RESOLVES

OF THE

General Court of Massachusetts,

PASSED AT THE SESSION BEGUN AND HOLDEN AT BOSTON, ON THE THIRTIETH DAY OF MAY, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD,

ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND TEN.

GOVERNOUR'S SPEECH.

..........

REPRESENTATIVES' CHAMBER, JUNE 7.

At 12 o'clock, the Senators attended in the Representatives' Chamber, agreeably to assignment, when His Excellency the Governour came in, accompanied by his Council, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and other officers of government, and delivered the following

SPEECH:

GENTLEMEN Of the SenatE, AND

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUse of RepreSENTATIVES,

THE independent and respectable electors of this Commonwealth, by a majority of their suffrages, having honoured me with the office of their supreme executive magistrate, an honour at this period increased by the existing state of our publick affairs, I have accepted the important trust, with that gratitude, which is due to such distinguished confidence; with that diffidence, which is fearful to do wrong; and with that solicitude, which is inseparable from a sincere desire to do right,

In this enlightened age of the world, the criteria for judging of rulers, are their measures, not their professions: those only then, whose conduct is candid, upright, and honourable, can enjoy either the happiness of conscious rectitude, or the pleasing expectation, of the approbation, esteem, and support of their fellow-citizens. And should their rule be meritorious, how often do circumstances of a publick nature occur, which leave to government a choice only of evils; deeply affecting the feelings and interests of the people, and producing jealousies, discontents, and opposition?

Such of late has been the state of our national concerns, and the consequent divisions have exhibited prospects of serious alarm-is it not the duty of the Trustees and Guardians of the inestimable rights and liberties of the people, to destroy if possible this germ of political confusion, and at the shrine of publick safety, honour, and welfare, to sacrifice all private and local views, prejudices, and discordant passions?

If I have formed a just estimate of the characters whom I address, there cannot exist a solitary doubt, that in a pursuit so deeply interesting to the public, regardless of political distinctions, they will co-operate with me, in attaining these important objects: and to secure success, let the mantle of friendship be drawn over past obnoxious measures, and our exertions be directed to prevent their repetition.

Whatever may be the points of difference between parties, in this they will undoubtedly agree, that union is the vital principle of liberty: for as well may the physical body have a being without air, as the body-politick of our republick, without that principle.

From time immemorial, the successful maxim of ambition has been "to divide and conquer:" and even free governments have so far sanctioned it, for preventing the union, and preserving the subordination of their colonies, as to disseminate jealousies amongst them.

Such was the policy of Great Britain for retaining the colonies which first formed the United States; a policy which in the early period of their separation from her, exposed them to imminent danger, and was their most formidable foe.

But the good sense of the colonists prevailed; and with a population not exceeding two millions of inhabitants; with executives and judiciaries, almost wholly opposed to them ; with regal troops, in their fortresses, cities, and principal towns, to awe and control them; with few arms, and military

stores; and without publick funds, or an organized government to conduct their operations; they adopted this motto, "United we stand, divided we fall;" and their union, successfully commenced, and triumphantly terminated the revolutionary war.-Had a party spirit then prevailed, it would have been fatal; it would have plunged the patriots into the abyss of irretrievable servitude; it would have exchanged their exalted station of man, for that of senseless Automataand even cemented as the United States now are, by excellent federal and state constitutions, if the invisible hand of foreign influence, or if deep-rooted domestick prejudices and animosities should obtain the ascendancy, they will too late discover, that the loss of union is the loss of liberty: for however remote we are from foreign nations, or lulled by prospects of their friendship, should our union be destroyed, intestine wars must ensue, and soon convert this beautiful, populous, and cultivated country, into a barren, depopulated waste.

But will not foreign powers, viewing as they do, these flourishing commercial states with the invidious eye of competitors, seize the first favourable opportunity, for destroying their competition? And with what ease will they effect it, should one seceding section of the confederacy, requiring an equal number to oppose it, leave but a remnant of the nation. to resist foreign invasion?

