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single insult, leads, imperceptibly, to such a result....inevita bly, to degradation....and necessarily to ruin.

It has been fashionable of late, Mr. President, with certain gentlemen, who make a boast of their own loyalty, to charge us, who compose what is called the minority, with hostility towards the administration, and a want of confidence in the chief. Without deeming it necessary to deny or admit, in argument, such charges loosely made in the wantonness of debate, we are now prepared to submit ourselves, with them, to the touchstone of acts. If they believe that we distrust the management of our affairs, they will give us the more credit for sacrificing all personal or party considerations, when the good of our country requires unanimity, We are prepared to delegate the power and the means to defend, assert, and enforce our rights, to those hands which are pointed out by the constitution, as the proper depository of so great a trust.

These resolutions are not absolutely imperative; the President may either use or forbear to use them, as he may think best for the public good. They amount to no declaration of war, but may save us from that calamity, by authorizing preparations for it. They cannot injure, but may aid your negociation, and will show to our own countrymen, aş well as to the world, that our reliance is placed, not on the soft glittering metals of Mexico and Peru, but on the harder metal of our own mountains,

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Mr. COCKE, Mr. President, the gentleman from New Jersey has said, that my friend from New York had furnished a dish for every palate....the gentleman should except his own, for it seems not to agree with him; his dish has been long filled with very different ingredients; he seems to have no relish but for war, havoc, and destruction....his constant food has been standing armies and strong naval establishments, with the offices and contracts attached to them. how can the gentleman, as a lawyer, pretend to be so ignorant. (Mr, DAYTON exclaimed that he was no lawyer, nor never was.) The gentleman, he had always understood to be a law character, but it was very certain, he was no politician; his experience, however, could not have left him ignorant of the meaning of the resolution....for he must have known that the words may and shall are often considered in law as of the same force, particularly where they are used in defining authority to public officers: the resolutions, in this sense, would leave the executive no choice, but would make it, as it were, his duty to go and take New Orleans,

The gentleman from Pennsylvania has paid very high compliments to that part of the country which he had the honor to represent: He tells us of our militia, of our spirit, and of our taming the wilderness: but with all this eagerness for invasion by our militia, he does not offer us a single man from his own state....he cannot take upon him to say the people of Pennsylvania approve so much of his opinions as to go a single step with him, though Pennsylvania is as much interested in this business as we are.

As to confidence in the administration, he was one of those who was ready to repose all proper confidence in the executive; not under pretences of this and that and t'other kind, but from real respect and knowlege of the executive for 30 years past, in the trying times of 1776, and in all the trying times that followed. The mover of these resolutions tells us, that our attempts at negociation are chimerical, as the wildest project of the human imagination, and he adds, that the insults which we have suffered are such as no other nation ever submitted to; while the gentleman from New Jersey, (M. DAYTON) advises to go and drive out the people from N. Orleans, or we lose our advantage; the gentleman from Delaware, (Mr. WHITE) he was sorry to hear indulge in unbecoming expressions towards Spain, Speaking of that country, he talks of the sluggish Spaniard, whom we may easily overcome.... Were these modes of argument or debate consistent or decent in this senate? For his part, he did not wish to assail the territory or the rights of any nation, nor to abuse their characters; but it is the more extraordinary when those gentlemen at the same time tell us that it is France that sets the Spaniards on, and that we are afraid to look the hero of Italy and France in the face. Perhaps those who accuse us thus of fear would be the first to hide their faces from real danger....it is not boasting that makes the patriot or the man of courage; it is coolness and resolution. We do not fear the hero of Italy, or any other hero, but we fear the effects of war, of an unjust and rash war.

We are told, that within a few years our western country, from being the seat of wild beasts, is covered with populous towns and cities....that the country, redeemed from a state of nature, has become civilized and covered with cultivation, and a people enjoying peace, happiness, industry, and commerce; and that their industry is obstructed. All this is admitted, and the evil allowed to be a serious one; but do we countenance or approve of it....do we encourage it? No,

sir, we are as much opposed to this conduct of the Spanish intendant as gentlemen can be, perhaps more seriously so. But suppose we were to agree to arm, would we be prepared, even if we were to begin now, before we can have advice from Europe, and the whole rectified without us. Suppose our militia march to N. Orleans, what would they find there? A grave for the majority of them. The precious boon of health is very scarce there....and our hardiest woodmen from Kentucky and Tennessee, would soon find the climate too much for them.

