2518. EMBARGO, Alternative of war.—[further continued].
The measures respecting
our intercourse with foreign nations were the
result of a choice between two evils, either to
call and keep at home our seamen and property,
or suffer them to be taken under the edicts of
the belligerent powers. How a difference of
opinion could arise between these alternatives
is still difficult to explain on any acknowledged
ground, and I am persuaded that when the
storm and agitation characterizing the present
prejudice shall have yielded to reason its
usurped place, and especially when posterity
shall pass its sentence on the present times,
justice will be rendered to the course which has
been pursued. To the advantages derived from
the choice which was made will be added the
improvements and discoveries made and making
in the arts, and the establishments in domestic
manufacture, the effects whereof will
be permanent and diffused through our wideextended
continent.—
R. to A. Maryland Citizens. Washington ed. viii, 164.
(1809)
