Will You Heed The Warnings of George Washington?

George Washington's

Farewell Address

To the People of the United States

FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:

1 The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer
the executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the
time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed designating the
person, who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me
proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the
public voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to
decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to
be made

2 I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be
assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all
the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen
to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in
my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your
future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but
am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

3 The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office
to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of
inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be
your desire. I constantly hoped, that it would have been much earlier in my
power, consistently with motives, which I was not at liberty to disregard, to
return to that retirement, from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The
strength of my inclination 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 persons entitled to my confidence
impelled me to abandon the idea.

4 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 disapprove my determination to retire.

5 The impressions, with which I first undertook the arduous
trust, were explained on the proper occasion. 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 political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

6 In looking forward to the moment, which is intended 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 manifesting 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 passions, agitated in every direction, were liable
to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes 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
effected. 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 administration in every department may be
stamped with wisdom and virtue; than, in fine, the happiness of 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
to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and
adoption of every nation, which is yet a stranger to it.

7 Here, perhaps I ought to stop. But a
solicitude for your welfare which cannot end but with my life, and the
apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion
like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to
your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection,
of no inconsiderable 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 disinterested warnings of a
parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel.
Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my
sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

8 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament
of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm
the attachment.

9 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 independence, the support of your
tranquillity 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
constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) 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, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming
yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political
safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing
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.

10 For this you have every inducement of sympathy and
interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a
right to concentrate 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 discriminations. 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 counsels, and
joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

11 But these considerations, however powerfully they address
themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those, which apply
more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the
most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the
whole.

12 The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South,
protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions
of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same
intercourse, benefiting 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 invigorated; and, while it
contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the
national 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 improvement of interior
communications by land and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for
the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West
derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what
is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure
enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight,
influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union,
directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other
tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion
with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

13 While, then, every part of our country thus feels an
immediate and particular interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail
to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater
resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent
interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable
value, they must derive from Union an exemption from those broils and wars
between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring countries not tied
together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be
sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and
intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the
necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of
government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your
Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love
of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

14 These considerations speak a persuasive language to every
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a
primary object of Patriotic desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common
government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to
mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope, that
a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments
for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment.
It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious
motives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall
not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to
distrust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may endeavour to weaken
its bands.

15 In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union,
it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been
furnished for characterizing parties by Geographical discriminations, Northern
and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavour to
excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views.
One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You
cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings,
which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each
other those, who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The
inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this
head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous
ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal
satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how
unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General
Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard
to the mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties,
that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing
they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming
their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of
these advantages on the union by which they were procured? Will they not
henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them
from their brethren, and connect them with aliens?

16 To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a
Government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict,
between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably
experience the infractions and interruptions, which all alliances in all times
have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your
first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calculated
than your former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of
your common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice,
uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation,
completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting
security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own
amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for
its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are
duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our
political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their
Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists,
till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly
obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to
establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the
established Government.

17 All obstructions to the execution
of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible
character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the
regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive
of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize
faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place
of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but
artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the
alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the
mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than
the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and
modified by mutual interests.

18 However combinations or
associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends,
they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by
which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the
power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government;
destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust
dominion.

19 Towards the preservation of your
government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite,
not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its
acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of
innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.

One method of assault may be to
effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which will impair the
energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.
In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit
are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other
human institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which
to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that
facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to
perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and
remember, especially, that, for the efficient management of our common
interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as
is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty
itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and
adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where
the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to
confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws,
and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of
person and property.

20 I have already
intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference
to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a
more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the
baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.

21 This spirit, unfortunately, is
inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the
human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less
stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is
seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

22 The alternate domination of one faction over another,
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different
ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a
frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent
despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline
the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an
individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able
or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes
of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
23 Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind,
(which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and
continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the
interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

24 It serves always to distract the
Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the
Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity
of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It
opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated
access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus
the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of
another.

25 There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are
useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep
alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and
in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if
not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular
character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.
From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that
spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess,
the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it.
A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting
into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
26 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in
a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its
administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional
spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach
upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers
of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of
government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and
proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to
satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in
the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different
depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against
invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern;
some of them in our country and under our own eyes.

To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of
the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an
amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no
change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the
instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which
free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance
in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any
time yield.

27 Of all the dispositions and
habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are
indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism,
who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these
firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.

The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to
respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with
private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert
the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?

And let us with caution indulge the
supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be
conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure,
reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

28 It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a
necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or
less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend
to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
fabric ?

29 Promote, then, as an object of primary importance,
institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. proportion as the
structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that
public opinion should be enlightened.

30 As a very important source of
strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is,
to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating
peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger
frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise
the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but
by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which
unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity
the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims
belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should
cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential
that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts
there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can
be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the
intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects
(which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a
candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a
spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public
exigencies may at any time dictate.

31 Observe good faith and justice
towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion
and Morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not
equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant
period, a great Nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example
of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt,
that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly
repay any temporary advantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it
? Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a
Nation with its Virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every
sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its
vices ?

32 In the execution of such a plan,
nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against
particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded;
and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be
cultivated. The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or
an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity
or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its
duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another
disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight
causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or
trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed,
and bloody contests. The Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes
impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The
Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts
through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the
animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by
pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often,
sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations has been the victim.

33 So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for
another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation,
facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no
real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other,
betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter,
without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to
the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to
injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what
ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a
disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are
withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who
devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the
interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity;
gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable
deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or
foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

34 As avenues to foreign influence in
innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly
enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to
tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead
public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils! Such an attachment of
a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be
the satellite of the latter.

35 Against the insidious wiles of
foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy
of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience
prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican
Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else
it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a
defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive
dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one
side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other.
Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to
become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and
confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

36 The great rule of conduct for us,
in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to
have with them as little political connexion as possible. So far as we have
already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here
let us stop.

37 Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have
none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must engaged in frequent
controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns.
Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial
ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary
combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

38 Our
detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different
course. If we remain one people, under an efficient
government, the
period is not far off, when we may defy material injury from external
annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the
neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us,
will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or
war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

39 Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why
quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny
with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils
of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?

40 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now
at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing
infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to
public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I
repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense.
But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

41 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable
establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to
temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

42 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
diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing;
establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give 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 circumstances
and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, 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 another; 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 itself 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.

43 In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an
old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and
lasting impression 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
benefit, 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 patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense
for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

44 How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have
been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records
and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To
myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed
myself to be guided by

45 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 attempts to deter or divert me from it.

46 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.

47 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.

48 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred,
without any thing 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.

49 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.

50 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.

51 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 it in 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 favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I
trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

George Washington

United States -
September 17, 1796

Source: The Independent Chronicle, September 26, 1796.

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