Congrcfs of the United States. House of I'lcprtftntativM. Ja.id'iry 3c. In committee of thr irbole ok Mr. WiJifon** ttfo-iiilbns cfiitcb of iur. Maui Jon. fcOST!NUtD»j Retaining the train of his obfcrvation*, he; n.LCvxltd to explain the remedial ope ravor of h:s proportions. lirji. They will make the British na tion frnfiblc that wv can, by just and pa cific means, inflict cOr.fequences which wih make it her interest, to pay a jult re gard to our rights and interests. To enforce this tendency, he enlarged on the ideas "he had formerly exprefled in relation to die dependance of Great Bri tain on the eemmefee of the United States, and the obvious and eflential dependance of the British Weft-Indies, on the supplies of the United States. On the hitter fubjeft, he entered into a particular reply to the member from Maf ldchufett* (Mr. Ames) who had argued that the lirttifh regulation of the trade bfctween the United States and the Weft iYidies, whs conformable to the principles of the colony system as eftablilhed by the commercial nations of Europe, and could not therefore be reafonablr complained of. 2d. That the Weil-Indies could obtain fiipr,lies irom other quarters, ar.d did not tin efore depend on the United States ' r nay, that there was danger, by forcing tliele fupphYs into other channels, of our lo:' • !ie blanch of trade altogether. sd. That tli< tiade would hardly em ploy more than a dozen brigs, and was the efore not worth contending for. In anlwer to the firft argument of Mr. Ames, Mr. Madiion undertook to (hew, that Great Britain had not pursued, but violated the principle of the colony system. The truefpirit ofthis system, he laid, was to confine the trade between the parent country and the colony, to their own ves sels, and to allow as little trade as poflible, between »•>* colony and foreign countries ; but When a trade with a foreign country became necessary to the colony, to allow tit foreign vef/eis the fame carrying privileges ai -?i dto their own. Colonies, he said, were to be considered as parts of a com mori empire. The trade between one part ami another, as between London and Kinglton hi Jamaica. wan to be consider ed, equally an internal trade with the co.g trade between London and Li verpool, or the trade between the difTer ejit po.t:- ol the United Stales; and might, if d.e"tied expedient, be equally restrained to domcttic bottoms. But when a trade was opened between a colony and a foreign country, the cafe was changed: the fo reign country became a party, and had a reciprocal claim to the use of its bottoms, as much in the trade with the colony, as with any other part of the empire, to which the colony belonged. In support of this doctrine, Mr. M. referred to the example of every nation in Europe, except that of Great Britoifl, which had American colo nies. Denmajk, Sweden, the United Ne therlands, France, Spain and Portugal, had thei: colonies, a well as Great Bri tain : and some of them, rigorously at tached to the principles of the colony sys tem : yet uot a finglc one of these"nations had refuted, whenever a trade waspermit t. at all between the colonies and another country, to make the carriage common to the veflels of both the parties. Great Bri tain alone had attempted i monopoly in such cases for her own vefftls. Her ex ample therefore was an innovation on the colony system, as well as an infraction of the rights of reciprocity. In answer to the 2d position of Mr. A. he denied that permanent {applies of pro visions and lumWii could be derived from any. other pait of the world than the Unit ed States: not from the northern parts of Europe, which either did not produce, or were too remote to tend them : not from the southern parti of Europe, which de pended themlelves on the northern parts and on America: not from Great Britain, which imported bread, for her own use, amounting one year with another accord ing to the repoit of the committee of the privy council, to the sum of near three hundred thousand pounds sterling, and wa% certainly not an exporter of lumber : not fmm Ireland, which could not pretend to rival the United Stales in anv article but that of fait provisions ; and this was so much dearer, that a prohibition alone of ours, could ga*n a market for hfrs. The gentleman had relied on the csnpacity of Ireland to extend her cultivation of wheat, so as to spare supplies of this article also. Such a revolution in her interior state was not very probable. But he ouvht at lealt tohave renumbered, that as the palture lands of Ireland should be turned into wheat lidds, her export of beef would de crease, in proportion as Ihe might be ena bled to export bread. It was a wafle of time, Mr. M. said, to disprove by minute enquiries, the pos sibility of supplying the British Welt In dies from the old continent, on terms that would not be worse than abandoning them altogether. The truth was that the gentleman (Mr. A.) had in this par ticular, gone beyond the mod sanguine advocates of the Britilh policy, Mr. Knox and Lord Sheffield themfclves ; who li mited their ultimate hopes of supporting the Weft-Indies without the aid of the United