Part 275

Non Importation of British Goods.--Resolutions relative to offered in the House, 395; property of our citizens has been seized by foreign cruisers--cargoes condemned, seamen impressed and held in bondage, 395; better to have interdicted all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, 395; resolutions referred to Committee of the Whole, 395; resolutions calling for information adopted, 399; other resolutions relating to intercourse with the belligerents offered and referred to Committee of the Whole, 400; amount of importations from Great Britain yearly, 402; effect on the revenue to prohibit this trade, 402; effects of prohibition of cotton goods, 402; other resolutions introduced and referred, 403. Resolutions read, 419; extent of the depredations, 419; no reason to expect an accommodation with Great Britain until we resort to measures, and will make her feel the loss of our market, 419; history of the late conduct of Great Britain, 419; interposition of Government demanded, 420; the capture and condemnation of our vessels, 420; have reached a period at which the honor, the interest, and the public sentiment of the country call loudly on us to make a stand, 421; what are the proper steps to be taken 421; purport of the resolution, 421; this is their vulnerable part, 421; by stopping the importation of British goods and continuing our exports to that country large debts will become due from British merchants to American citizens, 421; the balance of injury will be against us, 421; one hundred millions of American property at the mercy of British cruisers, 421; would it be politic to expose so much property to the retaliation of British ministers? 422; balance of trade against us with Great Britain, is eleven to twelve millions, 422; this measure will injure Great Britain vastly more than it will us, 422; captures by her may amount to six millions, 422; but if it did not exceed one we are bound to protect our merchants, 422; we should have the advantage in a war, 422; but a war will not follow this resolution, 422; a similar principle has been adopted by Great Britain in regard to the Colonial trade, 422; impressment, too, is a subject of most serious complaint, 422; this resolution is defended on principles which would justify none but war measures, 423; three points to be maturely considered--first, our ability to contend with Great Britain for the question in dispute--second, the policy of such a contest--and third, the manner in which we can with the greatest effect react upon and annoy our adversary, 423; what is the question in dispute--the carrying trade--that portion which covers enemy’s property and carries the West India products to the mother country, 424; the policy of such a contest examined, 425; note, 425; our Government not framed for offensive war, 425; come out of it without a constitution, 425; never go to war but in self-defence, 425; what is this war for but the carrying trade, and you already possess seven-eighths of it, 426; would you jeopardize your best interests for a circuitous commerce for the fraudulent protection of belligerent property under your neutral flag, 426; it is said you ought to go to war for the fur trade, 426; the period of 1793 stated, 426; what has been done this session, 427; Britain is your rival in trade, you will sacrifice the paramount interests of the country to wound her; for Spain and France you are carriers, and from them every indignity is to be endured, 427; whence comes this resolution, 427; there is no cabinet, no system, no plan, 428; free ships make free goods, 428; the charge of being willing to surrender important rights to a foreign government, 428; never be instrumental to the ambitious schemes of Bonaparte, 429; the object of attack is that very navy which in 1798 stood between you and danger, 429; get rid of the public debt and you may put the world at defiance, 430; can you expect England to yield to you what she will not give up for Russia, 430; the existence of her navy secures your possession of New Orleans, and yet you are for a British naval war, 430; only two commercial nations, 431; it is said England will not go to war--Holland thought the same thing in 1781, 431; character of the inhabitants of the southern country on whom you rely for support, 431; the magic of words, 431; the statesmen and the counting-house clerk, 432; men of no nerve oppose this resolution, 432; no plan on the part of the government, 432; this subject calls for the display of all the knowledge and experience of commercial men and statesmen, 433; object of the resolution is the protection of the active commerce of the country, 433; first inquiry is whether this commerce is so important as to require our protection, 433; this point examined, 433; the government long since pledged to support the rights and interests of our merchants upon the ocean, 434; too late to retrace our steps, 434; treachery to the mercantile interest, 434; insults and aggressions of Great Britain not denied, but the resolution not the best course to proceed, 434; two causes of restraints and prohibitions between nations, 434; protection to home industry and national animosity, 435; the last occasions this resolution, 435; in case of a war what will be the situation of your carrying trade, 435; ought commerce to be considered as beneficial in its relation to the United States, 435; this point examined, 435; the right of commerce to protection under the constitution, 435; our rights are invaded and an attack made upon our