ed that part of the Constitution against a spirit of censure,
which has spared few other parts. It must, indeed, be numbered among the
greatest blessings of America, that as her Union will be the only source
of her maritime strength, so this will be a principal source of her
security against danger from abroad. In this respect our situation
bears another likeness to the insular advantage of Great Britain. The
batteries most capable of repelling foreign enterprises on our safety,
are happily such as can never be turned by a perfidious government
against our liberties.

The inhabitants of the Atlantic frontier are all of them deeply
interested in this provision for naval protection, and if they have
hitherto been suffered to sleep quietly in their beds; if their
property has remained safe against the predatory spirit of licentious
adventurers; if their maritime towns have not yet been compelled to
ransom themselves from the terrors of a conflagration, by yielding to
the exactions of daring and sudden invaders, these instances of
good fortune are not to be ascribed to the capacity of the existing
government for the protection of those from whom it claims allegiance,
but to causes that are fugitive and fallacious. If we except perhaps
Virginia and Maryland, which are peculiarly vulnerable on their eastern
frontiers, no part of the Union ought to feel more anxiety on this
subject than New York. Her seacoast is extensive. A very important
district of the State is an island. The State itself is penetrated by a
large navigable river for more than fifty leagues. The great emporium
of its commerce, the great reservoir of its wealth, lies every moment
at the mercy of events, and may almost be regarded as a hostage for
ignominious compliances with the dictates of a foreign enemy, or even
with the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians. Should a war be
the result of the precarious situation of European affairs, and all the
unruly passions attending it be let loose on the ocean, our escape from
insults and depredations, not only on that element, but every part of
the other bordering on it, will be truly miraculous. In the present
condition of America, the States more immediately exposed to these
calamities have nothing to hope from the phantom of a general government
which now exists; and if their single resources were equal to the task
of fortifying themselves against the danger, the object to be protected
would be almost consu