I have thus shewn that the course recommended for our adoption, is not warranted by the laws and usage of nations, nor by the practice of our government. I shall now examine whether it is not repugnant to the best interests of the country. A vast augmentation of our national debt would be the certain consequence of this measure. It is a moderate estimate to say, that our annual expenditures, over and above our surplus revenue, would be 20 millions of dollars; and we cannot reasonably expect that the war would continue a shorter period than five years. Hence 100 millions would be added to our debt, and the great experiment which we are now trying of extinguishing it in fourteen years, would certainly fail....An experiment which has been defeated in Europe, by war and prodigality; and for the success of which, in this country, every friend of republican government looks up with the greatest anxiety. But this is not all....Heavy and oppressive taxation would be necessary, in order to pay off the interest of the accumulating debt, and to meet the other exigencies of government. We are now a happy nation in this respect. Neither the temper nor the habits of our citizens will patiently submit to severe burdens, and happily the posture of our financial arrangements does not require them. Give the rein, however, to chimerical notions of war....Embrace the proposition now submitted to us, and the weight of your impositions will be felt in every nerve and artery of our political system. Excises, taxes on houses and lands, will be reintroduced, and the evils of former administrations will be multiplied upon us. But the mischief will not stop here....with the encreasing calls for money from' the people, their means to satisfy them will be diminished.... The superior naval force of the enemy would cripple our commerce in every quarter of the globe....Great Britain and Spain hold the keys of the Mediterranean....We should therefore be entirely shut out of that sea, unless we could persuade the former to unite her exertions with ours. With the decay of our commerce....with our exclusion from foreign markets, the labors of our farmers would be palsied........ the skill of our manufacturers would be rendered useless.... and with the fruits of their industry perishing on their hands, or greatly undersold, how would they be able to meet the augmented wants of government? What in the mean time would become of the claim of our merchants upon Spain, for at least five millions of dollars, and to what perils would your commercial cities be exposed? These certain evils would be encountered, 'without producing the least benefit to our western brethren....The seizure of New Orleans would vest us with a place of deposit....but a place of deposit, without the free navigation of the Mississippi, would be entirely useless. As long as the enemy holds the country below New Orleans, and possesses a superior naval force, so long we will be excluded from the Mississippi. Suppose, however, this obstacle removed....suppose we are enabled to pass into the Gulf, without molestation, is it not necessary for vessels to hug the island of Cuba, on their passage to the Atlantic states? And will not this expose them to certain capture, as long as Spain retains that important possession. To secure the great object said to be aimed at by this resolution, and to establish beyond the reach of annoyance, a free communication between the Atlantic and western states, we must seize not only New Orleans, but the Floridas and Cuba; and we must immediately create a formidable navy. It is needless to mention that the Atlantic states are, with a few exceptions, the carriers of the western produce.... Three fourths of that trade is managed by the merchants of the state I have the honor to represent. I therefore view this measure as pregnant with great mischief to the commerce of Atlantic America, and as a certain exclusion of the western states from market, as long as the war shall continue. It is no slight objection in the minds of the sincere friends of republicanism, that this measure will have a tendency to disadjust the balance of our government, by strengthening the hands of the executive, furnishing him with extensive patronage, investing him with great discretionary powers, and placing under his directión a large standing army. It is the inevitable consequence of war in free countries, that the power which weilds the force will rise above the power that expresses the will of the people. The state governments will also receive a severe shock....Those stately pillars which support the magnificent dome of our national government, will totter under the increased weight of the superincumbent pressure. Nor will the waste of morals....the spirit of cupidity....the thirst of blood, and the general profligacy of manners, which will follow the introduction of this measure, be viewed by the great body of our citizens, without the most fearful anxiety, and the most heartfelt deprecation. And if there are any persons in this country, and I should regret if there are any such in this house, who think that a public debt is a public blessing, and that heavy taxation is expedient in order to produce industry ....who believe that large standing armies are essential to maintain the energy, and that extensive patronage is indispensible to support the dignity of government....who suppose that frequent wars are necessary to animate the human cha racter, and to call into action the dormant energies of our nature....who have been expelled from authority and power by the indignant voice of an offended country, and who repine and suffer at the great and unexampled prosperity which this country is rapidly attaining under other and better auspices..... Such men, whoever they are, and wherever they be, will rally round the proposition now before us, and will extol it to the heavens, as the model of the most profound policy, and as the offspring of the most exalted energy. If I were called upon to prescribe a course of policy most inportant for this country to pursue, it would be to avoid European connections and wars. The time must arrive when we will have to contend with some of the great powers of Europe, but let that period be put off as long as possible. It is our interest and our duty to cultivate peace, with sincerity and good faith. As a young nation, pursuing industry in every channel, and adventuring commerce in every sea, it is highly important that we should not only have a pacific character, but that we should really deserve it. If we manifest