First. An indissoluble Union of the States under One Federal Head.

Second. A sacred regard to Public Justice.

Third. The adoption of a proper Peace Establish

ment.

Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and politics; to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity; and, in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community.

These are the pillars, on which the glorious fabric of our independency and national character must be supported.

Liberty is the basis. And whoever would dare to sap the foundation, or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration, and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured country.

IMPORTANCE OF THE FEDERAL UNION.

Unless the States will suffer Congress to exercise those prerogatives they are undoubtedly invested with by the Constitution, every thing must very rapidly tend to anarchy and confusion.

It is indispensable to the happiness of the individ

ual States, that there should be lodged somewhere a Supreme Power, to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederated republic, without which the Union cannot be of long duration.

There must be a faithful and pointed compliance, on the part of every State, with the late proposals and demands of Congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue.

Whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the Union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independency of America, and the authors of them treated accordingly.

Unless we can be enabled, by the concurrence of the States, to participate the fruits of the Revolution, and enjoy the essential benefits of civil society, under a form of government so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as has been devised and adopted by the Articles of Confederation, it will be a subject of regret, that so much blood and treasure have been lavished to no purpose, that so many sufferings have been encountered without a compensation, and that so many sacrifices have been made in vain.

1793.

It is only in our united character, as an empire, that our independence is acknowledged, that our power

can be regarded, or our credit supported, among foreign nations. The treaties of the European powers with the United States of America, will have no validity, on the dissolution of the Union. We shall be left nearly in a state of nature; or we may find, by our own unhappy experience, that there is a natural and necessary progression from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny, and that arbitrary power is most easily established upon the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

The UNITY of government which constitutes you one people, is 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 fortunes, 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 to speak of it, as a 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. 1796.

AMERICANS, UNITED IN 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.

THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION, OUR INTEREST.

Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of the 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 productions, to the weight, influence, and 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 connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.