belong to the master of Louisiana and New Orleans. Then the owners possess the lock and key of the whole western country. There is no entrance or egress but by their leave. They have, not only three thousand miles on your frontier in the interior country, but they have the command of your outlet to the ocean, and seven hundred miles of seacoast embracing the finest harbors in North America. This makes them, in fact, masters of the western world. What will you give them for this enviable dominion? Not territory, for you have none to spare, and they want none. Not commercial privileges; they will not want them, for they will then have enough and to spare. What equivalent have you? What can you offer to men who know the value of such a country? What would this senate take for the surrender of such an establishment were it ours? Let every senator ask himself the question and declare, by what rule of estimation his answer would be dictated.

But I know it has been said, and will be said again, that the new French owners will confirm or permit our right of deposit and free navigation of the Mississippi ; they will open a free port and give us all we desire. Yes, sir, this would be the unkindest cut of all. I fear much less the enmity of the present possessors, than such neighbors. We shall hold by their courtesy, not by the protection of our government. They will permit, but you cannot enforce. They will give us all the advantages we now have, and more: but will it be for nothing? Will they ask no return? Have they no ulterior views? During this insidious interval they will be driving rivet after rivet into the iron yoke which is to gall us and our children. We must go to market through a line of batteries manned by veterans; and return home with our money through a fortified camp. This privilege will be held at their will, and may be withheld whenever their Intendant forbids its further continuance.

No doubt my earnestness may have betrayed me

Can

into expressions which were not intended. Every honorable gentleman will, therefore, consider me as addressing his reason and judgment merely, without meaning to give cause of offence. But I cannot conclude without addressing myself particularly to those senators who represent the western states. I entreat them to remember, that these resolutions are intended to vest a power which may or may not be used as events arise. If events should show, in the recess, that negociation must fail, what is the President to do? He must call Congress. This will consume time, and the enemy gains immense advantages. Why not put a force at his disposal with which he can strikewith which he can have a pledge for your future wellbeing. When the Atlantic coast is willing, shall this security be lost by your votes? Are you sure that you will ever again find the same disposition? you recall, the decisive moment that may happen in a month after our adjournment? Certainly the country may be in such a state, that at the next session you will have no such offer as at the present moment. There may be a pressure which would forbid it. Heretofore you have distrusted the Atlantic states; and now, when they offer to pledge themselves, meet them and close with the proposal. If the resolutions are too strong, remodel them. If the means are not adequate, propose other and more effectual measures. But as you value the best interests of the western country, and the union with the Atlantic coast, seize the present occasion of securing it forever. For the present is only a question of how much power the executive shall have for the attainment of this great end; and no man, desirous of the end, ought to refuse the necessary means for attaining it. Your voice decides the direction this senate will take, and I devoutly wish it may be one we shall never repent.

SPEECH OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS,

ON THE

RESOLUTIONS OF MR. ROSS, RELATIVE TO THE FREE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI:

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

FEBRUARY 25, 1803.*

MR. PRESIDENT,

I RISE with reluctance on the present occasion. The lateness of the hour forbids me to hope for your patient attention. The subject is of great importance, as it relates to other countries, and still greater to our own: yet we must decide on grounds uncertain, because they depend on circumstances not yet arrived. And when we attempt to penetrate into futurity, after exerting the utmost powers of reason, aided by all the lights, which experience 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 misrepresent, and when arguments cannot be controverted, it is not dif

* See page 236.

ficult to calumniate motives. That, which cannot be confuted, may be misstated. 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 '78, and has gone on, with accelerated velocity and increasing 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 have 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 devoted 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 show, 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 honorable 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, 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. He was her 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 scntiment, 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 crimsoned 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 favorable moment, 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