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 attempts 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, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations, which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion 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 Powers, has been virtually admitted by all. —

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every Nation, 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 reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavour to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my Administration, 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 consigned 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 generations; I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, 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 favourite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labours, and dangers. GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Gazette of the United States, September 17th, 1796.

CONTEMPORARY EXPOSITION

SEWALL (1799)

His address to the people of America, on his retiring from the cares of government, is one of the most invaluable legacies ever left to a people. It has been celebrated in Europe, and compared to that bequeathed by Moses to the nation of Israel. Let this be our oracle; let us read and study it day and night. In the language of inspiration, "Let us bind it about our necks, and engrave it on the tablet of our hearts." In this invaluable gift, among a variety of other excellent precepts, suffer me to remind you of a few. He most affectionately cautions his countrymen against all immoderate attachments to some, and violent antipathies against other nations. He recommends harmony and liberal intercourse with all, at the same time that he deprecates too close a connection with any. He

exhorts to obedience and submission to government, and a generous confidence in our rulers, whom we ourselves have chosen ; while he warns against all combinations, whether open or covert, that tend to weaken government, or to lessen the authority of those who administer it. He inculcates the practice of justice, good faith, temperance and economy, with all the moral virtues; and of religion emphatically, as the basis and foundation of them all. He exhorts us to the utmost of our power, to cultivate peace with every nation on earth; and as the surest means to preserve it, strongly urges the necessity of maintaining the best state of defence in our power, both by sea and land. But, above all, he exhorts to union among ourselves between States and among individuals. On this, he assures us, our prosperity, nay, our very existence as a nation depends. Is the counsel good? Let us follow it. Are these admonitions wise? We will obey them. Thus shall we best prove the sincerity of our gratitude to their author, and fully evidence our veneration for his memory. But if we disregard and disobey them, what are we but hypocrites, or self-deceivers? Obedience will lead us to the highest pinnacle of national glory. A contrary conduct will dishonour, though it cannot injure our greatest benefactor, and end in irremediable ruin. "If we are

wise, we shall be wise for ourselves, but if we scorn, we alone shall bear it."

JONATHAN MITCHELL SEWALL, in Eulogies and Orations on Washington. 35, 42.

PAINE (1800)

The invaluable valediction, bequeathed to the people, who inherited his affections, is the effort of a mind, whose powers, like those of prophecy, could overleap the tardy progress of human reason, and unfold truth without the labour of investigation. Impressed in indelible characters, this Legacy of His Intelligence will descend, unsullied as its purity, to the wonder and instruction of succeeding generations; and, should the mild philosophy of its maxims be ingrafted into the policy of nations, at no distant period will the departed hero, who now lives only in the spotless splendour of his own great actions, exist in the happiness and dignity of mankind.

THOMAS PAINE, in Eulogies and Orations on Washington. 65.

BLYTH (1800)

Before the expiration of his last presidential term, he gave us his paternal advice, which, if duly attended to, will forever preserve to us the inheritance of freedom. Let us pursue this advice, and never depart from it; it is addressed to us all; it is addressed to every American. "Let the union of the States" said our deceased Washington, "and the reciprocity of interests be the groundwork of your political existence; let the illiberal spirit of party be banished forever from among you; let just and amicable feelings, devoid of all partialities and antipathies, regulate your conduct with all nations; guard against the interference of foreign nations in your internal concerns." In this advice, our Washington still lives; in this bequest of the father of our country, to the whole American people, our Washington will forever live, in the hearts and minds of all patriots over the whole globe; and his venerable name will descend with unfading glory, down the perpetual succession of time, through ages of ages.

JOSEPH BLYTH, in Eulogies and Orations on Washington. 211.

MASON (1800)

Having lavished all her honours, his country had nothing more to bestow upon him except her blessing. But he had more to bestow upon his country. His views and his advice, the condensed wisdom of all his reflection, observation and experience, he delivers to his compatriots in a manual worthy of them to study, and of him to compose.

JOHN M. MASON, in Eulogies and Orations on Washington. 239.

MINOT (1800)

The dangers of the Commonwealth having subsided at the close of his second administration, he felt himself justified, after dedicating forty-five years of his valuable life to her service, in withdrawing to receive with resignation the great change of nature, which his age and his toils demonstrated to be near. When he declined your future suffrages, he left you a legacy. What! like Cæsar's to the Romans, money for your sports?

Like

Attalus's, a kingdom for your tyranny? No; he left you not such baubles, nor for such purposes. He left you the records of wisdom for your government; a mirror for the faithful representation to your own view, of yourselves, your weaknesses, your advantages, your dangers: a magnet which points to the secret mines and windings of party spirit, faction, foreign influence a pillar to the unity of your republic: a band to inclose, conciliate and strengthen the whole of your wonderful and almost boundless communities. Read, preserve the sacred deposit; and lest posterity should forget the truth of its maxims, engrave them on his tomb, that they may read them when they weep before it.

GEORGE R. MINOT, in Eulogies and Orations on Washington. 24.

CRITICAL COMMENT

SPARKS (1837)

There is not an idea or sentiment in the Farewell Address, which may not be found, more or less extended, in different parts of Washington's writings; nor, after such a perusal, can any one doubt his ability to compose such a paper. As a mere literary performance, though excellent, it is neither extraordinary, nor in any degree superior to many others known to be written by each of the parties. It would add little to the great reputation of Washington, or of Hamilton, if the one or the other could be proved to be its sole and unaided author. It derives its value, and is destined to immortality, and chiefly from the circumstance of its containing wise, pure, and noble sentiments, sanctioned by the name of Washington at the moment when he was retiring from a long public career, in which he had been devoted to the service of his country with a disinterestedness, self-sacrifice, perseverance, and success, commanding the admiration and applause of mankind.

JARED SPARKS, George Washington. XII. 396.

BINNEY (1859)

Washington was undoubtedly the original designer of the Farewell Address; and not merely by general or indefinite in