ably be seized by the
French. Better to lose two by seizure than the destruction of all by
embargo.

Obadiah German had much to say in defence of the justice and prudence
of the embargo. There was nothing brilliant about German; but ample
evidence of his parliamentary ability lines the pathway of his public
career. Without eloquence or education, he had the full courage of his
convictions and an intellectual vigour sufficient to back them. He
came to the Legislature in 1798, and, in 1809, very unexpectedly
succeeded Samuel L. Mitchill as United States senator. Later he served
one term as speaker of the Assembly. Just now he was the recognised
leader of the Republican majority in that body, and in his wise,
uncouth way dealt many a hard blow with telling effect.

Nathan Sanford also assisted in repelling the assaults of Cady and Van
Vechten. Sanford was the pet of the Martling Men and the enemy of
DeWitt Clinton. He had been appointed United States attorney upon the
resignation of Edward Livingston in 1803, holding the office until his
election to the United States Senate to succeed Obadiah German in
1815. In the meantime he served two terms in the Assembly, one of them
as speaker, and three terms in the State Senate. Afterward, he became
chancellor for two or three years, and then took another term as
United States senator. His activity gave him strength, and his loyalty
to the Martling Men, now known as Tammany, supplied him with backers
enough to keep him continuously in office for thirty years. Despite
his titles of Senator and Chancellor, however, and his long public
service, he did not leave a memory for eloquence, scholarship, or for
great ability; though he was a ready talker and a willing friend,
quick to catch the favouring breeze and ready to adopt any political
method that promised success. In upholding embargo, Sanford admitted
its seriousness, but emphasised its necessity. He recalled how England
had searched our ships, impressed our seamen, killed our citizens,
and insulted our towns. The ocean, he argued, had become a place of
robbery and national disgrace, since Great Britain, by its orders in
Council, had provoked France into promulgating the Berlin Decree of
November, 1806, and the Milan Decree of December, 1807, which
denationalised any ship that touched an English port, or suffered an
English search, or paid an English tax--whether it entered a French
port, or fell into the power of a French privat