Non-Importation of Goods from Great Britain.

H. OF R.

Non-Importation of Goods from Great Britain.

MARCH, 1806.

ecutors of the will of General George Washing-pretended rights of others. That there should be ton, in behalf of themselves and the other devisees a difference of opinion respecting our own regu

lations, was to be expected, but when your lawful commerce is attacked by what the honorable gentleman from Virginia so emphatically terms "the Leviathan of the Ocean," and attacked, too, contrary to their own acknowledged principles, as laid down in the correspondence between your late worthy Minister, Mr. King, and the British Minister, Lord Hawkesbury, I beg leave to call on the Clerk to read that part of the Boston memorial which relates to that correspondence. [The Clerk read the article.*]

under the said will, was presented to the House and read, praying that an act may pass for the purpose of confirming the title of the said executors to certain lands on the northwest side of the river Ohio, on or near the Little Miama, granted to their testator, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, by the said State of Virginia, and which are found to be within the territory ceded by the said State to the United States.Referred to the Committee on the Public Lands. The House proceeded to consider a motion made yesterday, in the words following, to wit: "That Major General Arthur St. Clair be heard * "In 1801, in consequence of a decree of the Vice at the bar of the House in support of his claim:" | Admiralty Court at Nassau, condemning the cargo of

Resolved, That this House doth agree to the same, and that Monday next, at twelve o'clock, be assigned for that purpose.

The House proceeded to consider a resolution of the Senate, of yesterday, for the appointment of a joint committee of the two Houses, to consider and report what business is necessary to be done by Congress, the present session: Where

The SPEAKER declared it out of order to postpone such an order of the day.

The question of going into a Committee was then put and carried-yeas 70.

The Committee having agreed to take up the resolution submitted by Mr. NICHOLSON

Mr. MUMFORD said: Mr. Chairman, it is with great diffidence I rise to speak on this question. I am a merchant, unaccustomed to speak in a public body. But, sir, when I see the dearest interests of my country unjustly attacked by a foreign nation, I must beg the indulgence of this Committee while I express my sentiments on the serious aspect of our foreign relations. Sir, I do not wish to extenuate the conduct of any nation. I have no predilection for one foreign nation more than another. I shall endeavor to speak the language of an independent American.

Sir, I had indulged the hope that the ninth Congress of the United States had assembled to deliberate on the momentous affairs of their country as An mericans; but, sir, it gives me pain, and I regret extremely, to see gentlemen so far forget ** the interest of their own country in defending the

an American vessel going from the United States to a port in the Spanish colonies, with a cargo consisting of articles the growth of old Spain, our highly respectable and able Minister at the Court of London immediately addressed Lord Hawkesbury, His Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and remonstrated in a respectful, but firm and dignified manner, against this infringement and violation of the rights of neutrals.

"The remonstrance met that prompt attention from the British Government which its merits demanded; the subject was referred to the consideration of the Advocate General, who reported that the sentence of the Vice Admiralty Court at Nassau was founded in error; that it was now (1801) distinctly understood, and had been repeatedly so decided by the High Court of Appeals, that the produce of the colonies of the enemy may be imported by a neutral into his own country, and may be re-exported from thence even to the mother country of such colony; and in like manner, the produce and manufactures of the mother country may, in this circuitous route, legally find their way to the colonies; that a direct trade had not been recognised as legal, and the decision of what was, or was not a direct trade, was a question of some difficulty, and that the High Court of Admiralty had ex

pressly decided, and the Advocate General saw no rea

son to expect the Court of Appeals would vary the rule, that landing the goods, and paying the duties in the neutral country breaks the continuity of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalizes the trade, although the goods be reshipped in the same vessel, and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and forwarded for sale to the mother country.

"The report of the Advocate General was accepted by the British Government, immediately transmitted by Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. King, and by His Majesty's express command, communicated by the Duke of Portland, the principal Secretary of State, to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with the information that it was His Majesty's pleasure that the doctrine laid down in the Advocate General's report should be immediately made known to the several

judges of the Vice Admiralty Courts, setting forth to

them what is held to be law upon the subject by the

superior tribunals, for their future guidance and di

"Thus are obtained so recently as within five years the deliberate opinions, on the subject under discussion, of the most eminent English civilians, and of the High Court of Admiralty, corroborated (if one of the first law officers of the Crown may be credited) by the repeated decisions of the same court of appeals which, by its late and contradictory decree in the case

MARCH, 1806.

Non-Importation of Goods from Great Britain.