States, to the remaining pofTef iions of Great Britrin on this continent. He would proceed, he said, to (hew what foundation there was for the opinion of these gentlemen, and the gentleman from MalTachufetts, in favor of this resource. And he was able to givt the molt full and decisive evidence in the cafe, by recurring to 1 an authentic document ot our own, from which it appeared, that the conti nental colonies of Great Britain, instead of being able to fumifh the Weft India colonies, were themselves dependent for the very articles wanted there, on the sup plies of the United States. In the official statement of our exports for the year as late as 179 1, moll of the articles lent to the Britift continental co lonies, were of a fort and ail amount so directly to the point, that he hoped the committee would excuse him-for repeat ing them in detail. He stated them as follows: Bread-Stuffs and Rools. Wheat, 3,125 bushels Rye, 2,201 Barley, 32 Indian corn, 80,734 Oats, 314 Buckweat, 26 Peas and beanj, Rice, Flour, Sliip-ftufF, Rye meal, Indian meal, Buckwheat, do. Bread, Crackers, Potatoes, OnioßS, Meatj, bfc. Beef, Pork, Bacon, Fresh Pork, Beef, Mutton, Tongues, Butter, Lard, Cheese, Live Slock. Horned Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Hogs, Poultry, 178 361 dozens IVood,. Shingles, ' 43,000 Staves and heading, 128,000 Handfpikei, Hoopa, Laths, Blocks, Oar-rafters, Trunnela Oak Planks and 1 Boards, J Pine, do. 17,0000 Maple and beach, do. 7,5000 The total of the exports, including a few articles under other heads, amounted to two hundred, seventy thousand, two hundred fifty and nine dollar*. Here then, it is seen, that not only in the bread fluffs, and meats of every fort, but in the articles of lumber and live flock, for which, by unvierfal acknow ledgment, the Weft Indies mud depend either on the United States, or the Brit ish Continental colonies j the latter are so far from being a rival to us, or a resource to the Weft Indies, that they continue, at this day, to supply their own deficien cies fiom our market. Mr. M. said, that he should not have employed so much of the time of the com mittee on this haul, if the gentleman, (Mr. Ames) had not attempted to revrve the arguments with refpeit to Canada and Nova Sfcotia, which had milled Great Britain in her political calculations and ptefent views. He had heard the language of the gen tleman on this fubjeft, with allonidiment. That Mr. Knox and Lord Sheffield, Bri tilh lubjefts, viewing the profpedt with British eyes, at the dillance of three thou sand miles, in the year 1783, when little enquiry and no experiment could assist them, Ihould have run into the error, was perhaps not so marvellous. But, that an enlightened citizen of America, feeing with American eyes, living in the neigh borhood as it were of the scene, in a (late whose wharves afford proofs of the daily dependance of the British Continental co lonies for the neceflaries of life, on the market of the United States, fliould, in the year 1794. adopt the opinion that thofc colonies could supply the I Hands, after a trial of nine years had probably forced the authors of the opinion, Knox and Sheffield themselves, to abandon it, could not be heard without some surprize ; and mud be considered at lead as the ful led proof, that the gentleman had not given fufficient attention to the present fubjecJt, to claim that weight which was in general due to his observations. Mr. M. said he was not less surprised at the 3d position of the gentleman from MaflachufetU, viz. that the Weft-India trade could be carried on by a dozen brigs; and consequently, was not an ob jc£i worth our pursuit. The plain answer to this argument was, to state the fact, that the (hipping entered in one year from the British Weft-Indies, was not a dozen brigs, but 107,759 tHns - Besides the immediate importance of this auxilliary resource for our navigation, he remarked, that there were two confi deratioin which enhanced the value of the object : one, that as the Weft-India arti cles could be brought cheaper in Ameri can ve' r e!s, they would come cheaper to American consumers ; the other, that as our supplies would at the fame time be carried cheaper to the Weft-Indies, the people there could afford to consume the more of them. 1,418 84 tierces 27,197 barrels J >774 2,396 353 29,290 364 kegs 20 bushels 5*5 It had been urged that the proposed reftri£tions on the trade with Great-Bri tain would produce clamors here as well as there, and that Congress might be obliged to recede, before the Britiih go vernment would be under the neceflity of doing so. To this Mr. M. replied, that he was under no such apprehension. He thought more favorably of the good sense as well as virtue of his fellow-citizens. On the fide of Great-Britain it had been (hewn there would be the greatest distress, and the least ability to bear it. The people there were not accustomed, like the peo ple of the United States, to felf-denying regulations. They would not have the fame confidence in the justice of their caufr. And it was particularly worthy of remark, that the people of Great-Britain would be difheaitened, and