Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1808-11-21

1 Strong temptations are Afforded 10 Sys-
tematical evasions of the laws, which
tend TO corrupt tie spirit of honorable
| Commerce, and will materially mJure
the public morals. In fact, the evils
which are menaced by a continuance OF
this policy are so enormous and depior-
able the suspension of Commerce IS
so contraryto the habits OF our people,
and SO repugnant to their feeling and
interests, that they must soon become
intolerabIe, and endanger our domes-
tick Peace, and the Union OF the States
AS the Embargo Laws have been the
cause Of the publick distress, your
Committee are Of opinion, that no e
quail, permanent or efectual relief can
be afforded to the Citizens OF this Com
lnonwealth but by the repeal OF these
Iaws-They persuade themselves that
the Congress of the. United States must
be fully impressed with a sense OF the
total ineffcacy Of these laws for any val
liable purpose, and of their direct ten
dency to the most serious consequent
ces. Your Committee therefore trust,
that Congress viii not fail to repeal
them. In this confidence, therefore,
your Committee are Of opinion, that,
upon this subject, the Legislature
should, Id its present session, conhne
itself to repeated tlisapprobation Of
the laws interdicting foreign commerce,
and to instructipg our Senators and re-
questing our Representatives in Con-
gress to use their utmost exertlons TO
procure their repeal.
Your Committee might probably
have contented themselves with the
proceeding remarks, had not the late
Message of the President of the Uni
ted States excited the most serious al
! arm which in the present critical
state Of the country they conceive it
duty 70 eXpress.-rhey perceive with
the most painful regret, that III the es-
\ timadon Of the President, or country
Is now presented with the only alterna-
y tive OF a continual Embargo, or a ruin
| Gus war; but they cannot hesitate TO
! express their confident belief that the
wisdom Of the Government may yet
find means TO avoid the necessity of e.
Letting between these great public ca
lamities. If however, this severe ne
cessity exists in regard to Great Brit
ain, they are led by the Message to
presume it results, in great measure
if not entirely, from the determination
OF the Executive to adhere TO the Proc
4amation Of July, 1907, interdicting all
| British ships Of war from the waters Of
the United States which has been,
and as we infer from the Massage, is
I sill deemed by the British Government
\ a measure 50 inhospitable and often
\ sive, If not hostile in its character, as
10 form an insuperable obstacle to ami
cable adjustment. Upon this delicate
and important subject, the Committee
are far from asserting, that the attack
on the Frigate Chesapeake did not JUS
tily the original issuing of the ProcIa-
nation, and enforcing it so long as the
injury might be presumed to have the
sanction of the British Government.
But as this violation of neutral rights
was promptly and explicitly disavow-
cd by the Sovereign of the aggressor,
before the remonstrances or measures
Of our government could be known as
the right to search our national ships
was expressly disclaimed, and a special
Envoy deputed for the proGessed object
Of making to our government a full,
satisfactory, and public PREPARATION on
the single condition of a previous revo-
cation of this Proclamation your COM
mIltee are constrained to declare their
opinions, that such revocation, under
such circumstances, would not have in
volved any dishonourabIe concession, or
an abandonment of any just right or
pretension but would have been a
full, reasonable, and magnanimous
pledge of the sincerity of the wishes of
| the American Government, TO restore
the accustomed relations Of peace and
amity between the two countries. This
course must have compelled the Brit
ish Envoy to have offered that ample
and honorable reparation, which
would have been deemed by our own
nation, and by the world, an adequate
atonement for the outrage; or have
Justified in the event Of its refusal, not
only the renewal Of the Proclamation
but the adoption Of measures of the
mostvlgorous and hostile description.
But even on the presumption that the
course adopted by the Government, in refu'
sing to revoke the Proclamation as prehm-
mary to an adjustment ofthat controversy, be
sanctioned By the usages of nations, and the
justice Of our claims your Committee are