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

For these injuries and insults what atonement has been made? What satisfaction has been received for your plundered property? And what is the relation in which you stand to France? At this moment, when it is well known that it would not require one additional man in the army or navy to make good, in the eye of nations, your character as an independent and high-spirited people, you are prostrate at the feet of your's and the world's undoer. Is there any thing yet wanting to fill up the full measure of injustice you have sustained? Gentlemen on all sides are obliged to admit that the provocation which we have received from France is ample; that the cup of it is overflowing. And yet, what is our situation in relation to that destroyer of mankind – him who, devising death to all that live, sits like a cormorant on the tree of life; who cannot be glutted, nor tired, with human carnage; the impersonation of death; himself an incarnate death?

All this, I say, does prove – and if it does not I call on gentlemen to disprove the fact – that there is a difference in the standard by which we measure French aggressions and the aggressions of any other people under the sun. When Spain was the ally of France she was – what? She was secure from our indignation. There was not a murderer, a barbarian, in all our Western wilderness that was not safe under the Spanish cloak. For why? Because the King of Spain, such as he was – for he wore only the semblance of a crown – was in alliance with France; and he must not be touched.

But what has Revolutionary Spain done? What offence has she committed against France? That she is not only helpless, destitute of resources, unable to return a blow, but, above all, is coveted by France, are considerations which cannot justify, on the part of France, conduct towards her more infamous than that of the English at Copenhagen – conduct cowardly as it is unprincipled. But, sir, I forewarn gentlemen of the Southern country – I do beseech them, with a sincerity which no man can have a right to question – to beware how they transfer the theatre of war from the rocks and snows of Canada to the sandhills, the rice-fields, the tobacco plantations of the Southern States. For them to think of voluntarily consenting to make that region the theatre of the war, would compel me to believe that they are on the verge of that madness which precedes the destruction of all doomed by Heaven to perish.

Sir, I have just touched, with trembling and faltering hand, some of the preliminary observations which I had intended, at some time or other, to make, into which I have now been prematurely forced to enter, not more unexpectedly than unavoidably, by the strange turn which this debate has taken.

There are two other points – for, in respect to the Orders of Council, I shall not say a word about them – upon which I am very anxious to offer myself to your attention: the one the celebrated point of impressment, which, though it has been very ably handled, is not yet exhausted: the other the Indian war on our Western border. And I also wish to say something on the subject of negotiation. In the midst of a war with one of the greatest powers of Europe, why should the gleam of the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, the cries of massacred women and children reaching our ears – why should these fright us from our propriety? Why, we are told the Indians of the West have been stirred up to war with us by British agents. But what is the fact? That we have no Indian war, but a war of our own seeking, as I have already, in the course of this session, read to you certain proofs; and I will now give you another. It is this: It is agreed on all hands – no man has attempted to dispute it – that, in the affair of the battle of Tippecanoe, the commander and the officers distinguished themselves by the greatest gallantry. How has it happened, then, that while we have been freely voting medals to those gallant officers of our navy who have distinguished themselves on the ocean – and I hope we shall vote them something more substantial – not a whisper has been heard in relation to those who have been engaged in this expedition against the Indians? The subject has not been even inquired into.

Do we know, at this moment, as a Legislature, the causes of that disastrous business – I call it so from its consequences – or by whose authority this war was made? Or, is it come to this: that Governors of our Territories are to consider themselves as so many Hastings and Wellesleys of our country, and that, while they do not involve us in war with Christians like themselves, they may go to any extent in exterminating the Red Barbarians here as in the East Indies Governors and Proconsuls of the British Government do there in regard to uncivilized powers of that quarter of the globe? Is it discovered that our Territorial Governors may at pleasure invade the territory of other nations – for, inconsiderable and contemptible though they be, the Indian tribes are nations – in like manner that the British authorities make war upon those nations of the East? Yes, sir, not only is this a war of our own seeking – not only we had it in our power to keep the peace – but in the country which was the scene of the battle, and in the adjacent country, it was the most popular war ever waged. The frontier people of this country have been in the habit of driving the heathen before them; and to them the chase of the deer, the elk, and the antelope, is not so grateful as that of the red men they hunt. I believe that it is the cause of serious regret to many of the people of the West that there is now no longer any motive to drive them from their lands. As to the Red Men, the Big-Knives have, without any foreign prompting or instigation, driven them off from a country more extensive than that over which the Emperor of France wields his sceptre. So I put aside this item of Indian war altogether as a matter of account in the list of our grievances against the British Government. There is not a shadow of foundation for believing that these Indians were or could have been instigated to take up the hatchet against us until hostile arms had been taken up against them. When driven to the wall they must fight or die – the last alternative left to them – for which nobody can blame them.

