iii Xii PRERACE TO under great and multiplied, but we trust not insuperable, difficulties. We have the misfortune of a depressed commerce, but we have the consolation of an un- tarnished honour : we have still a high national character, and in a nation, cha- racter is power and wealth. To the dis- tresses inflicted,' by Divine Providence, our own countrymen have made a large and most criminal addition. In looking out for the causes of this appalling visit- ation, may not one of those causes be found in our not havingused the sudden flow of our prosperity with gratitude, hu- mility, and moderation ? Great areour exigencies, but great are our resources. We possess a powerful stock of talent, and of virtue.; and in spite of the blasphemies of the 'atheist, and the treasons of the abandoned, we possess, it is presumed, an increasing fund of vital religion. Were these and all our other number- less resources thrown into one scale, and applied to the same grand ends, and 14'
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