nature to obtain some pitiful private ends.
So, if thf people will countenance -the
cheat, the state policies may be rendered
intricate, unintelligible and eipenfive.—
And the confequtnee- of this lophilHca
tion will be the destruction of that re
fponiibility which ought to be forever at
tached to deputations of all kinds where
the nature of the thing to be done will
admit of it. Now I presume there is no
tranfaelion within the jurildittion of a
liatc but such as the immediate agent may
iaftly, and can eaiily explain ; and if so,
it is clear that we have the advantage a
bove any nation under heaven of a perpe
tual recurrence to firll principles for the
prefuvatio'n of moral redlitudc iu the bo
dy ot the people. This is auother inesti
mable fruit ot the federal government—
I'or it forms a lvftem of political education
iuperior to any that ever was conceived
before. Evil befal the paricide that
would pervert it!— But how would sua
bility benefit the fyilem ?—I answer, by
the dissolution of mystery, by a constrain
ed economy, and by a coi reft responsi
bility. I might fay more—lt.would of
itfelf afford a glorious exemplar of recipro
city and jujlice that would not only stamp
the character of all Americans, but I al
most we«p for joy to think that it would
convert the whole corrupted world.
Shame upon the mil-begotten policy
•hat begins with fraud! Shall we never
elcape from the bondage of abuses into
the liberty of moral reftitudc ? At least
let us turn calculators, and fee in which
way most money may be made..—For I
have a strong suspicion that it is better to
be a wealthy Dutch merchant than a poor
Spanish grandee or German prince. Now
if we will be sovereign, after yielding al
most all our resources, «xclulively to the
United States, why the plain effect ofit is
that no mas of a fano mind would ever
lead us a farthing. This maybe relented
by some of your diguity-deakrs; but I
cave f.ir no dignity that fhufHes. I fay
that if we will sovkreicn, we
MUST be »00R. But if we have the
jjood fer:fe to pledge our estates, as reason
and jutlice require, we may, on occalion,
laite a turn that would lave a nation ! And
it is not impofiible tliat that nation should
become our ov. a i —Here is dignity—this
is a glory that 1 know Mallachufetts would
claim. It is of luch powers that her very
good friends would deprive her.—And
for what ?—-Tor a feeptre of ft raw!
CONGRESS.
House of Representatives.
January 14,
Ir. commit!re of the whole, on the report of
tH* Secretary of State, relative to the com
mercial intercourse if this country, -with fo
reign nations.
Sketch of Mr. Madison's observations in
reply to Mr. Smith.
( Continued.)
MR. MADISON next took a view
of the fr.bjeft, as it intcieils our manu
facture*. On this tore the regulations
ftlug between Great Britain and this
country, are as unequal on the score of
navigation. We admit of her manufac
tures to twice the amount of produce (he
takes in return, and to quadruple the a
mount of what (he confumcs. Besides
what we receive from her, is after every
kind of prolitable labour has been heaped
upon it, and we return raw materials only
the food of her industry, What we fend
arc articles of firlt neceflity for the sup
port of life, or to give bread to her ma,
rufafturers. We receive articles by no
means of lirft neceflity, and (lie bciides,
brings us whatever (he pleases of the pro
ductions of other countries, and refufes
■to admit our principal (laple commodities,
in our own bottoms.
Upon this view of the bufnefi, our in
tercourse certaicly dries not Hand on the
footing we are entitled to. In looking
into documents before the committee, it
will be fyu nd, that out of the whole a
mountof manufa&ured articles, import
ed into this country, which is in round
numbers, 15,290,000 dollars, Great Bri
tain furni/hes 13,950,000. From France
whish country actually consumes more of
our produce, we reseived only to the a
mount ot 155,060- dollars, in the fame
period, that is in the year '89-90. Our
mtercourfe with the nations of Europe,
ivnk;st!'C us our trade, as cxpref
led ui the fiilluwinjj table.