If we take a view of the two gigantick combatants of Europe, France and Great-Britain; nations to whom all others are most indebted for their progress in arts and sciences, and for those useful discoveries and improvements which adorn society and promote human happiness; nations unrivalled by land and by sea; who in their conflicts have nearly destroyed the independence of continental Europe, and threaten that of the other quarters of the globe; if we reflect on the measures of their mighty governments, we cannot too deeply regret that they have lost sight of their own dignity and honour; Or why do they not apply the powers entrusted them by Divine Providence, to complete, not the misery, but the happiness of man ?-Why do they not immortalize their fame by recording it, not on the sorrowful tombs of slaughtered millions, not on the desolate ruins of mournful principalities, kingdoms, and empires-but on the brilliant pages of illustrious philanthropists-on the durable annals of the great, the good, the God-like benefactors of man? To the civilized world, the answer is a subject of the deepest

regret and grief. Inordinate ambition and power, allies on the land, allies on the ocean, are as insatiable and unmerciful as the relentless grave. Unparalleled wealth, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, but furnish endless magazines of fuel to feed the unquenchable flame of ambition: and power, lawless and boundless power, is on both sides implicitly obedient to her sovereign will. Obligations of every kind, political, moral, and religious, arising from the rights of neutrals, from the most solemn treaties, from public law in general, and from humanity itself, are neglected, cancelled, and treated with ineffable contempt; every beam of hope that national justice would resume her elevated station, has been ephemeral glittering in the morn, it has been dim at noon, and extinct in the eve.

France has charged Great Britain with the establishment of a despotick commercial monopoly ; and has viewed her own conduct, as the meritorious effort of a magnanimous volunteer, in a common cause to defeat the measure. The King of Great Britain in return has charged France with the fabrication of this as a pretext to cover her deep designs of universal domination. Neighbouring nations, by their vibrating conduct towards these mighty belligerents, have declared that both are in the right, and both in the wrong-and the United States, ever careful to offend neither, have, with uniform solicitude, cultivated the friendship of each. May their laudable endeavours be crowned with merited success!

France, previously to her revolutionary war, for a series of years, trembled at the rod of mighty Britain. That unparalleled event has reversed the scene, and France threatens the overthrow of her great enemy. The Emperor Napoleon has in substance, if not in form, declared it. Napoleon, that great arbiter of the East, is a most formidable foe: His equal is not to be found in the annals of man. Other monarchs have been styled great; but as a statesman and warrior, he is super-eminent. He is a prodigy of human nature. He is viewed by his enemies as a comet of the first magnitude; at a distance they admire the awful grandeur of both, but the approach of either they dread, as the precursor of certain destruction.

Thus unhappily circumstanced is Great Britain, and she views her safety in war. She conceives that by a peace her great and only national safeguard, her Navy, must be dismantled; that her numerous foreign seamen will return with joy

to their native shores; that her national seamen, in part, will be compelled to seek employment abroad; and that, when imperious necessity shall again require her navy, in its present vigorous state, an event which would rapidly follow, the measure would be impracticable, and the result her conquest. Her eagle-eyed statesmen act on this principle, and have declared it. They have even declared that a peace must establish their national safety; and this they view as a political impossibility.

On the part, then, of the United States, will not good policy look forward to the continuance of a war, in the participation of which they have been, and will continue to be in danger.

Each of these tremendous powers, presents itself at different times to United America, with the affected attachment of a disinterested admirer. But are they not disingenuous and inexorable competitors? And however impartially she may conduct towards them, when either merely suspects that she favours the other is not a jealous phrenzy thereby excited, urging the decree of American destruction? in such imminent danger, is there not an indispensable necessity of union?

Shall we not then cordially invite the other great department of our government, the judiciary, containing our luminaries of law, the able and learned counsellors and practitioners at the bar our respectable and pious instructors, the clergy, whose love of country and promotion of union during the revolution, is a pledge of their support-the citizens of the other learned profession, who, at that eventful period, in patriotism and prowess were inferior to none-our respectable and wealthy farmers, merchants, manufacturers, and mechanicks, whose ruin would be completed by intestine commotions, shall we not invite them all to aid in the preservation. of our union?

Will not this desirable measure, if commenced by government, be supported by the constitutional sovereigns of the land, the people? Will not every friend to his country recollect the sacred truth, "that an house divided against itself cannot stand ?" Will he not determine for himself to relinquish a party system, and the practice of misrepresenting, and unjustly reprobating, his political opponents? Will he not magnanimously impute to his fellow citizens in opposition, a mistaken zeal and patriotism, and cordially embrace them? Will he not discountenance every attempt to wound the

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