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CHRISTOPHER GORE.

THE eminent subject of this sketch was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the twenty-fifth of September, 1758. His father was a worthy and respectable mechanic, who by a course of honest and skilful industry acquired a large property. He married Frances Pinckney, by whom he had fourteen children. On the commencement of the difficulties between the colonies and the mother country, he embraced the cause of the Crown: was an Addresser of General Gage, went to Halifax on the evacuation of Boston, in the spring of 1776, and from thence to England. After the war he returned to Boston, where he died in the year 1795.

Christopher was the youngest of three sons. He received his early instruction at the public schools in Boston, and fitted for college in the Latin school, under the guidance of the celebrated Master Lovell, whose name is honorably associated with the early days of many of the best scholars, and some of the most celebrated men of New England. He entered Harvard College, at the age of thirteen years, and was among the youngest of his class; but young as he was, his talents were of that high order, his tastes for literary pursuits so decided, and his application so judicious, that he soon acquired and sustained the reputation of a good scholar. During his junior year the war of the revolution commenced, and the college buildings being wanted for the use of the American army, the students were dispersed. On returning to his home, his father expressed a desire that he should retire from college altogether and enter upon the study of medicine. Unwilling to gratify the desire of his father, "as he had no taste for that profession," he resolved if possible to complete his collegiate course, and for that purpose went to Bradford, in his native State, and studied under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Williams. On the removal of Harvard College to Concord, Massachusetts, Mr. Gore, with many of the students, attended there and continued his studies; graduating in 1776, with honor and with a character, that gave promise of future eminence and usefulness.

At college, he was uncommonly popular. "His manners were engaging," says his biographer, "his disposition was ingenuous, and his conduct fair and honorable. It is saying much for the integrity of his principles, that he passed the dangerous period of a college life, pure and unstained by vice. Nothing mean, disgraceful or degrading was ever attached to his youth." It was this amiable character, joined to his social disposition and literary taste, that led him to form friendships, which in after years continued to increase in strength and brightness, and to yield purer satisfaction, to the close of life.

Mr. Gore left college about the time the independence of the colonies was declared, and like many others who were destined for the peaceful pursuits of professional life, was animated with the ardent spirit of patriotism, and for a short season joined himself with a number, who cheerfully prepared to endure the hardships and privations of military service, to repel an expected invasion of the British on Rhode Island. The invasion did not take place, however, and his services were not required.

Soon after this period he became a student at law, under the guidance of Judge Lowell, and continued with him, as a member of his family, until he commenced practice. This situation afforded him great moral and intellectual advantages; and the character he subsequently bore

evinced how able he was to appreciate and improve them. When he entered on the practice of his profession, he brought to it not only a mind prepared by a judicious course of study, but the enviable recommendation of an uncorrupted youth.

He rose rapidly in public esteem. His strict attention to business, his faithful application of time and talent, his punctuality in the discharge of the trusts confided to him, his powers of eloquence, and his ease of manners, soon secured him, at an early age, not only patronage, but an eminence in his profession. His fellow-citizens manifested the regard in which they held him, and the confidence they had in his abilities, by delegating him, before he had reached the age of thirty years, to the Massachusetts Convention, for the consideration of the Federal Constitution. In that assembly, associated with those long-tried and ardent patriots, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, he bore an active and honorable part.

In the year 1789, he was appointed by Washington, the first United States Attorney of the District of Massachusetts, under the new constitution, and in April, 1796, was associated with William Pinckney of Maryland and Colonel Trumbull of Connecticut, in a commission to settle the claims for British spoliations, under the fourth article of Jay's treaty. He remained in England eight years in this employment, visiting his home once during that time, on business of a private nature. His unsullied public character, the polished courtesy of his manner, and his high literary attainments, secured him the friendship and regard of all who became known to him, among whom were many of the most distinguished men in Great Britain. At the same time, by his assiduous attention to business, his profound knowledge of commercial law, his labored arguments, and his personal influence, he recovered sums to a vast amount for the citizens of his native country. Mr. Gore's and Mr. Pinckney's great exertions during this commission, are well known, but it is not so generally understood, that to Mr. Gore one large description of sufferers were principally indebted for the recovery of their claims. Mr. Pinckney had great doubts as to that class of captures, which were made under the rule of 1756. Mr. Gore made a very elaborate and powerful argument in favor of those claims, and by his perseverance and exertions, a great interest was secured to the people of the United States.

When Rufus King, who had been minister to the British Court, returned to America, he appointed Mr. Gore chargé d'affaires. In this station he continued until the following year. On his return from England, "so acceptable had been the performance of his duties," says Sullivan, "that the most respectable persons united in a festival to do him honor: and a more sincere and cordial testimonial of respect and esteem was never given to any man."

