I repeat, that if there is danger to be apprehended from the avowed principies of the holy alliance, it is in America that we must resist them. Like the generous animal which is the emblem of this country, let us not go forth to seek enemies. If they threaten us, let our warning be heard over the waves, in the voices of millions of freemen, resolved to maintain their liberties. If they approach our shores with hostile intent, we may arise in the collected strength of a great nation, and hurl destruction on the foes of freedom and of America.

I think, sir, that any resolutions we may pass on this subject ought to be expressive of our policy and of the position we occupy in relation to Europe, and that which we are resolved to assume in relation to America; and, with that view, I propose the following resolution as a substitute for those offered by my friend from Massachusetts: Resolved, That this house view with deep interest the heroic struggle of the Greeks to elevate themselves to the rank of a free and independent nation; and unite with the president in the sentiments he has expressed in their favour; in sympathy for their sufferings, in interest in their welfare, and in ardent wishes for their success.' 99 POINSETT.

66

104.-CONCLUSION OF MR. CLAY'S SPEECH ON THE SAME

QUESTION.

MR. CHAIRMAN, It has been said, that the proposed measure will be a departure from our uniform policy with respect to foreign nations;—that it will provoke the ire of the holy alliance :—and will, in effect, be a repetition of their own offence, by an unwarrantable interference with the domestic concerns of other powers. No, sir; not even if it proposed, which it does not, an immediate recognition of Grecian independence. What has been the uniform policy and practice of this government, from the days of Washington to this moment? In the case of France, president Washington, and his successors, received Genet, Fuchet, and all who followed them, whether sent from king, convention, anarchy, or emperor. Sir, the rule we have followed has ever been this; to look at the state of the fact, and to recognise that government, be it what it might, which was in

actual possession of sovereign power When one of these governments was overthrown, and a new one established on its ruins, without embarrassing ourselves with any principles involved in the contest, we have ever acknowledged the new and actual government as soon as it had positive existence. Our simple inquiry has been, which is the government de facto?

An example has recently been furnished in relation to the government of Spain. When the foreign ministers were driven or retired from Madrid, and refused to accompany Ferdinand to Cadiz, our minister sought at that port, to present himself to the constitutional Ferdinand—why? This government held Ferdinand to be the actual king Did this produce any declaration of war? Were any diplomatic notes ever received complaining of this proceeding? Nothing like it, sir. The lines are so plainly marked in which we are to go, that there is no mistaking them. We are to engage in no interference with their dis putes, no contests for either party, no entangling alliances, but to maintain our diplomatic intercourse with existing sovereignties. It has been admitted by all, that there is impending over this country a threatening storm, which is likely to call into action all our vigour, courage, and resources. Is it a wise way of preparing for this awful event to talk to this nation of its incompetency to resist European aggression, to lower its spirit, to weaken its moral force, and do what we can to prepare it for base submission and easy conquest? If, sir, there be any reality in this menacing danger, I would rather adjure the nation to remember that it contains a million of freemen capable of bearing arms, and ready to exhaust their last drop of blood and their last cent, in defending their country, its institutions, and its liberty. Sir, are these to be conquered by all Europe united? But I am quite sure that that dan ger, so far at least as this resolution is concerned, is per fectly ideal and imaginary. But, if it were otherwise, any danger is best guarded against by invigorating our minds to meet it by teaching our heads to think, our hearts to conceive, and our arms to execute the high and noble deeds which belong to the character and glory of our country.

Sir, the experience of the world may instruct us, that conquests are achieved when they are boldly and firmly

determined on; and that men become slaves as soon as they have ceased to resolve to live freemen. If we wish

to cover ourselves with the best of all armour against perils, let us not discourage our people, let us stimulate their ardour, let us sustain their resolution, let us show them that we feel as they feel, and that we are prepared to live or die like freemen. Surely, sir, we need no long or earned lectures about the influence of property or of rank; Let us rather remember that we can bring into the field a million of bayonets; let us remember that we are placed over a nation capable of doing and of suffering all things for its liberty.

