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CONGRESS.
SENATE.
NOVEMBER 23.
Mr. Crawford's Speech on the Em
bargo.
Mr. Crawford laid that one of the
obje&s of the gentleman from Con
necticut was, no doubr, to obtain
information of the effects of the
embargo fyftem from every part of
the U. States. This information
was very drfirable at the prefent
time, to afiift the councils of the
nation in forming an opinion of the
courle proper to be purfued in re
lation to. A government founded,
like ours, on the principle of the
will of the nation, which fubfifted
but by it, fhould be attentive as far
as poilible to the feelings and wifh
esofthe people over whom they
prefided. He did not fay that the
Representatives of a free people
ought to yield explicit obedience
to any portion of the people who
may believe them to a£t erronc
oufly i but their will when fairly
expreffed, ought to have great
weight on a government like ours.
The Senate had received feveral
deferiptions of the effects produced
by the embargo in the eaftern fec
tion of the union. As the repre
fentative of another extreme of this
nation, Mr. C. faid he conceived it
his duty to give a fair, faithful and
candid reprefentation of the fenti
ments of the people whom he had
the honor to reprefent. It was al
ways the duty of a reprefentative to
examine whether the t ffedts expedt
cd from any given meafure had or
had not been produced. If this
were a general duty, how much
more imperioufly was it their duty
at this time. Every one admitted
that confiderable fufferings have
been undergone, and much more
was now to be borne.
Gentlemen have confidered this
fubjedt generally in a two fold view,
(laid M. C.) as to ite effedh on
ourfclvrs, and as to its foreign na
tions. I think this a proper and
corredt dfvifion of the fubjedt, be
caufe we are certainly more ioterefl
ed in the effedts of this mealurc on
ourft Ives than on other nations. I
lhall therefore thus purfue the fub
jedt.
It is in vain to deny that this is
not a profperous time in the Uni
ted States; that cur fituation is
neither promifing or flattering. Ic
is impoflible to fay that we have
fuffered no privations in the year
iBo3, or that there is a general fpt
rit of content throughout the United
States; but lam very far from be
lieving there is a general fpirit of
difeoment. Whenever the meafures
of the government immediately af
fedt the intertft of any confiderable
portion of its citizens, difeontents
will arife, however great the bene
fits which are expedted from fuch
meafure. One difeontented man
excites more attention than a thou
sand contented men, and hence the
number of difeontented are al ways
over-rated. In the country which
I reprefent no meafure is more ap
plauded or more cheerfully fubmit
ted to than the embargo. It has
been viewed there as rhe only al
ternative to avoid war. Ic is a
meafure which is enforced in that
country at everv facr fi:e. At the
fame time that I make this declara
tion I am ju hfied .n aflerting that
there is no fedtion of the union,
whofe intereils are more immedi
ately afF did by the meafure than
the louthern dates—chan the ftate
©f Georg a.
Wc have bce*vtold by an honor
able gentleman who has dec!aimed
with great force and eloquence a
gainft this meafure, that great part
of the produce of the eaftern coun
try has found its way into market;
that new ways have been cut open,
and produce has found its way out.
Not fo with us; we raife no pro
vifions except a fmall quantity of
rice, for exportation. The pro
dudtion of our land lies on our
hands. We have fuffered and now
fufFer j yet have not complained.
The fears of the Southern dates
particularly have been addreffed by
the gentleman from Conntdlicur,
by a declaration that Great Britain
whofe fleets cover the ocean, will
certainly And a fource from which
to procure fupplics of thofe raw ma
terials which flic has heretofore been
in the habit of receiving from us ;
and that having thus found another
market, when we have found the
evil of our ways, flic will turn a
deaf car to us. By way of exem
plification, the gentleman cited a
familiar example of a man buying
butter from his neighbors It did
not appear to me that this butter
dory received a very happy eluci
dation. In the country in which he
lives there are fo many buyers and
fo many fellers of butter, that no
difficulty refuits from a change cf
purchafers or cuflomers. Not fo
with our raw materials. Admitting
that Britain can find other markets
with eafe, there is, dill a great dif
tindhor. between this and the gentle
man’s butter cafe. When a man
fells butter he receives money or
fupplies in payment for it. His
wants and wiflirs and thofe of his
purchafirs are lb reciprocal that no
and fficulty can ever arife. Bur Great
Britain mud always purchafe raw
materials of thofe who purchafe her
manufactures. Ic is not to oblige
us that fhe takes our raw materials,
but it is becaufe vre rake her manu
factures in exchange. So long as
this date of things continues} lo long
they will continue to refort to cur
market. There is no clanger then
of our loofing our market. I have
confidered the gentleman’s argu
ment on this point as applied to the
feelings of the fouthern country. —•-
No one article exported from the
United Sta'es equals cotton in a
mount. If then we are willing to
run the rifk, I trud no other part of
the United States will hefitate on
this fubjedt.
