the United States are placed, and the necessity, if war be resorted to, of making it at the same time against both nations, and these the two most powerful of the world, are the principal causes of hesitation. There would be none in resorting to that remedy, however calamitous, if a selection could be made on any principle of justice, or without a sacrifice of national independence. On a question of such difficulty, involving the most important interests of the Union, and which has not, perhaps, until lately, been sufficiently considered, your Committee think the house alone competent to pronounce a decisive opinion: and they have, in this report, confined themselves to an exposition of the subject, and to such introductory resolutions, as will be equally applicable to either alternative. The first of these being merely declaratory of a determination not to submit to foreign aggressions, may, perhaps, at a first view, appear superfluous. It is however, believed by the committee, that a pledge by the representatives of the nation, that they will not abandon its essential rights, will not at this critical moment be unacceptable.-The misapprehensions which seem to have existed, and the misrepresentations which have been circulated, respecting the state of our foreign relations, render also such declaration expedient. And it may not be useless that every foreign nation should understand that its aggressions never will be justified or encouraged by any decription of American citizens. For the question for every citizen now is, whether he will rally round the government of his choice, or enlist under foreign banners? Whether he will be for his country or against his country? increasing pressure upon the people; and every day's experience justifies a belief that a continuance of these laws must soon become intolerable. As measures of coercion, they are now acknowledged to be altogether impotent. They afford satisfaction to France, and are regarded as ineffectual demonstrations of a hostile disposition by Great Britain. Upon our own country, their effects are becoming daily and palpably more injurious. The produce of our agriculture, of our forests, and our fisheries, is excluded altogether from every foreign market; our merchants and mechanics are deprived of employ ment; our coasting trade is interrupted and harrassed by the most grievous embarrassments; and our foreign trade is becom ing diverted into channels, from which there is no prospect of its return. The sources of our revenue are dried up, and government must soon resort to direct taxation. Our sailors are forced to expatriate themselves. Strong temptations are offered to systematical evasions of the laws, which tend to corrupt the spirit of honourable commerce, and will materially injure the public morals. In fact, the evils which are menaced by the continuance of this policy are so enormous and deplorable, the suspension of commerce is so contrary to the habits of our people, and so repugnant to their feelings and interests, that they must soon become intolerable, and endanger our domestic peace and the union of these states. As the embargo laws have been the cause of the public distress, your committee are of opinion that no equal permanent, or effectual relief can be af forded to the citizens of the commor. wealth, but by the repeal of these laws They persuade themselves that the con Report of a Committee of the House of Repre-gress of the United States must be fully sentatives of Massachusetts, upon the ject of the Embargo, dated 15th Nov. 1808. THE Committee appointed to consider Whether it will be expedient for this legislature to adopt any measure with a view to procure a repeal of the laws of the United States, interdicting to the citizens all foreign commerce, and imposing vexatious embarrassments on the coasting trade; to relieve the people of the commonwealth from their present distressed state, and to arrest the progress of that ruin which threatens to involve all classes of the community," beg leave to report: That the committee perceive with the most serious regret, that the distresses occasioned by the several laws imposing an embargo, have borne with extreme and sub-impressed with a sense of the total ineffi cacy of these laws for any valuable pur pose, and of their direct tendency to the most serious consequences. Your com mittee, therefore, trust, that congress wil not fail to repeal them. In this confidence therefore, your committee are of opinion that, upon this subject, the legislatur should, in its present session, contine itse to a repeated disapprobation of the law interdicting foreign commerce, and to in structing our senators, and requesting ou representatives in congress to use thei utmost exertions to procure their repeal.— Your committee might have contented themselves with the preceding remarks, ha not the late Message of the President o the United States excited the most seriou alarm; which, in the present critical state] of the country, they conceive it a duty to express. They perceive, with the most painful regret, that, in the estimation of the president, our country is now presented with the only alternative of a continued embargo, or a ruinous war; but they cannot hesitate to express their confident belief that the wisdom of the government may yet find means to avoid the necessity of electing between these great public calamities. If, however, this severe necessity exists in regard to Great Britain, they are led by the message to presume that it results, in a great measure, if not entirely, from the determination of the executive to adhere to the proclamation of July, 1807, interdicting all British ships of war from the waters of the United States; which has been, and as we infer from the message, is still deemed by the British Goverment, a measure so inhospitable and oppressive, if not hostile in its character, as to form an insuperable obstacle to amicable adjustment.