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continental alliances, from being swallowed up in the gulf ofuniversal empire, be to become disturbers of the Continent, thenare we rightly accused. We are accused of being the tyrants ofthe seas. If to preserve ourselves from invasion by blocking upin their ports the fleets of our enemies, and fighting them whenthey venture out, be to become tyrants of the seas, then do we meritthe appellation. In this kind of tyranny our national safety doesand ever must consist. I wish that we may always have a fleetsuperior to the united fleets of Europe ; and I wish, too, that sucha fleet may never be used for any purpose beyond or beside thepurpose of self-defence. All irritating insolence towards neutral jnations, all unprovoked aggression of nations in alliance with us, jall jealousy of trade, all monopoly of commerce, all assumptionof questionable rights, all enforcement of disputable claims, shouldeven, with such a fleet, be utterly rejected by us.

“We are accused of having established a commercial despotism.

I hope the accusation is not just; for I abhor from my heart everyspecies of despotism, civil, religious, and commercial. Despotismconsists in the physical exercise of power, without moral right; itis an offence against natural justice ; it is a degradation of the dig-nity of human nature, and ought not on any occasion to be eitherpractised or submitted to. But in what does this imputed com-mercial despotism consist ? Does it consist in this, that our manu-facturers are more ingenious and more industrious than themanufacturers of any other country ? Is it a violation of the lawof nations in us, that our merchants can offer to the inhabitantsof Europe , of America , of every quarter of the globe, our woollens,cottons, linens, hardware, pottery, a thousand necessaries, conve-niences, and comforts of civil society, . without compelling a