.5- 
 
E 458 ^ 
 
 .2 
 
 .B21 
 
 Copy 1 
 
 MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION. 
 
 Oration delivered hy George Bancroft before the Mayor, Common Council, 
 and Citizens of New York, on the 22d of February, 1862, at the request of 
 the Common Council. 
 
 "Ubi Judicia deoinunt incipit bellum."— 5i/- Edward Hyde agaimt the Ship- 
 money Judges. 4 Somers'' Tracts, 304. 
 
 ^Iek of Few York : As the organ of tlie city of New York on 
 tills occasion, it is my first duty to remind you that we owe thanks 
 to Almighty God for the patriots who achieved the independence 
 of the United States, and who formed "the unity of government 
 which constitutes us one people." To-day we declare to peoples 
 and to princes that that union is complete and shall not be impair- 
 ed, is dear to us and shall be preserved. The wise and the good in 
 each hemisphere desire us to continue one ; every fibre of the sen- 
 sitive heai t of the indivisible France, in spite of some appearances, 
 throbs in favor of our existence as a nation ; the people of England 
 I shall believe are with us, so long as there are among them men 
 like Bright and Stuart Mill ; Italy has learned from us to adhere to 
 her passion for bringing together the country which the selfishness 
 of oppression had dismembered ; and the ill-cemented fragments of 
 Germany derive from us a hope of a better reunion. The most 
 wonderful career of improvement in the history of the race is the 
 witness that we are a nation. Now, in the day of our tribulation, 
 the people have proved that they are inspired with life by their 
 uprising in the majesty of undivided conviction, concentrated 
 power, and determined pui-pose ; by their unrepining resignation 
 to suftering and privation ; by their sublime patience under strange 
 discomfitures and weary delays and long-continued inactivity, from 
 inability and perplexity, or from judgment and choice ; by their 
 outspoken joy when the spell was broken of the seeming paralysis 
 of their gigantic preparations; by the heartiness of their response 
 to General Grant when he jiroposed " to move immediately on the 
 enemy's works." Now the rulers of the earth will come to know 
 that under the Constitution which make's us one people, there exists 
 
104 MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION ,'B'2' ^ 
 
 no authority that can aUenate a single inch of the territory of the 
 United States; that while we claim for each individual the right 
 of emigration, there is no possible conspiracy, combination, or con- 
 vention that can discharge any one citizen from his allegiance so 
 long as he remains on our soil, though each one may for himself 
 dissolve that allegiance by self-exile and flight. These many and 
 ever-increasing United States are one, now and for coming ages. 
 
 The only ground of hope for the perpetuity of our Union, you 
 will find, men of New York, in the words of Washington, spoken 
 in this city. When, in the presence of your fathers, Washington, 
 standing under the canopy of the sky, had taken the oath to support 
 the Constitution, he returned into the Senate Chamber, to interpret 
 to the First Congress the principles of our great charter, and the fit 
 policy for the nation to pursue. Then it was that he laid down as 
 their rule "the pure and immutable principles of private morality," 
 and " the eternal rules of order and right tchich Heaven itself has 
 ordaiiied.^'' And the House of Representatives, using the pen of 
 Madison to frame its answer, accepted his enlightened maxims, 
 and owned the obligation to "adore the invisible hand which has 
 led the American people through so many difficulties, to cherish a 
 conscious responsibility for the destiny of Republican liberty." On 
 these principles the government which makes us pne people was 
 put in motion, while the foundations of monarchy in France were 
 crumbling away, and the beams that upheld the civilization of the 
 Middle Ages were falling in. During the half century which suc- 
 ceeded, France underwent more revolutions than I can readily 
 count up ; Spain had many forms of government in rapid succes- 
 sion; the dynasty of Portugal was driven for refuge to South 
 America ; the empire of Germany went down in the whirlpool of 
 revolution ; Russia has been convulsed by a fearful plot for insur- 
 rection ; Italy was many times reconstructed ; the Pope lost and 
 won temporal powei", and has been almost shorn of it again ; the 
 institutions of Great Britain have been thrice essentially modified 
 by the annexation of Ireland; by the reform of Parliament, which 
 "was, in fact, a revolution; and by opening the doors of its two 
 Houses to men of all creeds ; and bloody insurrections have shaken 
 English power to its foundation in Ireland, Canada, and Ilindostau. 
 
