g would modify the Orders in Council, which were
intended to drive American commerce from the ocean, Napoleon would
modify his decrees, which were provoked by the British Orders. It was
not a question of avoiding sacrifices, said Governor Tompkins, in his
speech to the Legislature, in January, 1808, but whether one sacrifice
might not better be borne than another. The belligerents had issued
decrees regardless of our rights. If we carried for England, France
would confiscate; if for France, England would confiscate. England
exacted tribute, and insisted upon the right of search; France
demanded forfeiture if we permitted search or paid tribute; between
the two the world was closed to us. But the belligerents needed our
wheat and breadstuffs, and while the embargo was intended only for a
temporary expedient, giving the people time for reflection, and
keeping our vessels and cargoes from spoliation, it must prevail in
the end by making Europe feel the denial of neutral favours. "What
patriotic citizen," he concluded, "will murmur at the temporary
privations and inconveniences resulting from this measure, when he
reflects upon the vast expenditure of national treasure, the sacrifice
of the lives of our countrymen, the total and permanent suspension of
commerce, the corruption of morals, and the distress and misery
consequent upon our being involved in the war between the nations of
Europe? The evils which threaten us call for a magnanimous confidence
in the efforts of our national councils to avert them, and for a firm,
unanimous determination to devote everything that is dear to us to
maintain our right and national honour."[155]

[Footnote 155: _Governor's Speeches._ January 26, 1808, p. 98.]

Governor Tompkins' views, sustained by decided majorities in both
branches of the Legislature, hastened DeWitt Clinton's change of
attitude; and, to the great disgust of Cheetham, he now swung into
line. Deceived by the first outcry against Jefferson's policy, Clinton
had presided at an opposition meeting, while Cheetham, following his
lead, had assailed it in the _American Citizen_. In the same spirit
George Clinton, the Vice President, imprudently and impulsively
attacked it in letters to his friends; but DeWitt Clinton, seeing his
mistake, quickly jumped into line with his party, leaving Cheetham and
his uncle to return as best they could. It was an ungracious act,
since Cheetham, who had devoted the best of his powers in justi