Another reafon afforded by the
gentleman from Connecticut, and a
fubdantial one if true, is, that this
meafure cannot be executed. If
this be the cafe it is certainly in
vain to perfevere in it, for the r.on
cxecution cf any public law mud
have a bad tendency on the morals
of the people. But the facility
with which rhe gentleman reprefents
thefe laws to have been evaded,
proves that the morals of the eva
ders could not have been very found
when the meafure was adopted } for
a man trained to virtue will not,
whatever facility exids, on that ac
count, dep into the paths of error
and vice.
Although I believe myfelf that
this meafure has not been properly
executed, nor in that way in which
the fituation of our country might
realontbly have induced us to ex
peCl, yet it has been fo far executed
as to produce fome good effeCt. So
far as the orders and decrees re
main in full force, fo far it has fail
ed of the effeCt hoped from it: but
it has produced a confiderable eff-Ct
as I lhall attempt to Ihew hereafter.
In commenting on this part of
the gentleman’s obfervations, ft be
comes proper to notice not an in
finuatior} but a pofitivc declaration
that the fecret intention of laying
the embargo was to deftroy com
merce } and was in a date of hef
tility to the avowed intention.—
This certainly is a heavy charge.
In a government like this, we fhould
adt openly, honedly and candidly ;
the people ought to know their fic
uacion and the views of thofe who
conduct their affairs. Ic is the
word of polit'eal diffionedy to a
dopt a meafure, and effer that rea
fon for ic which is not the true and
fubdantial one. The true and
fubdantial reafon for the embargo,
the gentleman fays he believes was
to dedroy commerce, and on its
ruins to raife up domeftic manu
factures. This idea, I think though
not exprtfily combated by the ob
fervations of the gentleman from
Delaware, (Mr. White) was fub
dantially refuted by him. That
gentleman, with great elegance and
fomething of fa realm, applied to
the houle to know how the rreafury
would be filled in the next year ;
and obferved that the prefent “in
cumbent of the Presidential palace”
would not dare to refort to a diredt
tax, becaufe a former adminifira
tion had done fo anJ felt the effects
ofit, infinuating that the prefent
administration did not poffcfs cour
age enough to attempt it. Nowy
I afk, if they dare not refort to a di
rect tax, excife laws and damp aas,
where will they obtain money ? In
what way will the public coffers be
filled ? The gentleman mud ac
knowledge that all our prefent rev
enue is derived from commerce and
mud continue to be fo, except re
fore be had to a direCt tax, and the
gentleman fays, we have not cour
age enough for that. The gentle
man from Connecticut mud fuppofe,
if the gentleman from De laware be
correct, that the adminidration
fecks its own deltrudtion. We
muft have revenue, and yet are
told that we wiffi to dedroy the on
ly way in which it can be had, ex
cept by a direCt tax, a refort to
which it is after ted would drive us
from the public fervice.
But we are told with a grave
face that a difpofition is manifetted
to make this meafure permanent.
The dates who call chemfclvcs com
mercial dates, when compared with
the fouthern dates, may emphati
cally be called manufacturing dates.
The fouthern dates are not manu
facturing dates, while the great
commercial dates are abfolutely the
manufacturing dates. If this em
bargo fydem were intended to be
permanent, thefe commercial dates
would be bent fitted by the ex
change, to the injury of the South
ern dates. I-c is impoffible for us
to find a market for our produce
but by foreign commerce j and
whenever a change of the kind allu
ded to is made, that change will
operate to the injury of the fouth
ern dates more than to the injury
of the commercial dates, fo called.
