The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Fifth Congress, [Third Session] Page: 2,527
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2527
HISTORY OF CONGRESS. • «- 2528
H.op R.] Usurpation of
the same distress. He should not, he said, be
discouraged from expressing this alarm, by being
reminded of the effects produced by alarm in
another country. He wished to God the gentle-
man from Pennsylvania could augment the list of
countries that had listened seasonably to the
voices of their alarmists. Had Holland, Switz-
erland, and other nations which now groan under
the despotism of French taskmasters, heard and
obeyed the warnings, the entreaties, the prophetic
prayers of their best and most faithful citizens,
they would have had sufficient cause to rejoice at
this hour ; one country, only, had taken this ne-
cessary alarm, and by means of it has hitherto
withstood, and will probably ride out in safety,
the destructive tempest which has overwhelmed
her neighbors. It is by resisting the lullaby of op-
position that Great Britain has preserved her
Constitution and Government; and if such a
Constitution and Government, which so many
are pleased to consider as corrupt and rotten,
struggling with debts and abuses, have been
preserved by a timely alarm, it is no reproach to
be anxious to save a better Constitution and a
better Government by the same means.
It has been also said, that if we suffer ourselves
to be led astray by arguments drawn from the
state of other countries, we shall be enslaved, and
surrender our liberties through fear of losing them.
He believed the reverse of this proposition to be
true, and that, if the examples of those countries
came to be disregarded, we might prepare to meet
our fate. Again: it is insisted that the secret of
the resolution on the table, was to perpetuate the
division of party, and that, although but few real
causes of dissension remain, yet we are deter-
mined to throw down the gauntlet and excite the
greatest possible irritation. This accusation he
denied. He did not believe that the resolution
was introduced with any such design; but if such
had been the object of the mover, the blame would
not attach to him or to his friends. .They might
even then have justified themselves upon princi-
ples of self-defence. He appealed to the whole
House, that, within a few days after the com-
mencement of the session, they were threatened
with a notice that motions might be expected in
favor of repealing the Alien and Sedition acts;
which could owe their origin to no other inten-
tion but that of inflaming the public mind, and of
persevering in the endeavor to expose the Admin-
istration and its friends to odious imputations.
Therefore we should stand acquitted, if, instead of
giving time to our adversaries to furnish their wea-
pons, and carry war into our borders, we had
seized this occasion to strike the first blow.
If, as the gentleman from Virginia observed, the
aspect of ouraffairs was changed for, the better,
he sincerely rejoiced; but confessed that nothing
with reference to our foreign relations had oc-
curred, either in the repeal of the embargo on our
vessels, nor th,e liberation of our seamen, nor in
the nugatory renewal of the commissions to
French privateers, which convinced him of any
real change in the sentiments of the Directory.
Our domestic posture may, indeed, be changed for
Authority. [December, 1798.
the better, if gentlemen, as they seemed to inti-
mate, would unite in preserving and extending the
system of defence, and follow up the wise and
prudent measures which were adopted at the last
session. Of their sincerity, hitherto, he had not
been able to form an opinion, but in the course of
the session they would show to what point their
professions were entitled to confidence. No credit
was due to another imputation, so often repeated,
of a desire prevalent with a majority of that
House, to crush the opposite party. For his part,
he declared that his object was to crush no man,but
to reform certain principles, and to explode others
which his daily observation convinced him were
mischievous, and inconsistent with good govern-
ment.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania had conclu-
ded with expressing his design '" to carry war into
our borders." He presumed the gentleman did
not mean literally to levy war against his oppo-
nents. The gentleman had acquired great credit
as a political warrior, but he had often sustained
his fire without much injury. If he really in-
tended to bring a new force of artillery into the
field, it is our duty, said Mr. O., to unite in throw-
ing up such ramparts and bastions as may be re-
quisite for our defence. But as the gentleman
has never yet succeeded in forcing our camp, nor
defeated us either by storm or surprise, there was
no occasion to dread his return to the charge. On
the whole he thought the resolution highly wor-
thy of attention, and hoped it would pass.
Mr. Harper.—Had the opposition to this mo-
tion, Mr. Speaker, been at first placed on the
liberal ground where the gentleman from Georgia,
(Mr. Baldwin,) has just now placed it, this dis-
cussion would, no doubt, have taken a different
turn. Those observations which have so much
excited the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Nich-
olas,) might have been avoided ; and the gentle-
man from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gallatin) would,
probably, have been spared those wounds, the an-
guish whereof has wrung from him a threat of
offensive war. This direction was given to the
debate by the gentleman from Virginia, who plainly
and emphatically avowed a principle utterly sub-
versive of every Government, and in the higJiest
possible degree alarming to this, in the present
state of things—the principle that any individual,
and, by stronger reason, any number or class of
individuals, might justifiably, and even laudably,
interfere between this country and a foreign Gov-
ernment, for the purpose of making peace. That
gentleman, instead of denying the existence of a
recent case, has expressly justified it. He has
even gone the length of declaring that the act was
honorable and meritorious, and that he himself,
could he have supposed himself to possess the
means of insuring success in the attempt, would
have done likewise. This principle, thus avowed,
it became necessary to oppose and repel. Several
gentlemen did oppose it. and proved, in the most
convincing manner, that if once admitted,'it would
open a wide door to foreign intrigue and foreign
influence; would justify the interference of indi-
viduals, or clubs, or factions, to make war as well
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Gales, Joseph, 1761-1841. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Fifth Congress, [Third Session], book, 1851; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29473/m1/58/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.