large.

The sovereignty of a nation, always of right, resides in the body of
the People; and while they have delegated to their freely elected
Legislative, the power of exercising that sovereignty in their behalf,
the Executive department, as well as the Magistrates who are appointed
to render the Constitution efficient by carrying the laws into effect,
are no less important to the people. For what avails the making of good
and wholesome laws, unless they are duly executed. As the happiness of
civil society may in a great measure depend upon a wise and a
consistent harmony between the various branches of the Government; a
free communication may have a tendency to cultivate and extend the
blessings of friendship and good humor. Indeed our constituents, under
whose authority and for whose benefit we are to exercise the functions
of our different departments, have a right to expect from us, as their
public agents, to avow our principles and intentions, and make them
acquainted with the true situation of their public affairs.

In the addresses from the Chair, while it was filled by Royal
appointment, uniform attempts were made to strengthen the prerogatives
of the Crown, and to bring the people obsequiously at the foot of the
Throne, for privileges holden by sufferance: Surely it becomes us, in
our happy state of Independence, to turn our attentive minds to the
great objects of securing the equal rights of the citizens, and
rendering those constitutions which they have voluntarily established,
respectable and efficacious.

Our ancestors, when under the greatest hardships and perils, they
opened to us the wilderness, they took possession of, and left for us
an inheritance, one of the best countries under the sun. Amidst their