they extorted from their British masters, the acknowledg-
ment of independence., Since this period they have grown
in wealth and numbers, and have been busily employed;
and how have they been busy? In bringing their disjointed
members into some sort of combination; in building up and
pulling down their separate constitutions ; in quelling tu-
mults excited by attempts to levy taxes on a liquid poison t
called-Whiskey ; in supplicating France and England, that,
they would be good enough to repay the value of the plun-
der committed by these nations on their commerce, and ,
Spain, that she would be pleased to let them pass up and
down the Missisippi ; and in the most furious and disgrace-
ful animosities of party, fomented by the two great rivals .
in Eurdpe, and convertible at will into more successful en-
gines,of conquest than armies and fleets. Instead of pro-
: viding for their own defence, against foreign and domestic
foes, by armed ships and disciplined troops, they have re-
lied, on the power of intreaty, and on a rabble of militia.
Instead of asserting their natural claim to the continent
of North America, they have left all their southern dis-
tricts, and die mouth of their most useful river in the hands
of a nation, despicable and defenceless; whose claims are
groundless and ridiculous, asserted by themselves, but for-
midable and fatal when transferred to others.
" What topics, likely to produce conviction, can be urged
by the advocates of hostile measures? The future occupa-
tion of the western world, by a race congenial to them-
selves; the extension of their name and language over so
large a part of the earth; the future acquisition of the
wealth of Mexico; are splendid images which might se-
duce the sage in his closet,' or the despotic prince, whose
private,will is the law of his people, and whose private
ease would not be impaired by the incidents of war, but
are idle and ineffectual dreams in the view of the farmer,
trader and artizan. These classes must provide immedi-
ate bread for their children, and comfort and respect for
their old age. Chimerical and distant goods wouldhardly
extort from them a petty contribution to the public ; or
tempt them to inarch a hundred miles from home with a
musket on their shoulderj or to risque the rotting of the
corn in their granaries for want of a market; the loss of
customers to their shop for want of an assortment; and
the inaction of their ships for want of freights. The rulers
•f America are either farmers or merchants themselves,