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-equently discontinued, are both utterly destitute of foundation. 1 

 have been the more anxiously earnest in the developement of this 

 demonstration, because the error of Mr. Russell, both as to the 

 principle and its consequence, is by no means confined to him. In 

 the above extracts it will appear, that it was entertained by lord 

 Auckland himself, until called upon in the deliberations upon the 

 peace of Amiens, to examine thoroughly the doctrines of the wri 

 ters on the laws of nations relating to the subject. Be the opinion 

 of Mr. Russell what it may, the portion of the fisheries to which 

 we are entitled, even within the British territorial jurisdiction, is 

 of great importance to this Uniofi. To New-England it is among 

 the most valuable of earthly possessions. But the whole fishery 

 of the Banks, and in the adjoining seas, is at stake, upon the prin 

 ciples of Mr. Russell : by his doctrine we now hold it at the breath 

 of Great Britain ; for, by a declaration of war, she can extinguish 

 it forever. The foundations of the Union itself are shaken by 

 this opinion. If the fisheries of New-England are held at the 

 pleasure of Great Britain, one of the main purposes of the Union 

 to the people of New-England is taken away. So long as Great 

 Britain holds a preponderating power upon the ocean, whenever 

 a war between her and the United States may occur, this greafc 

 interest of New-England will be the first to suffer, and in the most 

 distressing manner. If, besides the endurance of this peculiar hard 

 ship which is unavoidable, New-England is to be told that her liber 

 ties in the fisheries themselves, are nothing but voluntary donations 

 of Great Britain, which she has a right to resume, on the first firing 

 of a gun, the^vital interests of New-England are not on the same foot 

 ing of protection, by the Union, as those of its other portions. In the 

 relative proportions of power and influence between the different 

 sections of the country, New-England will behold, without envy 

 and without regret, her sisters of the South and of the West, rising 

 to pre-eminence in wealth, population, and resources over herself. 

 But never again let her be told, and least of all by one of her own 

 sons, that her riglits, tier liberties, or her possessions, are of trifling 

 or insignificant value to the nation, and that at the first sound of a 

 hostile trumpet they will be abandoned to the mercy of the com 

 mon enemy ; or surrendered to the desperate chance of a repur 

 chase for an equivalent wherever it may be found. 



In my remarks on Mr. Russell s letter, 1 expressed the hope, 

 that from the whole history of this transaction, the statesmen of this 

 Union would take warning through all future time, in their conflicts 

 with foreign powers never to consider any of the liberties of this 

 nation as abrogated by a war, or capable of being extinguished by 

 any other agency than our own express renunciation. Mr. Russell 

 takes alarm at this lest the implicit renunciation by the British of 

 the right to navigate the Mississippi should not be sufficient and 

 he says, that according to me, that right is unimpaired. Mr. Rus 

 sell s conclusion, as usual, is broader than his premises. He might 

 have seen that the object of my remark was to give warning to the 



