retaliating, orders, in any oilier light
than that ofwar, without even the pre
text now assumed by her.
“ In order to entitle the British go
vernment to a discontinuance of the
crXibargo, as it applies to Great Bri
tain, it is evident tha* all its decrees,
as well those of January , 1807, as of
Koyembcr, 1807, ought to be rescin
ded, as they apply to the United States,
and this is the rather to be looked for,
from the present administration, as it
has so strenuously contended that the
decrees of both dalas were founded on
the. same principles and directed to the
same object.
“ Should the British government
take this course, you may authorise
an expectation that the president will,
w ithin a reasonable time, give effect to i
the authority vested in him, on the!
subject of the embargo laws. Should j
the orders be rescinded in part only,
it must be left to hik free judgement
to decide on the case. In cither event
you will lose no time in transmitting
the information to this department,
and to general Armstrong ; and parti
cularly m the event of such a course
being taken by the British govern
ment as will render a suspension oi the
embargo certain or probable, it will
be proper for you to make the com
munication by a courier to general
Armstrong, to whom a correspondent
instruction will be given, nd to pro
vk e a special conveyance for it hither,
unless. British arrangements shall pre
sent an opportunity equally certain
and expeditious.;’
I.VOM IKE W. C. MOJITOS.
PARTY SPIRIT.
Those unfortunate men Charles I.
ana Lewis XV 1. who lost their heads
by party spirit, w ere nevertheless de
clared by Ultir enemies as proper vic
tims oi the people; when the better
p ut, at the same time, looked upon it
with horror and indignation in both
nations.. For supposing those mcn
arehs had. unhinged the government,
the most their enemies could do with
some .shadow of reason or justice, was
to declare the government dissolved
and in a state of anarchy. In which i
St*** U are cqua- 9 and none can pre- !
tend to have a legal power over ano
ther, therefore they could pretend to
have none over those mqnarchs so as
to become their foul murderers. To
re-settle their governments, the whole
people in England and France should
have had a hand in it, whereas it was
dene by a party, and an army, which
at the same time awed those nations.
It placed at the head of each govern
ment an usurper, and established a
theory v ith all its changes and conse
quent evils. But let us not coniine
o ;r speculations at this all important
era is to political intolerance solely.
Let us enter die temple and sanctuary,
ami take a cursory view, of party spirit
in boh concerns. Shall we begin with
. U.c celebrated bishop .Athanasuis o*
confine, ourselves to councils and con
■ vai'uona f Aced vve lueuAcn the ii •
t;n- ■ •.t, an cr ir e rrzmt jvjfTA. 1 1 1
field, or the fibbets erected in Vhernia!
or New-England, or turn to die pages
of the holy founders of our creed, the
roasting of Dr. Servetus, the burning
oi the Shepherdess Joan, at Reuen,
under the imputation of witchcraft by
the British, or anv of the the holy mur- !
ders committed by James I. from 1
such motives? Need we take an as-I
pect of the present times, consalt the
journal cf our modern conventions,
and sec how holy brother wages war
against brother for “ the loaves and
fishes,” while party spirit is made the
order of the day, as returns by “Rec
tors” of the stale of their church 100
awfully evince ? These are indeed too
manifest “ signs cf the times,” and
that the great overseer is shewing his
arm bare against the crying sins of the
nation. Worm-s that we arc, crea
tures of a moment, when our Jives are
compared with eternity; inhabitants
of a grain of sand, when our globe v
balanced against the universe ; weak
sighted and narrow minded, wrelchci
and miserable, and poor and blind, am;
naked, ill does it become those win
have stretched to the furthest verge t
that limited knowledge which . uuian
imbecility is permitted to reach, to
pronounce dogmatically that their re
ligious speculations are exclusively
right; that they alone, of ail sects c.
nn.;i have discovered the forms c?
won-hip, and explanation of doctrine:
by w’men the great God of the univers*
may be best propitiated, and that.sue 1
as fall rot in with their “ command
meats dl men,” or entrench not them
selves within the pale, of their churn
arc involved in one general sentence
oi Anathema and ought to be reuardet
with unqualified disgust and .abhor
rence.
Congress oi the United htutes.
HOUSE OF R.EPRISENTATIV2S.
November 2^.
