Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-01-17
House OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
FR1DAy, December5o.
DEBATE
Ga The Resolution for raisraf Fifty 7hon-
SAID Voluntegrs
Ecoar1suED-l
FR1DAy, Decemberso.
nEBATE
TcoMTINuED.l

that the embargo EaQ iallSSl ~ Id al W. ITO
.coercive character. Is it the sense OF the
house that it should be repeal{d! Is it the
sense of the house Gas the gentleman from
Massachusetts also intimated as his oplnlon)
that there should be declaration of war ::
If so, it might be properto raise an army.
But have no disposition to raise an army
| until there be war,
There had been time, Mr.. GARDENER
said, when the raising 900 men was con-
sidered and held out by many honest poll
ticians as measure dangerous to tie inde-
pendence of the sptes and the rights OF the
people individually. Last year 5000 men
were raised, and fifty thousand more called
for. he had thought that in this country
no standing armies should be raised IN time
Of peace that there was sacred mlunc-
tion in the constitution forbidding it. Per
haps he did not correctly understand the
subject; this might not be Standing ar
my, because Its term Of service was limited
to two years; but it might be extended tz05
or ten years more. He put sae question to
| 6 ntlemen whether in state Of peace, IN
der the operation Of that very system,wmch
had been represented as a substitute for W n
! 1t would be proper to raise this force! IL
could not reconcile it with due estimate
Of the interests the country on the one
hand, or the sacred injanctions OF the con-
s5itution Oh the other, to raise Al army to
such an extent. An army is to be raised );
the mode in which it IS 10 be employed IS
uneertain. The twelve thousand men which
he had before mentioned, was body wh.~a
could not be employed 10 the detriment Of
the liberties Of the country for almost G.
very section could raise a force to resistsu h
| an army ii an attempt had been made by it
to destroy their Liberties. We had another
security too against tae force being us:d to
a bad purpose. At the head Of tbs army
had been the great hero of the revolution
and also the man who had next 20 him done
more Tor the prosperity Of the country than
any other, under whose luminous and Great
i've mind, the resources Of the whole cou l.
try had been brought into action, and spread
an universal hilarity over the nation instead
OF that gloom s poverty which had preceded
its influence IN the Z. S. FMS army SO
small, and under such commanders threat
ened not the public liberty. Yetthere had
been men Jealous and eager that none. the
slightest occasion should b. gwen for any
one to suppose that they were about by MI
ltary force to invade the liberti>s Of the
country, who had seen horrors in this small
army which they could scarce find words 10
depict. Where were these men, he asked,
now that an army of more than folr times
the number was going to be raised, wheu
those two heroes were departed to the 81
lent tomb, when other commanders were 30
have the direction of this military force 3.
Where Were the men vino had been struck
with this patriotic alarm: Why were no:
their voices raised now, when a force was
offered to be raised, which if employed to
overrun the liberties o. the people, could not
be resisted, but would spread Itself over lhe
country and stile the efforts of patriotism.
10 which, ii resistance should BE made, Il
ther the country must be put under military
dsspotis;n, or the struggle would cost the
country eli 1t had acquired since the revolt
ton, and the citizens would have to wade
knee deep in blood to preserve that liberty
which they gained by the glorious Struggle
of the revolution. Are we more safe nov
(said he) with an army of $4,000 men, un-
der or present commanders, THAI we were
with 1900 men under Washington and
Hamilton !? could wish TO believe that we
were. But | have not that faith which blinds
my Judgment and destroys my recollection.
No sir, indeed | have not cannot extln-
guish from my memory, that in one section
ofthis country, the liberty of the citizen, the
judicial power, which should be inviolable,
and the sacred right of habeas corpus, pc
rlshed at the touch of military power. / do