278 



gion, professed, indeed, and practised in various forms, 

 yet all of tliem inculcatino: honesty, truth, temperance, 

 gratitude, and the love of man — acknowledging and 

 adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its 

 dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of 

 man here, and his greater happiness hereafter — with 

 all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us 

 a happy and prosperous people ? — Still one thing more, 

 fellow citizens, a wise and frugal government, which 

 shall restrain men from injuring one another; shall 

 leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits 

 of industry and improvement ; and shall not take from 

 the mouth of labour the bread it has earned. This is 

 the sum of good government; and this is necessary to 

 close the circle of our felicities. 



About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of du- 

 ties, which comprehend every thing dear and valuable 

 to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem 

 the essential principles of our government, and conse- 

 quently those which ought to shape its administration. 

 1 will compress them within the narrowest compass 

 they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all 

 its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of 

 whatever state or persuasion, relgious or political — 

 peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations 



— entangling alliances with none — the support of the 

 state governments in all their rights, as the most com- 

 petent administrations for our domestic concerns, and 

 the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies 



— the preservation of the general government in its 

 whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our 

 peace at home, and safety abroad— -a jealous care of the 

 right of election by the people — a mild and safe correc- 

 tive of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revo- 

 hition, where peaceable remedies are unprovided — ab- 

 solute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the 

 vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but 

 to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of 

 despotism — a well disciplined militia, our best reliance 

 in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars 



