SENATE.

Hostilities with Great Britain.

NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Giles, Pope, Robinson, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, and Varnum.

On motion, by Mr. LLOYD, to amend the original bill, by inserting, after the word "that," in the third line, the words "from and after the day of - next;" it was determined in the negative-yeas 13, nays 19, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Dana, German, Gilman, Goodrich, Gregg, Horsey, Hunter, Lambert, Leib, Lloyd, Pope, and Smith of Maryland.

JUNE, 1812.

The motion did not oppose or deny the sufficiency of the causes, or the policy of the war. It went only to affirm what he trusted the course of his observations would render very evident, that this was not a time at which war ought to be declared.

He indulged a confidence, that upon so great an occasion the Senate would not be impelled to act by any little passions, nor by any considerafons which did not arise out of an extended and distinct view of the interests of the country. It is not enough that we we have cause of war; we must see that we are prepared, and in a condition to make war. You do not go to war for the benefit of your enemy, but your own advantage;

NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Giles, Howell, Reed, Robinson, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, and Worth-not to give proofs of a vain and heedless courage, ington.

On the question, Shall this bill pass to a third reading as amended? it was determined in the affirmative-yeas 19, nays 13, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Giles, Gregg, Leib, Robinson, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, and Var

num.

NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Dana, German, Gilman, Goodrich, Horsey, Howell, Hunter, Lambert, Lloyd, Pope, Reed, and Worthington.

On motion that the Senate adjourn, it was determined in the affirmative-yeas 18, nays 14, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Condit, Dana, German, Giles, Gilman, Goodrich, Gregg, Horsey, Hunter, Lambert, Leib, Lloyd, Pope, Reed, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, and Worthington.

NAYS.-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Howell, Robinson, Tait, Taylor, Turner, and Varnum. So the Senate adjourned to eleven o'clock to morrow morning.

TUESDAY, June 16.

DECLARATION OF WAR. The amendments to the bill from the House of Representatives, entitled "An act declaring war between Great Britain and her dependencies, and the United States and their territories," were re. ported by the committee correctly engrossed.

Mr. BAYARD moved to postpone the further consideration of the bill to the thirty-first day of October next.

but to assert your rights and redress your wrongs. If you commence hostilities before you are prepared to strike a blow, and while your cities, your posed to the mercy of a Government possessing territory, and your property on the ocean, are exto add new distresses, defeat, and disgrace to the vast resources of war, what can you expect but wrongs of which you complain? It is a strange motive for war-a wish to gratify the rapacity, to swell the triumphs, and to increase the insolence of the enemy.

the people had expected, or were prepared for Mr. B. said, that neither the Government, nor

war.

Even at this moment, the general opinion abroad was, that there would be no war, the mercantile and trading world had continued to act upon that opinion. Nor could people be persuaded that an unarmed nation was about to attack a nation armed cap-a-pie. No man had laid out his account for this war, and every one would be taken by surprise and unprepared for its shock.

You have, at this moment, an immense property abroad, a great portion of it in England, and part floating on the ocean and hastening to your ports. The postponement proposed might save a great portion of this property, and bring home the seamen now absent from the country. Gentlemen would remember the number of ships which left our ports on the eve of an embargo. These vessels had not had time to perform their voyages, and the greater part of them were still abroad. He knew that some members had no commiseration for the merchant who had dared to escape the embargo, and who had disregarded Mr. BAYARD said, that he was entirely sensible the salutary precautions, designed, as it was said, of the inutility, in general, of entering upon the for his security. But he did not think it surdiscussion of a subject which had been a long prising, nor culpable, that those whose property time under consideration, and upon which it consisted in ships, should be averse to seeing them might be supposed that the opinions of members rotting at the wharves, and even disposed to inwere formed and settled; but on an occasion so cur risks to find employment for them abroad. momentous as the present, he should not feel Even, however, if it should be thought that himself justified in submitting even a motion of the merchants had acted with indiscretion and postponement, without offering his reasons in sup-folly, it is the part of a parental Government, port of it. Nor could he think, that in giving a silent vote, he had discharged the duty of his station. Gentlemen would remark, that he had confined his motion to time, in order that members might not be compromitted in supporting it who might think the war itself just and necessary.

such as this ought always to be, not to punish the citizens for their misfortunes, but to guard them against the effects of their errors. Besides, a loss of individual property was a loss to the State, as the public strength was derived from individual resources.

JUNE, 1812.

Hostilities with Great Britain.