With Spain,
Pi'i'turpl,
Ne:i,ds,
France, 2,630,387 do.
Great Britain, 5,922,012 againftus.
And if we compare her im)>orts, with
the portion of our produce which she con
sumes, the balance will then be between
9 and 10,000,000 against us. It might
by fame be fnid, that though the balance
id thus against us, in our interconrfe with
that country, yet we may derive as much
advantage from the intercourfc, as 'if the
fael was otherwise. This might happen
in some cafcs, but he could not admit the
pofiibility of its emitting in the intercourfc
between this country and Great Britain.
Other nations, however, view a bal
ance of trade against them as a real evil;
Great Britain, in particular, is careful to
prevent it; what then mull be the feelings
of a nation with whom we have friendly
relations, when they fee not only the bal
ance of trade, between them and us, so
much against them, but that what we get
from them in this way, flows in the fame
manner,- into the coffers of one of her
most jealous rivals, and inveterate ene-
111IC5.
As to the propriety of a discrimination
between nations having treaties with us,
and tliofe having none, the propriety of
the principle was admitted in some states,
before the ellabliflimcnt of the present
general government. It was fanftioned
by the lioufe, during their fittings in New-
York, though it failed in the Senate, as
he had before observed. But it is the
practice of nations to make such a discri
mination. It is necelfary to give a value
to treaties,
The gentleman up vefterday, seemed
to admit that it is not advantageous for a
nation todepend on only oneothcr nation in
trade, and yet, did not approve of making
any efforts to relieve ourselves, from that
litnation. There certainly are very serious
disadvantages in depending on one nation
only, for iupplies j we are thereby at the
mercy of the caprice of sovereigns, and of
other casualties. If the nation with which
we have an exclusive intercourse, fhouldbe
involved in pecuniary embarvaflhnents, or a
general bankruptcy, the uffeft will be felt
yus ; and that this may happen, is with
in tiie sphere of poflibility, indeed the ex
perience we have but lately had upon this
score, ought to make us wife. If the na
tion is involved in a war, or experiences
any great derangement, the effect, owing
to our dependence on them alone, for sup
plies, will reverberate upon us undoubted
ly, and we shall fuel part of her embarrafl*-
ments. At this moment indeed, we fuf
fer for want of the afiiftance of foreign
bottoms, for the transportation of our pro
duce. But there are besides, other more
serious evils, arising from this state of com
mercial dependence, the influence which
it produces on our public councils, and the
most alarming feature of this evil is, that
the more inconvenient it becomes by its
constant growth, the more obstacles it is
able to throw into the way of a necelfary
remedy.
SENECA,
rf the queflion is asked, what will be
the probable consequence of making an
attempt, for the vindication of our com
mercial interest ? Whether it will produce
retaliation ? He saw no probability that
the interest of Great-Britain willfu ffer her
to retaliate, and he believed, that the inter
course between the two countries, would
be interrupted no more than convenient to
our interest ; we have nothing to appre
hend on this score. If it is alked, what
would be the ifTue of a commercial conflict,
he could answer, and he believed he could
(hew, that if the bufmefs should '•all for
felf-denial, we (hould go through it with
more advantage, and might count in the
issue, upon a complete triumph. The ef
fect of such a system, would be felt in
Great Britain, in the (hipping bu&ncfs,
the merchant would feel it, but above all,
the manufacturer. There is a paper in
Anderfon's history of commerce, which
rates the amount of the value of Britilh
manufactures annually, at £ 51,310,000
ftcrl. They are supposed to employ,
5,250,000 fouls; this gives £ 10, to a
f°ul._ Supposing Great-Britain to export
to this country; two &I -2 millions of fter-
ling pounds, of her manufactures, then we
must employ 250,000 of her hands. To
this we may add, 50,000 probably em
ployed upon the raw materials, which we
fend them, and then we may compute that
300,000 of her mannfadurers arc employ.