 During all these convulsions the United States stood unchanged, 
 admitting none but the slightest modifications in its charter, and 
 proving itself the most stable government of the civilized world. 
 But at last "we have fallen on evil days." " The propitious smiles of 
 
ON THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY, 1862. 195 
 
 Heaven," such are the words of "Washington, " can never be expect- 
 ed on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right." 
 During eleven years of perverse government those rules were disre- 
 garded; and it came to pass that incn who should firmly avow the 
 sentiments of Washington, and JelTersou, and Franklin, and Chan- 
 cellor Livingston were disfranchised for the public service ; that tiio 
 spotless chief-justice whom "Washington placed at the Ijcad of our 
 Supreme Court could by no possibility have been nominated fur 
 that ofiice, or confirmed. Nay, the corrupt iuflucnce invaded even 
 the very home of justice. The final decree of the Supreme Court, 
 in its decision on a particular case, must be respected and obeyed ; 
 the present chief-justice has, on one memorable appeal, accompan- 
 ied his decision with an impassioned declamation, wherein, with 
 profound immorality, which no one has as yet fully laid bare, treat- 
 ing the people of the "CTnited States as a shrew to be tamed by an 
 open scorn of the facts of history, with a dreary industry collecting 
 cases where justice may have slumbered or weakness been op- 
 pressed, compensating for want of evidence by confidence of asser- 
 tion, with a partiality that would have disgraced an advocate 
 neglecting humane decisions of colonial courts and the enduring 
 memorials of colonial statute-books, in his party zeal to prove that 
 the fathers of our country held the negro to have " no rights which 
 the white man was bound to respect," he has not only denied the 
 rights of man and the liberties of mankind, but has not left a foot- 
 hold for the liberty of the white man to rest upon. 
 
 That ill-starred disquisition is the starting-point of this rebellion, 
 which, for a quarter of a century, had been vainly preparing to 
 raise its head. " When courts of justice fail, war begins." The so- 
 called opinion of Taney, who, I trust, did not intend to hang out the 
 flag of disunion, that rash oftense to the conscious memory of the 
 millions, upheaved our country with the excitement which swept 
 over those of us who vainly hoped to preserve a strong and suffi- 
 cient though narrow isthmus that might stand between the conflict- 
 ing floods. No nation can adopt that judgment as its rule and live ; 
 the judgment has in it no element of political vitality; I will not 
 say it is an invocation of the dead past ; there never was a past that 
 accepted such opinions. If we want the opinions received in the 
 days when our Constitution was framed, we will not take them sec- 
 ond-hand from our chief-justice; we will let the men of that day 
 speak for themselves. How will our American magistrate sink 
 when arraigned, as he will be, before the tribunal of humanity ! how 
 
lOG • ^''- BANCIIOFT'S ORATION 
 
 terrible will be the verdict against liirn, when he is put in compar- 
 ison with "Washington's political teacher, the great Montesquieu, the 
 enlightened magistrate of France, in what are esteemed the worst 
 days of her monarchy ! The argument from the difference of race 
 which Taney thrusts forward with passionate confidence, as a proof 
 of complete disqualification, is brought forward by Montesquieu as 
 a scathing satire on all the brood of despots who were supposed to 
 uphold slavery as tolerable in itself. The rights of mankind, that 
 precious word which had no equivalent in the language of Hindo- 
 stan, or Judea, or Greece, or Eome, or any ante-Christian tongue, 
 found their supporter in Washington and Hamilton, in Franklin and 
 Livingston, in Otis, George Mason, and Gadsden ; in all the great- 
 est men of our early history. The one rule from which the makers 
 of our first Confederacy, and then of our national Constitution, 
 never swerved, is this : to fix no constitutional disability on any 
 one. Whatever might stand in the way of any man from opin- 
 ion, ancestry, weakness of mind, inferiority or inconvenience of any 
 kind, -was itself not formed into a permanent disfranchisement. 
 The Constitution of the United States was made under the recog- 
 nized influence of " the eternal rule of order and right," so that, 
 as far as its jurisdiction extends, it raised at once the numerous 
 class who had been chattels into the condition of persons; it 
 neither originates nor perpetuates inequality. 
 
