ADDRESS. 7 



so strongly manifested by her coercive acts. A reference to the 

 records of the times will show, that in 1665, when the militia of 

 Massachusetts did not exceed four thousand in number, she pos- 

 sessed eighty vessels of between twenty and forty tons burthen ; 

 about forty of between forty and one hundred tons ; and twelve 

 ships of one hundred tons and upward. New- York, likewise, 

 having about this time fallen into the hands of the English, was 

 aroused from her apathetic slumber, and like an awakened giant, 

 conscious of inbred might, began to stretch her arms along the 

 adjoining coasts and over the ocean, gathering up the richest pro- 

 ducts of the old and new world, and giving in return the first fruits 

 of the almost untouched mines of our internal resources. 



Those also whose inclination led them to become the pioneers 

 of the wilderness, carried with them the same disposition, and 

 next to the log hut, before making a wheelbarrow or a cart, they 

 hollowed out a log to cross the nearest expanse of water, and com- 

 mune with the settlers on the opposite side of the stream. But 

 perhaps the ardour with which the colonists pursued the fisheries 

 is the most striking feature in our maritime history, since it wrung 

 reluctant praise from our enemies, and called forth the eulogiums 

 of the most distinguished orators and statesmen.* 



* On this subject, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of extracting a glowing 

 fragment of eloquence from the gifted Burke, in his celebrated speech, delivered in 

 Parliament, on American conciliation : 



" As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, 

 you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acquisi- 

 tions of value, for they seemed even to excite your envy ; and yet the spirit, by which 

 that enterprising employment has been exercised, ought rather, in my opinion, to have 

 raised your esteem and admiration. And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it? 

 Pass by the other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England 

 have of late carried on the whale fisheries, whilst we follow them among the tumbling 

 mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of 

 Hudson's Bay, and Davis's Straits ; whilst we are looking for them beneath the 

 Arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold ; 

 that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Serpent of the South. 

 Falkland Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of 



