in a war wherein the Prince exposed them to cruel reprisals. Officers who had the highest sense of honor, though ready to shed their blood in the field of battle, for his service, have not thought it any [Here Mr. C. read several extracts from a depart of their duty to run the hazard of an ignomin-bate in the House of Commons, on a bill to ious death. Therefore, whenever a numerous party raise a corps of French emigrants, in which Mr. thinks it has a right to resist the sovereign, and finds Burke was the principal speaker.] itself able to deciare that opinion, sword in hand, the war is to be carried on between them in the same

instruct the understanding or to interest the feelings. In truth, when this bill was introduced, it was not my intention to make it the subject of a single remark; but, on reflection, I was convinced that there would be a propriety in my stating the reasons by which I should be governed in my vote, and the ground on which I was prepared to justify it. This was the extent of my wish and intention; and even this wish and intention, I believe I should have foregone, (after one ineffectual attempt to obtain the floor,) had it not been that some remarks were made yesterday, in the course of debate, which, in my opinion, demand attention. The bill under consideration, should the blank be filled in the manner proposed by the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, will authorize the loan of twenty-five millions of dollars. To pay the interest of the debt, thus to be created, it will be necessary to continue a system of taxation, odious and oppressive to the people. The principal of the debt will, I presume, descend as a burden to posterity. It is not my purpose, however, to controvert the facts stated by the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, or his reasoning upon those facts-though that reasoning, I think, was more specious than solid. I admit that the resources of this country, under the fostering hand of a wise, prudent, and efficient Administration, would be equal to meet a debt of this, and even of a larger amount. But I am opposed to this bill, because its object is to place money in the hands of the present Administration, to enable them to pursue a system of measures and a course of policy hostile, as I think, to the best interests of this country; to enable them to continue the war in which we are now engaged; a war which, I believe in my conscience, was in its origin unnecessary and inexpedient; which is prosecuted without any adequate cause; which, in its progress, has brought heavy and severe calamities upon our country; and which, if protracted to any distant period, will, I fear, be productive of consequences the most disastrous.

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hand of industry, and, by elevating the military above the civil authority, endangers our liberties. It was said, I think, by a gentleman of Virginia, formerly a distinguished member of this House, that this Government was not calculated for offensive war; that it was putting the constitution to a test which it could not endure. There is, in my opinion, much wisdom in the remark. The situation to which we are reduced is sufficient evidence of the evils of war; our frontier is desolated; our commerce ruined; our Treasury exhausted; the people discontented and divided, yet we were precipitated into war, "as if it was a matter of experiment," "an idle frolic," "as if the dire goddess, who presides over it, with her murderous spear in her hand, and her gorgon at her breast, was a coquette to be flirted with."

For what are we prosecuting this war? For a cause, as has been shown by an honorable gentleman from North Carolina, (Mr. GASTON,) for which war was not declared-for sailors' rights. The violation of sailors' rights is now the professed cause of this war, and the protection of them its avowed object. The subject of impressment under the Administration of Washington, ever the vigilant guardian of the rights and honor of his country; under that of Mr. Adams and that of Mr. Jefferson, was not considered a sufficient cause of war; nor was it so considered by Mr. Madison himself at the time of the arrangement with Mr. Erskine. The honorable SPEAKER has just acknowledged, that, in his opinion, war would not have been declared at the time it was declared, but for the Orders in Council.

It does appear to me, that the subject of impressment is indebted for the very great importance now attached to it, to the revocation of the Orders in Council. But allow that impressment furnishes a just cause of war against Great Britain, can we hope to obtain from her more upon this point by arms than by amicable negotiation? It is well known that this right which Great Britain claims to exercise, of taking from the merchant vessels of other nations her own native seamen, is considered by her as essential While I claim the privilege of animadverting to her maritime strength; in other words, as esupon the measures of the Administration, I im-sential to her national existence; and, so strongpeach not the motives of gentlemen who main- ly is this claim supported by national sentiment, tain opinions different from my own. It is my that no Ministry would dare to surrender it. She duty, however, to act according to the deliber- may consent to an arrangement upon this subate decisions of my own understanding, and the|ject, which, without derogating from the right, clear convictions of my own conscience.

may render the exercise of it less liable to abuse, and less injurious to this country; but this can be obtained only by negotiation.

It ought to be considered, that this is not a novel claim set up by Great Britain. It has been exercised by her for a great length of time, even long before we existed as an independent nation; founded upon principles which she holds

The minority, or the Opposition, as they are emphatically denominated, are accused of inconsistency, in admitting that Great Britain has done us wrong, and, at the same time, persisting in calling this war unjust. It is not every wrong that will justify a nation in resorting to arms to obtain redress. War, it has been well said, is the extremity of human evil. The most success-sacred-that every nation, in time of war, has a ful war, in a Government like ours, must bring with it, of necessity, a numerous train of calamities. It increases the public burdens; it impoverishes the people, relaxes the moral habits, promotes a spirit of licentiousness, unnerves the

right to the services of its citizens; and that allegiance is perpetual. But an honorable gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. MONTGOMERY) denies to Great Britain the right to impress her own seamen in her own territorial jurisdiction;

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it being, as he says, in violation of the principles of Magna Charta.

