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George Washington's Farewell
Address
To the People of the
United States
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:
- 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.
- 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,
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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 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 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.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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, controlled,
or repressed; but, in those of the popular form,
it is seen in 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 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.
- 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, 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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, entangle our peace and prosperity in
the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest,
humor, 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,
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 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 |
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