The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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TO—. |
 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO—.
Sir,—I have recd. the address from "The Convention
of Republican Delegates from the several
Counties of the State of New Jersey," explaining
the sentiments entertained, at this crisis, by that
portion of my Constituents. The sentiments are
worthy the character of Citizens, who know the
value of the National rights at stake in the present
contest; and who are willing to do justice to the
sincere & persevering efforts which have been employed
to obtain respect to them without a resort
to arms.
The conduct of the nation agst. whom this resort
has been proclaimed left no choice but between that
& the greater evil of a surrender of our Sovereignty on
the Element, on which all nations have equal rights,
and in the free use of which, the U. S. as a nation
whose agriculture & commerce are so closely allied,
have an essential interest.
The appeal to force in opposition to the force so
long continued against us, had become the more
urgent, as every endeavor short of it, had not only
been fruitless; but had been followed by fresh usurpations
& oppressions. The intolerable outrages
committed agst. the crews of our vessels which at one
time were the result of alledged searches for deserters
from British Ships of War, had grown into a like
pretension, first as to all British Seamen, and next,
as to all British subjects; with the invariable practice
of seizing on all neutral seamen of every Nation,
interested in the abuse might please to demand.
The blockading orders in Council, commencing
on the plea of retaliating injuries indirectly done to
G. Britain, through the direct operation of French
Decrees agst. the trade of the U. S. with her, and on a
professed disposition to proceed step by step with
France in revoking them, have been since bottomed
on pretensions more & more extended and arbitrary;
till at length it is openly avowed, as indispensable
to a repeal of the Orders as they affect the
U. States, that the French Decrees, be repealed as
they affect G. Britain directly, and all other neutrals,
as well as the U. States. To this extraordinary
avowal is superadded abundant evidence that the
real object of the orders is, not to restore freedom
to the American Commerce with G. B. which could
indeed be little interrupted by the decrees of
France, but to destroy our lawful commerce, as
interfering with her own unlawful commerce with
her enemies. The only foundation of this attempt
to banish the American flag from the highway of
Nations, or to render it wholly subservient to the
commercial views of the B. Govt. is the absurd and
exploded doctrine that the ocean not less than the
land is susceptible of occupancy & dominion; that
this dominion is in the hands of G. Britain; and that
her laws, not the law of nations, which is ours as well
as hers, are to regulate our maritime intercourse
with the rest of the world.
When the U. S. assumed & established their rank
established a common Sovereignty on the high seas,
as well as an exclusive sovereignty within their
territorial limits. The one is as essential as the
other to their Character as an Independent Nation.
However conceding they may have been on controvertible
points, or forbearing under casual and limited
injuries, they can never submit to wrongs irreparable
in their kind, enormous in their amount, and indefinite
in their duration; and which are avowed and
justified on principles degrading the U. States from
the rank of a sovereign & independent Power. In attaining
this high rank, and the inestimable blessings
attached to it, no part of the American people, had
a more meritorious share than the people of N. Jersey.
From none therefore may more reasonably be expected
a patriotic zeal in maintaining by the sword
the unquestionable & unalienable rights acquired
by it; and which it is found can no otherwise be
maintained.
| The writings of James Madison, | |