A petition was presented by Mr, Lewis ref
pedting the tolls of the bridge and load from
W alhington to Aiexandiia, which was referred
to the coinroitte of the dillridt of Columbia.
Several private petitions were presented and
fome rcipedling poll offices and poll roads, which
were referred.
The order of the Jay was then called for on
the bill brought in yefferday, for the employ,
metit of twelve revenue cutters in addition to
thole already hr service.
Mr. Quincy moved, as there was in ; view of
the house a great quellion nearly related, (the
repeal of the embsugo laws) that it Ifyouiu be
poilponed.
It was determined to resolve the house into a
committee on this bill, 56 in affirmative and 2D
in the negative.
Mr. Helms was called to the chair.
Mr-Newton, the chairman of the committee
of commerce and manufadlures, who reported
the bill, observed, that the committee had tho't
it proper to place thelc vessels, intended to pre
vent the infraction of the revenue laws, at the
difpofalof the prehdent of the U. States. The
iubjedt he observed, was taken up in caniequence
ol a rciolutiun propped by a gentleman from
N. Carolina, (Mr. lilac who as it ap
peared from his reprelentation of the public do
cuments, found it to be a iuitable iubjedt for
legiffative difeuffion, and particularly so whilfl it
remained controuled by the executive.
Mr. Blackledge laid that his induccn ent to
offer the reiulut'ion was principally tpr*veni the
violations, io frequently tiled on the revenue laws.
He had nndertlood that infractions of these laws
extended themselves very widely, and he wilhed
the iubject ta undergo a difeuffion, and that
iuitable provilion might be made for in remedy.
Mr. Dana requelied that the {entleman lall
up from N. Carolina, or the chairman of ti e
committee would hate the expense attending ths
procuration and support of the vessels contem
plated.
Mr. Newton said he had received no preche
data on the iiibjett, but from what had appear
ed by his iutcrcourfc with the Secretary *f the
Treasury, they would amount to about 10,000
dulla r a each.
Mr. Quincy observed, that with the ten reve
nue cutters now employed, he believed the re
venue laws well supported—he knew of no ma
terial infractions that were made on ur commer
cial puriuits.
Mr. Newton then contended for the propriety
of fuels n law on the cxillauce of the embargo
laws, and on the possibility (from our present
iclatious) of. an non-intercourse fyflem ; he
thought it proper to prepare and defend— if the
embargo was continued, surely it wa3 neceflary
: ® protect the rules of commerce enacted by
tlioie laws, and if there ffiould eventually be a
iou-iiitercourfe system adopted it would be ne
-tflary to prepare f*r that event—we ffiould be
♦rmed at all points, and in all events to protect 1
our revenue lyffcin. I
can of n.e committee had declared or would!
ai.nounue himfelf to be the official organ of in
formation cat this fubjeA at the prelent moment,
hie detlared hims-is to be always opposed to
unnecessary expenditures. Something official
ought to be obtained when an expenditure of
money wa required. Once he recollefted there
was a proposition to einpUy a numGr of giin
boatt, he believed two hundred and nfty-feven
were proposed to be huflt from the paper report,
lut it was not found neceflary to have that num
ber. When there fliould appear on the table a
minute flatement of the necessity of inch an ex
penditure, from an official source, and when'he
fliculd be latisl f-d that it might produce a means
for augmenting our revenue, he might be latisn
ed of the propriety of iuch a law. Whether it
would tend to the enforcement of the embargo
law, as had been heretofore fiated, remained as
yet to be explained.
Mr. Newton said that the committee had re
ceived every information which the treasury de
partment could impart, and that what was now’
submitted to the house was as much as any offi
cii! information could afford. ‘1 iie objed was
to prevent vessels from evading the laws of the
U. States,'which was frequently done.
Mr ilackledge Hated his reaions for propo
sing the refoluKan to be, to enforce the laws of
the United States on our waters, in fuppert
of the trea.ury, which laws were perpetually
infracted ter ihe want of a fnfficient prevent 2-
’ tivc * hether therefore it might refer to the
•mbargo, or whether ‘tt, our other regulations
it mattered not : his wilh was generally to pre
vent a violation of the leveiiuc laws at,d to en
force their provificus.
Mr. Defna thought the queflion to be of a
general import ; and therefore wilhed it to Ie ‘
postponed until the greater queflion of the Em. .
bargo was decided. It might be neceflary for
what he at prefect knew, Isut it irA lit be unne- :
celiary. He hoped the committee would rift,
report -progress and as* leave to fit again.
