go in the light of a misfortune to this country—I
rather consider it as an advantage. My treatise on
indigence will show you how small a proportion of
the national wealth is derived from commerce, great
and unexampled in point of extent as it unquestion-
ably is—perhaps equal to all the nations of Europe

put together.

In another point of view, it may be considered, under
Providence, to be the only bar that existed to the
total subjugation of all Europe

and America to the
yoke of France. If her maritime power had not
existed, and she had abstained from, or waved what
she calls her maritime rights, upon which her power
chiefly depends, what would have become of the
world at this era? The United States, but for this
powerful barrier, must have ultimately fallen under
the power of the tyrant of Europe; whose ambition
has no bounds, and who may justly be considered as
a scourge in the hands of the Almighty, to punish the
offences of the nations of Europe, and permitted to
reign for a time. Let us hope that his career is
nearly at a close; and that the nations of Europe,
convinced of the folly and the great calamities of
war, will resolve to cling to the olive branch, and
cultivate the arts of peace. America, above all
countries in the world, ought to avoid war—she is
every way vulnerable, without the means of defence.
England is not what she was during the war of the
revolution. Her unexampled naval power has ban-
ished the belligerent flag every where from the ocean;
and powerful as the French are on land, yet when
they come in contact with British troops on that
element, they are compelled (as has been seen almost
in every instance) to yield the palm to British valour
and discipline. Let us, therefore, hope that England
and America will form a permanent union, as the
best means of preserving the peace of the world, and
promoting the best interests of the human species.

The attainment of this great object now that