The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1811-06-26
To 9AMES MADISON,

To JAMES MADkSOW,
President Of The United SAFES of America.
The Petition fthe Inhabitants Of the totOn Of
Nezo-Hauen, in Connecticut, in hgat
tozon meeting confirmed,
RESPECTFULLY sHowETH,
That your petitioners are in general either
directly engaged in mercantile pursuits or in
the occupations connected with them in
those pursuits they have embarked their for
tunes, and from them they have not only de-
rived subsistence for themselves and fami-
lies, tut have furnished employment for great
numbers of persons to the Mechanc& they
have opened market for the production of
his labour and skill /; to the Farmer for the
product of his fields and at the same time
they have essentially aided the publick rcye-
nue. by duties paid on their importations.
The foreign commerce in which your Pc
titioners arc engaged is principally with the
British Wcst-India Islands in conformity TO
the laws Of their country by which that trade
was sanctioned, and without any suspicion
that it would suddenly be prohibited, they
shipped during the last summer and autumn
as they have always been accustomed 10 do,
numerous cargoes which have been sold OH
credit in thc Islands, on an engagement to re-
ceivc payment in produce when the crops
come in, which they usually do in the months
Of March and April The property thus re-
Ccived, they have been in consequence of the
non-importa,ion law prevented from bringing
home and your Petitioners have now from
this and other causes large amount oi prop
erty in the British Wcst-india Islands, which
must remain there greatly 10 their loss and
disadvantage until that law is repealed in
the mean time their vessels will be useless TO
them, their seamcn unemployed, and a COM
mercc once profitable and nourishing, aban-
doned.
Your Petitioners while engaged in law
full commerce have thus suddenly without
time being allowed them to escape, been o.
We taken by these calamities--Undcr such
circumstances OF suffering, they very natural
ly enquire from whence they proceeded, and
whether they were inflicted by constitution
al authority. In making this enquiry they
cannot forget that one important grievance
complained of in the Declaration of lndepen-
dcncc was I" cutting off our trade" and that
to Z" establish commerce" was one of the
great objects proposed in that memorable in
strumcnt nor can they bring themselves to
believe that in the national compact by the
power to regulate commerce" the States
intended to grant power to destroy it.
Your Petitioners are far from imputing TO
the General Legislature any but The most
correct motives In passing the Non-lmporta-
tion Law, but the consequences of that Law,
are peculiarly destructive to their interests,
it places them in state of uncommon en-
barrassments, it ruins the property, it drives
up the sources of their prosperity, and they
perceive no relief except from its repeal.
If the operation Of the Non.lmporta,ion
Law, thus severe and oppressive not only OF
your petitioners, but to all persons concerned
in foreign commerce, does not present one
of those extraordinary occasions" which
authorizes the Prcsiden, to convene Con-
grcss your Petitioners respectfully suggest,
that such " occasion" may be found in the
change which has taken place In our foreign
relations. The Presidents Proclamation,
and the Law in question, was founded on an
engagement to revoke the Berlin and Milan
DEGREES. Those ccrees, it now appears,
have in fact not been revoked. That power
has not ceased to violate our neutral rights
She sequestcrs our property in her ports
she burns or sinks our vessels on the ocean
and, what is still more difficult to compre-
hend, after such acts, the authors of these
injuries and insults receive by Law hospi-
table reception in our harbours.
Your petitioners, therefore, respectfully
solicit the President of the United States to
convene Congress as speedily as his powers
will constilutionaIly allow, in order to enable
them TO take the subject of this Petition into
consideration, aad of granting to your Pc,i-
TONERS such relief as the naturc of the case
requires.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, SC.
PRESIDENTS ANSWER,