He stated that the question of war had been doubtful till the present moment. He did not believe that the President himself expected war at the opening of the session, nor for a long time after. A menacing language was held out; but the hopes of an accommodation were far from being abandoned. Much was expected from the Prince Regent's accession to his full powers. A change of Ministry was not doubted, and it was thought that in the change of men, there would have been found such a change of principles and measures, that the differences between the two Governments might be compromised and settled. This expectation was protracted till it became plainly evident that the Prince did not intend to change his father's Ministers, nor to depart from their principles or measures. When this discovery was made, the Administration had proceeded too far to recede.

Desperate as the course was which now alone remained to be pursued, they supposed they were obliged to advance or become the object of reproach and scorn both to friends and foes. This necessity they had brought upon themselves, but it was too late to consider whether the condition might have been avoided; they were pledged in this state of events to attempt to extort from Great Britain by force the concession of those points which their arguments had failed in persuading her to yield. He had no doubt but that, some months past, the Cabinet had seriously determined upon resorting to hostilities. But the concurrence of Congress was to be obtained, and whether a majority of both Houses could be brought to take the daring and hazardous step, no man in or out of the Government, without the gift of prophecy, could have predicted.

SENATE.

ing crisis. But it is too recently and deeply in our recollection to be forgotten, that this is not the first embargo we have experienced, and which, though of longer duration, we saw pass away without being followed by war.

The language held there, as to people out of doors who have doubted of the war, is retorted by the public voice with equal confidence and on better grounds. They rely upon your integrity and wisdom, and say that Congress cannot be so infatuated, destitute as they are of the means of aggression or defence, to draw upon themselves a war with one of the most powerful and formidable nations on the globe. If a war with Great Britain be thought unavoidable, yet, as she leaves to us the time of commencing it, surely we ought to select that time when the first shock shall be least disastrous, and can best be resisted. Why should we hurry into a war from which nothing but calamity can be expected? There is no danger that the redress of our wrongs, or the assertion of our rights, will be barred by the limitation of time. No time has existed for years past when we had less cause to complain of the conduct of Great Britain. Her vessels of war had all been withdrawn from our coast, as he presumed, in order to avoid collisions and hostility. If the war be suspended till November, the Government and the people will both be better prepared to sustain it. He was not a friend to the restrictive system, but with a choice out of evils, he should prefer the embargo to war. the war, and we will submit to the embargo till Postpone November. This will furnish time for the return of your ships and seamen; and if, at the same time, you will abandon the non-importation act, you will replenish your Treasury with at least twelve millions of dollars, and restore to your citizens sixty millions now abroad, and in danger of being lost. It appeared to him that the course which had been pursued was the most preposter

The public mind had been so repeatedly distracted and deceived by boisterous speeches, and bold but ephemeral resolutions, that it had sunk into a state of apathy, and was no longer excited even by the sound of war echoed in the ministe-ous imaginable. For eighteen months past, we rial paper from the proceedings of Government. When the bill before us was first brought up from the other House, it was the opinion of very few that it would obtain the support of a majority of this body; and, even now, it was likely to pass, not because it was approved by a majority, but of the differences of opinion which existed among gentlemen as to other courses which had been proposed.

had been sending our property out of the country, and not suffering it to return; and, while contemplating a war with Great Britain, we saw our effects to an immense amount accumulating in that Kingdom, liable, at any moment, to fall a prey to the Government, and to be employed in support of the war against us. He asked, why rush with this precipitancy into the war? Are you provided with means to annoy the enemy, or to defend yourselves? Have you an army or navy which can make any impression? Are your exposed towns fortified and garrisoned? Was any nation ever less prepared for war? It would require the whole military force that you now possess to constitute an adequate defence for New Orleans, New York, and Newport. It is very well known that the General who will command at New Orleans has declared to the Government, that he will not be answerable for He had heard it said, that the embargo was a the security of the place with less force than ten sufficient notice of the design of the Government thousand men, which is equal to all the effective to resort to hostilities upon its expiration, and troops yet raised. It would be natural to suppose that the people must be infatuated, who, after that no Government would declare war till it such warning, were not apprized of the approach- I was prepared to attack its enemy. In peace we 12th CoN. 1st SESS.-10

If, with the light and information possessed in this body as to the views and designs of the Cabinet and of Congress, it has been doubtful among ourselves whether the Government would resort to war, how was it to be known by our merchants, or any other class of society unacquainted with the intentions and secret proceedings of those exercising the powers of the Government, that the nation would be wantonly plunged into a sudden war?

Hostilities with Great Britain.

But you have not got, nor can you get, the men during the present year. These are not the days of Cadmus. It will require great patience and industry, and a considerable length of time, to collect twenty-five thousand men. Have you the least prospect, if you declare war, of attacking Canada this season? It is impossible that you can do it with effect. You will be suffi-tó temporize. You give up no right, yield no ciently occupied in defending your frontiers against the savages.

