Mr. NICHOLAS replied to the observations of Mr. QUINCY on the subject of the legal opposition to the embargo laws in Massachusetts. He said if the laws of the nation were to be resisted in the manner in which he lamented to say that he saw it contemplated in one part of the community, it became the duty of this Legislature to meet it; it was not compatible with their duty to shrink from it. He could not consent that thirteen or fourteen States should submit to one. As men vested with certain powers by the constitution, Congress could not transfer the powers to any State Legislature or to any town. In relation to negotiating with measures of coercion in existence, Mr. N. asked, when did the violations of our rights commence? So long ago that the precise time could not be fixed. When did our coercive measures commence? In 1806. Mr. N. noticed the negotiators during whose Ministry abroad these injuries had commenced, and continued. Mr. King, Mr. Monroe, and Mr. Pinkney, all honorable men, had successively represented the United States in Great Britain. And could any thing be gathered from any thing they had ever written or said, to induce a belief that this Government had not acted with sincerity? There was the most conclusive evidence to the contrary. Mr. N. said, he would ask nothing of Great Britain or France that would tend to sacrifice their honor; and he wished, when gentlemen dwelt so much on the regard of foreign nations for their national character, that they would respect a little the character of our own country.
Fashion Brief
Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.) — Part 198
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