But another fecret motive with
which the government is charged
to have been actuated, is, that this
meafure was intended and is calcu
lated to promote the interefis of
France. To be fine none of rhe
gentlemen have exprefflv faid that
we are under French influence, but
a reforc is had to the Expofe of the
French minifler, and a deduction
thence made that the embargo was
laid at the wilh of Bonaparte. The
gentleman from Connecticut told
us of this expofe for this purpefe
and the gentleman frem Maffachu
fetts appeared to notice it with the
fame view. Now we are told that
there is no danger cf war, except it
be becaufe we’have underfiood (feat
Bonaparte has faid that there fty.ll
be no neutrals } and tha f , if we re
peal the embarg >, wc may expfCt
that he will make war on us. A id
this is rhe only fiurce from whence
the gentleman could fee any danger
of war. If this declaration agamft
neutrality which is attributed to the
Gillie emperor be true, and ic may
be fo, his Gallic majrfty could noc
purfue a more diredt courfe to ef
fect his Own wilhes than to declare
that our embargo had been adopted
under his - influence. And uokfs
the Britifh min liter had more po
litical fagacity than the gentleman
who ( fibred the evidence of the ex
pofe in proof of the charge, ic would
produce the very end which thole,
gentlemen wifhed to avoid—
with Great Britain ; for Ihe would
commence the attack could flie be
lieve this country under the influ
ence of France. I would juft as
much believe in the (incerity of that:
expofe, as Mr. Canning’s fincericv,
when he fays that his myjefty would
gladly make any facriHce to reftoie
to the commerce of the United
States its wonted activity. No man
in the ration is fiily enough to he
gu:!ed by thefe declarations; but
from the me made of them, we
fhould be led to think other wife,
were it not for the exerc fe of our -
whole (lock of chadiy. Now l
cannot be!.eve that any man in this
nit on do-s believe in the finerrity
of Mr. Canning’s expreflio is, or
that Bonaparte believes that the
embargo was laid to promote his
intt refi. I cannot believe that there
is any man in this nation who does
candidly and Icrioufly entertain fuch
an opinion;
When >ve advance to the feccnd
propcfition, we are told in the molt
pcfidve terms by the gentlemen
from Delaware and Connedticir,
that this meafure has produced no
efikdt on foreign nations. The
gentleman from Maffachufetts bare
ly admits that at flrfi it had excited
fome fmail degree of alarm in Great
Britain for a ftiort time. 1 cannot
believe that gentlemen wifi> to be
underlined literally when they tell
us this. Ic can be nothing more
than a figure of rhetoric. It can
not really be meant that the embar
go has f redu ed no effdt The
g ntlcman from Maflaohufetts gets
over it by faying that inurredtior.s
among her roanuradturers, were fa
in.bar to him }■ he had always heard
of them. Bur, fir, Ido not recol
lect to Have hcaidof Uny infurrec
tion of the kind to which I allude,
having taken place. They have
at times heretofore been difordeily
indeed, but in the late cafe it was
a peaceable affcmblage of labourers*
not intending to overthrow the go/
vernmentor to refifi the laws, but
to fhew the abfolute ftate of fiarvs
tion with which they were threaten
ed. There has been nothing of
this kind within my recollection be
fore. We have leard of mobs and
riotous tumults } but in the prefent
cafe no movement was made by
thefe unfortunate people to difturb
the government. With a degree
of facility which excited my aftsn
ifhment, the gentleman teils us that
if one hundred principal manufactu
rers ihouki be reduced to bank
ruptcy,-and 50,000 mechanics fhruld
be turned or employ, this would out
ftrergthrn the army and navy cf
the BriulTi nation; that, when you <
affedt Great Britain molt ferioufl;-',
you do her a benefit. Purfu'.ng
this argument a little further, i’ap
pofe 500, oco fhould be uacmpk y *
cd, the arm of the nation would be
fo much the more firtngthened, J