The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Thirteenth Congress, First and Second Sessions Page: 1,533
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HISTORY OF CONGRESS.
February, 1814.
The Loan Bili.
H. op R;
ready ia your service ; you Ran support that navy
of which all parties claim to be the patrons ; you
can pay the stipulated portion of former debts;
in short, you will support the public credit;—re-
ject it, and you cannot pay those at present in
your employment; your navy must rot, your
ability to obtain loans at any future period will
be entirely annihilated; for once let it be ascer-
tained that your punctuality is not to be depended
on, rely on it, it will be idle to attempt to borrow.
What, sir, has hitherto kept up the price of Amer-
ican stock at home and abroad? It has been
that rigid regard to justice and good faith which
has at all times characterized this Government.
There are cases in which, probably, a government
might fail punctually to comply with its engage-
ments, and still the public credit might not be
greatly affected. This would not, however, be
one of those cases; because, in this instance,
there would not only be a failure, but it would
be unaccompanied with an honest exertion to-
wards compliance. If, sir, the idea shall ever
meet with public sanction, that one political party
may incur a debt and their political opponents
stand justified in refusing to discharge it, I pro-
nounce that public credit is at an end, and this
form of government will soon follow it. At the
last session, a gentleman from New York (Mr.
Oaklet) furnished the best apology that could
be made for his vote against the loan bill ; but I
have heard nothing of the kind from others; and
even his apology was not very satisfactory. Af-
ter the passage of that bill, he declared he would
have voted for it, only he knew the majority were
bound to pass it. He seemed-justly to appreciate
the importance of preserving the public faith. I
thought the sentiment honorable to him; but I
confess it did occur to me that he had adopted
too easy a method to get clear of the trouble of
doing his duty for himself. I did suppose that
the better way was for each individual to do that
which appeared right to himself, and not leave
it to others to perform it for him. If, however,
that gentleman can reconcile such conduct to his
own conscience, it is not for me to censure or
condemn. Who, Mr. Chairman, complain most
of the defenceless state of the "country 1 The
very men who refuse to grant men and money
for its defence. They say they need protection,
and criminate the Government for the want of
it; and at the same time use all their exertions
to withhold from the Administration the means
of protecting them.
Sir, members venerable for their age and ex-
perience, and more so for their pursuits in life,
(for they profess to be the interpreters of the word
of truth,) have said in debate that this is a wicked
and irreligious war; and quote the expressions,
" Thou shall not kill," &c., ''Love thy neighbor
as thyself," &c., in support of this charge. Do
these gentlemen suppose that the book to which
they refer, the authority of which all admit, is so
little understood that misinterpretations of this
kind can be practised successfully ? Can it be
believed, that that Deity, who, on many occasions,
expressly commanded wars to be made ; he who
led his favorite people to battle, and was a shield
and defence to them in the hour of danger, should
condemn all wars as unlawful 1 These gentle-
men have forgotten that the British Government,
which they consider as the great promoter of
Christianity, is in the habit of shedding human
blood by her wars. Yes, that moral and religious
nation is more frequently engaged in war than
any other; not defensive wars only, but offensive
foreign wars. Examine her history, and you
will find that within the last six hundred and
ten years she has been at war two hundred and
sixty-one years with a single nation ; and during
that period she has never been invaded, though
at particular periods greatly threatened. The
same gentlemen affect to value the blessings
of civil liberty, as enjoyed by us, and to revere
the Constitution of the United States; and catk
they not remember that these are the effects of
the war of the Revolution 1 If all wars are for-
bidden by the law of God, the Revolution was
an immoral and wicked thing, and those who
achieved it are liable to censure, rather than en-
titled to that praise which all parties unite in be-
stowing on them.
It is also alleged that it is unjust to invade
Canada. In the Revolutionary war it was inva-
ded ; and I defy those who pretend they are the
disciples of Washington, to show any difference
in principle between the propriety of an invasion
then, and an invasion now. Yet at that period;
the illustrious tnan who commanded the Atner*
ican armies, and all those who were united with
him in rescuing this country from the unfeeling
grasp of a foreign tyrant, decided that the con-
quest of the Canadas was just and expedient.
I come now, Mr. Chairman, to speak on that
point which produced the necessity of my ad-
dressing you: Moral treason-—that sentiment ex-
pressed bv me at a former session, which has
excited so much sensibility, and given rise to so
much censure. To whom have I ascribed it?
Not to those who exercise their Constitutional
privilege of opposing measures before they are
adopted by the constituted authorities; not to
those who shall, even after their adoption, deliver
their sentiments freely against them; not to those
who shall fail to join the Army themselves, or
decline to loan their money; but to those who
shall exert their influence to prevent others from
enlisting, and shall combine together for the pur-
pose of preventing loans from being filled. Men
of the latter description, I did say, were, in my
judgment, guilty of treason in a moral point of
view. I say so still. It is an opinion which re-
flection has doubly confirmed ; it is an opinion I
shall never retract. So far from it, would to God
it were written in letters of sunshine in the very
centre of Heaven, that all the world might read.
It is opposing the laws after they are constitu-
tionally enacted; it is attempting to prevent the
operation of the laws by other means than a re-
peal of thein; and the latter is the only way in
which I believe the effect of any law can with
propriety be defeated.
Gentlemen who are so very sensitive on this
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Gales and Seaton. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Thirteenth Congress, First and Second Sessions, book, 1854; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30354/m1/49/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.