175 



for Mr. Russell to sny, that he still differs in opinion with me, ami 

 will probably continue to differ in opinion with me, on this point 

 for 1 have proved from his ovn words tnat his opinion did no« 

 differ from mine, as to the proposal actually made ; «nd 'f ^e does 

 differ with me now, it is only in as much as he differs witn himself. 



As o he value, the comparative value of the hshenestous, with 

 this admission of a mere naked ri^ht in foreigners to travel on one 

 of our high-ways, cnnslitutionally declared to be forever (ree to all 

 he citizens of every State in the Union, I cannot again withhold 

 my Burprize that it should be denied, by a citizen of Massachusetts. 

 u\ ci izen of Georgia should publish a laborious nrpiment to 

 prove that the ri.ht of cultivating cotton, or a citizen ot Louisiana 

 Thould maintain that the right of raiding sugar, was of no value to 

 he people of the United States, is it to the derision or to the indig- 

 nation of his country, that his dissertation would prove the most 

 effectual passport.^ And if such an argument should be written 

 not as an die amusement to show with how much mgenuity the 

 wUdest absurdities might he maintained but as a grave state-paper, 

 Addressed to the supreme authority of the Union striking directly 

 not at the mere theoretical right, but at the actual exercise of it by 

 the citizens of Georgia or of Louisiana, and directly tending, in con- 

 currence vvith a foreign power contesting it, to deprive them of. 

 foTever-what would'the people of Georgia and Louisiana what 

 would the people of the United States, say to such a citizen ?- 

 Should It further appear, that this very citizen, at the very time of 

 his composing the work, was a member of a commission specially 

 Clarke" and mstructed to defend and ™-f ""- "Samst the mos 

 formidable of national enemies, the same right which he was thus 

 oxercisin. everv facullv of his mind irre.leemably to destroy ; that 

 ^fter ubrcribing his name to a principle containing the last and only 

 defence of this 'ight. while the contest was yet pending, and he 

 himsel? was yet d,arged with its support, he should contradic his 

 own s gnature, exhaust his ingenuity to prove the prmciide totally 

 dl'tit'ne of foundation, and style it the dream ol a visionary, to 

 Hdfc e one of his colleagues for believing it ; such a rare comb- 

 KUionot incidents would^doubtless present a moral and political 

 cl r"cter to the contemplation of the States most iminedia ely inte- 

 rested in his conduct, and to the Union, which would not soon he 

 obliterated from their memory. ^ x ■ ■ ,„..i;i 



That which a native citizen of Georgia or of Louisiana wouia 

 have done under the circumstances here supposed 'f 'he righ oi 

 cultivating cotton or sugar had been at stake, Mr. Kussell, a native 

 ^f Massachusetts, has done, in the hour of danger to her fisaerj. 

 The Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Gulf ol St. L-wren", and La- 

 brador fisheries, are in nature, and in the consideration both o^ 

 heir value and of the right to share in them, one hshery. 1 o be 

 u off V^u the enjoyment of that right, would be to the peojple of 

 Massachusetts, a calamity similar in kind, and comparable in de- 

 ! ee w'th an interdict to the people of Georgia or Louisiana to 