H. OF R.

This is no fiction, sir; it is a mere matter of to the Committee to impute such unworthy mofact. After all this I must confess I am aston-tives to the merchants as we have heard ex

ished to find gentlemen in an American Congress palliating the impressment of our seamen, and the indiscriminate condemnation of our vessels and cargoes. Are we prepared to present an humble address to his most gracious Majesty on the throne, praying he would vouchsafe to take us in his holy keeping, pardon our former transgressions, and accept of us as liege subjects who have erred from the right way? No, sir. We are not colonists; we are an independent nation. Your acts and laws speak of thirty years of independence. I wish we could conquer our prejudices as easily as we did our enemies. Shall we never get rid of the idea of colonists and dependents on Great Britain?

I shall now commence my observations on our unfortunate fellow-citizens in British bondage; and in answer to the honorable gentleman from Maryland, whom I very much respect, I do frankly acknowledge that amongst all the petitions presented to you by the merchants of the United States, there is not one word about our impressed seamen, Salem and another port excepted. But, sir, I beg leave to inform this Committee, and that honorable gentleman, that before we enter our vessels at the custom-house, we are called upon to witness the recording of this tale of human wo before a notary public, stating all the seamen impressed during the voyage. This is immediately transmitted to the Secretary of State, for the correctness of which I refer you to the documeuts from that department now on your table. Sir, is it decorous, is it candid, is it liberal, is it respectful

of the Essex, Orne, has caused so disastrous an arrestation and condemnation of American property.

"Judgment thus perspicuously stated and enforced by this high authority, it was fair to consider as intended for a beacon to the channel through which neu

tral commerce might be prosecuted with security. It

is hoped the event will not prove they were a mere ignis fatuus to ensnare the innocent and unsuspi

cious.

"At any rate, whether the doctrine were sound or not, or whether it injured Great Britain or not, it cannot become the integrity and magnanimity of a great and powerful nation at once, and without notice, to reverse her rule of conduct towards other States, and to prey upon the unprotected property of a friendly Power, the extension of whose commerce had been invited by the formal avowal of her intentions, and prosecuted under a reliance on her good faith, and from the confidence reposed that her courts, uniform in their principles, would never be influenced by the time-serving politics of the moment.

"But whatever may have been the motives for the on the part of Great Britain, the effect hotorious. From her recent conduct great losses have been sustained; our commerce has been checked and embarrassed, and large quantities of produce are now remaining locked up in this country which were purchased for foreign markets, because our merchants cannot send it abroad without taking risks on themselves which prudence would not justify, or without paying such rates for insurance as the trade of the country cannot afford."

pressed on this floor? They are men, sir; and I believe candor will allow them their share of sensibility, and that they sympathize for suffering humanity as much as a planter, a farmer, a lawyer, or any class of the community. Sir, I feel as much as any man for the sufferings of this meritorious class of citizens, having been an eyewitness to the barbarous treatment inflicted by the officers of the British Government on one of them. He was lashed to a scaffold on the gunwale of a boat, and whipped from ship to ship, until he had received five hundred lashes. What was the consequence? He expired the next morning. What was his crime? He had been impressed into their cruel bondage, and had endeavored to regain his liberty! We are asked, what is the remedy for this outrage? There is but one, sir. Demand satisfaction for the past, and in future make your flag protect your citizens, at least on the high seas, the common high road of all nations. Your merchants can insure their property against this "Leviathan of the Ocean;" but there is no alternative for the poor sailor, he is inevitably doomed to cruel slavery.

I now come to speak of foreign nations. We are told that the American merchants cover Spanish property. This may be the case. I believe it; but it is to a very limited amount. The Spanish merchants have little capital at present to dispose of. Their Government owes them considerable sums of money, and the paper currency of that Government is at such a discount (I believe from 40 to 50 per cent.) that they are not able to extend their commerce, if they were ever so much disposed to do so.

Respecting the French merchants, a great proportion of them in France are bankrupts, in consequence of heavy taxes, contributions, forced loans, and all the impositions of imperial ingenuity. That country depends not on commerce for her revenue; she collects one hundred and twenty millions of dollars per annum, of which twelve millions only are levied upon commerce, being but ten per cent. on the whole revenue. Their merchants have it not in their power to extend their business for want of a capital, which is a fact that will be acknowledged by all commercial men. They are by no means the favorites of the Emperor; he grants them no indulgences, of which the late transactions at the national bank are a sufficient evidence.

Respecting Holland, every person conversant in business knows the cautious calculation of the Dutch merchants; they trade very little on their own account in time of war, but are constantly soliciting the American merchants to make consignments of property to sell on commission. And yet we are told in that oracle, the celebrated pamphlet, "War in Disguise," that France, Spain, and Holland, carry on the war against Great Britain with property covered by Americans! Will any rational man believe them?

