1 The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer the executive government
of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when
your thoughts must be employed designating the person, who is to be clothed with
that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a
more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprize you of the
resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those
out of whom a choice is to be made.
2 I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution
has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining
to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing
the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced
by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect
for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible
with both.
3 The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages
have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion
of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped,
that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives, which
I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement, from which I had
been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the
last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you;
but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs
with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence
impelled me to abandon the idea.
4 I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer
renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or propriety;
and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in
the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination
to retire.
5 The impressions, with which I first undertook the arduous trust, were explained
on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I
have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration
of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable.
Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience
in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives
to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes
me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will
be welcome. Satisfied, that, if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my
services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that, while choice
and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
6 In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of
my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment
of that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors
it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it
has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting
my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness
unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services,
let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our
annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction,
were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune
often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has
countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential
prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly
penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement
to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence;
that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution,
which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration
in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; than, in fine, the happiness
of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete,
by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire
to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption
of every nation, which is yet a stranger to it.
7 Here, perhaps I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare which cannot
end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude,
urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation,
and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of
much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important
to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with
the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting
friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I
forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on
a former and not dissimilar occasion.
8 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation
of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.
9 The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to
you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence,
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of
your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy
to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains
will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of
this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries
of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often
covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly
estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual
happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your
political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety;
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event
be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to
alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties
which now link together the various parts.
10 For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth
or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections.
The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always
exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local
discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners,
habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed
together; the Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels,
and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.
11 But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your
sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those, which apply more immediately to your
interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for
carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole.
12 The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal
laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional
resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing
industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North,
sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels
the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while
it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the
national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength,
to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West,
already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by
land and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which
it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies
requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence,
it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own
productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic
side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation.
Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion with
any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.
13 While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular
interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass
of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater
security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign
nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from Union an exemption
from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring
countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rivalships
alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments,
and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the
necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government,
are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile
to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered
as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to
you the preservation of the other.
14 These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous
mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary object of Patriotic
desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere?
Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.
We are authorized to hope, that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary
agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue
to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful
and obvious motives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience
shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to
distrust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may endeavour to weaken its
bands.
15 In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter
of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing
parties by Geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western;
whence designing men may endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference
of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence,
within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.
You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings,
which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other
those, who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of
our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen,
in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate,
of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout
the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated
among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly
to their interests in regard to the mississippi; they have been witnesses to the
formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure
to them every thing they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards
confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation
of these advantages on the union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth
be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren,
and connect them with aliens?
16 To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the whole is indispensable.
No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they
must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions, which all alliances
in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved
upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calculated
than your former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of your
common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced
and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely
free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with
energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just
claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance
with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental
maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people
to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which
at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people,
is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the
people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey
the established Government.
17 All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations,
under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract,
or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive
of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction,
to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated
will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising
minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different
parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested
by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.
18 However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then
answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled
to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government;
destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
19 Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present
happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular
oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the
spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method
of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which
will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly
overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and
habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of
other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which to test
the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes,
upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from
the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that, for
the efficient management of our common interests, in a country so extensive as ours,
a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty
is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly
distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a
name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction,
to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws,
and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person
and property.
20 I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular
reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take
a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful
effects of the spirit of party, generally.
21 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in
the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all
governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the
popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
22 The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit
of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has
perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this
leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries,
which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in
the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing
faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition
to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
23 Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought
not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit
of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage
and restrain it.
24 It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration.
It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles
the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.
It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated
access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the
policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
25 There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the
administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty.
This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a Monarchical
cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of
party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it
is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there
will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being
constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to
mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance
to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
26 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should
inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves
within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the
powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends
to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever
the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power,
and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient
to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks
in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different
depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions
by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them
in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as
to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification
of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by
an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no
change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of
good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent
must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit,
which the use can at any time yield.
27 Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion
and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute
of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness,
these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally
with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace
all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where
is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious
obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts
of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be
maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to
expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
28 It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular
government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of
free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference
upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ?
29 Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general
diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
30 As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One
method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions
of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements
to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it;
avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense,
but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable
wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen,
which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your
representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate
to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically
bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have
Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more or
less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable
from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties),
ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government
in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue,
which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.
31 Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony
with all. Religion and Morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy
does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no
distant period, a great Nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel
example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can
doubt, that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly
repay any temporary advantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it
? Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation
with its Virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which
ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices ?
32 In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential, than that permanent,
inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for
others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings
towards all should be cultivated. The Nation, which indulges towards another an
habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave
to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray
from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes
each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage,
and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute
occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The
Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government,
contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes participates
in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject;
at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of
hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives.
The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations has been the victim.
33 So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety
of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary
common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into
one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels
and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also
to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt
doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with
what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition
to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives
to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite
nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without
odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous
sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal
for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
34 As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly
alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities
do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction,
to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils! Such an attachment
of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be
the satellite of the latter.
35 Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me,
fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since
history and experience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful
foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial;
else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a
defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike
of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve
to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may
resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious;
while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender
their interests.
36 The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending
our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible.
So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect
good faith. Here let us stop.
37 Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote
relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which
are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in
us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
38 Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different
course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not
far off, when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take
such an attitude as will cause the neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon,
to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility
of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation;
when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.
39 Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand
upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe,
entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship,
interest, humor, or caprice?
40 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion
of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let
me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements.
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty
is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed
in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise
to extend them.
41 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable
defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary
emergencies.
42 Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity,
and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial
hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the
natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams
of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order
to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable
the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that
present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable
to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall
dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for
disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence
for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may
place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and
yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater
error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is
an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.
43 In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate
friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could
wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation
from running the course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But,
if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit,
some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party
spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the
impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the
solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.
44 How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by the principles
which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct
must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience
is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.
45 In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my Proclamation of the 22d
of April 1793, is the index to my Plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and
by that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure
has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me
from it.
46 After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain,
I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case,
had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position.
Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it,
with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.
47 The considerations, which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary
on this occasion to detail. I will only observe, that, according to my understanding
of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the Belligerent Powers,
has been virtually admitted by all.
48 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more,
from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases
in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity
towards other nations.
49 The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred
to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to
endeavour to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions,
and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency,
which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
50 Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of
intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it
probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently
beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall
also carry with me the hope, that my Country will never cease to view them with
indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service
with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion,
as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
51 Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent
love towards it, which is so natural to a man, who views it in the native soil of
himself and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate with pleasing
expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the
sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence
of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and
the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
George Washington
United States - September 17, 1796
Source: The Independent Chronicle, September 26, 1796.
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