Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-04-05

EasfsS or Sailors anu lsaCs SS,sss
a. not believe that such was its OBJ ect--
s,st Sc ssso}h were sts purpose, we have been
| a,asserably disappointed. The embargo Sof
q short period, might hays been pradent
| noeas,,re. AS a step of preeautlon, TO col
2ect our seasnen and mercantile caPital, :
should never. have complained OF it. But
it IS insulting to common sense 70 propose
il as scheme of permanent security, as e
must DALI. consume, and faany annlhilate
the object oa its preseryasions Your ships
once in, and the danger known, you should
have left yeily merchants TO their own dis-
-cretsou. They would have calculated the
nroHes and the peras, and BEEN determined
by the balance Of the account. No class OF
society is more capable of taking care OF 1t
self. !,
Ii is said we. have preserved oar seamens
The President has as grasaiy repeated this
remark in his message, as he reoonmended
to us TO devise aaeans to dispose ut onT sur
plus gcyegue, at a moment when 1t was evi-
dent that the situation Of oar country would
drain the treasury Of its last dollar.
Where are your sailors! They are not TO
be seen in your ports. One half that were
employed by you have passed into foreign
service, and many that remain are to be
found Begging in your roads and at your
doors.
As to our ships and mercantile capital,
the one tenth part OF the loss from decay
and waste and want of employment, would
have paid for an insurance against every
|. danger to which they lweuld have been ex-
posed. 1t is not my inteatloD, Mr. fresl-
dent, to detain you with any; details On this
SUBJECT, as ] should be compelled to repeat
the same things which have been. stated by
other gentlemen on 2 former occasion. But
there are some general views of; the sub
ject not undcserving of notice, which yet
remain to be taken. :,
IL the embargo were ever a measure OF
precaution it certainly has long. lost that
character. As a measure Of coercion. it
was hopeless unless completely executed
If the part to be coerced was partially sup
piled, the object was defeated. =.
. Now / ask you, Sir, if your government
ought not to have been acquainted with its
own powers, its own people, and its own
situation well enough to have known that it
was impossible for it to cor6ns the, whole
produce Of the country within It's LIMITS. for
any length of tsne.s 0ughetheyn to have
seen the vast, tsnptatioas wlsschehaVe arisen
and presented themselves, as well fo:our
citizens as to foreigners, so sosabine in Or
der 80 break or elude yous laws. Ought
they not to have known that with our extent
of coast and frontier, with our. numerous
waters, that wretched gun-boat navy, aid
ed even by ten thousand regulars, were not
capable of covering onr borders and shut
ting I'D the numberless outlets Of tie com
try Could they expect that the patriotism
was to feed and to ciothe the people of the
north or that thousands would submit to
starVe in order to contribute to the success
of an experiment. ss>
We all know that the opposition to the
embargo in the eastern states Is not the OPP
position of political party, on Of a few
disconnected men, but the resistance OF the
people to measure which tsscy feel as OPP
pressive and regard as yuinoas..c The peo-
Die of this country are not 10 be governed
by force, but by affection and conhdenes..
It is forthem we 1egisiate, and if they do
not ike Our laws, it IS our duty to repeal
them
1t is madness To talk of forcing submits
sion when there is general dissatisfaction.
Your government is in the hands of the peo-
ple-it has no force but what it derives
frorn them; and your enforcing laws are
dead letters. when they are once driven to
resist your measures.
It would, sir, be some consolatioH, amid
the suferings wich this miserable system
has caused, #, in looking abroad, We could
discover that the nations who have injured
...ra e,sSca,,1i6lg ,,c raIt ste nnnreesinn cr,lv