(Good diplomacy this, for the
present time!) In this belief we are confirmed by the fact that in all
his transactions with their befogged island, he is much more moderate
and careful than with us.
"Our petition is, that it would please your Honorable Body to pass a
law whereby shall be directed the shutting up of all windows, dormers,
sky-lights, shutters, curtains--in a word, all openings, holes,
chinks, and fissures through which the light of the sun is used to
penetrate into our dwellings, to the prejudice of the profitable
manufactures which we flatter ourselves we have been enabled to bestow
upon the country; which country cannot, therefore, without
ingratitude, leave us now to struggle unprotected through so unequal a
contest.
"We pray your Honorable Body not to mistake our petition for a satire,
nor to repulse us without at least hearing the reasons which we have
to advance in its favor.
"And first, if, by shutting out as much as possible all access to
natural light, you thus create the necessity for artificial light, is
there in the United States an industrial pursuit which will not,
through some connection with this important object, be benefited by
it?
"If more tallow be consumed, there will arise a necessity for an
increase of cattle and sheep.
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