2,670,797 dolls, in our
fatour
267,699 do.
791,111 do,
He recollected, he laid, a petition pre
sented, not many years ago to the Prince
of Wales by 15,000 buckle manufactur
ers, that stated, that their fublillence de
pended on his wearing buckles instead of
ft rings, as he was acknowledged the king
of falhions. It was not the Prince that
petitioned them to go on making buckles.
The fame would be the cafe between this
country and Great-Britain, they would
soon petition us for employment.
Suppose that Great-Britain obtained
here all her necefTaries and that this was
her only market for her supplies, then the
dependence would be complete and we
ir.ight impose what terms we chose. This
is to be sure not the cafe ; but in propor
tion as we Hand in those relations, is her
dependence upon us. The Weft-Indies
are almost completely dependent, we are
the best market fcr their productions and
almost the only market where they can
obtain the iieceflaries of life. We give
them provisions, lumber, flour &c. and on
our part sugar is perhaps the only article
that may be considered as wanted from
them, and he was well informed, that not
more than 1-6 of this article consumed in
the United States comes from the Englilh
dominions. Theirdependence is still strong
er on us in cafe of war or famine, it is
sometimes such as to appeal to our huma
nity as well as policy for a supply, and
yet the gentleman from South-Carolina
considers it as a favor conferred upon us
that our produce should be admitted there
to the excluiio'n of that of other countries,
a nominal exclusion 'only.
For his part he viewed the subjeCt very
differently ; though we thus exchange ne
cessaries of life for luxuries, the gentleman
thinks it is nothing that the whole carry
ing trade Ihould be taken from us. His
sentiments put into the mouth of a Well-
Indian would be this; " I will agree not
to ftarvs myfelf, but to take your produce,
fend yon in return our rum you can do
without, but then I must have all the ad
vantage of the carrying trade."
He made some observations on the man
ner in which the revenue may be affeCted
by the resolutions. From the revenue fyf
tcm of Great Britain, a tax of 40s. per
poll is borne by the subjeCts of that coun
try, while not more than 6s is laid here.
Here the price of labor is double, and
there the weight of our taxes is not more
than 1-13 as great as in England. This
is not exactly true, however; though they
nominally bear this burden yet it i 6 some
what less as they draw from their East-In
dia and Weft-India poffeflions, and in the
course of trade from all nations who have
not «ommercial regulations with them.
However, all dedu&iori made the resour
ces of Great Britain are certainly more
ft -ained than ours.
They have great arrearages of unfund
ed debt and are engaged in a war which is
earned on by accumulating taxes forpofte
rity. Their population it ilationary. From
all these conliderations, this country is
surely bed calculated to bear the Ihock of
a stagnation in commerce. He went thro*
a calculation to (hew, tlrat the advantage
derived from a system of regulations fisch
as these propoi'ed, would be fuctra» to
do more than counter-balance any dimi
nution of the prefcut revenue.
*Ed to supply us. ~lf these were suddenly
thrown out of employ, it is impossible tq
lay, what a complication of diftrefles they
would labor under. In this situation, the
United States would be considered as a
natural asylum from wretchedness; and
whether they remained in discontent in
theii own country, or fought their fortune
in another, the foil would be coniidertd
and felt by the Britilh government, as
equally great, and they would surely be
ware of taking any step that might pro
voke it.
A country situated as this is, in such a
conflict would have vail advantages over
a populous and manufacturing' country.
Our country produces the nccefl'aries of
life within itfelf, and other countries, who
do not produce them in fufficicut abun
dance are dependent on us to supply their
wants. Again the manufacture! of that
country depends on us for a sale of his
merchandize whichis to procure him bread.
Here is a double dependence of Great-
Britain on the United States. They are
dependent for what they consume of our
produce and dependent for what we chufe
to confumeofher manufactures. The arti
cles we supply are the neceflaries of life to
the manufacturer, and what he fends in
return we can dispense with, without fa
enficing a comfort or even a reasonable
fancy.