Britain at this moment does not court the quarrel. She has reduced the catalogue of our complaints; and though not disposed to surrender her pretensions, she has evidently made advances towards conciliation. The recent Orders in Council were desired to be so considered, and she has removed a great source of umbrage in withdrawUnder such circumstances, what should hurrying her armed ships from our coasts. She had us into the war? Are gentlemen afraid if they wait till November the world will not last long enough to afford them time to gratify in war their

and sufficient, and the offence which had been given completely expiated.

SENATE.

considered the Berlin and Milan decrees used as a mere pretext. Those decrees were vain aud We are no longer at variance in relation to the empty denunciations in relation to England. The colonial trade. France no longer has colonies, plain design of the French Government was to and we have no occasion to contend at present deprive France of the benefits of external comfor any empty rights which could be exercised if merce, unless the profits of it were divided with yielded. herself. This was fully proved by the license The question, therefore, as to the right of a trade. Britain carries on the very trade she deneutral to be the carrier of the produce of the col-nies to neutrals, and having engrossed the whole ony of a belligerent, having been reduced by the to herself, she excludes neutrals from a particicourse of the war to a mere question of theory, it pation. No man was more disposed than himno longer entered into the disputes of the two self to reprobate the wrong and injustice of the Governments. British Government upon this subject. They resort to the French decrees to justify themselves, and though he considered them as no justification, yet our Government in their conduct had admitted that the decrees placed us upon the same footing as to France, as the orders did as to England, and required equal measures to both nations.

The question as to the impressment of our seamen did not present insuperable difficulties. Britain never contended for a right to impress American seamen. The right she claims is to take her own subjects found in our merchant service. She exercises the right in relation to her own private vessels. This right she never will, nor can give up. If our merchant flag were a secure protection to British seamen who sailed under it, the British navy must be unmanned by desertion; while our merchants can, and do pay a dollar for every shilling a sailor can earn in the naval service of his country.

Can it be expected that a nation which depends for its existence upon its naval strength would yield a principle threatening the destruction of its maritime power? No war of any duration, or however disastrous, will ever extort this concession-she may as well fall with arms in her hands, as to seal quietly the bond of her ruin.

Our Government has been pleased to say what he did not think, at this time, any man in the na tion believed besides themselves. They have been pleased to say the decrees are repealed.

This is a fact, and asserted without any proof. The decrees could only be repealed by the same power and in the same manner in which they were enacted. They proceeded from the sovereign power of France, and became the law of the Empire. The same power, in the solemn form of a law, could alone revoke them. We possess the decrees in all the forms of law, but have we ever seen, has the Government any reason to believe, that any decree in the form of a law has been He did not know that our Government had passed to repeal them? The promise of a Soveever required the unqualified abandonment of the reign to repeal a law does not annul it, nor would right to impress. Our complaints were chiefly of a reference of his Minister to its being repealed the abuses committed in the exercise of the right. have that effect. Every Sovereign Power preIt was a practice frequently attended with vio-scribes to itself a form in which its sovereign will lence, insult, and gross injustice. Americans were shall be known, when it is to constitute a law of often, from design or mistake, seized as British the land. subjects, and we have abundant evidence of the fact, that many of our native seamen have been forced into British service. He had always understood, however, that such acts were not justified by the British Government. The Government have never claimed the right of holding an American seamen against his will. The pretensions of the two Governments upon this subject, admitted of adjustment. The chief embarrassment rose from the difficulty of distinguishing the sailors of the two countries. But he had no doubt that this, and all other difficulties on the subject, might be vanquished without having recourse to

war.

The dispute as to paper blockades was, for the present, merged in the Orders in Council. Those orders were now to be considered as comprehending the whole cause of war.

This subject deserves to be viewed in every light. The Orders in Council were not at this time, in truth, supported upon their original ground.

The ex-Minister, Mr. Canning, had publicly and candidly confessed the fact. They were adopted as measures of retaliation, though they never deserved that character. He has always

The decrees teach us what this form is in France, and we have no ground to believe that the decrees are repealed, till we see an act of the Sovereign in the same form in which they are found. Such is the course among ourselves. A law is repealed by a law passed in the same form. It is the practice of every nation in Europe, and of every civilized nation on the earth. But even the promise to repeal was only conditional, and it has never been announced to us that the Emperor considered the condition complied with on our part, by prohibiting the importation of British produce and manufactures. In fact, daily accounts are received of seizures made on the principles of those decrees; and to affirm that the decrees are repealed, was only to add perfidy to the atrocity of the conduct of the French, who do not hesitate to plunder, burn, and destroy our property on the high seas, even after abandoning the pretence with which at first they were respectful enough to attempt to cover their violence.