Mr. Upborn alio fupporteai this course of’
proceeding ; ne wished for information on the
meaiure before he could vote for its enaction.
Mi. Mofely laid that from the ule which'it
-ould appear was to be made of th*fe cutters
hey might rather be denominated the Ejnsas.’
‘go cuTTEis than revenue cutters, and there
fine, until it was aicertained that the embargo
ihoLtld be continued, it must be unueceffary to
provide for its protection.
Mr. Blacklcdge believed that the expense and
maintenance of these vessels would be saved in
their service to prevent a violation of the reve
nue laws, fie did not confider their use tc |
be co. fined to the embargo fyflem, but if it 1
was, whilit tnat cxiltcd it would renay the coll
to protect the revenue. There are many vci
lek now dettited in illicit trade, arid brought in,
and many have been condemned, but if there’
wac efficient means of detection, lie believed
thete Would be ten where one is now taken in!
these practices. i
The queflion was taken on the committee
to rife and report the bill, and carried, 47 to
1 46. 1
1 he bill was then taken up for conflderation.
Mr. Pitkin moved that its further confideral
tion be poltponed until Monday. The only rea
sons given for its necessity appeared to be to en
toicc ills embargo laws, or auy uon-iiitercouife
bill that might pais-: bat certainly it would be
time enough when the determination of the
house was expressed on thole measures. He
thought as had been observed on a recent mo
tion to arm merchant vessels, that it was “ begin
ning at the wrong end,’’ to spend 100,000
doll, rs for what might net be wanted,
h r. Livermore favored a pollponement. He
could not approve ot precipitancy in the expen
diture of io large a sum as 120,000 dollars,
(which thelc vessels would at lead celt) tmlefs
there were ample reafeni given for this halty i
meaiure. The above sum has been listed by J
the chairman to he their colt, but he might be ■
out in his calculation, coriedl as he wat,’
and they might eventually even be found to j
amount to 15,000 dollars each. Such mistakes
as this were not uncommon. But even if they
. fliould coil that sum and were neceflary, * he
flieuld not object, but the quellion is, are they
I neceflary t Every gentleman mult be convinced
that our commerce is greatly on the decline ;
; uuw, as our revenue proceeds from commerce,
I that commerce ceases, what need can it be to
ptote6. it, at io great an expence ? Why ffiould
gentlemen pulh iueh a meaiure ? It is the de
partment ot toe secretary of the treasury- to pro
vide plans and means and to exhibit expeucea,
l U 0101,111 bc g lad these things from their
source; and in addition to that, the colt of the
maintenance of tfiof* cutters after they were
built. Ccrred as he believed the chairman cf
the committee oi commerce and manufaftures
was, how was it poifihle for any gentleman to j
account to his condiments for a large expendi- ■
ttire, gathered from him and not from the effi- 1
tial lourcc ? ‘Hie secretary had not informed
t i.e houle ot the expense of procuring, nor of;
the expeuit- of keeping ; nor had they received i
any intimation from a higher source, (the preii-1
dent oi the U. S.) of the necessity to incur fuel:
an expense. It appeared that though gentle-‘
man were prejudging the ultimate deciiion of
thole great points, on the event of which Inch a
measure as this ought to hang, by
ior ward at this time when the Ate of the em
bargo, and the fate of commerce was not decided, j
Mr. Newton hoped he Jhould be confid-l
ered the lall man in that house who would at-!
tempt to precipitate any measure whatever ; he!
j wilhed a full and due confide ration of every
j thin fi th at might come before the house. Some
u tie men had denied the ( <f thelc vef
tindtivc epithet cV“ Embargo
let them be called what they might, it was cer
tain that the embargo laws were mw in cxill aiH .j
and that thole laws were continually and mop
flagrantly violated ; indeed J'o much, as ffiat in”
formation was received of the intention of £ r ;F
ifli merchants to fmugp,le goods into this C omi*
try. In several parts vof our extensive coast hk
said there were no revenue cutters at all,
particulaiifed Georgia.
Mr. Livermore denied having said that them
vessels were unnecessary, but he required f royri °
proper source information that they were u<=c°{
fary.