carrying trade, which cannot be warranted by the law of nations, 436; it is said this is a war measure, 436; objections considered, 437; impressment of seamen, 438; these seamen made to fight against France, our ally, if we connive at it we may be charged with a breach of neutrality, 438; aggressions on our commerce, 439; the merits of the question, 439; must the agricultural interest of the country be sacrificed to preserve the carrying trade, 440; should the present prosperous state of things be put to risk, 440; can we as men and patriots tamely submit to these aggressions, 440; the resolution is devoted to destruction, 440; never was a more interesting crisis in our affairs in reference to our foreign relations, 440; two classes of arguments against the motion--one addressed to our hopes, the other to our fears, 440; these considered, 440; has there been as much pains taken to apprise the nation of its true position as there has been to alarm it, 441; what is the true cause of our dispute with Great Britain, and what is the extent to which it goes, 441; this measure involves the best interests of our country, 442; the subject considered relatively to its general policy, and whether we are bound to adopt the resolution, 442; objects of the federal compact, 442; the resolution will produce instantaneous war, 442; effect on Great Britain, 442; objects of a free government, 443; unless it fulfils its objects it is not worthy of support, 443; grounds of difference already stated, 443; not able to meet Great Britain on the ocean, 443; we say, be just or we will hold no intercourse with you, 443; the resolution objectionable in all its parts, 444; it embraces two points--one relating to the carrying trade, the other to the impressment of seamen, 444; previous consideration of the subject of impressment, 444; impressment has been going on for ten or twelve years and no memorials come from these patriotic merchants, 444; it is the carrying trade alone which has brought them, because their interests are affected, 444; this an object of secondary importance, 445; effects of adopting the resolution, 445; resolution of 1793 compared, 445; two alternatives before this nation, 445; the dispute is most unquestionably for the carrying trade, 446; a trade less beneficial to the nation than any other, and the cause of most of our disputes with foreign nations, 446; not so important as the coasting trade, or the direct trade, 446; our conduct towards France and its effects, 446; particulars respecting our trade, 446; British merchants and manufacturers will aid us under this measure, 447; the adoption of the resolution will affect the revenue, 447; question of expediency, 447; partial operation of the resolution, 447; impressment considered, 448; arguments for the resolution founded on impressment, examined, 448; adopt this measure and you may overthrow our administration, 449; it is said, now is the time to settle our disputes with England, 449; evidences of the spirit of the nation, 450; the ocean common and undivided property, hence difficult to afford the same security as on land, 450; the case of Tripoli said to be in point, 450; is this the best course, 450; better if the government had never given protection to commerce out of sight of our territory, 451; the grounds of complaint considered, 452; impressment, 452; aggressions on commerce, 453; the right of Great Britain to seize and condemn colonial produce, the property of a neutral, on its way to the ports of a parent state, her enemy, examined, 453; this measure only a commercial regulation and cannot give any cause for war, 454; no animosity to occasion the resolution, 455; the conduct of Great Britain is manifestly unjust and unauthorized by the law of nations, 455; a review of the points in discussion between this country and Great Britain, and the arguments of the opponents of the resolution examined, 455; aggressions of Great Britain a sufficient stimulus for us to do something, 458; law requiring protections for seamen regretted--the flag should protect, 458; motion to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the further consideration of the resolution, 459; no discussion of its merits had, 459; motion lost, 459; painful to see gentlemen so far forget the interests of their own country in defending the pretended of rights of others, 460; facts relating to impressments, 460; property of foreign nations covered by American merchants, 460; vindication of the character of American merchants, 461; true history and cause of the British aggressions, 461; difference between our treaty with Great Britain and other nations, 462; the just cause of complaint being admitted, it remains to determine whether we will tamely submit, 462; only difference relates to the question what measures will have the most effect with the least injury to ourselves, 462; where is the remedy, 463; is peace to be destroyed until indemnity and security can be obtained, 463; other arguments considered, 463; motion that the committee rise, 464; opposed, 464; lost, 464; a resolution adopted, 465; bill read third time, 466; passed, 466. In the House, motion to postpone the bill authorizing the President to suspend the non-importation law under certain contingencies, 709; in the event of suspending the embargo, it may be proper to suspend this law, 709; the law should be a permanent regulation, 709; have a right to make all regulations we please, respecting commerce, 709; what cause for suspending at present, 709; postponement carried, 709.

