438 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S12. 



jects for which our rulers say we 

 are contending — and because the 

 evils and distresses which the war 

 must of necessity occasion, far 

 overbalance any advantages we 

 can expect to derive from it. Be- 

 cause the great power of England 

 on the ocean, and the amazing 

 resources she derives from com- 

 merce and navigation, render it 

 evident, that we cannot comi)el 

 her to respect our rights and satisfy 

 our demands, otherwise than by a 

 successful maritime warfare ; the 

 means of conducting which we not 

 only do not possess, but our rulers 

 have obstinately refused to provide. 

 Because the exhausted state of die 

 treasury, occasioned by the de- 

 struction of the revenue derived 

 from commerce, should the war 

 continue, will render necessary a 

 resort to loans and taxes to a vast 

 amount — measures by which the 

 people will be greatly burthened, 

 and oppressed, and the influence 

 and patronage of the executive 

 alarmingly increased. And, finally, 

 because of a war begun with such 

 means as our rulers had prepared, 

 and conducted in the mode ihey 

 seem resolved to pursue, we see 

 no grounds to hope the honourable 

 and successful termination. 



Resolved, That while we con- 

 demn the war, in the most distinct 

 and unqualified terms, we are 

 deeply sensible of the new duties 

 and obligations which the change 

 of our national relations has im- 

 posed upon us, and are fully de- 

 termined in our several capacities 

 of magistrateSjSoldiers, and citizens, 

 to obey with promptnessand alacrity 

 all constitutional requisitions of the 

 proper authorities; seeking no other 

 redress for the evils of which we 

 complain, than that which we con- 



fidently trust will be obtained from 

 a change of sentiment in the peo- 

 ple, leading to a change of men 

 and measures. 



llesolved. That we view the 

 creation of new states out of ter- 

 ritories not within the ancient 

 limits of the United States as in- 

 consistent with the spirit of the 

 federal compact, and calculated to 

 destroy the weight, which the old, 

 great, and populous states ought 

 to have in tiie union, and utterly 

 to disappoint and frustrate the 

 great purpose for which they 

 entered into the confederacy. 



Resolved, That we consider the 

 employment of the militia, for the 

 purpose of offensive war, as a pal- 

 pable violation of the constitution, 

 as extremely offensive to the peo- 

 ple, as the most ex))ensive and the 

 least efficient mode of conducting 

 the war; and as a serious and 

 alarming encroachment on the 

 rights of the several states, which 

 it behoves the true friends of our 

 excellent institutions, by all lawful 

 means, firmly to resist. 



Whereas the late revocation of 

 the British Orders in Council, has 

 removed the great and ostensible 

 cause of the present war, and pre- 

 pared the way for an immediate 

 accommodation of all existing dif- 

 ferences, inasmuch as, by the con- 

 fession of the present secretary of 

 state, satisfactory and honourable 

 arrangements might easily be 

 made, by which the abuses re- 

 sulting from the impressment of 

 our seamen, might, in future, be 

 effectually prevented — Therefore, 



Resolved, That we shall be con- 

 strained to consider the determina- 

 tion on the part of our rulers to 

 continue the present war, after 

 official notice of the revocation of 



the 



