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 consumed by the means of protecting them.
The power of regulating and calling forth the militia has been already
sufficiently vindicated and explained.
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