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 in 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 apprise 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.

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.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in 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 [Page 22] 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 affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

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 service, that, in the pres­ent circumstances of our country, you will not dis­approve my determination to retire.

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 out-set, 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.

In looking forward to the moment, which is in­tended [Page 23] 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 honours 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 our 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— that, 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.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, [Page 24] 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 feel 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.

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.

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 immoveable attachment to it; accus­toming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; [Page 25] 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.

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 councils, and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings and successes.

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.

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 [Page 26] 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.

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 government; which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and in­trigues would stimulate and imbitter. 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 [Page 27] 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.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the UNION as a primary object of a 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 authorised 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 ex­periment 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.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should be furnished for characterising 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 your selves 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 [Page 28] the negociation 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 Missisippi: 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?

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 will 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 a govern­ment, better calculated than your former, for an in­timate Union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the off­spring of your 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. [Page 29] 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.

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 councils and modified by mutual interests.

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.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is re­quisite, not only that you steadily discountenance ir­regular opposition to its acknowledged authority, but [Page 30] 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 government, 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 your common interest, in a country so ex­tensive as ours, a government of as much vigour 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.

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.

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, controled, or re­pressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in [Page 31] its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over an­other, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissention, 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.

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.

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, and 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 will of one country are subject­ed to the policy and will of another.

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 favour, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular charac­ter, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not [Page 32] 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 uniform vigi­lance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free country, should inspire caution, in those en­trusted 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 be 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 the 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.

[Page 33]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 would labour 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 of 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.

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?

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.

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 [Page 34] 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 burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. 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; and none 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.

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 Virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

[Page 35]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 the 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.

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favourite 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 favourite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily part­ing [Page 36] 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 favourite 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.

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 counsels; such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the for­mer to be the satellite of the latter.

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 [...]ided, 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 favourite, are liable to become suspected and odi­ous; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

[Page 37]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.

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.

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.

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 [...]tangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival­ship, interest, humour, or caprice?

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, [Page 38] 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.

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraor­dinary emergencies.

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 sending or granting exclusive favours 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 favours 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 favours, and [...] being reproached with in­gratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experi­ence must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old 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 [Page 39] passions, or prevent our nation from running [...] 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 recompence for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

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.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my Proclamation of the 22d of April, 1795, 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.

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. [...]ng taken it, I deter­mined, as far as should [...] on me, to maintain it, with moderation.

The considerations which [...] 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.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be in­ferred, [Page 40] 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.

The inducements of interest for observ [...] 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.

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 [...] upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

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 [...]ews in it the native soil of himself and his prog [...] [...]s for several generations; I anticipate with plea [...] expectation that retreat, in which I promise [...] realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of [...], in the midst of my fel­low-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government—the ever favourite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labours and dangers.