to return to that retirement from which those motives had reluctantly drawn me.

*

The strength of my desire to withdraw previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you, but deliberate + reflection on the very critical and perplexed posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of men‡ every way entitled to my confidence, obliged & me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your national concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of my inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and that whatever partiality any portion of you may still retain for my services, they, under the existing circumstances of our country, will not disapprove the resolution ** I have formed. The impressions under which I first accepted the arduous trust of Chief Magistrate of the United States, were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I can only say that I have, with pure intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable; that conscious at ++ the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications for the station, experience in my own eyes, and perhaps still more in those of others, has not diminished in me the diffidence of myself and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary as it will be welcome to me. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given a peculiar value to my services, they were temporary. I have the consolation to believe that while inclination and prudence urge me to recede from the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. May I also have that of knowing in my SS retreat, that the involuntary errors which I have probably committed, have been the causes of no serious or lasting mischief to my country, and thus be spared the anguish of regrets which would disturb the repose of my retreat and embitter the remnant

of my life! I may then expect to realize, without alloy, the pure enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, of the benign influence of good laws under a free government; the ultimate object of all my wishes, and to which I look as the happy reward* of our mutual labors and dangers.

In looking forward to the moment which is to terminate the career of my public life, my sensations do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgments required by that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has conferred upon me, still more for the distinguished and steadfast confidence it has reposed in me, and for the opportunities it has thus afforded met of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering-however the inadequateness of my faculties may have ill seconded my‡ zeal. If benefits have resulted to you, my fellow-citizens, from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that the constancy of your support amidst appearances§ dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, and in situations in which, not unfrequently, want of success has seconded the criticisms of malevolence, was the essential prop of the efforts and the guarantee of the measures by which they were achieved.

Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my retirement, and to my grave, as a lively incitement to unceasing vows (the only returns I can henceforth make) that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence, merited by national piety and morality-that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual-that the free Constitution, which is the work of your own hands, may be sacredly maintained-that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue-that, in fine, the happiness of

* I hope.

I have thence enjoyed.

have rendered their efforts unequal to my-disproportional.

under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to the greatest fluctuations.

I sometimes.

the people of these States under the auspices of liberty may be made complete, by so careful a preservation, and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire them the glorious satisfaction of recommending it to the affection-the praise-and the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop: but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the fear that there may exist projects unfriendly to it, against which it may be necessary you should be guarded, urge me in taking leave of you to offer to your solemn consideration and frequent review, some sentiments, the result of mature reflection confirmed by observation and experience, which appear to me essential to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested advice of a parting friend, who can have no personal motive to tincture or bias his counsel.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every fibre of your hearts, no recommendation is necessary to fortify your attachment TO IT. Next to this, that unity of government which constitutes you one people, claims your vigilant care and guardianship-as a main pillar of your real independence, of your peace, safety, freedom, and happiness.

This being the point in your political fortress, against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively, however covertly and insidiously levelled, it is of the utmost importance that you should appreciate, in its full force, the immense value of your political union to your national and individual happiness-that you should cherish towards it an affectionate and immovable attachment, and that you should watch for its preservation with zealous solicitude.

For this, you have every motive of sympathy and interest. Children for the most part of a common country, that country claims and ought to concentrate your affections. The name of American must always gratify and exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any denomination which can be derived from local discriminations. You have with slight shades of difference

the same religion, manners, habits, and political institutions. and principles-you have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you enjoy are the work of joint councils, efforts, dangers, sufferings, and successes. By your union you achieved them, by your union you will most effectually maintain them.

The considerations which address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly* strengthened by those which apply to your interest. Here, every portion of our country will find the most urgent and commanding motives for guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North in intercourse with the South under the equal laws of one government, will, in the productions of the latter, many of them peculiar, find vast additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise.§ The South, in the same intercourse, will share in the benefits of the agency of the North, will find its agriculture promoted and its commerce extended by turning into its own channels those means of navigation which the North more abundantly affords; and while it contributes to extend the national navigation, will participate in the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, finds|| a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives through this channel an essential supply of its wants; and what is far more important to it, it must owe the secure and permanent enjoyment of the indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and maritime resources of the Atlantic States. The tenure by which it could hold this advantage either from its own separate strength, or by an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign nation, must be intrinsically and necessarily

find.

* even.

† outweighed.

free and unfettered.

and precious materials of their manufacturing industry.

and in the progressive improvement of internal navigation will more and more

¶ directed by an indissoluble community of interests.

precarious, at every moment liable to be disturbed by the* combinations of those primary† interests which constantly regulate the conduct of every portion of Europe-and where every part finds a particular interest in the Union. All the parts of our country will find in their Union‡ strength, proportional security from external danger, less frequent interruption of their peace with foreign nations; and what is far more valuable, an exemp tion from those broils and wars between the parts if disunited, which, then, our rivalships, fomented by foreign intrigue or the opposite alliances with foreign nations engendered by their mu tual jealousies, would inevitably produce.§

These considerations speak a conclusive language to every virtuous and considerate mind. They place the continuance of our union among the first objects of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can long embrace so extensive a sphere? Let time and experience decide the question. Speculation in such a case ought not to be listened to. And 'tis rational to hope that the auxiliary governments of the subdivisions, with a proper organization of the whole, will secure a favorable issue to the experiment. 'Tis allowable to believe that the spirit of party, the intrigues of foreign nations, the corrup tion and the ambition of individuals, are likely to prove more formidable adversaries to the unity of our empire, than any inherent difficulties in the scheme. 'Tis against these that the guards of national opinion, national sympathy, national prudence and virtue, are to be erected. With such obvious motives to union, there will be always cause from the fact itself to distrust the patriotism of those who** may endeavor to weaken its bands.

* fluctuating.

† European.

greater independence from the superior abundance and variety of production incident to the diversity of soil and climate. All the parts of it must find in the aggregate assemblage and reaction of their mutual population-production.

consequent exemption from the necessity of those military establishments upon a large scale which bear in every country so menacing an aspect towards liberty. || agency of.

¶ mounds.

** in any quarter