Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-02-06
CON G. r ESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
TUESDAY,, january Il.
4 DEBATE ON EXTRA SESSION,
{eoNTINuED.l
i lNr. 9sanca's speech concdtdsd.

one frigate, and FIVE sioops OF war IA COM
mission And yet you have not the reso-
ln,;on 60 meet the expence of the paitry, 1T
tle navy, which is rotting IN the fotolnac.
Already we have heard it rungon this iioor
tlat if we fit out that little navy our treasu-
~ viii be emptied. Ifyou had ever Sc
rious intention of going to war, would YOU
have frittered down the resources OF TINS
nation. In the manner we witness. you go
!. - war. with all the revenue TO be derived
from commerce annihilated land possessing
no other resource than loans or direct or
other internal taxes YOU a party that
roseinto power by declaiming against direct
taxes and loans Do you hope to maze
the people of this country, much more To-
rr;on nations, believe that such is your IN
tention when YOU have reduced your reve-
nue. TO such condition Mr. U. w.
Campbell asked the gentleman, II he could
tell how much money there was now IN the
,reasury. Mr.. Quincy continued.l MY
memory has not. at present, at command,
the precise sum, but perhaps twelve or thir-
teen millions of dollars charged with the ex-
pences and appropriations for the year. but
what IS this? Make any material prepare
ton for such war, as you must wage, II
Ton engage with either OFT the European
mowers and the whole treasury is exhaust
ed. am not now examining the present
state of our finances. But would address
myself to men OF sense, and ask them 20
examine the adequacy of our revenues, IN
their future product, to the inevitable eAi-
pencies of war. Sir, you have no other re- e
sources, commerce being gone, than ioahs'
or internal taxes. Great-Britain 8 france
know this fact as well as you--Nothing can
be conducted III such country as ours
without public notoriety. Tbs general re-
sources of our country are as well known IN
Eurepe as they are here. Butwe are about
to raise an army of $4,000 volunteers. For
what purpose? / have heard gentlemen
say g we can invade Canada" But, olr,
does not all the world, as well as you, kno"
that Great Britain holds as were, pledge
for Canada? And one sufficient to induce
YOU to refrain from such PROJECT, when
you BEGIN seriously to weigh all the conse-
uuences of such invasion. mean that
ledre which results from the deienceiess
state of your seaport towns. For what
purpose would you attack Canada ;, Tor
territory? No. You have enough OF that.
Do YOU want citizen refugees No You
would be willing to dispense with them.-
10 YOU want plumber? This is the only
hone an invasion of Canada can offer you.
And is it not very doubtful whether she
ro,,ld not. IN one month, destroy more ,'ro-
nerty on YOUR sea.board, than you can &C
ouire by the most successful invasion OF
that province Sir, in this state of things,
cannot hear such perpetual outcries about
war, without declaring my opinion concern
ing them.
When say, sir, that this administration
could not be induced into war, mean by
It's own self.rnotion. War may will not
assert that it will not come. But such
state. administration do not contemplate,
nor are they prepared for it. On the con-
trarv.I do believe that the very tendency OF
All iTnbecile measures is to bring on the very
event their advisers deprecate. Well did
the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Troup)
warn YOU the other day, not to get into war.
He told YOU it was the design of the fede-
.ralists to lead you into that state, in order
that they might get your places. Now 1
agree with the gentleman, that If, by your
measures, you get this country into a war,
that YOU viii lose your places. But do
not agree that in such case the federalists
would get them. No, sir. The course of
affairs, in popular revolutions, proceeds not
from bad TO better, but from bad to worse.
After Condorcet and Brissot came Danton
and Robespierre. Well may gentlemen