The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Thirteenth Congress, First and Second Sessions Page: 1,541
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HISTORY OF CONGRESS.
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February, 1814.
The Loan Bill.
H. ofEU
' liberty are more estimable than ships and goods,
' so much more impressive is the duty to shield
' the persons of our seamen, whose hard and hon-
' est services are employed, equally with those of
' the merchants, in advancing under the mantle of
' its laws the interests of this country."
I could refer you to other documents of that
session containing sentiments of the same kind,
but this I deem sufficient to do away the effect of
insinuations made by those who were not then
members, and know but little on the subject. A
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Sheffey) has said,
that the number of American seamen impressed
by the British has been exaggerated. How is
this proved1? By bare assertion, and not other-
wise. The official reports from the American
Government, show the number to be 6,257: this
statement I will rely on until its incorrectness is
shown. But admit it to be incorrect, Lord Cas-
tlereagh, in the British Parliament, admitted that
1.600 American citizens had been impressed ; this
admission is surely good evidence against the
British Government; and recollect these are ad-
mitted to be native American citizens, not Brit-
ish subjects naturalized in this country. Now
let me ask the gentleman from Virginia, whether
if 1,600 men were forcibly taken from his district
by any foreign Power, he would not say it was
sufficient cause of war, and would not condemn
the Government that would refuse them protec-
tion? I am bound to believe he would ; if so, is
the principle changed when they are taken from
any other quarter? Sir, so long as we are one
nation, the same protection must be extended to
every portion of the community.
One word more in reply to that gentleman, in
behalf of my friend from Kentucky, (Mr. Sharp,)
who is detained by sickness from his seat in this
House. I understand the gentleman from Vir-
ginia as saying that his (Mr. Sharp's) constitu-
ents were so uninformed on political subjects as
not to have known of the existence of the Orders
in Council until last year.
[Mr. Sheffey here explained, by saying that
what he had said was in reference to a statement
made by a member from Maryland at the last
session, and not intending to make such charge
himself.]
Mr. Grundy proceeded. It is then a matter of
very little consequence; I will, however suggest
to the gentleman from Virginia, that he perhaps
should be the last member on the floor, who
should provoke an inquiry into the comparative
degree of intelligence anil information which is
to be found in different districts. I well knew
that my friend's district would have nothing to
fear from such a comparison with the district
represented by the gentleman from Virginia.
We are told, that before the declaration of war
the minority warned the majority of the conse-
quences that were to follow, and predicted all the
unfortunate events which have taken place; true,
sir, they did, and much more; they told us that
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nor-
folk, and Charleston, would immediately be re-
duced to ashes, and the whole seaboard laid waste.
What, sir, has been done? Havre de Grace,
Frenchtown, and a few other inconiderable vil-
lages have been destroyed ; what else? "Let the
blushing streets of Hampton answer!" Sir, the
enemy has made no solid impression on the coun-
try; they have carried on a kind of warfare cal-
culated to irritate and unite the American peo-
ple in the prosecution of the war.
A gentleman from New York asserted that we
are waging this war to protect a set of renegado
Irishmen. Sir, he is mistaken. It is an Ameri-
can war, carried on to secure American rights,
and I have the fullest confidence that the nation
will support the majority in every measure cal-
culated to give vigor to it, until it can be brought
to a just and honorable termination.
Mr. Gaston, of North Carolina, addressed? the
House as follows:
Mr. Chairman, I fear I am about to engage in
a very injudicious attempt—I fear that the pa-
tience of the Committee is exhausted, and that it
would be idle to hope for their attention. It was
originally my wish to claim their notice at an
early stage of the debate; but I found this wish
was not to be effected but by a competition for
the floor, and I thought such a competition not
justified by the nature of the remarks which I
had to submit. Under these impressions I had
made up my mind to wait until some favorable
unoccupied interval should be presented; and I
should not now have presumed to anticipate
other gentlemen who seem disposed to address
you, but for some extraordinary observations
which have just been uttered, and which in my
opinion demand immediate animadversion.
The gentleman from Tennessee, who has this
moopent resumed his seat, (Mr. Grundy,) seems
a little sore that his doctrine of Moral Treason-,
which he promulgated at the last session, should
have been so vehemently oppugned by the per-
sons for whose benefit he had compiled it. I am
not of the number of those, Mr. Chairman, who
have deemed this doctrine worthy of examination.
As originally understood, it was so preposterous
and so repugnant to the principles of our Consti-
tution, that every intelligent freeman found its
refutation in the consciousness of his own liberty.
By subsequent explanations and definitions it has
been so attenuated and subtilized, that what was
never very distinct, now almost eludes percep-
tion. According to the last attempt at exposi-
tion, if it have any meaning, it would seem to
embrace systematic efforts to persuade capitalists
not to lend money, and the unthinking youth not
to enlist as soldiers to carry on the war against
Canada. His denunciations of such a system—
of the existence of which I know nothing; and
which, if it exist, is innocent or criminal accord-
ing to the motives from which it springs—pass
by me altogether unheeded. But his unfounded
imputations upon some of the best men and truest
patriots of the country, and his attempt to sup-
port his doctrine by their example, ought to be
repelled, and a very short notice will suffice for
that purpose.
The gentleman has referred to the act of 14th
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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/m1/53/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.