By  order  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled.
54


30  APPENDIX.
NO.    7.
On  the  30th  April,  1784,  Congress  agreed  to  the  following
further  recommendations :

"  The  trust  reposed  in  Congress  renders  it  their  duty  to  be
attentive  to  the  conduct  of  foreign  nations,  and  to  prevent  or
restrain,  as  far  as  may  be,  all  such  proceedings  as  might  prove
injurious  to  the  United  States.  The  situation  of  commerce  at
this  time  claims  the  attention  of  the  several  States,  and  few
objects  of  greater  importance  can  present  themselves  to  their
notice.  The  fortune  of  every  citizen  is  interested  in  the  success
thereof;  for  it  is  the  constant  source  of  wealth  and  incentive  to
industry ;  and  the  value  of  our  produce  and  our  land  must  ever
rise  or  fall  in  proportion  to  the  prosperous  or  adverse  state  of
trade.
"  Already  has  Great  Britain  adopted  regulations  destructive
of  our  commerce  with  her  West  India  Islands.  There  was  rea-
son to  expect  that  measures  so  unequal,  and  so  little  calculated
to  promote  mercantile  intercourse,  would  not  be  persevered  in
by  an  enlightened  nation.  But  these  measures  are  growing
into  a  system.  It  would  be  the  duty  of  Congress,  as  it  is  their
wish,  to  meet  the  attempts  of  Great  Britain  with  similar  restric-
tions on  her  commerce  ;  but  their  powers  on  tliis  head  are  not
explicit,  and  the  propositions  made  by  the  legislatures  of  the
several  states  render  it  necessary  to  take  the  general  sense  of
the  Union  on  this  subject.