I now come to Great Britain, sir; not one word has been said about property covered for

H. OF R.

Non-Importation of Goods from Great Britain.

her. She is immaculate; she is innocent; she can do no wrong. I have good authority for this last expression. The King says so, and others repeat it. Sir, immediately upon the coalition being formed on the continent of Europe, she seized upon your unsuspecting commerce, and surprised it with new principles and new doctrines in her Courts of Admiralty, which operated with her ships of war in the same manner as though they had actually received orders from the Lords of the Admiralty (how insidious! but they understand decoy) to capture and bring in all American vessels bound to enemy's ports; and if by chance any of them escape their fangs, after a mock trial, they are compelled to pay enormous charges, from five hundred to six hundred guineas, and sometimes more. This operates as a premium to carry in all your vessels, knowing beforehand they will have nothing to pay; for, although you gain your cause, you must pay the costs. This, sir, discourages your cautious and best merchants, and they are thus compelled to abandon and decline pursuing a lucrative and lawful traffic.

MARCH, 1806.

tish merchants, those monopolizers of the commerce of the whole world.

I mention these facts, sir, to vindicate the character of the real American merchants; it will stand the test with that of any other nation in the world. Sir, look at your revenue system, examine all the records of your district courts, see how very few fines and forfeitures they have incurred, and then compare them with any class of citizens you please, and you will, I am confident, Mr. Chairman, exculpate them from such disingenuous reflections as have been animadverted upon in this Committee. Sir, they make it a point of honor to discourage smuggling, knowing the whole revenue of their country to depend upon that fidelity which they have never ceased to inculcate. I cannot but persuade myself that, on mature reflection, gentlemen will not withhold from that class of the community the protection guarantied to them by the constitution of their country. It is a fact well known to this Committee that the Federal Constitution, under which we now hold our seats in this House, grew out of the great inconveniences we then experienced in our comIf there be any property covered for Great Bri-mercial affairs with foreign nations. Surely they tain, I have every reason to believe, from facts I will are not outlawed. I trust not sir. I hope better state to the committee, that it appertains almost ex- treatment from the hands of my country. clusively to some British merchants lately adopted I now come to the true history and the cause citizens of the United States, for they take good of the aggressions of Great Britain. It is very difcare to keep all their business in their own hands. ficult to trace her in all her ramifications of fraud They are the honest merchants who own the hon-on your neutrality and of injustice on your comest vessels we have heard so much about, and they are engaged in exporting cotton, tobacco, and other produce of our country. Why should they have the preference? it will be asked. I will not tell you what I do not know, (as has been said in this Committee,) but I will tell you what I do know. Sir, the real American merchants cannot enter into competition with them. They have their particular friends in England, who are interested, and will of course give them the preference. By a variety of ways they obtain all the freights, to the exclusion of your vessels. Sir, we are often compelled to take in ballast along side of those very ships who have full freights engaged. Thus, sir, the real American merchant is the dupe of these honest adopted British citizens. These are your slippery-eel merchants, so justly denominated by the honorable gentleman from Virginia, whose acme of mind I much admire. They were indeed, sir, so slippery in some of your districts, that it was found necessary to pass a law excluding all of them who resided in foreign countries from owning any ship or vessel belonging to the United States; for a number of them, after having made fortunes out of your neutrality, had slipped off to Great Britain to spend the money and the remainder of their days. And in order that we might not compromit our neutrality in this deceptive business, our National Legislature has been careful to pass a law in the first session of the eighth Congress, dated 27th March, 1804, to correct the abuse, which has in some measure put a check to it; and yet we are emphatically told it is only coffee, sugar, and East India goods that are guilty of the sin of interfering with Bri

merce. Sir, when the present continental coalition was concluded, the "lords of the ocean" with that colossus the East India Company, the merchants trading from London to the continent of Europe, the West India merchants, and some of our honest adopted citizens from Great Britain, all agreed with common consent to be in the fashion; and they formed a coalition against your commerce, and ordered a book to be written, in which they took a conspicuous part, called " War in Disguise." This was truly on their part war in dis guise, and the first act of hostility they commenced upon your unsuspecting commerce; and I hope they may ultimately meet the fate of all other coalitions, at least as far as respects our country. They had ordered, as all coalitions do, a large supply of ammunition; one hundred thousand copies of this instrument of death to your commerce were distributed, at sixpence each, to all parts of the British dominions, in order that your property might be plundered for the use of the naval commanders, who could no longer find any other property on the ocean. This book says, "they must retire on a handsome competency at the close of the war," no matter from whom it is taken.

Next comes the East India Company, that colossus of mercantile avarice, whose monopoly draws into its vortex all the demand for East India produce in Europe. Your lawful commerce to those markets interfered with them, and was considered incompatible with this monopoly and must be doomed to destruction.

Next come the merchants trading from London to the continent of Europe. They attend the public auctions, purchase your condemned vessels

Non-Importation of Goods from Great Britain.

London, said to be in the confidence of the Min-'to transmit to the respective parent States the