It was, sir, a saying of one of the best men who ever wrote, in correspondence with a friend, that he had no time to write a shorter letter; and I can truly say that I have not time to deliver a shorter speech. I know that this question will be taken to-day, for I have been so admonished; and my own very severe and sudden indisposition, which I am almost ashamed to name, will compel me to detain your attention much longer than under other circumstances would have been the case.

A word, now, on the subject of impressment. Our foreign trade had grown beyond the capacity of either our tonnage or seamen to manage. Our mercantile marine was an infant Hercules; but it was overloaded beyond its strength: the crop was too abundant to be gathered by our hands alone. The consequence was, and a natural one too, that not only the capitalists flocked into our country from abroad to share in our growing commerce, but the policy also of our Government was adapted to it, and a law was passed to enable us to avail ourselves of the services of British seamen and seamen of other countries. And, in doing this, we availed ourselves of the pretext – which, as long as the countries to which they belonged winked at it, was fair for us to use – of taking these British seamen for Americans. It was in 1796 that commenced the act, to which reference has been made, and that system of "protections," as they were called, the very mention of which, at this day, causes a burst of honest indignation in the breast of citizens whose situation enables them to ascertain their true character. If these "protections," so termed, have not been forged all over Europe, it is only for the reason that the notes of a certain bank of which I have heard have not been forged, viz: that, the bank being broke, its notes were so worthless that people would not even steal them. The "protections" are attainable by everybody; by men of all ages, countries, and descriptions. They are a mere farce. The issuing of them has gone far to disgrace the character of the country, and has brought into question and jeopardy the rights of real American citizens. This question of impressment, delicate as it has been said to be – difficult as in one view it certainly is – is, of all others, in my judgment, the most compact. With the gentleman from New York, I will say that the tide of emigration has brought to the shores of our country many most valuable characters; some of them persons with whom I have the honor of being in habits, not only of intimacy, but friendship. I believe there does not exist one man of this description, who comes bona fide to this country to settle himself and children here, that would require you to go to war on his account. And, sir, I believe that the belligerent position itself in which you now find yourself will relieve you in a great degree of this evil, for many seamen who have so long, by virtue of these "protections," passed themselves off for American, will find it to be very convenient to be Portuguese or Swedish seamen, or seamen of some other State than the United States – some State that is not at war with England. Sir, there is a wide difference between the character of American seamen and seamen of every other country on earth. The American seaman has a home on the land, a domicil, a wife and children, to whom he is attached, to whom he is in the habit of returning after his voyages; with whom he spends, sometimes, a long vacation from the toils of maritime life. It is not so with the seamen of other countries. For the protection of men of the first description, I am disposed, if necessary, to use the force of the country, but for no other. I know, indeed, that some gentlemen who have spoken much on the subject of the principle of impressment, will tell you that the right to take from a neutral vessel one seaman, if carried to its extent, involves a right to take any, or all seamen. Why, sir, in like manner, it might be argued that the taking illegally of one vessel at sea involves the right to take every vessel. And yet, sir, who ever heard of two nations going to war about a single case of capture, though admitted not to be justified by the laws? Such a case never did and never will occur.

Of one thing we are certain: it rests upon no doubtful ground: that Great Britain, rather than surrender the right of impressing her own seamen, will nail her colors to the mast, and go down with them. And she is right, because, when she does surrender it, she is Samson shorn of his strength: the sinews of her power are cut. I say this openly in the House of Representatives; and I am not communicating to the enemy a secret of any value, because she has herself told us that she can never surrender it. She has told us so, not when she stood in the relation of an enemy toward us, but in the friendly intercourse of the British Ministry with our late Commissioners at London. Turn to the book: I wish the honorable gentleman, if he has it, would for a moment let me have the use of it. You are told in that book that every effort was made by the American Commissioners to effect a relaxation of this right; that the British Ministry evinced the sincerest desire to give satisfaction to them on this point: but what? The Admiralty was consulted; they waked up out of their slumbers the Civilians at Doctors' Commons to deliberate upon it; and they came to the conclusion that the Government of Great Britain could not give up that right. Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney, the Commissioners of the United States to negotiate a treaty with the Government of Great Britain, in their correspondence with their own Government, give this fact to excuse themselves for failing to accomplish their object, and to prove that every thing had been done that could be on their part, and every thing conceded on the other side that the most friendly disposition could warrant – and here I do not speak of masked friendship, but of real friendship. Although every thing possible had been done, this right of impressment of her own seamen was a sine qua non on the part of Great Britain – one which would not, could not, must not, be surrendered. And, sir, if this question of the right of impressment was one on which we were to go to war with Great Britain, we ought to have gone to war then; because we were then told by the highest authority in that Government that this was a point which never would be given up.