Soon after his return, Mr. Gore resumed the practice of his profession. He was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, for the county of Suffolk, during 1806 and 1807, and in the year following, was chosen to the lower house of the State Legislature. His position in this body was conspicuous, upright, and honorable. One of the ablest papers that appeared, on the orders in council, and the decrees of France, and on the manner in which these had been treated by the national government, was drawn up by him, in the form of a report, on a memorial of the citizens to the legislature. In 1809 he was chosen governor of Massachusetts, and continued in office one year. As chief magistrate, he made himself familiar with every subject, that related to the interests and prosperity of the State, the honor and happiness of the people. At the expiration of his term of office, he returned to private life, to remain but a short time however, as, in 1814, he was appointed by Governor Strong, to the Senate of the United States. In that assembly he displayed his usual ability and zeal, and exerted a great personal influence among all parties. After a service of three years in this station, the duties of which were becoming too arduous for his health, he resigned his seat, and did not thereafter enter public life.

Mr. Gore was an active and influential member of many of the literary and benevolent institutions in the community in which he lived. He was among the earliest members of the American Academy, and from 1806 to 1818, occupied the presidency of the Massachusetts Historical Society, one of the most respectable and useful bodies in America. To these institutions he bequeathed valuable legacies; as he did, also, to Harvard College-making the corporation of that institution his residuary legatee.

Mr. Gore's personal appearance is thus described by one of his cotemporaries: "He was

rather tall, and, in middle life, of full person and erect, but began to bend forward at an earlier. age than common. He was bald on the whole upper surface of his head, at an unusually early period. His hair was tied behind, and dressed with powder. His face was round and florid, his eyes black; his manners courteous and amiable. His eloquence was dignified and impres sive, and in all his relations and deportment, he had the bearing and polish of a well-bred gentleman."* During the last years of his life, he suffered intensely from bodily infirmities; yet "such was his fortitude, such the equanimity of his mind, sustained by reflection, philosophy, and religion, that to a stranger he seemed not to suffer. His noble person literally bent down with pain and disease, he received his friends with cheerfulness, and so exerted himself to entertain them, that they left him with increased admiration of his intellectual and moral worth." On the first of March, 1829, having endured his sufferings like a martyr, without a murmur of complaint, he yielded to the violence of his disease, and cheerfully surrendered his spirit into the hands of his Maker.t

PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN IMPORTS.

On the twenty-seventh of January, 1814, the | Senate of the United States, in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the bill "to prohibit the importation of certain articles therein described," when Mr. Gore, moving to strike out from section first, the words any article manufactured or composed of wool, or of which wool is the material of chief value; any article manufactured or composed of cotton, or of which cotton is the article of chief value, except nankeens from beyond the Cape of Good Hope;" addressed the chair as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT: I have listened, sir, with undivided attention, to learn if there were any substantial reasons for the passage of this bill. I can perceive none that are even specious. We may be confident, from the known industry, ingenuity, and information of the honorable chairman of the committee, who introduced the subject, that if any such existed, he would have produced them. Indeed, sir, the gentleman considers the proposed measure as a mere supplement to another, viz: the non-importation law; the policy of which is not to be brought into question at the present time, and on the present occasion.

Should that law be deemed improper, the only mode in which he thinks its wisdom and policy can be discussed, will be to offer a motion for its repeal. It is not clear to my mind, how the propriety of this bill can be decided,

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which is a mere accident, without considering
the merits of the principal measure to which it
is to be attached, and which it is intended to
enforce. If the act which this is to execute,
was originally wrong, or has become so now,
although at first proper, we ought at least to
refrain from doing any thing which may give it
the law does not depend on this House; the
strength. This is yet in our power. To repeal
other branch of the legislature may refuse its
concurrence: should that body concur, the
President may decline to afford his approba-
to him, we have a moral certainty he would
tion; and considering how dear this system is
not. I am, therefore, not satisfied to follow the
advice of the honorable chairman, by obeying
the rules which he has prescribed to himself,
and which seem to have induced him to rest
the bill principally, if not altogether, on the
message of the President. He too, sir, has
omitted to offer any grounds for the opinion he
has been pleased to advance. The recommen-
dation of the President is undoubtedly entitled
to the most respectful attention, but we have
no right by our votes to sanction error, from
whatever source it may come. We ought to
refrain from acting, until our minds are con-
vinced of the propriety of the measure recom-
mended. We have already sir, without any
evidence of the assumed fact on which it was
recommended-contrary to the conviction of s
majority of this House I cannot say, but I may
say, contrary to the avowed conviction of some
who voted for the measure-passed a bill, in
obedience to the will of the Chief Magistrate,
which subjects all our citizens to immense loss
and privation; which dooms large and popu-
lous districts of our country to want and wretch-
edness; which pronounces to the world, that
the citizens of the United States cannot be
trusted out of the immediate eye of the govern-
ment;
that reduces the country to a desert, and
then converts it into a prison for its miserable

inhabitants, under all the regulations of military | the talents and eloquence of her most distindiscipline.