Nothing could be more evident than the policy of the French Emperor, nor anything more mortifying than the success which has attended his juggling. He has contrived to satisfy our Government that he has repealed his decrees, while

SENATE.

Hostilities with Great Britain.

to the eyes of the rest of the world they appear to be in force. By these means he has opened our ports to the public and private ships of France, and shut them against those of Great Britain. He denies the evidence of the repeal of his decrees, which he well knows, if furnished to us, would immediately remove the Orders in Council, and facilitate the settlement of our differences with England. Britain has declared that the moment evidence is produced of the repeal of the decrees, the Orders in Council shall ipso facto be annulled. The Emperor, instead of furnishing this evidence, is giving daily proofs, to our sorrow and loss, that the decrees are in force and operation.

JUNE, 1812.

without gaining the paltry trade with France. The laws of war will operate still more extensively than the Orders in Council; and though no doubt we shall gratify the Emperor of France, we shall enjoy little commerce with his dominions. As it regards, therefore, our interest, it is found in protracting the present state of affairs. The question on postponement was determined in the negative-yeas 11, nays 21, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, German, Gilman, Goodrich, Horsey, Hunter, Lambert, Lloyd, Pope, and Reed. NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Giles, Gregg, Howell, Leib, Robinson, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, and Worthington.

On motion, by Mr. BAYARD, to postpone the further consideration of the bill to the third day of July next, it was determined in the negativeyeas 9, nays 23, as follows:

On motion, by Mr. BAYARD, to postpone the further consideration of the bill to Monday next, it was determined in the negative-yeas 15, nays 17, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Dana, German, Giles, Gilman, Goodrich, Gregg, Horsey, Howell, Hunter, Lambert, Leib, Lloyd, Reed, and Smith of Maryland.

NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Pope, Robinson, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Varnum, and Worthington.

On motion, that the Senate adjourn, it was determined in the affirmative-yeas 18, nays 14, as follows:

I am among the last men in the Senate, said Mr. B., who would justify or defend the Orders in Council. They violate the plainest rights of the nation. The ground of retaliation was never more than a pretext, and their plain object is to deprive France of neutral trade. It never was YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Dana, German, Gilman, contended, nor does Britain now contend that she Goodrich, Horsey, Hunter, Lambert, and Lloyd. would be justified by the laws or usages of na- NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of tions, to interdict our commerce with her enemy. Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, GailShe covers her injustice with the cloak of retallard, Gregg, Howell, Leib, Pope, Reed, Robinson, iation, and insists that she has a right to retort Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, upon her enemy the evils of his own policy. This and Worthington. is a doctrine to which I am not disposed to agree. It is destruction to neutrals-makes them the prey of the belligerents. It is a doctrine which we must resist, but the time and manner of resistance ought to be determined by a view only to our own interests. Because we are injured, we certainly are not bound to make war before it is for our own benefit. There is one effect of this war which gentlemen ought to take into view, and which, to him, was a source of grief and humiliation. In making war upon England we bring the force of the nation in aid of France. We are about to assist a Government from whom we have suffered for years past the most humiliating insults and the most atrocious wrongs. We are about to make a common cause with a man who hates us for our language and despises us for our Government, and who would to-morrow, if he had the means, without seeking a pretence, add us to the list of his conquered provinces. This connexion should not be hastily formed. To other nations it has been the forerunner of their subjugation and ruin. Let us take time to consider the consequences of a step upon which the destiny of the nation depends. We may profit by delay, but can gain nothing by precipipitancy. The war will not hastily remove the Orders in Council. It is the principles of the orders, rather than their effect, of which we complain. The trade to France, which they interdict, is of little consequence to the country. Its annual amount is less than three millions of dollars, and you find it onerated with duties so excessive, and restricted to such articles of exchange, that, even if enjoyed in safety, it would be productive of little profit to individuals or to the nation. If, however, you declare war at this time, you lose the trade to Great Britain and her, dependencies, equal to thirty-five millions a year,

Gilman, Goodrich, Gregg, Horsey, Howell, Hunter,
YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Condit, Dana, German, Giles,
Lambert, Leib, Lloyd, Pope, Reed, Smith of Maryland,
and Smith of New York.

NAYS-Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Brent, Campbell of Tennessee, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, Robinson, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, and Worthington.

So the Senate adjourned to 11 o'clock to-mor

row.

WEDNESDAY, June 17.

The third reading of the bill from the House of Representatives, entitled "An act declaring war between Great Britain and her dependencies, and the United States and their Territories," was resumed.

Whereupon, the following motion was submitted by Mr. GILES:

Resolved, That the bill, entitled "An act declaring war between Great Britain and her dependencies, and the United States and their Territories," be recommitted to the committee to whom was committed the Message of the President of the United States of the first