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[II]

us by that constitution, and the nature of the trusts we have accepted, to deliberate and consult together for the public weal, to guard the civil and religious liberties of the citizens, and generally by good and wholesome laws to provide for the welfare and lasting prosperity of the State.

Although many of us have been delegated by comparatively small portions of the people, yet when assembled here, we are to consider ourselves as agents of the whole State, and to consult the particular interests of our local constituents only so far as may be consistent with the duty which we owe to the community in all our deliberations, it behooves us, while sacredly adhering to the constitution as our guide, to divest ourselves of sectional and partial prejudices, and to act together in harmony and patriotism, with the single view to promote the public good.

From the complicated concerns of our national affairs generally, we are relieved, by a judicious reference of them, under the federal constitution, to the President and Congress of the United States. But as citizens of this extended republic, we are all immediately and deeply interested in the measures and policy which they may adopt and pursue. And at the present time, in an especial manner, our attention is necessarily directed towards them by the consideration that some of our most important interests and claims as a separate State, are directly dependent upon, or under the control of, the general government. For the faithful and prudent management of these concerns, we must rely upon those public agents to whom the nation has confided the important trust. It becomes, therefore, highly interesting to this people, that nothing should occur to interrupt