Here, sir, I shall take the liberty to dissent from the committee, for I do not think it to be expedient to join them in such a resolution as this. For I would ask, what are we to promise to ourselves from such a system as this; what will be the probable effects of it? Will it compel the great belligerent Powers to do us justice for past injuries and secure us for the future? If I thought it would, I would most cheerfully vote for it. But, sir, I have no reason to suppose it will, for we have now had considerable experimental knowledge of the effects of the embargo system, both as it respects ourselves and foreign powers, and we have found from experience, that, as a coercive measure, it has had no effect. It has not compelled France or England to do us justice, or to rescind their unlawful edicts and decrees, issued against neutral commerce. And those nations having now experienced the effects of the embargo for nearly one year, whatever alarm it might have given them, when first laid on, that alarm has ceased. And we have it from high authority, that France cares nothing about it, and that in England, owing to the great events now passing in Europe, it is forgotten. And shall we still, with all this information and experience, adhere to this system, and still think we can legislate France and England into a comitance to do us justice, and bring them to the bar of justice in this way? Far be it from me to censure any one for the part they have taken in endeavoring to maintain the rights of our country, and giving security to the interest of our citizens. But, sir, I think, in the business of legislation, that the same line of conduct ought to be pursued, that we would pursue in the common and ordinary proceedings of life; for should any of us undertake to do any thing, suppose it be to get a vessel afloat that had been stranded, and the means employed were totally inadequate to its accomplishment, should we not abandon those means and try some other? We have tried the embargo, and found it altogether ineffectual, and we have no reason to suppose, that by a further continuance of it, it will answer any of the purposes for which it was intended.