North Carolina, vote for President, 168.

Oath, administered to members of House at 1st session, Eighth Congress, 51.

Oaths.--See Index, vol. 1.

Officers, removal of.--See Index, vol. 1.

Officers, plurality of.--Resolutions declaring that a contractor is an officer of government, and incapable of holding a seat in the House, and that the union of a plurality of offices in a single individual, especially military with civil authority, is repugnant to the constitution, &c., considered in the House, 466; no such principle in the constitution, as is prescribed in first resolution, 466; no right to make a disqualification which the constitution does not attach to the tenure of a seat, 466; each House shall be the judge of the qualifications of its members, 467; the resolution an exposition of the constitution, 467; meaning of the word “officer,” 467; subsequent Houses may give the constitution a different construction, 467; every objection which can be made to a member applies with equal force to his holding a lucrative contract, 467; words of the constitution, 467; cannot be justified in declaring what is and what is not the constitution, 468; adopt this resolution, and a bare majority might deprive a member of a seat, 468; no power to exclude members from a seat, unless it is found in the constitution, 468; what is the idea of an officer under the constitution, 468; is a contractor an officer under the constitution, 469; the only question is, whether there was an existing disqualification, 469; a contract cannot be considered in the light of an office, 469; officer and contractor do not mean the same thing, 469; not in the power of the House to declare the two appointments incompatible, unless expressly authorized in the constitution, 470; allusion to cases, 470; resolution not agreed to, 470; second resolution considered, 471; declaration of the resolution not correct, 471; constitution recognizes union of civil and military offices, 471; the union here contemplated, gives the actual discharge of civil powers to a person in command of the army, 471; is there no spirit in the constitution, 471; a union of different offices in the same person not repugnant to the constitution, 472; what benefit will result from this declaration, 472; what does the resolution amount to, 472; resolution goes too far; it is very common for two offices to be united in one man, 472; union necessary in some cases, 472; resolution not agreed to, 473; third resolution considered, 473; adopted, 473; bill presented, 473; bill prohibiting military and naval officers from civil employment, read third time, 476; the bill goes to the unconstitutional removal of an officer, 476; have we a right by a legislative act to prejudice any other department of the Government, 476; strongest argument in favor of the expediency of the bill, 476; what is constitutional 477; let us not interfere with the constitutional rights of the other departments, 477; bill passed, 478.

Ohio, vote for President, 168.

Ohio State Government.--See Index, vol. 2.

OLCOTT, SIMEON, Senator from New Hampshire, 3, 163. See Index, vol. 2.

OLIN, GIDEON, Representative from Vermont, 50, 285, 377, 493; on the application of the Society of Harmony, 404, 405; on the importation of slaves, 501; on excluding settlers from the public lands, 543.

Ordinance of 1787, respecting slavery; resolutions of Indiana Council, relative to suspension of, 503; report on, 519.

Orleans, bill for the government of the territory of, 166.

PAINE, THOMAS, address to the Senate, stating his claim, 552.

PALMER, BERIAH, Representative from New York, 50, 285.

PARKE, BENJAMIN, delegate from Indiana Territory, 381, 497.

PARKER, NAHUM, Senator from New Hampshire, 547.

PARKINSON, REV. WILLIAM, elected chaplain of the House, 52.

PATTERSON, JOHN, Representative from New York, 52.

PENDLETON, EDMUND, resolution relative to the death of, 77.

Pennsylvania Insurgents.--See Index, vol. 1.

Pennsylvania, vote for President, 168; resolutions of legislature relative to removal of Federal judges, 676.

PETERS, RICHARD, Judge, committee appointed by the House to inquire into his official conduct, 174.

Petitions, reception of, see Index, vol. 2, and Index, vol. 1, Slavery.

PHELPS, OLIVER, Representative from New York, 78, 315.

PICKERING, TIMOTHY, Senator from Massachusetts, 3, 163, 345, 485, 547; on the acquisition of Louisiana, 13; on the amendment to the constitution, relative to the election of President, 27. See Index, vol. 2.

PIKE, CAPT., resolution to compensate, 676.

PITKIN, TIMOTHY, jun., Representative from Connecticut, 380, 493, 612; on the importation of slaves, 496; on the appropriation to build gunboats, 517.

PLATER, THOMAS, Representative from Maryland, 50, 285. See Index, vol. 2.