the government alarmed, by reflecting, that their lofles fiom the ftlifting of commerce into other channels, and not only of their manufa&ures, but manufacturers, to other places, would be permanent and irretrievable; whereas on our fide, they would be temporary facri fices for durable and valuable acquisitions. Secondly. The resolutions would have the effect of encreafing our marine, and thereby at once cheapening and fecuririg the carriage of onr productions, and pro viding for our fafety. These advantages having been already fufficiently explained, need not, he said, be again developed. It had been remarked by a member from Maflachufetts, (Mr. Ames) that if, as dated by a report of Mr. Jefferfon, Great-Britain was so often at war, her wars, by depriving us of her (hipping, would soon have the wished eflcft, of re placing it with American (hipping. This reasoning Mr. M. said, supposed what was contrary to prudence and probability. What merchants would build snips, which a peace, always more or less in profpcCt, would throw out of employment ;' unlefg it were for special purposes, where the momentary gain might. outweigh the eventual facrifice. 2?4 barrels 3J2 881 ft 29.334 92,269 561 carcases 30 barrels 33 firkins 5.720 lb 1,826 312 39 >.5'7 3,000 3,000 100 857 1,500 14,267 It had been said that our tonnage was prored by the official returns to be in creasing with an unexampled rapidity. To this Mr. M. answered ; that the in crease ought not to be compared with o~ tlier examples, but with our own natural faculties, and reasonable expe&ations that the increase of our population requir ed an annual increase of at'leaft five per cent ; that an a.Tumption by foreigners of American names, had probably increa sed the apparent quantity of our (hipping ; that the war or preparations for it, by withdrawing foreign (hipping, had proba bly also had some little temporary effeift ; that the principal cause of the increase, was the extenlion of our trade with the French dominions, whichi some members seemed so little inclined to secure and fof ter, by measures which appeared to him belt fitted for the purpose. He reminded the committee of an ar gument, which had, on former occasions, been much p'refled by several mercantile members, for encouraging our own navi gation ; to wit: that American vefftls, from a spirit of enterprise, and a unison between private and public interests, would explore new fields of commerce, and new markets for our produce, which foreign carriers would leave unattempted. Tiie trade to China opened by American vel fcls, had been often ascribed to this cause. Mr. M. said the argument seemed to be countenanced also, by the present state of our mediterranean trade j which had, since our independence, been confined by the Barbary corsairs to foreign bottoms. Pre vious to the revolution, when American vessels could be the carriers, the trade was very considerable. Since the excluflon of our vessels, though the carriage of our produce is fafe to Britilh, and several other foreign vessels, yet this branch of trade had withered as much as most others have grown. In 1790, the exports cleared for the mediterranean, were but 31,726 dol lars ; and in the year following, the im ports no more than n,J22 dollars. Thirdly. Another efFect incident to the proposed measure, would be an addi tional encouragement to domestic manu factures. A gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Dexter) had said, he could read no fucli tendency in the propositions. Mr. M. Thought it impoflible to read the propo sitions with attention, and not perceive, that they mud have the like tendency with the other means, by which manufac tures had been promoted. If the dutiet already laid, were calculated to produce this effect, an increase of those duties in any instance, mull have a tendency to in crease the effect. In answer to the ob jection that, a change in the policy of Great-Britain, might put an end to the additional duties, and ensnare those who should proceed under the influence of them, he remarked, I. That the fame might be said in some degree of the regulations now in force. A treaty with Great-Britain might ftipulatc changes which would af fect our manufacturers. But as there was a just confidence, that the intcrefts of this dafs of citizens would in this cafe be at tended to by the government j it might be expetted, that equal attention would be paid to them, in any other cafe. 2. The progress of things in this country, and the probable acceflion of foreign ma nufacturers, might be relied on to support whatever undertakings (hall have once got a footing. ( Speech to be continued.) NEW THEATRE. THIS EVENING, March 8, Will be performed, J NEW COMEDT t (never performed here but once) called Every one has his Fault. To which tuill be added y jf Comic Opera, w td quarter caiks. Spanilh Indigo. Boston Beef, in barrels. And a small invoice of Mufiins. NALBRO' & JOHN FHAZIER, March 8. A Jourtiexman Bookbinder WANTED, W ho can be recommended for his industry and fobri':ty—He may hear of employ by applying to Mp.HenxyKammerer, N0.34, North Third-Art: c. March 8, fmw4W •djt