 It is another trait in Washington's character which may particu- 
 larly interest this opulent city, where enterprise, and skill, and 
 industry are forever producing and amassing wealth, that while he 
 held the acquisition of fortune by honest ways a proper object of 
 desire, he drew a careful distinction between the pursuits of busi- 
 ness and the service of his country. He held that every man must 
 be ready to devote to the good of his country his ability, his wealth, 
 and his life ; and he never suffered the public service to become to 
 him a source of gain. It is rumored that men among us have 
 known how to obtain from the government, for a moderate, and 
 incidental, and essentially irresponsible use of little else than their 
 judgment, sums of money which exceed the w-hole direct tax levied 
 upon one of our smaller States. If this be so, while it implies a 
 shameful want of patriotism in individuals, it implies also a blam- 
 able want of sagacity in the executive departments which must 
 have made their selections of agents perversely or blindfold. In 
 the name of this city, I declare the great body of its people to have 
 a patriotism without blemish of selfishness. In the name of the 
 
ON TIIK TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY, 1SC2. 
 
 107 
 
 Clianibei- of Commerce, may I not venture to say of our merchants, 
 as a class, that the pretence of a necessity for resorting to extrav- 
 agant compensation for simple, ordinary service, is a calumny on a 
 body of generous and devotedly patriotic men ? In the name of 
 the mechanics I repel the insinuation ; and it is known to all that 
 the conduct of the poor of our city, during this war, lias, for disin- 
 terestedness, and exalted feeling, and firm resolve, and courageous 
 resignation, gone beyond all praise. 
 
 The disinterestedness of Washington's conduct beams foi-th in 
 still greater beauty, when, for the benefit of this age, we recall his 
 conduct toward his generals, lie took care of their honor even 
 more carefully than if it had been his own. It was his delight to 
 give them opportunities for distinction, and when danger menaced 
 alike himself and a general in another department, lie would cheer- 
 fully send to his subordinate the best part of his force, and suffer 
 no one to risk a defeat so soon as himself. 
 
 Nor should we forget that Washington was always vigilant; 
 that he never was taken by surprise; that, with all his caution, he 
 never missed an opportunity of striking a blow; that he never 
 sent his army forward excej^t with himself as its leader; that he 
 never exposed them to deep roads and bad weather except when 
 they could derive encouragement from his own presence and exam- 
 ple ; that he was always under fire with his men, and committed 
 no error in the field but from excess of personal courage. 
 
 We must not forget that in the war of the Revolution, Washing- 
 ton, among other great objects, bore arms for the maritime rights 
 of neutrals. When so many officers in our navy showed signs of 
 disaftection, the first impulse of public feeling might approve a bold 
 act, which spoke for the fidelity of a gallant commander. The just 
 indignation which is felt at the conspirators who struck at our life 
 as a nation, might exult when several of the least worthy of them 
 fell into our hands. But this excitement only shed a brighter 
 lustre on the moderation of the people, and their perfect mastery 
 over their passions. With one voice, all have agreed that due 
 respect must be shown to the neutral flag, A ship at sea is a por- 
 tion of the territory of the power whose flag she may rightly bear, 
 No naval officer of another nation may exercise judicial power on 
 her deck ; the free sliip frees the cargo ; a neutral ship in a voyage 
 between neutral ports is protected by her flag; the passenger who 
 in a neutral port steps on board a neutral ship, honestly bound for 
 another neutral port, is as safe against seizure as if he were a guest 
 
108 ^lE- BANCROrT-3 OEATION 
 
 at the Tuileries or a barrister before a court iu Westminster Hall. 
 Tliese good rules will gain renewed strength from their recognition 
 by the American people in the very moment of a just indignation 
 against men who were guilty of the darkest treason, and had fallen 
 into their hands. 
 
