artificial means.  They find the shock lightest who take it soonest; and I fully believe that, if those parts of the country which now suffer most had not augmented the force of the blow by deferring it, they would have now been in a much better condition than they are.  We may assure ourselves, once for all, Sir, that there can be no such thing as payment of debts by legislation.  We may abolish debts indeed; we may transfer property by visionary and violent laws.  But we deceive both ourselves and our constituents, if we flatter either ourselves or them with the hope that there is any relief against whatever pressure exists, but in economy and industry.  The depression of prices and the stagnation of business have been in truth the necessary result of circumstances.  No government could prevent them, and no government can altogether relieve the people from their effect.  We have enjoyed a day of extraordinary prosperity; we had been neutral while the world was at war, and had found a great demand for our products, our navigation, and our labor.  We had no right to expect that that state of things would continue always.  With the return of peace, foreign nations would struggle for themselves, and enter into competition with us in the great objects of pursuit.

Now, Sir, what is the remedy for existing evils?  What is the course of policy suited to our actual condition?  Certainly it is not our wisdom to adopt any system that may be offered to us, without examination, and in the blind hope that whatever changes our condition may improve it.  It is better that we should

                “bear those ills we have,
    Than fly to others that we know not of.”

We are bound to see that there is a fitness and an aptitude in whatever measures may be recommended to relieve the evils that afflict us; and before we adopt a system that professes to make great alterations, it is our duty to look carefully to each leading interest of the community, and see how it may probably be affected by our proposed legislation.

And, in the first place, what is the condition of our commerce?  Here we must clearly perceive, that it is not enjoying that rich harvest which fell to its fortune during the continuance of the European wars.  It has been greatly depressed, and limited to small profits.  Still, it is elastic and active, and seems capable of recovering itself in some measure from its depression.  The shipping interest, also, has suffered severely, still more severely, probably, than commerce.  If any thing should strike us with astonishment, it is that the navigation of the United States should be able to sustain itself.  Without any government protection whatever, it goes abroad to challenge competition with the whole world; and, in spite of all obstacles, it has yet been able to maintain eight hundred thousand tons in the employment of foreign trade.  How, Sir, do the ship-owners and navigators accomplish this?  How is it that