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could acquire, our clearest conceptions are involved in doubt. A thousand things may happen which it is impossible to conjecture, and which will influence the course of events.

The

wise Governor of all things hath hidden the future from the ken of our feeble understanding. In committing ourselves, therefore, to the examination of what may hereafter arrive, we hazard reputation on contingencies we cannot command. And when events shall be past, we shall be judged by them, and not by the reasons which we may now advance.

There are many subjects which it is not easy to understand, but it is always easy to misrespresent, and when arguments cannot be controverted, it is not difficult to calumniate motives. That which cannot be confuted, may be mistated. The purest intentions may be blackened by malice; and envy will ever foster the foulest imputations.... This calumny is among the sore evils of our country. It began with our earliest success in seventy-eight, and has gone on with accelerated velocity and encreasing force to the present hour. It is no longer to be checked, nor will it terminate but in that sweep of general destruction, to which it tends with a step as sure as time, and fatal as death. I know that what I utter will be misunderstood, misrepresented, deformed, and distorted; but we must do our duty.... This I believe is the last scene of my public life; and it shall, like those which preceded it, be performed with candor and truth. Yes, my noble friends, [addressing himself to the federal senators near him] we shall soon part to meet no more. But however separated, and wherever dispersed, we know that we are united by just principle and true sentiment. A sentiment, my country, ever dovoted to you, which will expire only with expiring life, and beat in the last pulsation of our hearts.

Mr. President, my object is peace. I could assign many reasons to shew that this declaration is sincere. But can it be necessary to give this senate any other assurance than my word? Notwithstanding the acerbity of temper which results from party strife, gentlemen will believe me on my word. I will not pretend, like my hon. colleague (Mr. CLINTON) to describe to you, the waste, the ravages, and the horrors of war. I have not the same harmonious periods, nor the same musical tones; neither shall I boast of christian charity, nor attempt to display that ingenuous glow of benevolence so decorous to the cheek of youth, which gave a vivid tint to every sentence he uttered; and was, if possible, as impressive even as his eloquence. But though we possess not the same pomp of words,

He was her

our hearts are not insensible to the woes of humanity. We can feel for the misery of plundered towns, the conflagration of defenceless villages, and the devastation of cultured fields. Turning from these features of general distress, we can enter the abodes of private affliction, and behold the widow weeping, as she traces, in the pledges of connubial affection, the resemblance of him whom she has lost forever. We see the aged matron bending over the ashes of her son. darling; for he was generous and brave, and therefore his spirit led him to the field in defence of his country. We can observe another oppressed with unutterable anguish: condemned to conceal her affection; forced to hide that passion which is at once the torment and delight of life; she learns that those eyes which beamed with sentimeut, are closed in death; and his lip, the ruby harbinger of joy, lies pale and cold, the miserable appendage of a mangled corse. Hard, hard indeed, must be that heart which can be insensible to scenes like these, and bold the man who dare present to the Almighty Father a conscience crimson'd with the blood of his children.

Yes, sir, we wish for peace; but how is that blessing to be preserved? I shall repeat here a sentiment I have often had occasion to express. In my opinion, there is nothing worth fighting for, but national honor: for in the national honor, is involved the national independence. I know that a state may find itself in such unpropitious circumstances, that prudence may force a wise government to conceal the sense of indignity. But the insult should be engraven on tablets of brass, with a pencil of steel. And when that time and chance, which happen to all, shall bring forward the favourable mo

then let the avenging arm strike home. It is by avowing and maintaining this stern principle of honor, that peace can be preserved., But let it not be supposed, that any thing I say, has the slightest allusion to the injuries sustained from France, while suffering in the pangs of her revolution. As soon should I upbraid a sick man for what he might have done in the paroxisms of disease. Nor is this a new sentiment: it was felt and avowed at the time when these wrongs were heaped on us, and I appeal for the proof to the files of your Secretary of State. The destinies of France were then in the hands of monsters. By the decree of heaven she was broken on the wheel, in the face of the world, to warn mankind of her folly and madness. But these scenes have past away. On the throne of the Bourbons, is now seated the first of the Gallic

Cæsars. At the head of that gallant nation is the great, the greatest man, of the present age. It becomes us well to consider his situation. The things he has achieved, compel him to the achievment of things more great. In his vast career, we must soon become objects to command attention. We too, in our turn, must contend or submit. By submission we may indeed have peace, alike precarious and ignominious. But is this the peace which we ought to seek? Will this satisfy the just expectation of our country? No. Let us have peace permanent, secure, and, if I may use the term, independent, Peace which depends, not on the pity of others, but on our own force. Let us have the only peace worth having, a peace consistent with honor.