 Washington not only upheld the liberty of the ocean; he was a 
 thorough Eopublican. And how has our history justified his pref- 
 erence ? How has this very rebellion borne testimony to the virtue 
 and durability of popular institutions ? The rebellion which we 
 are putting down was the conspiracy of the rich, of opulent men, 
 who count laborers as their capital. Our wide-extended sufTrage 
 is not only utterly innocent of it — it is the power which will not 
 fail to crush it. The people prove their right to a popular govern- 
 ment; they have chosen it, and have kept it in healthy motion ; 
 they will sustain it now, and hand it down in its glory and its 
 power to their posterity. And this is true not only of men who 
 were born on our soil, but of foreign-born citizens. Let the Euro- 
 pean skeptic about the large extension of the suffrage come among 
 us, and we will show him a spectacle wonderful in his eyes, grand 
 beyond his power of conception. That which in this contest is 
 marked above all that has appeared is, the oneness of heart and 
 purpose with which all the less wealthy classes of our people, of all 
 nationalities, are devoted to the flag of the Union. The foreigners 
 whom we have taken to our hearts and received as our fellow-cit- 
 izens have been true to the country that has adopted them, have 
 been sincere, earnest, and ready for every sacrifice. Slavery is the 
 slow poison which has wrought all the evil ; and a proud and self- 
 ish oligarchy are the authors of the conspiracy. 
 
 A rumor reaches us, let us hope it is unfounded, that three pow- 
 ers in Europe have combined to force a monarchical government 
 upon the neighboring commonwealth of Mexico, at a time when 
 she seems, if left to herself, better able to govern herself than ever 
 heretofore. I confess I am unable to devise what material or what 
 political interest of England can be promoted by this untoward 
 pretension. Besides, America has never been a propagandist; our 
 people, even in the days of our Eevolution, made no war on mon- 
 archy, and did not even ask or seem to wish that their example 
 might sway nations under different circumstances from our own. 
 They left each hemisphere to take care of itself. A junction of 
 three monarchs to put kingly power on our Hank has an import- 
 ance wliich can not escape attention. The royal families of Europe 
 
ON THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY, lSC-2. jQQ 
 
 would be justly incensed if the republican powers of America were 
 to join together to attempt to force a republic on one of them. Is 
 it right to attempt to force a monarchy on Americans ? Is it wise 
 to provoke a collision between the systems? or to try experiments 
 on the mysterious sympathies of the millions ? 
 
 If the opinions of Washington on slavery and on the slave-trade 
 had been steadily respected, the country would have escaped all the 
 calamity of the present civil war. The famous Fairfox meeting, at 
 which AVashington presided, on the 18th of July, 177-i, led public 
 opinion in declaring that it was '• the most earnest wish of America 
 to see an entire stop forever put to the wicked, cruel, and unnat- 
 ural trade in slaves." The traffic was then condemned as an im- 
 tnorality and a crime. The sentiment was thoroughly American, 
 and became the tradition, the living faith of the people. The cen- 
 turies clasp hands and repeat it one to another ! Yesterday the 
 sentiment of Jefferson, that the slave-trade is a piratical warfare 
 upon mankind, was reaffirmed by carrying into efiect the sentence 
 of a high tribunal of justice; and to save the lives and protect the 
 happiness of thousands, a slave-trader was executed as a pirate and 
 an enemy of the human race. 
 
 This day furnishes a spectacle of still more terrible retributive 
 justice. The President of the pretended Confederate States of 
 America is compelled to do public penance in his robes of office, for 
 foolishly and wickedly aspiring to power that does not and can not 
 exist, that dissolves and disappears as he draws near to grasp it. 
 Missouri, which he has invaded, rises against him; Kentucky, 
 where he desired to usurp authority, throws him off with indignant 
 scorn ; Eastern Tennessee, where Andrew Johnson must soon be 
 speaking for Union with clarion notes of patriotism, starts to her 
 feet in time to protest against the usurper ; the people of Virginia, 
 in their hearts, are against him ; perhaps even the majority of the 
 inhabitants of Richmond may be weary of his aspirations ; and as 
 he goes forth to-day to array himself in the unreal state for which 
 lie panted, his consideration drops away from him in the presence 
 of his worshipers, irretrievably and forever ; his conscience stings 
 him with remorse for his crime; and the course of events convicts 
 hira of arrogance and folly. His elevation is but to a pillory, 
 where he stands the derision of the world. Richmond, Avhich he 
 thought to make his capital, will soon be in the possession of one 
 of our generals or of another, and nothing can save hira from the 
 just wrath of his countrv but a hastv exile. 
 
