The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1843-02-10
THE AFRICAN SQUADRON

THE AFRICAN SQl ADhpNs
The sIane vote, the llon. Mr. Meheon'
motion TO strike Out any appropriation loo
the African squadron Obtained, Is com
plimenlary To the good sense OF the House
Demagogueisn is no, 20 sIroag as the d''""-
gushed gentleman hoped aud he must re'o''
TO some still more desperate experiment 10 ae
qure the enyiable nolOriety that springs ho'i'
compassion or contempt
The conventional police which the provisions
OF the late Treaty contemplate io' the African
coast, is nothing more than the security OF our
commercial pursuits justly demands. over tue
immense tract OF waters that separate the AM
can from The South American coast, many
naval freebooter might ride with IMMUNITY
and, unterrifed by the sound OF our guns,
might levy upon the industrious devotees
Of commercial enterprise an inesistibls
tax. We are no sickly phianhropisl,
nor affect for the uneducated savage, even though
his hue be dark, mawkish, we may say,
maudlin sensibility but we know RICH, wen
the honor of our nation, in this civilized age OF
the world, requires an abstemious repuSnancy
to the questionable traffic, beyond our own
borders, in human flesh; and while we have
concurred in the suggestions proposed Tor rem
dering more difficult by strcter precautionary
me assures, forbidden commerce, our case Is less
inhue 'ced by (perhaps) pardonable humanity
than by due regard to our national character.
Every merchant vessel on the high seas Is
considered as part Of the territory OF the country
TO which il belongs The flag she bears is her
passe- parfout throughout the world ,andlwhoever
stops on its passage one Of these messengers
Of commerce, hends the country whose
colors are its credentials. But that flag may be
hoisted to protect illegal merchandise-it may
wave over the victims of prohibited trade
and we contend that The precautionary police
of The nation, whose distinctive colors are dis
played, should visit, and alone, The vessels so
prostiiuted No more than force necessary 10
such purpose do we bind ourselves 10 provide
no less can honor suggest, or interest tolerate
We are very fearful the eloquent and learned
member from New York city has gone beyond
his soundings. He has venured upon deep
and unknown sea, without chart and compass,
and, if he be not wrecked, it will be because
chance, that deity of the improviden, often IA
vors the impudence at which wisdom trowns.-
Neither from Chateaubriand, whom the gentle
man especially patronises, nor from Nesselrode,
whose talent his own so closely resembles,
not even from Prince Melternich, his early pa
iron and teacher in diplomacy, can he borrow
sufficient argument to prove that, IN attending
TO the universal interests of humanity, we have
neglected our own. Not even he, with all his
logical acumen, his well known oralorica pow
ers, can demonstrate the undemonstrable, or
confute things which are irretra9ible.
With all due Difference TO the distinguished
gentle mans more deliberately formed opn-
ions we are obliged 10 confess, we fear
he has mislaken his forte. Nature, we
are convinced intended him for an or
nament 10 society, and with no ngsard hand
has layished upon him those qualities
which, IN pea-ing others, make ourselves agree
able. The poet, in speakingoi Lord Mansfield,
pre-eminent as he was at the bar and on the
bench, cannot refrain from the expression OF a
regret when he thinks OF the direction of his
taleni.:
How swee, an Ovid wa. in Murray lost"
With how much more proprlety could we, who
have heard and appreciated this juvenile states
man in another character, lament the misdrec
ton of his vocal powers; and, sometimes yet,
while We are listening to the overture OF Miss
Lucy Long on the foue-piano accompanied by
the duIce, sirains Of no unpleasing voice, We
are inclined to fatter ourselves with the hope
that there yet may be
How sweet songster in Mckeon gained"