Friends and FellowCitizens: The period for anew election of a citizen to administer the execu-tive government of the United States being not fardistant, and the time actually arrived when yourthoughts must be employed in designating the per-son who is to be clothed with that important trust,it appears to me proper, especially as it may con-duce to a more distinct expression of the publicvoice, that I should now apprise you of the resolu-tion I have formed, to decline being consideredamong the number of those out of whom a choiceis to be madeI beg you at the same time to do me the justice tobe assured that this resolution has not been takenwithout a strict regard to all the considerations ap-pertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citi-zen to his country—and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situationmight imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grate-ful respect for your past kindness, but am sup-ported by a full conviction that the step is compat-ible with both.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice calledme have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what ap-peared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consis-tently with motives which I was not at liberty to dis-regard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my in-clination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of per-sons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.
I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external
as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disap-prove my determination to retire.
The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the properoccasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself, and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the po-litical scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
In looking forward to the moment which is in-tended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me, still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of mani-festing my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example in our annals that, under circumstances in which the pas-sions agitated in every direction were liable to mis-lead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicis-situdes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were ef-fected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you
the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its adminis-tration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of lib-erty, may be made complete by so careful a preser-vation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitudefor your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that so-licitude, urge me on an occasion like the present to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recom-mend to your frequent review, some sentimentswhich are the result of much reflection, of no in-considerable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom as you can only see in them the dis-interested warnings of a parting friend, who can
possibly have no personal motive to bias his coun-sel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every lig-ament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real indepen-dence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most con-stantly and actively (though often covertly and insid-iously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habit-ual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palla-dium of your political safety and prosperity; watch-ing for its preservation with jealous anxiety; dis-countenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a com-mon country, that country has a right to concen-trate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discrimi-nations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts—of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, aregreatly outweighed by those which apply more im-mediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole.
The North,in an unrestrained intercourse withthe South,protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and com-mercial enterprise and precious materials of manu-facturing industry. The Southin the same inter-course, benefitting by the agency of the North,sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North,it finds its particular navigation invigo-rated; and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the na-tional navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East,in a like intercourse with the West,already finds, and in the progressive improve-ment of interior communications by land and water
their genuine sense. But in my opinion it is unnec-essary and would be unwise to extend them.
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectably defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extra-ordinary emergencies.
Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest.But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversify-ing by gentle means the streams of commerce but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so dis-posed—in order to give to trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them—conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circum-stances and mutual opinion will permit, but tempo-rary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from an-other—that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character—that by such acceptance it may place it-self in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these coun-sels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impres-sion I could wish—that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial bene-fit, some occasional good, that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patrio-tism—this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties Ihave been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evi-dences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own con-science is that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.
In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April 1793 is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any at-tempts to deter or divert me from it.
After deliberate examination with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take—and was bound in duty and interest to take—a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, persever-ence, and firmness.
The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct it is not necessary on this occa-sion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent pow-ers, has been virtually admitted by all.
The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be in-ferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every na-tion, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.
The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflec-tions and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institu-tions and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is neces-sary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
Though in reviewing the incidents of my admin-istration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech
the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be con-signed to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several genera-tions, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that re-treat, in which I promise myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government—the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and danger
