We the undersigned Ship owners & others concern’d in trade, inhabitants of Kennebunk, in the district of Maine & State of Massachusetts, beg leave most respectfully to represent—that a very large proportion of those who carry on the trade of the port of Kennebunk, are firmly attached to the present System of Administration of the government of the United States, that in the opinion of the undersigned, Jonas Clark Esqr. of this place, ought in justice & propriety, to be removed from the Offices which he holds under the Government, as collector &c. of the revenue of this district.—We have long beheld with regret an office in the hands of a man who is Systematically opposed to a republican government, & who has zealously exerted his abilities to oppose it,—although from motives of personal interest he has in some degree desisted from acting openly, yet we have good reason to believe that he has left no secret means untried to render the administration unpopular, as far as his influence extended.—an instance of his hostility to republicanism appears by the following toast, which Mr. Clark drank on a public occasion, “John Adams, the ex-President—when Vice prevails & impious men bear sway, the post of honour is the private station.”—many instances of this kind could be given, but we hope & presume that they will not be necessary.—feeling interested in the prosperity of our republican government and its institutions, we sincerely hope, that a man so dangerous to the political rights of such a free government will not any longer be permited to hold an office under it, when there are men of firm republican principles—men of virtues & abilities, who have exerted their talents with zeal & effect in Opposition to the enemies of the equal rights of Man.—We the undersigned would therefore most respectfully Solicit the President of the United States to remove the Said Jonas Clark Esqr. from the offices which he holds under the general Government, and that he would appoint in his stead, Stephen Thacher Esqr., of this place, a Man of firm republican principles, whose character for honesty is unimpeachable, who is a man of erudition and Science, & who has exerted his talents with zeal & effect in Support of the republican cause in this quarter of the district of Maine, who is esteem’d by all the republicans of this quarter, and who, we do not hesitate to say, would execute the duties of the Office faithfully, and to the satisfaction of all and the change, we sincerely believe would be promotive of the republican cause, & the interests of the general Government.—