I find, sir, that I cannot trust my broken voice to read the book, now that it is in my hand, but must rely upon my recollection for facts.

Now, this question lies as I have said, in a very small compass. The right of Great Britain to take her own seamen from your merchant vessels, (if it be a right,) is one which she has exercised ever since you were a People, wherever occasions for its exercise have occurred. Will you not only go to war, but wage a bellum ad internecinum for it? Will you wage an endless war of extermination for this right, which, you have known for two and twenty years of your national existence, she will not relinquish? A gentleman from Tennessee, of whose capacity few men have more respectful opinion than myself, has quoted the diplomatic correspondence as far back as 1792, to show what General Washington's opinions were on this question of impressment, and this opinion of the Father of his Country is now held up to the people of the United States for the purpose of enlisting their prejudices in the conviction that, by involving the country in warfare, we are at this moment treading in the footsteps of that great man, and acting upon his principles. Nothing can be more untrue. To say that the Treaty of Louisiana was negotiated two years after the letter of instruction quoted from the Washington Administration, and that that treaty contained no provisions on this point, is a reply in full on this course of argument. But what does the correspondence referred to prove? What every treaty, what every negotiation, has proven: that England would not give up this point, although she made offers for guarding against abuse – offers more favorable to us than ours to her. And yet the Administration of this Government have had the hardihood or the folly to plunge the nation into a war for it – for a point on which General Washington, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, men differing from each other as may be in every aspect, had been content to negotiate, rather than go to war for its assertion.

What was the offer made to our Government by the British Ministry? If I do not forget, their offer was that they would not impress American seamen. Their offer to us was not accepted, but it was beyond question, in my opinion, more beneficial than the proposition which we on that occasion made to them.

But it may be said that the right of search cannot be endured; that the protection of our flag must be held inviolate; that if a search of our ships be permitted for British seamen, they may actually take American seamen. Sir, there is no doubt of the fact that by mistake, sometimes perhaps by wilful misconduct, on the part of officers engaged in the search, such a thing may happen. But, should we not think it exceedingly strange that the misconduct of an officer of the American Government, in one case in twenty if you will, should be a cause of war for any nation against us? It is one of those cases which does occur, and will forever occur, to a neutral power, whenever a general war is lighted up. It is one of the prices which this country has to pay for its rapid accession of wealth, such as is unheard of in the annals of any other nation but our own. And this, sir, is the state of things in which we have undertaken, in children's language, to quarrel with our bread and butter; and to identify ourselves with one of the belligerents in a war in which we have no proper concern. I will not touch at all the abstract question of the right of impressment: it has been so much more ably handled by others that I shall not say a word about it. I address myself to the common sense of the planter, the farmer, the agriculturist of our country – are you willing upon such grounds as these to continue this war? I have no doubt what will be their answer.

On these subjects I have delivered my sentiments more than once before in this House. I think of them with horror as the accursed cause of this war. Not that the men who are in power are worse men than other people, but that they have brought upon this land of peace and freedom issues the end of which it would be impossible for any human being to divine.

One thing is certain, that the right of search does practically exist, and has been acknowledged by all nations. The President of the United States and his Secretary of State, as great masters of the Law of Nations, will be among the first to acknowledge it; they have acknowledged it, and by our treaties with foreign powers, this country has heretofore acknowledged it, so far as concerns the right to search for contraband goods and enemy's property. Suppose that there are notorious abuses under this right: should we be justified in declaring that no search whatever of our merchant vessels shall be allowed? There is no doubt that, under the color of the right of search – for I am advocating its lawful purposes only – abuses have been committed on neutrals; and as long as men exist it will be so. The liability to abuse of this right is the price which neutrals pay for the advantages which they derive from their neutrality; and I should like to know whether it would be for me to join in the contest in which these belligerents are engaged for the recovery of my neutral rights. Where are those rights when great maritime powers become belligerent? There are neutral rights undoubtedly, but there are also neutral duties. And shall a neutral nation, a nation which has in that character prospered and flourished more than any people on the face of the globe, sacrifice those rights and those advantages, and resort to war against one of those belligerents – and for what? For a point of honor! Yet, whilst in this Quixotic spirit we have gone to war with England; although we have been robbed, reviled, contemned throughout by the Emperor of France, we can see no cause of war with him!

