In honor of President's Day I would like to share Washington's Farewell Address.
George Washington's
Farewell Address
To the People of the United States
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:
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.
(Credit: Tyler Olson via Shutterstock)
