416 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



Indications of a spirit hostile to 

 commerce were early visible among 

 some of those who now control 

 the destinies of our republic. But 

 the father of his country then pre- 

 sided in our councils, and this spirit 

 was vanquished. Under the in- 

 fluence of the wise, and liberal, and 

 magnanimous system adopted and 

 pursued by his administration, 

 commerce was indeed cherished, 

 extended, and protected ; and the 

 stipulations of the constitution were 

 fulfilled in sincerity and good faith. 



Since that period, however, the 

 same spirit has arisen, and has ex- 

 hibited an unrelenting severity, in 

 the exercise of its sway — until, at 

 length, by a series of restrictions, 

 utterly destructive of the calcula- 

 tions of the merchant — by prohi- 

 bitions and double duties— by em- 

 bargoes and non-intercourse — and, 

 lastly, by war, the poor remains 

 of that commerce, which once co- 

 vered the ocean with its sails, have 

 been nearly annihilated. 



Nor has the other part of the 

 consideration been better fulfilled. 

 — Taxation has never, except in a 

 single instance, and that to one 

 hundredth part only of the revenue 

 raised under the constitution, been 

 apportioned according to represen- 

 tation ; and with what reluctance 

 it was then submitted to by the 

 Southern states, and with what 

 tardiness it was even partially col- 

 lected, public recoids will deter- 

 mine. 



Of the two hundred and fifteen 

 millions of dollars divided by the 

 United States, under the operation 

 of the federal government, Mas- 

 sachusetts has paid upwards of 

 forty millions — an amount beyond 

 all proportion to h er political weight 

 in the Union. 



If therefore the revenues derived 

 from the commonwealth, and paid 

 into the national treasury, had been 

 preserved in her own, she would 

 have been fully competent to her 

 own defence, and would not have 

 been obliged to solicit, nor expe- 

 rience the injustice of a refusal of 

 the arms for which she has long 

 since paid, and which were her 

 due from the general government. 

 What good cause can be assigned 

 for this refusal, your remonstrants 

 are wholly unable to determine. 

 No discretion is, by law, vested in 

 any officer of the government, in 

 relation to this subject. Its provi- 

 sions are plain, simple, and pe- 

 remptory. Your remonstrants 

 therefore cannot but express their 

 astonishment, that the state of 

 Massachusetts, possessing a sea- 

 coast more extensive and populous 

 than that of any other state in the 

 Union, and a defenceless frontier 

 by land, should not only be en- 

 tirely abandoned by the govern- 

 ment whose duty it is to protect 

 her, but should also be refused the 

 arms for her own defence, to which 

 she is by law entitled. They can- 

 not, however, permit themselves 

 to doubt, that Congress will forth- 

 with adopt such measures as will 

 render to this Commonwealth that 

 justice which the executive depart- 

 ment has refused. 



If the war, in which we have 

 been rashly plunged, was under- 

 taken to appease the resentment, or 

 secure the favour of France, deep 

 and humiliating must be our dis- 

 appointment. For although the 

 emperor is lavish in his professions 

 of " love for the American people," 

 applauds our ready self-devotion, 

 and declares " that our commerce 

 and our prosperity are within the 