Enough, sir, has been done, I hope, to satisfy the President, and the world at large, of his weight and influence in this honorable and independent branch of the legislature. Let us, then, on the present occasion, examine this message, at least those parts of it which relate to the subject before us, with all the deference which is due to the President, and with all the freedom which is required by our paramount duty to the public.

The message declares, that "the tendency of our commercial and navigation laws, in their present state, to favor the enemy, and thereby prolong the war, is more and more developed by experience. Abuses of a like tendency take place in our important trade; British fabrics and products find their way into our ports, under the name and from the ports of other countries."

guished and influential statesmen. All these were without effect; she disregarded the pressure and was inexorable to our complaints.

The war ensued, and laws against the importation of all goods, the growth, produce, and manufacture of Great Britain, were enacted. No one will doubt those laws were as faithfully executed then as now. The pressure, whatever it was, had not the smallest effect. She swerved not from her purpose, until all Europe engaged in the war against her; until we had captured two of her largest and best appointed armies, under the command of her most renowned and illustrious Generals, nor until an hostile fleet swept the British Channel, and braved her navy in her own ports. In the spring of 1806 we again uplifted this weapon, so terrible in our eyes, so harmless in hers; we passed a law prohibiting the importation of certain articles, of the manufacture of Great Britain, but the blow was suspended for seven months; at the end of this time, eight months more of grace were allowed to the alleged offenders against our rights, with a power to the President to extend the time six months longer, in which she might redeem our favor. The evil complained of is the tendency of No effect was produced. Shortly after the our navigation and commercial laws, by allow-lapse of this term, a general embargo was iming the importation of articles of a kind like to those manufactured in England, to introduce British fabrics and products, to favor the enemy and prolong the war.

"To shorten as much as possible the duration of the war, it is indispensable that the enemy should feel all the pressure that can be given by it. The restraints will affect those most who are most ready to sacrifice the interest of their country in pursuit of their own."

The remedy proposed, is the express and absolute prohibition of all such articles, from whatever country they may come. The object is to cause such a pressure on the foe as to shorten the war; that is, to compel him to accede to our terms. It cannot be forgotten, that our commercial and navigation laws prohibit, under heavy penalties, the introduction of all articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Britain; that our criminal laws are very severe on those who obtain such articles by trading with the enemy. With all these laws against offenders, and penalties imposed on all concerned in the importation of British goods, it is difficult to conceive that any amount of the prohibited articles can be imported, at most to such a degree as to afford to Great Britain any essential means to carry on the war. It is more difficult to conceive what tendency such laws have to bring into our ports British fabrics and products.

The President has been pleased to say, that experience more and more developes these facts and consequences. Let us then, sir, appeal to experience, to ascertain the pressure that is likely to be made by the prohibition proposed and its effects on the enemy. In our revolutionary contest we endeavored, by refusing to import her manufacture, to oblige Great Britain to listen to our just complaints. We were aided by the great body of her merchants and manufacturers, trading to this country, by some of the most opulent of her corporations, and by

posed. In March, 1809, when President Jefferson and his very obsequious Congress, who, at his mere suggestion, passed that abominable act, and its arbitrary and unconstitutional supplements, were obliged to capitulate with public opinion, and repeal their odious laws, a nonintercourse was established against France and England, and conditions held out to these great powers, a compliance with which should relieve them from this dreadful pressure. On application to one of them to accept our good will and custom, and aid, in extricating us from the effects of our own folly, we were tauntingly told that Great Britain had no interest in the repeal of our laws, nor in relieving us from the awkward predicament in which we had been pleased to place ourselves. By the other, our ships were burned, our property plundered, our national character, our government, and people insulted and reviled in the grossest manner, and in the face of the world. All this was borne with a patience that was never surpassed by the meanest of vassal nations and unequalled by any that ever made the smallest pretensions to independence. In this exercise of our restrictive energies, according to the strange language of the day, we reaped nothing but misfortune and disgrace. At length, smarting under the failure of our abortive schemes, and stung with the mortifying conviction that the world saw and ridiculed our extreme weakness, in attempting such mighty ends by such feeble means, we rushed unprovided and unprepared, into a war of arms, with a nation amply provided and well prepared to contend with all the Powers of the earth. Thus much for our experience of the pressure, and the effects thereof

on Great Britain, by prohibiting the importa- | United States by some crafty foreigner from a tion of her manufactures. neutral port.

