2534. EMBARGO, Benefits of.—[further continued] .
We have the satisfaction,
to reflect that in return for the privations by the
measure, and which our fellow citizens in general
have borne with patriotism, it has had the
important effects of saving our mariners and our
vast mercantile property, as well as of affording
time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional
measures called for by the occasion. It
has demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation
and firmness which govern our councils,
and to our citizens the necessity of uniting
in support of the laws and the rights of their
country, and has thus long frustrated those
usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted,
involve war; If submitted to, sacrificed a
vital principle of our national independence.—
Eighth Annual Message. Washington ed. viii, 105.
Ford ed., ix, 219.
(1808)
