414 ANNUAL, REGISTER, 1813. 



And did such armies ever long per- 

 niit the people who were so impru- 

 dent as to raise and maintain them, 

 to enjoy their liberties ? , 



Instances of military oppression 

 have already occurred among us ; 

 and a watchful people, jealous of 

 their rights, must have observed 

 some attempts to control their 

 elections, and to prostrate the civil 

 before the military authority. If 

 the language of some men high in 

 office — if the establishment of a 

 chain of military posts in the inte- 

 rior of our countrj' — if the exten- 

 sive preparations which are made 

 in quarters where invasion cannot 

 be feared, and the total abandon- 

 ment and neglect of that part of 

 our country, where alone it can be 

 apprehended, have excited our 

 anxietv and alarm, as to the real 

 projects of our rulers, these emo- 

 tions have not been diminished by 

 the recent invasion, seizure, and 

 occupation of the territory of a 

 peaceable and unoffending neigh- 

 bour. 



If war must have been the por- 

 tion of these United States ; if 

 they were destined by Providence 

 to march the downward road to 

 slavery, through foreign conquest 

 and military usurpation, your re- 

 monstrants regret, that such a mo- 

 ment, and such an occasion should 

 have been chosen for the expe- 

 riment; that while the oppressed 

 nations of Europe are making a 

 magnanimous and glorious effort 

 against the common enemy of free 

 3tates, we alone, the descendants 

 of the pilgrims, sworn foes to civil 

 and religious slavery, should volun- 

 tarily co-operate with the oppres- 

 sor, to bind other nations in his 

 chains ; that while diverting the 

 forces of one of his enemies from 



the mighty conflict, we should en- 

 danger the defenceless territories 

 of another, in whose ports the flag 

 of our independence was first per- 

 mitted to wave, now struggling for 

 existence beneath his iron grasp. 



Permit the legislature of this 

 commonwealth, whose citizens 

 have been ever zealous in the cause 

 of freedom, and who contributed 

 their utmost efforts for the adop- 

 tion of that constitution, under 

 which, in former times, we en- 

 joyed so much prosperity, most 

 respectfully, but earnestly, to en- 

 treat and conjure the constituted 

 authorities of the nation, by the 

 regard due to our liberties, to our 

 union, to our civil compact, al- 

 ready infringed, to pause before it 

 be too late. Let the sober, consi- 

 derate, and honourable represen- 

 tatives of our sister states, in which 

 different counsels prevail, ask them- 

 selves — 



Were not the territories of the 

 United States sufficiently extensive 

 before the annexation of Louisiana, 

 the projected reduction of Canada, 

 and seizure of West Florida ? 



Had we not millions upon mil- J 

 lions of acres of uncultivated wil- -q 

 derness, scarcely explored by ci- 

 vilized man i 



Could these acquisitions be held 

 as conquered provinces, without 

 powerful standing armies ? and 

 would they not, like other infant 

 colonies, serve as perpetual drains 

 of the blood and treasure of these 

 United States ? Or is it seriously 

 intended to adopt the dangerous 

 project of forming them into new 

 states, and admitting them into 

 the Union, without the express 

 consent of every member of the 

 original confederacy ? Would not 

 such a measure have a direct 



