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 toward a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE NATION.

I can most religiously aver, I have no wish that is incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interest of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has been, so far as depended on the Executive department, to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic; but to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country, to see them independent of all, and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an AMERICAN CHARACTER, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, and not for others. This, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad, and happy at home; and not, by becoming the partisans of Great Britain or France, create dissensions, disturb the public tranquillity, and destroy, perhaps for ever, the cement which binds the Union.

My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration, to

maintain friendly terms with, but to be independent of, all the nations of the earth; to share in the broils of none; to fulfil our own engagements; to supply the wants, and be carriers for them all; being thoroughly convinced, that it is our policy and interest to do so.

Nothing short of self-respect, and that justice which is essential to a national character, ought to involve us in war; for sure I am, if this country is preserved in tranquillity twenty years longer, it may bid defiance, in a just cause, to any power whatever; such, in that time, will be its population, wealth, and resources.

NON-INTERVENTION.

I have always given it as my decided opinion, that no nation had a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one had a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under, themselves; and that if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict neutrality and thereby preserve peace, it was bound to do so, by motives of policy, interest, and every other consideration that ought to actuate a people situated as we are, already deeply in debt, and in a convalescent state from the struggles we have been engaged in, ourselves.

PEACE WITH OTHER NATIONS.

Observations on the value of peace with other nations are unnecessary. It would be wise, however, by timely provisions to guard against those acts of our own citizens, which might tend to disturb it, and to put ourselves in a condition to give that satisfaction to foreign nations which we may sometimes have occasion to require from them.

I particularly recommend to your consideration, the means of preventing those aggressions by our citizens on the territory of other nations, and other infractions of the law of nations, which, furnishing just subject of complaint, might endanger our peace with them.

1792.

Where individuals shall, within the United States, array themselves in hostility against any of the powers at war, or enter upon military expeditions or enterprises within the jurisdiction of the United States, or usurp or exercise judicial authority within the United States, or where the penalties or violation of the law of nations may have been indistinctly marked or are inadequate, these offences cannot receive too early and close an attention, and require prompt and decisive remedies.

True to our duties and interests as Americans,

firm to our purpose as lovers of peace, let us unite our fervent prayers to the great Ruler of the Universe, that the justice and moderation of all concerned may permit us to continue in the uninterrupted enjoyment of a blessing, which we so greatly prize, and of which we ardently wish them a speedy and permanent participation.

1793.

PEACE WITH ALL THE WORLD.

My policy, in our foreign transactions, has been, to cultivate peace with all the world; to observe the treaties with pure and absolute faith; to check every deviation from the line of impartiality; to explain what may have been misapprehended, and correct what may have been injurious to any nation; and having thus acquired the right, to lose no time in acquiring the ability, to insist upon justice being done to ourselves.

1794.

If, by prudence and moderation on every side, the extinguishment of all causes of external discord which have hitherto menaced our tranquillity, on terms compatible with our national rights and honor, shall be the happy result, how firm and how precious a foundation will have been laid, for accelerating, maturing, and establishing the prosperity of our country.

1795.

PEACE, OUR POLICY.

I rejoice, most exceedingly, that there is an end of our warfare, and that such a field is opening to our view, as will, with wisdom to direct the cultivation of it, make us a great, a respectable, and happy people.

1783.

Would to God, the harmony of nations were an object that lay nearest to the hearts of sovereigns; and that the incentives to peace, of which commerce, and facility of understanding each other, are not the most inconsiderable, might be daily increased.

1788.

Peace with all the world, is my sincere wish. I am sure it is our true policy, and am persuaded it is the ardent desire of the government.

The affairs of the country are in a violent paroxysm; and it is the duty of its old and uniform friends, to assist in piloting the vessel in which we are all embarked, between the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis; for more pains never were taken, I believe, than at this moment, to throw it upon one or the other, and to embroil us in the disputes of Europe:

1795.

Standing as it were in the midst of falling empires, it should be our aim to assume a station and attitude, which will preserve us from being overwhelmed in their ruins.