starving millions. The rapid growth of the West-India Islands can be accounted for upon no other principle; they have arrived to their present wealth and importance in the scale of commerce, by means of our constant, regular exports of various provision.

Our commerce is out of all proportion to our numbers. I do not exceed the bounds of the strictest calculation, when I affirm that it is nearly equal to that which England (pre-eminent to all trading States, either ancient or modern) carried on a single century ago with the whole world ! when she subdued nations, established her liberty, and rode mistress of the seas ! From her we receive one-half of all she exports. The annual profits of her trade with the Colonies do not fall short of three millions, according to the most moderate computation. This enormous sum has been raised by impositions and regulations of trade, which have overwhelmed us with intolerable debts. We have consented to them, not from their equity or justice, but from affection to the Parent State, from the generous spirit of Englishmen, from motives of mutual peace and mutual tranquillity. The channels by which riches have flowed through the Colonies, have been so turned, that they all discharge into the lap of the Parent State; not like eastern torrents, but in salubrious, various, placid, and copious streams, augmenting her influence, refreshing industry, and supporting her grandeur. We form the firm basis of Ireland, and supply those materials which invigorate the springs of national activity, happiness, and splendour. The spirit with which we have prosecuted our fisheries has excited admiration and envy. Look at the manner in which the people of the Northern Colonies have carried on the whale fishery; follow them through tempestuous seas, in their dangerous enterprise, among mountains of ice, beneath the arctick circle. While we are looking for them in the frozen recesses of Hudson’s Bay, we hear they have pierced the opposite region of polar cold, and are engaged under the frozen serpent of the south. They are upon the coasts of Africa; they endure the intense heats that rage under the burning line; they strike the harpoon and draw the line on the coasts of Brazil; Falkland Island is but a stage in the progress of their hardy industry. There is no sea that is not vexed by their fisheries; no climate that is not witness to their toils. The persevering obstinacy of Holland, the activity of France, the fierce spirit of Russia, and the firm sagacity of English enterprise, combine to form a species of men whom no dangers can daunt, no difficulties subdue. Above all, we are witnesses of that spirit of liberty which pervades and animates the whole, supporting, confirming their courage, and extending their views. This, Americans, is a general description of the Country you have undertaken to defend; and these are the advantages of your situation.

Let us see in what manner they may be improved for the general welfare of the community, and the peace and happiness of every individual. I lament the unhappy necessity, whenever it arises, of providing for the safety of the State by a temporary invasion of any of the rights of the most profligate citizen. Would to God it were possible to reconcile these important objects in every situation of publick affairs. I regard the legal liberty of the meanest American as much as my own, and would defend it with as much zeal. I know we must stand or fall together. But I never can doubt that the community has a right to command the service of its members, and deprive them of the benefits of society, if they are improved to injure the people at large. I see that right founded originally upon necessity, and included in the first principles of Government. I conclude there can be no remedy, in the nature of things, for the grievance complained of. There are situations, too, when a resolution to remain neuter may be highly criminal. Such determinations commonly proceed from timidity, and not from principle. The man who adopts them generally means to be determined in his conscience by the event of the dispute, and to join the victorious party. I do not mean that the strict rights of the community should be called forth upon common occasions; they should be exerted only upon great emergencies, when the interests of society, the lives or liberties of the people, are immediately in question. Great allowance should be made, even then, for passion and prejudice. In violent convulsions of the Slate we find many timid men, and many who seriously differ from the sentiments of the publick, and from each other; but I would not generally reject the friendship or services of any man, because he differs from the general faith in a particular opinion. Every man may contribute something to the common stock, and no man’s contribution should be rejected. Let us employ the men who affect, on all occasions, to take a moderate part for the advantage of the common cause, as far as their inclinations will permit; let us profit by their assistance, and place them, if it be possible, in the post of danger, to prevent desertion; let us discard those little personal resentments that have directed some of us in our conduct, and address these men with the spirit of Americans, and in the language of gentlemen. The part they have to act is an honourable one. If they are really attached to the cause, as they pretend, and differ from us only in the mode of defending it, they may surely be induced to exert themselves in some way to promote it. It is not a time to trifle with their fortune; they, with the rest of their fellow-subjects, must risk their all in support of the civil Constitution, of that legal liberty which every Englishman professes to defend at the hazard of his life.

Our security and success depend, in a great degree, upon the publick credit—upon the faith that every man has in the ability of the State to reward him for his service. Money is the standard by which we measure the value of that service, and of all the necessaries of life. For want of gold and silver, the community is sometimes necessitated to establish a paper currency; this is meant to supply the place of those valuable metals; and so long as it is received and paid without depreciation, it answers all the purposes for which it was designed; it constitutes the basis of publick success, and is our only security. I consider the man who undermines this solid foundation, as the worst of assassins, and the confirmed enemy of his Country; his conduct ought to be held forth in its genuine colours, and branded with infamy. A lady’s chastity, a soldier’s honour, and the publick faith, should be free, not only from guilt, but suspicion.

Inconveniences will undoubtedly attend a paper currency, unless we guard against them by establishing funds, or by adopting other measures that may be as effectual. And those selfish men who have no other god but riches, who make profit of honour, conscience, and virtue, should be informed that they may be secured in their property, if they condescend to support the publick credit. Private credit is wealth; publick honour is security.

Such is the situation of this Country; and so unfavourable is every prospect of an honourable compromise, that we shall deserve to suffer the dangers we have reason to apprehend, unless we instantly open all the ports upon the Continent, establish a free trade, and fit out a Navy sufficient, in some measure, to protect it. I would have all the members of the community employed, that the Country, instead of sinking into poverty, may be enriched by the gains of individuals. The publick stock is increased by private profit. The poor are employed, and the farmer receives his proportion of the gain. The country gentlemen may think that they have little to do with commerce, but they are the first who feel the loss of it, “and are (says Mr. Locke ) as much concerned in it as the merchant himself.” It may be objected, that we cannot open a trade; that we shall be obliged to encounter the maritime force of Great Britain; and that we are unequal to the contest. There are some men beyond the reach of conviction, who answer all the proposed efforts of a free people with smiles and contempt. These I do not mean to persuade. But I inquire why we cannot establish a naval power sufficient to answer our present purposes at least? Have we not naval stores in abundance? Do we want men, or are they destitute of courage? Are we not supplied with every necessity for the design? “But we shall have to cope with Great Britain, and we are unequal to the conflict.” Were not the Hollanders, when they revolted from Spain, in the same situation? Did the seven United Provinces, at that time, contain as many inhabitants as this single Colony? We know they did not. Had they any fleet? Was not the naval power of Spain supposed, at that time, to be invincible? But we know that in spite of all these disadvantages, and ten thousand others, they engrossed the whole spice trade, and prosecuted their commerce