The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-09-02
THE EyNQURF.R.
RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER ?. 1908.
Dialogue between a farmer end Merchant


from n "discontinnance ofthe Embargo - A
committee of the House of Commons tells US,
that the moment we raise our Embargo,
we shall be cut offfrom trade with the f.
West ln;ics.-We must use British coffee,
British sugar, and perhaps ar last, British
bottoms.
N1er. Why, sir. what would you do. will
you still stick to that misc rabie hum-drum
thing called the Embargos will YOU consent
to see all our ships rotting at the wharves,
your wheat and tobacco deprecated to a
mere sous, our industry stagnated, and our
capital begging for a chap p
Far. Unfortunately your picture of facts
is not correct; our vessels are not all rot
ting because many of these are continually
going out; yo1. best know where. Our wheat
is selling at shilliDgs with the benciit of the
rise to January our -four is not great deal
lower than it formerly was. Almost all
the old crop is sold off; and the new crop
is going the same way you best know where.
But sir, even if things were as bad as you
represent them, would it have much i'm
proved them to have taken off the ca>bargo?
Better for our vessels to have rotted in our
ports, than to be taken by our enemy. AS to
my wheat and tobacco, would it have mate
rally bettered my situation, if had sold
them to merchant, who could not have suisse
Quently paid me for them, because his vessel
was unfortunately captured on the seas! But
even if this unfortunate accident should not
happen, would the price of my wheat and to-
bacco be much improved by the discontiu
ance of the Embargos England cannot con-
sumo all that we make. Our tobacco would
be shut out from the ports of the continent,
becauseit had been obliged to touch at
an English port. Even our Hour would pro-
badly be confined to the British market in
the West Indies, as is now contemplated by
the committee of the House of Commons
Recoliect too the almost complete certainty
of war, which this state of things would
produce, with all its train of eXpences, taxes,
and new impositions on the public.-I am
sorry, sir, that the letter of MIR. Gray, a
staunch Federalist, and the richest merchant
and largest shipper and insurer in the Unit
ed States should have made so little impress
sion upon you.-But if the spirit of pecunia-
~ interest does not tempt you to prefer the
Embargo, must call much more divine and
ETHEREAL spirit to my aid
17er. / must confess, that your arguments
do not convince me, that i should make as
much money by the continuance as by the
revocation OF the e,r,tbargo.
Far. Then | must invoke the honor of
your country; the genius of our indefend-
ence. Would you, sir. submit to all the en-
croachments of the British orders in council
Would you consent to pay British taxes, and
purchase British licences! What say YOU
Are you guilty, or not guilty, of abandoning
the honor and independence of your country !
For what did our foretatliers contend dur
ing the wars Of the revolution? Against what
usurpation, principally, did they rise up in
arms?
Mer. The assumption of Great Britain, to
Tar us gvithOUt oair ozp,l consent
Far. And yet where is the material diff
ference between the two cases? Has she any
more right to lay a tax upon cotton than up
on tea, against our own consent! a.
Ner. She has not. But the tax on tea was
to be collected in oar ports: that on cotton
isto be collected in her own.
Far. Ingenious distinction indeed AS an
independent people, we claim the right OF
navigating the highway of nations, of carry
ing our own productions according to our own
pleasure, unless in the two exceptions eX-
pressly laid down in the law OF nations Now
if Great Britain compels us TO abandon this
right, and to visit her ports for orders and
taxation, we are not completely an indepen-
dent nation We are only half so. We are indie
pendent on the land, but not on the water We
might as well strike that article from the Con-
Stituticn which gives Congress the pow
er to regulate commerce zviM foreign natl
0nS." 1t would be as well to transfer that
power to .he English board of tradc.---How
Great Britain wonld exercise her present as
sumed powers, is manifest by the uses she
has already made OF them. The Report
of the House of Commons is a very proms-
ing prognostic of the future. One branch Of
our trade would so after another. We might
as well strike our national flag at once
and transport all our produce under the ban
ners of England Wv ould you submit to such
impositons? Would our forefathers have
submitted But sir, how can you distinguish
those taxes from tri5ufe2
dIer. Tribute!
Fd. You have too much spirit to consent tc
pay the same tribute to G.. Britain Is we pay
to the Barbary state Of Algiers, Shame tc
the civilized world that that den of Pirates
should have been so long suffered to exist
and to- exact tribute
A1er. You are right, Sir, I should con
slider such tribute, as completely de-
rIOgatory to the honor Of this country We
might as well at once surrender our ma
tIoAai indehendence to Great Britain make
q bog- FIRE of that holy covenant wiiiuiI emit
ties us TO rank 90 among the powers of the
EARTH" and sink into an humble appenagc
of the British empire. No, sir, much as
admire the genius and the resources Of G.
Britain, will never consent to- be dchenocht
HfoH her Tor the exercise of those SACRED
privileges =" TO which the laws of nature G,
OF natures God eDtitle us" 1t is already a
burning blot upon our national escutcheon