The wrongs which we have sustained, fellow citizens, from the belligerent powers of Europe, and of which you have taken so just a view in your address, received by me on the 27th of the last month, could not fail to excite in the bosoms of freemen the sentiments of high indignation expressed by you. The love of peace had long induced us to bear with these aggressions, and the hope of a return to a spirit of justice had encouraged us to persevere in endeavors at amicable adjustment. Their outrages, however, have at length forced us to suspend all intercourse with them, to gather home our resources, and to prepare for whatever may happen. Your approbation of these measures is gratifying to your public functionaries, and the readiness you express to encounter the privations and sacrifices which these aggressions occasion, is honorable to yourselves. The legislature of the nation now assembled together, will decide how long the state of non-intercourse may be preferable to a more serious appeal. The decided support which you tender either of the present, or such other measures as they shall adopt for the good of the Union, and the pledge of your lives, your fortunes and honor for that purpose, are calculated to inspire them with firmness in their deliberations, and an assurance that the result will be supported by their country. The confidence you are so good as to express in the conduct of the administration, is highly gratifying to them, and encourages a perseverance in their best endeavors for the public good. That these may issue in effecting your happiness, and the peace and prosperity of our country, is my sincere prayer. TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA IN TOWN-MEETING ASSEMBLED. February 3, 1809. In the resolutions and address which you have been pleased to present to me, I recognize with great satisfaction the sentiments of faithful citizens, devoted to the maintenance of the rights of their country, to the sacred bond which unites these States together, and rallying round their government in support of its laws. After the intolerable assault on our maritime rights, by the declarations of the belligerent powers, that we should navigate the ocean only as they should permit, the recall of our seamen, recovery of our property abroad, and putting ourselves into a state of defence, should perseverance on their parts force us to the last appeal, were duties to first obligation. No other course was left us but to reduce our navigation within the limits they dictated, and to hold even that subject to such further restrictions as their interests or will should prescribe. To this no friend to the independence of his country should submit.