The remedy proposed for this enormous evil, as it is believed, the practice of which is supposed to afford to Great Britain the power of continuing the war against us, is an express and absolute prohibition of articles of a kind like to those of British fabrics, from all countries. The existing laws render liable to forfeiture all British goods, and three times their value, or the vessel or carriage which shall convey them. These laws, moreover, render the master of the vessel, and all parties to the offence, liable to heavy and severe penalties, and superadd to those inflicted by public law, and by the common law of the land, other and more aggravated penalties.

We can draw still deeper on experience, to test the soundness or futility of such measures, if we will revert to the efforts of the potent Emperor of France on Great Britain. To aid his numerous armies in the conquest of those proud islanders, he prohibited the use of her manufactures, not only in his own dominions, and in those of his vassal states, but throughout all Europe; and for many years he succeeded in causing this prohibition to be general over the Continent. No foothold could Great Britain obtain on which to empty her overloaded stores and magazines, but some distant island or some obscure port in the North Sea. She was shut out from the market of more than an hundred millions of people by this seemingly all-powerful monarch; undismayed she met the world in arms, bore every privation for the loss of open markets, for the labor of her people, and the products of her vast possessions, without discovering the smallest symptoms of yielding an iota of her pretensions. Her proud and The Emperor of France, I will not say more unbending neck spurned the yoke. It bent not despotic in the quality of his laws than the the least, although we too added our mite to government of the United States, but possessthe pressure. She never hesitated between the ing greater power, exerted all the ingenuity of alternative of no trade, or a surrender of what his inquisitive policy, and employed his vast she deemed her rights. The effects of her firm-means, to detect offences against his prohibiness and perseverance are not likely to render her more submissive to the blows we have inflicted, or to those we are preparing for her by this bill. She now has all the world courting her trade, and receiving her products, diminished France, impoverished America except

ed.

When she considers how successfully she met her numerous foes, armed also with prohibition and proscriptions of her products on every foot of land, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and compares the situation of her then enemies with that of our fallen country, will she be frightened into submission by the increased pressure of this act? She attempts to capture our ships, to destroy our trade, and prevent us from receiving supplies from abroad. We cooperate most manfully in this work of ruin; nay, we do more to this end, in a few short days, than she could do in many years. We annihilate our ships, destroy our produce, imprison all our citizens, suffer not one to escape from the United States, doom whole States to sloth and famine, allow no man, woman, or child to cross a river or bay without permission from the President, to obtain the smallest comfort in the greatest need, break down all the barriers heretofore thought necessary to the support of the public and individual liberty, disregard the provisions of our constitution, and subject ourselves and property to martial law. When our vindictive foe has obtained so efficient an ally, in bringing destruction on the people of this country, he may cheerfully sustain the loss which will be incurred by retaining at home, or selling at a reduced price, the few blankets that might be smuggled into the

If the people of the United States be as profigate, as the message referred to supposes them, and do now risk all the fines and forfeitures, pains and penalties, to which they are liable, will such an act as the one proposed, effectually secure the entire exclusion of such goods?

tory statutes, and, when detected, punished them with unmitigated severity. Yet the prohibited goods were to be found in every part of the Continent, and in the very heart of his dominions. Surely such a lesson will not be lost on any legislature, guided by a sound discretion, nor on any man not predetermined to shut his eyes against the light of experience.

It is not merely the experience of the present day to which I would ask the attention of gentlemen. The experience of all times, and of all nations, has shown that the most arbitrary, even the most sanguinary provisions of the best executed laws are ineffectual against the introduction of foreign commodities, which are better and cheaper than the domestic. It has been truly said, the strongest, the highest bars that the tyranny or folly of government can erect, always have, and we may therefore safely predict always will, prove powerless against the cheapness of foreign articles. Private interest will either overleap or burst them asunder. Laws against the long-continued habits, and the manifest benefit of a people, serve but to corrupt their morals, to compromit the character of government, to expose its weakness, and finally to render it both odious and contemptible.

To render the miserable system, of which this bill is to be the keystone, more palatable, we are told encouragement will hereby be afforded to our own manufactures. This comes with an ill grace, indeed, from that government which has most unfeelingly destroyed all the numerous manufactures that spring from, and are supported by, navigation and commerce. Manufactures that inspire health, courage,

firm.

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