I can never forget what was once said to me by a most illustrious female, the first of the age, if not of her sex, on this subject. "Mr. Clay, (said that enlightened lady,) a nation never yet was conquered." No, sir-no united nation can be, that has the spirit to resolve not to be conquered; such a nation is ever invincible. And, sir, has it come to this? Are we so humbled, so low, so despicable, that we dare not express our sympathy for suffering Greece, lest peradventure we might offend some one or more of their imperial and royal majesties? If gentlemen are afraid to act rashly on such a subject, suppose, Mr. Chairman, that we draw an humble petition addressed to their majesties, asking them that of their condescension they would allow us to express something on the subject. How, sir, shall it begin? "We, the representatives of the free people of the United States of America, humbly approach the thrones of your imperial and royal majesties, and supplicate that of your imperial and royal clemency' -I will not go through the disgusting recital; my lips have not yet learnt the sycophantic language of a degraded slave. Are we so low, so base, so despicable, that we may not express our horror, articulate our detestation, of the most brutal and atrocious war that ever stained earth, or shocked high heaven, with the ferocious deeds of a brutal soldiery, set on by the clergy and followers of a fanatical and inimical religion, and rioting in excesses of blood and butchery, at the mere details of which the breast sickens?

If the great mass of Christendom can look coolly and calmly on, while all this is perpetrated on a Christian people in their own vicinity, in their very presence, let us,

at least show, that, in this distant extremity, there is still some sensibility and sympathy for Christian wrongs and sufferings, that there are still feelings which can kindle into indignation, at the oppression of a people endeared to us by every ancient recollection and every modern tie.

Sir, the house has been attempted to be alarmed by the dangers to our commerce, and a miserable invoice of figs and opium have been presented to us to repress our sensibilities, and to eradicate our humanity. Ah, sir, “what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" or what shall it profit a nation to save the whole of a wretched commerce, and lose its liberties?

But we

As to the question of American interests, hitherto, it has not been necessary to depart from the rule of our foreign relations laid down in regard to Europe. Whether it shall become us to do so or not, will be discussed when we take up another resolution that lies upon your table. may not only pass this resolution; we may go further; we may recognise the government in the Morea, and yet it will not be any cause of war, nor will it be war, nor even aid. Besides, sir, what is Greece to the allies? A part of their own dominions? By no means. Suppose the people in one of the Philippine Isles, or in any other spot still more insulated and remote, in Asia or Africa, were to resist their former rulers, and set up and establish a new government; are we not to recognise them for fear of the holy alliance? If they are going to interfere on the principle of example, here is the spot where they must strike. This government, you, Mr. Chairman, and the body over which you preside, are the living reproach to allied despotism. If they attack us at all, they will do it here. They will assail us in our own happy land. They will attack us because you, sir, sit beneath that canopy, and we sit freely debating upon the great interests of freemen. They will strike because we pass one of those bills on your table. The passing of the least of them by our authority is as galling to despotic powers as will be the passage of this so-much-dreaded resolution.

Pass the resolution, and what, sir, do you do? You exercise an act of indisputable sovereignty, for which you are responsible to none of them. You do the same act as when you pass a bill-no more. If the allies object, let

them forbid us to take a vote in this house-let them disperse us--let them strip us of every attribute of sovereignty.

Do gentlemen attempt to maintain that, on the principles of the laws of nations, these powers have cause of war? Sir, if there is any principle settled for ages, any which is founded in the very nature of things, it is, that every sovereign power has a right to judge as to the fact of the exist ence of other sovereign powers. I admit there may be a state of inchoate, inactive sovereignty, in which a new government is struggling into being, and may not be said yet perfectly to exist; but the premature recognition of such a new government can give offence justly to no other than its ancient sovereign. The right to recognise comprehends the right to be informed; and the means of information must depend upon the sound discretion of the party seeking it. You may send out a commission of inquiry, and charge it with a provident attention to your own interests and your own people. If you adopt it, no act necessarily follows. You merely grant the means by which the executive may act when he thinks proper. What does he tell you in his message? that Greece is struggling for free dom--that all sympathize with her, and that no power has declared against her. You pass this resolution, and what does it say to the president? "You have sent us grateful intelligence we feel for Greece, and we grant you money, that, when you think it proper, when the interests of this nation shall not be jeopardized, you may depute a commissioner, a public functionary, to Greece." This is all it says; and the whole responsibility is left with the execu tive, where the constitution puts it. But, sir, it is not first and chiefly for Greece, that I wish to see this measure adopted. It will give them but little aid, that aid purely of a moral kind.

It is, indeed, soothing and solacing in distress, to hear the accents of a friendly voice, (we know this as a people.) But, sir, it is principally and mainly for America herself, for the credit and character of our common country, that I hope to see this resolution pass: it is for our own unsullied name that I feel. What appearance on the page of history would a record like this make, Mr. Chairman, "In the month of January, in the year of our Lord and