1706. | 
pay with a portion of its independence for 
‘whatever it may accept under that cha- 
raéter ; that by fuch acceptance, it may 
place itfelf in the condition of having given 
equivalents for nominal favours, and yet 
of being reproached with ingratitude for 
not giving more. There can be no greater 
error than to expeét, or calculate upon 
real favours from nation to nation. It 1s 
an illufion which experience muft cure, 
which a juft pride ought to difcard. 
In offering to you, my countrymen, 
thefe counfels of an old and affectionate 
friend, I dare not hope they will make 
the ftrong and lafting impreffion I could 
wilh: that they will controul the ufual 
current of the paffions, or prevent our na- 
tion from running the courfe which las 
hitherto marked the deftiny of nations. 
Bur if { may even flatter myfelf that they 
may be productive of fome partial benefit, 
fome occafional good ; that they may now 
and then recur to moderate the fury of 
party fpirit, to warn againft the mifchiefs 
of foreign intrigue, to guard againft the 
impoftures of pretended patriotifm: this 
hope wili be a full recompence for the 
folicitude for your welfare, by which they 
have been diétated. 
How far, in the difcharge of my official 
duties, I have been guided by the prin- 
ciples which have been delineated, the 
public records, and other evidences of my 
conduct, muft witnefs to you and to the 
world. To myfelf, the affarance of my 
own con{cience ts, that I have at leatt be- 
lieved myfelf to be guided by them. 
In relation to the ftill fubfifting war in 
Europe, my Proclamation of the 22d of 
April, 1793, is the index to my plan. 
Sanctioned by your approved voice, and by 
that of your Reprefentatives i in both Houfes 
of Congrefs, the fpirit of that meafure has 
continually governed me; uninfluenced by 
any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 
After deliberate examination, with the 
aid of the beft lights I could obtain, I was 
well fatisfied that our country, under all 
the circumftances of the cafe, had a right 
to take, and was bound in duty and in- 
tereft to take, a neutral pofition. Hav- 
ing taken it, I determined, as far as fhould 
depend upon me, to maintain it with mo-— 
deration, perfeverance, and firmnefs. 
The confiderations which refpeét the 
right to hold this conduét, it is not necef- 
fary on this occafion to detail. Iwill only 
oblerve, that according to my underftand- 
ing of the matter, that right, fo far from 
being denied by any of the belligerent 
powers, has been virtually admitted by all, 
Addrefs of Prefident Wafhington. 
$23 
The duty of holding a neutral conduct 
may be inferred, without any thing more, 
from the obligation which juftice and hu- 
manity impofe on every nation in cafes ¢n 
which it is free.to a€t, to maintain invio= 
late the relations of peace and amity to- 
wards other nations. 
The inducements of intereft for obferv- | 
ing that condwét will beft be referred te 
your own refleétions and experience. With 
me a predominant motive has Keen, to en- 
deavour to gain time to cur country te 
fettle and mature its yet recent inftitu- 
tions, and to progrefs without interruption 
to that degree of ftrength and confiftency 
which 1s neceflary to give it, humanly 
{peaking, the command of its own for- 
tunes. 
Though in reviewing the incidents of 
adminiftration, J am unconfcious of im- 
tentional error; I am neverthelefs too 
fenfible of my defe€ts not to think it pro- 
babie that I may have committed many 
erross. Whatever they may be, I fer- 
vently befeech the Almighty to avert or 
ae the evils to which they may tend. 
I fhall alfo carry with me the hope that my 
country will never ceafe to view them with 
indulgence ; and that after forty-five years 
of my life dedicated to its fervice, with an 
upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abi- 
lities will be configned to oblivion, as my- 
felf muft foon be to the manfions of reft. 
anes on its kindnefs in this as in 
other things, and a¢wated by that fervent 
love towards it, which is fo natural to a 
man who views in it the native foil of 
himfelf and his progenitors for feveral ge- 
nerations ; I anticipate, with pleafing ex- 
pectation, that retreat, in,which I promife 
my felf to realize, without alloy, the {weet 
enjoyment of partaking, in the midft of 
my Fellow citizens, the benign influence 
of good laws under a free government, the 
ever iavourite object of my heart, and the 
happy reward, as I truit, of our mutual 
cares, labours, and dahgers. 







G. WASHINGTON. 
United States, Sept. 17, 1796. 
Thus has this great man fignified his Hit 
determination to relinquith the fatigues of © |) 
office for the bofom of retirement. The |). 
foregoing admirable Addrefs to all the | 
States we have given at length, convinced — 
of our incapacity of doing juftice to fo ex- | 
cellent. a compofition in any fketch or 
abridgment we might have been induced 
to make of it. 