What shall we say of the French doctrine in relation to this subject of impressment? If that has been dwelt upon in this debate by any honorable gentleman of this House it has escaped my notice. What is the French doctrine on this subject – established at the time when the United States stood in relations of peace and amity to that power, when every heart beat high with sympathy for the success of French freedom; when some of those who have since transferred their admiration, I will not say their love, to the present head of the French Government, to the enemy of French freedom, and all freedom, to all commerce, and right, and religion – at the time when some of those who have since so lamentably changed on this subject felt an interest for freedom and France scarcely inferior to that which they felt for freedom and America? What were then the doctrines of the French Government? That all who spoke the English language should be treated as Englishmen, unless they could give proof to the contrary; the onus probandi lying on those who spoke the language of Locke, and Newton, and Milton, and Shakspeare. Yes, sir, whilst the English Government establishes no such doctrine, the French Government acts upon the principle that speaking the English language is prima facie evidence of your being a British subject, and would justify their treating you as an enemy, the burden of the proof to the contrary being thrown upon yourself.

And, sir, is it nothing to the bill which we are now debating, for raising an additional army of twenty thousand men – or is it a departure from order to hint on this floor at a circumstance which all men are employed and occupied in discussing at their firesides? – that this army, to constitute an aggregate of fifty-five thousand regular troops, is about to be put under the control of the man who was the author of the Anonymous Letters at Newburg at the close of the Revolutionary war, inciting a handful of men, the remnant of the old American army – perhaps not numbering six thousand altogether – to give a master to the nation? Is that a consideration to have no weight upon such a question as this? With me, sir, it is conclusive. I will tell gentlemen on both sides of the House that a Government or a man may despise a calumny – that the arrows of slander will fall blunt and harmless upon them – provided that the Government and the man be true to itself and himself. Yes, sir, ask yourself this question in regard to any man, to whom you are about to confide important trusts: Does he pay his just debts? Is he a man of truth? Does he discharge as he ought the duties of a friend, a brother in society? After having done that, be his politics what they may, and his peculiarity of opinion in politics what it may, he is a good man; he acquires the esteem of all who know him; he is impenetrable to mere vulgar calumny. This Government ought to employ men of real worth and capacity: it is not always that those showing qualities attracting attention in private life, or as companions, are of real capacity. Do those who administer the Government make it a rule to employ in the public service none but men of real capacity, or worth, of integrity, and of high character? Do they give their contracts and offices without fear, favor, or affection, to men of responsibility and character – to such men as you would in private life give your own contracts to? Or do they bestow them, as is done in some Governments differently constituted from ours, where church preferment and military preferment are sometimes made a dirty job of Parliamentary interest? Do they employ men of clean hands, with fair characters; or is every caitiff, without examination, welcome to their arms, provided he can bring with him the proof of his treachery to his former employers? It depends on these facts whether confidence is due to any Administration of the Government.

Sir, I have much yet to say which appeared to me, when I rose, not to be unworthy your attention; but I confess to you, with feelings something like contrition, that my opinion on this subject has undergone a change.

There is one point, however, on which I do not know how to speak in this place with the reverence which is due to it. I cannot pass it over, and yet I know not how to touch it. Yes, sir, there is one reflection pressing itself as a crown of thorns upon my own head, which I am bound to present to the consideration of this Assembly and this people. Is it fitting that the only two nations among whom the worship of the true God has been maintained with any thing like truth and freedom from corruption; that the only two nations among whom this worship has been preserved unstained, shall be the two now arrayed against each other in hostile arms in a conflict in which, let who will conquer in the fight, his success in one point, if that be an object, will have been attained: so much of human life, liberty, and happiness, will have perished in the affray – in the service of this scourge with which it has pleased God, in his wisdom and justice, not in his mercy, to inflict mankind? Is it fitting that those hands which unite in giving to idolaters and to the heathen the Word of God, the Book of Life – that those hands, and those alone, should be thus drenched in each other's blood? Will you unite as a Christian with your Protestant brother across the Atlantic for these noble purposes, and then plunge the dagger into his breast with whom you are associated in a cause so holy – one so infinitely transcending the low, the little, the dirty business we are called upon here to transact? I hope that the sacrifice may be stopped. We have nothing to expect from the mission of our Minister to the Ruler of France, whether at Moscow, or wherever else he may be. The Deity or Devil whom we worship is not to be mollified by our suppliant appeals. Let us turn from him – come out of his house – and join in the worship of the true and living God, instead of spilling the blood of his people on the abominable altar of the French Moloch.

Sir, I have done. I could have wished to continue my remarks further, but I cannot.