-Upon this delicate and important subject, the committee are far from asserting, that the attack on the frigate Chesapeake did not justify the original issuing of this proclamation, and enforcing it so long as the injury might be presumed to have the sanction of the British government. But as this violation of the neutral rights was promptly and explicitly disavowed by the Sovereign of the aggressor, before the remonstrances or measures of our government could be known as the right to search our national ships was expressly disclaimed, and a special envoy deputed for the professed object of making to our government a full, satisfactory, and public reparation, on the simple condition of a previous revocation of this proclamation; your committee are constrained to declare their opinion, that such a revocation, under such circumstances, would not have involved any dishonourable concession, or an abandonment of any just right of pretensions, but would have been a fair, reasonable, and magnanimous pledge of the sincerity of the wishes of the American Government to restore the accustomed relations of peace and amity between the two countries. This course must have compelled the British envoy to have offered that ample and honourable reparation, which would have been deemed by our nation and by the world, an adequate atonement for the outrage; or have justified, in the event of its refusal, Not only the renewal of the proclamation, but the adoption of measures of the most rigorous and hostile description. — But even on the precise presumption that the course adopted by the government, in refusing to revoke the proclamation as a preliminary to the adjustment of that controversy, be sanctioned by the usages of nations, and the justice of our claims, your Committee are still of opinion, that a punc tilious adherence to diplomatic forms and precedents should not be maintained at the risk of war, by a nation whose genius and policy are pacific; and which, while justly jealous of its national honour and indepen dance, looks principally to the substantial security of those blessings, and regards as insignificant those petty contentions which originating in courtly pride and vanity, frequently terminate in bloody wars and they, therefore, think that this proclamation ought not, in the present situation of Europe and this country, to remain as the only, or even as the principal, barrier to the restoration of our amicable relations with the British nation.-Your Committee therefore ask leave to report the following resolutions:-Resolved, that the Senators of this commonwealth in congress, be instructed, and the representatives thereof requested, to use their strenuous exertions to procure an immediate repeal of the various laws imposing an embargo on the ships and vessels of the United States; as the only equal and effectual means of affording permanent relief to the citizens of this commonwealth from the aggravated evils which they now experience.-Resolved, that although this legislature would cheerfully support the general government in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, yet they cannot perceive the neces sity intimated in the message of the Presi dent to congress, of continuing the embar go, or resorting to war. That it is not the policy of the United States to engage in a controversy with any nation, upon points of diplomatic usage, or equivocal right, provided substantial reparation for injuries can be obtained; and that the revocation of the proclamation interdicting the British ships of war from our waters ought not, in the opinion of this legislature, to be deemed an inadmissible preliminary, which should obstruct the adjustment of the controversy between the United States and Great Britain. Twenty-first Bulletin of the French Army in Spain. (No Date.) THE English entered Spain on the 29th Oct. during the months of Nov. and Dec. manners, and of religion, contributed not a little to that disposition of men's minds. They reproached the Spaniards with having no longer an army to unite with theirs, and with having deceived the English government. The Spaniards returned for answer, that Spain had numerous armies, but that the English had allowed them to be destroyed without having made any effort to assist them. During the 15 days that have just elapsed, they did not fire a single musket. The light cavalry only had given some blows with their swords. Gen. Du resnel, at the head of 400 light horse of the guard, fell in at the close of the evening with a column of English infantry on their march, sabred a number of soldiers, and carried disorder into the columns.-Gen. Lefebvre, Disnonettes, colonel of the chasseurs of the guard, detached two days before, with three squadrons of his regiment, having taken a quantity of baggage, of women, and stragglers, and finding the bridge of Ezela cut down, imagined that the town of Benavente was evacuated. Carried away by that impetuosity with which the French soldiers have been so often reproached, he swam across the river, in order to make for Benavente, where he fell in with the whole of the cavalry of the rear-guard of the English: a long contest here ensued, of 400 men against 2000. they beheld the destruction of the army of Gallicia at Espinosa; of the army of Estremadura at Burgos, of that of Arragon and Valencia, at Tudela; of the army of reserve at Somo-Sierra; in fine, they beheld the fall of Madrid without making a single movement, and without any attempt to succour the Spanish armies, to whom, however, a division of the English troops would have proved of considerable assistance. In the beginning of December, information was received that the columns of the British army were retreating on Corunna, where they were to re-embark. By later accounts, it afterwards appeared that they had halted, and that on the 16th Dec. they set out from Salamanca in order to take the field. As early as the 15th, the light cavalry had marched from Valladolid. The whole of the English army passed the Douro, and arrived on the 23d in presence of the duke of Dalmatia at Saldanha. As soon as the Emperor was apprised at Madrid of this unexpected determination on the part of the English, he marched in order to cut off their retreat, and pursue their rear. But notwithstanding the diligence exerted by the French troops, the passage of the mountain of Guadarrama, which was covered with snow, the incessant rain, and overflowing of the torrents, delayed their march full two days.