It was somewhat surprising to him to find gentlemen opposed to the measures of the executive now, who advocated similar measures on a former occasion. The gentleman from Pennsylvania was one of those who voted for the British treaty....and he was a supporter in the senate even for the treaty which granted a tribute to Algiers....and in both those treaties the principle is laid down, that no hostility shall be commenced without a previous complaint or declaration. Then if this conduct was wise and just towards the Barbary powers, it must be so with Spain. Why should not enquiry take place here, when we have the best reason to think the act that of an individual alone? The gentleman undertakes to answer for the western people, and tells us that they are ready to assemble, sword in hand, and go down the river and take New Orleans. We were told on another occasion, that when they would go down, they must be defeated, and that the consequence would be, that they would make terms for themselves, join the French, and become our inveterate enemies! This is the way my constituents are complimented by gentlemen who wish to be considered as their friends. It was surprising that those gentlemen who had never been in that part of the country, and who pretend to know so much about them, should know every thing but what their representatives know to be the truth. But, sir, these frightful spectres have been presented to us in so many shapes, and on so many occasions, that they are no longer calculated to frighten us....and whenever gentlemen are at a loss for arguments, we look for them with as much certainty as for rain from the clouds.

Sir, we do not wish for war in the western countries.... we sincerely wish for peace and good neighborhood; the Spaniards our neighbors appear to be a friendly, candid, honest people; we do not seek a quarrel with them: but if their government should do us wrong, we do not want the spirit to do ourselves right at all hazards....but without that injury, there is no spirit to do them wrong. But whenever the gentleman,

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(Mr. Ross) feels his blood warm, the nation must go with him to war, or the national honor is lost....and in this spirit he tells us that negociation must fail. He thought that even if negociation should fail, then the whole national spirit would be roused....and we should go to the assertion of our rights with the greatest effect.

But it is said, that when we return home we shall be told that our conduct has been mysterious, that we have discussed the public affairs with closed doors, that we do not trust the people with their own affairs....and that they would trust us no longer.... But, sir, we have no wish to keep any thing secret from our constituents....he had their unanimous confidence, and the only fear he ever felt, was, lest he should not be able to discover what was their best interest. He knew the people would speak in a manly tone to their representatives, as well as to their adversaries, and if their representatives conduct themselves improperly, they will dismiss them....neverthelesss, if a question arose between his sense of duty and an apprehension of that kind, he would do his duty, because the people would in the end approve of his conduct. But why docs the gentleman so much complain of closed doors, did he suppose any one in that house entertained apprehensions of his persuasive powers? He, for one, thought very little about it. It did not excite his sympathies any more than the metal of Mexico, or of our mountains....he was neither afraid of the thunder of his eloquence, nor solicitous for the plunder of the Spanish mines; if real causes for war arose, he should not expect to see those now so eager for wanton attack in the front ranks. To those then who ask, will you preserve peace where there is no peace, he would reply....that is not the question; the true question is, will you have war where you may preserve peace? Gentlemen want to know, what is the executive about? Why do they not go and ask him....he has no reserves, he will tell them without disguise....that he is solici tous to preserve peace if possible, and if that is not to be done, then to defend the country and assert its rights with the cnergy and dignity becoming an independent republic.

The gentlemen, in order to shew us how very kind they will be to us, say, that if we will only go to war with Spain, that they will be our pledges to the western people, and that their friends in the other house, and out of doors, would do the same. Why this is very generous of them, and is the more remarkable because it is an uncommon thing with them. But it is very certain that we do not stand in need of their

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pledges, nor of their assistance. On former occasions they did not display any of this liberality, and he could not help sus pecting their sincerity now. He was against war on any terms but necessity or defence, if there is no alternative he would into it as heartily as any one. But he had seen war, the war of our independence, and he was averse to a renewal of calamities such as were then suffered. Where were the Mars and Jupiter of the present day in those times that tried men's souls? Where were they when our wives and children were delivered up to massacre? The thunder of Jupiter was then never heard of, and Mars himself was most probably asleep with Bellona....He was averse to war from the example which we had very lately, of the oppressive consequences of a disposition to war, those oppressive taxes and heavy debts, and unpopular laws which we had been saddled with....which we have since repealed, and he hoped never again to see revived.

Mr. J. MASON (of Massachusetts) did not expect to throw much new light on a subject which had been so ably displayed by the mover of the resolutions; he had formed his opinion from mature reflexion, and every argument he had heard offered against the resolutions, only tended to confirm the opinions he had formed in their favor. They had been dubbed war resolutions; but he could not discover any thing of war in them....on the contrary, he considered them as entirely of a pacific character. What do they purport:

"Resolved, That the United States of America have an indisputable right to the free navigation of the river Mississippi, and to a convenient deposit for their produce and merchandize in the island of New Orleans:

"That the late infraction of such their unquestionable right is an agression, hostile to their honor and interest:

"That it does not consist with the dignity or safety of this union to hold a right so important by a tenure so uncertain:

"That it materially concerns such of the American citizens as dwell on the western waters, and is essential to the union, strength, and prosperity of these states, that they obtain.complete security for the full and peaceable enjoyment of such their absolute right:

"That the President be authorised to take immediate possession of some place or places, in the said island, or the adjacent territories, fit and convenient for the purposes aforesaid, and to adopt such measures for obtaining that complete security, as to him, in his wisdom, shall seem meet:

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