A gentleman near me, (Mr. JACKSON) has told us the anecdote of an old courtier, who said, that the interest of his nation, was the honor of his nation. I was surprized to hear that idea from that gentleman. But it was not his own. Such is that gentleman's high sense of his personal honor, that no interest would induce him to sacrifice it. He would not permit the proudest prince on earth to blot or soil it. Millions would not purchase his honor, and will he feel less for the honor of his country? No, he will defend it with his best. blood. He will feel with me, that our national honor is the best security for our peace and our prosperity. That it involves at once our wealth and our power. And in this view of the subject I must contradict a sentiment which fell from my honorable colleague (Mr. CLINTON.) He tells us that the principle of this country is peace and commerce. Sir, the avowal of such principle will leave us neither commerce nor peace. It invites others to prey on that commerce which we will not protect, and share the wealth we dare not defend. But let it be known that you stand ready to sacrifice the last man, and the last shilling, in defence of your national honor, and those who would have assailed, will beware of you.

Before I go into a minute consideration of this subject, I will notice what the gentlemen opposed to me have said on the law of nations. But I must observe that, in a conjuncture like the present, there is more sound sense, and more sound policy in the firm and manly sentiments which warm the hearts of my friends from Delaware, than in all the volumes upon all the shelves of the civilians. Let us however attend to the results of those logical deductions which have been made by writers on the law of nations. The honorable member from Kentucky, (Mr. BRECKENRIDGE) has told us that sovereigns

ought to shew a sincere desire of peace, and should not hastily take offence, because it may be that the offensive act was the result of mistake. My honorable colleague has told us, that among the justifiable causes of war, are the deliberate invasions of right, and the necessity of maintaining the balance of power. He has told us further, that attempts should always be made to obtain redress by treaty, unless it be evident that redress cannot be so obtained. The honorable member from Georgia near me, informs us, that the thing we would obtain by war should be important, and the success probable, and that war should be avoided until it be inevitable. The ho norable member from Maryland, (Mr. WRIGHT) has explained to us the case cited by the gentleman from Kentucky, as being that of a wrong done by a private citizen. Under the weight of all this authority, and concurring with gentlemen in these their positions, I shall take leave to examine the great question we are called on to decide. I shall moreover fully and entirely agree with the honorable member near me in another point. He has, with the usual rapidity of his mind, seized the whole object. He tells us, and he tells us truly, that the island of Orleans and the two Floridas are essential to this country. They are joined, says he, by God, and sooner or later we must and will have them. In this clear and energetic statement I fully agree; and the greater part of what I have to say will be but a commentary on the doctrines they have advanced, an elucidation of their positions, and the confirmation of that strong conclusion.

In order to bring this extensive subject within such bounds as may enable us to take a distant view of its several parts, I shall consider first, the existing state of things: 2dly, the consequence to the United States of the possession of that country by France: 3dly, the consequence to other nations: 4thly, the importance of it to France herself: 5thly, its im portance to the United States if possessed by them; and having thus examined the thing itself in its various relations, the way will be open to consider, 6thly, the effect of negociation : and then, 7thly, the consequences to be expected from taking immediate possession.

Before I consider the existing state of things, let me notice what gentlemen have said in relation to it. The honorable member from Kentucky has told us, that indeed there is a right arrested, but whether by authority or not, is equivocal. He says the representative of Spain verily believes it to be an unathorised act. My honorable colleague informs us there

has been a clashing between the Governor and the Intendant. He says we are told by the Spanish minister it was unathorised. Notwithstanding these assurances, however, my honorable colleague has, it seems, some doubts....but nevertheless he presumes innocence; for my colleague is charitable. The honorable member from Maryland goes farther, he tells us the minister of Spain says, the intendant had no such authority; and the minister of France too, says there is no such authority. Sir, I have all possible respect for those gentlemen, and every proper confidence in what they may think proper to communicate. I believe the Spanish minister has the best imaginable disposition to preserve peace; being indeed the express purpose for which he was sent among us. I believe it to be an object near to his heart, and which has a strong hold upon his affections. I respect the warmth and benevolence of his feelings, but he must pardon me that I am deficient in courtly compliment, I am a republican, and cannot commit the interests of my country to the goodness of his heart.

What is the state of things? There has been a cession of the island of New Orleans and of Louisiana to France.... Whether the Floridas have also been ceded is not yet certain. It has been said, as from authority, and I think it probable. Now, sir, let us note the time and the manner of this cession. It was at or immediately after the treaty of Luneville, at the first moment when France could take up a distant object of attention. But had Spain a right to make this cession without our consent? Gentlemen have taken it for granted that she had. But I deny the position. No nation has a right to give to another a dangerous neighbor without her consent. This is not like the case of private citizens, for there, when a man is injured he can resort to the tribunals for redress, and yet, even there, to dispose of property to one who is a bad neighbour is always considered as an act of unkindness. But as between nations, who can redress themselves only by war, such transfer is in itself an aggression. He who renders me insecure, he who hazards my peace, and exposes me to imminent danger, commits an act of hostility against me; and gives me the rights consequent on that act. Suppose Great Britain should give to Algiers one of the Bahamas, and contribute thereby to establish a nest of pirates near your coasts, would you not consider it as an aggression? Suppose during the late war you had conveyed to France a tract of land along Hudson's river, and the northern route by the lakes into Canada, would not Britain have considered and treated it as

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