-On the 22d theThere was no resisting numbers. Those Emperor left Madrid. His head-quarters were on the 23d at Villa-Castin, the 25th at Tordesillas, and on the 27th at Medino de Rio-Secco. On the 24th, at break of day, the enemy had began to move, in order to outflank the left of the duke of Dalmatia, but having been informed dur-wise taken, 5 were drowned, and 20 were ing the morning of the movement that took place at Madrid, they immediately began to retreat, abandoning their Spanish adherents, whose passions they had inflamed, the remains of the Gallician army, that had conceived fresh hopes, some of their hospitals, a part of their baggage, and a great number of stragglers. They committed great devastations, the inevitable result of forced marches of troops in retreat; they carried away with them mules, horses, and several other effects; they pillaged a great number of churches and convents. In the abbey of Sahagun, which contained 60 monks, and which had all along been respected by the French army, they committed every sort of depredation. Every where the priests and the monks were seen flying at their approach.—This disorderly conduct exasperated the country against them, and their difference of language, brave fellows recrossed the river. The horse of gen. Lefebvre was killed by a ball. He had himself received a wound from a pistol shot, and, being dismounted, was made prisoner. Ten of his chasseurs, who had also been dismounted, were like wounded. This sharp affair must have convinced the English what they would have to dread from such men in general action; gen. Lefebvre undoubtedly committed a fault, but it was the fault of a Frenchman; he ought to be blamed and rewarded at the same time. The number of prisoners taken from the enemy, up to the present moment, and who are chiefly composed of scattered individuals and strag glers, amounts to 300.-On the 28th the head-quarters of the Emperor were at Valderas; the head-quarters of the duke of Dalmatia at Manilla, the duke of Elchingen at Villatora. On his departure from Madrid, the Emperor appointed king Joseph his lieut.-general, with the command of the garrison of the capital, toge ther with the corps of the dukes of Dantzic and Belluno; the divisions of cavalry of Lasalle, Milhaud, and Latour Maubourg, are left for the protection of the centre.The weather is exceedingly bad. To a To a piercing cold, heavy and continued rains have succeeded. We suffer, but the English must suffer still more. Twenty-Second Bulletin. Benavente, Dec. 31.-On the 30th, the cavalry, commanded by the duke of Istria, passed the Ezela. On the evening of the 30th, it traversed Benavente, and pursued the enemy as far as Puenta de la Vilana. On the same day the head-quarters were established at Benavente. The English were not satisfied with destroying an arch of the bridge of Ezela, but they also blew up the buttresses with mines, a damage wholly unprofitable, and which could be hurtful only to the country; the rear betook themselves to the most shocking plundering. The soldiers, in the excess of their continual intemperance, gave reins to all the licentiousness of brutal inebriety. Every thing in their conduct bespoke rather an hostile army than one which came to the assistance of a friendly power.The contempt of the English for the Spaniards gave a sharper edge to the impression made by so many outrages. This experience will throw a salutary damp on those insurrections, instigated by foreigners. One cannot help regretting that the English had not sent an army into Andalusia. The army that passed through Benavente ten days ago, triumphed already in hope, and already having their colours hung with trophies, nothing could equal the audacity and security they displayed. On their return, their countenance was sadly changed. They were harassed with fatigue, and seemed to be borne down with shame of retreating without a battle. In order to anticipate the just reproaches of the Spaniards, the English continued incessantly to repeat, that they had been promised to be joined by numerous forces; and the Spaniards repelled their calumnious assertions by arguments to which there was no answer. Ten days ago, when the English were traversing the country, they well knew that the Spanish armies had been destroyed. The commissaries whom they employed to accompany the armies of the left, of the centre, and of the right, knew full well that it was not 50,000 men only, but 180,000 men that the Spaniards had put under arms; that these 180,000 men had fought, while, for six weeks, the English had remained unconcerned spectators of their struggles. These commissaries could not but have made it known that the Spanish armies had ceased to exist. The English, therefore, could not be ignorant that the Spaniards were without armies. When, ten days ago, they again moved forward, intoxicated with the silly hope of deceiving the vigilance of the French general, they fell into the snare which the French general had laid for drawing them into the open country. They had before made some marches on their return to their ships.-You ought, observe the Spaniards, to have persisted in that prudent determination, or else you should have been in force enough to balance the destinies of the French. Above all, you ought not to have at first advanced with such confidence, only afterwards to fall back with so much precipitation. You should not have drawn the theatre of the war among us, and exposed us to the ravages of the two armies. After having brought down upon our heads such accumulations of disasters, you ought not to throw the fault upon us.-We have not been able to resist the French troops; nor. do you seem more able to make head against them. Forbear therefore to accuse us, to outrage us-all our misfortunes we owe to you.