JIQ MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION 
 
 If the views of Washington with regard to the slave-trade com- 
 mend tliemsclves to our approbation after the lapse of nearly ninety 
 years, his opinions on slavery are so temperate and so clear that if 
 they had been followed they would have established peace among 
 us forever. On the 12th of April, 1786, he wrote to Robert Mor- 
 ris : " There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I 
 do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery." This was 
 his fixed opinion ; so that in the following month he declared to 
 Lafayette : " By degrees the abolition of slavery certainly might 
 and assuredly ought to be effected, and that, too, by legislative 
 authority." On the 9th of September of the same year he avowed 
 his resolution "never to possess another slave by purchase;" add- 
 ing, " it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by 
 which slavery in this country may be abolished by law." 
 
 In conformity with these views, the old confedez'ation of the 
 United States, at a time when the convention for framing onr Con- 
 stitution was in session, by a unanimous vote prohibited slavery 
 forever in all the territory that then belonged to the United States ; 
 and one of the very first acts of Washington, as President, was to 
 approve a law by which that ordinance might " continue to have 
 full effect." 
 
 On the 6th of May, 1794, in the midst of his cares as President, 
 he devised a plan for the sale of lands in Western Virginia and 
 Western Pennsylvania, and after giving other reasons for his pur- 
 pose, he adds: "I have another motive which makes me earnestly 
 Avish for the accomplishment of these things ; it is, indeed, more 
 powerful than all the rest, namely : to liberate a certain species of 
 property which I possess, very repugnantly to my own feelings." 
 
 And in less than three months after he wrote that Farewell Ad- 
 dress to which we this day have listened, he felt himself justified 
 in announcing to his correspondent in Europe his hopes for the 
 future in these words : " Nothing is more certain than that Mary- 
 land and Virginia must have laws for the gradual abolition of 
 slavery, and at a period not remote." 
 
 But though Virginia and Maryland have not been wise enough 
 to realize the confident prediction of the Father of his Country — 
 though slavery is still permitted in the District of Columbia, from 
 which Madison desired to see it removed — the cause of freedom 
 has been steadily advancing. The line of 36° 30', which formed a 
 barrier to the progress of skilled labor to the southward, has been 
 effaced. Our country, at one bound, crossed the Rocky Mountains ; 
 
ON THE TWF.XTY-SECOND OF FEBEUARV, 1SG2. 
 
 in 
 
 and the wisdom of our people, as tliey laid the foundations of 
 mighty empires on the coast of the Pacific, has brong-ht about that 
 to-day, from the Stl-aits of Behring to the Straits of Magellan, the 
 waves of the great ocean, as they roll in upon the shore, clap their 
 hands in joy, for along all that wide region the land is cultivated 
 by none but the free. Let us be grateful to a good Providence 
 which lias established liberty as the rule of our country beyond the 
 possibility of a relapse. 
 
 For myself, I was one who desired to postpone, or rather hoped 
 altogether to avoid, the collision which has taken place, trusting 
 that society by degrees would have worked itself clear by its own 
 innate strength and the virtue and resolution of the community. 
 But slavery has forced upon us the issue, and has lifted up its hand 
 to strike a death-blow at our existence as a people. It has avowed 
 itself a desperate and determined enemy of our national life, of our 
 unity as a republic, and henceforward no man deserves the name 
 of a statesman who would consent to the introduction of that ele- 
 ment of weakness and division into any new territory, or the ad- 
 mission of another slave State into the Union. Let us hope, rather, 
 that the prediction of "Washington will prove true, and that Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland will soon take their places as free States by the 
 side of Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
 
 Finally: the people of the United States must this day derive 
 from the example of Washington a lesson of perseverance. We 
 have been forced into a strife from which there has been no safe 
 escape but by the manifestation of an immense superiority of 
 strength. The ages that are to come will hold a close and severe 
 reckoning with the men in power to-day on the methods which 
 they may adopt for solving the question before them. In the pres- 
 ent state of things the worst rashness is that which yields to com- 
 promise from the feverishness of impatience. All the wise and 
 good of the world have their eyes upon us. All civilized nations 
 are Availing to see if we shall have the courage to make it manifest 
 that freedom is the animating principle of our Constitution, and the 
 life of the nation. But here, too, on this day we have only to read 
 the counsels of Washington. When by his will he left swords to 
 his nephews, he wrote: "These swords are accompanied with the 
 injunction not to unsheath them for the purpose of shedding blood, 
 except it be for self-defense, or in defense of their country or its 
 rights ; and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed, and prefer 
 falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof." 
 
