, the hurry to satisfy it. Great Britain,
they say, will not wage war upon us.

"In 1794, it was urged by those who now say, no war, that if we built
frigates, or resisted the piracies of Algiers, we could not expect
peace. Now they give excellent comfort truly. Great Britain has seized
our vessels and cargoes to the amount of millions; she holds the posts;
she interrupts our trade, say they, as a neutral nation; and these
gentlemen, formerly so fierce for redress, assure us, in terms of the
sweetest consolation, Great Britain will bear all this patiently. But
let me ask the late champions of our rights, will our nation bear it?
Let others exult because the aggressor will let our wrongs sleep for
ever. Will it add, it is my duty to ask, to the patience and quiet of
our citizens, to see their rights abandoned? Will not the disappointment
of their hopes, so long patronized by the government, now in the crisis
of their being realized, convert all their passions into fury and
despair?...

"Look again at this state of things. On the seacoast, vast losses
uncompensated; on the frontier, Indian war and actual encroachment on
our territory; everywhere discontent; resentments tenfold more fierce
because they will be more impotent and humbled; national discord and
abasement. The disputes of the old treaty of 1783, being left to rankle,
will revive the almost extinguished animosities of that period. Wars in
all countries, and most of all in such as are free, arise from the
impetuosity of the public feelings. The despotism of Turkey is often
obliged by clamor to unsheathe the sword. War might, perhaps, be delayed,
but could not be prevented. The causes of it would remain, would be
aggravated, would be multiplied, and soon become intolerable. More
captures, more impressments would swell the list of our wrongs, and the
current of our rage. I make no calculation of the arts of those whose
employment it has been, on former occasions, to fan the fire; I say
nothing of the foreign money and emissaries that might foment the spirit
of hostility, because this state of things will naturally run to
violence. With less than their former exertion they would be successful.

"Will our government be able to temper and restrain the turbulence of
such a crisis? The government, alas! will be in no capacity to govern. A
divided people, and divided councils! Shall we cherish the spirit of
peace, or show the energies of war? Shall we make our adversar