It may be thoughl by fume, that Come
of the nations of Europe, wit!) whom we
have no treaty and yet have a valuable
commerce (hould be excepted out of the
effett of these regulations, he meant Spain
He admitted this might
and Portugal.
have forae weight, but an inconvenience
of this kind fliould not surely prevent our
taking measures elTential to our national
dignity and prosperity.
A coniideration of the fubjett would
much diminilh the force of the objection.
The manuiadVires we import from Spain
and Portugal are very trifling, and as to
tonnage, the fir It enjoys only one fixteer.th
and the other one lsventeenth of the ton
nage employed in our commercial inter
course with them. Bclides neither ap
pears particularly anxious to extend her
navigation. Their policy is to admit other
nations to enjoy the carrying trade in the
commerce with them, and to secure. to
themselves this trade in all intercourse with
their dependencies. However, if it still
(hould be thought that they (hould be ex
cluded from the operation of the propoled
regulations, he had no objection j,o con
fine it expressly to those nations who have
navigation laws, or they may be excluded
by confining it to the countries north of
Cape Finilter, a very common dilliniSiori.
The gentleman from South-Carolina
appeared well falisfied that in our inter-
ccurfe with Gre* Britain we are as well
treated as other nations. This did pot
fatisfv hina, he owned. If other nations
are willing to bear impositions or were un
able to retaliate, he hoped that is not an
example we are to follow.
But is it true that the fame system of
equality subsists between us and Great Bri
tain, as between that and other European
nations ? He believed not. Before the
war France had established legal regulations
to reciprocate those of Great Britain unfa
vorable to her. He believed Sweden and.
Denmark both exclude, if not altogether
at leait a great portion of the Britifli ma
nufactures. From this it appears that
other nations by tkeir acts have placed
their intercourse with Great Britain up.
on a basis more reciprocal than that esta
blished in our intercourse with her.
It has also been aflerted that Great
Britain treats us as well as other nations
treat us. What nation, he asked, hat
such a navigation ad ? What nation be-
fides excludes us from a circuitous trade *
W hat nation excludes us to such an ex- -
tent from carrying our commodities iu
our own bottoms ?
On the fubjeft of the different disposi
tions of Fiance and England towards us,
the gentleman from South Carolina ap
pears to think very differently from the
President. The President in his mefTage
expressly tells the legislature, that the
former has uniformly fhewa a good difpo
lition towards us and has granted as ma
ny commercial advantages, while his si
lence as to the latter fufficiently shews
that this cannot be said of her policy to
wards us.
But he wished from fa&s to {hew that
our intercourse with the two nations is on
a very different footing, for this purpose
he had also drawn up a small table. He
wished, however to premise, that he could
not agree with the gentleman from South
Carolina on the propriety of recurring
for documents to a period antecedent to
the French revolution.
He (Mr. S.) remarked, that since that
period the order of things has been un
settled ; and therefore the Secretary of
State has taken up the subject in this
view—Mr. Madifcn said, he hoped, for
his part that the present is the fettled or
der of tilings, he hoped and believed that
the revolution is not a fugitive thing and
that it is the old order of things that is
now unsettled for ever. He should not,
however, he said, exclude from his cal
culations what was done under the 'mo
narchy in our favor, because it is not rea
sonable to suppose that the disposition of
that nation towards us could be less favor
able to us now, than when under the for
mer govern meut.
(To It concluded in our next..)
STOLEN,
A few days agi., from No. 6, Latitis Court.
A Silver Table-Spoon,
Marked 1. C maker's name 11. H. W o\ er
leturui (a.cl Spoon to the outer, Ihall re,cci«e
One D iilar ic ♦ .id, and no qy.eii.uus i lktd.
N. 15. Silveri'iniths and other* are vequeficd
to ftup (aid spoon, it'oil'ered lor ;aie, and wive
iiocice as above.
Jill. 17.