Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16)United States. Congress
History
Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16)
United States. Congress
Law -- United States; United States -- Politics and government
As a measure of coercion upon other nations, I not only have the
strongest hopes, but also a rational confidence in it, founded upon
the most conclusive evidence. The misrepresentations in this country,
the violations of the embargo, and the hope of changing the parties
in the United States, or of producing a separation of the States;
these miscalculations have destroyed entirely the efficacy of this
measure, and been a main cause why Great Britain has not relaxed in her
injustice towards America. And if we can rigidly enforce this system,
my confidence is undiminished, my faith strong, that the United States
will have reasonable terms offered to them. Yet the violators of your
laws have been the great cause why the present state of things has been
protracted. They are as infamous as the cowboys in the Revolution, who
embodied themselves to feed our enemies with the only cow of a weeping
widow, or a poor soldier who was fighting for his country. The commerce
of the United States with the West Indies, the Continent of Europe,
and Great Britain, will present to this committee the evidence upon
which this faith is bottomed. The United States have furnished the
West Indies with the essentials of existence, and also have afforded a
market for the colonial produce of those islands. In fact, they cannot
live without provisions from the United States in the present state of
the world. These islands have been reduced to wretchedness and want
already, notwithstanding the violations of the embargo, and flour, we
learn, has been as high as $20, $30, $40, $50, and $60 per barrel. The
vast importance of these possessions alone, to the mother country,
might have been sufficient to have produced a settlement of our
differences, if other considerations had not prevented. Attend to the
trade with England and the continent previous to the Orders in Council.
The annual exports of British manufactures to the United States amount
to twelve million pounds sterling. In exchange for these manufactured
articles, Great Britain receives to the amount of four million pounds
sterling in tobacco, cotton, wheat, and the substantials of life.
The eight millions which remain due must be paid in money or bills.
To raise this money, the American merchants carry to the Continent
of Europe produce of the United States to the amount of this eight
millions, which is sold, and the amount remitted to the merchants in
London to pay the debts of our merchants. This trade is now destroyed
by the Orders in Council, and not the embargo--for this very measure
has saved our vessels from capture, our merchandise from condemnation,
and our seamen from impressment.
THURSDAY, December 1.
Another member, to wit, THOMAS MOORE, from South Carolina, appeared,
and took his seat in the House.
JESSE B. THOMAS, the delegate from the Indiana Territory, returned
to serve in the room of BENJAMIN PARKE, who hath resigned his seat,
appeared, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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