[FEBRUARY, 1814. the sentiments of the people; that the war is popular, and the vigorous prosecution of it demanded by the feelings of the nation. As to that part of the country from which I have the honor to come, this war ever has been, and, I trust, ever will be, an unpopular and an odious war, especially as to the proposed conquest of Canada.

Upon this subject there is hardly a division of sentiment. Men who rally under the banners of the Administration upon every other question, put their faces against them on this. I speak not merely of the merchants, that respectable class of the community. I speak of the real strength of every free country, the substantial yeomanry; the hardy cultivators of their own soil, who will defend that soil with their hearts' blood. The subtlety of lawyers has not cheated them into the opinions they entertain. They have formed them by consulting their own good feelings, their_own plain, unsophisticated understandings. I regret that I am under the necessity of making any remarks that may be considered in any degree as local. I disclaim all invidious comparisons between the different parts of the United States; but there have been so many allusions to the State from which I have the honor to come, and to the spirit which is supposed to manifest itself there, that I feel it to be my duty to call the attention of the committee to the subject. There is noth

This I consider a question between the British subject and his Government, with which we have nothing to do. The practice of impressment has been justified by some of her ablest and most popular writers: even by Junius himself, the great champion of Opposition, in his time, and has been recognized as a part of the common law by the judicial decisions of some of her most eminent judges. Though the claim of Great Britain is limited to her own seamen, yet it is true that American seamen are sometimes taken by mistake, and sometimes by the wanton act of the British naval officers. The number of our seamen thus taken, I think, however, has been greatly exaggerated. Many British seamen pass as American under American protections, in obtaining which great frauds are practised. But whatever may be the extent of the injury which we suffer by impressment, I should be as much gratified as any person could an adequate remedy be provided for it. But how are we to obtain satisfaction by prosecuting this war? I shall be answered-by the conquest of Canada, The conquest of Canada, for the purpose of incorporating it into the Union, though it may come "within the scope of the policy" of some gentlemen, is, in my apprehension, a project so wild, and I hope I may be pardoned the expression, so preposterous, that I cannot believe it will receive the deliberate sanctioning in the character of my native State that I of a majority of this committee, much less of the nation. Sad experience must have convinced us that Canada cannot be conquered without a great expense of blood and treasure; and, when acquired, it cannot be worth to us the price at which we must purchase it. We have territories enough. Instead of strengthening, it would weaken the Union.

As to the conquest of Canada as the means of obtaining a satisfactory peace as an instrument of negotiation, I presume the most sanguine do not indulge the expectation of effecting that conquest under six or nine months; certainly not in time to assist us in the present negotiation; and, should we obtain possession of Canada, we never shall be able to extort from Great Britain, or purchase from her, by the surrender of it, any concession upon the point in controversy, of sufficient importance to justify the sacrifices we must make in the acqui

sition of it.

shall blush to defend. There is nothing in the character of my immediate constituents which should humble me on this floor as their representative, unless it be the consciousness that they have conferred on me an honor beyond my merits.

The honorable gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. CUTHBERT,) whose animated speech I heard with the most friendly interest and attention, said that the inhabitants of New England were jealous of their rights. The people of this country were characterized by Edmund Burke as men jealous of their rights, alike to every inva sion or supposed invasion of them;-"who augured misgovernment at a distance, and snuffed the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze."

The people of whom I speak, still possess some portion of that spirit. Such being their temper, they may be betrayed into excesses from an excitement of feeling; they may fall into errors of opinion from want of informa tion; but it is not wise in Government to attempt to reclaim them by insulting their prejudices, if prejudices they entertain, or by treat ing with indifference or contempt their com

I stand not here to eulogize the character of Great Britain, or to exalt her power; but to pursue the true interest of my country, as far as my feeble understanding can enable me to ascertain it. I do not, however, consider it as any proof of the want of patriotism not to sub-plaints, founded on their honest convictions. scribe to the philippics pronounced by gentlemen against Britain. In assailing her in the manner they have, it seems to me that passion triumphs over judgment, and that, while advocating the cause of our holy religion, they forget that charity is its vital principle.

But it is said we are acting in opposition to

The Legislature of Massachusetts have passed no act which they had not a constitutional right to adopt. They know their duty, and will perform it. They know their rights, too, and will, I trust, maintain them. There are, and I am proud to say it, some of the few survivors of the good old Revolution high in the councils of

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my native State-men who staked their lives | able Washington declared that the practice of on the issue of that contest which terminated impressment was intolerable, and that it must in the acknowledgment of our independence- be discontinued or war would be inevitable; men who, in the path of duty, will be as little Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, was no dismayed by the glitter of hostile steel as by doubt of the same opinion; Mr. Adams when the glitter of the tinselled invective of the hon- President declared the same opinion, and the orable gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. FORSYTH.) sentiments of his Cabinet, Mr. Pickering, and Mr. Marshall, now Chief Justice, Mr. Stoddart and Mr. Wolcott, which have been read, prove that they then were of the same opinion.

