any port of the United States, without having complied with the provision aforesaid, by giving bond as aforesaid, shall, with her tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with the article or articles aforesaid, laden on board the same as aforesaid, be forfeited to the United States: Provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall be so deemed or construed, so as to violate any provision of the Convention to regulate commerce between the territories of the United States and of His Britannic Majesty signed the third day of July, 1815."

Sec. 3 describes the form of the bond and manner of executing it.

Sec. 4 prescribes how penalties shall be sued for and recovered, according to the revenue laws.

Speech of James Barbour, of Va. As the organ of the Committee on Foreign Relations, who reported the bill, Mr. Barbour said it was expected of him that he should state their reasons why it should become law.

"It certainly behooved the Senate to give this subject its most serious attention, and to act upon the most mature deliberation; for remember, when once adopted, it must be adhered to. To recede would be to insure an endless duration to the serious evils of which we complain; and, what is still of more consequence, it must be attended with a diminution of character. Any policy adopted by the unanimous consent of the nation, founded in justice and wisdom, and sustained by perseverance, must finally be felt and yielded to by any and every nation on which it operates.

Our Object the Opening of British Ports. "The object of the bill under consideration is to relieve from the effects of measures adopted by Great Britain in relation to our commercial intercourse with her North American colonies and West Indies; measures exclusively against us, as injurious to our navigating interest as they are offensive to our dignity. The invidious policy of which we complain, and which is attended with such unpleasant effects, may be summed up in a few words. She has shut her ports in the possessions formerly alluded to, against American vessels and American property. Not a cockboat, not an atom of anything that is American, does she permit to enter, while she modestly insists to bring everything that

she pleases from these possessions to the United States, and to purchase, and exclusively to carry the produce and manufactures of the United States in return; that is, she insists upon, and we have been tame enough to submit to it, to enjoy exclusively the whole of this valuable intercourse."

"The

Isolated States, mere Footballs of Great Britain. evil has been of long standing; it commenced upon our becoming an independent people. She was not generous enough to forget that we had been enemies, nor wise enough to profit by a liberal policy. She would have found in the same language, the same habits, the same feelings; and in the kind affections inseparably attending two peoples of a common origin, except when repressed by injustice or oppression, she would have found in these circumstances sure guarantees to an uninterrupted, friendly, and, to her, highly beneficial intercourse. But other counsels prevailed, and displayed a new proof of the mortifying truth that small, indeed, is the portion of wisdom that directs the government of human affairs. Hence, the moment she acknowledged our Independence, she immediately denounced against the United States all the rigor of her colonial system departing from it only in such parts as would promote her interest, and render it more injurious and humiliating to us. She superciliously rejected all offers at negotiation. The United States, without a common head, and pursuing among themselves an insulated, and frequently a selfish and unwise policy, became the footballs of Great Britain, who, watching, as she always does, with a sleepless eye, whatever is to affect her commerce, seized instantly upon her defenseless prey, and pushed her exclusive system to the uttermost of endurance. In this spirit, instead of being content with enforcing towards us the real colonial system, which was that the trade should be exclusively through and with the mother country, she permitted the produce of her dependencies to be brought directly to this country, and the produce of this country to be carried back directly to them, but both operations to be effected exclusively by British shipping, to the consequent exclusion of the American shipping from the transportation of the produce even of America. So injurious were the effects resulting from our commercial in

tercourse, and so entirely unable were the United States to counteract these effects in their then disjointed condition, that our sanguine anticipations from the successful result of our Revolution began fast to dissipate, and no little solicitude to be experienced in regard to the future. This state of things produced a convention of the States, and finally resulted in our present happy constitution. I am authorized to say, from the best authority, that it is to this cause chiefly, if not entirely, that we are indebted for this greatest blessing of heaven. In looking through the history of mankind, and tracing the causes which contributed to the rise and downfall of nations, it frequently becomes a subject of curious speculation, when we see the most propitious results flowing from apparently injurious causes, and the worst passions of mankind converted into the means of furthering some beneficent purpose of Providence. Little did the statesman of Britain think, when indulging his thirst for cupidity or revenge, that he was to become the involuntary benefactor of America, by essentially contributing to the order of things which now exists."