112 MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION ON FEBRUARY 22, 1SC2. 
 
 The President of the United States has charged us this day to 
 meet and take counsel from the Farewell Address of "Washington. 
 We charge him in return, by his oath of office, by his pledges to 
 the country, by the blood that has been shed and the treasure that 
 has been expended, by the security of this generation, by the hopes 
 of the next, by his desire to stand well with mankind and to be 
 remembered in honor by future ages, to take to his heart this 
 injunction of Washington. 
 
 Young men of New York! suffer one more word before we 
 part, in grateful memory of the dead who have died for freedom, 
 for us and our posterity. Long after the voice which now addresses 
 you shall be silent in the grave, it is for you to keep fresh the glory 
 of Wiuthrop, of Ellsworth, and of all others who being like your- 
 selves, in the flush of youth, went into battle surrounded with the 
 halo of eternity, and gave their lives in witness of their sincerity. 
 The whole country mourns the loss of Lyon, and will not be com- 
 forted, enrolling his name by the side of Warren. They have 
 passed away, but their spirit lives, and promises that our institu- 
 tions,^ in so tar as they rest on freedom, shall endure forever more. 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 [In nccordanee ■with the following proclamation, the Farewell Address of 'W^asli- 
 inaton was read in public assemblies throughout the loyal States on the day desig- 
 nated, which, attended with patriotic and devotional exercises, constituted such a 
 celebration of the Birthday of Washington as has never been equaled in interest 
 and impressiveuess: 
 
 BY THE TEESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Wasiiington, WedncKctay, Feb. 19, 1?62. 
 It is recommended to the People of the United States tliat they assemble in their 
 customarv places, for public solemnities, on tlic twinty-s.con.l day of February in- 
 stant, and celebrate the Anniversary of tlir nirllnlMy nf tlic h'alluT of his Country, 
 by causing to be read to them his " Iiiiiin.rtal I'nnwi II Ad.lr.ss." 
 
 Given under my hand and the seal of the liiited Stales al Washington, the nine- 
 teenth day of Feliruary, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixtv-two, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth. 
 
 ABEAUAM LINCOLN. 
 By the Fresidcnt, 
 
 William H. Sewahp, Secretary of State.] 
 
 Friends axd Ff.llow-Citizexs — The period for a new election 
 of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United 
 States not being for 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 influ- 
 enced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no defi- 
 ciency 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 vour suflfrages have twice called me, have been a uniform 
 
1 ] 4 AVASniNGTOX'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference 
 for whiat appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it 
 •would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with mo- 
 tives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that re- 
 tirement 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 ma- 
 ture reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our 
 aftuirs Avith 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 in- 
 ternal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible 
 with the sentiment of duty or propriety ; and am persuaded, what- 
 ever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present 
 circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my deter- 
 mination 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 
 toward the organization and administration of the government the 
 best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable, l^ot 
 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 pecu- 
 liar value to my services, they were temporaiy, I have the conso- 
 lation 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 
 tlie career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to sus- 
 pend 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 per- 
 severing, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have 
 resulted to our country from these services, let it always be re- 
 membered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our an- 
 nals, that, under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. ]]5 
 
 every direction, Avero liable to mislead ; amid appearances some- 
 times dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging; in situa- 
 tions in which, not unfrcquently, 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 Avhich 
 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 it3 
 beneficence ; that your union and brotherly affection may be per- 
 petual ; 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 aus- 
 pices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preserva- 
 tion and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them 
 the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and the 
 adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
 
 Here, perhaps, I ought to stop ; but a solicitude for your wel- 
 fare, which can not 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 ap- 
 pear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a 
 people. These will be afforded 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 coun- 
 sel ; nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent 
 recepti'on of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occa- 
 sion. 
 
 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your 
 hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or con- 
 firm 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 po- 
 
l]f; WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 litical fortress against which the batteries of internal and external 
 enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often cov- 
 ertly 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, ac- 
 customing yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium 
 of your political safety and prosperity ; watching for its preserva- 
 tion with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest 
 even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned ; and in- 
 dignantly 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 aftections. 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 ditlerence, you 
 liave the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. 
 You have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed together; 
 tlie independence aad liberty you possess are the work of joint 
 counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and suc- 
 cesses. 
 