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would develop these principles and practices, which are producing the most ruinous effects on our lawful commerce and navigation. He remarks, "that on the subject of impressment our remonstrances have never been intermitted; a hope existed at one moment of an arrangement that might have been submitted to, but it soon passed away; and the practice, although relaxed at times in distant seas, has been constantly pursued in our neighborhood." On the 12th February, 1806, Congress took up the consideration of the Message of the President, with the memorials of the merchants, which relate to the spoliation of our commerce on the high seas, and to the new principles assumed by the British Courts of Admiralty, as a pretext for the condemnation of our vessels in their prize courts, and passed the following resolutions:

1. Resolved, That the captures and condemnation under the orders of the British Government, and adjudications of their Courts of Admiralty, of Amer

being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain prohibited in time of peace, is an unprovoked aggression upon the property of the citizens of these United States, and an encroachment upon their national independence.

cargoes on their return voyage from ports | memorials of the merchants, which he told us where they had deposited contraband articles; after it had been expressly decided by the High Court of Admiralty, that an American had a right to import into America the produce of a Spanish colony, and that landing the cargo and paying the duties would break the continuity of the voyage, and justify their re-exportation to any part of Europe; and after Lord Hawkesbury had communicated to Mr. King that decision, approved by the Advocate General, and by Lord Hawkesbury, establishing the law, that landing the goods and paying the duties in the neutral country would break the continuity of the voyage, and was such an importation as would legalize the trade, although the goods were shipped in the same vessel, on account of the same owners, and sent to the mother country that produced them. And yet notwithstanding this order-this decision of the High Court of Admiralty-this report of the Advocate General, and this official communication by Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. King, our com-ican vessels and their cargoes, on the pretext of their merce was swept from the ocean, and condemned in direct violation of the order, the desision, and the report of the Advocate General so officially communicated, and it would seem insidiously to inspire us with confidence, to increase that commerce, that they might, like the panther in ambush, unsuspectedly leap upon their prey. This outrageous conduct gave rise to clamors in every commercial circle in the United States, and, at the opening of the session of 1805, the President informed us, "that the British had captured, in the very entrance of our harbors, as well as on the high seas, not only the vessels of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own also; that they have carried them off, under the pretence of legal adjudication; but not daring to approach a court.of justice, they have plundered and sunk them by the way, or in obscure places, where no evidence could arise against them, maltreated the crews and abandoned them in boats on the The President immediately appointed Mr. open seas, or on desert shores, without food or Monroe and Mr. Pinkney Envoys Extraordinary, covering." "That new principles had been in- and instructed them to insist on an arrangement terpolated in the law of nations. According to for the protection of our seamen, and indemnithem, a belligerent takes to itself a commerce fication for spoliations, agreeably to the said with its own enemy that it denies to neutrals, resolutions; and he also instructed them to proon the ground of its aiding the enemy in war. cure an article for defining legal blockades. But reason revolts at such inconsistency; and The British, not content with their new princithe neutral having equal right with the belliger-ples and aggressions under them, on the 16th ent to decide the question, the interest of our constituents, and the duty of maintaining the authority of reason, the only umpire between just nations, impose on us the obligation of providing an effectual and determined opposition to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceable nations." In January, 1806, remonstrances came in from Boston, Salem, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston, praying that the Government would take the subject under consideration, and also the impressment of seamen. On the 17th January, 1806, the President again pressed the subject on the consideration of Congress, with the

States be requested to demand and insist upon the 2. Resolved, That the President of the United restoration of the property of their citizens, captured and condemned, on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in time of peace, and upon the indemnifica tion of such American citizens for their losses and damages sustained by these captures and condemnations; and to enter into such arrangements with the British Government on this and all other differences subsisting between the two nations, (and particularly with respect to the impressment of American seamen,) as may be consistent with the honor and interests of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire to obtain for themselves and their citizens, by amicable negotiation, that justice to which they are entitled.

of May, 1806, issued an Order of Council for blockading the coast from the river Elbe to Brest. On the 11th of May, 1807, they issued another order, blockading the Elbe, Weser, and the coast between the same; and also the Dardanelles and Smyrna. On the 8th of January, 1808, of Carthagena, Cadiz, and St. Lucar, and all the intermediate ports between Carthagena and St. Lucar, comprehending a greater extent of coast than their whole navy could blockade agreeably to their own definition of a blockade. And Great Britain, although her Order in Council was made on the 16th of May, 1806, from Elbe to Brest, charges it to the account of