1

Advantages of our Closer Union. "The new Government being organized, it turned its attention to the particular subjects intrusted to its care. Unfortunately, however, other objects, both foreign and domestic, interposed before its deliberations ripened into action. Europe was agitated by a convulsion the most important in the annals of the world, whether we regard its duration, its extent, or its effects. During this troubled state of the world, the policy now under consideration engaged the attention of Congress. The result of the effort at that time is known to the Senate the causes leading thereto lie out of the proper sphere of this discussion. Mr. Jay was sent to England—he negotiated a treaty-so much of it as relates to the trade in question eventuated in nothing; but such was the condition of the nations of Europe, that we enjoyed, from the necessities of England, what we had a right to expect from her justice. America became the carrier of the world, and her commerce, her shipping, and her wealth increased in the most

1 Mr. Barbour refers evidently to Jefferson's report of 1793, and to the debate upon the "Madison Resolutions," 1794.

astonishing ratio, till at length America felt the effects of war, and its frequent privations. Peace was no sooner established, than Great Britain resorted to her colonial system, with all its abuse. The more intolerable, as it is exclusively directed against us, inasmuch as she indulges to the vessels of other nations an intercourse withheld from us; a course aggravated by the consideration that she stands alone in this policy, American vessels being admitted into the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish colonies. This course so injurious to our interest, and so offensive to a just pride, claimed the immediate attention of the Government, and efforts were made to obtain redress by a treaty; the result is known."

Madison's Leadership Acknowledged. Mr. Barbour read so much of President Madison's message at the last session of Congress as regards this subject. "Here you perceive the door of negotiation is closed. All hope of redress in that way is desperate, and he calls upon Congress to interpose. Independently of the respect due to the recommendation of a President of the United States, there were other considerations which would give a weight to this opinion of Mr. Madison. When it is recollected that he devoted the whole of his most useful life to his country, with motives always pure, and with a judgment but little liable to err, guided as it was by a superior genius; when such a man, from the commencement of the Government down to the moment of his quitting public life, with the benefit of thirty years' observation and experience, invariably entertains the same opinion, and, in his last solemn appeal to the nation, strongly inculcates the propriety of the measure under consideration, Mr. Barbour was justifiable in saying a recommendation thus sustained would receive from the Senate a degree of consideration far beyond that arising from mere official respect. In addition to this, we have been advised by President Monroe of his fruitless attempts to procure redress by negotiation, and he also submits to Congress the propriety of interposing by regulations whose effects will produce that which he has in vain sought to obtain by negotiation.

"This question, then, solemnly addresses itself to the patriotism, to the wisdom, and to the dignity of the Senate. Will

you patiently stand by and fold your arms, while Great Britain pursues a policy towards us as unjust as it is injurious; or will you, with becoming firmness, adopt a measure whose effect will be to retort the invidious policy on its first parent, and enable us to address her in a quarter where she is never deaf to her interest?"

Faith in Perfect Reciprocity. "Mr. Barbour said, there was a general rule in regard to intercourse with all nations he was willing to adopt, or enforce, as a fundamental principle of our policy-perfect reciprocity; to mete out the same measure to each that was dispensed to us. Who can or will object to this rule? A different one proposes an inferiority. But every American Senator would scout such an assertion. Sir, the same rules are applicable to the intercourse of nations as to that of individuals. Where is the man worthy of the name who would not indignantly reject a proposed intercourse with another on the degrading terms that he should not visit his house but under circumstances of degradation, while the other should claim access when, and how, and upon what terms he himself dictated? Nations are but aggregations of men, and Mr. Barbour could perceive no reason why they should make a surrender of that attribute, self-respect, so essential to the genuine dignity of man. Upon this ground alone it seemed to him Congress were bound to interpose; but he should but feebly discharge his duty were he to leave the question here. For the sake of method and perspicuity, however, he proposed further to discuss the subject, under three heads:

"1. The extensive and injurious effects of the policy complained of, as it regards our shipping interest.

"2. He would undertake to show that redress was attainable, and would be produced by the proposed measure.

"3. That entire prohibition of all intercourse was better than seeking to effect it by heavy duties."

No Naval Power without Protected Shipping. "Before he commenced the proposed investigation, he would make a preliminary remark. He took it for granted, that it was the settled policy of the nation to become a naval power. Perhaps there is no one question upon which there is more unanimity. From