e long, universal cry rose
from all the commercial cities. Their ships, the merchants said, were
rotting at the wharf; if kept at home, they would soon become worthless;
if sent to sea, they could but be taken. It was urged by the merchants
that, even if England and France sequestered a number of their ships,
still the profits earned by such as might escape confiscation would
cover their losses on their investments. An able minority in Congress
sustained the views held by the mercantile interest; but a large
majority of both Houses of Congress, and of the people, approved the
policy of the administration.

At this eventful moment a new political party, consisting almost wholly
of Southern men, sprung into being. What added to its importance was,
that, though ridiculously small in respect of the numbers who composed
it, the members possessed great parliamentary eloquence and tact, and
had previously been regarded as among the firmest friends of the
administration. Its numbers were indeed so small both in Congress and
out of it, as to exercise no weight in the call of the ayes and noes, or
at the polls; but its members mingled in every debate, wrote plausible
essays in the papers, and used all justifiable means as well as some
that were questionable, in attaining their ends. Of this party, Mr.
Tazewell, though never a member, and only a casual coadjutor, was
considered to belong; but there was no evidence to show that he approved
the vile scheme of its leaders of embroiling the country in a war with
Spain. On the contrary, he held that the true remedy of existing
grievances in the first instance was an immediate declaration of war
against both belligerents, which, now that the curtain is lifted, we see
was the true remedy of the hour; but that, if from prudence a
declaration of war was withheld, it was unwise, by a total cessation of
our most gainful commerce, to inflict upon our own people all the
injuries which war would produce without any of the advantages that
might accrue from a successful prosecution of hostilities; that the
commercial regulations of England and France, though bearing
disastrously on us, were chiefly designed to injure each other during
actual war; and that, being war measures, they would determine on a
restoration of peace, when we could obtain from the respective powers
full redress for all our grievances.

He accordingly opposed the election of Mr. Madison to the presidency,
whom he regarded a