Mr. Jackson observed that although the em
bargo laws existed, yet they were m’olt f] la ’
fully violated, io ss ffiarceiy t* merit the nam ’
of ‘ Embargo.’ Every law of the land , U T
to be enforced, but this could not for want of
means to iuforce it ; these means are nov\-o.
posed and refufed. Gentlemen may talk of pre]
cipitancy, but it finely requires prompt and
fptedy nfeaiures to prevent inch violations of
law as are continually made. Information
the expeces is aflicd. Is there not a ftiffiei
fund of information on that fubjeft within “ffij
reach of every gentleman ? But the rwceffitv
was asked ; this necessity it was Sated had mt
been officially given. Sir, said Mr. J. Kv „ et
our information of the necessity from the
Indies, to which our flour and other articles a a
continually lent contrary to law, and by “men
who can never enter into competition for char,
ader or principle, with the fair trader. And
yet many of these illicit adventurers have made
fortunes by violating our laws. Herein is the
necessity proved. Whillt we have laws to re.
Main these practices, there ought to be efficient
means to execute them. 1 trull that a majority
of this house will not be led affray by tin; idea
that these vessels are unnecessary, because of any
probability of a repeal of the embargo laws •
however plauffble inch argument may appear, I
am convinced, from the interviews which j have
had with a large number of the members
of tk:s house, that a decided majority are
determined not to repeal thofc mealures un
der exiftipg circuits[lances.
Fir* Dana laid that the queflion appear,
erf to center in this—whether the'houle
v.-ould depart from its usual cuflom ol ir.
ceivi>g official informant n before a large
expeadiuire of money, or whether it would
pass this law without that information?
He ccnceivsd this to he a queflion of
great moment, and entitled to ierious re
flexion. If he undeiftod tfie duly of
the ofl eers of government it consisted in
part in giving official information n
lubjects touching their departments, and
finely it was peculiarly neceflary on iuch
a queflioß as was now before -the bouie.
He meant not to insinuate any dilrelpefct
to the w rthy and correct chairman of tl a
committee who reported the bill, but on a
businels which fell fairly and ‘rramedi.
ately under the treasury department, hi
could not silently admit fa deviat.on
from the usual cour ie of looking there
l*r information previous to the passage of
a bill forthe expenditure of rr.onfi. The
chairman might be presumed 10 liave re
ceived a partial information from that
department, but surely tins house have a
claim aifo t* rectiveic.
Ihe expence he did not consider as a
trilling object. To be sure they were cal.
, led Revenue Cutters, but what was the
i meaning of “ Cutiei” remained un ivfi
ned, srid consequently the vessel (a de
nominated mijhi coll a smaller or a jar ft
sum. But ano'hei ejueflion of mag’ iiudc
! was, what would rt coll to iiiatniaiu mele
; cutters ? What number would it take to
■ man them ? Were they to remain peima- •
J oently, or only for one year ? Gentle.
1 men may be in too much of a hurry en
‘his fuEject as they were last yea when it
was supposed proper to vote lot icoo Ti
me 11, but at lass, although they v/o-ild
scarcely give time tor the printing ot the
bill, it was found unnecessary to have
them ?t all ! Unless, therefore, iFbe a ve
ry urgent case indeed, lie fh-ould always,
upon genera! principles, wilh for every
information previous to giving a vote.
Mr. Alfion lamented that it appeared
to be impoflible t® take a single step ‘with
out opposition, even when there was no
apparent necelliiy. He wilhed gentlemen
to reflect that the procurement or thef;
vessels was to devolve upon the will of
j ihe president, and his opinion ot then ns-
I cessity. It mufl be recollected that the
| embargo was also deposited with him. If
: he did not find them to be necessary,!’
surely would not create these Veventic <u -
| ! -rs. It surely was a novel fyflem tndoei
i that alter a law was passed, measures wero
|to be ref used to carry it into effect; an ‘*
! more novel Bill that because a tuTion ti
made to the house to suspend i;,r reoeal
law, it is not to be enforced. It w< j. ; ‘,t
ablurd to place this bill on fuefi 3 fuunda
non, or on any anticipation o. the pas
;age ot any nou-inte.-i-courfe laws. It was
sufficient that ff ( e tevenue laws were i?*
-.acted, and that it was necessary to eii*
force them, to warrant measures ceakuj
to that obj ect,
/
(To be emtfinued.)