VIII. NATIONAL DEFENCE.

While Washington sought peace, and urged a faithful discharge of every duty toward others, he recommended, that prompt measures should be taken, not only for defence, but for enforcing just claims. JARED SPARKS.

War was not a game in which he sought amusement at the expense of others, but a LAST RESORT, in whose dangers and toils he always bore his full share, and from which he sought release, as soon as conscience and honor would permit. The spirit in which he contended, was that which secured the favor of a righteous Providence, and the approbation of all good men. E. C. M'GUIRE, D. D.

MEASURES FOR DEFENCE.

To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

NATIONAL MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined. To this end, a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite.

HOME MILITARY SUPPLIES.

Our safety and our interest require, that we should promote such manufactures, as tend to render us independent of others, for essential, particularly military, supplies.

A SYSTEM OF NATIONAL DEFENCE.

The safety of the United States, under Divine protection, ought to rest on the basis of systematic and solid arrangement, exposed, as little as possible, to the hazards of fortuitous circumstances. 1791.

A CONDITION OF DEFENCE.

I cannot recommend measures for the fulfilment of our duties to the rest of the world, without pressing the necessity of placing ourselves in a condition of complete defence, and of exacting from them the fulfilment of their duties towards us.

1793.

READINESS FOR WAR.

The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion, that, contrary to the order of human events, they will for ever keep at a distance those painful ap

peals to arms, with which the history of every nation abounds.

There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it.

If we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are, at all times, ready for war.

1793.

OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS.

Offensive operations, oftentimes, are the surest, if not in some cases the only, means of defence.

ATTACK, OFTEN THE BEST DEFENCE.

It has been, very properly, the policy of our government to cultivate peace. But, in contemplating the possibility of our being driven to unqualified war, it will be wise to anticipate, that, frequently, the most effectual way to defend is to attack.

1798.

IX. NATIONAL EDUCATION.

How can man be intelligent, happy, or useful, without the culture and discipline of education? It is this that unlocks the prison-house of his mind, and releases the captive. REV. DR. HUMPHREY.

Education is the chief defence of nations.

EDMUND BURKE,

POPULAR EDUCATION.

Promote, 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 should be enlightened.

EVILS OF FOREIGN EDUCATION.

It has always been a source of serious regret, with me, to see the youth of these United States sent to foreign countries, for the purposes of education, often before their minds were formed, or they had imbibed

any adequate ideas of the happiness of their own; contracting, too frequently, not only habits of dissipation and extravagance, but principles unfriendly to Republican Government, and to the true and genuine liberties of mankind, which thereafter are rarely over

come.

1794.

We ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds, from being too strongly, and too easily, prepossessed, in favor of other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their

own.

1795.

It is with indescribable regret, that I have seen the youth of the United States, migrating to foreign countries, in order to acquire the higher branches of erudition, and to obtain a knowledge of the sciences.

1795.

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY.

That a National University, in this country, is a thing to be desired, has always been my decided opinion; and the appropriation of grounds and funds for it, in the Federal City, has long been contemplated. 1794.

True it is, that our country, much to its honor, contains many seminaries of learning, highly respectable and useful; but the funds upon which they rest, are too narrow to command the ablest professors, in the