 But these considerations, however powerfully they address tliem- 
 selves 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, pro- 
 tected 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 l^orth, 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 difterent 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 like intercourse with the West, already finds, and, in the 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. J J7 
 
 progressive improvement of iuterior comimmicatiou, by land and 
 water, Avill more and more find, a valuable vent for tbe commodi- 
 ties which it brings frona abroad or manufactnres at home. Tho 
 "West derives from tho East supi)lios requisite to its growth and 
 . comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater conseipience, it must, 
 of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for 
 its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future mari- 
 time strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an in- 
 dissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other teuuro 
 by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether de- 
 rived from its own separate strength or from an apostate and un- 
 natural connection 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 can not 
 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 botweeu 
 themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries, not 
 tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships 
 alone would be sufiicient to produce, but which opposite foreign 
 alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. 
 Hence, hkewise, 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 par- 
 ticularly hostile to republican liberty ; in this sense it is that your 
 union ought to be considered as the 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 re- 
 flecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit a 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 expe- 
 rience 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 re- 
 spective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. 
 It is well worth a full and fair experiment. With such powerful 
 and obvious motives to union, afl:ecting all parts of our country, 
 
118 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
 there -will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those 
 who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
 In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it 
 occurs, as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have 
 been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrim- 
 inations — Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western — whence 
 designing men may endeavor 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 misrepre- 
 sent the opinions and aims of other districts. You can not 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 fra- 
 ternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have 
 lately had a useful lesson on this head ; they have seen in the ne- 
 gotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by 
 the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfac- 
 tion 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, un- 
 friendly 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 everything 
 they could desire in respect to our foreign relations, toward con- 
 firming 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 t<5 those ad- 
 visers, 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 alliance, however strict, be- 
 tween the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they must inevita- 
 bly experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, 
 in all time, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous tiuth, 
 you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a con- 
 stitution of government better calculated than your former fur an 
 intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of joxic com- 
 mon concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, 
 uninfluenced and unavved, adopted upon full investigation and 
 mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distri- 
 
WASniKGTON-S FAREWELL ADDRESS. |10 
 
 bution 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. Kespect 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 delibera- 
 tion and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive to 
 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 triumpiis 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 tlio 
 course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which 
 cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to sub- 
 vert tlie power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins 
 of government; destroying, afterward, the very engine which had 
 lifted them to unjust dominion. 
 
 Toward the preservation of your government, and the perma- 
 nency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you 
 steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged 
 authority, but also tliat you resist with care the spirit of innova- 
 tion upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One 
 method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitu- 
 tion, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and 
 thus to undermine what can not be directly overthrown. In all 
 the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time 
 
]O0 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of gov- 
 ernments as of other Imman 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 inter- 
 ests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much 
 vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indis- 
 pensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with pow- 
 ers 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 main- 
 tain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the riglits of per- 
 son and property. 
 
 I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in tlie 
 state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geo- 
 graphical discriminations. Let me now talvC a more comprehen- 
 sive 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 
 difterent ages and countries, has perpetrated the most horrid enor- 
 mities, is itself a friglitful despotism. But this leads, at length, to 
 a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and mis- 
 eries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek se- 
 curity 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 suflicient 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 
 
WASniNGTOX-3 FAREWELL ADDRESS. ]01 
 
 checks upon tho administration of the government, and serve to 
 keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, withia certain limits, is 
 probably true ; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriot- 
 ism may look with indulgence, if not Avith favor, upon the spirit 
 of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments 
 purely elective, it is a spirit not to bo encouraged. From their 
 natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that 
 spirit for every salutary purpose. And tljere being constant danger 
 of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to miti- 
 gate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uni- 
 form vigilance to ])revent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead, of 
 warming, it should consume. 
 
 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in^afree 
 country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with its adminis- 
 tration, 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 encroacliment 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 
 predominate in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of tho 
 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 own coun- 
 try and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as neces- 
 sary 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 instru- 
 ment of good, it is the customary weapon by which free govern- 
 ments are destroyed. Tho precedent must qhvays greatly overbal- 
 ance, 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 prosper- 
 ity, religion aud 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 connections with private and. 
 l)ublic 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 ex- 
 
 LofC. 
 
