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FITNESS OF CHARACTER.

In every nomination to office, I have endeavored, as far as my own knowledge extended, or information could be obtained, to make fitness of character my primary object.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

It is really my wish, to have my mind and my actions which are the result of reflection, as free and independent as the air.

POLITICAL SUICIDE.

I shall not, whilst I have the honor to administer the Government, bring a man into any office of consequence, knowingly, whose political tenets are adverse to the measures which the General Government are pursuing; for this, in my opinion, would be a sort of political suicide.

PRIVATE INCLINATION AND PUBLIC DUTY.

As a public man, acting only with reference to the public good, I must be allowed to decide upon all points of my duty, without consulting my private inclinations and wishes. I must be permitted, with

the best lights I can obtain, and upon a general view of characters and circumstances, to nominate such persons alone to offices as, in my judgment, shall be the best qualified to discharge the functions of the departments to which they shall be appointed.

ALLUREMENTS OF OFFICE.

All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the external happiness of elevated office. To me, there is nothing in it beyond the lustre, which may be reflected from its connection with the power of promoting human felicity.

FOREIGN MINISTERS.

The interests of the United States require, that our intercourse with other nations should be facilitated, by such provisions as will enable me to fulfil my duty in that respect, in the manner which circumstances may render most conducive to the public good; and, to this end, that the compensations to be made to the persons who may be employed, should, according to the nature of their appointments, be defined by law, and a competent fund designated, for defraying the expenses incident to the conduct of our foreign affairs.

MAXIMS FOR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.

Let me impress the following maxims upon the executive officers. In all important matters, deliberate maturely, but execute promptly and vigorously; and do not put things off until to-morrow, which can be done, and require to be done, to-day. Without an adherence to these rules, business never will be well done, or done in an easy manner, but will always be in arrear, with one thing treading upon the heels of another.

Men in responsible situations cannot, like those in private life, be governed solely by the dictates of their own inclinations, or by such motives as can only affect themselves.

Good measures should always be executed, as soon as they are conceived, and circumstances will admit.

COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS OF GOVERNMENT.

The compensation to the officers of the United States, in various instances, and in none more than in respect to the most important stations, appear to call for legislative provision.

The consequences of a defective provision, are of serious import to the government.

If private wealth is to supply the defect of public retribution, it will greatly contract the sphere within which the selection of character for office is to be made, and will proportionally diminish the probability of a choice of men, able as well as upright. Besides, it would be repugnant to the vital principles of our government, virtually to exclude from public trusts. talents and virtue, unless accompanied by wealth.

2. NATIONAL PROSPERITY.

PROSPERITY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Contemplating the internal situation, as well as the external relations, of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment and satisfaction.

While many of the nations of Europe, with their American dependencies, have been involved in a contest unusually bloody, exhausting, and calamitous, in which the evils of foreign war have been aggravated by domestic convulsion and insurrection; in which many of the arts most useful to society have been exposed to discouragement and decay; in which scarcity of subsistence has embittered other sufferings; while even the anticipation of a return of the blessings of peace and repose are alloyed by the sense of heavy

and accumulating burdens, which press upon all the departments of industry, and threaten to clog the future springs of government; our favored country, happy in a striking contrast, has enjoyed general tranquillity,-a tranquillity the more satisfactory, because maintained at the expense of no duty.

Faithful to ourselves, we have violated no obligations to others.

Our Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures prosper beyond example, the molestations of our trade (to prevent a continuance of which, however, very pointed remonstrances have been made,) being overbalanced by the aggregate benefits which it derives from a neutral position.

1795.

Our Population advances, with a celerity, which, exceeding the most sanguine calculations, proportionably augments our strength and resources, and guarantees our future security.

Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and various improvement; and, with burdens so light as scarcely to be perceived, with resources fully adequate to our present exigencies, with governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty, and with mild and wholesome laws, is it too much to say, that our country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness, never surpassed, if ever before equalled?

1795.

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