The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-03-18

| tion, That proposition was at that time adopt.
ed by very large majority. All parties unit.
ed in giving it their fuppor.. The great po.
htical diitinction. which has unfortunately pre-
vailed too long in this country, did not on tha,
occaiion difcover itfelf great deal. The re.
lprefentation from the ftate in which / live, was
1t that time about equally divided betwix, the
two great contending parties, and yet on tina,
tIueftion their votes were completely blended
The representation from the fouthern ttates !
obferve. was generally in favor of that mcaf;re
The Respectable Rate of Virginia in particular,
which was reprefeHted by confsllation of ia.
Tents, not only ranged itfelf on the affirmative
lide of the quetion by its vote, but alto bore a
very diitinguihed part in the argument in fup.
port OF the meafure. From familiarity of cir
|cumttances, are we not now to expect fimilar
reiult. Although the evil complained of is in
the firft inftance more feverely felt in particu.
lar fiction of the country, its effects will ulti-
mately extend to every part of it. And 70 far
as the honor of the government is implicated,
a fenhbility arfing from that fource mutt necef.
FAIRLY be experienced by all its citizens at the
fame time.
Before fit down, Mr.. Chairman, permit me
to fay, that although my opinion on this fub-
jcet is formed on the mott mature reflection,
yet ifa majority of the committee think differ.
emily, if they prefer fomething more energetic,
or If they have any other fytem, which they
coniider more efficient to obtain the Object,
may for the fake of unanimity be difpnfcd to
yield my opinion. Unanimity confider as all
important. We are told BY a document on Our
table, :bat THE nation agairR eobe)e conduit spe
complain, calculates oar divifonJ. Her hopes
IF being enabled to pur/ise Der aenr, are brill on
an ideH, that diDjfon among ouyjeives ev;W pre-
pf"f or adopting any Efficient n,ea/ilre5. Inthis
hope truft they will now be disappointed, and
that we will thew to them and to the world,
that however we may differ as to the adminif-
traton of our internal affairs, on all great natl
| onal queftions, in which the honor and true in.
tereft OF our country in relation to foreign gov
ernments is involved, that we are but one peo-
pie.
Mr.. J. CLAY. I had entertained hope
that the call of my colleague would have been
delayed for 4 few days longer, as the documents
we have received from the Treafury Depart.
ment have been but two days on our table. at
leat in printed form, and as they are caicu.
lated to throw much light on the fiibjea before
us. In the few remarks which / am about to
offer, fhall not follow my colleague through
the detail he has made of the injuries and nfnlts
of G.. Britain. We all of us well know that the
national Rag has been grofsy outraged and the
national honor violated by her. But do not
conceive that the beft mode of obtaining re.
dreis for thefe wrongs is to do that which will
II.
objections to this refoluton are two fold. The
fyf is that, if carried into effect, it places grea-
ter means of injuring us in the hands of our e.
nemy than The already poHef1es and the E-
! eoHd, that we fhal not be able to maintain the
| oourfe it points out for any length oftime.
by the refoution before us we are prohibi-
ted from importing from Great-Britain, any
! articles, however necef1ary or convenient they
| may be; while at the fame :inc we are per-
| united to carry any articles to her market
The effect will be that while our productions
| are accommodating in the hands of the Britifb
! manufacturers and merchants they will have no
means ofpaying for them. Aud of confequence
| debts to very large amount will become due
| from Britfh merchants to American citizens,
! Even at the prefent day ] have great doubts
whether there are not greater fums due by the
merchants of Great-Britan to the citizens of
| the q. S. than there are recoverable debts due
by American citizens to them. IF 70, what
will become ofthe fecond expedient propofed
| to be reforted to by my colleague, that of fe-
quefration The balance of injury, inftead
OF being in our favor, will be againft us. Fmy
colleague had looked over the report of the fe-
| cretary of the Treafury, and had attended to
| IT, amount OF American property afoat, he
would have feen that there is not lefs than one
hundred millions of dollars worth of American
property at the mercy of the crnizers of Bri.
tatn bei1eve that the naked veffels, indepen-
dent ofthe products they carry, amount in va
lue to more than thirty millions Of dollars. 1t
will be feen that the commerce Of the IT, S. in
exports and imports amount TO so millions,
of which it is fair TO calculate that one third is
| confantly expofed on the ocean. OF this a.
mount about forty millions is carried on be-
| tween the u. S. and the power with whom it is
| propofed to cut off intercoHrfe With this
| fact Earring us in the face, would it be polite
to expofe 70 much property to the retaliation
| OF the Britifh minifry. When the gentleman
| fpoke ofthe amount of BFitih depredations,
he ought to have ftated the amount of thofe re-
Gently committed. ] believed am not very
wrong in Eating the whole amount of Ameri-
can property detained by Britiil, CRITTERS as not
| exceeding fix millions of dollars. On balanc-
| ing, therefore, their interefs, ought the u. s.
| to refort to meafures of nobility, to meafures
| which, in the spinion Of every man, will juai-
| fly retaliation.
BeGdes, would viii, my colleague TO thew
us how we are to he fupplied with articles
| heretofore derived from G.. Britain. All arti-
cles ofiron manufacture, hard ware, OF cotton,
and coarfe woolens, we are obliged to import
| from that Illand. From her Eait India domini,
ons we Iikewife import great variety of ufeful
| articles; while from her India inands we
import 2 great norton of one article fr,;r;te