27 



lieve that it was owing to the exertions of Mr. Adams, 

 that the fisheries were saved ! that the man who was 

 mainly instrumental in the destruction of their com 

 merce, and who holds the mercantile character in utter 

 contempt, should be its champion? that the man who is 

 under a virtual pledge to the government of Great 

 Britain, to lend no aid to any system for the protection 

 of domestic industry, should be the fast friend of the 

 manufacturing interest? yet such is the common belief 

 of New England, a delusion as strange as that, which is 

 said to have prevailed at Salem during an early period 

 of the colonial history of 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



