The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1831-12-13

4'A hH ~ - In ~ -~'
TOBO HOUSES OFTHE
TwENTY.sECoND CONGRESS-.
THE following Message was commune
Gated to both Houses Of the 22d Con-
gress Immediately after their organi-
cation.
WAsHINcrov, DEC. 5,l83l.
Fellos- Citizens ofthe Senate,
and House Of Representatives:
The representation Of the people has
been renewed for the twenty-second time
since the constitution they formed has
been in force. For nearly half a centu-
ry, the chief magistrates, who have been
successfully chosen have made their an
nual communications of the state Of the
nation to its representatives. Generally,
these communications have been Of the
most gratifying nature, testifying an ad-
vance in all the improvements Of social,
and all the securities of political life. But
frequently, and justly, as you have been
called on to be grateful for the bounties
of Providence, at few periods have they
been more abundantly or extensively be-
slowed than at the present. rarely, if ev-
er, have we had greater reason to con-
graduate each other on the continue d
and increasing prosperity of our beloved
country.
Agriculture, the first and most irnpor-
tant occupation of man, has compensated
the labors of the husbaDdman with plen-
tiful crops of all the varied products Of
our extensive country. Manufactures
have been established, in which the funds
Of the capitalist find profitable invest
ment, and which give employment and
subsistence to numerous and increasing
body of industrious and dexterous me-
chanics The laborer is rewarded by
high wages, in the construction of works
Of interna! improvement; which are ex-
tending with unprecedented rapidity.-
Science is steadily penetrating the recess
ses of nature and disclosing her secrets,
while the ingenuity of free minds is sub
jecting the elements to the power Of man,
and making each new conquest auxiliary
70 his comrort. Dy IIIuus, wnuse
speed is regularly increased, and whose
routes are every year extended, the com
munication of public intelligence and
private business is rendered frequent and
safe-the intercourse between distant
cities which it formerly required weeks
to accomplish, is now effected IN few
days; and by the construction OF rail-
roads, and the application of steam pow
er. we have reasonable prospect that
the extreme parts of our country will te
SO much approximated, and those most
isolated by the obstacles of nature, rem
dered so accessible as to remove an ap-
prehenson sometimes entertained, that
the great extent of the Union would en-
danger its permanent existence.
If. from the satisfactory view Of our
agriculture, manufactures, and internal
improvements, we turn to the state of our
navigation and trade with foreign nations
and between the States, we shall scarce
ly find less cause for graduation. A be-
nefcent Providence has provided, for
their exercise and encouragement, an ex-
tensive coast, indented by capacious
bays, noble rivers, inland seas, with a
country productive of every material for
ship building and every commodity for
painful commerce, and filled with pop
ulation, active, intelligent, well-inform-
ed, and fearless Of danger. These ad-
vantages are not neglected, and an inn
pulse has lately been given to CONNER
cial enterprise, which fills our shIp-yards
with new constructions, encourages all
the arts and branches of industry con-
nected with them, crowds the wharves OF
our cities with vessels, and covers the
most distant seas with our canvass.
Let us be grateful for these blessings
to the beneficent Being who has confer.
red them, and who suffers US to indulge a
reasonable hope of their continuance q
extension, while we neglect not the means
by which they may be preserved. II
we may dare to Judge Of His future de-
signs, by the manner in which his pas,
favors have been bestowed, he has made
our national prosperity to depend on the
preservation Of our liberties; our natlona
force on our federal union, and our indi
vidual happiness on the maintenance o
our State rights and wise institutions. /
we are prosperous at home, and respect
ed abroad, it is because we are free, uni
ted, industrious, & obedient to the laws
While we continue so, we shall, by tn,
blessing Of heaven, go on in the happy
career we have begun, and which ha
brought us, in the short period ofour po
litical existence, from a population o
three to thirteen millions; from thirteeI
separate colonies, to twenty four United
States; from weakness to strength; from
a rank scarcely marked IN the scale 0
nations to a high place in their respect.