Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-06-07

GLG1 Ia ~S-AN1@S -
doDeed, I leave TO you and the house 10 de-
eide whether we shonld have met IN our
present agreeable situation. Yes, SIR, with
the embargo like a3alister-plaasSeq alpor our
backs we were IN such a situation taat the
cona1aittee of foreign relations said, and we
affirmed their decree, we must be disgraccd
or fight al she nations of the eartfh---6ght
all, 6ght al, fight nobly, Sight like demi
gods. A worthy gentleman frofn Soiaah-
Carolina IMr. d. r. Williarnsl now not a
member of the house, also thought We rnese
eight eyesybody--bat he thought better Of
1t, and was content TO fight one, and 70 ct2use
his antagonist. Gentlemen IN the either
house were of the sanae opinion and as
they alleged they could net get at France,
they chose to Ggsht Greet Britain. This was
the situation N which we were placed by
the operation of the embargo On the public
mind Sir, if We were not quite cool, like
sir Anthony Absolute who has been quoted
ON the floor of the British aoese of commons
as the prototype of the British minister, we
were something like honest Bob Acres
lighting Bob, who was net sensible, tIl he
was put to the pinch, how little he really
liked ~fghting--our fighting disposition, like
his, oozed out Of our finger ends, or rather
our tongues ends--and we are at peace, 1t
is for these reasons that I hope this slur will
not be cast or the government Of the i. S.
though / dc not conceive that they greatly
overreached their antagonist. But [ ara
willing to concede they have done their du-
ty, and to give them my appreciation fer
having so done. Mr.. Canning, to be sure,
most dexterously seized upon our situation,
bet stir our government have sheWn how
easy it is for men, when they set about it
69na fMe, with honest intentions, to make
I'D a diference-and [ have not the least
doubt, that if his majesty the emperor of
France and king OF Isaly will meet our
PAcIF1CUs, a much more honorable desig-
nation than any in the long List Of his ma
jesty's titles, that we shall be placed in the
state of amity in relation 10 France in w&iclg
we ares in relation to Great BritainS III,
which we were five years ago, and from
which we have, for reasons which gentlemen
no doubt are prepared to give, SO wangony
strayed. After al our triskin9s and cur
vetings, we have come back &c the same
point. All my fear Is, sir, lest the cure be
not complexities some political wizard
should discover that, inasmuch as in 1905.
prior to the existence OF the orders IN u
Gil. we stood In need al the aoa iInpnrfatIQa
act, and as in 1903, prior TO a knowledge
of the orders in council, we stood IN need
Of an embargo, for the same reasons we
now stand in need Of some other substitute
the same, sir; for undertake to say
that we never shall have another embargo
INSTRUMENTATION Of time--it was. indeed q
horse medicine, but it has worked a COM
pIete cure. Really, sir9 if we couid have
been brought to believe in 1866, that We
could do as well without a non-importation
as we can now--in 1913 that we could
have dispensed with the embargo as well as
we can now--and, more especially, if we
could have been brought to accept the treaty
negotiated by our commissioners at Lon
don, which treaty, to say the worst OF it,
that its enemies ever pretended to alledge,
was only deficient as containing no express
stipulation on the subject Of lmpressnent, &
redundant as containing this note By way Of
rider, the object Of which | have explained TO
the house, and which has been accomplished
already, by undoing the non-intercourse,
withdrawing the prohibition of our waters
to British ships, and repeating the old non
importation act-if we had consented 1T
that time to accept the treaty, we should
not only have saved ourselves the price Of
the embargo-how many hundred millions
our secretary Of the treasury himself, great
a fnancier and able a calculator as he is,
cannot tell l do not believe he could come
within an huntlred-but have avoided other