Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1808-12-02

that this was somewhat the case already
a d that in liitle time it would be i'm
possible To- identity The vipla,ers OF The
embargo with common smugglers You
ough, tsaid he,) to have some regard to
The chvrishng a love of order and law
AID the thIOg ought not I'D be straiued too
Tar. He spoke OF The power to regulate
commerce, stating the improperly of ta-
king it out Of the hands Of the legislature
and vesting 1t in the'hands Of Twelve men;
and also advcrted TO the jealousies Of con-
gress with respect to the con. luance OF
our embargo in Washington's admins.
,ration, having Unite d it even when he
was chief magistrate. He asserted that
such stare of things as the present could
uever have been contemplated by the fra
mers of the constitution drew a compar
ison between the prescriptions of the con-
s.i;u,ion with regard TO acertain species
OF southern property, and the rights of
commerce inherent IN the eastern states !;
spoke of the futility of thinking to starve
Great Britain, when our of a consumption
of one hundred and Fifty millions of bush
els OF wheat we at no time supplied her
with more than seven millions, whilst Az.
RIGA and the commerce OF The Black sea
furnished her with supplies, and all Sou'h
America was open TO her navigation he
required 10 the assertion that the embar-
go saved our resources, and said ten per
cent had already been sacrificed, never 10
be recovered, and which was dead loss.
Al TO the embargo bearing equally upon
every part of The union, it was falacious
idea. He would take for an example the
two most considerable states Of the union ::
Virginia had a population OF about nine
hundi ed thousand souls, and capital OF
bout six millions of dollars engaged in
foreign trade willis Massachusetts,, with
a population OF six hundred thousand souls
had floating capital of thirty millions of
dollars Thus the evils of the embargo
more severely than in Virginia, as, To e.
qualize the burlhen it would be necessary
for the latter 10 have 45,ooo,O0o of dollars
capital at stake. Ard in Massachusetts
the middling class of people were The
most oppressed. Ruin is suspended over
hem they do not (said Mr. @ } believe
in your wisdom nor do they believe that
you understand their interests better than
they do themselves
Mr.. Quincy adverted to Massachusetts, be-
ing called the "cradle of liberty" Not,
sir, (said he) of an embargo liberty. Their
liberty Was Graded on the ocean, and is not
so much OF mountain as sea nymph. She
came from ths great waters, and was found
on the sands of the beach spreading her
nets. Not, sir, liber.y IN charms; in fet-
ters! We are asked TOO where is the spi
rit of'76! Aye, SIR where is that spirit
1t was glorious spirit and ought to pre"
vail in the house L. was not spirit Of
mere defamation but was an active, dig
Hifed and energetic spirit. There was
no such sentiment in all seventy-six as was
contained in this report; no proposition for
abandoning your rights under pretence of
protecting them; the spirit Of 70 relied On
the swor'l--there were no snch words
in seventy-six as embargo dignihed retire,
tment, and who should do each other the
most harm At thattime we had an army,
noble army; consisting of the yeomanry
of the country, with Washington at Its head
We had, sir, an army and head too.
Gentlemen ought not to invoke the spirit OF
'76. (Here he read extracts from the de-
claratiOn ofindependence in point.) Ifthey
do it will not come. or if it does, IT will come
in the shape of a tormentor. Mr.. O. spoke
of the clamor about tribute, observing that
no man could be for paying tribute; that
in fact there could be no such thing that
as the payment of duty was in considerati-
on of vessels proceeding to French ports
! and as gong I'll ther was going to confisca
| ton, IL was idle to suppose merchants would
do SO. But he SAID we had done more than
pay tribute: they had asked us TO 30 with
them a mile ami we hid gone two--They
ask for our cloak and we give them our
coat also Such course of procedure
tight answer very we'll TO secure happiness
in the other world, but would never secure
| our independence and honor in this.
Mr.. Q. concluded by ssying that gentle
men, IN the majority were wriHglng their
hands and crying out what shall We do 2
1t was not for him, he said, to advise but
| ne conceived that our situation now was
not much better than war we were cer-
tainly not at peace we we're retiring
| from the blows war may result, and gem
tlemen ought to recollect that the best way
20 prevent war was not to fear it. Our
| path, he observed, was clear as the milky
way, studded with stars, and full OF light.
! The resolution was not TO be III lstaken; it
was a pledge for new measures and UNI
der the impression that we we're to be per-
nitted to 60 on the ocean and support our
rights, he should vote for It.
Mr.. Dana, after some remarks relative
20 the inutlity of declaring ourselves an in
dependent nation secnad time, which the