Relative to the policy
pursued by
the late administration.

said resolutions have excited; therefore, RESOLVED, That it is the
conscientious belief, and unbiassed conviction, of this legislature,
representing the interests and speaking the sentiments of the independent
freemen of Maryland, that the aforesaid act imposing an
embargo, and the several acts supplementary thereto, were wise,
efficient and dignified measures, rendered indispensably necessary
by the unjust and illegal proceedings of the belligerents of Europe,
and the convulsed and unprecedented state of the world, as
the only adviseable alternatives between a destructive and calamitous
war, and the humiliating surrender of our national honour
and independence; that the many evils which were stated to have
flowed from the adoption of the said embargo, and the gloomy
picture of its consequences, portrayed by the aforesaid resolutions,
were contrary to the good opinion, and to the general sentiments,
of a large majority of the free and independent voters of
this state; that so far from proscribing and spiriting away " the existence
of commercial enterprize," it must be obvious to every reflecting
and dispassionate mind, that the object of our government
was to secure it ultimately to the citizens of these United States,
by contending for principles, and demanding acknowledgments of
those just rights, without which our commerce will always be precarious
and exposed; that the very policy, so much censured, protected
and promoted the interests of our country, by withdrawing
from the rapacious and piratical plunderers of the ocean, our property
to an immense and incalculable amount, by rescuing from
seizure and bondage our " brave and hardy tars," by diverting a
portion of our wealth and attention to the establishment of those
manufactories, which are necessary to our subsistence, essential to
our independence, and which have, in the short lapse of two years,
succeeded to an extent surpassing the most sanguine calculations
of the many honest, ingenious and industrious mechanics, with
which the United States abound; that the "jealousies," and " discontent,
" distrust, suspicion and alarm," and the violation of " the
sovereignty of the laws," may with more correctness be attributed
to the opponents of the late administration, who have united
into one body, and particularly to their leaders, who by their
feigned and uniform disapprobation of every measure pursued by
the late administration, however wise and virtuous, have shewn and
evinced a determination not to " sheath the sword of opposition"
until it had reached its destruction and overthrow, and that their
opposition has been aided by the specious misrepresentations and
insidious exertions of the friends of the great beligerents of Europe,
and by the conduct of artful and designing men, who seek
their own aggrandizement through the distresses of their fellow-citizens
and the commotions of their native country; that the insolent
boastings of the British ministry originated not so much from
a disregard of the operation of the embargo, as from a confident
hope of its speedy removal, and a desire to promote the success, to
further the views, and to verify the predictions, of that party in
this country, which it conceived most compliant to its wishes, and
most friendly to its interests; that the adoption of the said resolutions
by a majority of the late " house of delegates," may have had
the most injurious tendency; that it is feared, by some unfortunate
concurrence of circumstances, (which the great wisdom of the majority