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
I do not mean to
involve the idea of absolute starvation; much less to insinuate that
the embargo is so coercive as to humble Great Britain at our feet;
far from it--but I do say, from the nature of their products, their
profitable existence depends upon us. There are not contained within
the whole British empire at this time, whatever they may have been
previous to the American Revolution, supplies for the home and colonial
consumption. Will gentlemen tell us from whence they are to procure
the principal articles of provisions and lumber? I might rest the
argument in safety on these articles alone; these are essential, and
of our produce. All the evasions of the embargo have been made with
a view to that supply; enforce it, and from whence will they procure
the article of lumber? It bears a higher price and is more scarce in
Great Britain, even in ordinary times, than in the West Indies. The
opinion that Nova Scotia and Canada were adequate to that supply, has
been long since abandoned. The articles of their produce require a
constant supply of our materials, some of them cannot be procured from
any other part of the world; of the lumber received, we have heretofore
furnished ninety-nine parts out of one hundred. But we are told they
can raise corn. Who denies it? I will grant to gentlemen all they ask
on that point, and add, too, that their corn is actually more valuable
per bushel than that of this country; but when their labor and industry
is directed to that object, what becomes of their cotton, sugar, and
coffee cultivation? What becomes of the immense revenues derived from
those sources? Gentlemen must not forget that at least one-third of
her revenue accruing from commerce, is derived from the West India
trade alone. I do not know that I should be wrong, if I were to say
from coffee and sugar only. If you drive them to the cultivation of
corn for subsistence, they must necessarily abandon the cultivation of
their most valuable staples. And do gentlemen believe Great Britain is
willing to sacrifice all these considerations to a refusal to do you
justice? We do not require justice, for all we ask of her is to abstain
from plundering us. We say to her "hands off;" we wish not to come into
collision with you; let us alone. These sacrifices will not be much
longer hazarded, unless indeed she is deluded into a belief that she
has sufficient influence, in this country, to excite disaffection and
insurrection, and thereby remove the cause of pressure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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