Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.). United States. Congress

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СКАЧАТЬ are submitted to, I pronounce your liberties gone – irretrievably lost – a blot made in the American political character, never to be obliterated. No man possessing an American heart will submit to the degradation of paying tribute to any nation on earth, nor suffer the freemen of America to be taxed without their consent. Will gentlemen say the embargo law must be repealed, and suffer our commerce to flow in its usual channel, while the decrees of France and the British Orders in Council are enforced, by which they would not only be liable to seizure and condemnation, but what is more degrading, pay a tribute of many millions of dollars annually, too degrading to be thought of with patience? We received liberty in its purity from our heroic ancestors – it is a duty incumbent on us to transmit it to posterity unsullied, or perish in the undertaking.

      But, sir, it has been said that the people of the East would not bear the continuance of the embargo any longer – that they would force their way in trade; hinting, I presume, that they would openly rebel against your laws if they were not allowed to pursue their usual course in commerce, by which they subscribe to those nefarious Orders in Council, which is tribute of the most degrading kind. Who are these people of the East that have the hardihood to insinuate any thing like rebellion against the laws of the land, or that would wish to degrade themselves so far as to pay tribute? It cannot be the descendants of the heroes of '76, that bravely stepped forth and fought against a tyrant for liberty! It cannot be the descendants of those brave fellows that struggled on the brow of Bunker's Hill for independence! No. It must be the descendants of refugees or old tories, or otherwise it must be British agents or partisans; for no man possessing the feeling that an American ought to feel, would throw out such threats, or degrade himself by coming under tribute. If patriotism has left the land of freedom – if it has taken its flight from the mild and peaceful shores of Columbia – if foreign influence and corruption has extended itself so far that the people are disposed to rebel against the Government of their country – if the dissemination of foreign gold has had the baneful effect of suppressing all noble and patriotic sentiments, it is indeed time that foreign intercourse should cease. If the spirit of commercial speculation and cupidity had surmounted all patriotism, it is time that more energetic measures should be resorted to, in order that the chaff might be separated from the wheat; in a word, that traitors might be known.

      Mr. Nelson said it was with very considerable reluctance that he rose to make a few remarks on this subject, after the very lengthy and very eloquent discourse of the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Key.) I did not intend, said he, to have troubled the House upon this question; but as I am a man who generally speaks off-hand, it is necessary for me to answer the arguments of any gentleman promptly, if I intend to do it at all. For this reason I rise to do away some false impressions which may have been made by the gentleman's eloquence on the House, and on the by-standers, in the galleries, for I must say that his speech was better calculated for the galleries than for the sober members of this House. The gentleman commenced his argument with stating, what I do not believe, with due submission, is true in point of fact, that, although at their last session the Legislature of Maryland passed resolutions approving the embargo, yet another election having taken place, the present Legislature have passed contrary resolutions.

      Mr. Key said he had spoken of the House of Representatives of Maryland, and not of the Legislature.

      Mr. Nelson said the House of Representatives have, to be sure, passed resolutions bottomed on the same principles as those on which the gentleman himself has spoken, and which I have heard echoed in the electioneering campaign from almost every stump in the district in which I live. Whilst the gentleman was on this subject, I wish he had told us of the philippic these resolutions got from the Senate of Maryland. The fact is not, as I understood the gentleman to say, that the Legislature of Maryland have passed resolutions disapproving the measures of the Government. But the gentleman intimates that the politics of Maryland have undergone a great change, and that the party formerly uppermost, is now under. Sir, the question which turned out the old members of the Legislature in the county where I live, was not the embargo system, but a question as to a State law. The militia system was the stumbling-block which caused many of the old members to be turned out, and thus the opposite party got the ascendency in one branch of the Legislature of Maryland. But, since that election, another has taken place for members of Congress; and how has that turned out? Why, sir, that gentleman and two other anti-embargoists are elected, whilst six men, who have always approved of it, are also returned; making six to three. Does this prove a change? No, sir. But we have had another election since that. Out of eleven electors, nine men are returned as elected who have approved this system of measures. Does this prove that the embargo was the cause of the change of the politics of the Maryland Legislature? I think not, sir.

      But the gentleman has said that the embargo, and not the Orders in Council and decrees, has destroyed the commerce of this country. I do not know, after all the arguments which I have heard, if the gentleman listened with the same attention as I did, how he could make such an assertion. When our ports are blockaded, and all the world is against us, so that, if the embargo was raised, we could go nowhere with perfect freedom, can gentlemen say that the embargo has ruined our commerce? Is it not these acts which have shut us out from a market? The gentleman says we may trade to England. Yes, sir, we may, provided we will pay all such duties as she chooses, and go nowhere else. And would not the doing this place us in precisely the same situation as we were in before the Revolution? England says we may trade with her, paying heavy import and export duties, but says we shall go nowhere else. If you go anywhere else, she says you shall go by England, take a license, and pay a duty, and then you may trade. Is it to be supposed that the people of the United States will agree to this? Are they reduced to that situation, that they will become the vassals of a foreign power – for what? Why, sir, for the prosecution of a trade with that foreign power, who, if her present impositions be submitted to, may cut up our trade in any manner she pleases; for, through our trade, she will raise a revenue to almost an equal amount with the value of your whole produce carried hence. She levies a higher tribute on some articles than the article itself is worth, and this trade the gentleman wants to pursue. He wants no substitute; "take off the embargo," says he, "and let us trade." Sir, if we could trade upon equal terms, I, too, should say, "take off the embargo, and let us trade." But if we cannot trade, except under the license of a foreign power, I say it would be ruinous to us. And has it come to this, for all the arguments go to this, that the American people, for the sake of pounds, shillings, and pence, for the sake of hoarding up a few pence, are to give up their independence, and become vassals of England and France? I hear nothing from the gentleman about the honor of the nation. It would appear as if gentlemen on the other side of the House are willing to sell their country if they can put money in their pocket. Take off the embargo, they cry – for what? money. Pay tribute – for what? money. Surrender your independence – for what? all for money, sir. I trust the people have a different feeling from these gentlemen. The people love money, sir; but they love liberty and independence much better. If money had been the sole object, the Revolution would never have happened; and if that be our sole object now, the blood spilt and money spent in our Revolution was all in vain. But the gentleman says, that our honor is not concerned; that Republics have none; that their honor is to pursue that course by which they can make the most money.

      Mr. Key said that he did not say that the honor of the nation was money; but that the line of conduct was most honorable which best secured the happiness and independence of the people.

      Mr. Nelson. – I ask pardon of the gentleman if I misrepresented him; because the gentleman's argument was quite vulnerable enough, without my making it more so than it really was. I did understand the gentleman to say, and had he not contradicted me, should still believe so, that the honor of the Republic is precisely that which brings the most riches to the nation. But I ask, whether the line of conduct recommended by that gentleman be such a one as would be proper to secure and take care of the independence of the people? Is it to secure the independence of the people, to suffer a foreign nation to impose upon them any terms which it thinks proper? Is it for the honor or happiness of this nation that we should again pass under the yoke of Great Britain? Is it for the honor of the nation to remove the embargo, without taking any other measure, and to bear with every indignity? No, sir; and yet the gentleman СКАЧАТЬ