an unwarrantable ambition, and a rage for conquest, we unite all the great powers of Europe against us. The security of all the European possessions in our vicinity, will eternally depend, not upon their strength, but upon our moderation and justice. Look at the Canadas....at the Spanish territories to the south ....at the British, Spanish, French, Danish, and Dutch West India Islands....at the vast countries to the west, as far as where the Pacific rolls its waves. Consider well the eventful consequences that would result, if we were possessed by a spirit of conquest. Consider well the impression which a manifestation of that spirit will make upon those who would be affected by it. If we are to rush at once into the territory of a neighbouring nation, with fire and sword, for the misconduct of a subordinate officer, will not our national character be greatly injured? Will we not be classed with the robbers and destroyers of mankind? Will not the nations of Europe perceive in this conduct the germ of a lofty spirit, and an enterprizing ambition which will level them to the earth, when age has matured our strength, and expanded our powers of annoyance....unless they combine to cripple us in our Infancy? May not the consequences be, that we must look out for a naval force to protect our commerce....that a close alliance will result....that we will be thrown at once into the ocean of European politics, where every wave that rolls, and every wind that blows, will agitate our bark? Is this a desirable state of things? Will the people of this country be seduced into it by all the colorings of rhetoric, and all the arts of sophistry....by vehement appeals to their pride, and artful addresses to their cupidity? No, sir. Three fourths of the American people, I assert it boldly and without fear of contradiction, are opposed to this measure. And would you take up arms with a mill-stone hanging round your neck? How would you bear up, not only against the force of the enemy, but against the irresistible current of public opinion. The thing, sir, is impossible; the measure is worse than madness ....it is wicked, beyond the powers of description. It is in vain for the mover to oppose these weighty considerations, by menacing us with an insurrection of the western states, that may eventuate in their seizure of New Orleans without the authority of government....their throwing themselves into the arms of a foreign power....or in a dissolution of the Union. Such threats are doubly improper...improper as they respect the persons to whom they are addressed, because we are not to be terrified from the performance of our duty, by menaces of any kind, from whatever quarter they may proceed; and it is no less improper to represent our western brethren as a lawless unprincipled banditti, who would at once release themselves from the wholesome restraints of law and order, forego the sweets of liberty...and either renounce the blessings of self-government, or like the Goths and Vandals, pour down with the irresistible force of a torrent upon the countries below, and carry havoc and desolation in their train. A separation by a mountain, and a different outlet into the Atlantic, cannot create any natural collision between the Atlantic and western states...on the contrary, they are bound together by a community of interests, and a similarity of language and manners; by the ties of consanguinity and friendship, and a sameness of principles. There is no reflecting and well principled man in this country, who can view the severance of the states without horror, and who does not consider it as a Pandora's box which will overwhelm us with every calamity and it has struck me with not a little, astonishment, that on the agitation of almost every great political question, we should be menaced with this evil. Last session, when a bill repealing a judiciary act was under consideration, : we were told that the eastern states would withdraw themselves from the union, if it should obtain; and we are now informed, that if we do not accede to the proposition before us, the western states will hoist the standard of revolt and dis member the empire. Sir, these threats are calculated to produce the evil they predict, and they may possibly approximate the spirit they pretend to warn us against: they are at all times unnecessary...at all times improper...at all times mischievous...and ought never to be mentioned within these walls. If there be a portion of the United States peculiarly attached to republican government and the present administration, I should select the western states as that portion. Since the recent elections, there is not a single senator, or a single representative in congress, from that vast country, unfriendly to the present order of things, and except in a part of the Mississippi Territory, and its whole population did not by the last census reach nine thousand souls, there is scarcely the appearance of opposition. To represent a people so republican, so enlightened, and so firm in their principles, as ready without any adequate cause, (for no government could watch over their interests with more paternal solicitude than the present upon the present question,) to violate their plighted faith and political integrity...to detach themselves from the government they love, and to throw themselves under the protection of nations, whose political systems are entirely repugnant to their own, requires an extent of credulity rarely equalled....certainly never surpassed. If we examine the indications of public sentiment which have reached us, we see them breathing quite a contrary spirit. The legislatures of Kentucky and the Mississippi Territory, have expressed full confidence in the conduct of the government, respecting the infraction of the treaty: Virginia, which embraces a respectable portion of western population, has done the same. legislature of Tennessee has not been in session, but from the most recent and authentic accounts, we have every reason to believe that that state & the Indiana Territory are entirely satisfied with the position our government has taken. The infant state of Ohio has presented us with an address couched in the warmest terms of affectionate attachment...equally honorable to her and to us; and her recent elections have manifested the same decided spirit: out of forty-five members returned to her first legislature, there are only five to be found in the opposition. Pennsylvania is the only remaining state which pos sesses any western territory....and I need only refer you to her The |