JOO WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 pect that national morality can jn-evail iu exclusion of religious 
 principles. 
 
 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 struc- 
 ture 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, tiiat timely disbursements to prepare for danger 
 frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoid- 
 ing, likewise, the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occa- 
 sions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to dis- 
 charge 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 fiicilitate to them the performance of their 
 duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that 
 toward the payment of debts there must be revenue ; that to have 
 I'evenue 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 auy time 
 dictate. 
 
 Observe good faith and justice towai-d all nations; cultivate 
 peace and harmony with all ; religion and morality enjoin this con- 
 duct, 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 benev- 
 olence. "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 ren- 
 dered 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 toward all should bo 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL AUDKESS. 
 
 123 
 
 cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual 
 hatred, or an habitual fondness, is, in some degree, a slave. It !•» 
 a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is snf- 
 iicient 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 bo 
 liaughty and intractable Avhen accidental or trifling occasions of 
 dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, 
 and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resent- 
 ment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the 
 best calculations of policy. The government sometimes partici- 
 pates 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, am- 
 bition, 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 to 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, Avithout 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 witli what ought 
 to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a dis- 
 position 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 interest of their own country, without odium, some- 
 times even with popularity ; gilding with the appearance of a vir- 
 tuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opin- 
 ion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compli- 
 ances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 
 
 As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attach- 
 ments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and 
 independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford 
 to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the art of seduc- 
 tion, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public 
 councils ! Such an attachment of a small or weak toward 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 for- 
 eign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican govern- 
 ment. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it 
 becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead 
 of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, 
 and excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate to 
 
124 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDKESS. 
 
 see danger only on one side, and serve to vail, and even second, the 
 arts of influence on tlie 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 connection 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 of 
 a very remote relation. Hence slie 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 friend- 
 ships or enmities. 
 
 Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to 
 pursue a ditferent course. If we remain one people, under an 
 eflicient government, the period is not far ofi:' 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 belHgerent 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 interweav- 
 ing 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 
 ut hberty to do it ; for let me not be understood as capable of 
 ])atronizing 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 engage- 
 ments be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it 
 Ls unnecessary, and would be unwise, to extend them. 
 
 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establish- 
 ments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to 
 temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 
 
 Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all nations, are recom- 
 mended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commer- 
 cial 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; establish- 
 ing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable 
 course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable tlie 
 
' WASHINGTON'S FAUEWELL ADDRESS. 125 
 
 government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, 
 the best that present circumstances and mutual oj)inions will per- 
 mit, but temporary, and liable to be, from time to time, abandoned 
 or varied, as experience and circumstances sliall dictate ; con- 
 stantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for dis- 
 interested favors from another; that it must pay, with a portion 
 of its independence, for whatever it may accept under that char- 
 acter; that by such acceptance it may place itself in tlie 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 par- 
 tial 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 intrigues, to guard against the impostures 
 of pretended patriotism — this hape will be a full recompense 
 for the solicitude for your weltare by which they have been dic- 
 tated. 
 
 How far, in the discharge of my official duties, T have been 
 guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public 
 records, and other evidences of my conduct, must witness to you 
 and 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 proclama- 
 tion of the 22d of April, 1793, is tlie index to my plan. Sanc- 
 tioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representa- 
 tives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure ha? 
 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 flrmness. 
 
 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 
 anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity 
 impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to 
 
m |2<3 WASHINGTO>f'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. \^ 
 
 CM 
 
 in maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity toward other 
 
 nations. 
 00 The inducements of interest, for observing that conduct, will 
 Q best be referred to your own reflections and experience. AVitli 
 me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to 
 ^ our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to 
 ® progress, -without interruption, to tliat degree of strength and con- 
 Q sistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the com- 
 mand 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-flvo 
 years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, tJie 
 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 toward it which is so natural to a man who 
 views in it 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 enjoy- 
 ment 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 hea.rt — and the happy reward, as I trust, of our 
 mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON". 
 
 United States, Mth September, 1796. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 012 028 652 3