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
Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS said: It has become very fashionable to apologize to
you, sir, for every trespass which a gentleman contemplates making on
the patience of the House, and I do not know but in ordinary cases it
may be very proper; but the present question is certainly such a one
as exempts every gentleman from the necessity of making any apology
whatever. I shall offer none, and for the additional reason, that I
have given to every member who has spoken the utmost of my attention.
Upon this question, which presents itself in every point of view too
clear to admit of a single doubt; equally unsusceptible of sophistical
perversion or misrepresentation; a question which involves a political
truism, and which is undenied; a debate has grown out of it, embracing
the whole foreign relations of this country. I shall not attempt
to follow the gentlemen in the course which they have pursued, but
will confine my observations to a justification of the embargo, and
to the proof, that the orders and decrees of the belligerents, and
not the embargo, as was said by the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr.
KEY,) have produced the present embarrassments. Bad as our situation
was at the close of the last session, it has now become infinitely
worse. The offer to suspend the embargo laws, for a suspension of the
Orders in Council, made in a sincere spirit of conciliation, has been
contemptuously rejected, those orders justified, and an extension of
their operation threatened: this is a state of things insufferable.
At a crisis of this sort, the importance of which every gentleman
acknowledges, I deem it proper that every man who feels an ardent love
of country should come forward to save that country, to rescue his
sinking parent from the jaws of pollution. The effort should be, who
shall render our common country the most good; who will be foremost
in the ranks; we should not shrink behind the irresponsible stand of
doing nothing, ready to raise ourselves upon the mistakes of others;
perhaps, the virtuous misfortunes of our political brothers. I am
willing to take my share of the responsibility of asserting the wisdom
of the original imposition of the embargo, and the correctness of its
present and future continuance. Gentlemen have been frequently called
upon, while they make vehement declamation against the embargo, to
say what they wish in its stead; they declare the utmost hostility to
the measure, and yet they offer no substitute. Can they for one moment
forget, that upon this question as upon every other national subject,
we must all hang together or be hung separate! It inevitably follows
from the organization of our Government, that this is the fact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account