reater insult and aggravation, if war were necessary to vindicate
the honour of the country, consistency and impartiality required that
both nations should have been included in the declaration; because, if
it were deemed expedient to exercise our right of selecting our
adversary, prudence and common sense dictated the choice of an enemy
from whose hostility we had nothing to dread. A war with France would
equally have satisfied our insulted honour, and at the same time,
instead of annihilating, would have revived and extended our commerce;
and even the evils of such a contest would have been mitigated by the
sublime consolation, that, by our efforts, we were contributing to
arrest the progress of despotism in Europe, and essentially serving the
great interests of freedom and humanity throughout the world;" * *
"because, before the war was declared, it was perfectly well ascertained
that a vast majority of the people in the Middle and Northern States, by
whom the burden and expenses of the war must be borne almost
exclusively, were strongly opposed to the measure." * *

"Whereas the late revocation of British Orders in Council has removed
the great and ostensible cause of the present war, and prepared the way
for an immediate accommodation of existing differences, inasmuch as, by
the concession of the present Secretary of State, satisfactory and
honourable arrangements might easily be made, by which abuses resulting
from the impressment of our seamen might in future be effectually
prevented. Therefore,

"Resolved,--That we shall be constrained to consider the determination
on the part of our rulers to continue the present war, after official
notice of revocation of the British Orders in Council, as affording
conclusive evidence that the war has been undertaken from motives
entirely distinct from those which have been hitherto avowed, and for
the promotion of objects wholly unconnected with the interest and honour
of America.

"Resolved,--That we contemplate with abhorrence even the possibility of
an alliance with the present Emperor of France, every action of whose
life has demonstrated, that the attainment, by any means, of universal
empire, and the consequent extinction of every vestige of freedom, are
the sole objects of his incessant, unbounded, and remorseless ambition.
His arms, with the spirit of freemen, we might openly and fearlessly
encounter; but of his secret arts, his corrupting influences, we
entertain