I will now take some view, as it appears to me, of what has been, and will be the effect of the embargo, if continued, as it respects ourselves. The burden of it has already been very great, on a large proportion of our citizens. It has been grievous, and very sore. For how otherwise can it be, when we consider that all the navigation business, from one end to the other of these United States, is totally stopped, excepting a small remnant of our coasting trade, and that remnant under very great embarrassments; and all that numerous class of our citizens, dependent on commerce, deprived of their usual means of gaining a livelihood, and in consequence thereof thousands of them have been obliged to live on their former earnings, and consume that little property they had treasured up for their future support? And if the embargo is continued, the inevitable consequence must be, bankruptcy to many of our merchants, and absolute distress, misery, and want, to a large proportion of our citizens who live in the seaport towns, and great embarrassments to all classes of citizens throughout our country. And if this system is continued, we must incur the hazard of having civil commotions in our country, for experience has proved, that when great distress prevails among the people, and that distress arises from political measures, which the people are divided in sentiment upon, the hazard is very great that civil commotions will take place. Some gentlemen have undertaken to show how much we have already lost by the embargo. But I shall not go into any calculation of this sort, for I am convinced that it defies calculation; it is impossible to follow it into all its turnings and windings. It is enough for me to know that the loss is immense, and that we have received such a shock by it, that it will require a long time to come, to recover from it. Gentlemen have also endeavored to point out such parts of the Union as they think are suffering the most by the embargo. There is no doubt but that it does bear harder upon some portions than on others, and that it is unequal in its operation. But, sir, my idea is, that it bears the hardest upon that part of our citizens where they are the most dependent on commerce for their living; and this being the case, in nearly as great a degree, perhaps, with the citizens of Rhode Island as in any part of the Union, it follows that my constituents are suffering as much as any portion of the United States.