-The English had reported throughout the country, that they had defeated 5000 of the French cavalry on the banks of the Ezela, and that the field of battle was covered with their dead. The inhabitants of Benavente were much surprised, upon visiting the field of battle, to have found there only three Englishmen and two French. That contest, of 400 men against 2000, does great honour to the French. During the whole of the 29th, the river continued to swell considerably, so that at the close of the evening it became impossible to ford it. It was in the middle of the river, and at the moment he was on the point of being drowned, that general Lefebvre, being carried away by the current to the side occupied by the English, was made prisoner. The loss of the enemy, in killed and wounded, in that affair of advanced posts, has been far greater than that of the French. The flight of the English was so precipitate, that they left at their hospital their sick and wounded, and were obliged to burn a fine magazine of tents and cloathing. They killed all the horses that were over fatigued or wounded, and which might embarrass their retreat. It is scarcely here to be credited how that spectacle, so shocking to our manners, of hundreds of horses shot with pistols, is revolting to the Spaniards. Many persons look upon it as a sort of sacrifice-some religious rite which gives rise, in the mind of the Spaniards, to very strange pictures of the religion of England. The English are retreating in the utmost haste. All the Germans in their pay are deserting. Our army will, this evening, be at Astorga near the borders of Gallicia. Twenty-Third-Bulletin. Benavente, Jan. 1.-THE duke of Dalmatia arrived on the 30th December at in their power to assist the Spaniards; that its leaders, or those whose orders they executed, have been guilty of the extreme folly of making a movement forward after the Spanish armies had been destroyed; that, in a word, it entered upon the new year by running away, pursued by an ene my, whom it did not dare to fight, and by the curses of those whom it had stirred up to resistance, and whom it was its duty to support. Such enterprizes and such results can belong only to a country that has no government. Fox, or even Pitt, would not have been guilty of such blunders. To contend against France by land, who has one hundred thousand cavalry, fifty thousand horses for all sorts of military equip ment, and nine hundred thousand infantry, was, on the part of England, carrying folly to the utmost extreme; it betrays indeed a greediness for disgrace; it is, in fine, to administer the affairs of England just as the cabinet of the Thuilleries could wish them to be administered.-It betrays no small ignorance of Spain, to have imagined that any importance could be attached to popular commotion, or to indulge the smallest hope that by kindling in that country the flames of sedition, such a conflagration could be attended with any decided result or any material duration.—A few fanatical priests are quite sufficient to compose and propagate libels, to carry a momentary disorder into the minds of men: but something else is required to cause a nation to rise to arms.-At the time of the French Revolution, it required three years and the presence of the convention to prepare the means of military successes; and who that does not know to what hazards France was nevertheless exposed? France was, however, stirred up. Supported by the unanimous resolution to reassert rights of which she had been deprived in times of obscurity. In Spain, it was a few men who stirred up the people, in order to preserve the exclu sive possession of rights odious to the people. Those who fought for the inquisition, for the Franciscans, and for feudal rights, might be animated by an ardent zeal for their personal interests, but could never infuse into a whole nation a firm resolve or a permanent opinion. In spite of the Eng Mancille, where was the left of the enemy, consisting of the Spaniards under gen. Romana. Gen. Franceschi overthrew them in a single charge, killed a great number, took two standards, and made prisoners a colonel, two lieut. colonels, fifty officers, and 1, 500 men.-On the 31st the duke of Dalmatia entered Leon, where he found 2000 sick. Romana succeeded Blake in the command, after the battle of Espnosa. The remains of that army, which, while before Bilboa, consisted of 50,000 men, were reduced to almost 5000 at Mancilla. These wretches, without clothes, and oppressed with every misery, filled the hospitals.-The English are held in detestation by these troops whom they despise, and by the peaceable inhabitants whom they abuse and whose substance they devour, in order to support their own army. The mind of the people of the kingdom of Leon is much changed. They loudly cry out for Peace and their King; they curse the English and their fallacious insinuations. They reproach them with being the cause of the shedding of Spanish blood, in order to feed the English monopoly, and perpetuate the war on the continent. The perfidy of England and her motives are now obvious to the meanest and most illiterate Spanish peasant. They know what they suffer and the authors of their sufferings are before their eyes.-Meantime the English retreat with the utmost haste, pursued by the duke of Istria, with 9000 cavalry. Among the magazines which they burnt at Benevente, were, independant of tents, 4000 blankets, and a great quantity of rum. We picked up upwards of 200 waggons of baggage and ammunition, left on the road from Benevente to Astorga. The shattered remains of Romana's army threw them-lish feudal rights, the Franciscans, and the selves into the latter town, and increased the confusion.---The events of the English expedition to Spain must furnish materials for a fine opening speech to the English Parliament. The English nation must be informed, that her army remained three months in a state of inaction, while it was inquisition, have no longer any existence in Spain. After the capture of Rosas, gen. Gouvion Saint-Cyr shaped his march against Barcelona, at the head of the 7th corps. He dispersed every thing that he found before that place, and formed a junction with gen. Duhesme. That junction |