line to be drawn due west
from that lake. But by repeating the article of the treaty of 1783; by
conceding the free use of our ports on the river, and by the insertion
of the fourth article, we have admitted that Great Britain, in all
possible events, has still a right to navigate that river from its
source to its mouth. What may be the future effects of these provisions,
especially as they regard our intercourse with Spain, it is impossible
at present to say; but although they can bring us no advantage, they may
embroil us with that nation: and we have already felt the effect of it
in our late treaty with Spain, since we were obliged, on account of that
clause of the British treaty, to accept as a gift and a favor the
navigation of that river which we had till then claimed as a right.

But if, leaving commercial regulations, we shall seek in the treaty for
some provisions securing to us the free navigation of the ocean against
any future aggressions on our trade, where are they to be found? I can
add nothing to what has been said on the subject of contraband articles:
it is, indeed, self-evident, that, connecting our treaty with England on
that subject with those we have made with other nations, it amounts to a
positive compact to supply that nation exclusively with naval stores
whenever they may be at war. Had the list of contraband articles been
reduced--had naval stores and provisions, our two great staple
commodities, been declared not to be contra-band, security would have
been given to the free exportation of our produce; but instead of any
provision being made on that head, an article of a most doubtful nature,
and on which I will remark hereafter, has been introduced. But I mean,
for the present, to confine my observations to the important question of
free bottoms making free goods. It was with the utmost astonishment that
I heard the doctrine advanced on this floor, that such a provision, if
admitted, would prove injurious to America, inasmuch as in case of war
between this country and any other nation, the goods of that nation
might be protected by the English flag. It is not to a state of war that
the benefits of this provision would extend; but it is the only security
which neutral nations can have against the legal plundering on the high
seas, so often committed by belligerent powers. It is not for the sake
of protecting an enemy's property; it is not for the sake of securing an
advantageous carrying trade;