Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-09-08

ter selling to us Louisiana, she has not TO THIS
dax.s,old Us, what are its boundaries Sup
porting, for a long time, the pretensions 81
Snain. ON one side of that underlined territorys
and those Of America, on the other, she los
tered. in order to CRAFTY her own rapacity,
national quarrel, for a country, which she a.
bandons TO us, only when her ancient enemy
is likely TO seize it. Satisfaction for injuries
long past, and for others more recent, from
Spain, the acknowledge instrument OF france,
the administ, alton forbore to press, until IN
decd, that unhappy nation, struggling IN the re-
rocious Grasp OF her inexorable tyrant, has no
Ioneey the power Of concession or refusal, and
that tyrant permlssiveiy sanctions GUY clain.
In this early instance of submission, and
submission too, to France, for there were, lhen'
fellow citizens, no more Pyrenees, than
than there are now, will be. found, we believe,
the prolihc source of all our subsequent EN-
barrassments, disgraces and calamtles. Away
then. with the unfounded assertion that eat
Britain was our first aggressor OF the beliise-
rents engaged in the present war mere
can be no question but that she was emooIueh-
ed to trlfe with our neutrality, when she saw
us wholly unprepared for its defence, endea-
yorinp to purchase justice, where we should
have hurled defiance.
Neither in all this period nor in that which
followed, did the administration earnestly re-
commend an addition TO our navy, or any ACE
quate preparation for the wide spread com
mcrcial war which threatened our country
The kcels of six seventy fours which had been
purchased in better days, remained and rotted
on the ground, or were cut up for other pur-
poses. Our. countrymen OF the north, VINO
owe their opulence to their fisheries, nayiga'
ton and commerce, which employ sixty thou
sand seamen, and fifty millions OF their Capt.
tai, which are to us, as well as to them "
mine of wealth." and to the nation, 1t rightly
used. formidable safeguard Of lndepend-
ence" complain of infractions Of their ns hts
by all the belligerents, and ask that protection
to which they are justly entitled" Instead OF
augmenting our navy, the natural snieid Oh
our foreign commerce, the administration re-
srrls TO g non-importations" and emo"r-
soes." 1t attempts TO g punish the plunderer
of three, or twenty millions of our property
by an annual sacrifice Of sixty" Our ships,
it protects bv consignlng them to desti uctloh
our searren, by condemning them to nactioh
md our trade, by suspension OF all io:eiSii
commerce. 1t tells the fisherman OF the cast
that his harpoon shall rust in his cabin, and BIZ
line no more plunge in the deep The Tef-
chant is ordered to forsake the strand, and The
mariner his path on the ocean. liIe crowded.
mari is made desolate, and the hopes OF the
husbandnaan perish in the sprlng-tine CT hls
labor
II there was wisdom, fellow citiscns, in re-
si,ting the unjust pretensiops OF the nations
fEuope, there was, surely, none In the qua
NV Of that species of resistance which the ID
-ninlstration selected Original and unac-
commodating, it cohfounded the reasonings,
assulted the prejudces, and boldly attempted
10 charge all the habits OF entire states opurn-
ine all precedent or example from other tlnes,
it embarked in a philosophical experiment tor
the benefit Of trade which commenced with
it's destruction. Its untried remedy, was push
ed. iedeed, to the full extent of the art, which
kills the patient, to cure his disease.
Embargoes, as preparatory for immediate
war. are not without example in the history
of other nations, as well as our own; but the
sole merit of their invention, as substitute Tor
open hostilities, is properly dlvlslb.e between
the late and present administrations III attrl
butable to any particular member OF either II
belongs peculiarly to Mr. Madison, himself
who first suggested its appl1cationto sln'iiar
purpose in the year 1894. 1t was singular e
nouah, on late occasion, to hear its friends
complain that those, for whose beneht IT was
DESIGNED were professionally loud in their cla-
mour against it.--As ii an expression OF pan
leaves to the sufferer no choice OF his MODE OF
relief, and he must thank the surgeon who
cuts off his arm to stop the aching OF his
finger
Avowed to be measure Of precaution a.
eainst both belligerents, it was in tact and IN
tention measure Of hostility against one OF
them, and had all the effects OF war 1t "a
reused her pride and her resentment and laid
her under the necessity, if she conceded what
we asked, of according it to the relief OF her